Boysenberry and blackcurrant drinks increased the plasma antioxidant capacity in an elderly population but had little effect on other markers of oxidative stress

BACKGROUND: The consumption of fruit and vegetables promotes good health by protecting against various degenerative diseases. Even though the constituents responsible are not known, some evidence indicates that the antioxidant properties of fruit and vegetable phytochemicals are responsible. Previous studies have shown that blackcurrant and Boysenberry reduce oxidative stress using in vitro cell systems. The aim of this study was to determine if blackcurrant or Boysenberry drinks could improve measures of oxidative stress and inflammation in an elderly population with below‐average memory abilities. The intervention parallel study was fully blinded with a placebo control. RESULTS: Of the six measures of oxidative stress assessed, only plasma antioxidant capacity significantly increased for both the Boysenberry and blackcurrant treatments compared with the placebo. Plasma malondialdehyde decreased in both the Boysenberry and blackcurrant treatments although the decrease was not statistically significant. Measures of oxidative stress for protein oxidation and lipid peroxidation improved for the berryfruit treatments during the study but were not statistically different from the placebo. CONCLUSION: Long‐term consumption of both the Boysenberry and blackcurrant drinks raised the plasma total antioxidant capacity of the study participants suggesting that Boysenberry and blackcurrant may help protect against oxidative stress‐related health conditions. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry     

The impact of fermentation and in vitro digestion on formation angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory peptides from pea proteins

Pea seeds were fermented by Lactobacillus plantarum 299v in monoculture under different time and temperature conditions and the fermented products were digested in vitro under gastrointestinal conditions. After fermentation and digestion ACE inhibitory activity was determined. In all samples after fermentation no ACE inhibitory activity was noted. Potentially antihypertensive peptides were released during in vitro digestion. The highest DH (68.62%) were noted for control sample, although the lowest IC₅₀ value (0.19 mg/ml) was determined for product after 7 days fermentation at 22 °C. The hydrolysate characterised by the highest ACE inhibitory activity was separated on Sephadex G10 and two peptides fractions were obtained. The highest ACE inhibitory activity (IC₅₀ = 64.04 μg/ml) for the first fraction was noted. This fraction was separated by HPLC and identified by LC–MS/MS and the sequence of peptide derived from pea proteins was determined as KEDDEEEEQGEEE.     

Isolation and quantitative determination of ergosterol peroxide in various edible mushroom species

Ergosterol peroxide, the steroidal derivative with cytotoxic activity, has been isolated for the first time from the mycelium of edible and medicinal mushroom Hericiumerinaceum (lion’s mane mushroom) together with erinacine A. The new densitometric method was applied for the quantitative determination of ergosterol peroxide in n-hexane extracts of H. erinaceum, Laetiporus sulfureus (chicken mushroom), and Morchella esculenta (common morel) mycelia, as well as in Boletus edulis (king bolete), Suillus bovinus (Jersey cow mushroom), and B. badius (bay bolete) fruiting bodies. The ergosterol peroxide content reached 15.98 ± 0.78, 10.07 ± 0.75, 13.37 ± 0.56, 29.32 ± 1.43, 17.27 ± 0.84, and 12.60 ± 0.59 mg per 100 g, respectively. What is significant was that ergosterol peroxide was identified for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, in edible mushrooms mentioned above.     

Role of Energy Metabolism in the Progression of Neuroblastoma

Neuroblastoma is a common childhood cancer possessing a significant risk of death. This solid tumor manifests variable clinical behaviors ranging from spontaneous regression to widespread metastatic disease. The lack of promising treatments calls for new research approaches which can enhance the understanding of the molecular background of neuroblastoma. The high proliferation of malignant neuroblastoma cells requires efficient energy metabolism. Thus, we focus our attention on energy pathways and their role in neuroblastoma tumorigenesis. Recent studies suggest that neuroblastoma-driven extracellular vesicles stimulate tumorigenesis inside the recipient cells. Furthermore, proteomic studies have demonstrated extracellular vesicles (EVs) to cargo metabolic enzymes needed to build up a fully operative energy metabolism network. The majority of EV-derived enzymes comes from glycolysis, while other metabolic enzymes have a fatty acid β-oxidation and tricarboxylic acid cycle origin. The previously mentioned glycolysis has been shown to play a primary role in neuroblastoma energy metabolism. Therefore, another way to modify the energy metabolism in neuroblastoma is linked with genetic alterations resulting in the decreased activity of some tricarboxylic acid cycle enzymes and enhanced glycolysis. This metabolic shift enables malignant cells to cope with increasing metabolic stress, nutrition breakdown and an upregulated proliferation ratio.     

Effective oral ganciclovir prophylaxis against cytomegalovirus disease in heart transplant recipients

The presented data show the combined sequential use of i.v. G for 14 days followed by PO G for 90 days is a much more effective prophylaxis for CMVD after heart transplantation than use of i.v. G for 14 days followed by PO A for 90 days. A need for hospitalization due to CMVD is significantly reduced by this new strategy. The follow-up in group II is shorter than in group I but is now at least 6 months in group II, without any new cases in the first 6 months after cardiac transplantation. Some currently unknown adverse effect of prolonged PO G, which may be present, is not identified in this analysis.     

An integrated LC-ESI-MS platform for quantitation of serum peptide ladders. Application for colon carcinoma study

Mounting evidence indicates that MS analysis of the human blood peptidome allows to distinguish between cancer and non-cancer samples, giving promise for a new MS-based diagnostic tool. However, several aspects of already published work have been criticized and demand for more methodical approach has been formulated. Motivated by this we undertook a systematic study of the plasma and serum peptidome using an integrated ESI-LC-MS-based platform, equipped with new data analysis tools for relative and absolute peptide quantitation. We used a high resolution LC-ESI-MS to analyze well-separated MS signals corresponding to peptides, and measured the variability of >1000 peptide signal amplitudes across a set of plasma and serum samples from healthy individuals. By spiking serum samples with known amounts of isotopically labeled versions of a selected set of peptides we measured the variability of their absolute concentration in this sample set and demonstrated a strong influence of clotting time on the concentration of these peptides in serum. Finally, we used this new LC-ESI-MS analytical platform for the differential analysis of healthy versus colon cancer serum samples and found that it was possible to distinguish the two groups with 89.8% sensitivity and 94.6% specificity.     

Development of microfibers for bone regeneration based on alkali-free bioactive glasses doped with boron oxide

In this paper, we present a new series of alkali-free bioactive glasses (BG) based on FastOs^® composition (38.49 SiO₂ – 36.07 CaO – 19.24 MgO – 5.61 P₂O₅ – 0.59 CaF₂, expressed in mol %), which was modified by partially replacing silicon dioxide network-former with boron trioxide network-former, utilizing calcium oxide as a charge compensator. The main objective of this study was to obtain a new family of bioactive glasses suitable for the fabrication of glass fibers. The BGs were prepared by melt quenching technique and their structural and thermal properties were determined. Glass rods were used to obtain fibers by the classic drawing technique. The bioactivity of the fibers was subsequently assessed through immersion tests in simulated body fluid (SBF) to establish their ability to form hydroxyl carbonated (HCA) apatite onto their surfaces. Glasses with moderate substitution of SiO₂ with B₂O₃ exhibited enhanced thermal properties, allowing to significantly suppress the crystallization trend, and favoring to draw the fibers. The structure of the studied glasses was obtained by NMR spectroscopy. The structure-property correlations were established by their relationship to the configurational entropy. Smaller amounts of substitution resulted in larger entropy of the glasses. Moreover the SBF tests revealed an extensive formation of HCA, comparable to the parent FastOs^®BG composition, which assures fast bonding to the bone. Thus, presented glass fibers may be considered as promising materials for wool-like bone implants or as reinforcing constituent of biopolymer matrix composites.     

Global Changes of 5-mC/5h-mC Ratio and Methylation of Adiponectin and Leptin Gene in Placenta Depending on Mode of Delivery

It was suggested that the epigenetic alterations of the placenta are associated with obesity, as well as the delivery mode. This study aimed to assess the effect of maternal outcome and delivery procedure on global placental DNA methylation status, as well as selected 5’-Cytosine-phosphate-Guanine-3’ (CpG) sites in ADIPOQ and LEP genes. Global DNA methylation profile in the placenta was assessed using the 5-methylcytosine (5-mC) and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC) ratio evaluated with the ELISA, followed by target gene methylation patterns at selected gene regions which were determined using methylation-specific qPCR in 70 placentas from healthy, pregnant women with single pregnancy. We found no statistically significant differences in 5-mC/5-hmC ratio between intrapartum cesarean sections (CS) and vaginal deliveries (p = 0.214), as well as between elective cesarean sections and vaginal deliveries (p = 0.221). In intrapartum cesarean sections, the ADIPOQ demethylation index was significantly higher (the average: 1.75) compared to elective cesarean section (the average: 1.23, p = 0.010) and vaginal deliveries (the average: 1.23, p = 0.011). The LEP demethylation index did not significantly differ among elective CS, intrapartum CS, and vaginal delivery groups. The demethylation index of ADIPOQ correlated negatively with LEP in the placenta in the vaginal delivery group (r = −0.456, p = 0.017), but not with the global methylation. The methylation of a singular locus might be different depending on the mode of delivery and uterine contractions. Further studies should be conducted with locus-specific analysis of the whole genome to detect the methylation index of specific genes involved in metabolism.