Percorrer por autor "Barros, Lillian"
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- Tracing the path between mushrooms and Alzheimer’s Disease—a literature reviewPublication . Silva, Ana Margarida; Preto, Marco; Grosso, Clara; Vieira, Mónica; Delerue-Matos, Cristina; Vasconcelos, Vitor; Reis, Mariana; Barros, Lillian; Martins, RosarioAlzheimer’s disease (AD) is well-known among neurodegenerative diseases for the decline of cognitive functions, making overall daily tasks difficult or impossible. The disease prevails as the most common form of dementia and remains without a well-defined etiology. Being considered a disease of multifactorial origin, current targeted treatments have only managed to reduce or control symptoms, and to date, only two drugs are close to being able to halt its progression. For decades, natural compounds produced by living organisms have been at the forefront of research for new therapies. Mushrooms, which are well-known for their nutritional and medicinal properties, have also been studied for their potential use in the treatment of AD. Natural products derived from mushrooms have shown to be beneficial in several AD-related mechanisms, including the inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and β-secretase (BACE 1); the prevention of amyloid beta (Aβ) aggregation and neurotoxicity; and the prevention of Tau expression and aggregation, as well as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potential. Several studies in the literature relate mushrooms to neurodegenerative diseases. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no publication that summarizes only AD data. In this context, this review aims to link the therapeutic potential of mushrooms to AD by compiling the anti-AD potential of different mushroom extracts or isolated compounds, targeting known AD-related mechanisms.
- Unveiling Lichen’s Hidden Arsenal against multidrug resistance: A Systematic Review of their essential oils, volatile compounds and extracts with antimicrobial applicationsPublication . Essadki, Yasser; El Amrani Zerrifi, Soukaina; Carvalho, Maria de Fátima; Barros, Lillian; Vasconcelos, Vitor; Campos, Alexandre; El Khalloufi, Fatima; Oudra, Brahim; Martins, Rosário; Martins, RosarioThe increase in multidrug resistance in microorganisms and the rise of emergent infectious diseases worldwide is a threat to human and animal health. Therefore, research on new molecules with antibiotic potential is a priority. Lichens have a unique secondary metabolism with relatively untapped potential, yet their essential oils (EOs) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) remain a relatively untapped resource. This systematic review was conducted following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, with a comprehensive search performed in the Web of Science database for studies published up to 2023. From 254 identified records, six studies involving nine lichen species (Evernia prunastri, Evernia divaricata, Cladonia rangiformis, Cladonia furcata, Parmotrema perlatum, Lichina pygmaea, Parmelia perlata, Hypogymnia physodes, and Parmelia sulcata) met the eligibility criteria. The synthesized data show that these volatile fractions possess significant antimicrobial potential, with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) generally lower than 1 mg/mL. Major bioactive constituents identified include atraric acid, orsellinates, and various sesquiterpenes. While the current evidence highlights a strong potential of lichen volatiles against pathogens, research is limited to a small fraction of known species. This review identifies a critical gap in testing these compounds directly against MDR clinical isolates and suggests that future research should focus on high-biomass species and the heterologous expression of lichen biosynthetic genes to develop sustainable antimicrobial applications.
- Wild mushrooms for Alzheimer’s diseasePublication . Silva, Margarida Lobo; Reis, Filipa S.; Grosso, Clara; Pérez, Diana Valverde; Barros, Lillian; Martins, RosárioAlzheimer’s disease (AD) is among the most incident, debilitating, and widespread forms of dementia. AD causes the decline of cognitive function, making overall day-to-day tasks difficult and even impossible. Despite extensive research, its origin and progression are still unclear, and no efficient treatment is available to prevent disease progression or mitigate symptoms. Due to the low efficiency in the available treatments, natural compounds have arisen as an alternative. These are gaining crescent relevance and have been explored, given their promising results as immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, or neuroprotective factors. Mountain natural resources, specifically mushrooms, are among the most studied sources of bioactive molecules. The Montesinho Natural Park, located in northeast Portugal, has incredible mushroom biodiversity, which has been exploited to obtain health-beneficial compounds, namely with anti-inflammatory potential. This work aimed to study different mushroom extracts and isolated compounds for the prevention and progression of AD. So far, our work aimed at bringing insight into the effect of extract administration in neuroblastoma and endothelial cell lines through the MTT viability assay, as well as studying their effects on acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE), enzymes known to be involved in AD pathogenesis through a modified Ellman’s method: dry extracts were resuspended in tris-HCl 50mM + 10% DMSO to concentrations between 2 and 0.03125 mg/mL for enzymatic inhibition assays. To be considered promising, extracts must not cause cellular death of over 15-20% and cause enzymatic inhibition. So far, our results using nine mushroom extracts show low-to-no cytotoxicity in concentrations between 100 and 6.25 µg/mL in endothelial and neuroblastoma cell lines. High concentrations of Lycoperdon umbrinum extract caused cytotoxicity levels of approximately 35% in endothelial cells after 24h treatment; different extracts caused cell proliferation in both cell lines, the most evident being 128% in the lowest concentrations of Russula delica and Boletus fragrans. The most promising results were obtained for Boletus aereus, which, while not cytotoxic, inhibited both enzymes by 60%. Around 30% AChE inhibition was achieved for the two highest concentrations of Agaricus silvicola and Boletus fragrans making both extracts good candidates for further studies.