Evaluation of growth inhibitory activity of Crataegus monogyna Jacq. flower bud extracts against human tumor cell lines

The vast structural diversity of natural compounds found in plants provides unique opportunities for discovering new drugs with possible beneficial effects on human health, including regulation of proliferation and cell death pathways leading to cancer [1]. Crataegus monogyna Jacq. has been studied by our research group to confirm its different alleged health benefits [2-4]. Herein, the antiproliferative activity of phenolic extracts from C. monogyna flower buds was evaluated on four different human tumor cell lines: HeLa, cervical carcinoma; HepG2, hepatocellular carcinoma; MCF-7, breast adenocarcinoma; NCI-H460, non-small cell lung cancer. The antiproliferative activity was measured by calculating Gl50 values (50% of cell growth inhibition) for each cell line, according to the procedure adopted by the National Cancer Institute for in vitro anticancer drug screening, which uses sulforhodamine B assay to assess cell groW1h inhibition [5]. The obtained antiproliferative activity was very similar among the assayed cell lines: HeLa, Gl50 = 63.55±3.56 μg/ml; HepG2, Gl50 = 88.45±8.11 μg/ml; MCF7, Gl50 = 66.96±0.01 μg/ml ; NCI -H460, Gl50 = 67.61±4.29 μg/ml. The lower activity against HepG2 cells might be related with the type of proliferation of this cell line, the only one with a monolayer growth type among the assayed lines . The activity demonstrated by the phenolic extract of C. monogyna might be explained by their high amounts in flavonoids, which are known for modulating a variety of biological events associated with cancer progression and development, such as cell proliferation, apoptosis, cell differentiation and neovascularization [3]. Accordingly, C. monogyna may be considered as a source of important phytochemicals with bioactive properties to be explored for pharmaceutical applications

Charm meson production from meson-nucleon scattering

Using an effective hadronic Lagrangian with physical hadron masses and coupling constants determined either empirically or from SU(4) flavor symmetry, we study the production cross sections of charm mesons from pion and rho meson interactions with nucleons. With a cutoff parameter of 1 GeV at interaction vertices as usually used in studying the cross sections for $J/\psi$ absorption and charm meson scattering by hadrons, we find that the cross sections for charm meson production have values of a few tenth of mb and are dominated by the s channel nucleon pole diagram. Relevance of these reactions to charm meson production in relativistic heavy ion collisions is discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, slight revision and references adde

Charmonium Absorption in the Meson-exchange Model

We review the meson-exchange model for charmonium absorption by hadrons. This includes the construction of the interaction Lagrangians, the determination of the coupling constants, the introduction of form factors, and the predicted cross sections for $J/\psi$ absorption by both mesons and nucleons. We further discuss the effects due to anomalous parity interactions, uncertainties in form factors, constraints from chiral symmetry, and the change of charmed meson mass in medium on the cross sections for charmonium absorption in hadronic matter.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures. Talk given at Quark Matter 2002 (QM 2002), Nantes, France, 18-24 July 2002. To appear in the proceedings (Nucl. Phys. A

Open charm and charmonium production at relativistic energies

We calculate open charm and charmonium production in $Au+Au$ reactions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 200 GeV within the hadron-string dynamics (HSD) transport approach employing open charm cross sections from $pN$ and $\pi N$ reactions that are fitted to results from PYTHIA and scaled in magnitude to the available experimental data. Charmonium dissociation with nucleons and formed mesons to open charm ($D+\bar{D}$ pairs) is included dynamically. The 'comover' dissociation cross sections are described by a simple phase-space model including a single free parameter, i.e. an interaction strength $M_0^2$, that is fitted to the $J/\Psi$ suppression data for $Pb+Pb$ collisions at SPS energies. As a novel feature we implement the backward channels for charmonium reproduction by $D \bar{D}$ channels employing detailed balance. From our dynamical calculations we find that the charmonium recreation is comparable to the dissociation by 'comoving' mesons. This leads to the final result that the total $J/\Psi$ suppression at $\sqrt{s}$ = 200 GeV as a function of centrality is slightly less than the suppression seen at SPS energies by the NA50 Collaboration, where the 'comover' dissociation is substantial and the backward channels play no role. Furthermore, even in case that all directly produced $J/\Psi$ mesons dissociate immediately (or are not formed as a mesonic state), a sizeable amount of charmonia is found asymptotically due to the $D+\bar{D} \to J/\Psi$ + meson channels in central collisions of $Au+Au$ at $\sqrt{s}$ = 200 GeV which, however, is lower than the $J/\Psi$ yield expected from binary scaling of $pp$ collisions.Comment: 42 pages, including 14 eps figures, discussions extended and references added, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Crataegus monogyna buds and fruits phenolic extracts: growth inhibitory activity on human tumor cell lines and chemical characterization by HPLC–DAD–ESI/MS

Crataegus monogyna has been extensively studied due to its various alleged health benefits. This study aimed to determine the human tumor cells growth inhibitory activity of phenolic extracts of its flower buds and fruits in three phenological stages, and further characterize the extracts by HPLC–DAD–ESI/MS. Flower bud extract showed the highest antiproliferative activity as indicated by the lowest GI50 values obtained in all the tested cell lines: MCF-7, breast adenocarcinoma; NCI-H460, non-small cell lung cancer; HeLa, cervical carcinoma; HepG2, hepatocellular carcinoma. Furthermore, porcine liver primary cell culture (PLP2) was used to evaluate toxicity to non-tumor cells. Flavonoids, particularly flavonols and flavones (higher in flower buds) and proanthocyanidins (higher in unripe fruits) were the main classes in the studied samples. Phenolic acids (mainly hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives) were also detected in significant amounts, especially in flower bud extract. Regarding anthocyanins, over ripened fruits gave the highest content. The higher bioactivity observed in flower buds might be related with its higher content in phenolic compounds

New approaches in W-gravities

We have devoted an effort to study some nonlinear actions, characteristics of the ${\cal W}$-theories, in the framework of the soldering formalism. We have disclosed interesting new results concerning the embedding of the original chiral ${\cal W}$-particles in different metrical spaces in the final soldered action, i.e., the metric gets modified by the soldering interference process. The results are presented in a weak field approximation for the ${\cal W}_N$ case when N is greater than 3 and also in an exact way for ${\cal W}_2$. We have promoted a generalization of the interference phenomena to ${\cal W}_N$-theories of different chiralities and shown that the geometrical features introduced can yield a new understanding about the interference formalism in quantum field theories.Comment: 28 pages, Late

A case study on surplus mushrooms production: extraction and recovery of vitamin D

The presented case study illustrates the possibility of adding value to the biological surplus remaining from the mushroom cultivation industry. In essence, the unused mushroom parts were submitted to UV-C irradiation, with the purpose of increasing the vitamin D2 content and validat-ing its extraction. Vitamin D2 concentration in three different mushroom species (Agaricus bisporus, A. bisporus Portobello, and Pleurotus ostreatus) was obtained by high-performance liquid chromatogra-phy (HPLC), by means of an ultraviolet (UV) detector. The method was validated using an A. bisporus Portobello sample, and its reproducibility and accuracy were confirmed. Independently of the UV-C irradiation dose, the effect on vitamin D2 concentration was significant, allowing it to increase from less than 4 µg/g dry weight (dw) to more than 100 µg/g dw in all mushroom species. These results are good indicators of the feasibility of industrial surplus mushrooms as sustainable vitamin D2 food sources, besides contributing to strengthen the circularity principals associated to the mushroom production chain.The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Lisboa, Portugal) for financial support by national funds FCT/MCTES to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020), and R.V.C.C.’s PhD grant (SFRH/BD/137436/2018). The authors are also grateful to “Ponto Agricola” for providing the mushroom materials. A.F., J.C.M.B. and L.B. also thank the national funding by FCT, P.I. through the institutional scientific employment program contract. This work is funded by the ERDF through the Regional Operational Program North 2020, within the scope of Project Mobilizador Norte-01-0247-FEDER-024479: ValorNatural®.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pharmacological analysis of the increases in heart rate and diastolic blood pressure produced by (S)-isometheptene and (R)-isometheptene in pithed rats

Background: Isometheptene is a sympathomimetic drug effective in acute migraine treatment. It is composed of two enantiomers with diverse pharmacological properties. This study investigated in pithed rats the cardiovascular effects of (S)- isometheptene and (R)-isometheptene, and the pharmacological profile of the more potent enantiomer. Methods: The effects of i.v. bolus injections (0.03, 0.1, 0.3, 1 and 3 mg/kg) of isometheptene racemate, (S)-isometheptene or (R)-isometheptene on heart rate and blood pressure were analyzed in control experiments. The enantiomer producing more pronounced tachycardic and/or vasopressor responses was further analyzed in rats receiving i.v. injections of prazosin (0.1 mg/kg), rauwolscine (0.3 mg/kg), propranolol (1 mg/kg) or intraperitoneal reserpine (5 mg/kg, -24 h). Results: Compared to (R)-isometheptene, (S)-isometheptene produced greater vasopressor responses, whilst both compounds equipotently increased heart rate. The tachycardic responses to (S)-isometheptene were abolished after propranolol, but remained unaffected by the other antagonists. In contrast, the vasopressor responses to (S)-isometheptene were practically abolished after prazosin. Interestingly, after reserpine, the tachycardic responses to (S)-isometheptene were abolished, whereas its vasopressor responses were attenuated and subsequently abolished by prazosin. Conclusions: The different cardiovascular effects of the isometheptene enantiomers are probably due to differences in their mechanism of action, namely: (i) a mixed sympathomimetic action for (S)-isometheptene (a tyramine-like action and a direct stimulation of α1-adrenoceptors); and (ii) exclusively a tyramine like action for (R)-isometheptene. Thus, (R)-isometheptene may represent a superior therapeutic benefit as an antimigraine agent

Υ\Upsilon absorption in hadronic matter

The cross sections of $\Upsilon$ absorption by $\pi$ and $\rho$ mesons are evaluated in a meson-exchange model. Including form factors with a cutoff parameter of 1 or 2 GeV, we find that due to the large threshold of these reactions the thermal average of their cross sections is only about 0.2 mb at a temperature of 150 MeV. Our results thus suggest that the absorption of directly produced $\Upsilon$ by hadronic comovers in high energy heavy ion collisions is unimportant.Comment: 11 pages, revtex, 3 figures, added references and discussion on higher BBbar state

Systematic event generator tuning for the LHC

In this article we describe Professor, a new program for tuning model parameters of Monte Carlo event generators to experimental data by parameterising the per-bin generator response to parameter variations and numerically optimising the parameterised behaviour. Simulated experimental analysis data is obtained using the Rivet analysis toolkit. This paper presents the Professor procedure and implementation, illustrated with the application of the method to tunes of the Pythia 6 event generator to data from the LEP/SLD and Tevatron experiments. These tunes are substantial improvements on existing standard choices, and are recommended as base tunes for LHC experiments, to be themselves systematically improved upon when early LHC data is available.Comment: 28 pages. Submitted to European Physical Journal C. Program sources and extra information are available from http://projects.hepforge.org/professor