Search Results (616)

Tea consumption is increasingly recognized for its potential benefits to cardiovascular health. This study reviews the available research, concentrating on the major components of tea and their mechanisms of action in the cardiovascular system. Tea is abundant in bioactive compounds, such as flavonoids and polysaccharides, which possess significant antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. These compounds play a crucial role in mitigating oxidative stress and inflammation, thereby supporting cardiovascular health. They enhance endothelial function, leading to improved vascular relaxation and reduced arterial stiffness, and exhibit antithrombotic effects. Additionally, regular tea consumption is potentially associated with better regulation of blood pressure, improved cholesterol profiles, and effective blood sugar control. It has been suggested that incorporating tea into daily dietary habits could be a practical strategy for cardiovascular disease prevention and management. Despite the promising evidence, more rigorous clinical trials are needed to establish standardized consumption recommendations and fully understand long-term effects. This review offers a more comprehensive analysis of the current evidence based on endothelium function and identifies the gaps that future research should address. Full article

Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a severe, irreversible lung disease characterized by progressive scarring, with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) being the most prevalent form. IPF’s pathogenesis involves repetitive lung epithelial injury leading to fibroblast activation and excessive extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition. The prognosis for IPF is poor, with limited therapeutic options like nintedanib and pirfenidone offering only modest benefits. Emerging research highlights the dysregulation of the yes-associated protein (YAP)/transcriptional coactivator with PDZ-binding motif (TAZ) signaling pathway as a critical factor in PF. YAP and TAZ, components of the Hippo pathway, play significant roles in cell proliferation, differentiation, and fibrosis by modulating gene expression through interactions with TEA domain (TEAD) transcription factors. The aberrant activation of YAP/TAZ in lung tissue promotes fibroblast activation and ECM accumulation. Targeting the YAP/TAZ pathway offers a promising therapeutic avenue. Preclinical studies have identified potential treatments, such as trigonelline, dopamine receptor D1 (DRD1) agonists, and statins, which inhibit YAP/TAZ activity and demonstrate antifibrotic effects. These findings underscore the importance of YAP/TAZ in PF pathogenesis and the potential of novel therapies aimed at this pathway, suggesting a new direction for improving IPF treatment outcomes. Further research is needed to validate these approaches and translate them into clinical practice. Full article

Rice bran, which is abundant in dietary fiber and phytochemicals, provides multiple health benefits. Nonetheless, its effects on neuroinflammation and gut microbiota in postmenopausal conditions are still not well understood. This study investigated the effects of rice bran and/or tea seed oil supplementation in d-galactose-injected ovariectomized (OVX) old mice fed a fructose drink. The combination of d-galactose injection, ovariectomy, and fructose drink administration creates a comprehensive model that simulates aging in females under multiple metabolic stressors, including oxidative stress, estrogen deficiency, and high-sugar diets, and allows the study of their combined impact on metabolic disorders and related diseases. Eight-week-old and 6–8-month-old female C57BL/6 mice were used. The mice were divided into six groups: a sham + young mice, a sham + old mice, an OVX + soybean oil, an OVX + soybean oil with rice bran, an OVX + tea seed oil (TO), and an OVX + TO with rice bran diet group. The OVX groups were subcutaneously injected with d-galactose (100 mg/kg/day) and received a 15% (v/v) fructose drink. The rice bran and tea seed oil supplementation formed 10% of the diet (w/w). The results showed that the rice bran with TO diet increased the number of short-chain fatty acid (SCFA)-producing Clostridia and reduced the number of endotoxin-producing Tannerellaceae, which mitigated imbalances in the gut–liver–brain axis. Rice bran supplementation reduced the relative weight of the liver, levels of hepatic triglycerides and total cholesterol; aspartate transaminase and alanine aminotransferase activity; brain levels of proinflammatory cytokines, including interleukin-1β and tumor necrosis factor-α; and plasma 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine. This study concludes that rice bran inhibits hepatic fat accumulation, which mitigates peripheral metaflammation and oxidative damage and reduces neuroinflammation in the brain. Full article

Chemical fertilization is usually associated with some unreasonable problems that affect the sustainable production of tea gardens. The micro-organism fertilizer created from plant growth-promoting microbes (PGPM) integrates the beneficial properties of functional micro-organisms and bioinoculants. Application of PGPM can activate soil nutrients, prevent soil-borne diseases, and promote crop growth, thus improving crop quality and yield. In this study, the effects of bioinoculants composed of Streptomyces costaricanus strain A-m1 on the properties, enzyme activity, and micro-organisms of soil in a tea garden and on the chemical composition and production of tea were investigated. The present results showed that the application of A-m1 bioinoculant could increase the activities of urease, protease and catalase, the content of alkali-hydrolyzable nitrogen, and the number of bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes in tea garden soil. After application, the free amino acid content, 100-bud weight, and bud density of spring tea were also elevated. In the year of fertilization, the treatment composed of 70% bioinoculant + 30% chemical fertilizer showed the best effects on soil physical and chemical properties, enzyme activity, culturable microbial counts, and tea quality. A high ratio of organic to chemical fertilizer coapplication can significantly improve the growing conditions for tea plants, reduce the use of chemical fertilizers, improve the efficiency of nutrient utilization, and enhance both the yield and quality of tea. One year after fertilization, the 50% bioinoculant + 50% chemical fertilizer was more conducive to enhancing the quality of tea, while the 30% bioinoculant + 70% chemical fertilizer was more beneficial for improving the production of tea. A high ratio of chemical to bioinoculant coapplication is more favorable for maintaining high yield and quality in tea production, achieving healthy and sustainable tea garden management. The application of A-m1 bioinoculant will reduce the use of chemical fertilizers, improve the utilization efficiency of soil nutrients, and increase the production and quality of tea, contributing to the sustainable production of tea gardens. Full article

α-tocopherol (α-T), β-sitosterol (β-S), canolol (CA), and sinapic acid (SA) are the four main endogenous lipid phytochemicals (LP) found in Brassica napus L. seed oil, which possess the bioactivity to prevent the risk of several chronic diseases via antioxidant-associated mechanisms. Discovering the enhancer effects or synergies between LP is valuable for resisting oxidative stress and improving health benefits. The objectives of this study were to identify a potentially efficacious LP combination by central composite design (CCD) and cellular antioxidant activity (CAA) and to investigate its protective effect and potential mechanisms against H₂O₂-induced oxidative damage in HepG2 cells. Our results indicated that the optimal concentration of LP combination was α-T 10 μM, β-S 20 μM, SA 125 μM, and CA 125 μM, respectively, and its CAA value at the optimal condition was 10.782 μmol QE/100 g. At this concentration, LP combination exerted a greater amelioration effect on H₂O₂-induced HepG2 cell injury than either antioxidant (tea polyphenols or magnolol) alone. LP combination could reduce the cell apoptosis rate induced by H₂O₂, lowered to 10.06%, and could alleviate the degree of oxidative damage to cells (ROS↓), lipids (MDA↓), proteins (PC↓), and DNA (8-OHdG↓). Additionally, LP combination enhanced the antioxidant enzyme activities (SOD, CAT, GPX, and HO-1), as well as the T-AOC, and increased the GSH level in HepG2 cells. Furthermore, LP combination markedly upregulated the expression of Nrf2 and its associated antioxidant proteins. It also increased the expression levels of Nrf2 downstream antioxidant target gene (HO-1, SOD-1, MnSOD, CAT, GPX-1, and GPX-4) and downregulated the mRNA expression levels of Keap1. The oxidative-stress-induced formation of the Keap1/Nrf2 complex in the cytoplasm was significantly blocked by LP treatment. These results indicate that LP combination protected HepG2 cells from oxidative stress through a mechanism involving the activation of the Keap1/Nrf2/ARE signaling pathways. Full article

Sooty mould (SM) disease affects the growth, development and metabolism of plants and reduces the commodity and economic value of crops. SM disease is one of the important leaf diseases in tea plants. Nonetheless, studies on the effect of SM disease in tea plants are rare. Herein, we found that SM disease disrupted the cell morphology and structure and reduced the contents of caffeine, theanine, and catechins in the mature leaves of tea plants. Transcriptome analysis revealed that SM disease inhibited the biosynthesis of lignin, chlorophyll, catechin, caffeine, and theanine and affected the plant-pathogen interactions in the mature leaves of tea plants by downregulating gene expression. In addition, two fungal isolates, MTzyqA and MTzyqB, were obtained from the mature leaves of diseased tea plants. These strains were identified as Cladosporium pseudocladosporioides by mulitgene phylogenetic analysis, and they grew epiphytically on the leaves of tea plants. The biocontrol bacteria JT68, ZGT5, and BX1 had obvious inhibitory effect on MTzyqA and MTzyqB. These results provide a basis for understanding the effect of SM disease in tea plants. Full article

Liver injury induced by alcohol is a serious global health problem. Several tea-like plants are widely used as beverages, which are drunk like tea. In this study, the hepatoprotective effects of eight tea-like plant extracts with the intake of 200 mg/kg.bw/day were investigated and compared using a C57BL/6J mouse model of acute alcohol exposure, including sweet tea, vine tea, Rabdosia serra kudo, broadleaf holly leaf, mulberry leaf, bamboo leaf, Camellia nitidissima, and Akebia trifoliata peels. The results showed that the eight tea-like plants had hepatoprotective effects to different degrees against acute alcohol exposure via enhancing the activities of alcoholic metabolism enzymes, ameliorating oxidative stress and inflammation in the liver, as well as regulating gut microbiota. In particular, sweet tea, bamboo leaf, mulberry leaf, and Camellia nitidissima increased the activities of alcohol dehydrogenase or aldehyde dehydrogenase. Among these tea-like plants, sweet tea and Camellia nitidissima had the greatest hepatoprotective effects, and their bioactive compounds were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. Chlorogenic acid, rutin, and ellagic acid were identified in sweet tea, and epicatechin, rutin, and ellagic acid were identified in Camellia nitidissima, which could contribute to their hepatoprotective action. These tea-like plants could be drunk or developed into functional food against alcoholic liver injury, especially sweet tea and Camellia nitidissima. In the future, the effects of sweet tea and Camellia nitidissima on chronic alcoholic liver diseases should be further investigated. Full article

The leaves of Rhamnus erythroxylon Pall. are widely used as tea substitutes in northwest China for their fragrant aroma, anti-irritability, and digestion-enhancing properties. Ombuin, a main flavonoid compound found in the leaves, exhibited notable anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. However, its potential role in treating neuroinflammatory-related diseases remains unexplored. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the anti-neuroinflammatory effects of ombuin and to explore the underlying molecular mechanisms. According to our findings, ombuin dramatically reduced the release of interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), IL-1β, nitric oxide (NO), and reactive oxygen species (ROS) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated BV-2 microglia. Further analysis, including transcriptomics, network pharmacology, molecular docking, and cellular heat transfer assays, revealed that Src was a direct target of ombuin. Western blot analysis showed that ombuin effectively suppressed Src phosphorylation and inhibited the downstream expressions of p-PI3K p85, p-AKT1, p-IKKα/β, p-IκBα, and nuclear factor κB (NF-κB). Meanwhile, the repression of Src significantly reversed the anti-neuroinflammatory activity of ombuin. Our results identified Src as a direct target of ombuin and implied that ombuin exerted an anti-neuroinflammatory effect by inhibiting Src phosphorylation and suppressing the activation of the PI3K-AKT and NF-κB pathways, which might provide an alternative therapeutic strategy for neurodegenerative diseases. Full article

Kombucha is a well-known fermented beverage traditionally made from black tea infusion. Recent studies have focused on finding alternative materials to create novel kombucha beverages with various health benefits. In this study, we prepared and evaluated two novel kombucha beverages using Rhodiola rosea and Salvia miltiorrhiza as materials. The effects of fermentation with the residue of these plants on the kombucha were also investigated. The antioxidant activities, total phenolic contents, and concentrations of the bioactive compounds of the kombucha beverages were determined by the Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity test, ferric-reducing antioxidant power test, Folin–Ciocalteu method, and high-performance liquid chromatography, respectively. The results revealed that the kombucha beverages made with Rhodiola rosea and Salvia miltiorrhiza had strong antioxidant capacities and abundant phenolic contents. Additionally, the kombucha fermented with Rhodiola rosea residue had higher FRAP, TEAC and TPC values than that fermented without residue. On the other hand, the Salvia miltiorrhiza kombucha fermented with residue had similar FRAP and TEAC values but lower TPC values compared to that fermented without residue. The correlation analysis showed that gallic acid, salidroside, and tyrosol were responsible for the antioxidant abilities and total phenolic contents of the Rhodiola rosea kombucha, and salvianolic acid A and salvianolic acid B contributed to the antioxidant abilities of the Salvia miltiorrhiza kombucha. Furthermore, the kombucha fermented with Rhodiola rosea residue had the highest sensory scores among the kombucha beverages studied. These findings suggest that Rhodiola rosea and Salvia miltiorrhiza are suitable for making novel kombucha beverages with strong antioxidant abilities and abundant phenolic contents, which can be used in preventing and managing oxidative stress-related diseases. Full article

Menopause is a critical stage in a woman’s life in which cardiometabolic alterations appear, such as insulin resistance or a predisposition to visceral fat deposits, leading to an increased risk of cardiometabolic diseases (R-CMBs). New strategies to reduce the R-CMBs in postmenopausal women using natural compounds without adverse effects are desirable. In this sense, plant-based diets rich in fruits and vegetables could play a fundamental role due to the high content of bioactive compounds found in these diets, such as (poly)phenols, known for their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and vasodilator properties. The aim of this research was to carry out a dietary trial to evaluate the effect of the daily intake of different (poly)phenol-rich foods (PP-rich foods) for 2 months on the modulation of the main cardiometabolic risk biomarkers of postmenopausal women. The results showed a slight improvement in blood pressure (BP), lipid profile and oxidative stress, endothelial function and inflammatory biomarkers. These findings suggest that daily consumption of PP-rich foods alleviated the R-CMBs of postmenopausal women by reducing the oxidative stress and, thus, the risk of cardiovascular events; however, the magnitude of the cardioprotective effect of (poly)phenols depends on inter-individual variability. Full article

Tea disease detection is crucial for improving the agricultural circular economy. Deep learning-based methods have been widely applied to this task, and the main idea of these methods is to extract multiscale coarse features of diseases using the backbone network and fuse these features through the neck for accurate disease detection. This paper proposes a novel tea disease detection method that enhances feature expression of the backbone network and the feature fusion capability of the neck: (1) constructing an inverted residual self-attention module as a backbone plugin to capture the long-distance dependencies of disease spots on the leaves; and (2) developing a channel–spatial attention module with residual connection in the neck network to enhance the contextual semantic information of fused features in disease images and eliminate complex background noise. For the second step, the proposed channel–spatial attention module uses Residual Channel Attention (RCA) to enhance inter-channel interactions, facilitating discrimination between disease spots and normal leaf regions, and employs spatial attention (SA) to enhance essential areas of tea diseases. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieved accuracy and mAP scores of 92.9% and 94.6%, respectively. In particular, this method demonstrated improvements of 6.4% in accuracy and 6.2% in mAP compared to the SSD model. Full article

Aging is an irreversible pathophysiological process for all organisms. The accumulation of senescent cells in pathological sites or tissues is recognized as the major cause of diseases and disorders during the aging process. Small molecules that reduce senescent cell burdens have gained increasing attention as promising intervention therapeutics against aging, but effective anti-senescence agents remain rare. Camellia Sect. Chrysantha Chang is documented as a traditional Chinese herbal medicine used by ethnic groups for many medical and health benefits, but its effect on aging is unclear. Here, we investigated the anti-senescence potential of eight C. Sect. Chrysantha Chang species. The results show that ethyl acetate fractions from these C. Sect. Chrysantha Chang species were able to delay the senescence of H9c2 cardiomyocytes except for C. pingguoensis (CPg). N-butanol fractions of C. multipetala (CM), C. petelotii var. grandiflora (CPt), and C. longzhouensis (CL) showed a senescent cell clearance effect by altering the expression levels of senescent-associated marker genes in the DNA-damage response (DDR) pathway and the senescent cell anti-apoptotic pathway (SCAPs). By using UPLC-QTOF-MS-based non-targeted metabolomics analyses, 27 metabolites from Sect. Chrysantha species were putatively identified. Among them, high levels of sanchakasaponin C and D in CM, CPt, and CL were recognized as the key bioactive compounds responsible for senescent cell clearance. This study is the first to disclose and compare the anti-cell-senescence effect of a group of C. Sect. Chrysantha Chang, including some rare species. The combination of senescent markers and metabolomics analyses helped us to reveal the differences in chemical constituents that target senescent cells. Significantly, contrary to the C. chrysantha var. longistyla (CCL), which is widely cultivated and commercialized for tea drinks, CM, CPt, and CL contain unique chemicals for managing aging and aging-related diseases. The results from this study provide a foundation for species selection in developing small-molecule-based drugs to alleviate diseases and age-related dysfunctions and may potentially be useful for advancing geroscience research. Full article

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are one of the main causes of mortality and morbidity worldwide. A healthy diet rich in plant-derived compounds such as (poly)phenols appears to have a key role in improving cardiovascular health. Flavan-3-ols represent a subclass of (poly)phenols of great interest for their possible health benefits. In this review, we summarized the results of clinical studies on vascular outcomes of flavan-3-ol supplementation and we focused on the role of the microbiota in CVD. Clinical trials included in this review showed that supplementation with flavan-3-ols mostly derived from cocoa products significantly reduces blood pressure and improves endothelial function. Studies on catechins from green tea demonstrated better results when involving healthy individuals. From a mechanistic point of view, emerging evidence suggests that microbial metabolites may play a role in the observed effects. Their function extends beyond the previous belief of ROS scavenging activity and encompasses a direct impact on gene expression and protein function. Although flavan-3-ols appear to have effects on cardiovascular health, further studies are needed to clarify and confirm these potential benefits and the rising evidence of the potential involvement of the microbiota. Full article

Dendrobium fimbriatum is a perennial herb, and its stems are high-grade tea and nourishing medicinal materials. Various solvent extracts of D. fimbriatum were evaluated for their anti-inflammatory, anti-acetylcholinesterase (AChE), antioxidant, and anti-α-glucosidase properties. Acetone and EtOAc extracts showed significant antioxidant effects. Acetone, n-hexane, and EtOAc extracts revealed potent inhibition against α-glucosidase. EtOAc, n-hexane, and dichloromethane extracts displayed significant anti-AChE activity. Among the isolated constituents, gigantol, moscatin, and dendrophenol showed potent antioxidant activities in FRAP, DPPH, and ABTS radical scavenging tests. Moscatin (IC₅₀ = 161.86 ± 16.45 μM) and dendrophenol (IC₅₀ = 165.19 ± 13.25 μM) displayed more potent anti-AChE activity than chlorogenic acid (IC₅₀ = 236.24 ± 15.85 μM, positive control). Dendrophenol (IC₅₀ = 14.31 ± 3.17 μM) revealed more efficient anti-NO activity than quercetin (positive control, IC₅₀ = 23.09 ± 1.43 μM). Analysis of AChE and iNOS inhibitory components was performed using molecular docking and/or the bioaffinity ultrafiltration method. In bioaffinity ultrafiltration, the binding affinity of compounds to the enzyme (acetylcholinesterase and inducible nitric oxide synthase) was determined using the enrichment factor (EF). Among the main components of the EtOAc extract from D. fimbriatum stem, moscatin, dendrophenol, gigantol, and batatasin III with acetylcholinesterase exhibited the highest binding affinities, with affinity values of 66.31%, 59.48%, 54.60%, and 31.87%, respectively. Moreover, the affinity capacity of the identified compounds with inducible nitric oxide synthase can be ranked as moscatin (88.99%) > dendrophenol (65.11%) > gigantol (44.84%) > batatasin III (27.18%). This research suggests that the bioactive extracts and components of D. fimbriatum stem could be studied further as hopeful candidates for the prevention or treatment of hyperglycemia, oxidative stress-related diseases, and nervous disorders. Full article

Objectives: Oral diseases are among the most prevalent diseases globally. Accumulating new evidence suggests considerable benefits of epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) for oral health. This review aims to explore the role and application of EGCG in main oral diseases. Methods: This narrative review thoroughly examines and summarizes the most recent literature available in scientific databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar) reporting advances in the role and application of EGCG within the dental field. The major keywords used included “EGCG”, “green tea extract”, “oral health”, “caries”, “pulpitis”, “periapical disease”, “periodontal disease”, “oral mucosa”, “salivary gland”, and “oral cancer”. Conclusions: EGCG prevents and manages various oral diseases through its antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antitumor properties. Compared to traditional treatments, EGCG generally exhibits lower tissue irritation and positive synergistic effects when combined with other therapies. Novel delivery systems or chemical modifications can significantly enhance EGCG’s bioavailability, prolong its action, and reduce toxicity, which are current hotspots in developing new materials. Clinical significance: this review provides an exhaustive overview of the biological activities of EGCG to major oral diseases, alongside an exploration of applications and limitations, which serves as a reference for preventing and managing oral ailments. Full article