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In this study, tea polyphenols (TPs) was first extracted from tea waste by superheated steam (SS) pretreated ultrasonic-assisted hydrothermal extraction (UAH). The optimized strategy presented extracts with the extraction yield up to 21.19% with a significantly higher antioxidant ability, compared with the one without SS pretreatment. Further investigation proved that the SS suppressed the polyphenol oxidase activity of the TPs extract. The ability to scavenge the free radicals were compared in mouse liver mitochondria. Mitochondrial swelling, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), cardiolipin peroxidation, and respiratory chain complex (RCC) I-V activities were also evaluated as the index of the mitochondrial oxidative damage. The study supports evidence that the TPs extract exhibited significant protection against oxidative damage on mitochondrial. Furthermore, the effect of TPs on antioxidant ability in zebrafish embryo was evaluated. After TPs pretreatment for 1 day, zebrafish embryos showed a significantly higher survival rate as well as heart rate when facing the oxidative stress. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Polyphenols from tea leaves have been viewed as an antioxidant additive in food, mainly due to the ability of scavenging free radicals and reactive oxygen species. The results of this study suggest that the SS pretreatment could be used as an efficient method to extract TPs from the tea waste for the prevention of oxidative damage in the mouse liver mitochondria and zebrafish embryos., (© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Ampullofolliculina Hadži, 1951 is a monotypic genus, the only species being A. lageniformis which was first discovered in estuarine habitats in the U.S. and has never been redescribed. In the present study, we investigated the taxonomy and phylogeny of A. lageniformis Hadži, 1951 based on analyses of a population collected from a brackish wetland in Ningbo, China. The main characteristics of this species are as follows: trophont about 450-700 μm long in vivo with two short, rounded peristomial lobes of equal size; lorica flask-shaped, transparent and smooth with a short, wide neck at the base of which two transparent valves are asymmetrically inserted; cortex with brownish to reddish cortical granules and greenish pigment granules; about 80 somatic kineties evenly arranged; moniliform macronucleus with 4-8 ellipsoidal nodules; swarmer dark green, vermiform in shape, about 200-350 μm long in vivo, with about 60 adoral membranelles and 85 somatic kineties, no mouth nor paroral membrane. Phylogenetic analyses inferred from SSU rDNA sequences show that A. lageniformis is closely related to Folliculina and Eufolliculina which nest within a large clade that comprises five families, i.e. Stentoridae, Blepharismidae, Fabreidae, Maristentoridae, and Folliculinidae., (© 2019 International Society of Protistologists.)