Hulless Black Barley as a Carrier of Probiotics and a Supplement Rich in Phenolics Targeting Against H2O2-Induced Oxidative Injuries in Human Hepatocarcinoma Cells

Han Wu; Hao-Nan Liu; Chun-Quan Liu; Jian-Zhong Zhou; Xiao-Li Liu; Hong-Zhi Zhang

doi:10.3389/fnut.2021.790765

Hulless Black Barley as a Carrier of Probiotics and a Supplement Rich in Phenolics Targeting Against H₂O₂-Induced Oxidative Injuries in Human Hepatocarcinoma Cells

Front Nutr. 2022 Jan 28:8:790765. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2021.790765. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Han Wu^{1

2}, Hao-Nan Liu^{1

3}, Chun-Quan Liu¹, Jian-Zhong Zhou^{1

3}, Xiao-Li Liu^{1

3}, Hong-Zhi Zhang¹

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Agro-Product Processing, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing, China.
² College of Food Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China.
³ School of Food and Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China.

Abstract

Lactic acid bacteria can provide benefits to human beings and transform phenolic substances to improve their potential functionality. It was of interest to develop black barley as a carrier of probiotics and nutraceutical supplement rich in more antioxidants. Due to fermentation, bacterial counting and free phenolic content in black barley increased to 9.54 ± 0.22 log cfu/mL and 5.61 ± 0.02 mg GAE/mL, respectively. Eleven phenolic compounds, including nine isoflavones and two nitrogenous compounds were characterized using UPLC-QTOF-MS, among which epicatechin, hordatine, and pelargonidin aglycone were largely enriched. Moreover, free phenolic extracts from fermented barley (F-BPE) played a greater role in scavenging DPPH radicals, reducing Fe³⁺ to Fe²⁺, and increasing oxygen radical absorbance capacity, compared phenolic extracts from unfermented barley [UF-BPE (1.94-, 1.71-, and 1.35-fold at maximum for F-BPE vs. UF-BPE, respectively)]. In hepatocarcinoma cells, F-BPE also better inhibited ROS production and improved cell viability, cell membrane integrity, SOD activity, and non-enzymatic antioxidant GSH redox status (2.85-, 3.28-, 2.05-, 6.42-, and 3.99-fold at maximum for F-BPE vs. UF-BPE, respectively).

Keywords: antioxidant activity; black barley; human hepatocarcinoma cells; lactic acid bacteria; phenolic transformation.