Browsing by Subject "Carotenoids"
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- PublicationOpen AccessAmeliorative Effect of Spinach on Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Induced in Rats by a High-Fat Diet(MDPI, 2019-04-03) Periago-Castón, Mª Jesús; Elvira-Torales, Laura Inés; Navarro-González, Inmaculada; Pallarés, Francisco José; García-Alonso, Javier; Sevilla, Ángel; González-Barrio, Rocío; Santaella-Pascual, Marina; Tecnología de Alimentos, Nutrición y BromatologíaThe purpose of this work was to evaluate the effect of dietary carotenoids from spinach on the inflammation and oxidative stress biomarkers, liver lipid profile, and liver transcriptomic and metabolomics profiles in Sprague–Dawley rats with steatosis induced by a high-fat diet. Two concentrations of spinach powder (2.5 and 5%) were used in two types of diet: high-fat (H) and standard (N). Although rats fed diet H showed an accumulation of fat in hepatocytes, they did not show differences in the values of adiponectin, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF- ), and oxygen radical absorption (ORAC) in plasma or of isoprostanes in urine compared with animals fed diet N. The consumption of spinach and the accumulation of and carotenes and lutein in the liver was inversely correlated with serum total cholesterol and glucose and the content of hepatic cholesterol, increasing monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and reducing cholesterol in the livers of rats fed diet H and spinach. In addition, changes in the expression of genes related to the fatty liver condition occurred, and the expression of genes involved in the metabolism of fatty acids and cholesterol increased, mainly through the overexpression of peroxisome proliferator activated receptors (PPARs). Related to liver metabolites, animals fed with diet H showed hypoaminoacidemia, mainly for the glucogenic aminoacids. Although no changes were observed in inflammation and oxidative stress biomarkers, the consumption of spinach modulated the lipid metabolism in liver, which must be taken into consideration during the dietary treatment of steatosis.
- PublicationOpen AccessAnticancer properties of carotenoids in prostate cancer. A review(F. Hernández y Juan F. Madrid. Universidad de Murcia: Departamento de Biología Celular e Histología, 2015) da Costa Pereira Soares, Nathalia; Junger Teodoro, Anderson; Falagan Lotsch, Priscila; Mauro Granjeiro, José; Borojevic, RadovanProstate cancer is the most common noncutaneous cancer of men in the world. Several epidemiological studies have linked increased carotenoids consumption with decreased prostate cancer risk. These findings are supported by in vitro and in vivo experiments showing that carotenoids not only enhance the antioxidant response of prostate cells, but that they are able to inhibit proliferation, induce apoptosis and decrease the metastatic capacity of prostate cancer cells. However, clear clinical evidence supporting the use of carotenoids in prevention or treatment of prostate cancer is not available, due to the limited number of published randomized clinical trials, and the varying protocols used in the existing studies. The scope of the present review is to discuss the potential impact of carotenoids on prostate cancer by giving an overview of the molecular mechanisms and in vitro / in vivo effects.
- PublicationOpen AccessConsumption of spinach and tomato modifies lipid metabolism, reducing Hepatic Steatosis in rats(MDPI, 2020-10-24) Elvira Torales, Laura Inés; Navarro González, Inmaculada; Rodrigo García, Joaquín; García Alonso, Javier; Periago Castón, María Jesús; Seva Alcaraz, Juan; Anatomía y Anatomía Patológica ComparadasNon-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is currently a serious and growing clinical problem in developed and developing countries and is considered one of the most frequent chronic liver diseases in the world. The aim of this study was to evaluate the functionality of dietary carotenoids provided by tomato and spinach in the dietary treatment of steatosis. Twenty-two Sprague-Dawley rats with induced steatosis were grouped into three groups and fed standard diet (CD group) and two experimental diets supplemented with 12.75% (LC12.75 group) and 25.5% (HC25.5 group) of a mixture of spinach and tomato powder. Rats fed carotenoid-rich feeds showed an improvement in the plasma biomarkers of steatosis, with lower levels of glucose, total cholesterol, VLDL, TG, proteins, ALT and AST. Likewise, a decrease in oxidative stress was observed, with a significant reduction of malondialdehyde (MDA) in plasma (up to 54%), liver (up to 51.42%) and urine (up to 78.89%) (p < 0.05) and an increase in plasma antioxidant capacity (ORAC) (up to 73.41%) (p < 0.05). Furthermore, carotenoid-rich diets led to an accumulation of carotenoids in the liver and were inversely correlated with the content of total cholesterol and hepatic triglycerides, increasing the concentrations of MUFA and PUFA (up to 32.6% and 48%, respectively) (p < 0.05). The accumulation of carotenoids in the liver caused the modulation of genes involved in lipid metabolism, and we particularly observed an overexpression of ACOX1, APOA1 and NRIH2 (LXR) and the synthesis of the proteins. This study suggests that dietary carotenoids from spinach and tomato aid in the dietary management of steatosis by reversing steatosis biomarkers.
- PublicationOpen AccessEffect of diflufenican on total carotenoid and phytoene production in carrot suspension‑cultured cells(Springer, 2018-08-06) Fraser, Paul D.; Almagro Romero, Lorena; Miras Moreno, Begoña; Pedreño García, María Ángeles; Sabater Jara, Ana Belén; Biología VegetalThis work analyzes the efect of difufenican, an inhibitor of phytoene desaturase, on the gene expression profles of the biosynthetic pathway of carotenoids related with the production of these compounds in carrot cell cultures. The results showed that the presence of 10 µM difufenican in the culture medium increased phytoene levels, which was 493-fold higher than in control cells after 7 days of treatment but did not alter cell growth in carrot cell cultures. The maximal production of phytoene was reached with 10 µM difufenican after 7 days of incubation in the presence of light and with 30 g/L sucrose in the culture medium. Moreover, difufenican decreased the expression of phytoene synthase and phytoene desaturase genes at all the times studied. This difufenican-induced inhibition of phytoene desaturase gene expression in carrot cell cultures resulted in an increased production of phytoene. Our results provide new insights into the action of difufenican in carrot cell cultures, which could represent an alternative more sustainable and environmentally friendly system to produce phytoene than those currently used.
- PublicationRestrictedEnhanced accumulation of phytosterols and phenolic compounds incyclodextrin-elicited cell suspension culture of Daucus carota(Elsevier, 2016-06-15) Almagro Romero, Lorena; Miras Moreno, Begoña; Pedreño García, María Ángeles; Sabater Jara, Ana Belén; Biología VegetalInthis work, suspension-culturedcells of Daucus carota wereusedto evaluate the effect of -cyclodextrins on the production of isoprenoid and phenolic compounds. The results showed that the phytosterols and phenolic compounds were accumulated in the extracellular medium (15100 g L−1 and 477.46 g L−1, respectively) in the presence of cyclodextrins. Unlike the phytosterol and phenolic compound content, -carotene (1138.03 g L−1), lutein (25949.54 g L−1) and -tocopherol (8063.82 g L−1) chlorophyll a (1625.13 g L−1) and b (9.958 (9958.33 g L−1) were mainly accumulated inside the cells. Therefore, cyclodextrins were able to induce the cytosolic mevalonate pathway, increasing the biosynthesis of phytosterols and phenolic compounds, and accumulate them outside the cells. However, in the absence of these cyclic oligosaccharidic elicitors, carrot cells mainly accumulated carotenoids through the methylerythritol 4-phosphate pathway. Therefore, the use of cyclodextrins would allow the extracellular accumulation of both phytosterols andphenolic compounds bydiverting the carbonflux towards the cytosolicmevalonate/phenylpropanoid pathway.
- PublicationOpen AccessIn vitro colonic fermentation of orange peel fibres: effect on microbial modulation, SCFAs production and carotenoid degradation(Elsevier, 2025-02-12) Núñez Gómez, Vanesa; Gómez-Gallego, Carlos; Kolehmainen, Marjukka; González-Barrio, Rocío; Periago Castón, María Jesús; Tecnología de Alimentos, Nutrición y BromatologíaOrange peel by-products are valuable for their content of dietary fibre and bioactive compounds that offer health benefits, such as the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and modulation of gut microbiota. The aim of this study is to evaluate the prebiotic effect of three fibre-rich fractions of orange peel (orange peel extract, OP; insoluble fibre fraction, IFF; and water-soluble extract, WSE) by means of in vitro fermentation. Degradation of carotenoids during fermentation was examined to explore their interaction with the microbiota. The results indicate that in vitro fermentation of fibre-rich ingredients increased Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium populations. WSE, rich in bioactive compounds, increased Bifidobacterium by 2.5 times compared with the other fractions, and gave a 1.5-fold higher total SCFAs production and a noteworthy evolution of butyrate. Moreover, although carotenoids decreased during fermentation, they remained detectable at the end of the process, suggesting that they are not efficiently metabolized by microbiota and could persist in the colon for a longer period. These findings open up new avenues of research in the use of by-products to develop novel ingredients. In addition, future research should focus on investigating the behaviour of carotenoids during digestion, as well as their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and microbiota-modulating effects.
- PublicationOpen AccessInteraction between dietary fibre and bioactive compounds in plant by-products: impact on bioaccessibility and bioavailability(MDPI, 2023-04-21) Núñez-Gómez, Vanesa; Periago, María Jesús; González-Barrio, RocíoIn Europe, around 31 million tonnes of food by-products are generated during primary production and trade. The management of these by-products may cause a negative impact, both at the economic and environmental levels, for both industry and society. In this regard, taking into consideration that these by-products retain the dietary fibre compositions and the bioactive compounds of the starting materials, plant food agro-industries have an interest in taking advantage of them, from a nutritional point of view. Therefore, this review evaluates the role of dietary fibre and bioactive compounds in these by-products as well as the potential interactions of both components and their implications for health, since the bioactive compounds associated with fibre may reach the colon, where they can be metabolised into postbiotic compounds, providing important health benefits (prebiotic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, etc.). Consequently, this aspect, on which there are few studies, is very relevant and must be considered in the revaluation of by-products to obtain new ingredients for food processing with improved nutritional and technological properties.
- PublicationOpen AccessInvestigations on carotenoids in lichens XXVII. Carotenoids in lichens from north Africa and SE Spain(Murcia: Universidad de Murcia, Servicio de Publicaciones, 1990) Czeczuga, B.; Egea Fernández, José María; Facultad de BiologíaColumn and thin-layer chromatography revealed the presence of the following carotenoids in the thalli of 12 lichen species from the North Africa and SE Spain: a-carotene, p-carotene, a-cryptoxanthin, P-cryptoxanthin, lutein, 3'-epilutein, zeaxanthin, diatoxanthin, lycopene-5,6-epoxide, the first record from lichens, Pcarotene epoxide, lutein epoxide, antheraxanthin, violaxanthin, mutatoxanthin, neoxanthin, astaxanthin, O-apo10'-carotenal and apo- 12'violaxanthal. The total content of carotenoids ranged from 17,20 Ramalina hourgeana to 72,52 pg g-' dry weight Roccella canariensis.
- PublicationOpen AccessSpinach consumption ameliorates the gut microbiota and dislipaemia in rats with diet-induced non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)(Royal Society of Chemistry, 2019-03-18) Periago Castón, Mª Jesús; Elvira Torales, Laura Inés; González Barrio, Rocío; Hidalgo, Nieves; Navarro González, Inmaculada; Gómez Gallego, Carlos; Masurero, D; Soini, E; Vrhovsek, U.; García Alonso, Francisco Javier; Tecnología de Alimentos, Nutrición y BromatologíaNon-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is defined as the accumulation of fat in liver cells, which causes serious health consequences. Animal and human studies suggest that the gut microbiota plays a role in the pathogenesis of NAFLD. Here, we investigated whether spinach consumption could ameliorate highfat- diet-induced disturbances in certain intestinal bacterial groups and products derived from their metabolism, such as short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and microbial phenolic catabolites. Attention is also paid to blood lipids and glucose. In the study, a rat model of high-fat-diet-induced NAFLD was used. There were six experimental groups: NC (normal diet), NB (normal diet + 2.5% spinach), NA (normal diet + 5% spinach), HC (high-fat diet), HB (high-fat diet + 2.5% spinach) and HA (high-fat diet + 5% spinach). The rats consumed these diets for five weeks, and after that, they were sacrificed and plasma, urine, intestinal content, faeces and liver samples were taken. Biochemical parameters were analyzed in plasma, phenolic catabolites were quantified in the faeces, urine, plasma and liver by UPLC-ESI-MS/MS, and the analysis of the microbiota and SCFAs in the intestinal content was performed by qPCR and GLC. Consumption of a high-fat diet caused NAFLD and dislipaemia and altered the gut microbiota and the pattern of SCFAs and phenolic gut microbial catabolites. Supplementation with spinach partially ameliorated some alterations induced by the high-fat diet, in particular by increasing the Lactobacillus counts, reducing the fasting glucose and total and LDL-cholesterol and preventing excess liver cholesterol accumulation, thereby improving the values of the steatosis biomarkers.