Project description:The effect of ripening and in vitro digestion on the biological activities, peptide profiles and release of bioactive peptides in Ras cheese has been investigated. Ras cheese ripening largely influenced the extent of protein hydrolysis. The advancement in ripening resulted in an increase in total peptides (from 0.97 to 2.46 mmol leucine/g in samples at 30 and 180 days of ripening, respectively) and bioactive peptides concentration, especially angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE)-inhibitory, dipeptidyl-peptidase-IV-(DPP-IV)-inhibitory and antioxidant peptides. In vitro gastro-intestinal digestion further promoted protein hydrolysis and the release of bioactive peptides. Digested Ras cheese at 90 and 180 days of ripening displayed the highest bioactive peptides intensity. The variations in bioactive peptides amount during ripening and in vitro digestion were correlated with the changes in ACE-inhibitory, DPP-IV-inhibitory and antioxidant activities. The highest amounts of VPP and IPP were detected in digested Ras cheese at 90 days of ripening (17.44 and 36.50 mg/kg of cheese, respectively), whereas the highest concentrations of APFPE were found in undigested and digested 180-day ripened Ras cheese (82.09 and 52.01 mg/kg of cheese, respectively). The present investigation underlined potential differences in the biological effect after the ingestion of Ras cheese at different ripening times.
Project description:The number of different types of cheese worldwide exceeds 4000 and dairy fat, composed of about 400 fatty acids (FA), is one of the most complex dietary fats. Cheeses are valuable sources of different bioactive FA, i.e., conjugated FA (CFA). The aim of present study was to determine FA profile of commercially available ripening cheeses, with the special emphasis on CFA profile. Multivariate analyses (cluster analysis (CA), principal component Analysis (PCA), and linear discriminant analysis (LDA)) of chromatographic data have been proposed as an objective approach for evaluation and data interpretation. CA enabled the differentiation of ripening cheeses from fresh cheeses and processed cheeses. PCA allowed to differentiate some types of ripening cheese whereas proposed LDA model, based on 22 analyzed FA, enabled assessing cheeses type with average predictive sensitivities of 86.5%. Results of present study clearly demonstrated that FA and CFA content may not only contribute to overall nutritional characteristics of cheese but also, when coupled with chemometric techniques, may be used as chemical biomarkers for assessing the origin and/or the type of ripening cheeses and the confirmation of their authenticity, which is of utmost importance for consumers.
Project description:Several recent published studies reported that cheese consumption may protect against the onset of cardiovascular diseases and type-2 diabetes due to the presence of bioactive peptides. In the present work, six cheese varieties (the Egyptian traditional cheeses Karish, Domiati and Ras as well as Feta-type, Gouda and Edam cheeses) were characterized for their peptidomics profiles with high-resolution mass spectrometry, biological activities and content in bioactive peptides. The highest ACE-inhibitory and DPP-IV-inhibitory activities were found in Gouda cheese, which also displayed the highest antioxidant activity. A total of 809 peptides originating from the major milk proteins were identified, and 82 of them were bioactive. Most of them showed ACE-inhibitory, antioxidant and DPP-IV-inhibitory activities. The highest amount of the in vivo anti-hypertensive tripeptides VPP and IPP was found in Gouda cheese (39.19 ± 1.26 and 17.72 ± 0.89 mg/100 g of cheese, respectively), whereas the highest amount of APFPE was detected in Edam cheese (509.13 ± 20.44 mg/100 g of cheese). These results suggest that the intake of Edam, Domiati and, especially, Gouda cheeses may result in a possible anti-hypertensive effect in hypertensive subjects.
Project description:The tomato fruits during different stages of ripening have been extensively characterized for nutritionally important bioactives; however, changes in fatty acid composition are not available. Thus, in the present study, changes in fatty acid, along with carotenoid and α-tocopherol, were studied during the six stages of ripening. Fruits were harvested at the green, breaker, turning, pink, light red, and red stages, which occurred at means of 30, 35, 40, 46, 50, and 55 days after anthesis (DAE), respectively. During the ripening process, profiles of all the metabolites altered significantly (p < 0.05). All-E-lycopene content increased from the breaker (0.21 μg/g FW) to the red stage (30.6 μg/g FW), while all-E-lutein was slightly increased during initial stages of ripening and then decreased significantly, with the highest (4.15 μg/g FW) in the fruits of the pink stage. Furthermore, the contents of α-tocopherol increased during ripening, and its increase was highest between light red to the red stages. In all the ripening stages, linoleic acid (C18:2n6c) was found in the highest quantity (42.3-49.2%), followed by oleic (C18:1n9c; 20.1-26.6%) and palmitic acids (C16:0; 16.6-17.7%). With fruit ripening, the ratio of polyunsaturated fatty acids and saturated fatty acids (PUFAs:SFAs) was increased significantly from 1.89 (green) to 2.19 (red). Interestingly, the oleic acid proportions correlated inversely with linoleic (r = -0.450) and α-linolenic acid (r = -0.904), during all the stages of ripening. The highest and lowest contents of oleic acid and linoleic acid (26.7 and 42.3%, respectively) were recorded in the fruits of stage 3 (turning). In conclusion, ripening in tomatoes is accompanied by significant increases in carotenoids and α-tocopherol, as well as by concomitant increases in PUFAs.
Project description:Cheese ripening involves lactose metabolism, lipolysis and proteolysis, which are affected by many factors. The aim of this study was to assess changes due to ripening (90 days) of goat milk cheese through bacteriological and physicochemical analysis in order to verify if, at the end of ripening period, this cheese could be considered "lactose-free". Three batches of the goat milk cheese were manufactured and ripened at 10 °C and 80% relative humidity for 90 days. Titratable acidity increased by about 59 °D due to carbohydrate degradation and organic acid production. However, pH (5.31-5.25) remained constant. Lactococcus was the dominant cheese microbiota, acting in the fermentation of lactose (1.17-0.06 mg/g) and lactic acid production (5.49-s10.01 mg/g). Thus, ripening time was decisive for bacteriological and physicochemical goat milk cheese characteristics.
Project description:BackgroundLipids are a class of molecules that play an important role in cellular structure and metabolism in all cell types. In the last few decades, it has been reported that long-chain fatty acids (FAs) are involved in several biological functions from transcriptional regulation to physiological processes. Several fatty acids have been both positively and negatively implicated in different biological processes in skeletal muscle and other tissues. To gain insight into biological processes associated with fatty acid content in skeletal muscle, the aim of the present study was to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and functional pathways related to gene expression regulation associated with FA content in cattle.ResultsSkeletal muscle transcriptome analysis of 164 Nellore steers revealed no differentially expressed genes (DEGs, FDR 10%) for samples with extreme values for linoleic acid (LA) or stearic acid (SA), and only a few DEGs for eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 5 DEGs), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 4 DEGs) and palmitic acid (PA, 123 DEGs), while large numbers of DEGs were associated with oleic acid (OA, 1134 DEGs) and conjugated linoleic acid cis9 trans11 (CLA-c9t11, 872 DEGs). Functional annotation and functional enrichment from OA DEGs identified important genes, canonical pathways and upstream regulators such as SCD, PLIN5, UCP3, CPT1, CPT1B, oxidative phosphorylation mitochondrial dysfunction, PPARGC1A, and FOXO1. Two important genes associated with lipid metabolism, gene expression and cancer were identified as DEGs between animals with high and low CLA-c9t11, specifically, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and RNPS.ConclusionOnly two out of seven classes of molecules of FA studied were associated with large changes in the expression profile of skeletal muscle. OA and CLA-c9t11 content had significant effects on the expression level of genes related to important biological processes associated with oxidative phosphorylation, and cell growth, survival, and migration. These results contribute to our understanding of how some FAs modulate metabolism and may have protective health function.
Project description:Epidemiological studies have demonstrated a positive relationship between dietary fat intake and the onset of several metabolic diseases. This association is particularly evident in a diet rich in saturated fatty acids, typical of animal foods, such as dairy products. However, these foods are the main source of fatty acids with a proven nutraceutical effect, such as the ω-3 fatty acid α-linolenic acid (ALA) and the conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which have demonstrated important roles in the prevention of various diseases. In the present study, the effect of a supplementation with cheese enriched with ω-3 fatty acids and CLA on the metabolism and lipid profiles of C57bl/6 mice was evaluated. In particular, the analyses were conducted on different tissues, such as liver, muscle, adipose tissue and brain, known for their susceptibility to the effects of dietary fats. Supplementing cheese enriched in CLA and ω-3 fats reduced the level of saturated fat and increased the content of CLA and ALA in all tissues considered, except for the brain. Furthermore, the consumption of this cheese resulted in a tissue-specific response in the expression levels of genes involved in lipid and mitochondrial metabolism. As regards genes involved in the inflammatory response, the consumption of enriched cheese resulted in a reduction in the expression of inflammatory genes in all tissues analyzed. Considering the effects that chronic inflammation associated with a high-calorie and high-fat diet (meta-inflammation) or aging (inflammaging) has on the onset of chronic degenerative diseases, these data could be of great interest as they indicate the feasibility of modulating inflammation (thus avoiding/delaying these pathologies) with a nutritional and non-pharmacological intervention.
Project description:Cheese microbiota contribute significantly to the final characteristics of cheeses due to the growth and interaction between cheese microorganisms during processing and ripening. For raw milk cheeses, such as Parmigiano Reggiano (PR), the microbiota derive from the raw milk itself, the dairy environment, and the starter. The process of cheese making and time of ripening shape this complex ecosystem through the selection of different species and biotypes that will drive the quality of the final product by performing functions of their metabolism such as proteolysis. The diversity in the final peptide and amino acid composition of the cheese is thus mostly linked to the diversity of this microbiota. The purpose of this study was to get more insight into the factors affecting PR cheese diversity and, more specifically, to evaluate whether the composition of the bacterial community of cheeses along with the specific peptide composition are more affected by the ripening times or by the cheese making process. To this end, the microbiota and the peptide fractions of 69 cheese samples (from curd to cheese ripened 24 months) were analyzed during 6 complete PR production cycles, which were performed in six different dairies located in the PR production area. The relation among microbial dynamics, peptide evolution, and ripening times were investigated in this unique and tightly controlled production and sampling set up. The study of microbial and peptide moieties in products from different dairies - from curd to at least 12 months, the earliest time from which the cheese can be sold, and up to a maximum of 24 months of ripening - highlighted the presence of differences between samples coming from different dairies, probably due to small differences in the cheese making process. Besides these differences, however, ripening time had by far the greatest impact on microbial dynamics and, consequently, on peptide composition.
Project description:This study reports for the first time the relationship between bacterial succession, characterized by high-throughput sequencing (sequencing of V3-V4 16S rRNA regions), and the evolution of gross composition, free fatty acids (FFAs) and biogenic amines (BAs) during cheese ripening. Specifically, Idiazabal PDO cheese, a raw ewe milk-derived semi-hard o hard cheese, was analysed. Altogether, 8 gross parameters were monitored (pH, dry matter, protein, fat, Ca, Mg, P and NaCl) and 21 FFAs and 8 BAs were detected. The ripening time influenced the concentration of most physico-chemical parameters, whereas the producer mainly affected the gross composition and FFAs. Through an O2PLS approach, the non-starter lactic acid bacteria Lactobacillus, Enterococcus and Streptococcus were reported as positively related to the evolution of gross composition and FFAs release, while only Lactobacillus was positively related to BAs production. Several environmental or non-desirable bacteria showed negative correlations, which could indicate the negative impact of gross composition on their growth, the antimicrobial effect of FFAs and/or the metabolic use of FFAs by these genera, and their ability to degrade BAs. Nonetheless, Obesumbacterium and Chromohalobacter were positively associated with the synthesis of FFAs and BAs, respectively. This research work provides novel information that may contribute to the understanding of possible functional relationships between bacterial communities and the evolution of several cheese quality and safety parameters.
Project description:Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is characterized by fat deposition in hepatocytes, and a strong association with nutritional factors. Dietary fatty acids are classified according to their biochemical properties, which confer their bioactive roles. Monounsaturated fatty acids have a dual role in various human and murine models. In contrast, polyunsaturated fatty acids exhibit antiobesity, anti steatosic and anti-inflammatory effects. The combination of these forms of fatty acids-according to dietary type, daily intake and the proportion of n-6 to n-3 fats-can compromise hepatic lipid metabolism. A chemosensory rather than a nutritional role makes bioactive fatty acids possible biomarkers for NAFLD. Bioactive fatty acids provide health benefits through modification of fatty acid composition and modulating the activity of liver cells during liver fibrosis. More and better evidence is necessary to elucidate the role of bioactive fatty acids in nutritional and clinical treatment strategies for patients with NAFLD.