The Mucilage From the Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill. Cladodes Plays an Anti-Inflammatory Role in the LPS-Stimulated HepG2 Cells: A Combined In Vitro and In Silico Approach.

The effect of a mucilage extracted from Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill (OFI) cladodes was tested in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-challenged HepG2 hepatocarcinoma cells, through a combined in vitro-in silico approach. The OFI mucilage was characterized by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry.

First report of microplastics in water and sediments of the alkaline Bagno dell'Acqua Lake (Pantelleria Island, southern Italy).

Microplastics are ubiquitous in aquatic ecosystems and lakes are considered important sinks for this contaminant. In this study, we assessed for the first time the occurrence and spatial distribution of microplastics in surficial waters and sediment of a small alkaline lake located in the National Park of Pantelleria Island (Central Mediterranean Sea). The island is small, scarcely populated, not industrialized and ∼70 km far from the southern European and northern African shores.

Terrain, oceanographic, and biological factors underlying the development of Mediterranean coastal animal forests.

Marine Animal Forests (MAFs) form three-dimensional seascapes and provide substrate and shelter for a variety of species. We investigated the fine-scale distribution pattern of three habitat-forming species of the coastal Mediterranean MAFs: Eunicella cavolini, E. singularis and Paramuricea clavata, and assessed the influence of terrain, oceanographic, and biological factors on their distribution and the formation of MAFs in the central-northern Tyrrhenian Sea.

The ethanolic extract of drives a microRNA-based cytotoxic effect on HepG2 hepatocarcinoma cells.

An ethanolic extract of hazelnut was characterised by liquid chromatography coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry. We here evaluated the cytotoxic response to such extract in HepG2 cells and tried to depict the underlying mechanism(s) in terms of microRNA-34b/c involvement. Following long-term exposure (144h) of HepG2 cells with 0.

Effect of Citrus bergamia extract on lipid profile: A combined in vitro and human study.

With the aim of characterising the hypo-lipidemic function of the Brumex™ ingredient obtained from the whole fruit of Citrus bergamia, a combined pre-clinical and clinical study was conducted. In the HepG2 experimental model, we first demonstrated that Brumex™ does not trigger any significant alteration in cell viability over the tested concentration range of 1-2000 μg/mL (4 and 24 h). By stimulating the phosphorylation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) at threonine 172, Brumex™ significantly reduces both cholesterol and triglyceride (TG) intracellular content of HepG2 cells and impairs the expression levels of lipid synthesis-related genes (namely, SREBF1c, SREBF2, ACACA, SCD1, HMGCR and FASN).