Ricerc@Sapienza

Endothelial cells (EC) act as leading actors in angiogenesis. Understanding the complex network of signal transduction pathways which regulate angiogenesis might offer insights in the regulation of normal and pathological events, including tumours, vascular, inflammatory and immune diseases. The effects of olive oil and of Blueberry extracts upon the phosphoinositide (PI)-specific phospholipase C (PLC) enzymes were evaluated both in quiescent and inflammatory stimulated human umbilical vein EC (HUVEC) using molecular biology (multiliquid bioanalysis) and immunofluorescence techniques.

As known, color plays a dominant role in orienting consumer choices. Beyond the individual perception, color expressed by foodstuff is strictly associated to quality, genuineness, work-up and storage conditions and could be correlated with the presence of a characteristic chemical profile. This represents a matter of crucial importance in functional foods, where bioactive molecules are often intensely colored and in all foods whose composition change could undergo bleaching and browning processes.

The purpose of the present work was to find a correlation between microencapsulation technology applied to
wines and the resulting quality of the wine itself in terms of volatile composition and phenolic profile. To this
aim, samples of Nero d’Avola wines produced in Sicily (Italy) were investigated in order to: i) elucidate the
aromatic composition by means of HS–SPME coupled with GC–MS; ii) assess the polyphenolic content by UHPLC
mass spectrometry; iii) compare the results obtained from both the screenings with those relative to the same

Citrus fruits are often employed as ingredients for functional drinks. Among Citrus, the variety, "Lempso", a typical hybrid of the Calabria region (Southern Italy), has been reported to possess superior antioxidant activity when compared to other common Citrus varieties. For these reasons, the aim of this study is to investigate in vitro the nutraceutical value of the Tarocco clone, "Lempso", highlighting its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant potential.

In some varieties of citrus, exceptionally low fruit acidity is associated with absence of anthocyanin pigments in leaves and flowers and proanthocyanidins in seeds. Taking advantage of natural variation, Butelli et al. show that this pleiotropic phenotype is the result of mutations in a single gene, Noemi, encoding a bHLH transcription factor. In citrus, the production of anthocyanin pigments requires the activity of the transcriptional activator Ruby. Consequently, loss-of-function mutations in Ruby result in an anthocyaninless phenotype [1].