Chemical, Antioxidant, and Antimicrobial Properties of the Peel and Male Flower By-Products of Four Varieties of L. Cultivated in the Marche Region for Their Use in Cosmetic Products.

We are now seeing an increase in the production of agri-food waste, which is an essential resource for the recovery of bioactive compounds that may be employed as innovative natural ingredients in cosmetics. To date, the approach to cosmetics preservation has seen a significant shift in the search for biological components that give healthier alternatives for customers and help businesses operate in an environmentally friendly manner. To achieve this goal, we studied pomegranate extracts using the peel and, for the first time, extracts from the male flowers of a wide pomegranate variety cultivated in the Marche region, specifically, the Wonderful, Mollar de Elche, Parfianka, and less-studied G1 varieties.

Circulating Extracellular Vesicles Contain Liver-Derived RNA Species as Indicators of Severe Cholestasis-Induced Early Liver Fibrosis in Mice.

Biliary diseases represent around 10% of all chronic liver diseases and affect both adults and children. Currently available biochemical tests detect cholestasis but not early liver fibrosis. Circulating extracellular vesicles (EVs) provide a noninvasive, real-time molecular snapshot of the injured organ.

Ageratum conyzoides L. inhibits 5-alpha-reductase gene expression in human prostate cells and reduces symptoms of benign prostatic hypertrophy in otherwise healthy men in a double blind randomized placebo controlled clinical study.

A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial assessed the efficacy and safety of Ageratum conyzoides in treating benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH). In this study, 109 men with medically diagnosed BPH, aged 41-76 years, were administered the investigational product, A. conyzoides extract at a dose of 250 mg/d or placebo, q.

Comparison of the cytotoxic potential of cigarette smoke and electronic cigarette vapour extract on cultured myocardial cells.

Background: Electronic cigarettes (ECs) have been marketed as an alternative-to-smoking habit. Besides chemical studies of the content of EC liquids or vapour, little research has been conducted on their in vitro effects. Smoking is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease and cigarette smoke (CS) has well-established cytotoxic effects on myocardial cells.

Cytotoxicity evaluation of electronic cigarette vapor extract on cultured mammalian fibroblasts (ClearStream-LIFE): comparison with tobacco cigarette smoke extract.

Context: Electronic cigarettes (ECs) are used as alternatives to smoking; however, data on their cytotoxic potential are scarce.

Objective: To evaluate the cytotoxic potential of 21 EC liquids compared to the effects of cigarette smoke (CS).

Methods: Cytotoxicity was evaluated according to UNI EN ISO 10993-5 standard.

Decontamination of tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) splashes: promising results with Diphoterine in vitro.

Tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH), used in microelectronic industries and research and development, has both corrosive properties and systemic toxicity. Two fatal TMAH occupational exposure cases have been published. Studies comparing initial TMAH decontamination with Diphoterine versus tap water were performed: an in vitro pH titration study and an MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) in vitro cytotoxicity cell viability assay.

Human monocytoid THP-1 cell line versus monocyte-derived human immature dendritic cells as in vitro models for predicting the sensitising potential of chemicals.

Immature dendritic cells (DCs) modulate differentiation markers following in vitro exposure to chemicals generating contact allergies. THP-1 is a monocytoid cell line maintaining some differentiating plasticity. In this study, human DCs and THP-1 cells were compared as in vitro models to predict contact sensitisation of chemicals with different sensitising potential.

[Experimental survey of a new topical anti-oxidant based on furfuryl palmitate in the treatment of child's and baby's dermatitis with eczema: results from a multicenter clinical investigation].

In this paper we present the preliminary results of a multi-center clinical investigation carried out on a new topical product (Triderm(R) Lenil+) containing Superoxidodismutase (SOD), 18-beta glycyrrethic acid, Vitamin E, alpha bisabolol and a new patented antioxidant molecule, Furfuryl palmitate. These active agents altogether protect skin from cell damages that promote the inflammatory syndrome; their action is furthermore sustained by agents such as phytosphingosine and phytosterols that act to repair the skin barrier. Furfuryl palmitate is an ester with a strong quenching ability towards the singlet oxygene (1O2) and with a high permeability potential through the biological membranes, thanks to its lipophylic formula.

Actions of molecules which regulate hemopoiesis on endothelial cells: memoirs of common ancestors?

The proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells (hematopoiesis) takes place in close contact with stromal cells and matrix in bone marrow. Hematopoiesis requires cytokines, collectively termed colony stimulating factors (CSFs), which act on progenitor cell populations and induce their commitment to a specific lineage. For instance, leukemia, inhibitor factor and stem cell factor act on pluripotent cells and immature progenitors, granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) acts at early stages of the development of myelomonocytic lineage, whereas granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) and macrophage-colony stimulating factor (M-CSF) act on more mature cells of the same lineage and are only required later during the differentiation of this cell lineage.

Differential expression of the common beta and specific alpha chains of the receptors for GM-CSF, IL-3, and IL-5 in endothelial cells.

The present study was designed to reexamine the interaction of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) with endothelial cells (EC) and to investigate the expression of CSF receptor chains in these cells. In agreement with previous data, GM-CSF induced directional migration and, to a lesser degree, proliferation of human umbilical vein EC. When compared to basic fibroblast growth factor, GM-CSF was comparable in terms of chemotactic activity and was substantially less active in terms of proliferation.

Proliferative and migratory responses of murine microvascular endothelial cells to granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor.

Microvascular murine endothelial cells lines transformed by middle T oncogene of polyoma virus maintain the biological characteristics of nontransformed microvascular endothelial cells (EC). By using cell lines originated from different anatomical districts (thymus, brain, heart, and skin), we demonstrated that murine granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) induces proliferation of murine microvascular endothelial cells at nanomolar concentrations without any cooperation with fetal calf serum. The proliferative effect on murine cells is less than that elicited by epidermal growth factor (EGF), used as standard for this function.

Cytokine mRNA expression by cultured rat mesangial cells after contact with environmental lectins.

We previously demonstrated that gliadin, a lectinic component of gluten, induces IgA mesangial deposits in orally immunized mice, binds in vitro polymeric IgA and cultured rat mesangial cells modulating their arachidonic acid metabolism. We investigated the effects of gliadin and other environmental lectins on some mesangial cell functions, including synthesis and release of cytokines and lipid mediators. Several lectins, particularly gliadin, affected the mRNA expression of c-myc and c-fos, two proto-oncogenes involved in the transcriptional enhancement of the gene cascade, which are markers of cell growth, differentiation and mitosis.

Recent developments in the cell biology of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor: activities on endothelial cells.

Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor were considered as growth and differentiation factors restricted to hematopoietic cells. It was recently found that non-hematopoietic cells, including endothelial cells, respond to these cytokines. In this review we describe their effects on endothelial cells, underlining their role in the behavior and survival of the microenvironment of bone marrow, in the angiogenesis process related to the progression of solid tumors and of vascular tumors, and in the homing of lymphocytes.

Hepatocyte growth factor is a potent angiogenic factor which stimulates endothelial cell motility and growth.

Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF, also known as Scatter Factor) is a powerful mitogen or motility factor in different cells, acting through the tyrosine kinase receptor encoded by the MET protooncogene. Endothelial cells express the MET gene and expose at the cell surface the mature protein (p190MET) made of a 50 kD (alpha) subunit disulfide linked to a 145-kD (beta) subunit. HGF binding to endothelial cells identifies two sites with different affinities.

Synthesis of platelet-activating factor by polymorphonuclear neutrophils stimulated with interleukin-8.

Human interleukin-8 (IL-8) was evaluated for its capability to induce the synthesis and release of platelet-activating factor (PAF) from human polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN). IL-8 promotes in a dose-dependent fashion (1-100 ng/ml) a rapid synthesis of PAF, which is only partially released. The synthesis of PAF is preceded by the activation of acetyl-CoA: 1-alkyl-2-lyso-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine acetyl-transferase, suggesting that IL-8 activates the "remodeling pathway" of PAF synthesis.

Murine endothelioma cell lines transformed by polyoma middle T oncogene as target for and producers of cytokines.

We studied cytokine-related functional properties of four mouse endotheliomas from different anatomical sites obtained by transformation with middle T oncogene. We examined mRNA expression of IL-6, IL-1 alpha, macrophage-CSF, granulocyte/macrophage-CSF, and two members of an emerging super-family of chemotactic cytokines (JE/monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and KC). Exposure to IL-1 augmented or induced cytokine gene transcripts in three endothelioma lines (eEnd.