Project description:Skin aging is one of the hallmarks of the aging process that causes physiological and morpho-logical changes. Recently, several nutritional studies were conducted to delay or suppress the aging process. This study investigated whether nutritional supplementation of the eggshell membrane (ESM) has a beneficial effect on maintaining skin health and improving the skin aging process in interleukin-10 knockout (IL-10 KO) mice. Oral supplementation of 8% powdered-ESM (pESM) upregulated the expression of growth factors, including transforming growth factor β1, platelet-derived growth factor-β and connective tissue growth factor, and suppressed skin thinning.
Project description:Skin aging is one of the hallmarks of the aging process that causes physiological and morpho-logical changes. Recently, several nutritional studies were conducted to delay or suppress the aging process. This study investigated whether nutritional supplementation of the eggshell membrane (ESM) has a beneficial effect on maintaining skin health and improving the skin ag-ing process using neonatal normal human epidermal keratinocytes (NHEK-Neo). 1 mg/mL of enzymatically hydrolyzed ESM (eESM) upregulated the expression of keratinocyte differentiation markers, including keratin 1, filaggrin and involucrin, and changed the keratinocyte morphology.
Project description:The effect of krill powder, a mixed source of protein and n-3 PUFAs from Antarctic Krill (Euphausia superba), on hepatic gene expression was analyzed in CBA/J mice. Mice were fed a low-fat control diet or a 3% (w/w) krill powder low-fat diet for three months. Gene expression profiling on liver samples revealed that the krill powder supplemented diet modulated a large number of pathways compared to the control diet, and we focused on the genes involved in metabolic processes. Pathways involved β-oxidation, glucose metabolism, and amino acid catabolism were downregulated. In contrast, genes involved in the mitochondrial electron transport chain were upregulated. Thus, a krill powder supplemented diet had potent and specific effects on energy metabolism and oxidative phosphorylation at the gene level. This indicates that krill powder supplementation could be an approach to prevent age-related decline in mitochondrial respiratory chain function and weight loss.
Project description:Milk-derived peptides and milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) have gained interest as health-promoting food ingredients. However, the mechanisms by which these nutraceuticals modulate the function of biological systems often remain unclear. We utilized Caenorhabditis elegans to elucidate how milk-derived Protein powders rich in MFGM, previously used in a clinical trial, affect the physiology of this model organism. Our results demonstrate that Protein powders do not affect lifespan but promote the fitness of the animals. Surprisingly, gene expression analysis revealed that Protein powders decrease the expression of genes functioning on innate immunity, which also translates into reduced survival on pathogenic bacteria. One of the innate immunity-associated genes showing reduced expression upon Protein powder supplementation is cpr-3, the homolog of human cathepsin B. Interestingly, knockdown of cpr-3 enhances fitness, but not in Protein powder-treated animals, suggesting that protein powders contribute to fitness by downregulating the expression of this gene. In summary, this research highlights the value of C. elegans in testing the biological activity of food supplements and nutraceuticals. Furthermore, this study should encourage investigations into whether milk-derived peptides and MFGM mediate their beneficial effects through the modulation of cathepsin B expression in humans.
Project description:Eggshell (ES) and eggshell membrane (ESM) is a significant byproduct of the egg producing industry (Ahmed et al., 2019). Many studies have been undertaken to utilize ES waste for potential value added applications (Cordeiro and Hincke, 2011). Described here are the datasets from our evaluation of processed eggshell membrane powder (PEP) as a wound healing product using the mouse excisional wound splinting model (Ahmed et al., 2019). PEP biomaterial was characterized by proteomics using various extraction and solubilization strategies including moderate (lithium dodecyl sulphate (LDS) and urea/ammonium bicarbonate) and harsh conditions (3-mercaptopropionic acid (3-MPA) and NaOH/dimethylsulfoxide) in order to progressively overcome its stable, insoluble nature (Ahmed et al., 2019, Ahmed et al., 2017). Analysis of proteomic data allowed the relative abundance of the main PEP protein constituents to be determined. The efficacy of PEP for promotion of wound healing was assessed using the mouse excisional wound splinting model, and well-established semi-quantitative histological scoring. (More details about the PEP biomaterial characterization and its in vivo evaluation can be found in the related research article (Ahmed et al., 2019)).