Daniela Pellegrino

Università della Calabria | Università della Calabria · Department of Biology, Ecology and Earth Science - DiBEST

Antarctica is the continent with the lowest local human impact; however, it is susceptible to pollution from external sources. Emerging pollutants such as perfluoroalkyl substances pose an increasing threat to this environment and therefore require more in-depth investigations to understand their environmental fate and biological impacts. The prese...

Due to its high toxicity and bioaccumulation tendency, tebuconazole (TBZ) is one of the ten substances posing the highest risk of harmful effects in aquatic ecosystems. The liver, a key compartment for xenobiotics detoxification, is also the organ in which TBZ mainly accumulates in fish. Herein, we investigated for the first time the morpho-functio...

Antarctica is the continent with the lowest local human impact, yet it is still vulnerable to contaminants coming from external sources. Emerging pollutants, like PFAS, pose an increasing threat to this environment and therefore require more in-depth investigations to understand their environmental fate and biological impacts. The present study, pa...

The Frank-Starling response is an intrinsic heart property that is particularly evident in the fish heart because piscine cardiomyocytes are extremely sensitive to stretch. Several mechanisms and compounds influence the Frank-Starling response, including the free radical nitric oxide produced by nitric oxide synthases in the vascular endothelium an...

The Mediterranean Sea has recently been described as one of the most affected marine environments with regards to microplastics. Existing data relating to microplastics on Mediterranean surface waters have shown not only an evident heterogeneous distribution, but also marked geographical differences between the Mediterranean subregions. To date, st...

Microplastic pollution has been under the magnifying glass for several years now.Existing data relating to microplastics on surface waters suggest that they are glob-ally widespread, but there are several gaps of knowledge in relation to understandhow many there are in different locations, what is their composition, where do theycome from and where...

Antarctica represents a unique natural laboratory for ecotoxicological studies as it is characterized by low internal pollutants emissions but high external contamination levels. Indeed, warm temperatures promote pollutant evaporation (low latitudes), while cool temperatures (high latitudes) promote its deposition from the atmosphere on land/water....

Bloodstains found at crime scenes represent a crucial source of information for investigative purposes. However, in forensic practice, no technique is currently used to estimate the time from deposition of bloodstains. This preliminary study focuses on the age estimation of bloodstains by exploiting the color variations over time due to the oxidati...

Citation: Marrone, A.; La Russa, D.; Montesanto, A.; Lagani, V.; La Russa, M.F.; Pellegrino, D. Short and Long Time Bloodstains Age Determination by Colorimetric Analysis: A Pilot Study. Molecules 2021, 26, 6272. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules 26206272 Academic Editors:

Plastic is everywhere—increasing evidence suggests that plastic pollution is ubiquitous and persistent in ecosystems worldwide. Microplastic pollution in marine environments is partic- ularly insidious, as small fragmentation can increase interaction with biota and food chain access. Of particular concern is the Mediterranean Sea, which has become...

Lead (Pb) is one of the most toxic and persistent elements and may adversely affect both humans and wildlife. Given the risks posed to humans, lead is listed among priority substances of public health importance worldwide. In fish, available studies deal with high doses, and the potential hazard of Pb at low concentrations is largely unknown. Given...

Background: the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome machinery has a central role in obesity-induced inflammation. Genetic studies well support the involvement of functional variants of NLRP3 and its negative regulator, CARD8, in the pathogenesis of complex diseases with an inflammatory background. We have investigated the influence of NLRP3 (rs461266...

Objectives Natural products are valuable sources of nutraceuticals for the prevention or treatment of ischemic stroke, a major cause of death and severe disability worldwide. Among the mechanisms implicated in cerebral ischemia-reperfusion damage, oxidative stress exerts a pivotal role in disease progression. Given the high antioxidant potential of...

Caloric restriction (CR) represents a powerful intervention for extending healthspan and lifespan in several animal models, from yeast to primates. Additionally, in humans, CR has been found to induce cardiometabolic adaptations associated with improved health. In this study, we evaluated in an aged and obese rat model the effect of long-term (6 mo...

This paper deals with the formulation of innovative mortars for the consolidation of archeological structures in underwater environment. The research was conducted within the frame of the MaTaCoS project (Advanced materials and technologies applied to the conservation of underwater cultural heritage) funded by MISE (Italian Ministry of Economic Dev...

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major public health problem worldwide and affects both elderly and young subjects. Its main consequences include the loss of renal function, leading to end-stage renal disease, an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, a significant increase in morbidity and mortality, and a decrease in health-related quality of...

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major public health problem worldwide and its main consequences include the loss of renal function leading to end-stage renal disease, an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, a significant increase in morbidity and mortality, and a decrease in health related quality of life. The present research work was based...

In the present study we describe the molecular characterization of the two paralogous mitochondrial peroxiredoxins from Trematomus bernacchii, a teleost that plays a pivotal role in the Antarctic food chain. The two putative amino acid sequences were compared with orthologs from other fish, highlighting a high percentage of identity and similarity...

Obesity is a potent risk factor for kidney disease as it increases the possibility of developing diabetes and hypertension, and it has a direct impact on the development of chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease. In this study, we tested the effect of bergamot polyphenolic fraction in a cafeteria with diet-fed rats, an excellent experim...

During chronic kidney disease, the progressive deterioration of renal function induces several biological/clinical dysfunctions, including enhancement of synthesis of inflammation/oxidative stress mediators. Impaired renal function is an independent cardiovascular risk factor; indeed, cardiovascular complications dominate the landscape of both chro...

Aim Centenarians represent a biological model of successful aging because they escaped/postponed most invalidating age‐related diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases. The aim of the present study was to clarify whether a favorable cardiovascular risk profile increases the survival chances in long‐lived people. Methods A total of 355 community‐d...

Autophagy dysfunction has been implicated in the pathogenesis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Natural compounds present in Bergamot Polyphenol Fraction (BPF) prevent NAFLD and induce autophagy in rat livers. Here, we employed HepG2 cells expressing DsRed-LC3-GFP, a highly sensitive model system to screen for proautophagic compounds pr...

The main target of primary prevention is the identification of cardiovascular risk factors aimed at reducing of the adverse impact of modifiable factors, such as lifestyle and pharmacological treatments. In humans, an alteration of the oxidative status has been associated with several pathologies, including diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. How...

In both humans and animals, essential hypertension acts as a risk factor for subclinical kidney damage and precedes renal dysfunction. Several lines of evidence indicate that hypertension and oxidative stress are closely related. The increase in vascular oxidative stress plays a key role in the pathophysiological consequences of hypertension, inclu...

Mercury (Hg) is a highly hazardous pollutant widely used in industrial, pharmaceutical and agricultural fields. Mercury is found in the environment in several forms, elemental, inorganic (iHg) and organic, all of which are toxic. Considering that the liver is the organ primarily involved in the regulation of metabolic pathways, homeostasis and deto...

Cardiovascular disease (CVD), the world’s primary cause of death and disability, represents a global health problem and involves a great public financial commitment in terms of both inability to work and pharmaceutical costs. CVD is characterized by a cluster of disorders, associated with complex interactions between multiple risk factors. The earl...

In mammalian and non-mammalian vertebrates, nitrite anion, the largest pool of intravascular and tissue nitric oxide storage, represents a key player of many biological processes, including cardiac modulation. As shown by our studies on Antarctic teleosts, nitrite-dependent cardiac regulation is of great relevance also in cold-blooded vertebrates....

Nitrite, a physiological nitric oxide (NO) storage form and an alternative way for NO generation, affects numerous biological processes through NO-dependent and independent pathways, including the S-nitrosylation of thiol-containing proteins. Mechanisms underlying these phenomena are not fully understood. The purpose of this study was to analyse in...

Although an increased oxidative stress has been associated with several pathologies, predictive value of circulating oxidative stress biomarkers remains poorly understood. It has been demonstrated that several pathologies underestimated in women, including cardiovascular diseases, develop differently by gender. In this study, conducted on 195 healt...

The aim of this chapter is to illustrate in the context of cold adaptation of the Antarctic teleosts the icefish as a unique case-study of physiological responses to genetic changes, i.e. loss of hemoglobin (Hb) and myoglobin (Mb), without apparent immediate compensatory mutations. This offers the opportunity to study the effects of epigenetic comp...

17β-estradiol (17βE2) plays an important cardiovascular role by activating estrogen receptors (ER) α and ERβ. Previous studies demonstrated that the novel estrogen G protein-coupled receptor (GPR30/GPER) mediates estrogen action in different tissues. We have recently shown in the rat heart that 17βE2 elicits negative inotropism through ERα, ERβ and...

Root extract of liquorice is traditionally used to treat several diseases. Liquorice-derived constituents present several biological actions. In particular, glycyrrhizin and its aglycone, glycyrrhetinic acid, exhibit well-known cardiovascular properties. The aim of this research was to explore the direct cardiac activity of glycyrrhizin and glycyrr...

The anorexigenic glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-2 is produced by intestinal L cells and released in response to food intake. It affects intestinal function involving G-protein-coupled receptors. To verify whether GLP-2 acts as a cardiac modulator in mammals, we analysed, in the rat heart, the expression of GLP-2 receptors and the myocardial and corona...

The circulating anion nitrite (NO(2)(-)) has long been considered an inert oxidative metabolite of nitric oxide (NO). Over the last decade several studies have identified inorganic nitrite as a key player in many biological processes because it acts both as a principal storage source of NO and as a signalling molecule distinct from its link with NO...

In the present study, we evaluated the transduction pathways involved in the cardiac effects elicited by 17beta-estradiol (E2) on the isolated, Langendorff perfused male Wistar rat heart. E2 and selective agonists for ERalpha and ERbeta induced a dose-dependent reduction of contractility which was blocked by the ER inhibitor ICI 182,780. Moreover,...

Biochemical parameters of the angiotensin converting enzyme-like activity (ACELA) in the gills of two Antarctic teleosts, Chionodraco hamatus and Trematomus bernacchii were characterized. Enzymatic activity was revealed following hydrolysis of a specific substrate of angiotensin-converting enzyme N-[3-(2-furyl)acryloyl]l-phenylalanyl-glycyl-glycine...

The teleostean Channichthyidae (icefish), endemic stenotherms of the Antarctic waters, perennially at or near freezing, represent a unique example of disaptation among adult vertebrates for their loss of functional traits, particularly hemoglobin (Hb) and, in some species, cardiac myoglobin (Mb), once considered to be essential-life oxygen-binding...

Being the largest form of intravascular and tissue storage of nitric oxide (NO) and a signalling molecule itself, the nitrite anion (NO(2)(-)) has emerged as a key player in many biological processes. Since the heart is under an important NO-mediated autocrine-paracrine control, in mammals the cardiac effects of nitrite are under intensive investig...

Endothelin (ET)-1 is a vasoconstrictor involved in cardiovascular diseases. Connective tissue growth factor/CCN2 (CTGF) is a fibrotic mediator overexpressed in human atherosclerotic lesions, myocardial infarction, and hypertension. In different cell types CTGF regulates cell proliferation/apoptosis, migration, and extracellular matrix (ECM) accumul...

The ubiquitous anion nitrite (NO(2)(-)) has recently emerged as an endocrine storage form of nitric oxide (NO) and a signalling molecule that mediates a number of biological responses. Although the role of NO in regulating cardiac function has been investigated in depth, the physiological signalling effects of nitrite on cardiac function have only...

The nitric oxide synthase (NOS)/nitric oxide (NO) system integrates cellular biochemical machinery and energetics. In heart microenvironment, dynamic NO behaviour depends upon the presence of superoxide anions, haemoglobin (Hb), and myoglobin (Mb), being hemoproteins are major players disarming NO bioactivity. The Antarctic icefish, which lack Hb a...

Using a model of isolated and Langendorff-perfused rat heart we analysed whether activation of beta3-adrenergic receptors (beta3-ARs) influences ventricular lusitropic performance. We also focused on the NOS/NO/cGMP/PKG cascade as the signal transduction mechanism. Hearts were treated with increasing concentrations (from 10(-12) to 10(-6) m) of BRL...

Nitric oxide (NO) is one of the oldest signaling molecules in animals, which acts as an intercellular and intracellular messenger in a multitude of cell types. Its role in the vascular biology of terrestrial vertebrates, particularly in mammals, is well established and extensively documented. This review article deals with the occurrence and effect...

The in vivo cardiovascular responses to hypoxia, and the intrinsic functional characteristics of the heart in vitro, were determined, and compared, in the Adriatic sturgeon (Acipenser naccarii). During exposure to hypoxia in vivo, blood oxygen content (Cao2) declined as water 02 partial pressure (Pwo2) was reduced, despite an increase in haematocri...

The intracellular messenger cyclic GMP (cGMP) represents the key signal in several transduction pathways throughout the animal world. In the heart cGMP signaling contributes to functional interaction of different cell types. Nitric oxide (NO) and natriuretic peptides (NPs), major autocrine-paracrine cardiovascular regulators, increment intracellula...

The presence of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) was investigated in the ventricle of two Antarctic teleosts, the hemoglobinless icefish Chionodraco hamatus and its red-blooded counterpart, Trematomus bernacchii. Under unstimulated conditions, in both teleosts, NADPH-diaphorase localised NOS activity in the endocardial-endothelial cells (EEc) and in the...

In the mammalian heart, intracardiac nitric oxide (NO) regulates in an autocrine-paracrine manner cardiac function in the beat-to-beat response (Starling's law of the heart), short-term response (phasic control, e.g. excitation-contraction coupling, responses to neurotransmitters and endocrines) and long-term response (tonic control by altering gen...

The potent vasomodulator adenosine (AD), thanks to the interaction with by A(1) and A(2) receptors, dilates systemic, coronary and cerebral vasculatures but exert a constrictor action in several vessels of respiratory organs. Recent investigations suggest that nitric oxide (NO) contributes to AD effects. In fish, both NO and AD induce atypical effe...

The role of nitric oxide (NO) in cardio-vascular homeostasis is now known to include allosteric redox modulation of cell respiration. An interesting animal for the study of this wide-ranging influence of NO is the cold-adapted Antarctic icefish Chionodraco hamatus, which is characterised by evolutionary loss of hemoglobin and multiple cardio-circul...

The involvement of nitric oxide (NO) in the branchial circulation and cardiac performance of the Antarctic hemoglobinless icefish Chionodraco hamatus was investigated using isolated and perfused head and working heart preparations. In the branchial vasculature under basal (i.e. unstimulated conditions), the nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor L-N...

Information about the presence and effects of nitric oxide (NO) in fish vasculature is scant and contradictory. We have studied the NO/cGMP system in the branchial circulation of the teleost Anguilla anguilla using a branchial basket preparation under basal conditions and cholinergic stimulation. The effects of endogenous and exogenous NO were test...

This work reports recent data on mechanisms of cold adaptation exhibited by the Antarctic teleosts Trematomus bernacchii and Chionodraco hamatus. Analysis of fatty acid in intestinal mucosa brush border suggested that an increase in unsaturated fatty acid could be a mechanism for the preservation of cell membrane integrity and functionality. The in...

ACh exerted a biphasic effect in the in vitro working heart of Rana esculenta. High concentrations (10(-7) M) of ACh depressed stroke volume (SV) and stroke work (SW) by approximately 30% with a shorter systolic phase and reduced peak pressure. Doses from 10(-10) M induced a positive response peaking at 10(-8) M (SV: +8.6%; SW: +6. 5%) and a prolon...

Endocardial endothelial morphology and the physiological modulatory role of nitric oxide (NO) were studied in an in vitro preparation of the working intact heart of the frog Rana esculenta, which lacks coronary vasculature and is thus devoid of a coronary vascular endothelium. En face confocal scanning laser microscopy of samples of perfused fixed...

The myocardium of teleosts, like the atrial myocardium of homeotherm vertebrates, is a major site of synthesis and release of various structuraly related hormones commonly referred to as natriuretic peptides (NPs). This family of vasorelaxant, diuretic, and natriuretic substances is involved in both cardiovascular and body fluid homeostasis of fish...

The stenothermal Antarctic fishes, particularly the hemoglobinless icefish, have developed biochemical, metabolic and morpho-functional features of cardiac performance that can help to decipher some mechanisms underlying cardiac cold adaptation. Examples taken from different levels of cardiac biology in Antarctic fish as a paradigm of cold adaptati...

1.1. An in vitro preparation of the intact heart of the frog Rana esculenta was set up.2.2. The isolated heart, perfused at constant pressure, was spontaneously beating and able to generate physiological values of output pressure, cardiac output, ventricle work and power. It showed the typical phenomenon of the “hypodynamic state” after a relativel...