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An Overview of Molecular Nutrition
Published in Nicole M. Farmer, Andres Victor Ardisson Korat, Cooking for Health and Disease Prevention, 2022
Vincent W. Li, Catherine Ward, Delaney K. Schurr
The absorption and digestion of carbohydrates varies by the type of carbohydrate. For both sugars and starches, the absorption and digestion processes are dependent upon a series of enzymes located throughout the digestive tract. The long chains of sugars or starches are broken down into shorter chains of carbohydrates. Starting in the mouth, starch polysaccharides are made into shorter chains of dextrin by the salivary enzyme, amylase. Dextrin then is broken down into maltose by pancreatic amylase. Sugars, such as sucrose and lactose, are broken down at the pancreatic stage also by amylase. The resultant sugars from amylase are monosaccharides – glucose, galactose, fructose – are then absorbed in the small intestine. Once through the small intestine enterocytes, the monosaccharides enter the blood stream and through the portal vein circulate to the liver.
Potential Significance of Proteases
Published in Hafiz Ansar Rasul Suleria, Megh R. Goyal, Masood Sadiq Butt, Phytochemicals from Medicinal Plants, 2019
Marwa Waheed, Muhammad Bilal Hussain, Sadia Hassan, Mohammad Ali Shariati, Oluwafemi Adeleke Ojo
Amylases are starch hydrolyzing plant enzymes. Starch is a substrate that can be obtained for commercial utilization from the roots and tubers of plants, for example, potato, cassava, pith of sago palm, arrowroot, and seeds of plants, such as wheat, corn, rice, or sorghum. Corn is the most important commercialized source of thickener or starch, from where starch compounds can be extracted by wet milling procedure. Amylase enzymes are currently being used for different purposes. The most important share of starch-processing industry can be justified by the transformation of starch into dextrin, syrup, and sugar. Hydrolysates of starch compounds are being utilized in fermentation as a source of carbon along with sweetness source in a variety of synthetic beverages and food products.76
Nanomedicine(s) under the Microscope *
Published in Valerio Voliani, Nanomaterials and Neoplasms, 2021
Biodegradable polymers allow utilization of higher molecular weight platforms to optimize pharmacokinetics, and they are essential for treatment of diseases that require chronic administration, e.g., for tissue repair and regenerative medicine [382–384]. Polymers that degrade enzymatically or hydrolytically already in preclinical or clinical development include dextrin [384], hydroxyethylstarch (HES) [385], polyglutamic acid [174, 383], the polyacetal Fleximer [378], and polysialic acids. A polysialic acid-erythropoietin conjugate (ErepoXen) is in early clinical trial [386] and an insulin conjugate undergoing preclinical investigation [387]. With the exception of the branched HES, these are all linear synthetic, natural, or pseudosynthetic polymers. Dextrin and HES are approved for clinical use as a peritoneal dialysis solution and plasma expander respectively, so their safety profile and degradation mechanisms are known. However, when used as conjugates the safety of covalent linking chemistry used and/or the heterogeneous degradation products that maybe generated during storage and/or metabolism must also be carefully considered. When a HES conjugate of the iron chelator deferoxamine (HES-DFO) was evaluated clinically in healthy male volunteers (administered by iv infusion over 4 h), it was well tolerated and displayed a prolonged circulation (22–33 h) with increased urinary iron excretion [388]. A phase 1b study in transfusion-dependent patients with β-thalassemia (doses of 150–900 mg/kg) confirmed that HES-DFO at 900 mg/kg produced clinically significant urinary iron excretion. Drug-related adverse events were limited to 4 urticarial reactions, none requiring termination of the infusion [389].
Danggui Niantong granules ameliorate rheumatoid arthritis by regulating intestinal flora and promoting mitochondrial apoptosis
Published in Pharmaceutical Biology, 2022
Qi-Jin Lu, Jia-Yu Li, Hong-Xin Lin, Yi-Si Cai, Chang-Shun Liu, Li-Ping Fu, Gang Liu, Li-Xia Yuan
DGNTG is composed of 15 Chinese medicinal herbs as shown in Table 1. DGNTG was provided by Jiangxi Xinglin Baima Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd (Jiangxi, China), batch number 2017B02868. To prepare the granules, 15 medicinal herbs were divided into four portions and extracted four times with distilled water by decoction, the extracts were filtered, mixed and dried to a powder. DGNTG was prepared from these powders and dextrin was added appropriately. Quality control of DGNTG was analysed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). DGNTG was diluted to obtain a final concentration of 4 mg/mL using methanol. The mixture was sonicated, centrifuged and filtered. Baicalin was used as a standard for identification of the components of DGNTG. HPLC was performed on an Agilent 1260 Infinity II System with Variable Wavelength Detector (VWD).
Clay nanoparticles as pharmaceutical carriers in drug delivery systems
Published in Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery, 2021
Jiani Dong, Zeneng Cheng, Songwen Tan, Qubo Zhu
PH is a good choice for designing stimulatory drug delivery systems in a variety of external stimuli, because of the slightly acidic environment of cancer cells. To achieve such stimulation-responsive drug delivery systems, special gatekeepers, which can selectively release drugs in response to specific stimuli, must be grafted onto the MSNs surface. These gatekeepers include liposomes, synthetic polymers, biomolecules, cyclodextrins, and other inorganic nanoparticles. Li et al [102]. chose modified ph-sensitive dextrin as the gatekeeper and prepared a ph-sensitive anticancer drug delivery system. They covered the surface of MCM-41 with modified dextrin and loaded it with DOX as a model drug. Under normal physiological conditions, the system did not leak the drug, but at pH 5–6.8, the modified dextrin ruptured and released the drug. PDA(polydopamine) is also a common gatekeeper for controlling drug release, not only as photothermal therapy(PTT) agent, but also highly sensitive to pH. PDA is connected to the surface of MSNs loaded with DOX by a disulfide bond, enabling it to have a synergistic effect of chemotherapy and photothermal therapy. PDA has excellent photothermal conversion performance, in the near-infrared light irradiation (NIR), the rising temperature can accelerate the release of drugs. This redox/pH/NIR-multi-responsive drug delivery system improves efficiency and biocompatibility and is a potential target release drug delivery system [103].
Calorie restriction in combination with prebiotic supplementation in obese women with depression: effects on metabolic and clinical response
Published in Nutritional Neuroscience, 2021
Elnaz Vaghef-Mehrabany, Fatemeh Ranjbar, Mohammad Asghari-Jafarabadi, Sonia Hosseinpour-Arjmand, Mehrangiz Ebrahimi-Mameghani
No significant differences were observed between the prebiotic and placebo group post-intervention, in terms of depression scores, in our study (Figure 2). Observational studies have reported microbial dysbiosis in depression [36]. Prebiotics/probiotics through modulating gut microbiota enhance the immune system function and decrease inflammation [37]. This leads to improved brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression, decreased glucocorticoid resistance, and lower kynurenine production from tryptophan; these together might contribute to alleviation of depression [38,39]. Unlike some promising results from probiotics interventions [40], little evidence supports anti-depressant effects of prebiotics. Merely one study reported remarkable improvement in depressive symptoms after 8 weeks of resistant dextrin (10 g/day) supplementation in diabetic patients [16]. The only clinical trial on non-obese patients with MDD, which assessed the effects of galactooligosaccharide (10 g/day) administration, found no significant effects of the intervention after 8 weeks [41]. Higher dosage or duration of prebiotics supplementation might be required for improving the assumed dysbiosis in depression. Moreover, the type of the prebiotics used in various clinical trials might affect the study outcomes, as the prebiotic capacity of these substances differs [42]. Also, an assumed improvement in the gut microbiota composition by improved dietary habits might have masked the effects of the prebiotic supplement, in our patients.