Radiation-induced curcumin release from curcumin–chitosan polymer films

Prevention and treatment of radiation injury by traditional Chinese medicine: A review

Nuclear radiation exposure events and tumor radiotherapy are highly susceptible to a range of psychological, physiological and other health problems, which can seriously affect patients' quality of life. It has been shown that 87.5 % of tumor patients are exposed to varying degrees of radiation injury during radiotherapy. The treatment of radiation injury (RI) in modern medicine is limited to drug therapy, cell therapy, etc. Among them, the most chemical drugs cause many adverse reactions including fatigue, nausea, vomiting, etc., and there are very few drugs dedicated to the treatment of RI. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a rich natural medicinal resource, which has a wide range of pharmacological activities, multiple targets of action and minimal toxic side effects. Many studies have demonstrated that TCM and its compound preparations have enormous potential in the treatment of radiation induced comprehensive diseases. However, TCM is limited in clinical application due to its slow onset of action, complex active ingredients, and low bioavailability. Therefore, the article reviews the application, molecular mechanisms, and new dosage forms of TCM in the prevention and treatment of RI. On this basis, we will focus on discussing the development advantages and application prospects of the combination of traditional Chinese and Western medicine to achieve highly efficient treatment of RI. This review aims to provide scientific and effective drug delivery strategies and basic theoretical support for the clinical effective treatment of RI with TCM, and further promote the innovative development of TCM.

Evaluation of Antioxidant and Anti-Glycemic Characteristics of Aged Lemon Peel Induced by Three Thermal Browning Models: Hot-Air Drying, High Temperature and Humidity, and Steam-Drying Cycle

This study evaluated the antioxidant and anti-glycemic properties of black lemon Chenpi (BLC) (Citrus limon (L.) Burm. f. cv. Eureka), processed using three thermal browning models-hot-air drying (HAL), high temperature and humidity, and steam-drying cycle (SCL)-and compared them to fresh lemon peel and commercial Chenpi. The moisture-assisted aging technology (MAAT) is an environmentally friendly process for inducing browning reactions in the lemon peel, enhancing its functional properties. Our results demonstrated significant increases in sucrose, total flavonoid content, and antioxidant capacities (2,2-diphenylpicrylhydrazyl: 12.86 Trolox/g dry weight; ferric reducing antioxidant power: 14.92 mg Trolox/g dry weight) with the MAAT-HAL model. The MAAT-SCL model significantly improved the browning degree, fructose, total polyphenol content, narirutin, and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural synthesis (p < 0.05). Additionally, aged lemon peel exhibited potential α-glucosidase inhibitory activity (28.28%), suggesting its role in blood sugar regulation after meals. The multivariate analysis (principal component and heatmap analyses) indicated that BLC processed using the MAAT-SCL model exhibited similarities to commercial Chenpi, indicating its potential for functional food development. Our results indicate that MAAT-SCL can enhance the economic value of lemon by-products, offering a sustainable and functional alternative to traditional Chenpi.

The Browning Properties, Antioxidant Activity, and α-Glucosidase Inhibitory Improvement of Aged Oranges (Citrus sinensis)

Oranges contain many natural active chemicals, organic acids, and polysaccharides. Aging processing is commonly used to modify the color, quality, functional components, and stability of fruits. This study assesses the preparation of aging black oranges using various pre-treatments and solid fermentation. Oranges were aged for six weeks in fresh, non-blanching, blanching, and hot air-assisted aging cycle (AA) groups. The oranges' shrinkage ratio, color difference values, and soluble solids content changed significantly (p < 0.05). Principal component analysis indicated that aging fermentation treatment accelerated glycolysis and increased the ratio of reducing sugars. The enhanced browning can be associated with the oxidation of ascorbic acid (0.66-0.47 mg/g) and the formation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) (0.09 mg/g). Furthermore, the presence of free polyphenols led to an increase in the total polyphenol and total flavonoid content. It also had a synergistic effect with 5-HMF in increasing the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl free radical-scavenging capacity and ferric ion-reducing antioxidant power (p < 0.05). AA had superior α-glucosidase inhibitory ability increasing from 67.31 to 80.48%. It also reduced the development time by 33%. Therefore, aging technology can enhance the bioactive compounds in oranges and provide a reference for future whole-fruit aging fermentation and health product creation.

Improvement of Chitosan Films Properties by Blending with Cellulose, Honey and Curcumin

Chitosan is a natural biopolymer that can be used in biomedical applications, tissue engineering, and wound dressing because of its biodegradability, biocompatibility, and antibacterial activity. The blending of chitosan films with natural biomaterials such as cellulose, honey, and curcumin was studied at different concentrations in order to improve their physical properties. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, mechanical tensile properties, X-ray diffraction (XRD), antibacterial effects, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were studied for all blended films. The XRD, FTIR, and mechanical results showed that films blended with curcumin were more rigid and compatible and had higher antibacterial effects than other blended films. In addition, XRD and SEM showed that blending chitosan films with curcumin decreases the crystallinity of the chitosan matrix compared to cellulose and honey blending films due to increased intermolecular hydrogen bonding, which reduces the close packing of the CS matrix.

Nanostructured steady-state nanocarriers for nutrients preservation and delivery

Food bioactives possess specific physiological benefits of preventing certain diet-related chronic diseases or maintain human health. However, the limitations of the bioactives are their poor stability, lower water solubility and unacceptable bioaccessibility. Structure damage or degradation is often found for the bioactives under certain environmental conditions like high temperature, strong light, extreme pH or high oxygen concentration during food processing, packaging, storage and absorption. Nanostructured steady-state nanocarriers have shown great potential in overcoming the drawbacks for food bioactives. Various delivery systems including solid form delivery system, liquid form delivery system and encapsulation technology have been developed. The embedded food nutrients can largely decrease the loss and degradation during food processing, packaging and storage. The design and application of stimulus and targeted delivery systems can improve the stability, bioavailability and efficacy of the food bioactives upon oral consumption due to enzymatic degradation in the gastrointestinal tract. The food nutrients encapsulated in the smart delivery system can be well protected against degradation during oral administration, thus improving the bioavailability and releazing controlled or targeted release for food nutrients. The encapsulated food bioactives show great potential in nutrition therapy for sub-health status and disease. Much effort is required to design and prepare more biocompatible nanostructured steady-state nanocarriers using food-grade protein or polysaccharides as wall materials, which can be used in food industry and maintain the human health.

Advances in smart delivery of food bioactive compounds using stimuli-responsive carriers: Responsive mechanism, contemporary challenges, and prospects

Many important food bioactive compounds are plant secondary metabolites that have traditional applications for health promotion and disease prevention. However, the chemical instability and poor bioavailability of these compounds represent major challenges to researchers. In the last decade, therefore, major impetus has been given for the research and development of advanced carrier systems for the delivery of natural bioactive molecules. Among them, stimuli-responsive carriers hold great promise for simultaneously improving stability, bioavailability, and more importantly delivery and on-demand release of intact bioactive phytochemicals to target sites in response to certain stimuli or combination of them (e.g., pH, temperature, oxidant, enzyme, and irradiation) that would eventually enhance therapeutic outcomes and reduce side effects. Hybrid formulations (e.g., inorganic-organic complexes) and multi-stimuli-responsive formulations have demonstrated great potential for future studies. Therefore, this review systematically compiles and assesses the recent advances on the smart delivery of food bioactive compounds, particularly quercetin, curcumin, and resveratrol through stimuli-responsive carriers, and critically reviews their functionality, underlying triggered-release mechanism, and therapeutic potential. Finally, major limitations, contemporary challenges, and possible solutions/future research directions are highlighted. Much more research is needed to optimize the processing parameters of existing formulations and to develop novel ones for lead food bioactive compounds to facilitate their food and nutraceutical applications.

Chitosan-riboflavin composite film based on photodynamic inactivation technology for antibacterial food packaging

Photodynamic inactivation (PDI) is a novel sterilization technology that has proven effective in medicine. This study focused on applying PDI to food packaging, where chitosan (CS) films containing photosensitizing riboflavin (RB) were prepared via solution casting. The CS-RB composite films exhibited good ultraviolet (UV)-barrier properties, and had a visually appealing highly transparent yellow appearance. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) confirmed even dispersion of RB throughout the CS film. The addition of RB led to improved film characteristics, including the thickness, mechanical properties, solubility, and water barrier properties. The CS-RB⁵ composite films produced sufficient singlet oxygen under blue LED irradiation for 2 h to inactivate two food-borne pathogens (Listeria monocytogenes and Vibrio parahaemolyticus) and one spoilage bacteria (Shewanella baltica). The CS-RB composite films were assessed as a salmon packaging material, where inhibition of bacterial growth was observed. The film is biodegradable, and has the potential to alleviate the issues associated with the excessive use of petrochemical materials, such as environmental pollution and limited resources. The CS-RB composite films showed potential as a novel environmentally friendly packaging material for shelf-life extension of refrigerated food products.