Water extract from Ligusticum chuanxiong delays the aging of Saccharomyces cerevisiae via improving antioxidant activity

Yinhui Yan; Qianxing Zou; Yueqi Zhou; Huan He; Wanguo Yu; Haijun Yan; Yi Yi; Zaoya Zhao

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19027

Water extract from Ligusticum chuanxiong delays the aging of Saccharomyces cerevisiae via improving antioxidant activity

Heliyon. 2023 Aug 9;9(8):e19027. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19027. eCollection 2023 Aug.

Authors

Yinhui Yan¹, Qianxing Zou², Yueqi Zhou¹, Huan He¹, Wanguo Yu¹, Haijun Yan³, Yi Yi¹, Zaoya Zhao¹

Affiliations

¹ Guangxi Key Laboratory of Green Processing of Sugar Resources, College of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University of Science and Technology, Liuzhou 545006, PR China.
² Department of Reproductive Medicine, Liuzhou People's Hospital affiliated to Guangxi Medical University, Liuzhou, 545006, PR China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Institute of Aquatic Economic Animals and Guangdong Province Key Laboratory for Aquatic Economic Animals, South China Sea Bio-Resource Exploitation and Collaborative Innovation Center, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, PR China.

Abstract

Ligusticum chuanxiong is a common traditional edible-medicinal herb that has various pharmacological activities. However, its effects on Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae) remains unknown. In this study, we found that water extract of Ligusticum chuanxiong (abbreviated as WEL) exhibited excellent free radical scavenging ability in-vitro. Moreover, WEL treatment could delay the aging of S. cerevisiae, an important food microorganism sensitive to reactive oxygen species (ROS) stress. Biochemical analyses revealed that WEL significantly increased the activity of antioxidant enzymes in S. cerevisiae, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione reductase (GR), as well as their gene expression. As a result, ROS level was significantly decreased and accompanied with the decline of malondialdehyde (MDA), which represented a state of low oxidative stress. The reduction of oxidative stress could elevate S. cerevisiae's ethanol fermentation efficiency. Taken together, WEL plays a protective role against S. cerevisiae aging via improving antioxidant activity.

Keywords: Antioxidant activity; Ethanol fermentation; Ligusticum chuanxiong; Reactive oxygen species; Saccharomyces cerevisiae.