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Transient global ischemia is a leading cause of learning and memory dysfunction and induces a pattern of delayed neuronal death in the CA1 subfield of the hippocampus by down-regulating GluR2 mRNA AMPA receptors in this cerebral area. This study sought to investigate the neuroprotective effect of coumestrol against spatial memory impairment induced by global ischemia that leads to neural death by reducing the GluR2 receptors content in the hippocampal CA1 area. Our studies demonstrated that coumestrol administration prevented spatial memory deficits in mice. These findings suggest a cognitive enhancement role of coumestrol against cognitive impairment in ischemic events.

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INTRODUCTION: Neonatal Hypoxia-Ischemia (HI) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality, and is frequently associated with short and long-term neurologic and cognitive impairments. The HI injury causes mitochondrial damage leading to increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Phytoestrogens are non-steroidal plant substances structurally and functionally similar to estrogen. Coumestrol is a potent isoflavonoid with a protective effect against ischemic brain damage in adult rats. Our aim was to determine if coumestrol treatment following neonatal HI attenuates the long-term cognitive deficits induced by neonatal HI, as well as to investigate one possible mechanism underlying its potential effect. METHODS: On the 7th postnatal day, male Wistar rats were submitted to the Levine-Rice HI model. Intraperitoneal injections of 20 mg/kg of coumestrol, or vehicle, were administered immediately pre-hypoxia or 3 h post-hypoxia. At 12 h after HI the mitochondrial status and ROS levels were determined. At 60th postnatal day the cognitive deficits were revealed in the Morris water maze reference and working spatial memories. Following behavioral analysis, histological assessment was performed and reactive astrogliosis was measured by GFAP expression. RESULTS: Results demonstrate that both pre- and post-HI administration of coumestrol were able to counteract the long-term cognitive and morphological impairments caused by HI, as well as to block the late reactive astrogliosis. The pre-HI administration of coumestrol was able to prevent the early mitochondrial dysfunction in the hippocampus of injured rat pups. CONCLUSION: Present data suggest that coumestrol exerts protection against experimental neonatal brain hypoxia-ischemia through, at least in part, early modulation of mitochondrial function.

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Coumestrol is a polyphenol with promising therapeutic applications as phytoestrogen, antioxidant and potential cancer chemoprevention agent. The presence of two hydroxyl groups on its chemical structure, with orientation analogous to estradiol, is responsible of both, its antioxidant capacity and its estrogenic activity. However, several studies show that the interaction of polyphenols with food and plasma proteins reduces their antioxidant efficacy. We studied the interaction of coumestrol with bovine serum albumin protein (BSA) by fluorescence spectroscopy and circular dichroism techniques, and the effect of this interaction on its antioxidant activity as a hydroxyl radical scavenger. In addition, coumestrol antioxidant capacity profile using different assays (DPPH, ORAC-FL and ORAC-EPR) was studied. To explain its reactivity we used several methodologies, including DFT calculations, to define its antioxidant mechanism. Coumestrol antioxidant activity unveiled interesting antioxidant properties. BSA interaction with coumestrol reduces significantly photolytic degradation in several media thus preserving its antioxidant properties. Results suggest no significant changes in BSA structure and activity when interacting with coumestrol. Furthermore, this interaction is stronger than for other phytoestrogens such as daidzein and genistein. Considering our promising results, we reported for the first time the fabrication and characterization of coumestrol-loaded albumin nanoparticles. The resulting spherical and homogeneous nanoparticles showed a diameter close to 96 nm. The coumestrol incorporation efficiency in BSA NPs was 22.4%, which is equivalent to 3 molecules of coumestrol for every 10 molecules of BSA.

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Several beneficial effects on the skin have been reported for coumestrol (COU), such as protection against photoaging and improvement of skin elasticity and thickness in postmenopausal women. However no reports on the effect of COU on wound healing were found. Nevertheless, COU has low aqueous solubility, which is a crucial limitation for biological tests. The present study was designed as a two-step experiment to evaluate the wound healing effect of COU. First, we used fibroblasts and the experimental in vitro artificial wound model, scratch assay, to compare the effects of COU free, dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) or Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM), or associated with hydroxypropyl-ß-cyclodextrin (HPßCD). The 50 µM (66.1%) and 10 µM (56.3%) COU/HPßCD association induced cell proliferation and migration in inflicted wounds. Subsequently, the in vivo wound healing experimental model (Wistar rats) revealed that COU/HPßCD incorporated into hypromellose (HPMC) hydrogel had similar efficacy in wound healing in comparison to the positive control (Dersani®), with the advantage that 50% wound healing was achieved within a shorter period. In summary, the results successfully demonstrated, for the first time, the wound healing effect of COU/HPßCD incorporated into HPMC hydrogel and describe the feasibility of the biological tests with the use of HPßCD instead DMSO.

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We have recently shown that coumestrol, an isoflavonoid-like compound naturally occurring in soybeans, alfafa, and red clover, inhibited Herpes Simplex Virus types 1 (HSV-1) and 2 (HSV-2) replication. In this study, we designed coumestrol formulations in an attempt to enable its topical delivery to mucosa tissues. Physicochemical and microscopic examinations suggested that coumestrol was efficiently incorporated in positively-charged nanoemulsions dispersed in a hydroxyethylcellulose gel. The higher coumestrol flux through excised porcine esophageal mucosa was detected from nanoemulsions composed by a fluid phospholipid (dioleylphosphocholine, DOPC) in comparison with that of a rigid one (distearoylphosphocholine, DSPC) in two mucosa conditions (intact and injured). Such results were supported by confocal fluorescence images. Furthermore, the low IC50 values demonstrated an increasement in the antiviral inhibition against HSV-1 and HSV-2 after incorporation of coumestrol into nanoemulsions containing DOPC. Overall, coumestrol-loaded nanoemulsions proved to be beneficial for herpes simplex treatment.

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Una de las estrategias alternativas utilizadas para encontrar nuevas moléculas bioactivas es investigar otros organismos que habitan en los biotopos, y se presta especial atención a las interacciones ambientales entre sí y las plantas que podrían producir aún una mayor cantidad de metabolitos secundarios. Dentro de estos microorganismos, los endófitos son considerados una importante fuente de nuevos metabolitos secundarios de explotación potencial para usos médicos, agrícolas o por otras áreas industriales. En este trabajo la investigación se centró en la búsqueda de compuestos bioactivos de Erythrina crista-galli infectada con un hongo endofítico. Se recolectaron muestras de E. crista-galli de los alrededores de la Provincia de Buenos Aires y de todas estas muestras se aisló e identificó al endófito como perteneciente al género Phomopsis. Se estudiaron las actividades antimicrobiana y antiinflamatoria de los extractos de E. crista-galli relacionadas con algunos de sus usos tradicionales. El extracto acetónico de las ramas jóvenes presentó actividad antibacteriana sobre Bacillus brevis y B. subtilis y antiinflamatoria in vivo (en edema de oreja de ratón) e in vitro (en macrófagos activados por lipopolisacáridos). Del extracto acetónico con actividad antimicrobiana se aislaron e identificaron dos compuestos, daidzeína y coumestrol, y se identificó genisteína por cromatografía contra testigos. La concentración inhibitoria mínima de daidzeína, coumestrol y genisteína frente a B. brevis fue de 137,81, 16,33 y 64,81 µM, respectivamente. En el extracto acetónico con actividad antiinflamatoria se identificaron, por cromatografía contra testigos, daidzeína, genisteína, coumestrol, biochanina A y formononetina. Genisteína, coumestrol y biochanina A presentaron una dosis efectiva 50, de 0,14, 0,54 y 0.75 µg/ml, respectivamente, en el modelo de edema en oreja de ratón. Para evaluar la influencia del endófito en el metabolismo secundario de E. crista-galli se obtuvieron plantines de cultivo. No se pudieron obtener plantines libres de hongo con los tratamientos aplicados. Se sobreinfectó un lote de plantines con Phomopsis sp. y se cuantificó su contenido de coumestrol (0,04 %) y daidzeína (0,05 %) en comparación con el de un grupo control (0,01 % y 0,02 %, respectivamente). Del extracto acetónico de los plantines sobreinfectados se aisló e identificó un glicósido de isorhamnetina. (AU)

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Coumestrol is present in several species of the Fabaceae family widely distributed in plants. The estrogenic and antioxidant activities of this molecule show its potential as skin anti-aging agent. These characteristics reveal the interest in developing analytical methodology for permeation studies, as well as to know the stability of coumestrol identifying the major degradation products. Thus, the present study was designed, first, to develop and validate a versatile liquid chromatography (HPLC) method to quantify coumestrol in a hydrogel formulation in different porcine skin layers (stratum corneum, epidermis, and dermis) in permeation tests. In the stability-indicating test coumestrol samples were exposed to stress conditions: temperature, UVC light, oxidative, acid and alkaline media. The degradation products, as well as the constituents extracted from the hydrogel, adhesive tape or skin were not eluted in the retention time of the coumestrol. Hence, the HPLC method showed to be versatile, specific, accurate, precise and robust showing excellent performance for quantifying coumestrol in complex matrices involving skin permeation studies. Coumestrol recovery from porcine ear skin was found to be in the range of 97.07-107.28 µg/mL; the intra-day precision (repeatability) and intermediate precision (inter-day precision), respectively lower than 4.71% and 2.09%. The analysis using ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled to a quadrupole time-of-flight high definition mass spectrometry detector (UPLC-QTOF/HDMS) suggest the MS fragmentation patterns and the chemical structure of the main degradation products. These results represent new and relevant findings for the development of coumestrol pharmaceutical and cosmetic products.

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Phytoestrogens have generated interest in human health in view of their potential effect to reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases. Serum levels of phytoestrogens have been proposed as an alternative to measure the exposure of phytoestrogens. We evaluated the use of serum as a biomarker of phytoestrogen's intake in healthy women. Phytoestrogens in serum (luteolin, kaempferol, equol, biochanin A, formononetin, quercetin, naringenin, coumestrol, secoisolariciresinol, genistein, matairesinol, enterolactone, enterodiol, daidzein, glycitein and resveratrol) were analyzed by HPLC-ESI-MS. Subjects were asked to recall all foods and beverages consumed the previous 24 h. Association of dietary intake and serum concentrations was performed by Spearman correlation. Correlations were found for naringenin (r = 0.47, p < 0.001), luteolin (r = 0.4 p < 0.001), genistein (r = 0.32, p < 0.01) enterolactone (r = 0.35, p = 0.0553), coumestrol (r = 0.26, p = 0.0835) and resveratrol (r = 0.29, p = 0.0517). Serum levels as biomarkers of intake along with a 24-h recall would be useful in order to investigate the relationship between phytoestrogens and health.

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Hypocotyls/roots of four (anthracnose-resistant: ICA Quimbaya and CORPOICA 106; anthracnose-susceptible: Cargamanto Rojo and Cargamanto Mocho) common bean cultivars treated with salicylic acid (SA) as elicitor, were analyzed to determine the capacity for synthesizing defense-related isoflavonoids. Time-course and dose-response studies indicated that the maximum levels of isoflavonoids, occurred at 1.45 mM SA and between 96 and 144 h post-induction. Overall, anthracnose-resistant cultivars produced the defense-related isoflavonoids to superior amounts than the susceptible ones. Additionally, crude isoflavonoid extracts from SA-treated tissues cvs. ICA Quimbaya and Cargamanto Rojo displayed higher inhibitory effect against C. lindemuthianum than those from water-treated tissues. A comparison of the isoflavonoid-eliciting activity of a series of structurally-related compounds to SA revealed that isoflavonoid production may be differentially controlled. Acetyl-salicylic acid showed the best isoflavonoid-inducing effect. Results might be useful for crop protection programs through the selecting of common bean cultivars with better prospects of disease resistance, and the development of better isoflavonoid-eliciting agents.

Los hipocótilos/raíces de cuatro variedades de poroto (resistente a antracnosis: ICA Quimbaya y CORPOICA 106; susceptible a antracnosis: Cargamanto Rojo y Cargamanto Mocho) tratados con ácido salicílico (AS) como elicitor, se analizaron para determinar la capacidad para sintetizar isoflavonoides relacionados con la defensa. Los estudios en el curso del tiempo y dosis-respuesta indicaron que los niveles máximos de isoflavonoides, ocurrieron a una concentración de AS de 1.45 mM y entre 96 y 144 h post-inducción. En general, las variedades resistentes a la antracnosis produjeron los isoflavonoides relacionados con la defensa en cantidades superiores en comparación con las variedades susceptibles. Adicionalmente, los extractos de isoflavonoides crudos provenientes de tejidos tratados con AS var. ICA Quimbaya y Cargamanto Rojo desplegaron un efecto inhibitorio contra C. lindemuthianum mayor que aquellos resultantes de tejidos tratados con agua. Una comparación de la actividad inductora de isoflavonoides de una serie de compuestos estructuralmente relacionados con el AS reveló que la producción de isoflavonoides puede ser controlada diferencialmente. El ácido acetilsalicílico mostró el mejor efecto inductor de isoflavonoides. Los resultados pueden ser útiles para los programas de protección a cultivos a través de la selección de variedades con mejores perspectivas de resistencia a enfermedades, y el desarrollo de mejores agentes elicitores de isoflavonoides.

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Dog overpopulation is a major health problem in developing countries due to the existence of some zoonotic diseases in which dogs act as reservoirs, besides the aggressive events to humans. Distribution, behavior patterns and combined methodologies are needed aspects in the design of successful dog population control programs. Coumestrol is a phytoestrogen which induces alterations in the reproductive male system, when bind to alpha and beta estrogen receptors acting as an agonist or antagonist fashion. Both receptor types also exist in central nerve regions governing sexual behavior of those animals such as the preoptic area, ventro medial nucleous, the amygdala and the olfactory bulb. In this study, 300 μg/kg coumestrol was orally administered to male dogs, once a week for a 4 week period. Dogs were freed for 5 min in a 9 m² area having a recipient containing vaginal discharges from estrous dog females and other similar vessel containing sterile saline solution. Smelling latency time for each recipient, smelling frequency and territory marking in response to stimulus, was recorded. At the end of the test, semen was collected and evaluated. A significative difference (P < 0.005) in smelling latency time and smelling frequency to the vaginal discharge was found; sperm count decreased from 518.4 ± 215.4 × 10(6) to 57.6 ± 50.4 × 10(6) at week 4 and the abnormal sperm morphology increased from 14.7 ± 3.3% at 0 week to 60.0 ± 20%. In conclusion, 300 μg/kg coumestrol given orally to male dogs for 4 weeks induces alterations in the olfactory behavior along with an oligo and teratospermic effect.

La sobrepoblación canina es un problema importante de salud pública debido a la transmisión de enfermedades zoonóticas y las agresiones hacia el humano. En el diseño de programas para controlar la población canina se requiere del conocimiento de su distribución, comportamiento y metodologías combinadas para tener éxito. El coumestrol es un fitoestrógeno que induce alteraciones en el aparato reproductor de los machos al unirse a los receptores estrogénicos alfa y beta, en donde actúa de manera dosis-dependiente como agonista o antagonista. Estos receptores también existen en las estructuras del sistema nervioso que regulan el comportamiento sexual, como la región preóptica, núcleo ventromedial, la amígdala y el bulbo olfatorio. En este estudio se administró coumestrol (300 μg/kg) por vía oral a perros machos, una vez por semana durante cuatro semanas; los perros se colocaron durante cinco minutos en un área aislada de 9 m² en donde se colocó un frasco conteniendo secreciones vaginales obtenidas de perras en estro y otro con solución salina estéril. Se registró el tiempo de latencia de los perros para olfatear cada frasco, su frecuencia de respuesta y la frecuencia con que se presentó conducta de marcaje en respuesta al estímulo. Una vez concluido el experimento, se obtuvo semen y se evaluó. Se encontró diferencia significativa (P < 0.005) en el periodo de latencia y frecuencia con la que el macho se acercó a oler las secreciones vaginales y el conteo espermático disminuyó de 518.4 ± 215.4 × 10(6) al inicio del estudio a 57.6 ± 50.4 × 10(6) en la semana cuatro y el porcentaje de anormalidades espermáticas aumentó de 14.7 ± 3.3 puntos en la semana 0 a 60.0 ± 20.0% en la semana cuatro. Se concluye que el tratamiento de perros con coumestrol durante cuatro semanas ocasiona alteraciones en la conducta de exploración olfatoria y tiene un efecto oligospérmico y teratospérmico.