Polyethylene (PE) films, as the mainstream packaging material for Rosa roxburghii Tratt, have weak preservation abilities leading to serious waste. In this study, PE films coated with carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCS), sodium alginate (SA), and nisin (CSN-PE) were prepared as novel packaging materials to extend the shelf life of Rosa roxburghii Tratt. CSN-PE films had excellent mechanical, optical, barrier, and thermal properties. When compared to PE films, CSN-PE films improved firmness, soluble solids, titratable acidity, ascorbic acid, total phenol, and antioxidant enzyme activities (superoxide dismutase and peroxides) and decreased decay rate and browning enzyme activity (polyphenol oxidase) during storage (1 +/- 0.5 degree celsius for 70 d). The shelf life models for R. roxburghii Tratt were established based on ascorbic acid content. Our results emphasized the practicability of CSN-PE films, and we concluded that CSN-PE films can significantly extend the freshness period of R. roxburghii Tratt by 28 days.

To study the seed dormancy and germination mechanism of Xanthoceras sorbifolium,the seeds of four cultivars['Putong'(PT),'Qihong'(QH),'Wofeng'(WF)and'Woshi'(WS)]were stored at-20 ℃ for different periods(30,60,90,120,150 d).The seed germination indexes were determined in each treatment,and the changes of reserve substance and hormone content were also analyzed in three stages including before storage,after storage,and 7 days of germination.The results were as follows:(1)Cold storage could significantly promote the germination rate and germination potential of small seeds(PT,QH).The best treatment was cold storage for 60 d,and the germination rate was up to 48.3％and 58.3％,respectively.The effects of cold storage on large seeds(WF and WS)was lower than that of small seeds.(2)The kernel oil content,seed shell thickness(SST)in four cultivar seeds all decreased significantly during periods of cold storage and germination,especially in 3-7 days of germination,the oil content and SST(except WS cultivar)decreased notably.However,water content in kernels increased rapidly within 1-3 days of germination and then slowly increased to the peak value on the 7th day.The contents of soluble sugar in kernels increased significantly at the 3-4 days of germination.(3)Cold storage increased GA/ABA and tHor/ABA ratios in small seeds(PT,QH),promoted oil degradation,made seed shell thinning and break seed dormancy.In conclusion,the main factors leading to dormancy in X.sorbifolium seeds are larger in size,higher shell thickness and more hardness,physiological post-ripening,and belongs to comprehensive dormancy type.Cold storage at-20 ℃ for 60 d can improve the germination rate of PT,QH and WF seeds,reduces dormancy degree,while the cold storage time of WS seeds needs prolonging to 150 d.The method using-20 ℃ storage with wet sand germination is a rapid and simple method to promote X.sorbifolium seeds germination.This study provides a reference for the promotion of superior varieties and the research on the seed breaking dormancy mechanism in X.sorbifolium.

Lanzhou lily bulbs (Lilium davidii var. unicolor) are Chinese traditional edible fruits; however, industrial benefits are limited owing to ineffective post-harvest preservation technology. This study investigated the effect of 4.5 kJ/m2 ultraviolet (UV)-C radiation and 2.0 g/L L-cysteine (L-cys) treatment on storage quality and reactive oxygen species (ROS) metabolism in lily bulbs. The combined UV-C/L-cys treatment inhibited the increase in decay rate, weight loss, ∆E⁎ and reducing sugar content; delayed the decrease of firmness and starch content; retained aromatic volatile compounds; and reduced pungent compounds. UV-C/L-cys treatment reduced H2O2 content, O2 ·- production rate, lipoxygenase activity and malondialdehyde content by maintaining high ROS-scavenging enzymes (superoxide dismutase and catalase) activities and substances (total phenolic and ascorbic acid) levels, thereby protecting mitochondrial structure. Mantel test indicated that post-harvest quality and volatile compounds were closely related to ROS metabolism. Hence, UV-C/L-cys treatment can efficiently delay lily bulb senescence by reducing ROS accumulation during storage.

Walnut meal is a by-product produced during the production of walnut oil and is often treated as a waste. However, the nutrients in walnut meal mean it has significant potential for development as a plant-based milk. This study investigated the effect of microfluidization on the stability of walnut protein emulsion (WPE) and walnut protein beverage (WPB) produced from walnut meal, compared with conventional homogenization. The particle size, zeta potential, rheological properties, and stability of WPE all significantly improved after microfluidization. The mean particle size and zeta potential of the microfluidized WPE significantly decreased (p < 0.05). The rheological properties demonstrated that the viscosity of the microfluidized WPE decreased by 80%, and that the shear force increased 4.5 times as the shear rate increased. This gave the resulting product the characteristics of non-Newtonian fluid. LUMisizer stability demonstrated that microfluidization improves stability through protein absorption on the oil-water interface. Microfluidization increased the denaturation temperature (Tm) of WPE from 135.65 to 154.87℃. Moreover, microfluidization improved the color, centrifugal precipitation rate, and viscosity in WPB compared to the control at all studied temperatures. The Arrhenius approach was used to establish a shelf-life model, which predicted that microfluidized WPB could be stored for 175 d at 4℃. This study provided a new reference for the widespread application of microfluidization in the production of food-based emulsion and beverage products.

The combined use of walnut meal peptides and ellagic acid demonstrated synergistic anti-inflammatory properties, which could be enhanced through encapsulation into nanoparticles to enhance their bioavailability. However, the specific anti-inflammatory mechanism of these nanoparticles remains unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the anti-inflammatory mechanism of nanoparticles composed of walnut meal peptides and ellagic acid using ELISA, Western Blot, and qRT-PCR techniques. The ELISA results revealed a significantly reduction in the secretion of nitric oxide and inflammatory factors upon treatment with the nanoparticles. Besides, the findings from the qRT-PCR analysis demonstrated a significant reduction in the mRNA expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase and inflammatory factors in RAW264.7 cells following treatment with the nanoparticles. Additionally, the Western Blot results indicated that the nanoparticles exerted inhibitory effects on the upstream signaling pathway of nuclear factor kappa-B and modulated the mitogen-activated protein kinases signaling pathway, resulting in the suppression of inflammatory factor expression. This study contributes to the foundational understanding of the potential application of these nanoparticles as anti-inflammatory agents in the context of health food.

This study is aimed at the preparation and evaluation of walnut meal-derived elastase inhibitory peptide loaded in chitosan-tripolyphosphate (CS-TPP) nanoparticles (NPs). It was shown that the maximum encapsulation efficiency of FFVPF could reach 94.58 ± 0.23%. TEM microphotographs, polydispersity index, and zeta-sizer reports indicated that FFVPF-loaded CS-TPP NPs were in nanometric range and were spherical, discrete, and uniform in size with PDI less than 0.3. FTIR analysis indicated that the peptides interacted with CS-TPP NPs through strong hydrogen bonds and electrostatic interactions. The CS-TPP FFVPF NPs showed better stability with heating treatment, pH treatment, or photochemical treatment. Moreover, the in vitro release profile of peptides was identified. The release rate of encapsulated FFVPF was released explosively to 77.22 ± 2.21% and gradually slowed down. These findings highlighted the prospect of CS-TPP NPs as an oral delivery system, and the application of peptides within food and pharmaceutical products.

The oil extraction residue of walnuts is rich in proteins and has been employed in the formulation of various functional food products. In this study, alcalase and neutrase were used to hydrolyze defatted walnut meal protein to obtain anti-inflammatory peptides. After separation by ultrafiltration and by using Sephadex G-25, the fraction with the highest anti-inflammatory activity was identified using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), and 579 peptides were obtained. Then, four of the most stable binding tripeptides with the sequences Trp-Pro-Leu (WPL, MW: 414.2 Da), Trp-Ser-Leu (WSL, MW: 404.2 Da), Phe-Pro-Leu (FPL, MW: 375.2 Da) and Phe-Pro-Tyr (FPY, MW: 425.2 Da) were successfully identified by virtual screening. The anti-inflammatory activity determination of the synthetic peptide assay indicated that FPL (200 μM) exhibited excellent anti-inflammatory activity with inhibitory rates of 63.65 ± 2.64%, 68.25 ± 2.19%, 42.52 ± 2.01% and 59.39 ± 2.21% in terms of four inflammatory mediators (NO, TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β), respectively. It was speculated that the anti-inflammatory activity of walnut peptides might be related to hydrophobic amino acids and aromatic amino acids. By molecular docking, further insight into the theoretical interaction mechanism of binding revealed that hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bonds turned out to be the main interaction forces between the four peptides and iNOS. These results indicated that FPL screened in this study could be expected to be used as a natural anti-inflammatory active substance in the functional food and pharmaceutical industries.

[目的]实现银杏叶用林的绿色施肥、有效施肥,提高叶产量的同时促进叶中总黄酮和总萜内酯的积累.[方法]以 3 年生截干银杏林为研究对象,设置T1(N、P2O5、K2O的配比为 9∶18∶18)、T2(N、P2O5、K2O的配比为 9∶27∶27)、T3(N、P2O5、K2O的配比为 9∶18∶18)+微生物菌肥、T4(N、P2O5、K2O的配比为9∶27∶27)+微生物菌肥、T5(微生物菌肥)、CK(不施肥,对照)共 6 个处理,研究配方肥和微生物菌肥配施对截干银杏林叶绿素荧光特性、有效成分含量的影响,筛选适用于截干银杏林的施肥模式.[结果]5 种施肥模式下截干银杏林的各生长指标均有不同程度的改善,其中T4 处理对新梢长、新梢数量、叶片数量和单株干叶质量的影响最大,分别比对照提高了 62.0%、91.1%、50.7%、61.6%,T2 处理有利于单叶鲜质量的积累.T4 和T2 处理显著提高了叶绿素光化学效率(Fv/Fm)、实际光化学效率(Fv′/Fm′)和光化学猝灭系数(PQ),增强了截干银杏林的光合效能.5 个施肥处理中,T4 处理的单株总黄酮产量和单株总萜内酯产量均最高,分别比对照提高了 112.6%和 114.6%.综合评价结果表明,T4 处理的综合得分最高,各施肥处理按其效果的综合得分由高到低排序依次为T4、T2、T3、T5、T1、CK.[结论]在截干银杏林培育中,添加微生物菌肥有利于银杏叶生长及有效成分的积累,单施高磷钾配方肥也有利于有效成分的积累,配方肥(N、P2O5、K2O的配比为9∶27∶27)与微生物菌肥配施的效果最佳.

The anti-inflammatory effect of the interaction between ellagic acid (EA) and a bioactive tripeptide (FPL) from walnut meal was investigated in this study. We found that lipopolysaccharide (LPS) -induced expression of nitric oxide, tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6, and interleukin-1β were significantly inhibited by the interaction of EA and FPL in RAW264.7 macrophage cells. Cell viability assays and CompuSyn simulations predicted the highest synergistic effect of the combination at doses of EA-25 µM and FPL-100 µM, with the lowest combination index (CI) values reaching 0.56. Fluorescence spectra revealed the intrinsic fluorescence of phenylalanine in FPL was quenched by interaction with EA. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy indicated FPL had electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions with EA through N–H, C = O, C-N bonds and the secondary structure of FPL had effectively changed, with a decrease in α-helix when interacting with EA. Our results demonstrated that the synergistic anti-inflammatory effect of EA and FPL as potential inflammatory inhibitors in food industry.

Populus euphratica Oliv. response to salinity stress has been mainly studied at a whole-plant level. However, many genes associated with salinity tolerance are constitutively expressed or show strong organ-or tissue-specific, and the relationship between reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the antioxidant system has been rarely investigated. In present work, the effects of salinity treatments (0, 50, 100, 150, and 200 mM NaCl) on cell ultrastructure, ROS, antioxidant enzymes, and relevant gene expressions were investigated to get an overview of salinity stress response of P. euphratica micro-shoots under in vitro conditions. Antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX), etc., were activated in the presence of low and moderate salt stress (≤ 150 mM NaCl). Regulation of ROS levels and the cellular redox equilibrium, as well as an increase in glutathione (GSH) and ascorbic acid (AsA) content, were also recorded at 150 mM NaCl. PeCu/ZnSOD upregulation occurred 12 h before PeAPX2 upregulation at 100 mM NaCl. The enzymes SOD, APX, CAT, and POD were inhibited by high salinity stress (200 mM NaCl), whereas the level of H2O2 was significantly increased. PeCu/ZnSOD expression increased after 12 h, whereas PeAPX2 expression increased after 36–72 h at 200 mM NaCl. This resulted in a burst of O2.− and H2O2, which accelerated membrane lipid peroxidation, significantly reduced chlorophyll content, and eventually led to chlorosis and cellular damage. In this study, the bigger contributing markers to salt tolerance were AsA, APX, CAT, and SOD. Our results indicated the coordinated alterations between enzymatic, ROS and gene expressions facilitated the resistance to salinity in P. euphratica micro-shoots under moderate salinity. The micro-shoots of P. euphratica could endure 150 mM NaCl stress. The coordinated changes in PeCu/ZnSOD and PeAPX2 expression and antioxidative enzymes facilitated in vitro Populus euphratica resistance to salinity stress.

Spirulina platensis protein hydrolysates were prepared by digesting protein extracts with papain, and the hydrolysates were separated into 30, 10, and 3 kDa weights using membrane ultrafiltration. The 0–3 kDa low-molecular-weight Spirulina peptides (LMWSPs) proved the highest chemical antioxidant activity by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging ability, hydroxyl radical (·OH) scavenging activities and total antioxidant capacity. Cellular antioxidant ability of LMWPs fractions against 2000 μg/mL H 2 O 2 induced oxidative damage of L02 cells were investigated. The MTT assay results displayed that LMWSPs at different concentrations (0–1000 μg/mL) had proliferation effect on the L02 cells and that treatment of the L02 cells with the 1000 μg/mL LMWSPs (0–3 kDa) significantly prevented H 2 O 2 -induced oxidative damage compared with control cells. Moreover, the 2′,7′-dichlorofluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA) fluorescent probe assay showed that the levels of ROS and NO were significantly lower in the experimental group that was treated with the peptides for 24 h than in the control group. Furthermore, using the corresponding kits, the treatment inhibited the reduction of SOD activity and the increase of MDA contents in the L02 cells. Therefore, LMWSPs (0–3 kDa) may have potential applications in antioxidant and liver health products.