Beatriz Hernández-Carlos

By Salas-Coronado Raúl, Hernández-Carlos Beatriz, Llaguno-Guilberto Joseoziel and Santos-Sánchez Norma Francenia

Smilax (Smilacaceae) is a genus of about 350 species, found in temperate, tropical and subtropical zones worldwide. The plants belonging to this genus are found throughout Asia, Europe, Oceania and the Americas. Species of the genus Smilax commonly called sarsaparilla are characterized as climbers, with long, thin thorny stem. The branches have tendrils which attach to other plants or objects and grow steadily upward. The roots of these plants have been used for centuries in Asia and the Americas as a tonic, diuretic and sudorific. The rhizome, roots, stems and leaves of sarsaparilla are used in traditional medicine. In the scientific literature, there are several reports on immunomodulatory properties, anticonvulsant, antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer, antidiabetic and antioxidant properties. However, there are no reports which explain the antioxidant activity of sarsaparilla extracts as a function of phenolic compound structures, such as flavonoids and phenylpropanoids. In this chapter, the relevance of phenolic chemical structure in antioxidant and anticancer activity of sarsaparilla extracts will be described. Special emphasis is placed on phenylpropanoid glycosides that consist of a sucrose core. These compounds are evidence of chemotaxonomy in the genus Smilax.

Part of the book: Phenolic Compounds

By Norma Francenia Santos-Sánchez, Raúl Salas-Coronado, Beatriz Hernández-Carlos, Aleyda Pérez-Herrera and Dora Jhanina Rodríguez-Fernández

Species of the genus Annona (Annonaceae) are distributed in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world and are characterized by their highly valued exotic fruit. The commercial species are A. muricata, A. crassiflora, A. squamosa, A. cherimola, and A. reticulata. In addition, different parts of the tree, including leaf, bark, and roots, are used in traditional medicine to treat conditions such as diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, cancer, and gastrointestinal diseases. Phytochemical studies are helping to determine the biological properties of extracts and characterize bioactive principles from extracts of genus Annona. The main chemical compounds isolated from genus Annona are phenols, acetogenins, alkaloids, and cyclopeptides. All these compounds have antioxidant properties and generally are associated with other biological properties. The aim of this chapter is to carry out an analysis of the properties related to combating oxidative stress of the five most important species of the genus Annona, as well as the relationship these properties have with the bioactive principles present in these plants.

Part of the book: Antioxidants in Foods and Its Applications

By Norma Francenia Santos-Sánchez, Raúl Salas-Coronado, Beatriz Hernández-Carlos and Claudia Villanueva-Cañongo

Phenolic compounds are secondary metabolites found most abundantly in plants. These aromatic molecules have important roles, as pigments, antioxidants, signaling agents, the structural element lignan, and as a defense mechanism. The expression of phenolic compounds is promoted by biotic and abiotic stresses (e.g., herbivores, pathogens, unfavorable temperature and pH, saline stress, heavy metal stress, and UVB and UVA radiation). These compounds are formed via the shikimate pathway in higher plants and microorganisms. The enzymes responsible for the regulation of phenolic metabolism are known, and shikimic acid is a central metabolite. The shikimate pathway consists of seven reaction steps, beginning with an aldol-type condensation of phosphoenolpyruvic acid (PEP) from the glycolytic pathway, and D-erythrose-4-phosphate, from the pentose phosphate cycle, to produce 3-deoxy-D-arabino-heptulosonic acid 7-phosphate (DAHP). A key branch-point compound is chorismic acid, the final product of the shikimate pathway. The shikimate pathway is described in this chapter, as well as factors that induce the synthesis of phenolic compounds in plants. Some representative examples that show the effect of biotic and abiotic stress on the production of phenolic compounds in plants are discussed.

Part of the book: Plant Physiological Aspects of Phenolic Compounds

By Beatriz Hernández-Carlos, Norma Francenia Santos-Sánchez, Raúl Salas-Coronado, Claudia Villanueva-Cañongo and Paula Cecilia Guadarrama-Mendoza

Agro-industrial residues are a potential source of antioxidant compounds, which in general are phenolic compounds with a large chemical variability. The structure and the complexity of the phenolic compounds (polyphenols) determine their antioxidant capacity, pretreatments, and extraction methods. This chapter gives an overview of the chemical complexity of the phenolic compounds found in extractable and non-extractable fractions of agro-industrial residues, and representative compounds that are present in such residues are shown. Moreover, extraction methods described in this review showed the use of nonconventional technologies and chemical, enzymatic, or thermic treatments, useful to transform non-extractable polyphenols (NEP) to extractable polyphenol (EP) and then apply the EP extraction methods and recover antioxidants.

Part of the book: Antioxidants

By Norma Francenia Santos-Sánchez, Raúl Salas-Coronado, Claudia Villanueva-Cañongo and Beatriz Hernández-Carlos

An antioxidant is a substance that at low concentrations delays or prevents oxidation of a substrate. Antioxidant compounds act through several chemical mechanisms: hydrogen atom transfer (HAT), single electron transfer (SET), and the ability to chelate transition metals. The importance of antioxidant mechanisms is to understand the biological meaning of antioxidants, their possible uses, their production by organic synthesis or biotechnological methods, or for the standardization of the determination of antioxidant activity. In general, antioxidant molecules can react either by multiple mechanisms or by a predominant mechanism. The chemical structure of the antioxidant substance allows understanding of the antioxidant reaction mechanism. This chapter reviews the in vitro antioxidant reaction mechanisms of organic compounds polyphenols, carotenoids, and vitamins C against free radicals (FR) and prooxidant compounds under diverse conditions, as well as the most commonly used methods to evaluate the antioxidant activity of these compounds according to the mechanism involved in the reaction with free radicals and the methods of in vitro antioxidant evaluation that are used frequently depending on the reaction mechanism of the antioxidant.

Part of the book: Antioxidants