{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T06:56:11Z","timestamp":1790751371340,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790726400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Pharmacol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Carob (Ceratonia siliqua L., Fabaceae) is a Mediterranean tree whose pods are rich in phenolic metabolites and are credited with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory,hypolipidemic and antimicrobial properties.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The chemical composition of MECp was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with ultraviolet detection (HPLC\/UV). Free radical-scavenging and ferric-reducing capacities were measured using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) analytical descriptors assays, and soybean LOX-1 inhibition was assessed in vitro and examined in silico by molecular docking against the enzyme (PDB ID: 3O8Y). Gallstones removed at surgery were confirmed as cholesterol stones by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy with attenuated total reflectance (FTIR-ATR) and then incubated in MECp under continuous agitation for 4 weeks, with a sodium chloride solution (NaCl, 9 g\/L) as control. Gallstone mass after drying at 40 \u00b0C, the percentage of gallstone-dissolving capacity (% GDC) and the pH of the medium were recorded weekly.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>HPLC\/UV analysis identified 20 phenolic metabolites in MECp. The extract contained 160.68 mg GAE\/g DE of total phenolics and 9.19 mg QE\/g DE of total flavonoids, with median inhibitory concentrations (IC50) of 0.16, 0.86 and 0.19 mg\/mL for the DPPH, FRAP and soybean LOX-1 inhibition assays, respectively. Compared with the control, MECp produced a highly significant increase in % GDC over time, and the docking analysis revealed strong and stable interactions between the major polyphenols and the soybean LOX-1 active site.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The dissolution obtained with MECp is consistent with its phenolic composition, and the docking results agree with the soybean LOX-1 inhibition measured in vitro. These findings identify MECp as a promising natural candidate for cholesterol gallstone management and support further preclinical investigation.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fphar.2026.1945402","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T06:06:02Z","timestamp":1790748362000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Phenolic metabolites from Ceratonia siliqua L. pods: chemical characterization, soybean lipoxygenase-1 inhibition, and in vitro gallstone-dissolving capacity"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Souheyla","family":"Mekraf","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Bioeconomics, Food Safety, and Health, Department of Food Science, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Life, University of Abdelhamid Ibn Badis","place":["Mostaganem, 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