Effects of a dietary supplement on chronic pelvic pain syndrome (Category IIIA), leucocytospermia and semen parameters.

Chronic prostatitis (CP) is one of the most common male urogenital diseases and a significant public health problem in industrialised countries. It is associated with a low quality of life and significant expense. Given the poor results achieved with antibiotics, scientific interest has turned to the use of natural substances with a known activity on prostate function. The aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of a new dietary supplement containing lycopene, epigallocatechin gallate, ellagic acid, selenium and zinc on semen parameters and on leucocyte concentration in seminal fluid and expressed prostate secretion (EPS) in patients with CP without infection [National Institute of Health (NIH) Category IIIA], in comparison with a control group with the same condition who did not undergo any treatment during the study period. Our data showed a statistically significant reduction in inflammatory parameters (leucocytes in seminal fluid and EPS) and a statistically significant improvement in progressive sperm motility and sperm morphology in patients treated with the supplement in comparison with the untreated group. Improvements were also seen in the pain score of the NIH-Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index (CPSI), confirming that the reduced inflammation also resulted in a reduction in pain.

Cholinergic cells in the nucleus basalis of mice express the N-methyl-D-aspartate-receptor subunit NR2C and its replacement by the NR2B subunit enhances frontal and amygdaloid acetylcholine levels.

It is known that glutamatergic and cholinergic systems interact functionally at the level of the cholinergic basal forebrain. The N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDA-R) is a multiprotein complex composed of NR1, NR2 and/or NR3 subunits. The subunit composition of NMDA-R of cholinergic cells in the nucleus basalis has not yet been investigated. Here, by means of choline acetyl transferase and NR2B or NR2C double staining, we demonstrate that mice express both the NR2C and NR2B subunits in nucleus basalis cholinergic cells. We generated NR2C-2B mutant mice in which an insertion of NR2B cDNA into the gene locus of the NR2C gene replaced NR2C by NR2B expression throughout the brain. This NR2C-2B mutant was used to examine whether a subunit exchange in cholinergic neurons would affect acetylcholine (ACh) content in several brain structures. We found increased ACh levels in the frontal cortex and amygdala in the brains of NR2C-2B mutant mice. Brain ACh has been implicated in neuroplasticity, novelty-induced arousal and encoding of novel stimuli. We therefore assessed behavioral habituation to novel environments and objects as well as object recognition in NR2C-2B subunit exchange mice. The behavioral analysis did not indicate any gross behavioral alteration in the mutant mice compared with the wildtype mice. Our results show that the NR2C by NR2B subunit exchange in mice affects ACh content in two target areas of the nucleus basalis.

Biodegradation of hydroxylated and methoxylated benzoic, phenylacetic and phenylpropenoic acids present in olive mill wastewaters by two bacterial strains.

Two aerobic bacterial strains, a chlorophenol-degrading bacterium characterized in this work as a Ralstonia sp. LD35 on the basis of the sequence of the gene encoding for 16S ribosomal RNA, and Pseudomonas putida DSM 1868, capable of metabolizing 4-methoxybenzoic acid, were tested for their capacity to degrade monocyclic aromatic acids responsible for the toxicity of olive mill wastewaters (OMWs). Both strains possess interesting and complementary degradation capabilities in resting cell conditions: Ralstonia sp. LD35 was found to metabolize 4-hydroxybenzoic, 4-hydroxyphenylacetic, 3,4-dihydroxycinnamic and cinnamic acid, whereas DSM 1868 was capable of metabolizing 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzoic, 3,4-dimethoxybenzoic and 4-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxybenzoic acid, as well as 4-hydroxybenzoic and 4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid. The kinetic parameters describing the growth of the two strains on the same compounds were determined in growing-cell batch conditions, and showed that both strains presented high affinity and high specific growth rates towards all assayed substrates. In addition, the two strains were capable of growing on and extensively biodegrading a mixture of monocyclic aromatic acids commonly found at high concentrations in OMWs, and of growing on a 20% dilution of a natural OMW. All these features make the two strains attractive candidates for the development of a biotechnological process for the biodegradation of aromatic compounds found in OMWs.

Influence of organic and inorganic growth supplements on the aerobic biodegradation of chlorobenzoic acids.

The effect of yeast extract and its less complex substituents on the rate of aerobic dechlorination of 2-chlorobenzoic acid (2-ClBZOH) and 2,5-dichlorobenzoic acid (2,5-Cl2BZOH) by Pseudomonas sp. CPE2 strain, and of 3-chlorobenzoic acid (3-ClBZOH), 4-chlorobenzoic acid (4-ClBZOH) and 3,4-dichlorobenzoic acid (3,4-Cl2BZOH) by Alcaligenes sp. CPE3 strain were investigated. Yeast extract at 50 mg/l increased the average dechlorination rate of 200 mg/l of 4-ClBZOH, 2,5-Cl2BZOH, 3,4-Cl2BZOH, 3-ClBZOH and 2-ClBZOH by about 75%, 70%, 55%, 7%, and 1%, respectively. However, in the presence of yeast extract the specific dechlorination activity of CPE2 and CPE3 cells (per unit biomass) was always lower than without yeast extract, although it increased significantly during the exponential growth phase. When a mixed vitamin solution or a mixed trace element solution was used instead of yeast extract the rate of 4-ClBZOH dechlorination increased by 30%-35%, whereas the rate of 2,5-Cl2BZOH and 3,4-Cl2BZOH dechlorination increased by only 2%-10%. The presence of vitamins or trace elements also resulted in a specific dechlorination activity that was generally higher than that observed for the same cells grown solely on chlorobenzoic acid. The results of this work indicate that yeast extract, a complex mixture of readily oxidizable carbon sources, vitamins, and trace elements, enhances the growth and the dechlorination activity of CPE2 and CPE3 cells, thus resulting in an overall increase in the rate of chlorobenzoic acid utilization and dechlorination.