methyl-ferulate and ferulic-acid

Ferulic acid (Fer) is known for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, which are possibly useful against neurodegenerative diseases. Despite the ability of Fer to permeate the brain, its fast elimination from the body does not allow its therapeutic use to be optimized. The present study proposes the preparation and characterization of tristearin- or stearic acid-based solid lipid microparticles (SLMs) as sustained delivery and targeting systems for Fer. The microparticles were produced by conventional hot emulsion techniques. The synthesis of the methyl ester of Fer (Fer-Me) allowed its encapsulation in the SLMs to increase. Fer-Me was hydrolyzed to Fer in rat whole blood and liver homogenate, evidencing its prodrug behavior. Furthermore, Fer-Me displayed antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. The amount of encapsulated Fer-Me was 0.719 ± 0.005% or 1.507 ± 0.014% in tristearin or stearic acid SLMs, respectively. The tristearin SLMs were able to control the prodrug release, while the stearic acid SLMs induced a significant increase of its dissolution rate in water. Jointly, the present results suggest that the tristearin SLMs loaded with Fer-Me could be a potential formulation against peripheral neuropathic pain; conversely, the stearic acid SLMs could be useful for Fer-Me uptake in the brain after nasal administration of the formulation.

Topics: Acetylmuramyl-Alanyl-Isoglutamine; Animals; Antioxidants; Caffeic Acids; Coumaric Acids; Drug Carriers; Neuroinflammatory Diseases; Particle Size; Prodrugs; Rats

Feruloyl esterase (FAE) is a critical enzyme in bio-extraction of ferulic acid (FA) from plant cell wall. A new FAE (EpFAE1) encoding gene was isolated from Eupenicillium parvum and heterologously expressed in Pichia pastoris cells. Based on phylogenetic tree analysis, the protein EpFAE1 belongs to type A of the seventh FAE subfamily. Using methyl ferulate as substrate, the optimum temperature and pH for the catalytic activity of EpFAE1 were 50 °C and 5.5, respectively. The enzyme exhibited high stability at 50 °C, in a wide pH range (3.0-11.0), or in the presence of 2 M of NaCl. Together with the endo-xylanase EpXYN1, EpFAE1 released 72.32% and 4.00% of the alkali-extractable FA from de-starched wheat bran (DSWB) or de-starched corn bran (DSCB), respectively. Meanwhile, the substrates were pretreated with 1.75% (for DSWB) or 1.0% (for DSCB) of phosphoric acid (PA) at 90 °C for 12 h, followed by enzymatic hydrolysis of the soluble and insoluble fractions. The release efficiencies of FA were up to 84.64% for DSWB and 66.73% for DSCB. Combined dilute PA pretreatment with enzymatic hydrolysis is a low-cost and highly efficient method for the extraction of FA from cereal brans.

Topics: Caffeic Acids; Carboxylic Ester Hydrolases; Cell Wall; Coumaric Acids; Edible Grain; Eupenicillium; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Hydrolysis; Industrial Microbiology; Kinetics; Phosphoric Acids; Phylogeny; Reproducibility of Results; Saccharomycetales; Solubility; Substrate Specificity; Temperature

Glucose intolerance is associated with metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) while some new therapeutic drugs, such as rosiglitazone (Rosi), for T2DM can cause severe cardiovascular side effects. Herein we report the synthesis of Rosi-ferulic acid (FA)-nitric oxide (NO) donor trihybrids to improve glucose tolerance and minimize the side effects. In comparison with Rosi, the most active compound 21 exhibited better effects on improving glucose tolerance, which was associated with its NO production, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. Furthermore, 21 displayed relatively high stability in the simulated gastrointestinal environments and human liver microsomes, and released Rosi in plasma. More importantly, 21, unlike Rosi, had little stimulatory effect on the membrane translocation of aquaporin-2 (AQP2) in kidney collecting duct epithelial cells. These, together with a better safety profile, suggest that the trihybrids, like 21, may be promising candidates for intervention of glucose intolerance-related metabolic syndrome and T2DM.

Topics: Anti-Inflammatory Agents; Antioxidants; Aquaporin 2; Cells, Cultured; Coumaric Acids; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2; Drug Design; Glucose Intolerance; Humans; Kidney Tubules, Collecting; Metabolic Syndrome; Microsomes, Liver; Nitric Oxide Donors; Rosiglitazone

The antioxidant activity of ferulic acid (

Topics: Acrolein; Antioxidants; Caffeic Acids; Coumaric Acids; Molecular Structure; Oxidation-Reduction; Structure-Activity Relationship

Arabinoxylans are constituents of the human diet. Although not utilizable by the human host, they can be fermented by colonic bacteria. The arabinoxylan backbone is decorated with arabinose side chains that may be substituted with ferulic acid, thus limiting depolymerization to fermentable sugars. We investigated the polypeptides encoded by two genes upregulated during growth of the colonic bacterium Bacteroides intestinalis on wheat arabinoxylan. The recombinant proteins, designated BiFae1A and BiFae1B, were functionally assigned esterase activities. Both enzymes were active on acetylated substrates, although each showed a higher ferulic acid esterase activity on methyl-ferulate. BiFae1A showed a catalytic efficiency of 12mM s

Topics: Amino Acid Sequence; Bacteroides; Caffeic Acids; Chromatography, Gel; Coumaric Acids; Crystallography, X-Ray; Esterases; Kinetics; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Molecular Sequence Data; Protein Conformation; Protein Multimerization; Sequence Alignment; Substrate Specificity; Xylans; Xylosidases

Steryl ferulates (SFs) are a subclass of bioactive lipids contributing to the health-promoting effects of whole grains. Most related studies focus on γ-oryzanol, a SF mixture from rice, since individual steryl ferulates are not commercially available. There is little evidence that individual SFs may vary in their bioactivity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antioxidant activity of eight individual SFs by determining their radical scavenging capacity. Additional molecular properties of the individual SFs were determined by molecular simulation in order to identify correlations with their antioxidant activities. Our study demonstrates that individual SFs exhibit 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical, hydroxyl radical, and superoxide anion radical scavenging abilities with subtle differences that were highly dependent on the kind of reaction taking place. The grouping of SFs by principle component analysis was mainly attributed to molecular properties, not antioxidant activities. Solvation energy was significantly correlated with some experimental observations. To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the antioxidant activity of eight individual steryl ferulates from different sources. Results of this work will provide better insight into the antioxidant activity of SFs and the health benefits of whole grains.

Topics: Algorithms; Antioxidants; Biphenyl Compounds; Coumaric Acids; Dietary Fiber; Edible Grain; Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy; Molecular Structure; Oryza; Oxidation-Reduction; Phenylpropionates; Phytosterols; Picrates; Plant Extracts

Novel multifunctional tacrines for Alzheimer's disease were obtained by Ugi-reaction between ferulic (or lipoic acid), a melatonin-like isocyanide, formaldehyde, and tacrine derivatives, according to the antioxidant additive approach in order to modulate the oxidative stress as therapeutic strategy. Compound 5c has been identified as a promising permeable agent showing excellent antioxidant properties, strong cholinesterase inhibitory activity, less hepatotoxicity than tacrine, and the best neuroprotective capacity, being able to significantly activate the Nrf2 transcriptional pathway.

Topics: Alzheimer Disease; Antioxidants; Cell Death; Cell Survival; Cholinesterase Inhibitors; Cholinesterases; Coumaric Acids; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Hep G2 Cells; Humans; Melatonin; Molecular Structure; NF-E2-Related Factor 2; Structure-Activity Relationship

Formation of ethyl ferulate (EF) and ferulic acid (FA) under sake mash conditions was studied using feruloylated oligosaccharide (FO), prepared from rice grains, as the substrate for rice koji enzyme. EF and FA were produced from FO over six times faster than from alkyl ferulates however, under the same ethanol concentration, only small differences were observed between the EF/FA ratios when either FO or methyl ferulate were used as substrates. Esterification and hydrolysis of FO or methyl ferulate showed similar pH dependencies and similar EF/FA ratios for each substrate in all of the pH ranges tested. Ethanol concentration clearly affected the EF/FA ratio; the ratio increased as ethanol concentration increased. Formation of EF and FA in the sake mash simulated rice digest was accelerated by addition of exogenous FO. These results indicated that supply of FO to sake mash is a crucial step for EF and FA formation, and ethanol is an influencing factor in the EF/FA ratio. The rice koji enzyme reaction suggested that EF and FA are formed through a common feruloylated enzyme intermediate complex by transesterification or hydrolysis, and these reactions occur competitively.

Topics: Alcoholic Beverages; Caffeic Acids; Coumaric Acids; Esterification; Ethanol; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Hydrolysis; Oligosaccharides; Oryza

A feruloyl esterase catalyzes the hydrolysis of the 4-hydroxy-3-methoxycinnamoyl (feruloyl) group from esterified sugars in plant cell walls. Talaromyces cellulolyticus is a high cellulolytic-enzyme producing fungus. However, there is no report for feruloyl esterase activity of T. cellulolyticus. Analysis of the genome database of T. cellulolyticus identified a gene encoding a putative feruloyl esterase B. The recombinant enzyme was prepared using a T. cellulolyticus homologous expression system and characterized. The purified enzyme exhibited hydrolytic activity toward p-nitrophenyl acetate, p-nitrophenyl trans-ferulate, methyl ferulate, rice husk, and bagasse. HPLC assays showed that the enzyme released ferulic acid and p-coumaric acid from hydrothermal-treated rice husk and bagasse. Trichoderma sp. is well-known high cellulolytic-enzyme producing fungus useful for the lignocellulosic biomass saccharification. Interestingly, no feruloyl esterase has been reported from Trichoderma sp. The results show that this enzyme is expected to be industrially useful for biomass saccharification.

Topics: Caffeic Acids; Carbohydrates; Carboxylic Ester Hydrolases; Cell Wall; Coumaric Acids; Hydrolysis; Talaromyces

Feruloyl esterases are key enzymes involved in the complete hydrolysis of hemicellulose. In the present study, the encoding sequence of putative feruloyl esterase A (AfFaeA) was cloned from genomic DNA from Aspergillus flavus and expressed in Pichia pastoris. The purified recombinant AfFaeA had apparent relative molecular mass of about 40,000 and had an optimum pH of 6.0, although it was stable at pH values ranging from 4.5 to 8.0. The optimum temperature for AfFaeA was 58°C. AfFaeA had hydrolytic activity toward methyl caffeate, methyl p-coumarate, methyl ferulate and methyl sinapate. Substrate specificity profiling of AfFaeA demostrated it is a type-A feruloyl esterase. The good performance of AfFaeA to release ferulic acid from steam exploded corn stalk in concert with Geobacillus stearothermophilus xylanase mutant indicated it is a promising biocatalyst for biomass degradation.

Topics: Aspergillus flavus; Caffeic Acids; Carboxylic Ester Hydrolases; Cloning, Molecular; Coumaric Acids; Pichia; Recombinant Proteins; Substrate Specificity

The anticancer activities of alkyl esters and NO-donors of ferulic acid (FA) and caffeic acid (CA) were assessed by a high-throughout screening (HTS) method, and the structure-activity relationships were described. CA alkyl esters had better anticancer activities than FA alkyl esters with the same alkyl substituent. Mono-nitrates and phenylfuroxan nitrates were more potent than the dual nitrates. Phenylsulfonylfuroxan nitrates of FA, especially compounds 8b-8d, exhibited more potent activities in anticancer.

Topics: Antineoplastic Agents; Caffeic Acids; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Proliferation; Coumaric Acids; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; HeLa Cells; High-Throughput Screening Assays; Humans; Molecular Structure; Stereoisomerism; Structure-Activity Relationship

Cinnamic, p-coumaric and ferulic acids were isolated from pineapple stems (Ananas comosus var. Cayenne). Twenty-four kinds of esters were prepared from these acids, alcohols and the components of Alpinia. Isopropyl 4-hydroxycinnamate (11) and butyl 4-hydroxycinnamate (12) were found to have almost the same effectiveness in antifungal activity against Pythium sp. at 10 ppm as that of the commercial fungicide iprobenfos (kitazin P).

Topics: Anti-Infective Agents; Antifungal Agents; Cinnamates; Coumaric Acids; Esters; Fruit; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Plant Extracts; Plant Stems; Propionates; Pythium; Structure-Activity Relationship