Influenza dell'ombreggiamento sulla propagazione agamica di specie della macchia mediterranea

The current requirements of environmental conservation and biodiversity, and the need to find materials and biomass from renewable sources, led to the discovery and study of plant species undervalued, including numerous plants of the Mediterranean flora. However, the nursery production of several species of the Mediterranean faces significant difficulties due to poor rooting ability in the propagation by cuttings. In fact, if on one hand sexual propagation allows to diversify the products retaining a wealth of genetic, the other lengthens the time required to obtain a product that may not correspond to certain commercial standards. In this study we observed the effects of different levels of shading (70%, 60%, 50% and 30%) and of etiolation on an attitude of rooting of shoots of six wood species of the Mediterranean maquis considered recalcitrant (Arbutus unedo L., Ceratonia siliqua L., Phillyrea latifolia L., Pistacia lentiscus L., Quercus ilex L. and Quercus suber L.), while the other two species (Ilex aquifolium L. and Rhamnus alaternus L.) with good natural ability to rooting were used as a control. Every six months, it was determined the linear growth of the plants subjected to shading and linear growth of the shoots. Moreover, a part of the cuttings has been subjected to an etiolating treatment. For each thesis in question the rooting ability of cuttings was rated and the same steps were taken to carry out chemical analysis considered most important: macro and micro minerals, starch, polyphenols, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and carotenoids. The analysis showed that the techniques of shading studied are not advisable for a long stay (over 12-18 months) in plant nurseries. In fact, some species have shown adaptability to shading, as in the case holm oak, cork oak and buckthorn. Other species have proven tolerant of shade lower rates, such as mastic tree, phillyrea, carob tree and holly, and cannot be excluded that under such conditions the plants can persist for longer periods than the shading thesis to 60 and 70%[.

Novel Findings about Double-Loaded Curcumin-in-HPβcyclodextrin-in Liposomes: Effects on the Lipid Bilayer and Drug Release

In this study, the encapsulation of curcumin (Cur) in “drug-in-cyclodextrin-in-liposomes (DCL)” by following the double-loading technique (DL) was proposed, giving rise to DCL–DL. The aim was to analyze the effect of cyclodextrin (CD) on the physicochemical, stability, and drug-release properties of liposomes. After selecting didodecyldimethylammonium bromide (DDAB) as the cationic lipid, DCL–DL was formulated by adding 2-hydroxypropyl-α/β/γ-CD (HPβCD)–Cur complexes into the aqueous phase. A competitive effect of cholesterol (Cho) for the CD cavity was found, so cholesteryl hemisuccinate (Chems) was used. The optimal composition of the DCL–DL bilayer was obtained by applying Taguchi methodology and regression analysis. Vesicles showed a lower drug encapsulation efficiency compared to conventional liposomes (CL) and CL containing HPβCD in the aqueous phase. However, the presence of HPβCD significantly increased vesicle deformability and Cur antioxidant activity over time. In addition, drug release profiles showed a sustained release after an initial burst effect, fitting to the Korsmeyer-Peppas kinetic model. Moreover, a direct correlation between the area under the curve (AUC) of dissolution profiles and flexibility of liposomes was obtained. It can be concluded that these “drug-in-cyclodextrin-in-deformable” liposomes in the presence of HPβCD may be a promising carrier for increasing the entrapment efficiency and stability of Cur without compromising the integrity of the liposome bilayer

Multiple Roles of Chitosan in Mucosal Drug Delivery: An Updated Review

Chitosan (CS) is a linear polysaccharide obtained by the deacetylation of chitin, which, after cellulose, is the second biopolymer most abundant in nature, being the primary component of the exoskeleton of crustaceans and insects. Since joining the pharmaceutical field, in the early 1990s, CS attracted great interest, which has constantly increased over the years, due to its several beneficial and favorable features, including large availability, biocompatibility, biodegradability, non-toxicity, simplicity of chemical modifications, mucoadhesion and permeation enhancer power, joined to its capability of forming films, hydrogels and micro- and nanoparticles. Moreover, its cationic character, which renders it unique among biodegradable polymers, is responsible for the ability of CS to strongly interact with different types of molecules and for its intrinsic antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and hemostatic activities. However, its pH-dependent solubility and susceptibility to ions presence may represent serious drawbacks and require suitable strategies to be overcome. Presently, CS and its derivatives are widely investigated for a great variety of pharmaceutical applications, particularly in drug delivery. Among the alternative routes to overcome the problems related to the classic oral drug administration, the mucosal route is becoming the favorite non-invasive delivery pathway. This review aims to provide an updated overview of the applications of CS and its derivatives in novel formulations intended for different methods of mucosal drug delivery

Time series analysis of the Bacillus subtilis sporulation network reveals low dimensional chaotic dynamics

Chaotic behavior refers to a behavior which, albeit irregular, is generated by an underlying deterministic process. Therefore, a chaotic behavior is potentially controllable. This possibility becomes practically amenable especially when chaos is shown to be low-dimensional, i.e., to be attributable to a small fraction of the total systems components. In this case, indeed, including the major drivers of chaos in a system into the modeling approach allows us to improve predictability of the systems dynamics. Here, we analyzed the numerical simulations of an accurate ordinary differential equation model of the gene network regulating sporulation initiation in Bacillus subtilis to explore whether the non-linearity underlying time series data is due to low-dimensional chaos. Low-dimensional chaos is expectedly common in systems with few degrees of freedom, but rare in systems with many degrees of freedom such as the B. subtilis sporulation network. The estimation of a number of indices, which reflect the chaotic nature of a system, indicates that the dynamics of this network is affected by deterministic chaos. The neat separation between the indices obtained from the time series simulated from the model and those obtained from time series generated by Gaussian white and colored noise confirmed that the B. subtilis sporulation network dynamics is affected by low dimensional chaos rather than by noise. Furthermore, our analysis identifies the principal driver of the networks chaotic dynamics to be sporulation initiation phosphotransferase B (Spo0B). We then analyzed the parameters and the phase space of the system to characterize the instability points of the network dynamics, and, in turn, to identify the ranges of values of Spo0B and of the other drivers of the chaotic dynamics, for which the whole system is highly sensitive to minimal perturbation. In summary, we described an unappreciated source of complexity in the B. subtilis sporulation network by gathering evidence for the chaotic behavior of the system, and by suggesting candidate molecules driving chaos in the system. The results of our chaos analysis can increase our understanding of the intricacies of the regulatory network under analysis, and suggest experimental work to refine our behavior of the mechanisms underlying B. subtilis sporulation initiation control

Design, Evaluation and Comparison of Nanostructured Lipid Carriers and Chitosan Nanoparticles as Carriers of Poorly Soluble Drugs to Develop Oral Liquid Formulations Suitable for Pediatric Use

© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).There is a serious need of pediatric drug formulations, whose lack causes the frequent use of extemporaneous preparations obtained from adult dosage forms, with consequent safety and quality risks. Oral solutions are the best choice for pediatric patients, due to administration ease and dosage-adaptability, but their development is challenging, particularly for poorly soluble drugs. In this work, chitosan nanoparticles (CSNPs) and nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) were developed and evaluated as potential nanocarriers for preparing oral pediatric solutions of cefixime (poorly soluble model drug). The selected CSNPs and NLCs showed a size around 390 nm, Zeta-potential > 30 mV, and comparable entrapment efficiency (31–36%), but CSNPs had higher loading efficiency (5.2 vs. 1.4%). CSNPs maintained an almost unchanged size, homogeneity, and Zeta-potential during storage, while NLCs exhibited a marked progressive Zeta-potential decrease. Drug release from CSNPs formulations (differently from NLCs) was poorly affected by gastric pH variations, and gave rise to a more reproducible and controlled profile. This was related to their behavior in simulated gastric conditions, where CSNPs were stable, while NLCs suffered a rapid size increase, up to micrometric dimensions. Cytotoxicity studies confirmed CSNPs as the best nanocarrier, proving their complete biocompatibility, while NLCs formulations needed 1:1 dilution to obtain acceptable cell viability values.This research was supported by FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) Portugal, under grants UIDB/04138/2020 and UIDP/04138/2020. Lídia Gonçalves is financed by FCT under principal investigator grant CEECIND/03143/2017.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Histopathological, histochemical and immunoistochemical study on a rare case of granulocytic sarcoma in a dog

Granulocytic sarcoma is a malignant extramedullary solid tumor, composed of granulocytic precursor cells at various levels of differentiation. Three differentiation levels are considered: blastic, immature, and differentiated, and cases with unusual morphology. Nowadays the aid of more and more highly developed techniques allows to differentiate the various histotypes. We report a case of a 5 year-old female Schnautzer dog, died after a serious dyspnoea. During the autopsy the veterinary found several neoplasias in the lungs. It has been found a very large white-greyish mediastinal neoplasia, stuck at the trachea and several more in the parenchyma. Several samples were fixed in formalin, embedded in paraffin and exposed to histochemistry staining (H.E., Giemsa), cytochemistry (Naphthol-AS-D-Chloroacetate), and immunohistochemistry (anti-CD3, -CD79a, -CD45, -MPO, -CD45Ro, -CD34, -CD20, -CD68, -CD15, -CD30, -CD117, -CD235a, -Factor VIII, -elastase and anti-Pan-cytocheratine). Neoplasia, poorly circumscribed, was composed by a large number of neutrophil granulocytes with different degrees of differentiation, including elements of myeloid lineage. Cells were positive to MPO and focal to Naphtol-As-D-Chloroacetate and were negative to all the others antisera, allowing us to exclude lymphomas, small cells carcinomas, and tumors of monocytic and erythroid origin. By these characteristics we could diagnose a rare case of neutrophilic granulocytic sarcoma, of immature type progressing to mature form

Tablets of “Hydrochlorothiazide in Cyclodextrin in Nanoclay”: A New Nanohybrid System with Enhanced Dissolution Properties

Hydrochlorothiazide (HCT), a Biopharmaceutical Classification System (BCS) class IV drug, is characterized by low solubility and permeability, that negatively affect its oral bioavailability, reducing its therapeutic effcacy. The combined use of cyclodextrins (CDs) and nanoclays (NCs) recently proved to be a successful strategy in developing delivery systems able to merge the potential benefits of both carriers. In this work, several binary systems of CDs or NCs with the drug were obtained, using different drug:carrier ratios and preparation techniques, and characterized in solution and in solid state, to properly select the most effective system and preparation method. Then, the best CD (RAMEB) and NC (sepiolite), at the best drug:carrier ratio, was selected for preparation of the ternary system by co-evaporation and emerged as the most effective preparation method. The combined presence of RAMEB and sepiolite gave rise to a synergistic improvement of drug dissolution properties, with a two-fold increase in the amount of drug dissolved as compared with the corresponding HCT-RAMEB system, resulting in an approximately 12-fold increase in drug solubility as compared with the drug alone. The ternary system that was co-evaporated was then selected for a tablet formulation. The obtained tablets were fully characterized for technological properties and clearly revealed a better drug dissolution performance than the commercial reference tablet (Esidrex®)