Slavko Komarnytsky

North Carolina State University | NCSU · Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Science

Plants were an essential part of foraging for food and health, and for centuries remained the only medicines available to people from the remote mountain regions. Their correct botanical provenance is an essential basis for understanding the ethnic cultures, as well as for chemical identification of the novel bioactive molecules with therapeutic ef...

Botanical oils have a long history of traditional use and are routinely applied to skin care. The focus of this review is to contrast the functionality of skin oils versus the differential biological and toxicological effects of major plant oils, and to correlate them to their compositional changes. In total, over 70 vegetable oils were clustered a...

The endocannabinoid system (ECS) consists of endogenous cannabinoids, their receptors, and metabolic enzymes that play a critical homeostatic role in modulating polyunsaturated omega fatty acid (PUFA) signaling to maintain a balanced inflammatory and redox state. Whole food-based diets and dietary interventions linked to PUFAs of animal (fish, cala...

The world food supply depends on a diminishing list of plant crops and animal livestock to not only feed the ever-growing human population but also improve its nutritional state and lower the disease burden. Over the past century or so, technological advances in agricultural and food processing have helped reduce hunger and poverty but have not ade...

Green leaf biomass is one of the largest underutilized sources of nutrients worldwide. Whether it is purposely cultivated (forage crops, duckweed) or upcycled as a waste stream from the mass-produced agricultural crops (discarded leaves, offcuts, tops, peels, or pulp), the green biomass can be established as a viable alternative source of plant pro...

Mushroom by-products are economical and eco-friendly raw materials with bioactive and functional characteristics that allow for potential uses as food ingredients. However, mushroom upcycling has yet to be fully exploited, despite the many opportunities that mushrooms may offer. The mushroom protein by-product (MPBP) resulting from mushroom protein...

Purpose of Review Current research has shown that berry-derived polymeric substrates that resist human digestion (dietary fibers and polyphenols) are extensively metabolized in the gastrointestinal tract dominated by microbiota. This review assesses current epidemiological, experimental, and clinical evidence of how berry (strawberry, blueberry, ra...

As espécies do gênero Plumeria são conhecidas pela fragrância forte e agradável; no entanto, sua composição volátil e variação de aroma são amplamente desconhecidas. Os perfis diurno e noturno dos aromas florais de três espécies de Plumeria foram avaliados com base na composição química (por HS-SPME / GC-MS). Vinte e quatro compostos foram identifi...

The interest in mushrooms as functional ingredients has increased in the past decade. Mushrooms have low fat content and high fiber and protein contents and are natural sources of valuable food molecules such as ergosterol, polyphenols, terpene and terpenoids, and mannitol and trehalose. Mushrooms have been used as ingredients in meat-and starch-ba...

Wild blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium Aiton.) are a rich source of dietary fiber and (poly)phenols with gastrointestinal and immune health-promoting properties, however, their mechanisms of action on the intestinal epithelial cells and transient tissue macrophages remain to be elucidated. In this study, we evaluated the individual effects of an...

Industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) has many applications, including the production of textiles, agricultural extracts, nutritional products, and botanicals enriched with cannabinoids and full-spectrum terpenes naturally present in the plant. In this study, the dynamics of distribution and accumulation of 10 main cannabinoids in hemp were quantifi...

Culinary sage (Salvia officinalis L.) is a common spice plant in the mint family (Lamiaceae) well known for its distinctive culinary and traditional medicinal uses. Sage tea has been used traditionally as a brain-enhancing tonic and extracts from sage have been reported to have both cognitive and memory enhancing effects. Brain-derived neurotrophic...

Ovarian insufficiency and ovariectomy are characterized by deregulated heat loss mechanisms. Unlike hormone therapy, ERr 731 (a standardized botanical extract of Siberian rhubarb Rheum rhaponticum L. high in rhaponticin) acts like a selective estrogen receptor modulator for ERβ receptors and may offer a higher degree of safety while maintaining the...

Stability of polyphenol-protein aggregate particles, created by complexing polyphenols from blueberry and muscadine grape pomaces with a rice-pea protein isolate blend, was evaluated in an in vitro gastrointestinal model. Recovery index (RI; % total phenolics present post-digestion) was 69% and 62% from blueberry and muscadine grape protein-polyphe...

Recent complex changes in social, dietary, and behavior routines led to a significant increase in functional and immune disorders of the human gastrointestinal tract. Volatile essential oils from major food commodities such as culinary and medicinal plants (spices) hold the potential to protect the digestive system from abusive agents and immune hy...

Ethnopharmacological relevance The bulbs and flowers of plants from the Lilium genus have historically been used in Asian and Greco-Roman medicine to treat burns and promote skin healing. Aim of the study To evaluate a steroidal glycoalkaloid isolated from Easter lily bulbs for its potential wound healing promoting properties. Materials and metho...

The Celtic linguistic community dominated large spans of Central and Western Europe between 800 BC and 500 AD, but knowledge of their traditional medicine is very limited. Multiple progressive plant gains in Neolithic settlements along the Danube and up the Rhine valleys suggested that taxon diversity of gathered plants peaked at the Balkans and wa...

The Gram-positive bacterium Cutibacterium acnes (previously Propionibacterium acnes), plays an important role in the pathogenesis and progression of the dermatological skin disorder acne vulgaris. The methanolic extract of Helichrysum odoratissimum (L.) Sweet (HO-MeOH) was investigated for its ability to target bacterial growth and pathogenic virul...

Various wild berry species endemic to Alaska and the circumpolar North that exhibit unique medicinal properties have long been appreciated by indigenous Arctic communities. Traditional use of Alaskan berry preparations in the treatment of skin wounds is recorded but has not been scientifically evaluated. Alaskan wild berries feature diverse phytoch...

An activity-guided fractionation approach revealed several phenylpropanoid glycerol glucosides isolated from the bulbs of Lilium longiflorum Thunb. (Easter lily) with gluconeogenesis inhibitory activities. The strongest activity was observed for (2S)-1-O-p-coumaroyl-2-O-β-d-glucopyranosylglycerol (3), (2S)-1-O-caffeoyl-2-O-β-d-glucopyranosylglycero...

The genus Isoetes is known for morphological convergence and a relative paucity of useful gross morphological characters for identification. Thus, the chromosome complements of Isoetes spp. are key attributes for species delimitation. Like many other plant lineages, polyploidy and reticulate evolution are important drivers of speciation in Isoetes....

The oleanolic acid possesses diverse pharmacological properties, it is consi- dered as a good starting material for creating new compounds. The oleanolic acid isolated of Plumeria obtusa leaves was used as raw material to obtained calcium, magnesium, zinc, nickel and copper complexes. The structures of complexes were confirmed by HRMS, 1H NMR, and...

The present study was designed to characterize the polyphenols isolated from Acacia mearnsii bark crude extract (B) and fractions (B1-B7) obtained by high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) and evaluate their anti-inflammatory and carbolytic enzymes (α-glucosidase and α-amylase) inhibitory activities. Fractions B4, B5, B6, B7 (total pheno...

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) phytochemicals have exhibited metabolic benefit in mammals, though their effects on aging and mechanisms of action remain unknown. Caenorhabditis elegans offers a practical in vivo model to study bioactivity since major metabolic pathways are conserved across phyla. We explored the effects of phytoecdysteroid-enri...

Scope: Chicory (Cichorium intybus L.) is a perennial herb often consumed as a vegetable, whereas the ground and roasted roots are blended as a coffee substitute. Caffeoylquinic or chlorogenic acids (CQA), the abundant intermediates of lignin biosynthesis in chicory, have been reported to improve glucose metabolism in humans, but the functional gro...

Background . Glucocorticoid excess has been linked to clinical observations associated with the pathophysiology of metabolic syndrome. The intracellular glucocorticoid levels are primarily modulated by 11 β -hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11 β -HSD1) enzyme that is highly expressed in key metabolic tissues including fat, liver, and the centra...

This chapter presents recent evidence to demonstrate that different anthocyanin (ANC) aglycones can differ markedly in terms of bioavailability, absorption, metabolism, metabolic breakdown products, and excretion to produce wide-ranging impacts on human metabolic health and disease. In more recent years, stable isotope labeling has provided new ins...

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Antimicrobial drug resistance is a growing threat to global public health. Historical records and herbal texts relating to traditional Celtic medicine indicate an extensive pharmacopeia of plants for treating infections likely caused by microbes. However, a major barrier for successful integration of these remedies...

Overconsumption of energy dense foods and sedentary lifestyle are considered as major causes of obesity-associated insulin resistance and abnormal glucose metabolism. Results from both cohort studies and randomized trials suggested that anthocyanins from berries may lower metabolic risks, however these reports are equivocal. The present study was d...

A comprehensive phytochemical analysis was conducted on pistachios to identify the differential contributions of skin and kernel phytochemicals to in vitro bioactivity. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of skin and kernel non-polar extracts (SNP and KNP, respectively) indicated that the major components are fatty acids (696.36 and 879.70 mg g(-...

Cyanobacteria of the genera Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus are an important contributors to photosynthetic productivity in the water ecosystems. The discovery of genes (psbA, psbD) that encode key photosystem II proteins (D1, D2) in the genomes of phages that infect these cyanobacteria suggests new models for the regulation, function and evoluti...

The hepatoprotective activity of two different extracts, a hydroethanolic crude bulb extract (CB) and a steroidal glycoside-rich 1-butanol extract (BuOH), prepared from the bulbs of Easter lily (Lilium longiflorum Thunb.), were evaluated in a 24 week study in the female KK.Cg-Ay/J Type 2 diabetic mouse model. Animals were divided in six groups (n=1...

Blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum L) is a rich source of anthocyanins, however the relationship between their apparently limited bioavailability and significant protection against metabolic pathologies is poorly understood. In this study, we examined gastrointestinal distribution of blackcurrant anthocyanins and their phenolic acid metabolites in lean and...

Purpose: The vitamin D system plays a role in metabolism regulation. 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25(OH)2D3) suppressed 3T3-L1 white adipocyte differentiation. Vitamin D receptor (VDR) knockout mice showed increased energy expenditure, whereas mice with adipose-specific VDR over-expression showed decreased energy expenditure. Brown adipose tissue (...

Walnuts contain many bioactive components that may slow cancer growth. A previous report showed that a diet supplemented with walnuts decreased the tumor size formed by MDA-MB-231 human cancer cells injected into nude mice. However, the mechanism of action was never determined. We characterized the effects of a methanol extract prepared from walnut...

The disclosure relates to methods of using brassinosteroid compounds, including those defined by formula I or a derivative thereof, for inducing an anabolically favorable state for growth, repair, and maintenance of skeletal muscle and skin.

Pattern recognition receptors (PRR), toll-like receptors (TLR), and nucleotide-oligomerization domain containing proteins (NOD) play critical roles in mediating inflammation and modulating functions in white adipocytes in obesity. However, the role of PRR activation in brown adipocytes, which are recently found to be present in adult humans, has no...

Wild lowbush blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium Ait) are a rich source of anthocyanins and other flavonoids with anti-inflammatory activities, however their individual effects on cellular signaling remain to be elucidated. In this study we determined the capacity of blueberry bioactives to protect murine RAW 264.7 macrophages from lipopolysacchar...

Brassinosteroids are plant growth hormones involved in cell growth, division, and differentiation. Their effects in animals are largely unknown, although recent studies showed that the anabolic properties of brassinosteroids are possibly mediated through the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B signaling pathway. Here, we examined biological...

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Preparations derived from bulbs of various Lilium species have been used to promote the healing of skin abrasions, sores and burns and to aid in healing wounds in Traditional Chinese and Greco-Roman Medicine. Aim of the study: To evaluate fractionated Easter lily bulb extracts and their steroidal glycosides (1-5)...

A group of bioactive steroidal glycosides (pregnanes) with anorectic activity in animals was isolated from several genera of milkweeds including Hoodia and Asclepias. In this study we investigated the effects, structure-activity relationships, and mechanism of action of pregnane glycosides on steroidogenesis in human adrenocortical H295R cells. Adm...

Pregnane glycosides appear to modulate food intake by possibly affecting the hypothalamic feeding circuits, however the mechanisms of the appetite-regulating effect of pregnane glycosides remain obscure. Here we show that pregnane glycoside-enriched extract from swamp milkweed Asclepias incarnata at 25-100 mg/kg daily attenuated food intake (up to...

The prevalence of obesity is increasing globally, and obesity is a major risk factor for metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes. Previously, we reported that oral administration of homobrassinolide (HB) to healthy rats triggered a selective anabolic response that was associated with lower blood glucose. Therefore, the aim of this study was to e...

Muscle satellite cells are widely accepted as the resident stem cells of skeletal muscle, supplying myoblasts for growth, homeostasis and repair. Activation of these cells in response to muscle mechanical change or injury involves activation of the muscle-specific transcription networks. Previously we reported that brassinosteroids, a group of natu...

Historical PerspectivePlant-Based Production of Recombinant ProteinsExpression in an Entire Plant Versus a Plant OrganER Targeting and Secretion of Recombinant ProteinsExpression in SeedsTransient ExpressionGlycosylationRecent Examples of Plant-Derived Antibodies Effective in Mammalian SystemsConclusions References

Brassinosteroids are plant-derived polyhydroxylated derivatives of 5a-cholestane, structurally similar to cholesterol-derived animal steroid hormones and insect ecdysteroids, with no known function in mammals. 28-Homobrassinolide (HB), a steroidal lactone with potent plant growth-promoting property, stimulated protein synthesis and inhibited protei...

Brassinosteroids are plant-derived polyhydroxylated derivatives of 5α-cholestane, structurally similar to cholesterol-derived animal steroid hormones and insect ecdysteroids. In this study, we synthesized a set of brassinosteroid analogues of a natural brassinosteroid (22S,23S)-homobrassinolide (HB, 1), including (22S,23S)-homocastasterone (2), (22...

To investigate the mechanisms underlying the satiety-promoting effects of a novel protease inhibitor concentrate derived from potato (PPIC). The acute and prolonged effects of oral PPIC administration (100 mg kg(-1) per day) on food intake, body weight and gastric emptying were evaluated in healthy rats. Parameters of body weight, food intake, plas...