Prunus mahaleb L. is a marginal fruit crop producing cherry-like dark purple drupes with avery bitter taste, rich in polyphenolic compounds.A mahaleb fruit concentrated extract (mfce)has been assayed for its biological activities. In this work, we report results on the in vitroeffects of mfce including: i) anti-proliferative, gap junction intercellular communication (GJIC)modulation and pro-apoptotic properties in a breast cancer cell line (MCF-7), ii) antiinflammatoryproperties in human vascular endothelial cells (HUVEC), iii) anti-mutageniceffect on yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain D7. Mfce exerted a dose-dependent antiproliferativeeffect on MCF-7 cells together with a significant time-dependent increase inGJIC and a pro-apoptotic effect. Furthermore, mfce significantly reduced levels of endothelialinflammatory antigens in a concentration-dependent manner. Finally, mfce protectedS. cerevisiae cells against H2O2 cytotoxicity by direct radical scavenging activity. This studydemonstrated multiple healthful biological effects of mfce, highlighting it as a potentialnutraceutical product.

The jellyfish Rhizostoma pulmo, Macrì 1778 (Cnidaria, Rhizostomae) undergoes recurrent outbreaks in the Mediterranean coastal waters, with large biomass populations representing a nuisance or damage for marine and maritime activities. A preliminary overview of the antioxidant activity (AA) of R. pulmo proteinaceous compounds is provided here based on the extraction and characterization of both soluble and insoluble membrane-fractioned proteins, the latter digested by sequential enzymatic hydrolyses with pepsin and collagenases. All jellyfish proteins showed significant AA, with low molecular weight (MW) proteins correlated with greater antioxidant activity. In particular, collagenase-hydrolysed collagen resulted in peptides with MW lower than 3 kDa, ranging 3-10 kDa or 10-30 kDa, with AA inversely proportional to MW. No cytotoxic effect was detected on cultured human keratinocytes (HEKa) in a range of protein concentration 0.05-20 ?g/mL for all tested protein fractions except for soluble proteins higher than 30 kDa, likely containing the jellyfish venom compounds. Furthermore, hydrolyzed jellyfish collagen peptides showed a significantly higher AA and provided a greater protective effect against oxidative stress in HEKa than the hydrolyzed collagen peptides from vertebrates. Due to a high reproductive potential, jellyfish may represent a potential socioeconomic opportunity as a source of natural bioactive compounds, with far-reaching beneficial implications. Eventually, improvements in processing technology will promote the use of untapped marine biomasses in nutraceutical, cosmeceutical, and pharmaceutical fields, turning marine management problems into a more positive perspective.

The marine environment has been recognized as a rich source of bioactive metabolites with various biological and pharmacological activities. The chemical complexity and biological diversity of the marine-derived compounds is enormous, so that bio-prospecting of marine organisms today represents a major tool for the discovery of new therapeutic agents and drug candidates.The abnormal proliferation of gelatinous marine organisms in many marine ecosystems, including the Mediterranean Sea, is a steadily increasing phenomenon. The social and economic consequences for the negative impact of jellyfish blooms on public health, tourism, industrial and commercial activities, are well known. Conversely, with a positive perspective, the large amount of jellyfish could be regarded as easily available biomasses that might represent a valuable source of bioactive compounds beneficial for humans, including bioactive peptides, collagen and gelatin, oligosaccharides, fatty acids, enzymes, calcium, water-soluble minerals, and biopolymers. The large amount of jellyfish biomass, indeed, could be used as raw material for both, the direct use as food or feed, or for the bioactive compounds extraction.Some Scyphomedusae population present in European seas can reach enormous size biomasses (e.g. Rhizostoma pulmo, Cotylorhiza tuberculata, Aurelia aurita). Recent data show peculiar biological properties of their tissues in terms of protein and non-protein components, providing some of scientific basis for their use in the pharmacopoeia and traditional cuisine from South East Asia. The extracellular matrix in the jellyfish bodies contains mainly collagen, a structural protein with many biological and technological properties (mechanical and gelling properties, emulsifiers, antioxidant, protective and immune-boosting). Other non-collagen pepsin digestible proteins are also abundant. Finally, ?-3 and ?-6 fatty acids, polyphenols as well as a number of other bioactive compounds, are also present.Within EU projects (VECTORS, MED-JELLYRISK), in collaboration with European and Italian Institutions (EFSA, CoNISMa, University, CSIC - ICM Barcelona), we are conducting studies on jellyfish species common in the Mediterranean Sea, which display huge blooms along the Italian coast. The various identified biological properties, including antioxidant and anti-cancer activities, make the jellyfish biomass a potentially valuable material for food, feed, cosmetic, and biomedical industries.A number of Mediterranean key jellyfish species are currently targeted in the search for putative valuable bioactive compounds, with new findings recommending future exploitation of available jellyfish biomasses. Anyway, no European species seems to be commercialized until now, although in a recent publication of the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) jellyfish appear in the core category as "food source of animal origin": A02GY- Jellyfish (Cnidaria) as food source of animal origin. Despite

The risk of chronic diseases has been shown to be inversely related to tomato intake and the lycopene levels in serum and tissue. Cis-isomers represent approximately 50%-80% of serum lycopene, while dietary lycopene maintains the isomeric ratio present in the plant sources with about 95% of all-trans-lycopene. Supercritical CO2 extraction (S-CO2) has been extensively developed to extract lycopene from tomato and tomato processing wastes, for food or pharmaceutical industries, also by using additional plant sources as co-matrices. We compared two S-CO2-extracted oleoresins (from tomato and tomato/hazelnut matrices), which showed an oil-solid bi-phasic appearance, a higher cis-lycopene content, and enhanced antioxidant ability compared with the traditional solvent extracts. Heat-treating, in the range of 60-100 °C, led to changes in the lycopene isomeric composition and to enhanced antioxidant activity in both types of oleoresins. The greater stability has been related to peculiar lycopene isomer composition and to the lipid environment. The results indicate these oleoresins are a good source of potentially healthful lycopene.

The organization of the cnidarian nervous system has been widely documented in polyps and medusae, but little is known about the nervous system of planula larvae, which give rise to adult forms after settling and metamorphosis. We describe histological and cytological features of the nervous system in planulae of the hydrozoan Clava multicornis. These planulae do not swim freely in the water column but rather crawl on the substrate by means of directional, coordinated ciliary movement coupled to lateral muscular bending movements associated with positive phototaxis. Histological analysis shows pronounced anteroposterior regionalization of the planula's nervous system, with different neural cell types highly concentrated at the anterior pole. Transmission electron microscopy of planulae shows the nervous system to be unusually complex, with a large, orderly array of sensory cells at the anterior pole. In the anterior half of the planula, the basiectodermal plexus of neurites forms an extensive orthogonal network, whereas more posteriorly neurites extend longitudinally along the body axis. Additional levels of nervous system complexity are uncovered by neuropeptide-specific immunocytochemistry, which reveals distinct neural subsets having specific molecular phenotypes. Together these observations imply that the nervous system of the planula of Clava multicornis manifests a remarkable level of histological, cytological, and functional organization, the features of which may be reminiscent of those present in early bilaterian animals. J. Comp. Neurol. 519:1931-1951, 2011. (C) 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

L'esplorazione della biodiversità marina e delle specie animali e vegetali dalle potenziali proprietà terapeutiche tra gli obiettivi strategici di Horizon 2020, sono al centro delle ricerche di due strutture del Cnr: l'Istituto di scienze delle produzioni alimentari (Ispa) di Lecce e l'Istituto di scienze dell'alimentazione (Isa) di Avellino. Le specie individuate, vivendo in ambienti ostili a temperature estreme e in condizioni di pressione e salinità variabile, hanno sviluppato complessi e diversificati meccanismi biologici che le rendono interessanti per l'identificazione di molecole bioattive: a oggi ne sono state identificate altre 10.000, ma quelle non ancora scoperte sono molte di più.

Fishery, market and consumption of edible jellyfish are spread in Southeast-Asia and currently established in Americas where are still limited by the lack of market demand. Globalization of food markets and the recent upgrade of the European regulation on novel foods (EC 2015/2283) opened new possibilities to the introduction of edible jellyfish in the European's diet. Considering jellyfish as new food resource instead waste, is in line with principles of sustainable food systems. Although the tradition of eating jellyfish is still absent in Europe, our recent studies showed that several Mediterranean jellyfish species have biologic and nutritional features with a large potential as innovative novel food and bioactive compound source.New opportunities for expanding jellyfish uses in EU Countries depend from the development of new processing technologies and internal market demand, which is in turn influenced by the scientific studies on jellyfish raw material, and from its public acceptance and appeal as innovative food. In within GOJELLY EU H2020 project n. 774499 we are exploring different approaches dealing with the microbiological and food safety issues, sensory analysis as well as food design and functional food features of some Mediterranean jellyfish treated by Western-style food-processing as alternative to the traditional Asiatic treatment. Jellyfish collagen and other proteinaceous and non-proteinaceous bioactive compounds are investigated for their putative heath promoting features.Key words: edible jellyfish; novel foods; food sustainability.

In this study, chitosan based microbeads containing Ungeremine, an antimicrobial alkaloid particularly active against Penicillium roqueforti, a filamentous fungus responsible of the bakery products deterioration, were prepared by external gelation by using sodium tripolyphosphate (TPP) as crosslinking agent. The stability of the beads, as well as the loading efficiency of the bioactive molecule, were assessed at different pH and TPP concentrations resulting particularly enhanced at low pH. All the microbeads evidenced antimicrobial activity against Penicillium roqueforti. The release kinetics of Ungeremine was tailored by opportunely modulating pH and TPP concentrations. Morphological analysis evidenced the improvement of the structural crosslinking density of microbeads including Ungeremine and spectroscopic analysis emphasized the active participation of Ungeremine to the crosslinking process occurring between chitosan and TPP. Finally, thermogravimetric analysis confirmed the increasing of free volume in three-dimensional networks and their liability to thermal degradation.

On a global scale, jellyfish populations in coastal marine ecosystems exhibit increasing trends of abundance. High-density outbreaks may directly or indirectly affect human economical and recreational activities, as well as public health. As the interest in biology of marine jellyfish grows, a number of jellyfish metabolites with healthy potential, such as anticancer or antioxidant activities, is increasingly reported. In this study, the Mediterranean "fried egg jellyfish" Cotylorhiza tuberculata (Macri, 1778) has been targeted in the search forputative valuable bioactive compounds. A medusa extract was obtained, fractionated, characterized by HPLC, GC-MS and SDS-PAGE and assayed for its biological activity on breast cancer cells (MCF-7) and human epidermal keratinocytes (HEKa). The composition of the jellyfish extract included photosynthetic pigments, valuable ?-3 and ?-6 fatty acids, and polypeptides derived either from jellyfish tissues and their algal symbionts. Extract fractions showed antioxidant activity and the ability to affect cell viability and intercellular communication mediated by gap junctions (GJIC) differentially in MCF-7and HEKa cells. A significantly higher cytotoxicity and GJIC enhancement in MCF-7 compared to HEKa cells was recorded. A putative action mechanism for the anticancer bioactivity through the modulation of GJIC has been hypothesized and its nutraceutical and pharmaceutical potential was discussed.

Jellyfish outbreaks are increasingly frequent in many coastal regions. Seasonally, billions of jellyfish prey on larvae of commercially important fish and shellfish, compete with them for food, clog fishermen's gears, and affect maritime tourism. In spite of their negative impacts, jellyfish may turn into a resource and economic opportunity. Jellyfish as food is a consolidated tradition in Southeastern Asia, and jellyfish fishery has reached an average global catch around 1 million tons (GIBBONS et al., 2016). However, jellyfish-based products are traditionally processed by unsafe preservative treatments as alum salts, and traceability issues and mislabeling are being frequently reported. In Europe, the lack of safe protocols and processing methods in compliance with EU rules, together with legal restraints and restricted market size, resulted in the absence of a comprehensive jellyfish food system, from harvesting to processing to consumption. Recently, research identified three scyphozoan jellyfish (Cotylorhiza tuberculata, Rhizostoma pulmo and Aurelia coerulea) as biomasses potentially useful for the biotechnological and food production sectors, also because of the occurrence of bioactive metabolites with antioxidant and cancer-preventive properties (LEONE et al., 2013; LEONE et al., 2015; D'AMICO et al., 2017). By investigating on innovative processing methodologies, the newly funded H2020 EU project Go-Jelly will deal with Mediterranean jellyfish as putative food or feed ingredient or for bioprospecting. Controlled fishery and exploitation of wild jellyfish (including aliens) may represent local adaptation against seasonal outbreaks, but the potential of a productive system based on cultivable jellyfish will be explored together with a risk assessment procedure to disclose the potential impacts on both consumers and ecosystem health, and to regulate their commercialization. The involvement of multiple stakeholder categories, including producers, managers of biodiversity conservation, as well as professional chefs and potential consumers, will be key to the socio-economic and ecological assessment of a new sustainable jellyfish food/feed processing system. Scientific demonstration of jellyfish nutraceutical and health properties, improvement of processing methodologies and introduction of jellyfish as ingredient to the Mediterranean cuisine may contribute to enlarge the jellyfish market to Western Countries, turning European jellyfish into a EU approved "novel food".

The health benefit of plant-derived foods is established and new researches are identifying active plant derived molecules among the thousands phytochemicals. Some phytochemicals are antioxidants and have been proposed as effective anticancer agents. Among them, polyphenols and carotenoids, present in different foods and beverages, have retained attention in recent years. Polyphenols from grape seed extracts (GSE) possess a broad spectrum of chemo-protective properties and lycopene, found in tomatoes and other fruits, has been proposed to modulate hormonal and immune systems, metabolic pathways, and gap junction intercellular communication (GJIC). In animal cells, GJIC has been implicated in the cell growth control via adaptive responses: differentiation, proliferation and apoptosis. GJIC is deficient in many human tumors and its restoration or upregulation is associated with decreased cell proliferation. In the carcinogenesis process, the reversible inhibition of GJIC has been hypothesized to be involved in the tumor promotion phase.Some innovative, safe and environmentally-friendly processes, based on supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO2) extraction and on subcritical water extraction (SWE) is developing for the production of antioxidants from plant matrices. GSE and new S-CO2-extracted oleoresins obtained from tomato and tomato added with grape seeds were analysed for antioxidant activities and biological properties on human keratinocytes and human breast cancer cell (MCF-7) cultures. Plant extracts showed the ability to enhance the GJIC and connexin 43 expression in human cell cultures, and were able to completely overcome the GJIC inhibition induced by the tumor promoter HgCl2.The knowledge of molecular mechanisms underlies the phytochemical effect and the availability of products with potentially healthy properties obtained from natural sources (e.g., tomato berries and waste winery by-products), by environmentally friendly methods, could lay new basis for preventive nutrition.

Italian traditional foods (TFs) characterize the identity of Italian people. Although the food industry is one of the main businesses in Italy, the value of TFs is more than production processes and their economic value, and more than a way of eating. Primary production as well as derived foods represent a meeting point between nature and culture and express the huge geographical and historical diversity of the Italian regions. Italian TFs are the foundation of the Mediterranean Diet, which has been inscribed in 2013 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, and is widely considered as a healthy dietary pattern. Grains, grapes, olives, vegetables, dairy and specific processed foods are the basis of the Italian food industry with significant economic and export value. The economic importance drives research and innovations towards studies in the traditional food sector. For instance, genetic and genomic studies evidenced different phenolic acid content in durum wheats as well as their effect on the quality of processed end-products. In wine production, the selection of autochthonous yeast strains with peculiar oenological properties serve for preparation of a model for transfer of the innovation to SMEs. The valorization of table-olives can be carried out through selection of microorganisms as autochthonous starters of fermentation. Functional foods as plant compounds or end-products enriched with bioactive compounds can be obtained with innovative technologies, such as supercritical CO2 extraction or using by-products of the food industry. Overall, several studies demonstrated the healthy promoting feature of several compounds of some traditional foods. Finally, Italy may play a significant role also in promoting novel foods, as demonstrated at Expo 2015.

The growing interest in diversification of sustainable food sources and the discoveries on the biological, nutritional and nutraceutical properties of several scyphozoans suggest the Mediterranean jellyfish as potential resource for biotechnological and food production sectors, in line with the EU Blue Growth recommendations. In Eastern Asian countries edible jellyfish represent an appreciated food with a worldwide catch over 1 million tons. The development of a Mediterranean jellyfish food system would require integrated management and sustainable exploitation, embracing ecological, safety, nutritional, legal, economic, social and public acceptance issues. The lack of safety protocols and processing methods for jellyfish products in compliance with EU rules, together with a restricted market size, resulted in the absence of a comprehensive food system, from harvesting to processing to consumption. Investigations on innovative processing methodologies and their effect on the biochemical features of key components (eg collagen) are leading to considering Mediterranean jellyfish as putative food or feed ingredient or as a still unexplored resource for bioprospecting. Recent biochemical research on the composition of Mediterranean jellyfish demonstrated the occurrence of bioactive metabolites with antioxidant and cancer-preventive properties. It is worth investigating the potential of a jellyfish productive system based on culturable species, or as a case-by-case local adaptation against massive jellyfish outbreaks recognized as damaging to local economies. The involvement of multiple stakeholder categories, including productive sectors, managers of biodiversity conservation, as well as potential consumers and final users, will be key to the socio-economic and ecological assessment of a new sustainable jellyfish food/feed processing system.

The marine environment has been recognized as a rich source of bioactive metabolites with various biological and pharmacological activities. The chemical complexity and biological diversity of the marine-derived compounds is enormous, so that bio-prospecting of marine organisms today represents a major tool for the discovery of new therapeutic agents and drug candidates.The abnormal proliferation of gelatinous marine organisms in many marine ecosystems, including the Mediterranean Sea, is a steadily increasing phenomenon. The social and economic consequences for the negative impact of jellyfish blooms on public health, tourism, industrial and commercial activities, are well known. Conversely, with a positive perspective, the large amount of jellyfish could be regarded as easily available biomasses that might represent a valuable source of bioactive compounds beneficial for humans, including bioactive peptides, collagen and gelatin, oligosaccharides, fatty acids, enzymes, calcium, water-soluble minerals, and biopolymers. The large amount of jellyfish biomass, indeed, could be used as raw material for both, the direct use as food or feed, or for the bioactive compounds extraction.Some Scyphomedusae population present in European seas can reach enormous size biomasses (e.g. Rhizostoma pulmo, Cotylorhiza tuberculata, Aurelia aurita). Recent data show peculiar biological properties of their tissues in terms of protein and non-protein components, providing some of scientific basis for their use in the pharmacopoeia and traditional cuisine from South East Asia. The extracellular matrix in the jellyfish bodies contains mainly collagen, a structural protein with many biological and technological properties (mechanical and gelling properties, emulsifiers, antioxidant, protective and immune-boosting). Other non-collagen pepsin digestible proteins are also abundant. Finally, ?-3 and ?-6 fatty acids, polyphenols as well as a number of other bioactive compounds, are also present.Within EU projects (VECTORS, MED-JELLYRISK), in collaboration with European and Italian Institutions (EFSA, CoNISMa, University, CSIC - ICM Barcelona), we are conducting studies on jellyfish species common in the Mediterranean Sea, which display huge blooms along the Italian coast. The various identified biological properties, including antioxidant and anti-cancer activities, make the jellyfish biomass a potentially valuable material for food, feed, cosmetic, and biomedical industries.A number of Mediterranean key jellyfish species are currently targeted in the search for putative valuable bioactive compounds, with new findings recommending future exploitation of available jellyfish biomasses. Anyway, no European species seems to be commercialized until now, although in a recent publication of the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) jellyfish appear in the core category as "food source of animal origin": A02GY- Jellyfish (Cnidaria) as food source of animal origin. Despite

The edible jellyfish world fishery, mostly based in Southeast Asia, generates a global catch annually exceeding 750,000 tons, with increasing demands expanding outside Asian markets. Known for its nutritional and medical value in the Chinese pharmacopeia, jellyfish seem to have characteristics of healthy food. Some Mediterranean jellyfish species (phylum Cnidaria) can represent a low-cost raw material for innovative medical, nutraceutical or cosmeceutical products. Jellyfish are rich in protein, mainly collagen, and are recently designated as novel foods in Europe. Several compounds isolated from jellyfish, including proteins, can exert high antioxidant and other biological activities. GoJelly is a new H2020 funded project addressing the potential exploitation of jellyfish biomass and derived compounds for multiple purposes. Here we report on the protein characterization of Rhizostoma pulmo, an edible scyphozoan jellyfish regularly found with large populations along Italian sandy coastlines. We show that hydrolysed proteins, including hydrolysed jellyfish collagen, have strong antioxidant activity, particularly low molecular weight fractions (less than 10 kDa). Moreover, the cytotoxicity of different fractions of jellyfish hydrolysed protein on cancer cells (MCF7) and human keratinocytes (HEKa) was investigated, as well as their protective effect on UV-irradiated HEKa. In combination with food safety assessments and improvements in jellyfish processing technology, scientific evidence demonstrating edible jellyfish as functional food may promote the future expansion of jellyfish fishery worldwide.

Jellyfish have been considered as food for more than thousand years in Asia, where a multi-phase processing consisting on mixtures of salt and alum are used as traditional procedure. Jellyfish could also become an attractive choice for western food market for many reasons. The need for fishery diversification and for new food resources, the increasing market demand for innovative food products or ingredients, and finally the great availability of a resource whose use would be economically profitable and environmentally sustainable, make jellyfish a good candidate for future exploitation. However, in the attempt to introduce jellyfish as a new food product in Western market, several issues should be considered. Within the EU Project "GoJelly", we are continuing studies on "western style" jellyfish food. Protocols and treatments currently used for fish and sea-foods preparation are under consideration as a starting point to develop ad hoc new handling and storage procedures from fishing to on-boat pre-treatment and new processing methods will be developed to optimize taste, texture, flavor and shelf-life of final products acceptable for European consumers. Moreover, these new practices will be addressed also to maintain or enhance nutritional traits of formulated jellyfish products. In addition, study on the identification of strategies to reduce spoilage and to individuate possible food-borne microbial pathogens have been started up. The setting up of diagnostic and analytical assays to define consumers risk assessment and to monitor safety threat during jellyfish processing steps for preparation of food for human consumption is also in progress.

Since the 1960s substantial increase of migration fluxes to Western Europe led to the consequent introduction of new ethnic foods, such as jellyfish from Southeast Asia. In addition, climatic and anthropogenic causes are shaping dramatic changes in marine biodiversity and food sources across world oceans, including the Mediterranean Sea, where every year an increasing number of jellyfish are recorded and washed up ashore. Among them, several species show biologic and nutritional features similar to the Asiatic edible species, can be equally cultured, and may be therefore regarded as good candidates as alternative food or feed sources, or for nutraceutical and bioactive compounds isolation and exploitation. ObjectivesThis work is addressing the potential use of Mediterranean jellyfish as natural biological resources of interest for several biotechnological and production sectors . Materials and MethodsWe investigated three common species of the Mediterranean Sea: Aurelia sp., Cotylorhiza tuberculata and Rhizostoma pulmo, and their protein contents were qualitatively and quantitatively determined. Different jellyfish body parts were subjected to aqueous or hydroalcoholic extraction, followed by sequential protein enzymatic hydrolyses. The antioxidant capacity of proteinaceous and not proteinaceous extracts and hydrolyzed proteins was assessed by TEAC (Trolox Equivalent Antioxidant Capacity).assay. The potential of the gelatinous biomasses as fresh or 100 °C heated material was also evaluated. Finally, the antiproliferative activity of the hydroalcoholic extract of C. tuberculata was assayed in vitro on MCF-7 breast cancer cells. ResultsMore than 40% of the dry weight of jellyfish biomass jellyfish dry biomass is composed by collagen and other pepsin-digestible proteins. Hydroalcholic extracts and the protein-hydrolizated fractions from all the three jellyfish revealed appreciable antioxidant activity. The hydroalcoholic extract of C. tuberculata exhibited significant anti-proliferative activity on MCF-7 cells.Conclusions Mediterranean jellyfish biomasses represent a still unexplored source for human food and feeds; in addition, the abundance of collagen, peptides and other bioactive molecules may represent a valuable source of natural compounds of nutraceutical, cosmeceutical and pharmacological interest.

Fishery, market and consumption of edible jellyfish are currently limited in Western Countries by the lack of market demand for jellyfish products and the absence of processing technologies adequate to the Western market safety standards. The development of technology-driven processing protocols may be key to comply with rigorous food safety rules, overcome the lack of tradition and revert the neophobic perception of jellyfish as food. We show thermal treatment (100 °C, 10 min) can be used as a first stabilization step on three common Mediterranean jellyfish, the scyphomedusae Aurelia coerulea, Cotylorhiza tuberculata, Rhizostoma pulmo, differently affecting protein and phenolic contents of their main body parts. The antioxidant activity was assessed in thermally treated and untreated samples, as related to the functional and health value of the food. Heat-treatment had mild effect on protein and phenolic contents and on antioxidant activity. The jellyfish Rhizostoma pulmo, showed the better performance after thermal treatment.

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.

Polyphenols, secondary metabolites widely present in plant kingdom, are known for their positive effects on human health, such as treatments of degenerative disease and cancer. Many dietary polyphenols show anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory and anti-oxidant properties and they are proposed as chemopreventive agents for many skin disorders and cancer. Exposure to solar UV radiation is widely considered to cause skin cancer and a consistent carcinogenic dose derives from UVA, causing several skin disorders as consequence of free radicals generation and DNA damages. Polyphenols, secondary metabolites widely present in plant kingdom, are known for their positive effects on human health, such as treatments of degenerative disease and cancer. Many dietary polyphenols show anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory and anti-oxidant properties and they are proposed as chemopreventive agents for many skin disorders and cancer. Exposure to solar UV radiation is widely considered to cause skin cancer and a consistent carcinogenic dose derives from UVA, causing several skin disorders as consequence of free radicals generation and DNA damages. In this study, verbascoside, isoverbascoside and tyrosol were investigated for their effect on HEKa (Human Epidermal Keratinocytes adult) cell cultures challenged from UVA-rays. Non-toxic doses of each polyphenol were assayed on HEKa before, during and after the exposure to a damaging dose of UVA: the treatment on HEKa UVA-irradiated caused a decrease of cell viability. Treatment with polyphenols before and after the UVA-irradiation exerted a pro-oxidant effect, while the simultaneous treatment caused a weak decrease of ROS production. The increasing of ROS levels was associated with a pro-apoptotic effect on HEKa, detected by AnnexinV/Propidiun Iodide, mainly evident in surviving cells treated with the polyphenols after the UVA-irradiation. The pro-apoptotic effect was confirmed by the immunodetection of significant changes in the Bax and Bcl-xL protein levels, leading to apoptotic events. The hypothesis that these polyphenols could trigger the apoptosis pathway mainly in UVA-damaged cells, via ROS increase, is here proposed as action mechanism behind their protective effect.

Nitric oxide (NO) has been shown to be an essential regulatory molecule in plant response to pathogen infection in synergy with reactive oxygen species (ROS). At the present, nothing is known about the role of NO in disease resistance to nematode infection. We used a resistant tomato cultivar with different sensitivity to avirulent and virulent populations of the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita to investigate the key components involved in oxidative and nitrosative metabolism. We analyzed the superoxide radical production, hydrogen peroxide content, and nitric oxide synthase (NOS)-like and nitrate reductase activities, as potential sources of NO. A rapid NO accumulation and ROS production were found at 12 h after infection in compatible and incompatible tomatonematode interactions, whereas the amount of NO and ROS gave different results 24 and 48 h after infection amongst compatible and incompatible interactions. NOS-like arginine-dependent enzyme rather than nitrate reductase was the main source of NO production, and NOS-like activity increased substantially in the incompatibleinteraction.We can envisage a functional overlap of both NO and ROS in tomato defence response to nematode invasion, NO and H2O2 cooperating in triggering hypersensitive cell death. Therefore, NO and ROS are key molecules which may help to orchestrate events following nematode challenge, and which may influence the host cellular metabolism.

Plants can frequently experience low oxygen concentrations due to environmental factors such as flooding or waterlogging. It has been reported that both anoxia and the transition from anoxia to re-oxygenation determine a strong imbalance in the cellular redox state involving the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide (NO). Plant cell cultures can be a suitable system to study the response to oxygen deprivation stress since a close control of physicochemical parameters is available when using bioreactors. For this purpose, Arabidopsis cell suspension cultures grown in a stirred bioreactor were subjected to a severe anoxic stress and analyzed during anoxia and re-oxygenation for alteration in ROS and NO as well as in antioxidant enzymes and metabolites. The results obtained by confocal microscopy showed the dramatic increase of ROS, H2O2 and NO during the anoxic shock. All the ascorbate-glutathione related parameters were altered during anoxia but restored during re-oxygenation. Anoxia also induced a slight but significant increase of ?-tocopherol levels measured at the end of the treatment. Overall, the evaluation of cell defenses during anoxia and re-oxygenation in Arabidopsis cell cultures revealed that the immediate response involving the overproduction of reactive species activated the antioxidant machinery including ascorbate-glutathione system, ?-tocopherol and the ROS-scavenging enzymes ascorbate peroxidase, catalase and peroxidase making cells able to counteract the stress towards cell survival.

A nutritionally relevant phytochemical such as lycopene, found in tomatoes and other fruits, has been proposed to have health-promoting effects by modulating hormonal and immune systems, metabolic pathways, and gap junction intercellular communication (GJIC). This work analyzes lycopene extracts, obtained from tomato and tomato added with grape seeds by using a safe and environmentally friendly extraction process, based on supercritical carbon dioxide technology (S-CO2). Analysis of the innovative S-CO2-extracted oleoresins showed peculiar chemical composition with high lycopene concentration and the presence of other carotenoids, lipids, and phenol compounds. The oleoresins showed a higher in vitro antioxidant activity compared with pure lycopene and ²-carotene and the remarkable ability to enhance the GJIC and to increase cx43 expression in keratinocytes. The oleoresins, (0.9 ¼M lycopene), were also able to overcome, completely, the GJIC inhibition induced by 10 nM HgCl2, mercury(II) chloride, suggesting a possible action mechanism.

Jellyfish are recorded with increasing frequency and magnitude in many coastal areas and several species display biological features comparable to the most popular Asiatic edible jellyfish. The biochemical and antioxidant properties of wild gelatinous biomasses, in terms of nutritional and nutraceutical values, are still largely unexplored. In this paper, three of the most abundant and commonly recorded jellyfish species (Aurelia sp.1, Cotylorhiza tuberculata and Rhizostoma pulmo) in the Mediterranean Sea were subject to investigation. A sequential enzymatic hydrolysis of jellyfish proteins was set up by pepsin and collagenase treatments of jellyfish samples after aqueous or hydroalcoholic protein extraction. The content and composition of proteins, amino acids, phenolics, and fatty acids of the three species were recorded and compared. Protein content (mainly represented by collagen) up to 40% of jellyfish dry weight were found in two of the three jellyfish species (C. tuberculata and R. pulmo), whereas the presence of omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) was significantly higher in the zooxanthellate jellyfish C. tuberculata only. Remarkable antioxidant ability was also recorded from both proteinaceous and non proteinaceous extracts and the hydrolyzed protein fractions in all the three species. The abundance of collagen, peptides and other bioactive molecules make these Mediterranean gelatinous biomasses a largely untapped source of natural compounds of nutraceutical, cosmeceutical and pharmacological interest.

Dietary phytochemicals offer protection from oxidative damages and lower the risks of chronic diseases, by complementary and overlapping action mechanisms. These include antioxidant activity, regulation of gene expression and cell cycle, stimulation of the immune and hormonal systems and modulation of cell-cell communication. Gap-junction intercellular communication (GJIC) plays an important role in maintaining tissue homeostasis by allowing the intercellular exchange of ions and regulatory molecules associated with cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis, and by contributing to intracellular signaling. This mechanism is strictly regulated and abnormal GJIC can result in several pathological conditions. GJIC is deregulated in cancer cells and reversible GJIC inhibition is strongly related to the promotion phase of carcinogenesis, likely mediated by reactive oxygen species. Whereas, the reversible inhibition of GJIC is related to the promotion phase of carcinogenicity, enhancers of GJIC are expected to prevent cancer. Several dietary plant compounds demonstrated the ability to control GJIC at the epigenetic levels and to prevent GJIC down-regulation by tumor promoting compounds, thus preventing cancers. In this Commentary , a number of reported studies on several phytochemicals in dietary and medicinal plants, which were able to affect GJIC and their structural proteins, i.e., connexins, in different in vivo and in vitro systems, were examined. The growing evidence, on the involvement of plant-derived molecules in the modulation of GJIC and in understanding of the specific action mechanisms, might offer a new perspective of the protective and/or preventive effects of dietary phytochemicals, in addition to possible chemotherapeutic use.

Jellyfish abundance is increasing in many marine ecosystems worldwide, including Mediterranean Sea where, due to the high coastal population density, the human economical and recreational activities, as well as the public health, are affected. Jellyfish, however, are known to have a number of properties that may be of benefit to society. They have a high collagen content widely used in cosmetics, whereas some outbreak-forming species with large biomasses are considered to be healthy food in oriental Countries.As scientific attention on marine invertebrates as source of bioactive compounds is currently expanding, a number of jellyfish metabolites with significant bioactive activities, are increasingly reported. Within an overall analysis on the potential resource exploitation of jellyfish outbreaks in the Mediterranean Sea, we report about biochemical studies on the zooxanthellatae scyphomedusa Cotylorhiza tuberculata (Macri, 1778) as a source of putative valuable bioactive compounds. An extract from the C. tuberculata was obtained, fractionated and characterized and analyzed by HPLC, GC-MS and MALDI-MS. The biological activity was assayed on breast cancer (MCF-7) and not-cancer (HEKa) cells. The extract revealed a complex composition including photosynthetic pigments, valuable ?-3 and ?-6 fatty acids and polypeptides of either algal and jellyfish origin. Partially purified extract fractions showed antioxidant activity as well as the ability to affect cell viability and intercellular communication mediated by gap junctions (GJIC) differentially in cancer- and not cancer cells. Non-cytotoxic doses were able to enhance GJIC in time- and dose-dependent and a putative action mechanism for the observed anticancer bioactivity through the modulation of GJIC has been hypothesized. This jellyfish-algal consortium represents abundant available biomass and should be considered for their potential as a source of bioactive compounds of nutraceutical and pharmaceutical relevance.

Olive oil production generates huge quantities of waste in the form of olive mill waste waters (OMWW), which may have great environmental impact because of their high phytotoxicity, toxicity against aquatic organisms and possible suppression of soil microorganisms. However, this by-product is characterized by a high organic component including numerous interesting compounds, such as polyphenols with valuable biologic properties. Many studies were carried out in order to recover polyphenols by different strategies or to use the aqueous extract of OMWW for the preparation of high value added products.The objective of this work in the within of the EU project BIO-OLEA "Utilization of biophenols from Olea Europea products - Olives, virgin olive oil and olive mill wastewater" was to obtain scientific evidences about the biological activity of several compounds present in OMWW, their action mechanisms and putative utilizations. Polyphenols usually present in OMWW were considered and the effect of each compound was valuated on human keratinocyte cell culture exposed with different timing, to ultraviolet -A rays (UVA) that are known as one of the most important etiological factors in the development of skin disorders such as immunosuppression, photo-aging and photo-carcinogenesis, and cancer. This activity was aimed to find out the possible uses of OMWW based products by defining the biological activity of specific polyphenols present in OMWW.Understanding basic action mechanisms enables us to supply the general knowledge on the biological properties of polyphenols present in the OMWW matrix and to contribute to the technological information useful to enable the producers to manage the OMWW. OMWW represent a rich source of phenol compound with high antioxidant activity and valuable other biological properties. Here it is proposed that some of these polyphenols have the ability to trigger the apoptosis pathways mainly in UVA-damaged cells, via ROS increase, as an action mechanisms behind their protective effect.The implementation of olive oil production by means of different technologies aimed to preserve the OMWW quality and safety could allow the integration of the recovery and utilization of this by-product, in the olive oil production process.

Liver is an important target for thyroid hormone actions. T3 exerts its effects by two mechanisms: (i) Genomic actions consisting of T3 linkto nuclear receptors that bind responsive elements in the promoter of target genes, (ii) non-genomic actions including integrin avb3receptor-mediated MAPK/ERK and PI3K/Akt/mTOR-C1 activation. SREBP-1a, SREBP-1c, and SREBP-2 are transcription factors involvedin the regulation of lipogenic genes. We show in Hep G2 cells that T3 determined a dose- and time-dependent increase in the level of theprecursor form of SREBP-1 without affecting SREBP-1 mRNA abundance. T3 also induced phosphorylation of ERK1/2, Akt and of mTORC1target S6K-P70, and the cytosol-to-membrane translocation of PKC-a. Modulation of SREBP-1 protein level by T3 was dependent onMAPK/ERK, PI3K/Akt/mTOR-C1 pathway activation since the MEK inhibitor PD98059 or the PI3K inhibitor LY294002 abolished thestimulatory effect of T3. Conversely, the effect of T3 on SREBP-1 level was enhanced by using rapamycin, mTOR-C1 inhibitor. These datasuggest a negative control of mTOR-C1 target S6K-P70 on PI3K/Akt pathway. The effect of T3 on SREBP-1 content increased also by usingPKC inhibitors. These inhibitors increased the action of T3 on Akt phosphorylation suggesting that conventional PKCs may work asnegative regulators of the T3-dependent SREBP-1 increase. T3 effects were partially abrogated by tetrac, an inhibitor of the T3-avb3receptor interaction and partially evoked by T3 analog T3-agarose. These findings support a model in which T3 activates intracellularsignaling pathways which may be involved in the increment of SREBP-1 level through an IRES-mediated translation mechanism.J. Cell. Physiol. 227: 2388-2397, 2012.

IntroduzionePrunus mahaleb L. è un arbusto deciduo che cresce in boschi radi anche su terreni marginali e in climi aridi. L'albero è nativo dei paesi del mediterraneo e dell'Asia centrale e produce dei piccoli frutti simili a ciliegie di un colore quasi nero, non commestibili a causa del loro sapore amaro. Studi precedenti hanno dimostrato un elevato contenuto in antocianine in questi frutti, che suggerisce il loro utilizzo come fonte di coloranti alimentari dotati di proprietà salutistiche.ObiettiviCaratterizzazione chimica di un estratto concentrato di frutti di P. mahaleb e studio in vitro dei suoi effetti anticancerogeni, antiinfiammatori e antimutagenici.MetodologiaI frutti di mahaleb sono stati estratti con solventi consentiti per uso alimentare (etanolo + 1% acido citrico 1M) e l'estratto, concentrato sino a 60 °Brix, analizzato utilizzando metodiche HPLC. Sono stati effettuati saggi in vitro per studiare la capacità dell'estratto di inibire la proliferazione di linee cellulari tumorali umane (MCF-7), le sue proprietà antinfiammatorie su cellule endoteliali vascolari umane e infine i suoi effetti antimutagenici su linee di lievito Saccharomyces cerevisiaeD7.Risultati e DiscussioneL'estratto concentrato ha mostrato un elevato contenuto in antocianine, flavonoli e cumarina ed una elevata attività antiossidante simile o superiore a quella di altri noti estratti concentrati di frutti rossi. Lo studio delle attività biologiche dell'estratto ha mostrato: i) un significativo effetto antiproliferativo e capacità di modulare le GJIC in cellule MCF-7; ii) una inibizione dell'espressione di markers infiammatori tipici dell'attivazione endoteliale (ICAM-1, VCAM-1, E-selectine) in cellule endoteliali ottenute da vena ombelicale umana in coltura; iii) una riduzione di circa tre volte dell'effetto mutageno di H2O2 su cellule di S. cerevisiae. Questi risultati suggeriscono l'utilizzo dei frutti di P. mahaleb processati, come fonte di coloranti alimentari naturali e di composti bioattivi con proprietà salutistiche.

La proliferazione di organismi marini gelatinosi (meduse, ctenofori, salpe) è un fenomeno osservato negli ecosistemi marini di tutto il mondo, incluso il mar Mediterraneo, con una frequenza e dimensione che appare in costante aumento. Quando avvengono su coste antropizzate, tali fenomeni determinano effetti sociali ed economici piuttosto negativi per il loro impatto sulla salute pubblica, il turismo, le attività industriali e commerciali. Tali organismi, tuttavia, possono rappresentare una fonte di composti d'importanza nutrizionale e salutistica e una nuova, potenziale, risorsa per l'industria alimentare, mangimistica e farmacologica. Gli effetti salutistici delle sostanze bioattive hanno fatto delle meduse una risorsa nutraceutica ben conosciuta nei paesi del Sud-Est Asiatico, ampiamente adottata nella farmacopea e nella cucina tradizionale cinese. In Cina tale alimento è, infatti, tradizionalmente usato per il trattamento di ipertensione, bronchiti, tracheiti, asma e ulcere gastriche.Le meduse commestibili sono maggiormente diffuse in Giappone, Cina, Corea e paesi del Sudest Asiatico, dove sono vendute nei mercati locali o esportati, principalmente in Giappone. Specie di meduse tipiche del Mediterraneo sono abbondantemente presenti, alcune specie sono soggette a bloom stagionali producendo una biomassa paria a centinaia di tonnellate di pesi fresco, come è il caso di Rhizostoma pulmo nel Mar Ionio. In Europa l'uso delle meduse in campo alimentare è subordinato alla valutazione dell'applicabilità della Regolazione EC 258/97 (http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/biotechnology/novelfood/index_en.htm), attualmente in fase di revisione, che prevede la preventiva autorizzazione a livello europeo di tutti quegli alimenti privi di una storia significativa di consumo in campo alimentare all'interno dell'Unione Europea (http://www.iss.it/binary/efsa/cont/Newsletter_EFP_6.pdf). Tali prodotti non sempre rispettano le regole di tracciabilità e di sicurezza in vigore nei Paesi Occidentali, recenti studi hanno, infatti, evidenziato che gran parte dei prodotti commerciali, sia nel mercato cinese sia italiano, non contengono la specie edule più pregiata (Rhopilema esculentum) come dichiarato in etichetta, ma anche altre specie, fra cui alcune specie di meduse comuni nel Mediterraneo e Atlantico. I prodotti alimentari a base di meduse rientrano nella categoria dei novel foods (nuovi alimenti), la cui immissione in commercio potrebbe determinare una nuova situazione di consumo che necessita di valutazione, in relazione all'aumento dei livelli di esposizione da parte dei consumatori ad alcune sostanze veicolate dai citati alimenti. Per questa ragione, il Ministero della Salute, periodicamente pubblica e aggiorna sul proprio sito l'elenco delle tipologie di novel food la cui immissione in commercio in Italia, per la sola finalità di monitoraggio richiede la procedura di notifica da parte delle imprese titolari di prodotti autorizzati come novel food.L'ado

Valorization of the neglected Prunus mahaleb L., fruits as a source of functional moleculesGerardi C.1, Frassinetti S.3, Leone A.1, Calabriso N.2, Carluccio M.A.2, F. Blando1 and Mita G. 11 Institute of Sciences of Food Production, CNR, Lecce, Italy2 Institute of Clinical Physiology, CNR, Lecce, Italy3 Institute of Biology and Agricultural Biotechnology, CNR, Pisa, ItalyAbstract: Prunus mahaleb L. is a tree producing dark-red small stone fruits, not used for fresh consumption due to their astringent and sour taste. In this communication will be described a "mahaleb fruit concentrated extract" (mfce) and its chemical characterization. The extract showed high anthocyanin, flavonol and coumarin content. Moreover, the results of the in vitro assays for mfce biological activities will be reported. Mfce showed strong antioxidant capacity and anti-proliferative, pro-apoptotic, anti-inflammatory and anti-mutagenic effects. This study demonstrated several healthful effects of mfce that may be of interest as natural food colorant and as source of molecules for the formulation of functional foods.