University of Palermo, Italy
Figura 1. Misura della larghezza (A) e della lunghezza (B) (in mm) delle cariossidi dei frumenti Sant’Agata (giallo), Simeto (arancio), Duilio (verde).
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dimensioni dei parametri macroscopici, come si evidenzia nella Figura 1, sono inferiori a tutti gli altri campioni testati. Le dimensioni volumetriche ridotte e coartate dell’endosperma (Figura 2B) fanno presupporre che il
suddetto campione abbia subito uno stress da temperatura in fine stagio- ne o una conservazione anomala. Il campione SA1(Figura 2A) invece pre-
senta le cariossidi più omogenee fra loro, mentre presenta lo strato aleu- ronico iperplasico (Figura 2A) in contrasto con quello della normale mor- fologia descritto in letteratura. Un’ipotesi è che tale campione abbia subi- to uno stress da temperatura in un momento precoce di crescita e che abbia poi innescato successivamente un parziale recupero realizzando una iperplasia delle cellule aleuroniche in maniera di aumentare la pro- duzione di amido primaria e compensare il gap di crescita iniziale.
Conclusioni
Questo studio preliminare ci ha permesso di caratterizzare morfolo- gicamente i campioni di grano duro fornitoci e ci ha consentito di indi- viduare il campione più performante dal punto di vista morfologico e ultrastrutturale che è risultato essere il grano duro della cultivar
Sant’Agata. La tecnica utilizzata in questo lavoro (microscopia elettro-
nica a scansione) può rappresentare un valido supporto per caratteriz- zare campioni biologici con struttura definita e parametrizzabile, in questo caso grano duro, da destinare a ulteriori indagini di natura ana- litico- funzionale.
Figura 2. Campioni SA1(A) cultivar Sant’Agata produzione del
2010 e DU2(B) cultivar Duilio produzione del 2011.
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Journal of Biological Research 2015; volume 88:5161
Recently, a great deal of interest has been developed to isolate novel bioactive compounds from marine resources because of their numer- ous health beneficial effects. Among marine resources, algae are valu- able sources of structurally diverse bioactive compounds. The cell walls of algae are rich in polysaccharides, some of which sulphated (SPs) such as fucoidans in brown algae, carrageenans and agar in red algae and ulvans in green algae. These SPs exhibit many beneficial biologi- cal properties such as anticoagulant, antiviral, antioxidative, anti- cancer and immunomodulating activities. Therefore, they have great potential for further development as products in nutraceutical, phar- maceutical and cosmetics areas.1
Biological activities of SPs depend on chemical structure, molecular weight and chain conformations. The fucoidans are polysaccharides containing relevant percentages of L-fucose and sulfate ester groups2
(Figure 1).
Fucoidans display several physiochemical and biological features of potential interest for food, pharmaceutical, agricultural and chemical applications.3
Among the properties of algal polysaccharides, the anticoagulant activity of collecting so much scientific interest in this direction are being conducted extensive research. Fucans have activities similar to those of heparin, a drug for excellence with anticoagulant action.4
In the veterinary field, one of the diseases that can affect the species
Equus caballus the most severe and debilitating, it is certainly laminitis,
an inflammation of the laminae of the foot. The affection of the foot is only a local manifestation of a systemic metabolic disorder that affects the cardiovascular apparatus, endocrine system and urinary tract, blood clotting and the acid-base balance. It is believed that the basis of the decrease in capillary blood flow and ischemic necrosis jobs are dynamic vessels mangled and bleeding disorders.5To this between the various
drugs is used heparin, for its anticoagulant action.
In recent years fucoidans have been investigated to develop novel drugs.
In this study was evaluated the toxicity of algal extracts from brown algae Undaria pinnatifida. The polysaccharides extracts were tested on equine red blood cells to evaluate potential haemolytic effects on cell membranes. Undaria pinnatifida samples were collected in the lagoon of Venice in May of 2011, the component epiphytic clean, dried in the sun for several days and finally crushed. The sample was treated with 100% ethanol and placed in an oven at 70°C for one hour, it was cen- trifuged at 4000 rpm for 10 minutes and treated with 100% acetone to obtain a complete depigmentation. Then the material was centrifuged at 4000 rpm for 10 minutes at room temperature.
The pellet (dispersed in distilled water) was placed in an oven at 70°C for 24 hours to allow the passage of the polysaccharides in solu- tion. The solution was centrifuged at 4000 rpm for one hour at room temperature. The supernatant was mixed with ethanol 96% with a ratio V/V (volume of sample equal to the volume of ethanol). The pre- cipitate, consisting of the crude polysaccharides, has been exposed to complete dehydration at room temperature and then pulverized by the use of a pestle.
Equine blood samples were collected from five healthy donators, were drawn into syringes filled with sodium citrate as an anticoagulant. The algal extracts was dissolved in a buffer, a saline solution at pH 7.4 with the following composition (mM): 125 NaCl, 5 KCl, 1 MgSO4, 32 4-(2-
hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazineethanesulfonic acid (HEPES), 5 D- (+)-glu- cose, 1 CaCl2; pH 7.4. Algal extracts was tested at two different concen-
trations 10μg/ml and 20μg/ml. In all studies, using horse red blood cells, control experiments were carried out without extract. We were evaluat- ed the toxicity of algal extracts through two tests: Trypan blue test and hemolysis test. In order to evaluate the toxicity of each sample i) by Trypan blue test, the cells were counted in Burker’s chamber and the
Correspondence: Maria Pagano, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, viale Fernando Stagno d'Alcontres 31, 98166 Messina, Italy.
E-mail: [email protected]
©Copyright M. Pagano et al., 2015 Licensee PAGEPress, Italy
Journal of Biological Research 2015; 88:5161
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