Search Results (6)

In wheat and barley, Fusarium head blight is mainly caused by Fusarium graminearum, and its control is based on the agricultural practices of not leaving crop residues in the field, growing phytopathogenic fungi-resistant varieties, biological control, and chemical treatment, including using fungicides. Here, we investigated the antifungal and antimycotoxigenic activities of Massoia essential oil (MEO) and C10 Massoia lactone (C10) on Fusarium graminearum KACC 41047. Because DMSO, which was used as a solvent in this study, exhibited antifungal activity at 5% in a fungal growth medium, it was used in the antifungal and antimycotoxigenic experiments at 0.05%. Three assays were used to investigate the antifungal activities of MEO and C10, which exhibited potent antifungal activity in the agar dilution assay, with complete fungal growth inhibition at 100 mg/L. At 5–50 mg/L, MEO and C10 suppressed deoxynivalenol and 15-acetyl-deoxynivalenol production by >50% by downregulating the Tri10 gene, which expresses trichodiene synthase. MEO and C10 might be potent antifungal agents for F. graminearum control with less toxicological concerns because they are GRAS chemicals. Full article

C10 massoia lactone (C10) is the main component of massoia essential oil derived from Cryptocarya massoia plant bark, which is used as natural flavoring agent of “generally recognized as safe” status. In this study, the developmental toxicity of C10 was evaluated on zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos at an exposure level of 0–2000 µg·L⁻¹, and acute toxicity was determined with respect to lethal effects, hatching rates, and morphological changes. Additionally, morphological changes were determined for the endpoints as the occurrence of yolk edema, pericardial edema, spine curvature, and shortened body length after treatment until 96 h post-fertilization (hpf). The complete lethality of C10 was achieved with embryos treated at 2000 µg·L⁻¹, and most embryos treated at 1000 µg·L⁻¹ developed pericardial edemas with some spine curvature. Some embryos exhibited delayed development with shortened body length when compared with the control. Hatchability was completely accomplished at the tested dose of 1000 µg·L⁻¹, and cardiac malformation was observed using a transgenic zebrafish line Tg(cmlc:EGFP), with a lower heartbeat rate in embryos treated with C10 for 72 hpf. After 96 hpf, heartbeat rates were normalized when compared with the control group, and two cardiac development-related genes such as nppa and canca1 were differently expressed in C10-treated embryos by 2.3-fold and 0.4-fold, respectively. Therefore, C10 must be studied further in other higher organisms for its risk. Full article

Fungal infection and mycotoxin contamination are major hazards to the safe storage and distribution of foods and feeds consumed by humans and livestock. This study investigated the antifungal and antiaflatoxigenic activities of massoia essential oil (MEO) and its major constituent, C10 massoia lactone (C10), against aflatoxin B (AFB)-producing Aspergillus flavus ATCC 22546. Their antifungal activities were evaluated using a disc diffusion assay, agar dilution method, and a mycelial growth inhibition assay with the AFB analysis using liquid chromatography triple quadrupole mass spectrometry. MEO and C10 exhibited similar antifungal and antiaflatoxigenic activities against A. flavus. C10 was a primary constituent in MEO and represented up to 45.1% of total peak areas analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, indicating that C10 is a major compound contributing to the antifungal and antiaflatoxigenic activities of MEO. Interestingly, these two materials increased AFB production in A. flavus by upregulating the expression of most genes related to AFB biosynthesis by 3- to 60-fold. Overall, MEO and C10 could be suitable candidates as natural preservatives to control fungal infection and mycotoxin contamination in foods and feeds as Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) in the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association of the United States (FEMA), and MEO is a more suitable substance than C10 because of its wider range of uses and higher allowed concentration than C10. Full article

The essential oil of Massoia (Massoia aromatica Becc., Lauraceae) bark is a potential immunomodulator in vitro. This study evaluated the potential immunomodulatory effects of Massoia bark infusion on the nonspecific immune response (phagocytosis) of Wistar rats. For the in vitro assay, macrophages were treated with the freeze-dried infusion at the concentrations of 2.5, 5, 10, 20, or 40 µg/mL media. For the in vivo assay, two-month-old male Wistar rats were divided into five groups. The baseline group received distilled water at the dose of 1 mL/100 g body weight (BW), with the herbal product containing Phyllanthus niruri extract that was administered as the positive control at the dose of 0.54 mL/rat. The treatment groups received the infusion at a dose of 100, 300, or 500 mg/100 g BW. Treatments were given orally every day for 14 days. The ability of macrophage cells to phagocyte latex was determined as phagocytic index (PI), and it was observed under microscopy with 300 macrophages. The in vitro study revealed that the phagocytic activity of the infusion-treated macrophages significantly increased in comparison with that of the control macrophages in a concentration-dependent manner. Among all of the treatment concentrations, the concentration of 40 µg/mL provided the highest activity with a PI value of 70.51 ± 1.11%. The results of the in vivo assay confirmed those of the in vitro assay. The results of the present study indicate that Massoia bark can increase the phagocytic activity of rat macrophage cells. Full article

The fermentation products of Cordyceps sinensis (C. sinensis) mycelia are sustainable substitutes for natural C. sinensis. However, the volatile compositions of the commercial products are still unclear. In this paper, we have developed a simultaneous distillation-extraction (SDE) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method for the profiling of volatile components in five fermentation products. A total of 64, 39, 56, 52, and 44 components were identified in the essential oils of Jinshuibao capsule (JSBC), Bailing capsule (BLC), Zhiling capsule (ZLC), Ningxinbao capsule (NXBC), and Xinganbao capsule (XGBC), respectively. 5,6-Dihydro-6-pentyl-2H-pyran-2-one (massoia lactone) was first discovered as the dominant component in JSBC volatiles. Fatty acids including palmitic acid (C16:0) and linoleic acid (C18:2) were also found to be major volatile compositions of the fermentation products. The multivariate partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) showed a clear discrimination among the different commercial products as well as the counterfeits. This study may provide further chemical evidences for the quality evaluation of the fermentation products of C. sinensis mycelia. Full article

Exhaustive hydro-distillation of the bark, heartwood and fruits of Cryptocarya massoy (Lauraceae) afforded pale yellow-coloured oils in 0.7, 1.2 and 1.0 % yields, respectively. Detailed chemical evaluation of these distillates using GC/MS revealed the major components in the bark and the heartwood oils to be the C-10 (5,6-dihydro-6-pentyl-2H-pyran-2-one) and C-12 (5,6-dihydro-6-heptyl-2H-pyran-2-one) massoia lactones, while the major fruit oil constituent was benzyl benzoate (68.3 %). The heartwood also contained trace amounts of the C-14 (5,6-dihydro-6-nonyl-2H-pyran-2-one) massoia lactone (1.4 %) and the saturated C-10 derivative d-decalactone (2.5 %). Full article