Recent Advances in Polyphenol Research. Группа авторов

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3.2 Alaska Native youth engage in a workshop featuring simple mobile biodiscovery assays during a 2019 fish camp on the Yukon River in Alaska.

      Source: Mary Ann Lila.

      Crude extracts from the same six Alaskan seaweeds were assayed for inhibition against five common inflammatory markers (COX2, iNOS, TNFα, IL‐10, and MCP‐1). While red and green seaweed species exhibited some activity, the brown seaweeds demonstrated significant anti‐inflammatory capacity against all five markers. Subfractionation of the brown seaweed F. distichus revealed modulation in a dose‐dependent manner by some fractions of lipid metabolism gene expression in an adipocyte model. Multiple anti‐inflammatory properties in both adipose and macrophage cells were revealed, and two natural product classes (long chain mono‐ and polyunsaturated fatty acids and phlorotannin oligomers) were linked to these biomarkers (Kellogg et al. 2015). The multifunctional activities of edible seaweeds towards inhibition of the cardiometabolic risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome were linked to high phenolic content and coincident angiotensin converting enzyme I inhibitor activity and anti‐inflammatory activities (Rico et al. 2018).

      3.5.2 Isolating Phytoactive Principles from the Mediterranean Region

Photo depicts (a) fucus distichus, a traditionally used phlorotannin-rich seaweed harvested in Whittier, AK. (b) Structural units of phlorotannins from the Alaskan brown algae F. distichus.

      Source: (a) Mary Ann Lila.

      3.5.3 Drug Discovery in Cooperation with Traditional Healers in Botswana

      In Botswana, the population at large, both in rural areas and in towns, subscribes to a mixture of traditional medicine and Western medicine. To the chagrin of traditional healers, however, the traditional practices are slowly falling out of fashion, and are not regarded in as high esteem as Western medicine, especially among younger citizens. In an attempt to bridge this gap, a series of mobile discovery workshops was conducted in two regions of the country for traditional healers and other community members, who were invited to provide their own indigenous medicinal plants for use in the bioassay screens (Andrae‐Marobela et al. 2012). The mobile biodiscovery approach was used to establish an indigenous knowledge‐guided drug‐discovery platform. Because opportunistic infections such as tuberculosis and sexually transmitted infections are relatively high in Botswana, mobile screens were specifically tailored to include pathogenic bacterial strains with high potential to detect promising new drug candidates (Andrae‐Marobela et al. 2012). The ethnomedical approaches (workshops) were conducted in hot spots of biodiversity as well as ethnic diversity. The bioassays revealed “first hits” of bioactivity to medicinal plants that had previously never been examined using these tools, and provided a way to conserve traditional knowledge in qualitative and semiquantitative data formats. One of the most appreciated features of this approach was that the indigenous healers were true research partners given all rights to transparency and benefits, and were never undermined as informant sources only.

      3.5.4 Antidiabetic Mechanisms of Wild Tundra Berries

      Wild berries have traditionally been integral dietary components for Native Americans and Alaska Natives, are used ceremonially and medicinally, and remain a treasured resource today (Burns Kraft et al. 2008; Kellogg et al. 2010). In Alaska and northern Canadian territories, lands with a high proportion of indigenous people, wild berry species often are the only edible terrestrial plants endemic to the environments. Site‐specific variation in anthocyanin and proanthocyanidin levels in these wild berries, and more concentrated phytoactive constituents in the more spartan, high‐stress environments of the arctic have been documented. Initial on‐site mobile bioassays conducted with Alaska Natives identified a wealth of primary bioactivities relevant to human health, including higher antioxidant potentials (relative to commercially harvested domestic berries), more concentrated and diverse phytochemical profiles, and significant effects of climatic fluctuations on berry abundance and quality. The strong partnerships forged in workshops that put scientific inquiry in the context of traditional knowledge (Flint et al. 2011) were followed by more extensive laboratory bioassays of wild berry species.

      Source: (a) Mary Ann Lila.

      The exceptionally high polyphenol content and diverse profiles found in wild plants have led to their incorporation in new functional food and cosmeceutical formulations. There is a global trend favoring clean labels on food and cosmetic products, which has been the impetus behind industrial interest in using wild‐harvested plants as natural sources for antioxidants,


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