To explore biomedical potential of the polysaccharide from seed cake of Camellia oleifera Abel, we investigated antioxidant and antitumor capacities of the polymer. The results showed that the polysaccharide is capable of scavenging both superoxide anion and hydroxyl radicals in vitro. The highest scavenging rate of superoxide anion and hydroxyl radicals is 85% and 76%, respectively. Using the model animal, Caenorhabditis elegans, we further show that the polysaccharide can increase antioxidant enzyme activity, decrease lipid peroxidation level, and reduce paraquat-induced oxidative damage at a polysaccharide concentration more than 50mg/l. We also revealed that the polysaccharide has some ferric chelating ability and strong in vivo antitumor activity. The antitumor rate against Sarcoma180 solid tumor grown in BALB/C mice reached 85.6% at the highest dose of 40 × 20 mg/kg days.
A study of the anaerobic acidogenesis of wet olive cake or olive mill solid waste (OMSW) from the two-phase olive oil mill industry was carried out. Eight different hydraulic retention times (HRTs) ranging from 50.0-10.7 days were studied. An increase of 935.7 % in total volatile fatty acids (VFA) over the initial acidic concentration in the OMSW (1.4 g L(-1) expressed as acetic acid) was achieved. The results showed a maximum total VFA generation rate of 5.05 g COD L(-1)d(-1), this rate being achieved at the same hydraulic retention time as the maximum acetic acid production (8.2 g L(-1)) and as the maximum acidification degree (34.4 %).