José Antonio Cayuela

Biochemical Basis of the Antidiabetic Activity of Oleanolic Acid and Related Pentacyclic Triterpenes

Oleanolic acid (OA), a natural component of many plant food and medicinal herbs, is endowed with a wide range of pharmacological properties whose therapeutic potential has only partly been exploited until now. Throughout complex and multifactorial mechanisms, OA exerts beneficial effects against diabetes and metabolic syndrome. It improves insulin response, preserves functionality and survival of β-cells, and protects against diabetes complications. OA may directly modulate enzymes connected to insulin biosynthesis, secretion, and signaling. However, its major contributions appear to be derived from the interaction with important transduction pathways, and many of its effects are consistently related to activation of the transcription factor Nrf2. Doing that, OA induces the expression of antioxidant enzymes and phase II response genes, blocks NF-κB, and represses the polyol pathway, AGEs production, and hyperlipidemia. The management of type 2 diabetes requires an integrated approach, which includes the early intervention to prevent or delay the disease progression, and the use of therapies to control glycemia and lipidemia in its late stages. In this sense, the use of functional foods or drugs containing OA is, undoubtedly, an interesting path.

Chemical Composition of the Essential Oil of Warionia saharae from Morocco

Abstract Air-dried aerial parts of wild Warionia saharae were collected in Tata region (south of Morocco) during June 2005. The plant samples were distillated by Clevenger apparatus and the obtained essential oils were analyzed by GC and GC-MS. The yield obtained varies greatly with a range of 0.5 to 1.1%. Thirty compounds amounting 91% of the oil, were identified. The major components of Warionia saharae essential oils were β-eudesmol (52.7%), trans-nerolidol (17.4%), linalool (5.1%), guaiol (2.4%), terpinen-4-ol (1.4%) and 1, 8-cineole (1.2%).

Assessing wine sensory attributes using Vis/NIR

The quality of wine involves the presence and intensity of many flavors and nuances. The assessment by tasting panels of the sensory quality of wine and by measuring the intensity of their attributes or defects is more difficult than assessing the global score of wine quality, which is a single value for each wine. This research focused on the feasibility of the visible and near-infrared spectroscopy for assessing wine sensory attributes. Predictive models of sensory attributes such as positive and negative for red and white wines have been developed, based on their spectra and reference values from a specialized tasting panel. The results indicate that the technique is feasible for predicting some of the most characteristic sensory attributes of red and white wines such as Flavor intensity, Astringency, Color intensity, Length, Persistency, Pleasantness and Balance. Their correlation coefficients of validations were about 0.9 in most cases. The technique was also suitable for predicting some important defects such as Oxidation, Unclean, Ethyl acetate and Acetic acid. The main potential use of this technique is for contrasting or confirming the assessment of wine for the positive and negative sensory attributes, determined by the sensory analysis of tasting panels. This can be particularly useful in cases where there is discrepancy in the assessments of a sensory panel. It is reasonable to consider the possibility of tuning the technique for detection in routine analysis of some negative attributes.