Impact of SMOFLipid on Pulmonary Alveolar Development in Newborn Guinea Pigs.

BACKGROUND: Parenteral nutrition (PN) is associated with bronchopulmonary dysplasia in premature infants. In animals, PN leads to alveolar loss following stimulation of apoptosis by oxidative stress (oxidized redox potential). Peroxides and aldehydes generated in PN can induce hypo-alveolarization. The implication of peroxides, which is reduced by light protection, is demonstrated. The implication of aldehydes from omega-6 fatty acids oxidation is expected. The hypothesis is that composition and light exposure of PN influences bronchopulmonary dysplasia development. Since SMOFLipid (SMOF) contains a lower amount of omega-6 fatty acids than Intralipid (IL), the aim was to compare, the impacts of PN compounded with SMOF or IL, photo-protected or not, on alveolar development. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three-day-old Guinea pigs received PN, photo-protected or not, made with SMOF or IL through a jugular vein catheter. After 4 days, lungs were sampled for determinations of redox potential of glutathione, apoptosis (caspase-3, caspase-8, and caspase-9) and alveolarization index (histology: number of intercepts/mm). RESULTS: Compared with IL, SMOF induces a greater oxidation of redox potential (-200 ± 1 versus [vs] -205 ± 1 mV), apoptosis (caspase-3: 0.27 ± 0.04 vs 0.16 ± 0.02; caspase-9: 0.47 ± 0.03 vs 0.30 ± 0.03), and a lower alveolarization index (27.2 ± 0.8 vs 30.0 ± 0.9). Photo-protection prevented activation of caspase-9 and was statistically without effect on redox potential, caspase-3, and alveolarization index. CONCLUSION: In our model, SMOF is pro-oxidant and induces hypo-alveolarization following exaggerated apoptosis. These results highlight the need for further studies before introducing SMOFLipid in standard neonatal care.

Contact allergy to essential oils cannot always be predicted from allergy to fragrance markers in the baseline series.

BACKGROUND: Essential oils are fragrance substances that are labelled on cosmetic products by their INCI names, potentially confusing consumers. OBJECTIVES: To establish whether contact allergy to essential oils might be missed if not specifically tested for. METHODS: We tested 471 patients with 14 essential oils and 2104 patients with Melaleuca alternifolia oil between January 2008 and June 2014. All patients were tested with fragrance mix I, fragrance mix II, hydroxyisohexyl 3-cyclohexene carboxaldehyde, and Myroxylon pereirae. Three hundred and twenty-six patients were tested with hydroperoxides of limonene and linalool. RESULTS: Thirty-four patients had a +/++/+++ reaction to at least one essential oil. Eleven had no reaction to any of the six marker fragrance substances. Thus, 4 of 11 positive reactions to M. alternifolia oil, 2 of 7 reactions to Cymbopogon flexuosus oil, 1 of 5 reactions to Cananga odorata oil, 3 of 4 reactions to Santalum album oil and 2 of 3 reactions to Mentha piperita oil would have been missed without individual testing. CONCLUSION: A small number of patients who are allergic to essential oils could be missed if these are not specifically tested. Labelling by INCI names means that exposure may not be obvious. Careful inspection of so-called 'natural' products and targeted testing is recommended.

The use of tomato aminoaldehyde dehydrogenase 1 for the detection of aldehydes in fruit distillates.

Plant NAD(+)-dependent aminoaldehyde dehydrogenases (AMADHs, EC 1.2.1.19) belong to the family 10 of aldehyde dehydrogenases. They participate in the metabolism of polyamines or osmoprotectants. The enzymes are characterized by their broad substrate specificity covering ω-aminoaldehydes, aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes as well as nitrogen-containing heterocyclic aldehydes. The isoenzyme 1 from tomato (Solanum lycopersicum; SlAMADH1) oxidizes aliphatic aldehydes very efficiently and converts also furfural, its derivatives or benzaldehyde, which are present at low concentrations in alcoholic distillates such as fruit brandy. In this work, SlAMADH1 was examined as a bioanalytical tool for their detection. These aldehydes arise from fermentation processes or thermal degradation of sugars and their presence is related to health complications after consumption including nausea, emesis, sweating, decrease in blood pressure, hangover headache, among others. Sixteen samples of slivovitz (plum brandy) from local producers in Moravia, Czech Republic, were analyzed for their aldehyde content using a spectrophotometric activity assay with SlAMADH1. In all cases, there were oxidative responses observed when monitoring NADH production in the enzymatic reaction. Aldehydes in the distillate samples were also subjected to a standard determination using reversed-phase HPLC with spectrophotometric and tandem mass spectrometric detection after a derivatization with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine. Results obtained by both methods were found to correlate well for a majority of the analyzed samples. The possible applicability of SlAMADH1 for the evaluation of aldehyde content in food and beverages has now been demonstrated.

A simple high-performance liquid chromatography method for the determination of throat-burning oleocanthal with probated antiinflammatory activity in extra virgin olive oils.

A high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was developed to quantitatively analyze oleocanthal in extra virgin olive oils. Oleocanthal, a deacetoxy ligstroside aglycone, is known to be responsible for the back of the throat irritation of olive oils and to have probated antiinflamatory activity. Oleocanthal was isolated from small amounts of olive oil sample (1 g) by liquid-liquid extraction. Hexane-acetonitrile was found to be the best solvent system to extract oleocanthal from the oil matrix. The solvent extract was analyzed by reversed-phase HPLC with UV detection at 278 nm. Chromatogaphic separation of oleocanthal from other extracted compounds and of the two geometric isomers of oleocanthal was achieved by an elution gradient with acetonitrile and water. Both the external standard calibration curve and the internal standard calibration curve were established, and quantitation using both calibration curves gave essentially the same result. The reproducibility (RSD = 4.7%), recovery (> 95%), and limit of quantitation (< 1 microg/g) were also determined. Concentrations of oleacanthal in 10 selected throat-burning extra virgin olive oils were determined using the method (ranged from 22 to 190 microg/g) with external standard calibration.

Antioxidant therapies in COPD.

Oxidative stress is an important feature in the pathogenesis of COPD. Targeting oxidative stress with antioxidants or boosting the endogenous levels of antioxidants is likely to be beneficial in the treatment of COPD. Antioxidant agents such as thiol molecules (glutathione and mucolytic drugs, such as N-acetyl-L-cysteine and N-acystelyn), dietary polyphenols (curcumin, resveratrol, green tea, catechins/quercetin), erdosteine, and carbocysteine lysine salt, all have been reported to control nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) activation, regulation of glutathione biosynthesis genes, chromatin remodeling, and hence inflammatory gene expression. Specific spin traps such as alpha-phenyl-N-tert-butyl nitrone, a catalytic antioxidant (ECSOD mimetic), porphyrins (AEOL 10150 and AEOL 10113), and a superoxide dismutase mimetic M40419 have also been reported to inhibit cigarette smoke-induced inflammatory responses in vivo. Since a variety of oxidants, free radicals, and aldehydes are implicated in the pathogenesis of COPD, it is possible that therapeutic administration of multiple antioxidants will be effective in the treatment of COPD. Various approaches to enhance lung antioxidant capacity and clinical trials of antioxidant compounds in COPD are discussed.

Fragrance contact dermatitis in Korea: a joint study.

The purpose of this study is to determine the frequency of responses to selected fragrances in patients with suspected fragrance allergy and to evaluate the risk factors. 9 dermatology departments of university hospitals have participated in this study for the past 1 year. To determine allergic response to fragrances, 18 additional fragrances in addition to the Korean standard and a commercial fragrance series were patch-tested in patients with suspecting cosmetic contact dermatitis. Over 80% of the patients were women, and the most common site was the face. Cinnamic alcohol and sandalwood oil (Santalum album L.) showed high frequencies of positive responses. Of the specific fragrances, ebanol, alpha-isomethyl-ionone (methyl ionone-gamma) and Lyral (hydroxyisohexyl 3-cyclohexane carboxdaldehyde) showed high positive responses. We compared the results obtained during this study with those of other studies and concluded that including additional fragrance allergens may be useful for the detection of fragrance allergy.

Phytochemistry: ibuprofen-like activity in extra-virgin olive oil.

Newly pressed extra-virgin olive oil contains oleocanthal--a compound whose pungency induces a strong stinging sensation in the throat, not unlike that caused by solutions of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen. We show here that this similar perception seems to be an indicator of a shared pharmacological activity, with oleocanthal acting as a natural anti-inflammatory compound that has a potency and profile strikingly similar to that of ibuprofen. Although structurally dissimilar, both these molecules inhibit the same cyclooxygenase enzymes in the prostaglandin-biosynthesis pathway.

Susceptibility to primary irritants: age dependence and relation to contact allergic reactions.

Patch tests with three primary irritants were performed in 600 persons with eczema and in 33 healthy controls, The irritants assayed were: croton oil (20%) in mineral oil, thymoquinone (1%) in ethanol and crotonaldehyde (7.5%) plus sodium lauryl sulphate (4%) in aqua dest. The number of positive reactions to croton oil was found to decrease with age, while for thymoquinone and crotonaldehyde and for the total irritant score no age dependence was observed. No significant correlation was found between sensitization to common contact allergens and susceptibility to irritants. The incidence of positive reactions to common allergens proved to increase with age.