Abstract
The identification of active ingredients in crude plant extracts offers great advantages. In this study, nuclear magnetic resonance and chemometrics were used for the screening of in vitro anti-TNFα activity in different berry types. Solid phase extraction was applied and the resulting water, methanol–water (1:1), and methanol fractions were tested for the activity. The methanol–water fraction contained most of the phenolics and showed significantly higher activity than the other two fractions. In the second phase of this study, grapes from ‘Trincadeira’, ‘Touriga Nacional’, and ‘Aragonês’, at four developmental stages were metabolically classified and tested for the TNFα inhibition. The initial stages of grape development, green and veraison, were found more active against TNFα production as compared to the later ripe and harvest stages. Among the cultivars, ‘Touriga Nacional’ was found to be the most potent inhibitor. Different multivariate data analyses algorithms based on projections to latent structures were applied to correlate the NMR and TNFα inhibition data. The variable importance in the projections plot showed that phenolics like quercetin, myricetin, (+)-catechin, (−)-epicatechin, caftarate, and coutarate, were positively correlated with high activity. This work demonstrates the great potential of NMR spectroscopy in combination with chemometrics for the screening of large set of crude extracts, to study the effects of different variables on the activity, and identifying active compounds in complex mixtures like plant extracts.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11306-012-0406-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Inflammation is a complex process and various mediators, like interleukins and tumor necrosis factor-a (TNFa), are involved in the development of inflammatory diseases
Nuclear magnetic resonance and chemometrics were used for the screening of in vitro anti-TNFa activity in different berry types
Low production of TNFa is advantageous for the host but its overproduction during infection plays a pivotal role in the development of diseases like disseminated intravascular coagulation, death in septic shock, cerebral malaria, along with wide range of other inflammatory diseases including asthma, dermatitis, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowl disease, cystic fibrosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and immunological disorders (Bjornsdottir and Cypcar 1999; Murphy et al 1998; Medana et al 1997)
Summary
Inflammation is a complex process and various mediators, like interleukins and tumor necrosis factor-a (TNFa), are involved in the development of inflammatory diseases. TNFa, an inflammatory mediator, is one of the most important pro-inflammatory cytokines It was discovered in 1975 as having an anti-tumor activity, but is recognized as a host defense factor in immunological and inflammatory responses (Tracey et al 1994). Low production of TNFa is advantageous for the host but its overproduction during infection plays a pivotal role in the development of diseases like disseminated intravascular coagulation, death in septic shock, cerebral malaria, along with wide range of other inflammatory diseases including asthma, dermatitis, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowl disease, cystic fibrosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and immunological disorders (Bjornsdottir and Cypcar 1999; Murphy et al 1998; Medana et al 1997). It is evident that the suppression of TNFa or anti-TNFa therapy could be beneficial for the treatment of these acute and chronic diseases
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