Percorrer por autor "Marques-da-Silva, D."
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- Exploring bioactive compounds present in international patents targeting brain functionsPublication . Marques-da-Silva, D.; Lagoa, R.; Ribeiro, V.The interest in nervous system disorders is an evident fact with more than 60 000 articles published on PUBMED only in the year of 2016. Actually, in our daily life we are constantly exposed to different environmental factors known to be prejudicial to the health of our nervous system. In this context, a holistic view of food consumption is gaining increasing importance with the perspective of using functional components of specific foods to improve our health or diminish the risk of disease. The aim of our work is to evaluate the use of nutritional food components of traditional Portuguese diet in international patents of dietary supplements or the so called functional foods described to improve brain functions. The WIPO platform was used to collect data of these patents, and from the last 3 years we identified 35 patents using more than 150 different components. We selected the most frequent components and the indications described in the patents, and then examined the possible bioactive compounds for each component. The prevalent functional components described were walnuts, peanuts, wolfberries, mulberries, dates, jujube, creatine, carnitine, ginseng and soybean. Other components rich in omega-3, such as docosahexaenoic acid and superba oil, were also identified. These patents were described to target brain functions such as intelligence, memory, concentration and in some cases compounds are indicated to traumatic brain injury. Regarding local sources, we found several nutritional components of traditional Portuguese diet that have similar compounds of those found in the international components described in patents. We believe this information will help in the valorisation of national products.
- High expression of cytochrome b 5 reductase isoform 3/cytochrome b 5 system in the cerebellum and pyramidal neurons of adult rat brainPublication . Samhan-Arias, A. K.; López-Sánchez, C.; Marques-da-Silva, D.; Lagoa, Ricardo; Garcia-Lopez, V.; García-Martínez, V.; Gutierrez-Merino, C.Cytochrome b5 reductase (Cb5R) and cytochrome b5 (Cb5) form an enzymatic redox system that plays many roles in mammalian cells. In the last 15 years, it has been proposed that this system is involved in the recycling of ascorbate, a vital antioxidant molecule in the brain and that its deregulation can lead to the production of reactive oxygen species that play a major role in oxidativeinduced neuronal death. In this work, we have performed a regional and cellular distribution study of the expression of this redox system in adult rat brain by anti-Cb5R isoform 3 and anti-Cb5 antibodies. We found high expression levels in cerebellar cortex, labeling heavily granule neurons and Purkinje cells, and in structures such as the fastigial, interposed and dentate cerebellar nuclei. A large part of Cb5R isoform 3 in the cerebellum cortex was regionalized in close proximity to the lipid raft-like nanodomains, labeled with cholera toxin B, as we have shown by fluorescence resonance energy transfer imaging. In addition, vestibular, reticular and motor nuclei located at the brain stem level and pyramidal neurons of somatomotor areas of the brain cortex and of the hippocampus have been also found to display high expression levels of these proteins. All these results point out the enrichment of Cb5R isoform 3/Cb5 system in neuronal cells and structures of the cerebellum and brain stem whose functional impairment can account for neurological deficits reported in type II congenital methemoglobinemia, as well as in brain areas highly prone to undergo oxidative stress-induced neurodegeneration.