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- Chitosan mouthwash: toxicity and in vivo validationPublication . Costa, E. M.; Silva, S.; Costa, M. R.; Pereira, M.; Campos, D. A.; Odila, J.; Madureira, A. R.; Cardelle-Cobas, A.; Tavaria, F. K.; Rodrigues, A. S.; Pintado, M. M.A previous study showed that a chitosan mouthwash would be a valid alternative to current mouthwashesas it demonstrated, in vitro, significantly higher antibiofilm activity than two commercial mouthwashes.As such, the aim of this work was to verify the safety of the developed product and to validate, in vivo, thebiological activity ascertained in vitro. Chitosan mouthwash safety was evaluated through Ames, MTT andV79 chromosomal aberration assay while antimicrobial activity was evaluated through in vivo assays. Theresults showed that the chitosan mouthwash was safe, presenting lower cytotoxicity than a commercialmouthwash, and that it effectively reduced viable counts of Streptococcus spp. and Enterococcus spp. by ca.5.5 log of CFU. Furthermore, in direct comparison with a commercial mouthwash the chitosan mouthwashpossessed significantly higher antimicrobial activity. The conjunction of these results proves that thechitosan mouthwash is a safe, effective, natural alternative to the existent chemical mouthwashes.
- Quercus based coffee-like beverage: effect of roasting process and functional characterizationPublication . Coelho, Marta; Silva, Sara; Rodríguez-Alcalá, Luis Miguel; Oliveira, Ana M.; Costa, Eduardo; Borges, André; Martins, Célia; Rodrigues, António S.; Pintado, Maria Manuela E.Coffee is one of the world’s most widely consumed beverages but intake it is not encouraged in consumers with some health conditions. In this way, with the growing interest in developing healthier substitutes, a coffee-like beverage obtained from Quercus ilex and Quercus suber acorn´s species, was elaborates maintaining the flavor. Although, this beverage is a promising coffee alternative, little is known about effects of roasting process in its composition. To that end the antioxidant capacity and toxicity of the developed coffee were analyzed and phenolic compounds and fatty acids (esterified and free forms) were characterized through HPLC-DAD and GC-FID, respectively. The results showed that Quercus based beverages presented antioxidant capacity related to their phenolic content, mainly to ellagic acid as the primary phenolic compound identified. Due to this composition, the beverage also presented antimutagenic activity. The main fatty acids in the esterified lipids were mainly oleic, linoleic, palmitic, stearic and cis vaccenic. In the free fatty acids fraction (FFA) they were oleic, linoleic and palmitic acids. Heat processing produced a reduction in total fatty acid concentration in TG and FFA fraction of Q. ilex. Nevertheless, for Q. suber alterations were only found for FFA. Coffee production did not form genotoxic or cytotoxic compounds. Overall, these results show the feasibility of Quercus acorn-based foodstuffs and its potential to produce a functional coffee-like beverage.
- Extraction of tomato by-products’ bioactive compounds using ohmic technologyPublication . Coelho, Marta; Pereira, Ricardo; Rodrigues, António S.; Teixeira, José A.; Pintado, Manuela E.Tomato peels and seeds are the main by-products of the tomato industry and represent an interesting source of bioactive compounds (BC) including carotenoids, which can be then used as colorant to commercial aquaculture. The aim of the present work was to optimize the extraction of BC from tomato by-products using Ohmic heating (OH) technology. OH extraction experiments were done in the presence of moderate electric fields (MEF) of different intensity (i.e. 4, 6 and 11 V cm−1) to identify the presence of non-thermal effects on the extraction process and its influence on bioactive properties of the extracted compounds. Polyphenol extraction using OH was successfully optimized with the best extraction conditions being 70 °C for 15 min using 70% ethanol as a solvent, which exhibited rutin recovers of 77% higher than control samples. It allowed to recover up to 4.93 μg/gFW lycopene from tomato by-products without resorting to organic solvents. OH can be used as an environmental-friendly, fast and economic process to polyphenols recover from industrial tomato by-products. In addition, the use of different MEF during extraction shows to have a high potential to cause different levels of permeabilization and cell stress that can help to define a selective extraction process of valuable components from tomato by-products.