Antioxidant and Pro-Oxidant Capacities as Mechanisms of Photoprotection of Olive Polyphenols on UVA-Damaged Human Keratinocytes.

A wide variety of polyphenols are reported to have considerable antioxidant and skin photoprotective effects, although the mechanisms of action are not fully known. Environmentally friendly and inexpensive sources of natural bioactive compounds, such as olive mill wastewater (OMWW), the by-product of olive-oil processing, can be considered an economic source of bioactive polyphenols, with a range of biological activities, useful as chemotherapeutic or cosmeceutical agents. Green strategies, such as the process based on membrane technologies, allow to recover active polyphenols from this complex matrix. This study aims to evaluate the antioxidant, pro-oxidant, and photoprotective effects, including the underlying action mechanism(s), of the ultra-filtered (UF) OMWW fractions, in order to substantiate their use as natural cosmeceutical ingredient. Six chemically characterized UF-OMWW fractions, from Italian and Greek olive cultivar processing, were investigated for their antioxidant activities, measured by Trolox Equivalent Antioxidant Capacity (TEAC), LDL oxidation inhibition, and ROS-quenching ability in UVA-irradiated HEKa (Human Epidermal Keratinocytes adult) cultures. The photoprotective properties of UF-OMWW were assayed as a pro-oxidant-mediated pro-apoptotic effect on the UVA-damaged HEKa cells, which can be potentially involved in the carcinogenesis process. All the UF-OMWW fractions exerted an effective antioxidant activity in vitro and in cells when administered together with UV-radiation on HEKa. A pro-oxidative and pro-apoptotic effect on the UVA-damaged HEKa cells were observed, suggesting some protective actions of polyphenol fraction on keratinocyte cell cultures.

The Bright Side of Gelatinous Blooms: Nutraceutical Value and Antioxidant Properties of Three Mediterranean Jellyfish (Scyphozoa).

Jellyfish are recorded with increasing frequency and magnitude in many coastal areas and several species display biological features comparable to the most popular Asiatic edible jellyfish. The biochemical and antioxidant properties of wild gelatinous biomasses, in terms of nutritional and nutraceutical values, are still largely unexplored. In this paper, three of the most abundant and commonly recorded jellyfish species (Aurelia sp.1, Cotylorhiza tuberculata and Rhizostoma pulmo) in the Mediterranean Sea were subject to investigation. A sequential enzymatic hydrolysis of jellyfish proteins was set up by pepsin and collagenase treatments of jellyfish samples after aqueous or hydroalcoholic protein extraction. The content and composition of proteins, amino acids, phenolics, and fatty acids of the three species were recorded and compared. Protein content (mainly represented by collagen) up to 40% of jellyfish dry weight were found in two of the three jellyfish species (C. tuberculata and R. pulmo), whereas the presence of ω-3 and ω-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) was significantly higher in the zooxanthellate jellyfish C. tuberculata only. Remarkable antioxidant ability was also recorded from both proteinaceous and non proteinaceous extracts and the hydrolyzed protein fractions in all the three species. The abundance of collagen, peptides and other bioactive molecules make these Mediterranean gelatinous biomasses a largely untapped source of natural compounds of nutraceutical, cosmeceutical and pharmacological interest.

Extract from the zooxanthellate jellyfish Cotylorhiza tuberculata modulates gap junction intercellular communication in human cell cultures.

On a global scale, jellyfish populations in coastal marine ecosystems exhibit increasing trends of abundance. High-density outbreaks may directly or indirectly affect human economical and recreational activities, as well as public health. As the interest in biology of marine jellyfish grows, a number of jellyfish metabolites with healthy potential, such as anticancer or antioxidant activities, is increasingly reported. In this study, the Mediterranean "fried egg jellyfish" Cotylorhiza tuberculata (Macri, 1778) has been targeted in the search forputative valuable bioactive compounds. A medusa extract was obtained, fractionated, characterized by HPLC, GC-MS and SDS-PAGE and assayed for its biological activity on breast cancer cells (MCF-7) and human epidermal keratinocytes (HEKa). The composition of the jellyfish extract included photosynthetic pigments, valuable ω-3 and ω-6 fatty acids, and polypeptides derived either from jellyfish tissues and their algal symbionts. Extract fractions showed antioxidant activity and the ability to affect cell viability and intercellular communication mediated by gap junctions (GJIC) differentially in MCF-7 and HEKa cells. A significantly higher cytotoxicity and GJIC enhancement in MCF-7 compared to HEKa cells was recorded. A putative action mechanism for the anticancer bioactivity through the modulation of GJIC has been hypothesized and its nutraceutical and pharmaceutical potential was discussed.

Pro-oxidative action of polyphenols as action mechanism for their pro-apoptotic activity.

Polyphenols, secondary metabolites widely present in plant kingdom, are known for their positive effects on human health, such as treatments of degenerative disease and cancer. Many dietary polyphenols show anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory and antioxidant properties and they are proposed as chemopreventive agents for many skin disorders and cancer. Exposure to solar UV radiation is widely considered to cause skin cancer and a consistent carcinogenic dose derived from UVA causes several skin disorders as a consequence of free radicals generation and DNA damages. In this study, verbascoside, isoverbascoside and tyrosol were investigated for their effects on HEKa (Human Epidermal Keratinocytes adult) cell cultures challenged from UVA-rays. Non-toxic doses of each polyphenol were assayed on HEKa before, during and after the exposure to a damaging dose of UVA. Treatment with polyphenols before and after the UVA-irradiation exerted a pro-oxidant effect, while the simultaneous treatment caused a weak decrease of ROS production. The increasing of ROS levels was associated with a proapoptotic effect on HEKa, detected by AnnexinV/Propidiun Iodide, mainly evident in surviving cells treated with the polyphenols after the UVA-irradiation. The pro-apoptotic effect was confirmed by the immunodetection of significant changes in the Bax and Bcl-xL protein levels, leading to apoptotic events. The hypothesis that these polyphenols could trigger the apoptosis pathway mainly in UVA-damaged cells, via ROS increase, is here proposed as action mechanism behind their protective effect.