Highly Valuable Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids from Microalgae: Strategies to Improve Their Yields and Their Potential Exploitation in Aquaculture

Microalgae have a great potential for the production of healthy food and feed supplements. Their ability to convert carbon into high-value compounds and to be cultured in large scale without interfering with crop cultivation makes these photosynthetic microorganisms promising for the sustainable production of lipids. In particular, microalgae represent an alternative source of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), whose consumption is related to various health benefits for humans and animals. In recent years, several strategies to improve PUFAs’ production in microalgae have been investigated. Such strategies include selecting the best performing species and strains and the optimization of culturing conditions, with special emphasis on the different cultivation systems and the effect of different abiotic factors on PUFAs’ accumulation in microalgae. Moreover, developments and results obtained through the most modern genetic and metabolic engineering techniques are described, focusing on the strategies that lead to an increased lipid production or an altered PUFAs’ profile. Additionally, we provide an overview of biotechnological applications of PUFAs derived from microalgae as safe and sustainable organisms, such as aquafeed and food ingredients, and of the main techniques (and their related issues) for PUFAs’ extraction and purification from microalgal biomass.     

A NMR, X-ray, and DFT combined study on the regio-chemistry of nucleophilic addition to platinum(II) coordinated terminal olefins

The series of platinum complexes [PtCl(η²-CH₂CH-C₆H₄-X)(tmeda)](ClO₄) (X = H, 1b; 4-OMe, 1c; 3-OMe, 1d; 4-CF₃, 1e; 3-CF₃, 1f; 3-NO₂, 1g; tmeda = N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyl-1,2-ethanediamine) has been considered. In the styrene complex (1b) both solution (NMR) and solid state (X-ray) data indicate a significant difference in the Pt-C bond lengths (the longer bond being that involving the olefin carbon atom carrying the phenyl ring). Such a difference increases when X is an electron donor group (EDG, 1c) and decreases when X is an electron withdrawing group (EWG, 1d-g). The attack of a nucleophile (MeO⁻) to the substituted carbon (Markovnikov type, M) is by far the most favoured in the case of unsubstituted (1b) or EDG-substituted (1c) styrenes. The presence of an EWG (compounds 1d-g) levels off the probability of M and anti-M type of attack. DFT calculations on 1b,c and 1e were also performed. The NLMO analysis reveals the crucial role of the interaction between the filled π orbital of the olefin and the empty d orbital of platinum; the carbon with greater electron density becoming less susceptible of nucleophilic attack.     

Monitoring of V(IV) and V(V) in Etnean drinking-water distribution systems by solid phase extraction and electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

Monitoring activities carried out since 1994 showed the presence of significant levels of vanadium in drinking waters delivered in a lot of Etnean towns. The highest vanadium concentration was found in ground waters collected in the drainage gallery Ciapparazzo located on the Northwestern flank of Mt. Etna in Bronte's area (Catania, Italy). This drainage gallery, with a flow rate of near 500 l s^− 1, is an important water source for several towns of the Etnean province. On account of different toxicological behaviours of V(IV) and V(V), which are the only possible oxidation states in aqueous media, a research project was set up to evaluate the ratio between their concentrations before and after disinfection treatments (chlorination or UV irradiation). Data were acquired in the most representative sites of the drainage gallery and the distribution network to evaluate the effect of residence times and disinfection treatments on possible species interconversion. The average total concentration of vanadium was 165 μg l^− 1. Speciation analyses performed by solid phase extraction of both species followed by furnace atomic absorption spectrometric determination of V(IV) eluates revealed that the latter was the predominant species (90-100%) in untreated waters. Moreover, among the two disinfecting treatments applied by the water supplier, only sodium hypochlorite altered the species ratio and determined an instant increase of near 20% in V(V) relative concentration. No significant effect was observed as residence time varied in the drainage gallery or in the distribution systems. Other physico-chemical and chemical parameters (i.e. pH, E_H, water temperature, electrical conductance, dissolved oxygen as well as major and minor inorganic cations and anions) were determined in the collected water samples to evaluate if they are proper or not for interconversion of the two V species. Redox potential of the water was also correlated to the percentage of V(IV).     

Crystal-driven distortion of ligands in copper coordination complexes: conformational pseudo-enantiomers

The ligand in [Cu(6)CH3CN]-(ClO4)2 adopts two conformations that may be described as "pseudo-enantiomers" in that they possess approximately mirror-image molecular helicity, although they differ in the orientation of a single methyl substituent. The two conformations differ in energy as judged by analogy to other compounds studied previously, computation of the relative free energies of formation of the isomers, and measurement of solution circular dichroism spectra. The solid-state structures of both single enantiomer and racemic forms of the complex were determined by X-ray crystallography. In the chiral complex, a quasi-racemate was observed with both pseudo-enantiomeric conformers present in the asymmetric unit. Packing forces induce a higher energy conformation in order to achieve higher apparent symmetry in the solid state. In contrast, the racemic complex only displayed a single conformation corresponding to the lower energy one of the two observed in the single enantiomer structure.     

Credit Risk in an Economy with New Firms Arrivals

We propose a dynamic model to analyze the credit quality of firms. In the market in which they operate, the firms are divided into a finite number of classes representing their credit status. The cardinality of the population can increase, since new firms can enter the market and the partition is supposed to change over time, due to defaults and changes in credit quality, following a class of Markov processes. Some conditional probabilities related to default times are investigated and the role of occupation numbers is highlighted in this context. In a partial information setting at discrete time, we present a particle filtering technique to numerically compute by simulation the conditional distribution of the number of firms in the credit classes, given the information up to time t.     

Study of Neuroprotection by a Combination of the Biological Antioxidant (Eucalyptus Extract) and the Antihypertensive Drug Candesartan against Chronic Cerebral Ischemia in Rats

Chronic cerebral ischemia with a notable long-term cessation of blood supply to the brain tissues leads to sensorimotor defects and short- and long-term memory problems. Neuroprotective agents are used in an attempt to save ischemic neurons from necrosis and apoptosis, such as the antioxidant agent Eucalyptus. Numerous studies have demonstrated the involvement of the renin-angiotensin system in the initiation and progression of cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. Candesartan is a drug that acts as an angiotensin II receptor 1 blocker. We established a rat model exhibiting sensorimotor and cognitive impairments due to chronic cerebral ischemia induced by the ligation of the right common carotid artery. Wistar male rats were randomly divided into five groups: Sham group, Untreated Ligated group, Ischemic group treated with Eucalyptus (500 mg/kg), Ischemic group treated with Candesartan (0.5 mg/kg), and Ischemic group treated with a combination of Eucalyptus and Candesartan. To evaluate the sensorimotor disorders, we performed the beam balance test, the beam walking test, and the modified sticky test. Moreover, the object recognition test and the Morris water maze test were performed to assess the memory disorders of the rats. The infarct rat brain regions were subsequently stained using the triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining technique. The rats in the Sham group had normal sensorimotor and cognitive functions without the appearance of microscopic ischemic brain lesions. In parallel, the untreated Ischemic group showed severe impaired neurological functions with the presence of considerable brain infarctions. The treatment of the Ischemic group with a combination of both Eucalyptus and Candesartan was more efficient in improving the sensorimotor and cognitive deficits (p < 0.001) than the treatment with Eucalyptus or Candesartan alone (p < 0.05), by the comparison to the non-treated Ischemic group. Our study shows that the combination of Eucalyptus and Candesartan could decrease ischemic brain injury and improve neurological outcomes.     

Structural analysis of styrene oxide/haemoglobin adducts by mass spectrometry: identification of suitable biomarkers for human exposure evaluation

The structural characterisation of adducts formed by the in vitro reaction of haemoglobin (Hb) with styrene oxide (SO), the most reactive metabolite of the industrial reagent styrene, was obtained by liquid chromatography/electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (LC/ES-MS) analysis of modified tryptic peptides of human Hb chains. The reactive sites of human Hb towards SO were identified through characterisation of alkylated tryptic peptides by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation with tandem mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS/MS). A procedure was set up based on this characterisation, allowing Hb modification to be assessed by monitoring SO/Hb adducts using HPLC with selected ion recording (SIR) mass spectrometry. By this methodology it was also possible to compare advantages and disadvantages of presently available strategies for the measurement of Hb adducts with SO. The results obtained could most plausibly lead to the optimisation of molecular dosimetry of SO adducts, and the analytical procedure described herein could be applied to the biological monitoring of styrene exposure in the workplace.     

Dittrichia graveolens (L.) Greuter,a Rapidly Spreading Invasive Plant: Chemistry and Bioactivity

Dittrichia graveolens L. Greuter belonging to the Asteraceae family, is an aromatic herbaceous plant native to the Mediterranean region. This plant species has been extensively studied for its biological activities, including antioxidant, antitumor, antimicrobial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, anticholinesterase, and antityrosinase, and for its peculiar metabolic profile. In particular, bioactivities are related to terpenes and flavonoids metabolites, such as borneol (40), tomentosin (189), inuviscolide (204). However, D. graveolens is also well known for causing health problems both in animals and humans. Moreover, the species is currently undergoing a dramatic northward expansion of its native range related to climate change, now including North Europe, California, and Australia. This review represents an updated overview of the 52 literature papers published in Scopus and PubMed dealing with expansion, chemistry (262 different compounds), pharmacological effects, and toxicology of D. graveolens up to October 2021. The review is intended to boost further studies to determine the molecular pathways involved in the observed activities, bioavailability, and clinical studies to explore new potential applications.