Exploring the Potential of Crassostrea nippona Hydrolysates as Dietary Supplements for Mitigating Dexamethasone-Induced Muscle Atrophy in C2C12 Cells.

Muscle atrophy is a detrimental and injurious condition that leads to reduced skeletal muscle mass and disruption of protein metabolism. Oyster (Crassostrea nippona) is a famous and commonly consumed shellfish in East Asia and has become a popular dietary choice worldwide. The current investigation evaluated the efficacy of C. nippona against muscle atrophy, which has become a severe health issue. Mammalian skeletal muscles are primarily responsible for efficient metabolism, energy consumption, and body movements. The proteins that regulate muscle hypertrophy and atrophy are involved in muscle growth. C. nippona extracts were enzymatically hydrolyzed using alcalase (AOH), flavourzyme (FOH), and protamex (POH) to evaluate their efficacy in mitigating dexamethasone-induced muscle damage in C2C12 cells in vitro. AOH exhibited notable cell proliferative abilities, promoting dose-dependent myotube formation. These results were further solidified by protein expression analysis. Western blot and gene expression analysis via RT-qPCR demonstrated that AOH downregulated MuRF-1, Atrogin, Smad 2/3, and Foxo-3a, while upregulating myogenin, MyoD, myosin heavy chain expression, and mTOR, key components of the ubiquitin-proteasome and mTOR signaling pathways. Finally, this study suggests that AOH holds promise for alleviating dexamethasone-induced muscle atrophy in C2C12 cells in vitro, offering insights for developing functional foods targeting conditions akin to sarcopenia.

Monarubins A-C from the Marine Shellfish-Associated Fungus Monascus ruber BB5.

Three new compounds, monarubins A-C (1, 6 and 13), together with ten known compounds, including four alkaloids (2-5), two isocoumarins (7 and 8) and four polyketides (9-12), were isolated from marine shellfish-associated fungus Monascus ruber BB5. The structures were determined on the basis of the 1D and 2D NMR, MS, UV and IR data. The absolute configurations of compounds 3, 6 and 13 were determined by ECD calculations. The NMR data of compounds deoxyhydroxyaspergillic acid (3) and 2-hydroxy-6-(1-hydroxy-1-methylpropyl)-3-sec-buthylpyrazine (4) were first reported. All of the isolated compounds were evaluated for their cytotoxic activities against human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell lines CNE1, CNE2, SUNE1 and HONE1 and hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines QGY7701 and HepG2. Monarubin B (6) displayed potent cytotoxicities against the cancer cell lines HepG2 and QGY7701 with IC50 values of 1.72 and 0.71 µΜ, respectively; lunatinin (7) showed moderate cytotoxic activities against the cancer cell lines HepG2, QGY7701 and SUNE1 with the IC50 values of 9.60, 7.12 and 28.12 µΜ, respectively.

Distribution of perfluorinated alkyl substances in marine shellfish along the Chinese Bohai Sea coast.

Perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFASs) are emerging persistent organic pollutants, which pose a threat to human health primarily by dietary exposure, especially through seafood. Bohai Sea (a semi-closed sea located north of China) is an important shellfish aquaculture area that is possibly highly-polluted with PFASs. In this study, we first evaluated contamination by PFASs in a total of 230 samples of marine shellfish from the Bohai Sea. Samples included five important shellfish species, collected from important aquaculture spots distributed around the Bohai Sea. Samples were analyzed by an ultra-fast liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method, which could simultaneously detect 23 PFASs in shellfish. Our research verified that PFASs have become a threat to the safety of shellfish products in this area. Furthermore, contamination by PFASs in shellfish changed depending on the components of PFASs, the species of shellfish, and the sampling sites. Many of the 23 target compounds contributed to the high detection ratio (>50%) as follows: perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) > perfluorononanoic acid > perfluorodecanesulfonic acid > perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS). Compared with other dominant components, PFOA not only had the highest detection percentage in shellfish samples (98.3%), but its detection level contributed to 87.2% of total PFASs concentrations, indicating that PFOA is the major threat to the safety of shellfish products. The highest level of PFAS was found in clams (62.5 ng g-1 wet weight of PFOA). The concentration of total PFAS in different shellfish species showed the following trend: clams > mussels > scallops > whelks > oysters. The maximum concentration of total PFAS or PFOA was found in Shouguang. The total concentration of PFOS and its precursor were highest in Cangzhou, possibly due to local industrial activities. The results presented in this paper provide new data on the contamination of marine shellfish along the Bohai Sea coasts in China, and constitute a reference for future monitoring of contamination by emerging contaminants in Bohai coast.

Insights into the combined toxicity and mechanisms of BDE-47 and PFOA in marine blue mussel: An integrated study at the physiochemical and molecular levels.

The coexistence of multiple emerging contaminants imposes a substantial burden on the ecophysiological functions in organisms. The combined toxicity and underlying mechanism requires in-depth understanding. Here, marine blue mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis L.) was selected and exposed to 2,2',4,4'-tetrabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-47) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) individually and in combination at environmental related concentrations to elucidate differences in stress responses and potential toxicological mechanisms. Characterization and comparison of accumulation, biomarkers, histopathology, transcriptomics and metabolomics were performed. Co-exposure resulted in differential accumulation patterns, exacerbated histopathological alterations, and different responses in oxidative stress and biomarkers for xenobiotic transportation. Moreover, the identified differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and differential metabolites (DEMs) in mussels were found to be annotated to different metabolic pathways. Correlation analyses further indicated that DEGs and DEMs were significantly correlated with the above biomarkers. BDE-47 and PFOA altered the genes and metabolites related to amino acid metabolism, energy and purine metabolism, ABC transporters, and glutathione metabolism to varying degrees, subsequently inducing accumulation differences and combined toxicity. Furthermore, the present work highlighted the pivotal role of Nrf2-keap1 detoxification pathway in the acclimation of M. galloprovincialis to reactive oxygen species (ROS) stress induced by BDE-47 and PFOA. This study enabled more comprehensive understanding of combined toxic mechanism of multi emerging contaminants pollution.

Oral delivery of marine shellfish supramolecule peptides for skin wound healing.

Oral administration of peptides/proteins with superior efficacy and fewer side effects is the most advantageous route of administration. In this study, we utilized controllable enzymatic (animal protease) hydrolysis technology to prepare active polypeptide self-assembling supramolecular (APs) from marine shellfish meat to explore the functional mechanism of APs in in vitro and in vivo (oral administration) experiments . In vitro experiments revealed that APs with self-assembly tendency had multifunctional activities. In vivo experiments indicated that oral administration of naturally safe APs could inhibited inflammation, promoted fibroblast proliferation and revascularization, and accelerated the epithelialization process, thus favoring a balanced repair tissue collagen I/III ratio and the promotion of hair follicle regeneration to achieve scarless healing, which was also relevant to "skin-gut" axis. These results showed that APs, as demonstrated in this study, promoted dermal wound healing in mice and may be developed and used to treat skin wounds.

Marine Tetrodotoxin as a Risk for Human Health.

Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a toxin mainly occurring naturally in contaminated puffer fish, which are a culinary delicacy in Japan. It is also detected in various marine organisms like globefish, starfish, sunfish, stars, frogs, crabs, snails, Australian blue-ringed octopuses, and bivalve molluscs. TTX is produced by marine bacteria that are consumed mainly by fish of the Tetraodontidae family and other aquatic animals. TTX poisoning through consuming marine snails has recently begun to occur over a wider geographical extent through Taiwan, China, and Europe. This neurotoxin causes food intoxication and poses an acute risk to public health. The aim of this review is to present the most recent information about TTX and its analogues with particular regard to toxicity, methods of analysis, and risk to humans of exposure.

Composição lipídica do molusco marinho berbigão Anomalocardia brasiliana (Gmelin, 1791) in natura e cozido / Lipid composition of marine shellfish berbigão Anomalocardia brasiliana (Gmelin, 1791) raw and cooked

O berbigão Anomalocardia brasiliana é um molusco marinho muito consumido na região litorânea de Santa Catarina. No entanto, são escassos os dados na literatura sobre a composição em ácidos graxos e esteróis. O objetivo do presente trabalho foi determinar a composição lipídica do berbigão Anomalocardia brasiliana (Gmelin, 1791) coletados na Reserva Extrativista Marinha do Pirajubaé (REMAPI) de Florianópolis/SC, em outono e primavera. O teor de lipídios totais encontrados no berbigão foi de 1.21g por cento e 0.72g por cento no outono e primavera, respectivamente. Foram identificados e quantificados 20 ácidos graxos, sendo 6 saturados (14:0, 15:0, 16:0, 17:0, 18:0, 20:0), 4 monoinsaturados (16:1, 17:1, 18:1, 20:1) e 10 polinsaturados (18:2, 18:3, 18:4, 20:2, 20:3, 20:4, 20:5, 22:4, 22:5, 22:6). Observaram-se ácidos graxos polinsaturados em maiores quantidades que os saturados e monoinsaturados em ambas as coletas: 40.7 por cento de polinsaturados, 30.8 por cento de saturados, 17.2 por cento de monoinsaturados no outono e 39.7 por cento de polinsaturados, 27.7 por cento de saturados, 13.7 por cento de monoinsaturados na primavera. O colesterol correspondeu a um valor de 94.38 mg/100g no outono e 76.75mg/100g na primavera. Entre os esteróis, também foi identificado o campesterol, estigmasterol e β-sitosterol, porém em quantidades inferiores ao colesterol. Estes resultados mostram que o berbigão é fonte não significativa de lipídios totais, apresentando baixos teores de ácidos graxos saturados e colesterol. A recomendação diária do berbigão oferece uma segurança alimentar em relação à ingestão de gorduras totais e colesterol e, portanto este alimento pode fazer parte de uma dieta saudável.

The berbigão Anomalocardia brasiliana is a marine shellfish which is commoning consumed in the coastal region of Santa Catarina. However, there are limited available data on the composition of their fatty acids and sterols. The objetive of this study was to determine the lipid composition of the berbigão from Reserva Extrativista Marinha de Pirajubaé (REMAPI), Florianópolis/SC, Brasil, during the autumn and spring. The total lipid content was 1.21g percent and 0.72g percent in the autumn and spring, respectively. Several fatty acids were identified and quantified, including 20 fatty acids, 6 saturated (14:0, 15:0, 16:0, 17:0, 18:0, 20:0), 4 monounsaturated (16:1, 17:1, 18:1, 20:1) e 10 polyunsaturated (18:2, 18:3, 18:4, 20:2, 20:3, 20:4, 20:5, 22:4, 22:5, 22:6). There was a higher proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids in total than saturated and monounsaturated, regardless of season: 40.7 percent of polyunsaturated, 30.8 percent of saturated, 17.2 percent of monounsaturated in the autumn and 39.7 percent of polyunsaturated, 27.7 percent of saturated, 13.7 percent of monounsaturated in the spring. The cholesterol corresponded to a value of 94.38 mg percent in the autumn and 76.75 mg percent in the spring. Among the sterols were found campesterol, estigmasterol and β-sitosterol, but in lower quantities than cholesterol. These results showed that the berbigão was not a significant source of lipids, revealing low levels of saturated fatty acids and cholesterol. Berbigão is recommended for daily consumption as part of a healthy diet due to it is safe levels of fats and cholesterol.