Armandodoriano Bianco

Biophenolic components of olives.

The occurrence of biophenolic components in olives provides functional value to the Mediterranean food culture, owing to recognized antioxidant activities of these substances. The concentration of biophenolic compounds in olives are closely linked to texture and organoleptic characteristics of agrifood products, i.e. table olive and olive oil. The concentrations of different biophenolic compounds in olives were investigated in order to develop appropriate procedures for determination of these compounds in fresh and processed table olives and in the olive drupes for olive oil production. Olives from Spain (Hojiblanca cv), Portugal (Douro cv), Greece (Thasos and Conservolia cvs) and Italy (Taggiasca and Cassanese cvs) were analysed. Four different protocols were employed. The first allows for an estimate of the total concentration of simple biophenolic compounds; the second, for soluble compounds and soluble esterified derivatives of these compounds; the third, the qualitative determination of cytoplasmatic soluble biophenolic content; the fourth, determination of soluble, glucosidic, esterified and cell-wall bound biophenols by means of a rapid, though more complex, sequential method, for their accurate evaluation on a structural and quantitative basis. Thus, the experimental procedures yield four different fractions of the biophenolic components of the olive, checked by CC, HPLC and NMR. The experimental results depend on the procedure chosen, the degree of ripeness of the olives, and the environment of the olive cultivars. The composition of each of these fractions can be of valuable information, supporting for table olive growing and olive oil producers in maximising the competitive quality of their products by selecting olive materials whose concentrations of biophenolic compounds can be responsible for beneficial effects on human health.

Comparison of different commercially available cationic liposome-DNA lipoplexes: Parameters influencing toxicity and transfection efficiency.

Lipid-DNA complexes (lipoplexes) are widely used, since several years, as gene carriers. However, their transfection efficiency, both in vitro and in vivo, depends, in a rather complex way, on different interconnected parameters, ranging from the chemical composition of the lipid components to the size and size distribution of the complexes and, moreover, to the composition of the suspending medium. In this paper, we have investigated the behavior of nine different commercially available transfection agents (liposomal and non-liposomal) and their lipoplexes, at different molar charge ratios and in different experimental conditions. The size and the time stability of the resulting lipoplexes were investigated by means of dynamic light scattering methods and their toxicity and transfection efficiency were assayed in vitro in a model tumor cell line (C6 rat glioma cell line). An attempt to correlate the different parameters governing the complex phenomenology observed has been made. Whereas all the formulations investigated display a low toxicity, that increases with the increase of the lipid-DNA molar charge ratio, the transfection efficiency markedly depends, besides the molar charge ratio, on the lipid composition and on the lipoplex size, in a rather correlated way. The aim of this work is to present, in a wide scenario, an example of the inter-correlation among the different parameters that influence the transfection efficiency of lipoplexes and to suggest the role exerted by the average size of the resulting aggregates in their overall effectiveness as carriers in gene therapy.

The occurrence in olive oil of a new class of phenolic compounds: hydroxy-isochromans

Abstract A new class of phenolic compounds, hydroxy-isochromans, was found in different samples of extra-virgin olive oil. In particular, the presence of l-phenyl-6,7-dihydroxy-isochroman, 10 and 1-(3′-methoxy-4′-hydroxy)phenyl-6,7-dihydroxy-isochroman, 11 was demonstrated by comparison of the high performance liquid chromatography–mass/mass (HPLC–MS/MS) spectra of biophenolic samples from extra-virgin olive oils with those of compounds obtained by a reaction between hydroxytyrosol and the aromatic aldehydes, benzaldehyde and vanillin, respectively.

Microcomponents of olive oil—III. Glucosides of 2(3,4-dihydroxy-phenyl)ethanol

Abstract The molecular structure of the microcomponents of olive fruit was investigated in order to evidence new molecules which could be transferred to the resulting oil and therefore be typical of olive oil. The three glucosides of 2(3,4-dihydroxy-phenyl)ethanol, 1 , 2 and 3 were isolated together with other glucosides previously identified in Olea europaea . Glucosides 1–3 were detected in the olive oil, there being always present a small quantity of water as an emulsion, together with the aglycone, the 2(3,4-dihydroxy-phenyl)ethanol. The presence of glucosides 1–3 is closely linked with the organoleptic characteristics and to the recognized antioxidant properties of olive oil..

Antioxidant and antiproliferative activity of Hypericum hircinum L. subsp. majus (Aiton) N. Robson essential oil

This study was undertaken to assess the antioxidant and antiproliferative potential of the essential oil of Hypericum hircinum L. subsp. majus (Aiton) N. Robson. Analysis of the oil composition revealed that sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (69.3%) dominate, cis-β-guaiene, δ-selinene and (E)-caryophyllene being the most representative. Significant values of antioxidant activity were found using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) radical scavenging assays. The essential oil revealed antiproliferative activity as evaluated on human glioblastoma (T98G), human prostatic adenocarcinoma (PC3), human squamous carcinoma (A431) and mouse melanoma (B16-F1) tumour cell lines by MTT assay.

Isolation of cornoside from olea europaea and its transformation into halleridone

Abstract Olea europaea contains, besides oleuropein, demethyloleuropein, verbascoside and ligstroside, cornoside which can be easily transformed into halleridone.

Study of binding affinity and selectivity of perylene and coronene derivatives towards duplex and quadruplex DNA by ESI-MS.

In this paper, we report an extensive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) study of the noncovalent interactions between different intermolecular and intramolecular G-quadruplex structures and several perylene and coronene ligands. The selectivity of these compounds toward quadruplex structures with respect to duplex DNA, a fundamental topic for the biological evaluation and the pharmacological application of these ligands as potential chemotherapeutic agents, has also been investigated. After exploring this topic according to the classical approach based on the very simple duplex model of an autocomplementary dodecamer, we extended our analysis reporting for the first time a competition ESI-MS experiment in the presence of genomic DNA fragments. Whereas those ligands showing a high level of selectivity between quadruplex and duplex oligonucleotides, in terms of binding constants and percentage of bound DNA, confirmed their selectivity in the competition experiment, the contrary was not always true: some ligands showing poor selectivity with the autocomplementary dodecamer resulted selective in the presence of genomic DNA fragments. This result suggests that physiologically nonrelevant interactions are possible with a short duplex oligonucleotide. This means that the dodecamer can fail in representing a biologically significant structural model, or, better, that it can be used to quickly screen potentially selective molecules, but bearing in mind the high probability of false negative results.

N-cyclic bay-substituted perylene G-quadruplex ligands have selective antiproliferative effects on cancer cells and induce telomere damage.

A series of bay-substituted perylene derivatives is reported as a new class of G-quadruplex ligands. The synthesized compounds have differing N-cyclic substituents on the bay area and differing side chains on the perylene major axis. ESI-MS and FRET measurements highlighted the strongest quadruplex binders in this series and those showing the highest quadruplex/duplex selectivity. Several biological assays were performed on these compounds, which showed that compound 5 (PPL3C) triggered a DNA damage response in transformed cells with the formation of telomeric foci containing phosphorylated γ-H2AX and 53BP1. This effect mainly occurred in replicating cells and was consistent with Pot1 dissociation. Compound 5 does not induce telomere damage in normal cells, which are unaffected by treatment with the compound, suggesting that this agent preferentially kills cancer cells. These results reinforce the notion that G-quadruplex binding compounds can act as broad inhibitors of telomere-related processes and have potential as selective antineoplastic drugs.

8-Epiloganin, an iridoid glucoside from Odontites verna☆

Abstract Odontites verna subsp. serotina contains besides odontoside, aucubin, mussaenoside, shanzhiside methyl ester and catalpol, a new iridoid glucoside, 8-epiloganin.

A hydrophilic three side-chained triazatruxene as a new strong and selective G-quadruplex ligand

A new hydrosoluble triazatruxene derivative (Azatrux) is reported to selectively bind to G-quadruplex DNA, as derived by ESI-MS measurements and competition experiments.