Rajesha Javaraiah

Flaxseed has been recognized as a valuable source of nutrients and bioactive compounds, including proteins that possess various health benefits. In recent years, studies have shown that flaxseed proteins, including albumins, globulins, glutelin, and prolamins, possess anti-cancer properties. These properties are attributed to their ability to inhibit cancer cell proliferation, induce apoptosis, and interfere with cancer cell signaling pathways, ultimately leading to the inhibition of metastasis. Moreover, flaxseed proteins have been reported to modulate cancer cell mechanobiology, leading to changes in cell behavior and reduced cancer cell migration and invasion. This review provides an overview of the anti-cancer properties of flaxseed proteins, with a focus on their potential use in cancer treatment. Additionally, it highlights the need for further research to fully establish the potential of flaxseed proteins in cancer therapy.

Flaxseed has been recognized as a valuable source of nutrients and bioactive compounds, including proteins that possess various health benefits. In recent years, studies have shown that flaxseed proteins, including albumins, globulins, glutelin, and prolamins, possess anti-cancer properties. These properties are attributed to their ability to inhibit cancer cell proliferation, induce apoptosis, and interfere with cancer cell signaling pathways, ultimately leading to the inhibition of metastasis. Moreover, flaxseed proteins have been reported to modulate cancer cell mechanobiology, leading to changes in cell behavior and reduced cancer cell migration and invasion. This review provides an overview of the anti-cancer properties of flaxseed proteins, with a focus on their potential use in cancer treatment. Additionally, it highlights the need for further research to fully establish the potential of flaxseed proteins in cancer therapy.

Flaxseed (FS) and sesame seed (SS) are traditional and functional foods in traditional Indian medicine for treating various disorders. The present study investigated the hepatoprotective effects of bioactive-fatty acids (FAs) from FS and SS against carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄)-induced hepatic damage in rats. Pre and post-treatments for 28 consecutive days significantly increased the activities of in vivo antioxidant enzymes such as catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and peroxidase (POX), whereas, lipid peroxidation (LPO) activity was markedly decreased in a dose-dependent manner in liver and kidneys. A significant reduction was observed in the hematological parameters like aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and total bilirubin in the serum of post-treated animals compared to the negative control. The results were confirmed histopathologically. The results suggested that the ω-3 and ω-6 FAs from flaxseed oil (FSO) and sesame seed oil (SSO), respectively, showed potential synergistic hepatoprotective and antioxidant effects that were mediated mainly by ω-3 and ω-6 FAs present in the respective seed oils. Graphical Abstract

Background: Many bioactive molecules, such as lycopene, resveratrol, lignan, tannins, indoles, fatty acids, etc., found in small amounts in plants, animals, and micro-organisms have been extensively investigated for their diverse preventive, therapeutic, immune-modulating and toxicological effects. Currently, the growing interest of the consumers is shifted towards a novel bioinspired strategy of cocktailing two or more bioactives at a lower concentration to reduce both side and cost effects, and to enhance positive effects for the development of novel compounds by the food, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries.Methods: Even though there are several regularly updated and published reports showing the importance of beneficial effects of bioactives individually, no systematic reviews are outlining how the bioactives have combinatorially acted together to provide such health benefits and disease preventive effects. Hence, various electronic scientific databases, such as Pub Med, Science Direct, Google scholar, Sci-Finder were searched to collect the data of the present review.Results: One hundred and sixty-two research and review papers collected from peer-reviewed journals are cited in the present review covering the broad spectrum of many bioactives and their importance in the field of food, feed and drug industries.Conclusion: The present systematic review discusses and highlights the current knowledge on the concept of synergistic and combinatorial effects of various bioactives from the plant, animal, micro- organism sources, and synthetic drugs in disease prevention and health promotion. These findings may pave a way for the discovery of new bioactive products and process development, which could add to economic importance.

The toxicity of heavy metals such as mercury (Hg) in humans and animals is well documented. The kidney is the primary deposition site of inorganic-Hg and target organ of its toxicity. The present study investigated the protective efficacy of flaxseed lignan-Secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG) on nephrotoxicity induced by mercuric chloride (HgCl₂). Rats were intraperitoneally injected with HgCl₂ (2 mg/kg/day) and renal toxicity was induced. Subcutaneous administration of rats with SDG (5 mg/kg/day) as a pre-treatment caused a significant reversal of HgCl₂ induced increase in blood urea, creatinine, glutathione s-transferase and catalase (CAT). On the other hand, administration of SDG with HgCl₂ restored normal levels of albumin and superoxide dismutase (SOD). Histological examination of kidneys confirmed that pre-treatment of SDG before HgCl₂ administration significantly reduced its pathological effects. Thus, the results of the present investigation suggest that SDG can significantly reduce renal damage, serum and tissue biochemical profiles caused by HgCl₂ induced nephrotoxicity. Hence, SDG may be recommended for clinical trials in the treatment of kidney disorders caused by exposure to Hg.

The present study was designed to evaluate the in vitro and in vivo ameliorative antioxidant potential of secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG). In vitro antioxidant activity of synthetic SDG was carried out using DPPH, reducing power potency, and DNA protection assays. Wistar albino rats weighing 180–220 g were used for in vivo studies and liver damage was induced in the experimental animals by a single intraperitoneal (I.P.) injection of CCl₄ (2 g/kg b.w.). Intoxicated animals were treated orally with synthetic SDG at (12.5 and 25 mg/kg b.w.) and Silymarin (25 mg/kg) for 14 consecutive days. The levels of catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POX), and lipid peroxidase (LPO) were measured in liver and kidney homogenates. The synthetic SDG exerts high in vitro antioxidant potency as it could scavenge DPPH at a IC₅₀ value of 78.9 μg/ml and has dose-dependent reducing power potency and protected DNA at 0.5 mg/ml concentration. Oral administration of synthetic SDG at 12.5 and 25 mg/kg b.w. showed significant protection compared to Silymarin (25 mg/kg) and the activities of CAT, SOD, and POX were markedly increased (P < 0.05), whereas LPO significantly decreased (P < 0.001) in a dose-dependent manner in liver and kidney in both pre- and post-treatment groups when compared to toxin-treated group. The results of in vitro and in vivo investigations revealed that synthetic SDG at 25 mg/kg b.w. is associated with beneficial changes in hepatic enzyme activities and thereby plays a key role in the prevention of oxidative damage in immunologic system.