Protamine-like proteins have bactericidal activity. The first evidence in Mytilus galloprovincialis.

The major acid-soluble protein components of the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis sperm chromatin consist of the protamine-like proteins PL-II, PL-III and PL-IV, an intermediate group of sperm nuclear basic proteins between histones and protamines. The aim of this study was to investigate the bactericidal activity of these proteins since, to date, there are reports on bactericidal activity of protamines and histones, but not on protamine-like proteins. We tested the bactericidal activity of these proteins against Gram-positive bacteria: Enterococcus faecalis and two different strains of Staphylococcus aureus, as well as Gram-negative bacteria: Proteus mirabilis, Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhmurium, Enterobacter aerogenes, Enterobacter cloacae, and Escherichia coli. Clinical isolates of the same bacterial species were also used to compare their sensitivity to these proteins. The results show that Mytilus galloprovincialis protamine-like proteins exhibited bactericidal activity against all bacterial strains tested with different minimum bactericidal concentration values, ranging from 15.7 to 250 µg/mL. Furthermore, these proteins were active against some bacterial strains tested that are resistant to conventional antibiotics. These proteins showed very low toxicity as judged by red blood cell lysis and viability MTT assays and seem to act both at the membrane level and within the bacterial cell. We also tested the bactericidal activity of the product obtained from an in vitro model of gastrointestinal digestion of protamine-like proteins on a Gram-positive and a Gram-negative strain, and obtained the same results with respect to undigested protamine-like proteins on the Gram-positive bacterium. These results provide the first evidence of bactericidal activity of protamine-like-proteins

health related quality of life in myotonic dystrophy type 1 and its relationship with cognitive and emotional functioning

Objective: To evaluate the health-related quality of life in myotonic dystrophy type 1 and its relationships with clinical, genetic, neuropsychological and emotional factors. Design: Case-control study of a continuous series of patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1. Patients and methods: Twenty patients, and 20 age-, sex- and education-matched healthy controls underwent the MOS 36Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), an extensive neuropsychological battery and emotional functioning tests. Results: Patients' SF-36 mean scores were lower than those of controls in all dimensions. The neuropsychological study showed a significant impairment in visuospatial and verba

Salicylic acid and melatonin alleviate the effects of heat stress on essential oil composition and antioxidant enzyme activity in Mentha × piperita and Mentha arvensis L

The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in the chemical profile of essential oils and antioxidant enzymes activity (catalase CAT, superoxide dismutase SOD, Glutathione S-transferases GST, and Peroxidase POX) in Mentha × piperita L. (Mitcham variety) and Mentha arvensis L. (var. piperascens), in response to heat stress. In addition, we used salicylic acid (SA) and melatonin (M), two brassinosteroids that play an important role in regulating physiological processes, to assess their potential to mitigate heat stress. In both species, the heat stress caused a variation in the composition of the essential oils and in the antioxidant enzymatic activity. Furthermore both Salicylic acid (SA) and melatonin (M) alleviated the effect of heat stress

Acetonic Extract from the Feijoa sellowiana Berg. Fruit Exerts Antioxidant Properties and Modulates Disaccharidases Activities in Human Intestinal Epithelial Cells

Feijoa sellowiana fruit has been shown to possess various biological activities, such as anti-bacterial and anti-cancer properties, in a variety of cellular models, but its activity on human intestinal epithelial cells has never been tested. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the acetonic extract of F. sellowiana fruits on the viability, membrane peroxidation, disaccharidases activities and proliferation of in vitro models of human intestinal epithelial cells. To obtain this goal, Caco-2 and HT-29 cells were exposed to the acetonic extract for 24 h. Cell proliferation, viability, lactase and sucrase-isomaltase activity and H2 O2 -induced membrane lipid peroxidation were tested. We found that, compared to control conditions, the acetonic extract significantly increased lactase and sucrase-isomaltase activity in Caco-2, but not HT-29, cells, decreased proliferation, had no effects on viability and restored lipid peroxidation in both cell models. This study suggests that the acetonic extract improves lactase and sucrase-isomaltase activity, inhibits cell proliferation, have no cytotoxic effects and prevent lipid peroxidation of intestinal epithelial cells. These effects may be exploited in case of disaccharidases deficit and also as an adjuvant treatment of diseases related to oxidative stres

Antimicrobial and antioxidant activity of proteins from Feijoa sellowiana Berg. fruit before and after in vitro gastrointestinal digestion

Peptides and proteins are promising sources of antimicrobial and antioxidant compounds. Fruit are generally considered recalcitrant plant tissues for the difficulty to obtain high quality protein due to a low protein content and the presence of interfering substances such as polyphenols, carbohydrates, polysaccharides, pigments and starch. Pharmacological activity of Feijoa sellowiana is studied by our group from 90s demonstrating antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant and anti-cancer activities of F. sellowiana acetonic extract, but so far no study on the protein component has been carried out. The aim of the present work has been the extraction of the proteins from F. sellowiana fruit and the study of their antimicrobial and antioxidant activity both in their native state and after in vitro gastrointestinal digestion, in order to obtain the formulation of nutraceutical or drug with antimicrobial and antioxidant activities to be administered per os. We developed for the first time a method for the extraction of the protein fraction from F. sellowiana fruit, which consisted of a mixture of proteins with molecular weight from 15 to over 66 kDa. The product of in vitro gastrointestinal digestion of F. sellowiana fruit proteins (digest) consisted instead of two peptides of apparent molecular weight of 5.61 and 2.04 kDa. We tested the bactericidal activity of these proteins against ATCC Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Clinical isolates (CI) of the same bacterial species were also used to compare their sensitivity to these proteins. Antimicrobial activity of protein fraction against the tested bacteria resulted surprising high, with MICs between 3.9 and 31.3 mg/ml for ATCC and 7.8 and 62.5 mg/ml for CI and with Minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBCs) between 15.7 and 62.6 mg/ml for ATCC and 31.3 and 125 mg/ml for CI. The Gram-negative bacteria were more sensitive, in particular Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Digest showed from 2 to 4 fold increased antimicrobial activity. MTT assays showed the nontoxicity of these proteins, both before and after digestion. These proteins also showed antioxidant activity which was increased 10 fold following the in vitro gastrointestinal digestion. Our results show that both antimicrobial and antioxidant activity resulted stronger respect to that previously obtained for the acetonic extract from the same fruit. The most significant result is the effectiveness of F. sellowiana protein fraction against P. aeruginosa, since infections due to this bacterium are particularly problematic because of their intrinsic resistance to multiple classes of antibiotics and their ability to acquire adaptive resistance during a therapeutic course. Moreover, the observation that the digest exhibits a higher antimicrobial activity respect to the undigested proteins is very important because AMPs often combine broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity with other interesting biological activities such as antitumor, immunostimulant, antiinflammatory, antiviral, etc. Moreover, in contrast to conventional antibiotics, AMPs are active on both dividing and quiescent cells including cells in biofilms. Finally, the absence of toxicity of F. sellowiana fruit extract and above all of the peptides obtained from the in vitro gastrointestinal digestion are important characteristics, which can suggest their potential use as a new class of antimicrobial drugs

Antimicrobial and antioxidant activity of proteins from Feijoa sellowiana Berg. fruit before and after in vitro gastrointestinal digestion

In this paper we report for the first time a method for the extraction of the protein fraction from Feijoa sellowiana Berg. fruit and its electrophoretic analysis. In addition we analyzed the protein fraction for its antioxidant activity and its effectiveness against different Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria both as American type culture collection (ATCC) standard and clinically isolated strains. Both antimicrobial and antioxidant activity resulted stronger respect to that previously obtained for the acetonic extract from the same fruit. Further, we study both activities also on the product of in vitro gastrointestinal digestion of F. sellowiana fruit proteins. The results showed that in vitro gastrointestinal digestion increased 10 fold the antioxidant activity, while the antimicrobial activity, tested only on ATCC strains, resulted from 2 to 4 fold increased. MTT assays showed the non-toxicity of these proteins both before and after digestion