Showing papers by "Mauro Serafini published in 2008"

Bioavailability of pelargonidin-3-O-glucoside and its metabolites in humans following the ingestion of strawberries with and without cream.

Abstract: Plasma and urine were collected over a 24 h period after the consumption by humans of 200 g of strawberries, containing 222 µmol of pelargonidin-3-O-glucoside, with and without cream. The main metabolite, a pelargonidin-O-glucuronide, reached a peak plasma concentration (Cmax) of 274 ± 24 nmol/L after 1.1 ± 0.4 h (tmax) when only strawberries were ingested. When the strawberries were eaten with cream, the Cmax was not statistically different but the tmax at 2.4 ± 0.5 h was delayed significantly (p < 0.001). The pelargonidin-O-glucuronide, along with smaller quantities of other metabolites, was also excreted in urine in quantities corresponding to ca. 1% of anthocyanin intake. The quantities excreted over the 0–24 h collection period were not influenced significantly by cream. However, the 0–2 h excretion of anthocyanin metabolites was significantly lower when the strawberries were eaten with cream, whereas the reverse occurred during with the 5–8 h excretion period. In keeping with these observations, mea...

Touch or pain? Spatio-temporal patterns of cortical fMRI activity following brief mechanical stimuli.

Abstract: Most imaging studies on the human pain system have concentrated so far on the spatial distribution of pain-related activity In the present study, we investigated similarities and differences between the spatial and temporal patterns of brain activity related to touch vs pain perception To this end, we adopted an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm allowing us to separately assess the activity related to stimulus anticipation, perception, and coding The fMRI signal increases following brief mechanical noxious or non-noxious stimulation of the hand dorsum were largely overlapping in the contralateral and ipsilateral hemispheres, including portions of the parietal, insular, frontal and cingulate cortices Higher activity following noxious stimulation was found in the contralateral mid-anterior insular cortex, in the anterior mid-cingulate cortex (aMCC) and in the adjacent dorso-medial frontal cortex Significant decreases in fMRI signals following both tactile and painful stimuli were found in perigenual cingulate (pACC)/medial prefrontal cortex (MPF) and in the posterior cingulate/precuneus/paracentral lobule; more intense decreases were found in the pACC/MPF following painful stimuli fMRI signal increases in the contralateral insula and in aMCC, but not in the parietal cortex, were more prolonged following painful than tactile stimuli Moreover, a second peak of signal increases (albeit of lower intensity) was found in anterior insula and aMCC during pain intensity rating These results show specific spatio-temporal patterns of cortical activity related to processing noxious vs non-noxious mechanical stimuli

Nutrition and Inflammatory Processes

Abstract: P. C. Calder, R. Albers, J.-M. Antoine, S. Blum, R. Bourdet-Sicard, G. A. Ferns, G. Folkerts, P. S. Friedmann, G. S. Frost, F. Guarner, M. Lovik, S. Macfarlane, P. D. Meyer, L. M’Rabet, M. Serafini, W. van Eden, J. van Loo, W. vas Dias, S. Vidry, B. M. Winklhofer-Roob and J. Zhao School of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton SO16 7PX, UK, Unilever Health Institute, 3130 AC, Vlaardingen, The Netherlands, Danone Vitapole, Palaiseau 91767, France, Nestle Research Centre, Lausanne 26, Switzerland, School of Biomedical & Molecular Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK, Department of Pharmacology & Pathophysiology, University of Utrecht, 3508 TB, Utrecht, The Netherlands, Digestive System Research Unit, Hospital General Vall d’Hebron, 08035 Barcelona, Spain, Division of Environmental Medicine, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Nydalen, 0403 Oslo, Norway, Division of Pathology and Neuroscience, Dundee University, Dundee DD1 9SY, UK, Sensus, 4804 RA, Roosendall, The Netherlands, Numico-Research, 6700 CA, Wageningen, The Netherlands, Unit of Human Nutrition, National Institute for Nutrition, 00178 Roma, Italy, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Utrecht, 5384 CL, Utrecht, The Netherlands, Raffinerie Tirlemontoise Orafti, 3300 Tienen, Belgium, Seven Seas Ltd, Marfleet, Hull HU9 5NJ, UK, ILSI Europe, 1200 Brussels, Belgium, Institute of Molecular Biosciences, University of Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria and Yakult Europe, 1332 EN, Almere, The Netherlands

Chemotaxonomy of Linaria Genus by Nor-Iridoids Distribution

Abstract: Recent phytochemical study of several Italian species of Linaria, including rare endemic species, allowed a chemotaxomic approach to the genus based on phylogenetic trends in Lamiiflorae.