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Propolis is a resinous substance produced by bees that is rich with phenolic and flavonoid compounds. Extract of propolis has a high antioxidant and antimicrobial properties due to the presence of these compounds. Therefore, the main objectives of this study were to examine the antibacterial and the antioxidant activities of standardized, commercial water extract of propolis in vivo assays, and to assess its impact on preservation of raw beef meatballs aerobically packaged and stored at 4ºC for 7 days. The results showed that the propolis extract demonstrated the highest antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus epidermidis in vivo test. Furthermore, meatballs prepared with the propolis extract had an extended shelf life about a week in comparison to the regular meatballs. Besides, the propolis extract was a very effective natural antioxidant agent for controlling the oxidative changes in meatballs. The propolis treatment provided 64.6% reduction in the malondialdehyde formation at the final day of storage. Color lightness and yellowness values of meatballs were not affected by the propolis treatment, only difference was observed in redness values. The pH of the meatballs prepared with the propolis extract almost stayed constant during storage, while the pH of the control meatball samples increased. In summary, propolis extract exhibited a strong antimicrobial and antioxidant activity in vivo assays and in a meat product. Accordingly, it should be used in meat product formulations to enhance preservation of meat products.

Garlic has long been utilizing as a folk remedy for various diseases. In this study, the effect of aqueous garlic extract (AGE) (125 mg kg-1), garlic oil extract (GOE) (125 mg kg-1), and the combination of both extracts (AGE+GOE) (62.5 from each) was studied over a parasitic disease namely schistosomiasis. Determination of some radical scavenging activities including Ferric Reducing Ability Power, Hydrogen peroxide, DPPH and nitric oxide radical scavenging activities were studied. The antioxidant properties of the mentioned extracts on both normal and Schistosoma mansoni-infected mice was also studied. The liver tissues were analyzed for the level of Malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione (GSH) known as biomarkers for oxidative and reducing status, respectively. The results showed that almost all tested extracts showed high effect of radical scavenging activity. Furthermore, remarkable decrease in worms and tissue eggs were analyzed in all tested extracts as AGE+ GOE (1015 ± 1.41) represented higher level of prohibition in total number of worms and eggs compared to infected untreated mice (1502 ± 2.13). The garlic extracts were potent antioxidants with slight differences.

In this study, the antioxidant properties of some experimentally determined 4-benzylideneamino-4,5- dihydro-1H-1,2,4-triazol-5-one derivatives of antioxidant properties were compared by density functional theory method. Quantum chemical calculations based on density functional theory (DFT) were employed to study the relationship between 4-benzylideneamino-4,5-dihydro-1H-1,2,4-triazol-5-one derivatives (for 2a and 2g) having the highest and least antioxidant activity in experimental results. The solvation effects on the antioxidant activity were taken into account by using the conductor-like polarisable continuum model with different dielectric constants (ϵ= 2.25, C6H6; ϵ = 78.39, H2O). The three antioxidant action mechanisms, hydrogen atom transfer (HAT), single electron transfer-proton transfer (SET-PT) and sequential protonloss electron transfer (SPLET) were elucidated. The reaction enthalpies related to the steps in these mechanisms were computed in gas phase and solvents, the compatibility of the calculated results with experimental values is discussed. The results showed that SPLET was the most favourable mechanism for describing the antioxidant activity of 2a and 2g in the aqueous phase, SPLET represented the most thermodynamically plausible reaction pathway. Calculations performed by using DFT method at the rB3LYP/6-311++G (2d,2p) level of theory for neutral molecules and anions in the gas and solvation phase, for radicals and cations, uB3LYP/ 6-311++G (2d,2p) basis set has been used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present study was to determine total phenolic and flavonoid content and free radical scavenging activity and mineral composition of Trigonella plicata Boiss. & Bal. from Turkey. Total phenol, flavonoid content and free radical scavenging activity of the aqueous methanolic extract obtained from seeds was measured spectrophotometrically by Folin- Ciocalteu, the AlCl3 and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay, respectively. The phenolic content was 64.11±0.36 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g dry weight while the flavonoid content was 51.02±0.056 mg rutin equivalent (RE)/g dry weight. In free radical scavenging assay, inhibition % of the extract (1g/L)was found to be 50.1±0.039. The mineral composition of the seeds were determined by ICP-MS and potassium was main mineral in the seeds. The other main elements, in descending order by quantity, were Ca, P, Mg and Na. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Hurma" olive is an Erkence olive fruit in which fruit sweetness occurs in olive tree, as a result of several factors. Hunna is a special type of olive variety which can directly consumed without any further treatment. This phenomenon occurs only in the fruits of Erkence variety and only in some parts of Karaburun and Seferihisar peninsula in Izmir, due to the on climatic conditions. In our study, olives of Hurma and not Hurma were obtained from districts of Karaburun and Seferihisar, in 2010/11 harvest year. Quality criteria, chlorophyll content, total phenolic content, α-tocopherol content, fatty acid composition, DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activity were analyzed. As a result of this research, the water contents of Hurma and not Hurma were determined as 40.98% and 46.42%, respectively. There was no significant difference determined for the quality criteria between the olive oils which were obtained from Hurma and not Hurma. But the total phenolic content, DPPH* RSA and ABTS** RSA of olive oils which were obtained from not Hurma were determined higher than Hurma, 87.14 mg CAE/kg oil, 59-02 μmol TE/100g oil and 55-83 μmol TE/100g oil, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]