title: Influence of Different Drying Treatments and Extraction Solvents on the Metabolite Profile and Nitric Oxide Inhibitory Activity of Ajwa Dates.
abstract: This study aimed to examine the variation in the metabolite profiles and nitric oxide (NO) inhibitory activity of Ajwa dates that were subjected to 2 drying treatments and different extraction solvents. (1)H NMR coupled with multivariate data analysis was employed. A Griess assay was used to determine the inhibition of the production of NO in RAW 264.7 cells treated with LPS and interferon-γ. The oven dried (OD) samples demonstrated the absence of asparagine and ascorbic acid as compared to the freeze dried (FD) dates. The principal component analysis showed distinct clusters between the OD and FD dates by the second principal component. In respect of extraction solvents, chloroform extracts can be distinguished by the absence of arginine, glycine and asparagine compared to the methanol and 50% methanol extracts. The chloroform extracts can be clearly distinguished from the methanol and 50% methanol extracts by first principal component. Meanwhile, the loading score plot of partial least squares analysis suggested that beta glucose, alpha glucose, choline, ascorbic acid and glycine were among the metabolites that were contributing to higher biological activity displayed by FD and methanol extracts of Ajwa. The results highlight an alternative method of metabolomics approach for determination of the metabolites that contribute to NO inhibitory activity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The association between metabolite profiles and nitric oxide (NO) inhibitory activity of the various extracts of Ajwa dates was evaluated by utilizing partial least squares (PLS) model. The validated PLS model can be employed to predict the NO inhibitory activity of new samples of date fruits based on their NMR spectra which was important for assessing fruit quality. The information gained might be used as guidance for quality control, nutritional values and as a basis for the preparation of any food supplements for human health that employs date palm fruit as the raw material.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Natural Products, Inst. of Bioscience, Univ. Putra Malaysia, 43400, Serdang, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Nur Ashikin
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Abdul-Hamid
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Natural Products, Inst. of Bioscience, Univ. Putra Malaysia, 43400, Serdang, Malaysia.|Dept. of Food Science, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Univ. Putra Malaysia, 43400, Serdang, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Faridah
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Abas
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Natural Products, Inst. of Bioscience, Univ. Putra Malaysia, 43400, Serdang, Malaysia.|Dept. of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Univ. Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Intan Safinar
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Ismail
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Natural Products, Inst. of Bioscience, Univ. Putra Malaysia, 43400, Serdang, Malaysia.|Dept. of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Univ. Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Khozirah
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shaari
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Natural Products, Inst. of Bioscience, Univ. Putra Malaysia, 43400, Serdang, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Nordin H
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Lajis
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids / Q000032:analysis; D000818:Animals; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D001205:Ascorbic Acid / Q000032:analysis; D003890:Desiccation / Q000379:methods*; D004032:Diet; D005511:Food Handling / Q000379:methods*; D005612:Freeze Drying; D005638:Fruit / Q000737:chemistry*; D005947:Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods; D055442:Metabolome; D055432:Metabolomics; D051379:Mice; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors*; D009753:Nutritive Value; D065749:Phoeniceae / Q000737:chemistry*; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry*; D000067996:RAW 264.7 Cells; D012997:Solvents / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D010936:Plant Extracts; D012997:Solvents; D009569:Nitric Oxide; D005947:Glucose; D001205:Ascorbic Acid
keywords: Ajwa date; Phoenix dactylifera; drying treatment; extraction solvents; metabolomics