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Flaxseed, a Functional Food—Constituents and Their Health Benefits
Published in Robert Fried, Richard M. Carlton, Flaxseed, 2023
Robert Fried, Richard M. Carlton
Plant lignans are phenolic compounds present in almost all plants. They act as both antioxidants and phytoestrogens. Phytoestrogens can have weak estrogen activity in animals and humans. Flax contains up to 800 times more lignans than other plant foods (and their content in flaxseed is principally composed of secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG) (294–700 mg/100 gram), matairesinol (0.55 mg/100 gram), lariciresinol (3.04 mg/100 gram) and pinoresinol (3.32 mg/100 g).
Chemopreventive Agents
Published in David E. Thurston, Ilona Pysz, Chemistry and Pharmacology of Anticancer Drugs, 2021
In the human diet, intestinal bacteria can metabolize some plant lignans (e.g., syringaresinol, sesamin, pinoresinol, lariciresinol, seco-isolariciresinol, matairesinol, and hydroxymatairesinol) to mammalian lignans such as enterodiol and enterolactone. Matairesinol and seco-isolariciresinol were the first plant lignans to be identified in food products, and the latter (as the diglucoside) is the principal lignan precursor found in flaxseed.
An Alternative Approach for Anti-Alzheimer’s Compounds from Plant Extracts
Published in Atanu Bhattacharjee, Akula Ramakrishna, Magisetty Obulesu, Phytomedicine and Alzheimer’s Disease, 2020
G. K. Pratap, Manjula Shantaram
The lignans are bioactive plant compounds, non-nutritional, non-caloric phenolic plant compounds that are found at the highest concentration in sesame and flax seeds and in lower concentrations in grains, other seeds, vegetables, and fruits (Abef and Yamauchi, 1990; Gokare and Akula, 2010). The chemistry and biosynthesis of lignans in plants present in major food sources and their metabolism in humans have been studied (Zhao et al., 2003). The plant lignans most commonly distributed in foods are lariciresinol, matairesinol, pinoresinol, and secoisolariciresinol (Houghton and Howes, 2005). Some lignans are present in foods, including medioresinol (sesame seeds, rye, and lemons), sesamin, syringaresinol (grains), and their precursor sesamolin (Rao et al., 2011). Lignans are recognized as a class of natural products with a particularly wide spectrum of important biological activities, with the main biological properties of lignans being antitumor and antiviral activities (Zhao et al., 2003; Kim et al., 2015) (Figure 2.2 and Table 2.2).
Inhibition of Streptococcus mutans adhesion and biofilm formation with small-molecule inhibitors of sortase A from Juniperus chinensis
Published in Journal of Oral Microbiology, 2022
Eunji Cho, Ji-Yeon Hwang, Jae Sung Park, Daehyun Oh, Dong-Chan Oh, Hyeung-Geun Park, Jongheon Shin, Ki-Bong Oh
In this study, chemical structures were investigated in Juniperus chinensis crude extract, which effectively inhibited S. mutans-derived SrtA (71.2% inhibition at a concentration of 100 μg/mL). Bioassay-guided fractionation of the extract using various chromatographic methods following combined spectroscopic analysis yielded six compounds (1–6) of various skeletal classes including, flavonoid, lignan, and tropolone-bearing sesquiterpene (Figure 1). Among these compounds, a novel lignan (1) was structurally characterized as a dihydroxy derivative of matairesinol through combined spectroscopic analysis. This study describes the structures of a novel lignan (1) and several previously reported compounds (2–6) isolated from J. chinensis. Compound 1 strongly inhibited S. mutans-derived SrtA. The magnitudes of inhibition of aggregation, adhesion, and biofilm formation in S. mutans treated with compound 1 is comparable to the behaviors of the untreated srtA-deletion mutant. These results suggest that an inhibitor of SrtA may be a useful tool for inhibiting the cariogenic properties of S. mutans.