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The Perfect Tomato
Published in Denise Wilson, Sensing the Perfect Tomato, 2019
As tomatoes mature and ripen from their initial dark-green color to a bright red, chlorophyll content diminishes while carotenoid concentrations increase (Figure 3.1a). The increase in carotenoid concentration is dramatic, up to 50-fold during the ripening process, and the final product, a ripe tomato, is dominated by the carotenoid lycopene, which makes up as much as 90% of the total carotenoids in the fruit. The carotenoids phytoene, phytofluene, zeta-carotene, gamma-carotene, β-carotene, neurosporene, and lutein also contribute to the final mature color of the tomato. In addition to providing color, carotenoids also play a critical role in plant health by contributing to harvesting light, protecting the plant from excessive light, and attracting pollinators. Lycopene also has many nutritional benefits (Chapter 2), as do the other carotenoids through their many antioxidant properties (Bertin and Génard 2018). Thus, choosing a tomato for its color is not as superficial as it sounds, because a tomato that has ripened to deep red (or other bright color) is typically a healthy one.
Pharmaceutical Applications of Major Marine Nutraceuticals
Published in Se-Kwon Kim, Marine Biochemistry, 2023
P Madan Kumar, R Janani, S Priya, J Naveen, V Baskaran
In comparison with all other carotenoids extracted from marine seaweeds, FUC and its metabolites exhibited greater antiproliferative potential in several cancer types (Kumar et al., 2013; Zorofchian et al., 2014; Takahashi et al., 2015). The effect of different carotenoids (phytoene, phytofluene, ξ-carotene, lycopene, α-carotene, β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, canthaxanthin, ASX, capsanthin, lutein, zeaxanthin, vioaxanthin, neoxanthin, FUC) on the growth of human prostate cancer cells (PC-3, DU 145 and LNCap) were examined. Among the carotenoids, neoxanthin and FUC exhibited a higher antiproliferative effect (Kotake-Nara et al., 2001). FUC has also been reported to suppress the growth and number of tumours in animal models (Wang et al., 2012; Kim et al., 2013). In an animal colon cancer model, brown seaweed extract containing FUC exhibited chemopreventive activity against the preneoplastic marker (Das et al., 2006). The anticancer potential of FUC was reported to interfere with various pathways involved in cell cycle arrest, apoptosis or metastasis suppression. FUC treatment induced G0/G1- and G2/M-phase cell-cycle arrest by altering the expression of various genes including GADD45, p21, p27, cyclin D1, cyclin D2, CDK4 and survivin. The pro-apoptotic effect of FUC is well studied, and FUC-mediated apoptosis targets different molecular pathways, including Bcl-2, caspases, MAPK and NF-κB (D’Orazio et al., 2012; Kumar et al., 2013; Zhang et al., 2015). FUC administration to experimental animals significantly inhibited tumor development in a xenograft colorectal cancer model (Terasaki et al., 2017). In a similar study, FUC administration significantly reduced the numbers of colorectal cancer stem cells in colonic mucosa compared to control mice (Terasaki et al., 2019).
Coloration of cotton fabric using watermelon extract: mechanism of dye-fiber bonding and chromophore absorption
Published in The Journal of The Textile Institute, 2021
Md Luthfar Rahman Liman, M. Tauhidul Islam, Md Milon Hossain, Priti Sarker, Sreedham Dabnath
Figure 3(a,b) represent the UV visible spectra of different dye baths and dyed fabrics, respectively. Two major absorption band of flavones and quercetin have a strong absorbance in the ultraviolet area (200–380 nm). ‘A-ring’ benzoyl system showed an absorbance peak at 256 nm in band-II (240–280 nm) whereas an absorbance peak for band-I (300–380 nm) was found at 332 nm due to ‘B-ring’ cinnamoyl system of WRS dyed sample. Carotenoid pigment phytofluene (300–350 nm) and β-carotene (400–500 nm) are water-insoluble (Britton, 1996) and do not show characteristic peaks in the dye bath. However, it was surprising to notice their presence in the WRS dyed fabric (Figure 3(b)) and their scattering wavelength was considered for dye absorption study from the dye bath. The presence of two absorption peaks at ∼ 430 nm and ∼662 nm was also noticed in WRS dyed fabric for chlorophyll-a (Lim et al., 2015). The addition of metal salts (mordants) formed a chelated-complex with dye and fiber. Most of these metal salts slightly decreased the absorbance intensities of WRS chromophores in the dyed fabric except the copper (II) sulfate mordant. This is because zinc (II) chloride and potassium alum blocked the WRS chromophores and reduced its interaction with the fiber. For example, the absorbance intensity of flavone was around 11% higher in sample S compared to sample A. On the contrary, the absorbance intensity of flavone in the sample Z and P was around 9% and 26% lower than sample A, respectively (Figure 3(b)). The reactive dyed sample displayed noticeable peaks of sulfonate group ranging over 450–650 nm (Figure S2, Supporting Information) for a trichromatic combination of different reactive dyes (Table S1, Supporting Information).