Augusta Zevzikoviene

Walnut septa, traditionally discarded as waste in walnut processing because they primarily serve a structural function in the walnut fruit, have recently gained attention for their potential abundance of phenolic compounds, suggesting their overlooked value. This study aimed to optimise extraction parameters to maximise the extraction yield of bioactive compounds and explore regional variations in antioxidant activity and chemical composition of Juglans regia L. septa. The experimental variables included extraction methods (maceration, dynamic maceration, ultrasound processing, and reflux extraction), temperature, solvent type (methanol, acetone, and ethanol), and the percentage of water in the solvent. The optimal conditions were determined based on the total phenolic content—reflux extraction using 60% ethanol as a solvent for a duration of 60 min. Samples from 12 different regions in Lithuania, Armenia, and Ukraine were analysed for their phenolic and proanthocyanidin content and antioxidant activity using the CUPRAC method. The total phenolic content ranged from 131.55 to 530.92 mg of gallic acid equivalents per g of dry weight of plant material (mg GAE/g dw), while the proanthocyanidin content varied from 1.14 to 7.65 mg of (–)-epicatechin equivalents per g dry weight of plant material (mg EE/g dw). Among all the regions studied, the Šiauliai sample demonstrated the highest concentrations of phenolic compounds, proanthocyanidins, and antioxidant activity, with statistically significant differences compared to the other samples (p < 0.05). These findings demonstrate that walnut septa are a valuable source of phenolic compounds and antioxidants, with significant potential for developing natural nutraceuticals and antioxidant products.

Enoxolon is widely recognized for its pharmacological potential, exhibiting antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and antiviral properties. Objectives: This study aimed to develop an enhanced formulation of enoxolone-loaded microsponges as a novel drug delivery system. A design of experiments (DoE) approach was employed for the optimization process. Methods: The microsponges were produced using the quasi-emulsion technique. The selected formulation was evaluated for yield, particle size, and entrapment efficiency. Furthermore, the microsponges were incorporated into a 1% MC solution matrix, and in vitro release studies were performed to assess their drug delivery performance. Results: The optimal formulation was determined through the DoE methodology, which involved varying the concentrations of methylcellulose (MC) (0.55–1.87%, w/w), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) (0.5–1%, w/w), and Tween 80 (TW80) (1.5–2.5%, w/w). The results showed a particle size of 142.8 ± 10.02 µm and an entrapment efficiency of 80.3 ± 1.99%. When comparing the optimized microsponge formulation to pure enoxolon, a 1.29 times higher release rate was observed (p ≤ 0.05). Conclusions: Following optimizationand physicochemical characterization studies were conducted to further assess the formulation. These findings suggest that microsponge-based delivery systems hold considerable potential as an alternative platform for the topical treatment of chronic periodontitis.

Background: Antimicrobial resistance is currently one of the most significant threats to medical science, necessitating the exploration of new antimicrobial agents. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) can lead to various severe conditions such as endocarditis, meningitis, abscesses, and sepsis, and conventional antibiotics such as beta-lactams are ineffective for treating these diseases. Therefore, it is imperative to search for novel chemical substances with antimicrobial effects against MRSA. This study aimed to investigate the bioactive chemical compound extracts isolated from Euphorbia helioscopia L. plant material against clinical samples of MRSA collected from the Hospital of Lithuanian University of Health Sciences Kaunas Clinics. Methodology: Bioactive compounds from the aboveground parts of Euphorbia helioscopia L. were isolated using methanol extraction of herbal material followed by lyophilization. The total phenolic compound concentration was determined using the Folin-Ciocalteu method. Antioxidant power was assessed through the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay, chemical composition was analyzed via high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and antimicrobial activity against MRSA was evaluated using the disc diffusion method. Results: The lyophilized extract of Euphorbia helioscopia L. exhibited antimicrobial activity against two out of five strains of MRSA. Seven phenolic compounds were identified, three of which were not previously reported as constituents of Euphorbia helioscopia L. More than a third of the isolated compounds were phenolic compounds. Conclusion: Euphorbia helioscopia L. exhibits antimicrobial properties effective against certain strains of MRSA.

Cirsium vulgare (Savi) Ten. is also known as a bull thistle. It is a species of the Asteraceae, genus Cirsium. This plant is known as biennial native in most of Europe, Western Asia, Northwestern Africa [1]. Studies show that the main active compounds in Cirsium genus plants are flavonoids. It is known that Cirsium vulgare contains secondary metabolites such as sterols and triterpenes, aliphatic aldehydes, phenolic acids [2]. Also, it is suspected that this plant accumulates amino acids like other plants of this genus. Due to this, our main research aim was to identify phenolic compounds and amino acids in Cirsium vulgare plant leaves, roots, flowers raw materials. For these plant parts qualitative evaluation HPLC-PDA (for phenolic compounds) and GC-MS (amino acids) methods were used. Results showed that main phenolic compounds accumulated in Cirsium vulgare raw materials water/ethanol extracts were chlorogenic acid, neochlorogen, p-cumaric acid, hyperoside, isoquercitrine, apigenin, apigenin-7-O-glucoside and luteolin. Amino acids accumulated in plant were L-Alanine, Glycine, L-Valine, L-Leucine, L-Isoleucine, L-Proline, L-Serine, L-Threonine, L-Phenylalanine, L-Aspartic acid, L-Glutamic acid, L-Lysine and L-Tyrosine. A relation between detection of active compounds and the phenological stage and/or part of the plant raw materials were found. The greatest variety of amino acids and phenolic compounds was found during the mass flowering of plants, in the flowers and leaves, respectively. Article published online: 12 December 2022 © 2022. Thieme. All rights reserved. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Rüdigerstraße 14, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany

Amino acids are one of the main particles in a living organism. They perform many different functions, such as structural, receptor, energetic and enzymatic functions [1]. The aim of the investigation was to identify and evaluate the qualitative composition of free amino acids in samples of Cirsium vulgare material using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Our objectives were to apply the gas chromatography– mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method for free amino acids from Cirsium vulgare raw materials grown in Lithuania and determine the qualitative composition of free amino acids from extracts of Cirsium vulgare raw materials: roots, leaves, flowers and seeds. MTBSTFA (N-methyl-N-(tertbutyldimethylsilyl) trifluoroacetamide) was selected for derivatisation in free amino acid analysis. Applying gas chromatography–mass spectrometry with compound derivatisation and based on the mass spectral database free amino acids were identified in bull thistle raw material: L-alanine, glycine, L-valine, L-leucine, L-isoleucine, L-proline, L-serine, L-threonine, L-phenylalanine, L-lysine, L-tyrosine, L-aspartic acid and L-glutamic acid. Studies have shown that the qualitative composition of free amino acids depends on the plant vegetation phase and plant parts.

It was established that self-poisoning with antipsychotics, anti-anxiety drugs and antidepressants is caused by consumption of the drug in higher doses than prescribed. So it is very important to determine fast the materials causing poisoning and use the method which would allow one to identify several substances during only one analysis. Reference and test solutions were prepared in ethanol. A qualitative and quantitative analysis was carried out on a Waters Alliance 2695 liquid chromatograph equipped with a Waters 996 PDA detector and an ACE C18 (250 mm × 4.6 mm × 5 μm) column. The mobile phase consisted of solvent trifluoroacetic acid (0.1 %) and acetonitrile. The linear gradient elution profile was used. For the validation process the following parameters were chosen: specificity, repeatability, precision and limits (LOD and LOQ). According to the study results, it can be concluded that the validated method for the qualitative and quantitative evaluation analysis of olanzapine, clorazepate and escitalopram was developed.

There are a few new researches on the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical application of Cirsium vulgare, but they do not reflect the full potential use of this plant. For the best of our knowledge, no study has been conducted so far to determine the impact of extraction methods and conditions on the extraction yields of phenolic compounds from Cirsium vulgare. We aimed to investigate a simple and sensitive HPLC-PDA method to determine phenolic compounds in Cirsium vulgare extracts. Three extraction techniques as maceration (ME), ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) and heat-reflux extraction (HRE) were applied and compared for sample preparation to obtain a high recovery of the phenolic compounds. The developed HPLC-PDA method can be used for the preparations of extracts with a high content of bioactive compounds for both pharmaceutical and nutraceutical applications. Moreover, it was validated and used for the qualitative and quantitative evaluation of phenolic compounds. A simple extraction procedure for phenolic compounds from Cirsium vulgare leaves was optimized in this work through the use of the heatreflux extraction method with 50% ethanol and extraction time of 1.5 h.