ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutrition, Psychology and Brain Health
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1621848
This article is part of the Research TopicNutrients and Bioactive Compounds: Preventing and Treating Neurodegenerative Diseases and DisordersView all articles
Antioxidant action and potential neuroprotection of polyphenolics extracted from Astragalus membranaceus residue
Provisionally accepted
- 1Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China
- 2Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing, China
- 3Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, Nanjing, China
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Introduction: Polyphenols, recognized as nutritional supplements, have emerged as promising therapeutic agents for various diseases, particularly brain disorders. However, due to the limitation of the extraction method, Astragalus membranaceus residues (AR) retain substantial bound phenolics with unexplored neuronal antioxidant activity.In this study, free, esterified, and bound phenolic compounds were sequentially extracted from AR. Specific compounds in the three phenolic fractions were identified using ultra-highperformance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry and categorized into phenolic acids, flavonoids, and isoflavonoids. Antioxidant efficacy was comparatively evaluated through free radical-scavenging assays, ferric reducing antioxidant power assays, and in vitro neuroprotective assessments using PC12 cell models.The insoluble-bound fraction had the highest total phenolic content, followed by free and esterified phenolics. Bound phenolic compounds contained the highest amounts of flavonoids. The bound phenolic fraction demonstrated superior comprehensive antioxidant capacity. An in vitro neuroprotective assessment using H 2 O 2 -stimulated PC12 neuronal cells demonstrated that the bound phenolic fractions significantly relieved oxidative stress, as evidenced by an increase in superoxide dismutase and catalase and a reduction in intracellular reactive oxygen species and malondialdehyde compared to untreated controls. Bound phenolics in AR also reduced the expression of oxidative stress-related genes in PC12 cells.Discussion: This study suggests that BP in AR may benefit neurological and brain health as potential nutritional therapies.
Keywords: Astragalus membranaceus residue, Neuroprotection, phenolic compounds, Oxidative Stress, antioxidant
Received: 02 May 2025; Accepted: 07 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Wang, Cao, Li, Wu, Hua, Zhou, Li and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Shengjie Li, Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, Nanjing, China
Su Liu, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China
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