RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Cuban sugarcane wax acids (SCWA) and policosanol (PCO) are mixtures of higher aliphatic acids and alcohols, respectively, purified from sugarcane wax with different chief components. Although it has been known that they have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, physiological properties on molecular mechanism of SCWA have been less studied than PCO. METHODS: In this study, we compared antiatherogenic activities of SCWA and PCO via encapsulation with reconstituted high-density lipoproteins (rHDL). RESULTS: After reconstitution, SCWA-rHDL showed smaller particle size than PCO-rHDL with increase of content. PCO-rHDL or SCWA-rHDL showed distinct inhibition of glycation with similar extent in the presence of fructose. PCO-rHDL or SCWA-rHDL showed strong antioxidant activity against cupric ion-mediated oxidation of low-density lipoproteins (LDL), and inhibition of oxLDL uptake into macrophages. Although PCO-rHDL showed 1.2-fold stronger inhibition against cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) activity than SCWA-rHDL, SCWA-rHDL enhanced 15% more brain cell (BV-2) growth and 23% more regeneration of tail fin in zebrafish. CONCLUSION: PCO and SCWA both enhance the beneficial functions of HDL to maximize its antioxidant, antiglycation, and antiatherosclerotic activities and the inhibition of CETP. These enhancements of HDL functionality by PCO and SCWA could exert antiaging and rejuvenation activity.
Assuntos
Ácidos/farmacologia , Anticolesterolemiantes/farmacologia , Proteínas de Transferência de Ésteres de Colesterol/antagonistas & inibidores , Álcoois Graxos/farmacologia , Lipoproteínas HDL/metabolismo , Lipoproteínas LDL/metabolismo , Macrófagos/efeitos dos fármacos , Extratos Vegetais/farmacologia , Saccharum/química , Ceras/química , Ácidos/isolamento & purificação , Nadadeiras de Animais/efeitos dos fármacos , Nadadeiras de Animais/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Animais , Anticolesterolemiantes/isolamento & purificação , Apoptose/efeitos dos fármacos , Proliferação de Células/efeitos dos fármacos , Proteínas de Transferência de Ésteres de Colesterol/metabolismo , Álcoois Graxos/isolamento & purificação , Humanos , Macrófagos/metabolismo , Masculino , Microglia/efeitos dos fármacos , Microglia/metabolismo , Microglia/patologia , Oxirredução , Extratos Vegetais/isolamento & purificação , Regeneração , Células THP-1 , Adulto Jovem , Peixe-Zebra/crescimento & desenvolvimentoRESUMO
The precursor compounds related to the bitterness of beer are called α-acids. These compounds are extracted from the hop, which is an important ingredient in the brewing process. These compounds were analyzed by capillary electrophoresis. The electrophoretic method used 160 mmol/L of ammonium carbonate (pH 9) as BGE (background electrolyte), a voltage of +20 kV in a capillary with 50 µm of internal diameter and with a 62.5 cm of total length (54 cm effective). The samples were injected in hydrodynamic mode applying a pressure of 25 mbar for 5 s and the analytes were detected at 230 nm. A hydromethanolic extraction during 3 h was considered as the optimum condition for the sample preparation using MeOH/H2 O 80:20 v/v as the extract solution. From the optimized conditions the electropherograms were evaluated for their use as input for chemometric modeling. Preprocessing investigation for electrophoretic data taking into account the alignment, denoising and baseline correction, and variable selection were considered before the chemometric modeling using principal component analysis (PCA). The electrophoretic data were systematically evaluated to find the optimum conditions to modeling. A PCA analysis for all tests was carried out using different preprocessing methods and, an explained variance higher than 90% was achieved in all of them. The optimized chemometric method worked with aligned and meancentered data. From this approach, a simple and efficient method to classify hop samples with high and low α-acids content without the use of analytical standards was established from a simple electrophoretic analysis.
Assuntos
Eletroforese Capilar/métodos , Humulus/química , Ácidos/análise , Ácidos/isolamento & purificação , Cerveja , Humulus/classificação , Extratos Vegetais/análise , Extratos Vegetais/química , Análise de Componente PrincipalRESUMO
The rehabilitation of a pond after approximately 20 years of strong acidified conditions due to industrial and domestic waste deposition in its catchment basin is reviewed. We describe in this study the acidification process that occurred in a tropical pond in Northeast Brazil (Dunas Lake), the rehabilitation plan for the pond and the subsequent monitoring conducted over two decades. After the contamination assessment by the late 80s, a rehabilitation plan was carried out in the early 90s, in which the contaminated soil and water have been removed and reduced, respectively. No further attempt to neutralize the water or any remediation has been carried out. A toxicity monitoring plan based on toxicity assays with the fish Poecilia reticulata was employed to verify the natural rehabilitation of the pond. The data on toxicity, pH, conductivity, sulphate and dissolved iron recorded from 1994 to 2010 were also compiled and discussed. The collected data in 2003 and 2004 indicated changes in water quality and from them complementary management actions, namely improvement in the containment plant, were conducted in 2005. Results for toxicity assays and pH results indicated interannual changes in the water quality similar to rainy-dry periods. Moving average approach using pH data clearly showed the recovery process of Dunas Lake as well as the importance of the containment plan to reduce the contamination. Finally, a summary of the recent situation after two decades of rehabilitation is provided.
Assuntos
Ácidos/análise , Monitoramento Ambiental , Recuperação e Remediação Ambiental/métodos , Lagos/análise , Poluentes Químicos da Água/análise , Ácidos/isolamento & purificação , Ácidos/toxicidade , Animais , Brasil , Monitoramento Ambiental/métodos , Solo/análise , Poluentes do Solo/análise , Poluentes do Solo/isolamento & purificação , Poluentes do Solo/toxicidade , Poluentes Químicos da Água/isolamento & purificação , Poluentes Químicos da Água/toxicidadeRESUMO
Headspace of batch minireactors was intermittently vented and gas flushed with N2 in order to enhance H2 production (PH) by anaerobic consortia degrading organic solid wastes. Type of inocula (meso and thermophilic), induction treatment (heat-shock pretreatment, HSP, and acetylene, Ac), and incubation temperature (37 and 55 degrees C) were studied by means of a factorial design. On average, it was found that mesophilic incubation had the most significant positive effect on PH followed by treatment with Ac, although the units with the best performance (high values of PH, initial hydrogen production rate, and short lag time) were those HSP-induced units incubated at 37 degrees C (type of inocula was not significant). In this way, after 720 h of incubation PH was inhibited in those units by H2 partial pressure (pH2) of 0.54 atm. Venting and gas flushing with N2 was efficient to eliminate that inhibition achieving additional hydrogen generation in subsequent incubation cycles although smaller than the first one. Thus, four cycles of PH were obtained from the same substrate with neither addition of inocula nor application of induction treatment obtaining an increment of 100% in the generated H2. In those subsequent cycles there was a positive correlation between PH and organic acids/solvent ratio; maximum values were found in the first cycle. Solventogenesis could be clearly distinguished in third and fourth production cycles, probably due to a metabolic shift originated by high organic acid concentrations.