Protective effects of Stevia rebaudiana extracts on beta cells in lipotoxic conditions.

Aims: Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni leaf extracts have gained increasing attention for their potential protection against type 2 diabetes. In this study, we have evaluated the possible beneficial effects of Stevia rebaudiana leaf extracts on beta-cells exposed to lipotoxicity and explored some of the possible mechanisms involved.

Methods: Extracts, deriving from six different chemotypes (ST1 to ST6), were characterized in terms of steviol glycosides, total phenols, flavonoids, and antioxidant activity.

Researching New Therapeutic Approaches for Abdominal Visceral Pain Treatment: Preclinical Effects of an Assembled System of Molecules of Vegetal Origin.

Abdominal pain is a frequent symptom of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs). Although the knowledge of these pathologies is progressing, new therapeutic strategies continue to be investigated. In the present study, the effect of a system of molecules of natural origin (a medical device according to EU Directive 93/42/EC, engineered starting from resins, polysaccharides and and polyphenols) was evaluated against the intestinal damage and visceral pain development in DNBS-induced colitis model in rats.

Dropwort-induced metabolic reprogramming restrains YAP/TAZ/TEAD oncogenic axis in mesothelioma.

Background: Over the past decade, newly designed cancer therapies have not significantly improved the survival of patients diagnosed with Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma (MPM). Among a limited number of genes that are frequently mutated in MPM several of them encode proteins that belong to the HIPPO tumor suppressor pathway.

Methods: The anticancer effects of the top flower standardized extract of Filipendula vulgaris (Dropwort) were characterized in "in vitro" and "in vivo" models of MPM.

Effect of Vitis vinifera hydroalcoholic extract against oxaliplatin neurotoxicity: in vitro and in vivo evidence.

Oxaliplatin treatment is associated with the development of a dose-limiting painful neuropathy impairing patient's quality of life. Since oxidative unbalance is a relevant mechanism of oxaliplatin neurotoxicity, we assessed the potential antioxidant properties of Vitis vinifera extract in reducing oxaliplatin-induced neuropathy as a valuable therapeutic opportunity. A hydroalcoholic extract of Vitis vinifera red leaf was characterized and tested in primary rat astrocyte cells treated with oxaliplatin (100 μM).

Agave negatively regulates YAP and TAZ transcriptionally and post-translationally in osteosarcoma cell lines.

Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most aggressive type of primary solid tumor that develops in bone. Whilst conventional chemotherapy can improve survival rates, the outcome for patients with metastatic or recurrent OS remains poor, so novel treatment agents and strategies are required. Research into new anticancer therapies has paved the way for the utilisation of natural compounds as they are typically less expensive and less toxic compared to conventional chemotherapeutics.