Search Results (5)

Vitis vinifera is the grape variety used in the production of wine and other products. In the wine production process, many of the vine’s by-products are wasted, namely seeds and stems. Given the proportion of wine production worldwide, the quantity of by-products is beginning to be an environmental problem, making it urgent to take measures for their use to obtain bioactive compounds with health benefits. The aim of this work was to study the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of extracts from the seeds and stems of four Portuguese grape varieties: Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional, Viosinho, and Tinta Roriz. Total phenolic (TPC) and total flavonoids (TFC) contents present in the different extracts were evaluated, as well as the antioxidant activity, by DPPH and FRAP methods. TPC and TFC values of the stem’s extracts are much higher than those of the seeds of the same grape variety in the same solvent. The antioxidant activity of aqueous and ethanolic stem extracts is higher than that obtained for the seeds, showing that antioxidant activity is related to the content of polyphenols. The antimicrobial activity of different stem and seed extracts was determined against yeasts and Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, and the effect was determined based on the minimal inhibitory concentrations calculated (MIC). In general, the ethanol:water (1:1) extract of the seeds from the different varieties tested inhibited C. albicans ATCC10231 and C. krusei ATCC6258 growth even at 200 μg/mL, and the effect was fungicidal at 200 μg/mL. The same type of extract showed selective antimicrobial activity, inhibiting S. aureus ATCC29213 growth but having no effect against E. coli ATCC25922 even at 200 μg/mL. The effect against S. aureus was bactericidal (at 200 μg/mL) for Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional, and Viosinho. Taking all these results into account, it can be concluded that the by-products of the grape varieties tested are important sources of bioactive products, particularly as antioxidants and antimicrobials. Full article

Wine lees are sediments deposited on the walls and bottom of barrels resulting from wine fermentation and mainly consist of yeasts. Saccharomyces cerevisiae extracts, rich in beneficial components for the skin, have already been used in cosmesis, while wine lees have not been well exploited by the cosmetics industry yet. The aim of this work was the full characterization of the wine lees from Verdicchio’s wine, with the aim to exploit it as a beneficial ingredient in new cosmetic products. After mapping the microbial composition of the sample waste, the parameters for the sonication extraction process were optimized and the physicochemical properties of the extract were analyzed. The efficiency of the aqueous extraction—and in particular the yeast cell lysis necessary for the release of proteins from the cell—was assessed by evaluating cell shape and size, and protein release, under scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and Bradford’s protein assays. Thus, the total phenol content and antioxidant capacity of the supernatant recovered from native and sonicated lees were determined by Folin–Ciocalteu’s and spectrophotometric assays, respectively. To quantify the heavy metals and highlight the presence of microelements beneficial for the skin, inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was applied. In vitro metabolic activity and cytotoxicity were tested on both HaCat keratinocytes and human gingival fibroblasts, showing that wine lees are safe for skin’s cells. The results show that sonicated lees appear to be more interesting than native ones as a consequence of the release of the active ingredients from the cells. Due to the high antioxidant capacity, content of beneficial elements for skin and an appropriate microbiologic profile, wine lees were included in five new solid cosmetic products and tested for challenge test, compatibility with human skin, sensory analysis, trans epidermal water loss (TEWL) and sebometry. Full article

Grape pomace is commonly considered a waste product of monovarietal red wine production. Methods: HPLC-DAD analysis was performed to determine the polyphenol and flavonoid contents of all the extracts obtained from Montepulciano d’Abruzzo red wine and grape skins whereas, GC-MS was applied to the determination of fatty acid composition in grape seeds oil. Biological characterization involves antioxidant and antimicrobial assays for all the extracts and seeds oil; Their ability to inhibit α-glucosidase, α-amylase, α-tyrosinase, and ChE enzymes was also detected, together with anti-inflammatory activity on wine, grape skin extracts, and seeds oil by lipoxygenase (5-LOX) and LPS-stimulated macrophage release assays. Data indicate significative polyphenols content (199.31 ± 7.21 mgGAE/g), antioxidant (CUPRAC assay (1036.98 mgTE/g)), enzymatic inhibition (α-tyrosinase: 151.30 ± 1.20 mgKAE/g) and anti-inflammatory activities for wine-organic extract 2, while the antimicrobial activity of grape skin decoction is higher than those reported by wine extracts on three bacterial strains. Interestingly only dealcoholized wine and wine-aqueous extract exerts inhibitory effects on α-glucosidase (20.62 ± 0.23 mmolACAE/g and 19.81 ± 0.03 mmolACAE/g, respectively), while seeds oil is rich in oleic and linoleic acids. These results confirm the strong antioxidant properties of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo grape pomace, suggesting the potential use of this waste product as functional food supplements in the human diet and in cosmeceutics. Full article

Winery wastes are rich in polyphenols and have great added value when used in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and agri-food products. Polyphenols display a wide range of positive health effects, thus helping with the prevention or treatment of some diseases because of their great antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and antineoplastic properties. This work aims at characterizing the polyphenols recovered from various wastes generated during wine production processes using chromatographic techniques. Phenolic acids, flavonoids and related compounds have been extracted from different types of oenological residues, such as lees from malolactic fermentation and husks, by liquid extraction using aqueous or hydro-organic solvents. The resulting extracts have been further analyzed by liquid chromatography with UV/vis and mass spectrometric (MS) detection. The chromatographic separation was carried out by a reversed-phase mode on a core-shell C18 column using 0.1% formic acid in water and acetonitrile as the components of the mobile phase. Chromatograms were acquired with UV detection at 250, 280, 325 and 370 nm, whereas MS detection, with both low- and high-resolution analyzers, was performed using different acquisition modes, including full scan, data-dependent acquisition (DDA) and multiple reaction monitoring (MRM). The most abundant polyphenols in the extracts were identified as follows: caftaric acid with a concentration of 20 mg L⁻¹, and trans-coutaric acid, cis-coutaric acid, caffeic acid and p-coumaric acid with concentrations of 5 mg L⁻¹ or less. Other minor polyphenols such as gallic acid, 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid, 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid, syringic acid, chlorogenic acid, ethyl gallate, ferulic acid, catechin, epicatechin, rutin, astilbin and resveratrol were also found. Full article

It has been suggested that the dietary intake of antioxidant supplements could be a useful strategy to reduce the incidence of diseases associated with oxidative stress. The aim of present work is to study the possibility to obtain compounds with antioxidant activity from wine wastes using water as solvent. Results have shown that it is possible to obtain flavan-3-ol compounds from wine wastes both from V. vinifera (cv. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot) and V. labrusca (cv. Bordo and Isabella) species. The main phenolic compounds found in the extracts were catechin and epicatechin, followed by procyanidin B3, procyanidin B1, procyanidin B2, gallic acid, epigallocatechin, and procyanidin B4. All flavan-3-ol extracts showed significant in vitro and in vivo activities. It was found that the extracts were able to prevent lipid and protein oxidative damage in the cerebral cortex, cerebellum and hippocampus tissues of rats. Although further studies are necessary, these flavan-3-ol extracts show potential to be used to reduce the incidence of degenerative diseases associated with oxidative stress. Full article