Role for substance p-based nociceptive signaling in progenitor cell activation and angiogenesis during ischemia in mice and in human subjects

Our data highlight the role of SP in reparative neovascularization. Nociceptive signaling may represent a novel target of regenerative medicine

THE GEOLOGY OF PASSO DELLA COLLINA: SPEDALETTO AND PRATO DEL LAGO (PISTOIA) MINES

Nel corso di rilievi geologici nei dintorni del Passo della Collina, Appennino Pistoiese, sono state ritrovate un'antica miniera, probabili tracce di una seconda e una ex-cava. Dalla prima miniera, risalente alla prima metà del ‘700, venivano estratti il Cobalto, il Rame e il Nichel da un'arenaria molto cementata a composizione quarzo-cloritica, intercalata nella formazione degli scisti varicolori. Della seconda si sono rinvenute solo tracce tali però da giustificarne l'esistenza, quali un carrello in ferro da miniera, uno spezzone di binario e delle volte in ferro, ondulate, per la protezione dei cieli delle gallerie. Molto probabilmente, data la sua ubicazione nelle stessa unità lito-stratigrafica, forniva gli stessi minerali. La ex-cava, anch'essa compresa nella formazione degli scisti varicolori, si estende su di un'area di circa 10 ettari e sfruttava dei calcari marnosi per la produzione di "calce aerea". È stata attiva nel periodo fra le due guerre mondiali. La geologia della zona è caratterizzata dal ricoprimento dell'unità degli scisti varicolori-arenarie di M. Falterona sulla Formazione delle arenarie di M. Cervarola verificatasi nel Miocene inferiore-medio. L'area è poi attraversata da tre faglie con direzione antiappenninica appartenenti al fascio che accompagna la faglia trascorrente sinistra del Limentra-Reno.During geologic relief in the surrounding area of "Passo della Collina” near Pistoia in the northern Apennines an old mine, tracks of a probable second one and an ex-quarry have been found. From the first one, active since eighteenth century are mined Cobalt, Copper and Nickel from a well cemented Sandstone with a quartz-chlorite composition interbedded in the "Scisti varicolori formation". The tracks of the other mine are a mine trolley, a piece of rail and iron ondulating vaults for the gallery protection. It is located in the same geologic formation and probably gave out the same minerals. The ex-quarry, included in the Scisti Varicolori formation, covers a surface of about 10 hectares and exploited silty limestones for the production of lime. The geology of the area is characterized by the overlap of the "Scisti Varicolori-M.Fasterona unit" over the "M.Cervarola formation" during the lower-middle Miocene. Three faults cut the area with anti-Apennines direction; they belong to the system of the left strike dip fault of the Limentra-Reno rivers

Cellular and mitochondrial determination of low molecular mass organic acids by LC-MS/MS

A selective and sensitive method for the determination of low molecular mass organic acids (LMMOAs) in cell and mitochondrial extracts is presented. The analytical method consists in the separation by reversed phase liquid chromatography and detection with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) of the LMMOAs like malic, succinic, formic and citric acids. These acids are among the cellular intermediates of the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA), thus their quantitation can provide essential information about the catabolic and anabolic processes occurring in cells under physiological and pathological conditions. The analytical method was fully validated in terms of linearity, detection and quantification limits, recovery and precision. Detection limits (LOD) for malic, succinic and fumaric acids were in the range of 1-10 nM, while 20 nM was obtained for citric acid. Analytical recovery in cell and mitochondrial extracts was found between 88 and 105% (CV% <7.1) and matrix effect was estimated to be less than 108%. The LC-MS/MS method applied to the quantification of TCA cycle metabolites revealed a different distribution of the four acids in cells and mitochondria, and it could be used to monitoring metabolic alterations associated with TCA cycle and oxidative phosphorylation dysfunctions

Differentiation of modern and ancient varieties of common wheat byquantitative capillary electrophoretic profile of phenolic acids

Phenolic compounds have received great attention among the health promoting phytochemicals in com-mon wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), mainly because of their strong antioxidant properties. In the presentstudy a simple Capillary Zone Electrophoresis (CZE) method with UV detection was optimized and vali-dated for the quantitation of six of the most important phenolic acids in whole grain i.e., sinapic, ferulic,syringic, p-coumaric, vanillic and p-hydroxybenzoic acid. The separation was achieved in a running buffercomposed of sodium phosphate solution (50 mM) in water/methanol 80:20 (v/v) at pH 6.0 and using afused-silica capillary at the temperature of 30\u25e6C under application of 27 kV. By means of diode arraydetector, and made possible by the favorable characteristic UV spectra, the quantitation of the soluteswas carried out at 200, 220 and 300 nm, in the complex matrices represented by the soluble and boundfractions of wheat flours. The validation parameters of the method i.e., linearity, sensitivity, precision,accuracy and robustness were in line with those obtained by consolidated separation techniques appliedfor the same purposes (e.g., HPLC-UV), with a significant advantage in term of analysis time (less than12 min). Ten varieties of soft wheat (five modern Italian and five old Italian genotypes) were analysed andthe data were subjected to Principal Components Analysis (PCA). Interestingly, significant differences ofthe quantitative phenolic acids profile were observed between the modern and the ancient genotypes,with the latter showing higher amount of the main represented phenolic acids