The current research was characterized on phenolic metabolite profile including six chemical structures (phenolic acid, luteolin, orientin, apigenin, isoscoparin, and tricin) in wheat seedlings using HPLC-Q-Orbitrap-MS/MS and NMR techniques. Our study was also was the first to demonstrate fluctuations of isolated nine phenolic contents and antioxidant properties in various cultivars of this species with different growth times. The antioxidant abilities differed significantly in the 80 % methanol extracts (600 μg/mL) according to cultivar and growth time, with the highest average activities (DPPH: 82 %; ABTS: 87 %) observed after 7 days. The isolated nine compositions exhibited considerable differences in cultivars and growth times, specifically, isoorientin (6) and isochaftoside (8) were observed the most abundant average contents (99.3; 64.3 mg/100 g), representing approximately 28.3 and 18.3 % (total content: 350.8 mg/100 g). Their total phenolics showed the highest rates (420.8 mg/100 g) at 7 days, followed by 9 → 5 → 12 → 14 days with 374.6 → 366.7 → 350.7 → 241.1 mg/100 g, as the rank orders of antioxidant effects. These findings suggest that wheat seedlings may be a potent source of functional agents.

Policosanols is a health promoting aliphatic alcohol known as lipid-lowing agent. To enable maximising the functional properties of wheat, this research investigates the policosanol profiles and adenosine 5'-monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activation potential of Korean wheat seedlings according to cultivars and growth times. GC-MS revealed six policosanols that differed markedly in content between 17 cultivars, especially, octacosanol (8) showed the most predominant component (49-83%), varying significantly in average concentrations with growth times as 361.4 (3 days) → 613.0 (6 days) → 203.1 (9 days) → 196.5 (12 days) → 50.9 mg/100 g (19 days). The highest average policosanol (738.7 mg/100 g) exhibited after 6 days, while the lowest was 104.4 mg/100 g on 19 days. Moreover, the wheat cultivars including Shinmichal 1, Anbaek, Namhae, and Joah at 6 days may be recommended as potential sources because of high policosanols (921.7-990.6 mg/100 g). Western blot analysis revealed markedly higher AMPK activation in cells treated with the hexane extracts (150-370% at 100 μg/ml) and octacosanol (8) possessed potent AMPK activator (control; 100 → 280% at 200 μg/ml). It is confirmed that the AMPK activation by wheat seedlings are positively related to the highest policosanol content at the 6 days of growth time, independent of the cultivar. Our results may be contributed to enhance the wheat value regarding development of new cultivars and functional foods.

The extracts and chemical compounds isolated from barnyard millet ( Echinochloa utilis ) grains were investigated as part of a search for naturally derived anti-hyperglycemic medicinal plants. Among the five different solvent extracts, the ethyl acetate extract showed the lowest IC 50 value against Saccharomyces cerevisiae α-glucosidase (70.2 μg/mL). Chromatography yielded eight phenolic compounds that may have been responsible for this effect. Among them, N - p -coumaroyl serotonin ( 1 , CS), feruloyl serotonin ( 2 , FS ), and luteolin ( 5 ) potently inhibited α-glucosidase with IC 50 values of 1.3–17.8 μM compared with those of deoxynojirimycin (DNJ, IC 50 = 2.5 ± 0.1 μM) and acarbose (IC 50 = 255.1 ± 15.6 μM). Additionally, for the first time, we found that CS and FS were significantly inhibited mammalian rat intestinal sucrase (IC 50 of 3.0 and 8.2 μM) and reduced glucose content (73 and 52 % at 0.1 mg/wells) in Caco-2 (human intestinal epithelial) cells. Furthermore, oral glucose tolerance test revealed improved glucose tolerance following treatment with the barnyard millet grains extract by retarding the postprandial rise in blood glucose in vivo. These results suggest that barnyard millet grain can be used as a natural functional medicine to prevent and alleviate type-2 diabetes.

Neuraminidase (NA) is one of the key enzymes responsible for bacterial infection and pathogenesis. This study aimed to gain deeper insights into the inhibitory effects of flavone-glucosides (1–9) isolated from barley sprouts (BS) on neuraminidase activity. The isolated compounds were identified as, lutonarin (1), saponarin (2), isoorientin (3), orientin (4), isovitexin (5), isoscoparin-7-O-[6-sinapoyl]-glucoside (6), isoscoparin-7-O-[6-feruloyl]-glucoside (7), isovitexin-7-O-[6-sinapoyl]-glucoside (8), and isovitexin-7-O-[6-feruloyl]-glucoside (9). Among them, compounds 1–5 exhibited neuraminidase-inhibitory activities in a dose-dependent manner, with IC50 values ranging from 20.1 to 32.7 μM, in a non-competitive inhibition mode according to kinetic studies. Moreover, the individual flavone-glucoside levels differed notably, in particular, lutonarin (1) and saponarin (2) were shown to be present in the greatest amounts, according to UPLC analysis. Consequently, our results suggest that BS may be utilized as an effective NA inhibitor in human health food, additives, and feed.

Saponarin (SA), a natural flavonoid, is known for its antioxidant and hepatoprotective activities. SA is the predominant compound (1142.7 ± 0.9 mg per 100 g) in barley sprouts, constituting 72% of the total polyphenol content. We investigated, for the first time, the effects of SA from barley sprouts on cellular anti-inflammatory responses. In lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages, SA suppressed the activation of NF-κB, as evidenced by the inhibition of NF-κB DNA binding, nuclear translocation, IκBα phosphorylation, and reporter gene expression, and it downregulated the expression of the pro-inflammatory mediator IL-6. Furthermore, SA reduced the transcription of NF-κB target molecules COX2 and FLIP inhibited the phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinases ERK and p38. These results suggest that SA isolated from barley sprouts exerts anti-inflammatory effects in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages via inhibition of NF-κB, ERK and p38 signaling. Thus, SA may be a promising natural anti-inflammatory agent.

The concentration of nutrients in brown rice is mainly associated with embryo size. Various beneficial components have been purified from rice bran. Recently developed black waxy rice with a giant embryo (‘Milyang 263’, BGE), which is the ge t mutant of the GE gene, was selected and analyzed to produce high quality nutritional components. γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) content in BGE rice bran, one of the most important nutritional compounds in rice, showed a 10.6-fold increase (2.66±0.48 mg/g) compared to that of BGE brown rice (0.25±0.01 mg/g). In addition, brown rice and BGE rice bran showed enriched amylopectin (94.5±0.5 and 97.0±0.0%) and bioactive anthocyanin [Cy-3-G: 75.15±4.18 (brown rice), 82.97±0.81 (rice bran) and Pn-3-G: 1.52±0.50 (brown rice), 4.33±0.20 (rice bran); mg/100 g] contents. These results suggest that BGE rice bran can be used as an excellent raw material to efficiently produce high quality essential amino acids, cyanidin-3 glycoside-enriched anthocyanins, and GABA.

The main objectives of this study were to investigate physicochemicals and antioxidant activities of new red rice (Oryza sativa cv. Gunganghongmi (GH)) by comparing normal brown (Nampyeongbyeo, NB) and reported red rice (Jukjinjubyeo, JB) in Korea. The nutritional constituents, including protein, oil, sugar, fatty acid, GABA, and γ-oryzanol were not significantly different between normal brown and colored rice. However, the ethanol extract of GH showed the highest phenolic content (24.7 ± 1.3 mg g−1). The ethanol extracts of GH showed higher scavenging activities against DPPH (0.2 mg mL−1 = 62.1 ± 2.5%) and ABTS (0.2 mg mL−1 = 63.2 ± 3.5%) radicals. Moreover, GH more inhibited LPS-induced nitric oxide (NO) production (13.2 ± 1.4 μM) than JB (18.3 ± 2.3 μM) and NB (22.1 ± 1.4 μM) at the same concentration (0.2 mg mL−1) without cytotoxicity. These results suggest that new red rice (GH) would be considered to be new functional rice due to its anti-oxidative effect and high nutrition.

Investigation of the melanogenesis inhibitory effect of barnyard millet grain extracts (BME) led to isolation of compounds against mushroom tyrosinase and B16 melanoma cells. Chromatography yielded five phenolic compounds, among which n-p-coumaroyl serotonin (1, CS) exhibited potent non-competitive inhibition (IC50 =8.8 μM) compared with that of kojic acid (IC50=14.6 μM) against mushroom tyrosinase. More importantly, CS decreased melanin content to eight times lower (IC50 =11.6 μM) in B16 melanocytes than that of feruloyl serotonin (2, FS, IC50 =86.5 μM) without cytotoxicity. CS significantly inhibited the protein expression of tyrosinase, tyrosinase-related protein-1 (TRP-1), TRP-2, and microphthalmia-associated transcription factor using immunoblotting. Furthermore, molecular docking simulations were also carried out to investigate the structure related to the inhibitory activities. Therefore, BME can be used as a natural source of depigmentation to prevent melanogenesis.

Total polyphenolic, protein, lipid, and anthocyanin contents in grains of 12 Korean colored rice varieties were evaluated for their 2,2-di(4-tert-octylphenyl)-1-picrylhydrazyl) (DPPH) and 2,2- Azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium (ABTS) radical- scavenging activities. Three anthocyanins, cyanidin-3-O-glucoside (Cy-3-G), petunidin-3-O-glucoside (Pt-3-G), and peonidin-3-O-glucoside (Pn-3-G), were also characterized by ultra performance liquid chromatography. Among the rice varieties, 'Heugjinju', 'Heugseol', and 'Sintoheugmi' contained high total phenolic contents compared to other varieties. Anthocyanin content was highest in 'Heugjinju'; no anthocyanins were detected in 'Hongjinju' and 'Jeogjinju'. Highest antioxidant activity was observed in 'Heugjinju' and 'Jeogjinju' exhibited the lowest activity. To determine the correlation of total polyphenolic and anthocyanin contents to antioxidant activity, linear regression analysis was carried out. The results showed total polyphenolic content was strongly correlated with antioxidant activity, suggesting total phenolic content as key factor in antioxidant activity of colored rice. 'Heugjinju', 'Heugseol', and 'Sintoheugmi' could have important nutritional value.