Compositional Characteristics of Mediterranean Buffalo Milk and Whey

The main objective of this review is to summarize the compositional characteristics and the health and functional properties of Mediterranean buffalo milk and whey derived from mozzarella cheese production. Several studies have investigated the composition of buffalo milk and in particular its fat, protein, and carbohydrates contents. These characteristics may change depending on the breed, feeding regime, and rearing system of the animals involved in the study, and also with the seasons. In particular, buffalo milk showed a higher nutritional value and higher levels of proteins, vitamins, and minerals when compared to milks produced by other animal species. Additionally, buffalo milk contains beneficial compounds such as gangliosides that can provide antioxidant protection and neuronal protection, and can improve bone, heart, and gastrointestinal health in humans

A gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-based metabolomic approach for the characterization of goat milk compared with cow milk

In this work, the polar metabolite pool of commercial caprine milk was studied by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and multivariate statistical data analysis. Experimental data were compared with those of cow milk and the discriminant analysis correctly classified milk. By the same means, differences due to heat treatments (UHT or pasteurization) on milk samples were also investigated. Results of the 2 discriminant analyses were combined, with the aim of finding the discriminant metabolites unique for each class and shared by 2 classes. Valine and glycine were specific to goat milk, talose and malic acid to cow milk, and hydroxyglutaric acid to pasteurized samples. Glucose and fructose were shared by cow milk and UHT-treated samples, whereas ribose was shared by pasteurized and goat milk. Other discriminant variables were not attributed to specific metabolites. Furthermore, with the aim to reduce food fraud, the issue of adulteration of caprine milk by addition of cheaper bovine milk has been also addressed. To this goal, mixtures of goat and cow milk were prepared by adding the latter in a range from 0 to 100% (vol/vol) and studied by multivariate regression analysis. The error in the level of cow milk detectable was approximately 5%. These overall results demonstrated that, through the combined approach of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and multivariate statistical data analysis, we were able to discriminate between milk typologies on the basis of their polar metabolite profiles and to propose a new analytical method to easily discover food fraud and to protect goat milk uniqueness. The use of appropriate visualization tools improved the interpretation of multivariate model results

An Untargeted Metabolomic Comparison of Milk Composition from Sheep Kept Under Dierent Grazing Systems

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of different feedings on main traits and polar and semi-polar metabolite profiles of ovine milk. The milk metabolome of two groups of Sarda sheep kept under different grazing systems were analyzed by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and multivariate statistical analysis (MVA). The results of discriminant analysis indicated that the two groups showed a different metabolite profile, i.e., milk samples of sheep kept under Grazing System 1 (GS1) were richer in nucleosides, inositols, hippuric acid, and organic acids, while milk of sheep under Grazing System 2 (GS2) showed higher levels of phosphate. Statistical analysis of milk main traits indicates that fat content was significantly higher in GS1 samples while milk from GS2 sheep had more urea, trans-vaccenic acid, and rumenic acid. MVA studies of the associations between milk main traits and metabolite profile indicated that the latter reflects primarily the long chain fatty acid content, the somatic cell count (SCC), and lactose levels. All together, these results demonstrated that an integrated holistic approach could be applied to deepen knowledge about the effects of feeding on sheep’s milk composition

GC-MS Metabolomics and Antifungal Characteristics of Autochthonous Lactobacillus Strains

Lactobacillus strains with the potential of protecting fresh dairy products from spoilage were studied. Metabolism and antifungal activity of different L. plantarum, L. brevis, and L. sakei strains, isolated from Sardinian dairy and meat products, were assessed. The metabolite fingerprint of each strain was obtained by GC-MS and data submitted to multivariate statistical analysis. The discriminant analysis correctly classified samples to the Lactobacillus species and indicated that, with respect to the other species, L. plantarum had higher levels of organic acids, while L. brevis and L. sakei showed higher levels of sugars than L. plantarum. Partial Least Square (PLS) regression correlated the GC-MS metabolites to the antifungal activity (p Lactobacillus strains and indicated that organic acids and oleamide are positively related with this ability. Some of the metabolites identified in this study have been reported to possess health promoting proprieties. These overall results suggest that the GC-MS-based metabolomic approach is a useful tool for the characterization of Lactobacillus strains as biopreservatives

Chemical Composition of Different Extracts of Conyza bonariensis: Insecticidal and Nematicidal Activities

C. bonariensis (L.) Cronq. known as hairy fleabane was first described in Argentina but it is now widely spread through most warmer regions of Europe, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Central America. In this work, a chemical analysis by liquid and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry of the whole plant, aerial part, flowers and roots extracts of C. bonariensis harvested in Togo (West Africa) was carried out. Two acetylenic compounds Lachnophyllum ester and limonene were identified as the main components of essential oils while Lachnophyllum and Matricaria lactones were dominant in chloroform extracts. Based on the plant chemical compositions, essential oils and chloroform extracts were tested on cowpea weevil Callosobruchus maculatus adults which are considered as one of the most cosmopolitan pests of stored beans, and on freshly hatched second-stage juveniles of root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita. Results showed that the whole plant essential oil demonstrated an LC50/24h value of 1.75 μL oil/L air on C. maculatus while at 3.91 μL oil/L air, it showed 100% mortality. Furthermore, the plant root chloroform extracts partitioned in diethyl ether-hexane mixture showed the strongest nematicidal activity with an LC50/72h value of 0.47 mg/mL. Our findings suggest that the widely diffused plant C. bonariensis and its acetylenic constituents could be considered as potent botanical insecticidal and nematicidal agents

Untargeted Lipidomics of Erythrocytes under Simulated Microgravity Conditions

Lipidomics and metabolomics are nowadays widely used to provide promising insights into the pathophysiology of cellular stress disorders. Our study expands, with the use of a hyphenated ion mobility mass spectrometric platform, the understanding of the cellular processes and stress due to microgravity. By lipid profiling of human erythrocytes, we annotated complex lipids such as oxidized phosphocholines, phosphocholines bearing arachidonic in their moiety, as well as sphingomyelins and hexosyl ceramides associated with microgravity conditions. Overall, our findings give an insight into the molecular alterations and identify erythrocyte lipidomics signatures associated with microgravity conditions. If the present results are confirmed in future studies, they may help to develop suitable treatments for astronauts after return to Earth

LC-QTOF/MS Untargeted Metabolomics of Sheep Milk under Cocoa Husks Enriched Diet

The aim of this work was to evaluate, by an untargeted metabolomics approach, changes of milk metabolites induced by the replacement of soybean hulls with cocoa husks in the ewes’ diet. Animals were fed with a soybean diet integrated with 50 or 100 g/d of cacao husks. Milk samples were analyzed by an ultra high performance liquid chromatograph coupled to a time of flight mass spectrometer (UHPLC-QTOF-MS) platform. Multivariate statistical analysis showed that the time of sampling profoundly affected metabolite levels, while differences between treatments were evident at the fourth week of sampling. Cocoa husks seem to induce level changes of milk metabolites implicated in the thyroid hormone metabolism and ubiquinol-10 biosynthesis

Effects of a novel bioprocess for the cultivation Synechococcus nidulans on Mars on its biochemical composition: focus on the lipidome

In the present work, the possibility to grow the strain Synechococcus nidulans CCALA 188 on Mars using a medium mimicking a one obtainable using in situ available resources, i.e. the so-called Martian medium, under an atmosphere obtainable by pressurization of Mars CO2, is investigated. The goal is to obtain a biomass with high-value products to sustain a crewed mission to Mars. The results show that the replacement of 40% vol of Z-medium with the same volume of Martian medium does not affect the cultivation and leads to a slight improvement of biomass productivity. Under an atmosphere consisting of pure CO2 the growth rate was reduced but the strain managed to adapt by modifying its metabolism. Total proteins and carbohydrates were significantly reduced under Mars-like conditions, while lipids increased when using CO2. A balanced diet rich in antioxidants is crucial for the wealth of astronauts, and in our case, radical scavenging capacities range from 15 to 20 mmol(TEAC)/kg were observed. Under CO2, a reduction in antioxidant power is observed likely due to a decrease in photosynthetic activity. The lipidome consisted of sulfoquinovosyldiacylglycerol, monogalactosyldiacylglycerol, digalactosyldiacylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylglycerol, and triacylglycerol. A significant increase in the latter ones was observed under Mars simulated atmosphere

Ion Mobility–Mass Spectrometry Approach for the Comparison of Sheep and Goat Milk Lipidomes

In this work, we report an analytical procedure to investigate the lipid compositions of sheep and goat milk. This approach is based on an ion mobility-high-resolution mass spectrometric method to facilitate the identification of complex lipid species and their regiochemistry. A common triacylglycerol profile was observed for sheep and goat milk samples, while a higher abundance of medium-chain fatty acids was observed at the sn-2 position for sheep milk. Furthermore, differences can be also observed in the levels of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids at the sn-2 position. In terms of lipid classes, goat milk showed higher levels of triacylglycerols, phosphatidylinositols and ether-linked phosphatidylethanolamines, while sheep milk showed higher levels of free fatty acids, lysophosphatidylethanolamines, lysophosphocholines and non-hydroxy fatty acid-dihydrosphingosine ceramides when compared with goat milk