Funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4 Component 2 Investment 1.3, Theme 10.
Lonati, E., Sala, G., Corbetta, P., Pagliari, S., Cazzaniga, E., Botto, E., Rovellini, P., Bruni, I., Palestini, P., & Bulbarelli, A.
International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 24.11 (2023): 9201
Epigenetic changes, host–gut microbiota interactions, and environmental factors contribute to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) onset and progression. A healthy lifestyle may help to slow down the chronic or remitting/relapsing intestinal tract inflammation characteristic of IBD. In this scenario, the employment of a nutritional strategy to prevent the onset or supplement disease therapies included functional food consumption. Its formulation consists of the addition of a phytoextract enriched in bioactive molecules. A good candidate as an ingredient is the Cinnamon verum aqueous extract. Indeed, this extract, subjected to a process of gastrointestinal digestion simulation (INFOGEST), exhibits beneficial antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties in an in vitro model of the inflamed intestinal barrier. Here, we deepen the study of the mechanisms related to the effect of digested cinnamon extract pre-treatment, showing a correlation between transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) decrement and alterations in claudin-2 expression under Tumor necrosis factor-α/Interleukin-1β (TNF-α/IL-1) β cytokine administration. Our results show that pre-treatment with cinnamon extract prevents TEER loss by claudin-2 protein level regulation, influencing both gene transcription and autophagy-mediated degradation. Hence, cinnamon polyphenols and their metabolites probably work as mediators in gene regulation and receptor/pathway activation, leading to an adaptive response against renewed insults.
New food supplements ingredients for malnutrition treatment
Principal investigators