Ricerc@Sapienza

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is an endogenously produced signaling molecule. The enzymes 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase (MST), partly localized in mitochondria, and the inner mitochondrial membrane-associated sulfide:quinone oxidoreductase (SQR), besides being respectively involved in the synthesis and catabolism of H2S, generate sulfane sulfur species such as persulfides and polysulfides, currently recognized as mediating some of the H2S biological effects. Reprogramming of H2S metabolism was reported to support cellular proliferation and energy metabolism in cancer cells.

In the last decade thiotaurine, 2-aminoethane thiosulfonate, has been investigated as an inflammatory modulating agent as a result of its ability to release hydrogen sulfide (H2S) known to play regulatory roles in inflammation. Thiotaurine can be included in the "taurine family" due to structural similarity to taurine and hypotaurine, and is characterized by the presence of a sulfane sulfur moiety.

Pasta, a key product in both the Italian tradition and consumption habits, is a food spread worldwide due to its nutritional and organoleptic characteristics. Pasta has been widely studied for its chemical and biological features and, from an economic point of view, to evaluate its impact on market and on consumers choice. Safety and quality of pasta depend on both the raw materials and the manufacturing process used. To define a “total quality” of pasta product, studies on objective parameters, experimental measurable, are necessary to direct the consumer to make a more informed choice.

We synthesized and determined the antioxidant activity and distribution of a new cyanothiophene-based compound, N-(3-cyano-4,5,6,7-tetrahydrobenzo[b]thiophen-2-yl)-3,5-dihydroxybenzamide (SIM-53B), in intact stripped olive oil-in-water emulsion. The in vitro antioxidant properties of SIM-53B were evaluated and compared to those for Trolox and resveratrol.

Flavonols are the most widely distributed class of dietary flavonoids with a wide range of pharmacological properties due to their potent lipid peroxidation inhibition activity. The permeability and orientation of these compounds in lipid bilayers can provide an understanding of their antioxidant and lipid-peroxidation inhibition activity based on their structures at the molecular level.

High-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is a protein that is part of a larger family of non-histone nuclear proteins. HMGB1 is a ubiquitary protein with different isoforms, linked to numerous physiological and pathological pathways. HMGB1 is involved in cytokine and chemokine release, leukocyte activation and migration, tumorigenesis, neoangiogenesis, and the activation of several inflammatory pathways.

Caffeine (CAF) is present in many consumer products as coffee, tea, chocolate, soft and energy drinks, resulting the most widely consumed psychoactive substance in human dietary. Many of its physiological effects are well known. Recently, antioxidant properties have been suggested for CAF that seems showing protective effects against oxidative stress (OS).Inert to hydrogen (H)/electron (E) scavengers as ABTS·+ and DPPH, CAF has been proposed as an excellent HO· scavenger.

Coffee wastes and by-products from coffee industry are a source of contamination and a serious environmental problem, being mainly unutilized, discharged to the environment or burned. This promoted the interest of researchers in the characterization of wastes and by-products as coffee silverskin (CS, the tegument covering the coffee beans) to evaluate the possibility of reusing them.

The maintenance of redox homeostasis in the brain is critical for the prevention of the development of neurodegenerative diseases. Drugs acting on brain redox balance can be promising for the treatment of neurodegeneration. For more than four decades, dimethyl fumarate (DMF) and other derivatives of fumaric acid ester compounds have been shown to mitigate a number of pathological mechanisms associated with psoriasis and relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS).

Oxidative stress may be the major cause of induction of Shiga toxin-converting (Stx) prophages from chromosomes of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) in human intestine. Thus, we aimed to test a series of novel antioxidant compounds for their activities against prophage induction, thus, preventing pathogenicity of STEC. Forty-six compounds (derivatives of carbazole, indazole, triazole, quinolone, ninhydrine, and indenoindole) were tested. Fifteen of them gave promising results and were further characterized.