Suchergebnisse

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is characterized by chronic inflammation of the intestine that compromises the patients' life quality and requires sustained pharmacological and surgical treatments. Since their etiology is not completely understood, non-fully-efficient drugs have been developed and those that have shown effectiveness are not devoid of quite important adverse effects that impair their long-term use. In this regard, a growing body of evidence confirms the health benefits of flavonoids. Flavonoids are compounds with low molecular weight that are widely distributed throughout the vegetable kingdom, including in edible plants. They may be of great utility in conditions of acute or chronic intestinal inflammation through different mechanisms including protection against oxidative stress, and preservation of epithelial barrier function and immunomodulatory properties in the gut. In this review we have revised the main flavonoid classes that have been assessed in different experimental models of colitis as well as the proposed mechanisms that support their beneficial effects. ; This work was supported by Junta de Andalucia (P10-AGR-6826 and CTS 164) and by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (AGL2015-67995-C3-3-R) with funds from the European Union. ; The CIBER-EHD is funded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III.

Continuous in situ measurements of aerosol optical properties were conducted from 29 June to 29 July 2012 in Granada (Spain) with a seven-wavelength Aethalometer, a Multi-Angle Absorption Photometer, and a three-wavelength integrating nephelometer. The aim of this work is to describe a methodology to obtain the absorption coefficients (babs) for the different Aethalometer wavelengths. In this way, data have been compensated using algorithms which best estimate the compensation factors needed. Two empirical factors are used to infer the absorption coefficients from the Aethalometer measurements: C – the parameter describing the enhancement of absorption by particles in the filter matrix due to multiple scattering of light in the filter matrix – and f, the parameter compensating for non-linear loading effects in the filter matrix. Spectral dependence of f found in this study is not very strong. Values for the campaign lie in the range from 1.15 at 370 nm to 1.11 at 950 nm. Wavelength dependence in C proves to be more important, and also more difficult to calculate. The values obtained span from 3.42 at 370 nm to 4.59 at 950 nm. Furthermore, the temporal evolution of the Ångström exponent of absorption (αabs) and the single-scattering albedo (ω0) is presented. On average αabs is around 1.1 ± 0.3, and ω0 is 0.78 ± 0.08 and 0.74 ± 0.09 at 370 and 950 nm, respectively. These are typical values for sites with a predominance of absorbing particles, and the urban measurement site in this study is such. The babs average values are of 16 ± 10 Mm−1 (at 370 nm) and 5 ± 3 Mm−1 (at 950 nm), respectively. Finally, differences between workdays and Sundays have been further analysed, obtaining higher babs and lower ω0 during the workdays than on Sundays as a consequence of the diesel traffic influence. ; This work was financed jointly by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the European Regional Development Fund through projects CGL2011-24290, CGL2010-18782, CSD2007-00067, and CGL2012-33294; by the Valencia Autonomous Government through project PROMETEO/2010/064; the Andalusia Regional Government through projects P08-RNM-3568 and P10-RNM-6299; and by the Slovenian Ministry of Economic Development and Technology JR-KROP grant 3211-11-000519. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 262254 (ACTRIS). The collaboration of S. Segura in this work was possible thanks to fellowship BES-2010-031626.

Purpose: We aimed to evaluate the intestinal anti-inflammatory properties of silk fibroin nanoparticles, around 100 nm in size, when loaded with the stilbene compound resveratrol, in an experimental model of rat colitis. Methods: Nanoparticles were loaded with resveratrol by adsorption. The biological effects of the resveratrol-loaded nanoparticles were tested both in vitro, in a cell culture of RAW 264.7 cells (mouse macrophages), and in vivo, in the trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid model of rat colitis, when administered intracolonically. Results: The resveratrol liberation in 1× phosphate-buffered saline (PBS; pH 7.4) was characterized by fast liberation, reaching the solubility limit in 3 hours, which was maintained over a period of 80 hours. The in vitro assays revealed immunomodulatory properties exerted by these resveratrol-loaded nanoparticles since they promoted macrophage activity in basal conditions and inhibited this activity when stimulated with lipopolysaccharide. The in vivo experiments showed that after evaluation of the macroscopic symptoms, inflammatory markers, and intestinal barrier function, the fibroin nanoparticles loaded with resveratrol had a better effect than the single treatments, being similar to that produced by the glucocorticoid dexamethasone. Conclusion: Silk fibroin nanoparticles constitute an attractive strategy for the controlled release of resveratrol, showing immunomodulatory properties and intestinal anti-inflammatory effects. ; This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (grant number SAF2011-29648) with funds from the European Union, and by the Junta de Andalucia (grant numbers AGR-6826 and CTS 164). Parts of the experiments were financed by funds of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Operative Program of the Region of Murcia 2007–2013. The research contract of Dr A Abel Lozano-Pérez was partially supported (at 80%) by the FEDER Operative Program of the Region of Murcia 2007–2013. F Algieri is a predoctoral fellow of the Junta de Andalucia; J Garrido-Mesa is a predoctoral fellow of the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport; N Garrido-Mesa is a postdoctoral fellow of the Ramon Areces Foundation; ME Rodríguez-Cabezas is a postdoctoral fellow of Centro de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Red – Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digest (CIBER-EHD), which is funded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III.