The 3Rs: reduction and refinement through a multivariate statistical analysis approach in a behavioural study to unveil anxiolytic effects of natural extracts of Tilia Tomentosa.

Proceedings of the second Centro 3R Annual Meeting - Young Scientists | June 20-21, 2019, Genoa (Italy

Use of an animal model to evaluate anxiolytic effects of dietary supplementation with tilia tomentosa moench bud extracts

Anxiety disorders are common and complex psychiatric syndromes affecting a broad spectrum of patients. On top of that, we know that aging produces an increase in anxiety vulnerability and sedative consumption. Moreover, stress disorders frequently show a clear gender susceptibility. Currently, the approved pharmacological strategies have severe side effects such as hallucinations, addiction, suicide, insomnia, and loss of motor coordination. Dietary integration with supplements represents an intriguing strategy for improving the efficacy and the safety of synthetic anxiolytics. Accordingly, a recent article demonstrated that glyceric bud extracts from Tilia tomentosa Moench (TTBEs) exert effects that are consistent with anxiolytic activity. However, the effects of these compounds in vivo are unknown. To examine this question, we conducted behavioral analysis in mice. A total of 21 days of oral supplements (vehicle and TTBEs) were assessed by Light Dark and Hole Board tests in male and female mice (young, 3 months; old, 24 months). Interestingly, the principal component analysis revealed gender and age-specific behavioral modulations. Moreover, the diet integration with the botanicals did not modify the body weight gain and the daily intake of water. Our results support the use of TTBEs as dietary supplements for anxiolytic purposes and unveil age and gender-dependent responses

7-ketocholesterol in human and adapted mik formulas

In the last few years, a variety of experimental and clinical studies concerning the formation, metabolism, and cellular e\ua1ects of cholesterol oxidation products (COPs) have been carried out. Nevertheless, a substantial lack of knowledge exists regarding the possible intake of these compounds by the newborn through human and/or adapted formula milk. As far as the pathological role of COPs is concerned, exhaustive studies have shown that since dietary COPs are cytotoxic and atherotoxic, they may lead to adverse e\ua1ects on health. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible development of cholesterol oxidation in adapted formula and in human milk by comparing the main cholesterol oxidation biomarker (7-ketocholesterol) concentration in both. To do so, the total (bonded and free) 7-ketocholesterol content was measured in ten freshhuman mature milk samples and in ten milk adapted formula samples by high performance liquid chromatography and diode array detection. The 7-ketocholesterol human milk content (0.770.3) was often below the quantifiable limit (0.5 mg/g of extracted lipids) while 7-ketocholesterol adapted milk concentrations were often above (3.674.0) this limit.The 7-ketocholesterol content of adapted formula samples was significantly higher as compared to human milk samples (Po0.05). This is the first study to provide data concerning the concentrations of cholesterol oxides inhuman milk and in formula milk. Our results clearly suggest that the manufacturing technologies employed and the nutrient extractive sources play a crucial role in the development of cholesterol oxides in the end product. Careful surveillance has to be paid in order to avoid alteration of bioactive properties of nutrients and/or development of potentially toxic derivative compounds

Phytochemical fingerprint and chemometrics for natural food preparation pattern recognition: an innovative technique in food supplement quality control

Recently, the fingerprint approach using chromatography has become one of the most effective tools for quality assessment of herbal medicines and food supplements: due to the complexity of the chromatographic fingerprint and the irreproducibility of chromatographic instruments and experimental conditions, chemometric approach is employed to deal with the chromatographic fingerprint. The study was aimed at developing new analytical methods for the multivariate phytochemical fingerprinting of bioactive compounds in eight tree-species bud-preparations, commonly used in phytotherapy. Methods was used to identify and quantify the main bioactive compounds (polyphenols, organic acids and vitamins), and obtain a specific botanical profile in order to assess the contribution of each single bioactive class to the total bud preparation phytocomplex. A chemometric approach was used to distinguish among different genotypes assuring the identity, safety and quality of the botanical raw materials. The established protocol was simple, sensitive and reliable and it could be used for the evaluation and quality control of bud-extracts and natural food supplements: the proposed method was successfully applied to the characterization of commercial bud-preparations, demonstrating to be an effective tool for the fingerprinting of this plant material. The new approach developed in this study represents a good alternative for improving the classification results of herbal materials with complex chromatograms. It should be necessary to develop a \u201cmultivariate chromatographic fingerprint\u201d, in order to differentiate the herbal preparations according to their genotype, avoiding substitutions, changes or adulterations with other species or synthetic drugs

Experimental Investigation on the Magneto-Hydrodynamic Interaction in the Shock Layer on a Hypersonic Body

This paper describes the results of an experimental investigation on the effect of the MHD interaction with the plasma of the shock layer above a test body immersed into a hypersonic argon flow. The hypersonic flow is obtained from the high-enthalpy arc-heated wind tunnel of Alta-CPR (Pisa) at Mach 6. Test at heating chamber stagnation pressures of 0.65, 0.85, and 1 bar, and magnetic fields in the range of 0.15-0.35 T, are carried out. The experimental observations are done by means of a set of electrical probes, an optical multi-channel analyser, and a fast shutter CCD camera. In order to maximize the effect of the MHD interaction the Faraday field is shorted ad a magnetic field perpendicular to the test body surface is used. Due to the MHD interaction increases of the distance between the shock front and the body surface are observed. The MHD interaction effect is reduced by the low conductivity of the plasma in the boundary layer above the test body surface