Interference of anthocyanin extracted from black soybean coats on aflatoxin B1-human serum albumin in the binding process

Unveiling the nutrient-wealth of black soybean: A holistic review of its bioactive compounds and health implications

Legumes, an essential component of staple diets, hold a prominent place in global cuisines. Soybean stands out as a widely cultivated legume and is valued for its high protein content, dietary fiber, and rich micronutrients. Several varieties of soybean are available, of which black and yellow varieties show dominance in varied countries and cultures. Over time, the cultivation and consumption of black soybeans have markedly reduced compared to the yellow variety. Despite its rich nutritional and therapeutic indices, it has lost its usage over time. Traditionally, it was utilized in oriental medicine for detoxification and anti-inflammatory potential. However, the antinutrients present in black soybean limit its utilization in the food sector due to their interference with overall nutrient absorption. Several studies in the last few decades have focused on reducing the content of antinutritional factors. However, the information on the use of different processing techniques, both singly and in blends, to reduce antinutrients and enhance the bioaccessibility, bioavailability, and bioactivity of bioactive compounds and varied nutrients is limited and fragmented. Furthermore, studies have highlighted black soybeans' protective effects against various degenerative diseases. However, the studies on the effect of processing to enhance its antioxidative properties to make them a sought-after food commodity with nutraceutical potential and therapeutic efficacy are limited and widely scattered. The review aims to consolidate knowledge of diverse processing methods to improve their nutritional and bioactive profile for wider applications in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Further, it has also highlighted its nutraceutical properties for developing varied functional foods against degenerative diseases to have better therapeutic efficacy.

May phytophenolics alleviate aflatoxins-induced health challenges? A holistic insight on current landscape and future prospects

The future GCC-connected environmental risk factors expedited the progression of nCDs. Indeed, the emergence of AFs is becoming a global food security concern. AFs are lethal carcinogenic mycotoxins, causing damage to the liver, kidney, and gastrointestinal organs. Long-term exposure to AFs leads to liver cancer. Almost a variety of food commodities, crops, spices, herbaceous materials, nuts, and processed foods can be contaminated with AFs. In this regard, the primary sections of this review aim to cover influencing factors in the occurrence of AFs, the role of AFs in progression of nCDs, links between GCC/nCDs and exposure to AFs, frequency of AFs-based academic investigations, and world distribution of AFs. Next, the current trends in the application of PPs to alleviate AFs toxicity are discussed. Nearly, more than 20,000 published records indexed in scientific databases have been screened to find recent trends on AFs and application of PPs in AFs therapy. Accordingly, shifts in world climate, improper infrastructures for production/storage of food commodities, inconsistency of global polices on AFs permissible concentration in food/feed, and lack of the public awareness are accounting for a considerable proportion of AFs damages. AFs exhibited their toxic effects by triggering the progression of inflammation and oxidative/nitrosative stress, in turn, leading to the onset of nCDs. PPs could decrease AFs-associated oxidative stress, genotoxic, mutagenic, and carcinogenic effects by improving cellular antioxidant balance, regulation of signaling pathways, alleviating inflammatory responses, and modification of gene expression profile in a dose/time-reliant fashion. The administration of PPs alone displayed lower biological properties compared to co-treatment of these metabolites with AFs. This issue might highlight the therapeutic application of PPs than their preventative content. Flavonoids such as quercetin and oxidized tea phenolics, curcumin and resveratrol were the most studied anti-AFs PPs. Our literature review clearly disclosed that considering PPs in antioxidant therapies to alleviate complications of AFs requires improvement in their bioavailability, pharmacokinetics, tissue clearance, and off-target mode of action. Due to the emergencies in the elimination of AFs in food/feedstuffs, further large-scale clinical assessment of PPs to decrease the consequences of AFs is highly required.

Study of Competitive Displacement of Curcumin on α-zearalenol Binding to Human Serum Albumin Complex Using Fluorescence Spectroscopy

α-zearalenol (α-ZOL) is a mycotoxin with a strong estrogen effect that affects the synthesis and secretion of sex hormones and is transported to target organs through human serum albumin (HSA). Additionally, it has been reported that curcumin can also bind to HSA with high affinity at the same binding site as α-ZOL. Additionally, several studies reported that reducing the bound fraction of α-ZOL contributes to speeding up the elimination rate of α-ZOL to reduce its hazard to organs. Therefore, to explore the influence of a nutrition intervention with curcumin on α-ZOL effects, the competitive displacement of α-ZOL from HSA by curcumin was investigated using spectroscopic techniques, ultrafiltration techniques and HPLC methods. Results show that curcumin and α-ZOL share the same binding site (subdomain IIA) on HSA, and curcumin binds to HSA with a binding constant of 1.12 × 10⁵ M⁻¹, which is higher than that of α-ZOL (3.98 × 10⁴ M⁻¹). Ultrafiltration studies demonstrated that curcumin could displace α-ZOL from HSA to reduce α-ZOL’s binding fraction. Synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy revealed that curcumin could reduce the hydrophobicity of the microenvironment of an HSA–α-ZOL complex. This study is of great significance for applying curcumin and other highly active foodborne components to interfere with the toxicokinetics of α-ZOL and reduce its risk of its exposure.

Antagonism of Cyanamide-3-O-glucoside and protocatechuic acid on Aflatoxin B1-induced toxicity in zebrafish larva (Danio rerio)

The zebrafish model was used to evaluate the antioxidant properties of cyanidin-3-O-glucoside (C₃G) and its metabolite protocatechuic acid (PCA) against aflatoxin B₁ (AFB₁)-induced hepatotoxicity and oxidative stress. In this study, zebrafish larvae were cultured for 3 days post fertilization (dpf) and then induced with AFB₁. After induced 4 h, 8 h, 12 h, and 24 h, 5 μg/mL C₃G/PCA was added and then co-cultured to 5 dpf, respectively. The experiments showed that C₃G/PCA suppressed AFB₁-induced zebrafish liver atrophy and delayed the absorption of the yolk sac. In addition, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and cell death were also significantly decreased by 5 μg/mL C₃G/PCA (P ˂ 0.05). C₃G/PCA significantly reduced hepatic biomarkers in the serum contents (P ˂ 0.05). Besides, glutathione (GSH) contents were significantly upregulated, and the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) were significantly elevated in zebrafish (P ˂ 0.05). The addition of 5 μg/mL C₃G/PCA was capable of reducing the apoptotic levels of caspase-9 and caspase-3 after 100 ng/mL AFB₁ intoxication. In conclusion, these results suggested that C₃G and its metabolite PCA might antagonize the hepatotoxicity of AFB₁, reduce oxidative damage and inhibit cell death.