Abstract

The health benefit of plant-derived foods is established and new researches are identifyingactive plant derived molecules among the thousands phytochemicals. Throughout life, theexposure to specific phytochemicals can affect gene expression via reversible epigeneticmechanisms. This has recently launched re-exploration of nutritional, botanical orphytopharmaceutical compounds for their epigenetic effects in order to identify promisingnutraceuticals or cosmeceuticals [1].Polyphenols from grape seed extracts (GSE) possess a broad spectrum of chemo-protectiveproperties, and lycopene, found in tomatoes and other vegetables, have been proposed to modulatehormonal and immune systems, metabolic pathways, and gap junction intercellularcommunication (GJIC). In animal cells, GJIC has been implicated in the cell growth control viaadaptive responses: differentiation, proliferation and apoptosis. GJIC is deficient in many humantumors and its restoration or upregulation is associated with decreased cell proliferation. In thecarcinogenesis process, the reversible inhibition of GJIC has been hypothesized to be involved inthe tumor promotion phase.Some innovative, safe and environmentally friendly processes such as supercritical carbondioxide (S-CO2) extraction are developing for the antioxidant production from plant matrices.GSE and new S-CO2-extracted oleoresins obtained from tomato and tomato added with grapeseeds were analyzed for antioxidant activities and biological properties on human keratinocytes[2] and human breast cancer cell (MCF-7) cultures. Plant extracts showed the ability to enhancethe GJIC and connexin 43 expression in human cell cultures, and were able to completelyovercome the GJIC inhibition induced by the tumor promoter HgCl2.The knowledge of molecular mechanisms underlies the phytochemical effects and theavailability of environmentally friendly methods to produce plant-derived molecules withpotentially healthy properties, from natural sources (e.g., tomato and waste winery by-products),could lay new bases for preventive nutrition.[1] vel Szic KS., Ndlovu MN., Haegeman G., Berghe WV. (2010) Nature or nurture: Let food be your epigeneticmedicine in chronic inflammatory disorders. Biochemical Pharmacology, 80: 1816-183.[2] Leone A., Zefferino R., Longo C., Leo L., Zacheo G. (2010) Supercritical CO2-extracted tomato oleoresinsenhance gap junction intercellular communications and recover from mercury chloride inhibition in keratinocytes.Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry, 58: 4769-4778.

Autore Pugliese

• Leone Antonella

Tutti gli autori

• C. Longo; R. Zefferino; A. Leone

Titolo volume/Rivista

Non Disponibile

Anno di pubblicazione

2011

ISSN

Non Disponibile

ISBN

Non Disponibile

Numero di citazioni Wos

Nessuna citazione

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

Non Disponibile

Numero di citazioni Scopus

Non Disponibile

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

Non Disponibile

Settori ERC

Non Disponibile

Codici ASJC

Non Disponibile