Dietary methionine improves the european seabass (dicentrarchus labrax) immune status, inflammatory response, and disease resistance

Methionine presents a pivotal role in the regulation of many cellular events with crucial impact on the immune system, such as in processes involved in the control of inflammation and polyamines synthesis. Accordingly, the present study aimed to assess the modulatory effects of dietary methionine on the European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) immune status, inflammatory response and disease resistance to Photobacterium damselae subsp. piscicida (Phdp). For this purpose, fish were randomly distributed in three independent groups (three replicates per group) and each was fed the corresponding diet: a control diet (CTRL) formulated to meet the established amino acid requirements for the species; a diet supplemented with methionine at 0.5% of feed weight relative to the CTRL diet (8.2% of methionine concentration above CTRL); and one supplemented with methionine at 1% of feed weight to the CTRL diet (11.8% of methionine concentration above CTRL). To evaluate the immune status of fish fed with each of the diets before being submitted to bacterial infection fish were sampled from each group at 2 and 4 weeks after the beginning of feeding. Non- sampled fish were injected intraperitoneally with Phdp (5 × 103 cfu/fish) at 4 weeks after initiation of feeding and the inflammatory response (at 4, 24, and 48 h post-infection) and survival (lasting 21 days post-infection) evaluated. Fish hematological profile, peripheral cell dynamics, plasma humoral immune parameters, leucocyte migration to the inflammatory focus and head-kidney gene expression were evaluated. Results show that methionine dietary supplementation improves seabass cellular immune status without evidence of activation of pro-inflammatory mechanisms. Additionally, the observed enhanced immune status provided by methionine supplementation translated into an improved immune response to infection, as higher cellular differentiation/proliferation and recruitment toThis work was partially supported by Projects ALISSA (reference ALG-01-0247-FEDER-3520) and F/00197/2015, financed by Portugal and the European Union through FEDER, COMPETE 2020 and CRESC Algarve 2020, in the framework of Portugal 2020, and through the COMPETE and Operational Human Potential Programmes and national funds through Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal). MM and BC were supported by FCT, Portugal (SFRH/BD/108243/2015 and IF/00197/2015, respectively). The authors also acknowledge Dr. Nuno Santos and Dr. Ana do Vale (i3S/IBMC) support during the study and for critically reviewing the manuscript

Impact of dietary inclusion of wine and olive oil waste extracts on physiological and health status of seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax)

Aquaculture is the only way to satisfy the growing global demand for seafood without depleting natural fisheries resources. Disease outbreaks are major threats to aquaculture production. The use of antibiotics or chemotherapeutics has been a common practice to combat infectious diseases that threaten production and induce high economic losses. This practice promotes high environmental harmful impacts and risks to human health (e.g., antibiotic-resistant bacteria). Thus, the development of nutritional strategies, such as natural functional supplements (FS) that preserve fish's health and well-being while preventing potential zoonotic disease and antibiotics use, is highly recommended to achieve the economical and sustainability of aquaculture. Wine and olive oil industry by-products (such as grape marc (GM) and olive pomace (OP)) are a source of high-value bioactive molecules, such as antioxidant and phenolic compounds. Thus, the valorisation of these agro-industrial by-products into new FS for aquafeeds is of high practical interest, contributing to the circular economy. The present study aims to evaluate the prospective beneficial effects of a previous optimised antioxidant-rich extract of a GM and OP mixture (WO) on seabass physiological and health status. For this purpose, two similar plant-based diets were formulated, including 0 (control diet) and 0.4% of WO extract (WO diet), corresponding to 0 and 91.1 of total antioxidants (m TE/g diet), respectively. After feeding seabass with these diets for ten weeks, the fish haematological, biochemical and immunological were assessed. The results demonstrated that 0.4% optimised WO extract decreases the mean corpuscular volume (control 159 ±53; WO 119± 9, p=0.042) in seabass. Other immunological parameters are being performed further to understand this extract's impact on seabass health status.Project SPO3 (ref.POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030377;FCT); project InovFeed(ref. MAR02.01.01-FEAMP-0111;Mar2020)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Cost-Effective Way To Expressively Increase the Blood-Stage Antimalarial Activity of Primaquine

Funding Information: The authors thank Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal), for funding Research Units LAQV‐REQUIMTE (UIDB/50006/2020), CIQUP (UIDB/00081/2020), and GHTM (UID/Multi/04413/2013), and for project grant PTDC/BTM‐SAL/29786/2017. ATS thanks FCT and Sociedade Portuguesa de Química (SPQ, Portugal) for her doctoral grant SFRH/BD/150649/2020 Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbHInspired by previous disclosure of room-temperature ionic liquids derived from primaquine and cinnamic acids, which displayed slightly enhanced blood-stage activity compared to the parent drug, we have now combined this emblematic antimalarial with natural fatty acids. This affords surface-active ionic liquids whose liver-stage antiplasmodial activity is either retained or slightly enhanced, while revealing blood-stage antiplasmodial activity at least one order of magnitude higher than that of the parent compound. These findings open new perspectives towards the cost-effective recycling of classical drugs that are either shelved or in decline, and which is not limited to antimalarial agents.publishersversionpublishe

A biodiversidade terrestre e dulçaquícola dos arquipélagos da Madeira e das Selvagens

As ilhas atlânticas dos Açores, Madeira, Selvagens, Canárias e Cabo Verde constituem uma das regiões da Europa mais ricas em diversidade de fungos, plantas e animais. Desde 2004 que a inventariação detalhada da diversidade destas ilhas tem sido um dos principais objectivos dos projectos ATLÂNTICO e BIONATURA (incluídos no projecto EU INTERREG IIIB). Este livro é a mais recente contribuição destes projectos, apresentando uma lista de todos os fungos, flora e fauna terrestre conhecida, incluindo a dulçaquícola, para dois arquipélagos atlânticos (Madeira e Selvagens). A lista abrange o arquipélago da Madeira, constituído por duas ilhas de maiores dimensões (Madeira e Porto Santo) e três pequenas, cujo conjunto constitui as Desertas (Ilhéu Chão, Deserta Grande e Bugio), e ainda o arquipélago das Selvagens, formado por duas pequenas ilhas (Selvagem Grande e Selvagem Pequena) e um ilhéu (Ilhéu de Fora).ABSTRACT: The Azores, Madeira, Selvagens, Canary Islands and Cape Verde are among the richest regions in Fungi, plant and animal diversity in Europe. The main objectives of the EU INTERREG IIIB projects ATLÂNTICO and BIONATURA have been, since 2004, to carry out a detailed inventory of the terrestrial Fungi, Flora and Fauna of these archipelagos. This book, encompassing a checklist of all the known terrestrial and freshwater Fungi, Flora and Fauna of Madeira and Selvagens archipelagos is the latest contribution towards that goal. The geographic scope of this checklist includes the Madeira archipelago, composed of two large islands (Madeira and Porto Santo) and three small islands, which are globally named Desertas (Ilhéu Chão, Deserta Grande and Bugio), and the archipelago of Selvagens with two small islands (Selvagem Grande and Selvagem Pequena) and one islet (Ilhéu de Fora)

Drug-Derived Surface-Active Ionic Liquids: A Cost-Effective Way To Expressively Increase the Blood-Stage Antimalarial Activity of Primaquine (ChemMedChem, (2022), 17, 5, 10.1002/cmdc.202100650)

Scheme 1 and Figure 1 in this article were incorrect. The correct ones, and their respective captions, follow: 1 Scheme (Figure presented.) Synthesis route to PQ-derived organic salts 3a–g. (i) 1a (1 molar equivalent, eq), 2a–g (1 eq), methanol (MeOH), room temperature (RT), 30 min. 1 Figure (Figure presented.) Surface tension plots and cmc determination, at 25 °C, of aqueous CTAB/SAIL mixtures: A) surface tension vs. the logarithm of total CTAB+SAIL concentration, expressed in molality; the cmc values are obtained from the intersection points of the linear fit in each system; B) cmc vs. molar fraction of 3c in mixtures with CTAB, showing the marked effect of 3c in reducing cmc.publishersversionpublishe

Adenosine A2A receptor modulation of hippocampal CA3-CA1 synapse plasticity during associative learning in behaving mice

© 2009 Nature Publishing Group All rights reservedPrevious in vitro studies have characterized the electrophysiological and molecular signaling pathways of adenosine tonic modulation on long-lasting synaptic plasticity events, particularly for hippocampal long-term potentiation(LTP). However, it remains to be elucidated whether the long-term changes produced by endogenous adenosine in the efficiency of synapses are related to those required for learning and memory formation. Our goal was to understand how endogenous activation of adenosine excitatory A2A receptors modulates the associative learning evolution in conscious behaving mice. We have studied here the effects of the application of a highly selective A2A receptor antagonist, SCH58261, upon a well-known associative learning paradigm - classical eyeblink conditioning. We used a trace paradigm, with a tone as the conditioned stimulus (CS) and an electric shock presented to the supraorbital nerve as the unconditioned stimulus(US). A single electrical pulse was presented to the Schaffer collateral–commissural pathway to evoke field EPSPs (fEPSPs) in the pyramidal CA1 area during the CS–US interval. In vehicle-injected animals, there was a progressive increase in the percentage of conditioning responses (CRs) and in the slope of fEPSPs through conditioning sessions, an effect that was completely prevented (and lost) in SCH58261 (0.5 mg/kg, i.p.)-injected animals. Moreover, experimentally evoked LTP was impaired in SCH58261- injected mice. In conclusion, the endogenous activation of adenosine A2A receptors plays a pivotal effect on the associative learning process and its relevant hippocampal circuits, including activity-dependent changes at the CA3-CA1 synapse.This study was supported by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Research (BFU2005-01024 and BFU2005-02512), Spanish Junta de Andalucía (BIO-122 and CVI-02487), and the Fundación Conocimiento y Cultura of the Pablo de Olavide University (Seville, Spain).B. Fontinha was in receipt of a studentship from a project grant (POCI/SAU-NEU/56332/2004) supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal), and of an STSM from Cost B30 concerted action of the EU

A validação da distribuição de espécies através de modelos preditivos: casos de estudo para a ilha da madeira

Os modelos preditivos de distribuição de espécies são uma importante ferramenta para lidar com a falta de informação biogeográfica existente para a maior parte dos taxa. Com esta técnica, estabelece -se uma relação entre a variável dependente (presença/ausência de uma espécie) e um conjunto de variáveis potencialmente preditoras, e é criado um mapa com a probabilidade de presença da espécie para uma determinada área de interesse. Neste capítulo, é usado o programa Maxent para criar modelos de distribuição potencial de um conjunto seleccionado de espécies, e os resultados obtidos são discutidos com base no conhecimento de especialistas nessas espécies.ABSTRACT: Predictive models of species distribution emerge as a valuable tool for tackling the lack of distributional information on most taxa. A function between the dependente variable (presence/absence of the species) and a set of potential predictors is established, and a map is generated for the focus area, indicating the probability of presence of the species. In this chapter, we use Maxent to develop potential distribution models for a number of selected species and we discuss the results on the basis of expert knowledge

New national and regional bryophyte records, 52

Marchantia paleacea is a new species for the Umbria Region and is rare in central and southern Italy. This record is in a Site of Community Importance (SCI) IT5220017 and a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) of the Natura 2000 EU-wide network due to the presence of the 7220* ‘Petrifying springs with tufa formation (Cratoneurion)’ Annexe I priority habitat. The particular environment, with a gorge and waterfall, created a very special microclimate that allowed the establishment of interesting liverworts and mosses