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Publications
Publications (70)
The fig tree (Ficus carica L.) was one of the first domesticated trees. In 2019, the world’s fig fruit production was estimated at 1153 tons. However, fig leaves are not utilized, resulting in copious quantities of bio-waste. To identify promising fig tree varieties, hydroethanolic extracts were prepared from the leaves of five fig tree varieties (...
The encapsulation of the 3-deoxyanthocyanidins (3-DXA) red dye, extracted from sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) leaves, was explored for food application. The extracts showed antioxidant activity at concentrations ranging from 803 to 1210 μg mL−1 and did not reveal anti-inflammatory or cytotoxic properties, indicating their potential for food applicati...
Fungi are eukaryotic organisms that can produce a wide range of secondary metabolites with a significant impact on society. Some metabolites are exploited for their activity as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, and anti-microbial agents, and in the production of cancer vaccines, among other pharmaceutical applications. Since the discovery...
Researchers have concentrated efforts in the search for natural-based reversible inhibitors for cholinesterase enzymes because they may play a key role in the treatment and cure of degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s Disease. Diverse alkaloids from plants can inhibit the action of acetylcholinesterase enzyme and, among them, berberine is a promi...
Water extracts from sea lavender (Limonium algarvense Erben) plants cultivated in greenhouse conditions and irrigated with freshwater and saline aquaculture effluents were evaluated for metabolomics by liquid chromatography-tandem high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS/MS), and functional properties by in vitro and ex vivo methods. In vitro ant...
The objective of this work was to determine the potential bioactive properties of extracts from bio-residues of pinhão (Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.) Kuntze) seeds, namely the α-amylase and cholinesterase inhibition, cytotoxicity, and anti-inflammatory properties. The pinhão extracts evaluated were obtained from cooking water (CW) and as an etha...
Two of the most prevalent diseases around the globe are currently cancer and resistant bacteria-mediated infections. Despite the numerous advances that have been made in recent years against tumoral diseases and in the discovery of antibiotics, these diseases are still leading causes of worldwide deaths. Therefore, the search for compounds with cyt...
The presented case study illustrates the possibility of adding value to the biological surplus remaining from the mushroom cultivation industry. In essence, the unused mushroom parts were submitted to UV-C irradiation, with the purpose of increasing the vitamin D2 content and validating its extraction. Vitamin D2 concentration in three different mu...
Consumers are very concerned with following a healthy diet, along with some precautions that may influence environmental impact. Solanum melongena L. is one of the most consumed vegetables due to its excellent nutritional value and antioxidant action. Associated with its high consumption, considerable amounts of agro-food wastes are produced. This...
Heat (HAE)- and ultrasound (UAE)-assisted extraction methods were implemented to recover anthocyanins from red raspberry. Processing time, ethanol concentration, and temperature or ultrasonic power were the independent variables combined in five-level rotatable central composite designs coupled with response surface methodology (RSM) for processes...
To evaluate the phenolic profile and biological activity of the Algerian Sahara plant Acacia tortilis (Forssk.) Hayne ssp. raddiana decoction and 80% ethanolic extracts were studied. Chromatographic profiling indicated the presence of 36 phenolic compounds, including gallic acid esterified derivatives, galloylquinic derivatives and flavan-3-ols gal...
Juglans regia L. (walnut) green husks are an important fraction of waste resulting from the walnut production, thus representing an interesting natural matrix to explore as a source of bioactive compounds. In this work, the hydroethanolic extract of walnut green husks was studied considering the phytochemical composition and the biological activity...
Jabuticaba (Myrciaria jaboticaba (Vell.) Berg) is a Brazilian berry, very appreciated for in natura consumption. However, its epicarp is not normally consumed due to its stiffness and astringent taste, and in manufacture of products from jabuticaba fruit, it is responsible for the generation of large amounts of residues. The exploration of by-produ...
Lutein is a bioactive found in dark leafy vegetables that may be used as a nutraceutical agent in foodstuff and an inhibitor of key enzymes of the human body such as those involved in the cholinergic system. However, its high hydrophobicity leads to low bioavailability and must be overcome if lutein is to be added in foods. The objective of this st...
This study aims to give an unprecedented contribution on the chemical composition and bioactivities of the most produced and appreciated Portuguese fig variety ("Pingo de Mel") with the view of expanding the knowledge on its potentialities. An advanced characterization of its peel and pulp parts was carried out. Four free sugars (glucose, fructose,...
Pereskia aculeata Miller, known worldwide as ora-pro-nobis, is a highly nutritive species of the Cactaceae family from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. In this work, we report inedited information on the phenolic profile of P. aculeata leaves, besides a broad study of their antioxidant potential using a set of five different methods. A total of ten p...
A series of enantiopure isoxazolidines (3a–c) were synthesized by 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition between a (−)-menthone-derived nitrone and various terminal alkenes. The screened compounds were evaluated for their antioxidant activity by two in vitro antioxidant assays, including β-carotene/linoleic acid bleaching, and inhibition of lipid peroxidation (...
Cornflower is a flowering weed and ornamental plant whose blue flowers have been used for food, decorative and colouring purposes. In this study, the upper (edible flowers) and lower (non-edible receptacle and involucre) parts of the capitulum were studied and compared for their chemical composition and bioactive properties. The flowers were richer...
The flowering shoots of Calluna vulgaris were nutritional and chemically characterized. Furthermore, different organic and aqueous extracts were prepared for evaluation of their bioactive properties. From the obtained results, carbohydrates were the major compounds, followed by protein, lipid and ashes. It was possible to identify the sugars fructo...
Pleurotus sajor-caju (PSC) is an edible mushroom used in food supplements, presenting antitumor properties through induction of cell death pathways. The PSC potential against colorectal cancer was analyzed by exposing HCT116wt cells to different PSC extracts. The PSC n-hexane extract (PSC-hex) showed the highest cytotoxicity effect (IC50 value 0.05...
Angiogenesis is the natural and physiologic process of growing blood vessels from pre-existing ones. Pathological angiogenesis occurs when the precise balance of all the molecular pathways that regulate angiogenesis is disrupted, and this process is a critical step in many diseases, including cancer. A limited number of antiangiogenic synthetic dru...
Natural ingredients are valuable options to be exploited in the design of innovative food formulations with health benefits. Therefore, it was evaluated the potential use of Arenaria montana L. hydroethanolic extract (rich in apigenin derivatives) as a chemopreventive agent in functional foods. Apigenin is recognized as inhibiting VEGFR-2, which is...
HtrA2 (high-temperature requirement 2) is a human mitochondrial protease that has a role in apoptosis and Parkinson’s disease. The structure of HtrA2 with an intact catalytic triad was determined, revealing a conformational change in the active site loops, involving mainly the regulatory LD loop, which resulted in burial of the catalytic serine rel...
A study with Pleurotus sajor-caju was conducted to: evaluate the nutritional and chemical composition of the fruiting bodies; optimize the preparation of bioactive phenolic extracts; and characterize the optimized extract in terms of bioactive compounds and properties. P. sajor-caju revealed an equilibrated nutritional composition with the presence...
The phytochemical profiles and bioactivities of red, white and pink globe amaranth (Gomphrena haageana K., Gomphrena globosa var. albiflora and Gomphrena sp., respectively), much less studied than the purple species (G. globosa L.), were compared. The chemical characterization of the samples included the analysis of macronutrients and individual pr...
Angiogenesis is a process by which new blood vessels are formed from the pre-existing vasculature, and it is a key process that leads to tumour development. Some studies have recognized phenolic compounds as chemopreventive agents; flavonoids, in particular, seem to suppress the growth of tumor cells modifying the cell cycle. Herein, the antiangiog...
In the present work, the knowledge on target proteins of standard antibiotics was extended to antimicrobial mushroom compounds. Docking studies were performed for 34 compounds in order to evaluate their affinity to bacterial proteins that are known targets for some antibiotics with different mechanism of action: inhibitors of cell wall synthesis, i...
Human ERBB2 is a proto-oncogene that codes for the erbB-2 epithelial growth factor receptor. In human breast cancer (HBC), erbB-2 protein overexpression has been repeatedly correlated with poor prognosis. In more recent works, underexpression of this gene has been described in HBC. Moreover, it is also recognised that oncogenes that are commonly am...
New fluorinated and methoxylated di(hetero)arylethers and di(hetero)arylamines were prepared functionalizing the 7-position of the thieno[3,2-b]pyridine, using copper (C-O) or palladium (C-N) catalyzed couplings, respectively, of the 7-bromothieno[3,2-b]pyridine, also prepared, with ortho, meta and para fluoro or methoxy phenols and anilines. The c...
Aim and methods:
Although the antimicrobial activity of extracts from several mushroom species has been reported, studies with the individual compounds present in that extracts are scarce. Herein, the antimicrobial activity of different phenolic compounds identified and quantified in mushroom species from all over the world was evaluated. Furtherm...
The vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR-2) is a tyrosine kinase receptor involved in the growth and differentiation of endothelial cells that are implicated in tumor-associated angiogenesis. In this study, novel 1-aryl-3-[4-(thieno[3,2-d]pyrimidin-4-yloxy)phenyl]ureas were synthesized and evaluated for the VEGFR-2 tyrosine kinase i...
Three aminodi(hetero)arylamines were prepared via a palladium-catalyzed C-N Buchwald-Hartwig coupling of methyl 3-aminothieno[3,2-b]pyridine-2-carboxylate with different bromonitrobenzenes, followed by reduction of the nitro groups of the coupling products to the corresponding amino compounds. The aminodi(hetero)arylamines thus obtained were evalua...
Crataegus monogyna has been extensively studied due to its various alleged health benefits. This study aimed to determine the human tumor cells growth inhibitory activity of phenolic extracts of its flower buds and fruits in three phenological stages, and further characterize the extracts by HPLC–DAD–ESI/MS. Flower bud extract showed the highest an...
In some human cancer cases, the activity of p53 is inhibited by over-expressed Mdm2. The Mdm2 acts as an ubiquitin ligase, resulting in p53 ubiquitination and subsequent p53 proteasomal degradation. The disruption of the Mdm2-p53 interaction using small-molecule inhibitors is recognized as a promising strategy for anti-cancer drug design. Mushrooms...
Selective side-chain residue flexibility is an option available on AutoDock Vina docking software. This approach is promising as it attempts to provide a more realistic ligand-protein interaction environment without an unmanageable increase in computer processing time. However, studies validating this approach are still scarce. VEGFR-2 (vascular en...
Wild mushrooms have become attractive as a source of physiologically beneficial compounds including antioxidants such as phenolic compounds and tocopherols. The concentrations of antioxidant compounds (phenolics and α-tocopherol) and EC50 values of antioxidant activity (concentration required to achieve 50% of radical scavenging activity and lipid...
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly complex cancer, resistant to commonly used treatments and new therapeutic agents are urgently needed. A total of thirty-two thieno[3,2-b]pyridine derivatives of two series: methyl 3-amino-6-(hetero)arylthieno[3,2-b]pyridine-2-carboxylates (1a-1t) and methyl 3-amino-6-[(hetero)arylethynyl]thieno[3,2-b]pyrid...
In computational chemistry, vast quantities of compounds are generated, and there is a need for cheminformatic tools to efficiently build chemical compound libraries. Several software tools for drawing and editing compound structures are available, but they lack options for automatic generation of chemical libraries. We have implemented ChemT, an e...
Mushrooms represent an unlimited source of compounds with anti-tumour and immunostimulating properties, and their intake has been shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer. A large number of low molecular weight (LMW) compounds present in mushrooms have been identified, including phenolic acids, flavonoids, tocopherols, carotenoids, sugars and fatt...
VEGFR2 (Vascular Endolhelial Growlh Faclor Receplor 2) is a recognized anli-caneer prolein largel wilh already one known inhibilor, soranefib, in lhe markel lor Iherapeulie use.' Prolein-ligand docking lools ean be used in order lo find polenlial new VEGFR2 inhibilors. However, lhe qualily 01 docking results can be affected by the simplification af...
Tutorial for MOLA. This tutorial presents a complete step-by-step guide to use MOLA, including cluster assembly and virtual screening with MOLA using AutoDock4 or Vina. Also the preparation steps before using MOLA and the possibility of using VirtualBox for booting is explained in detail.
Virtual screening of small molecules using molecular docking has become an important tool in drug discovery. However, large scale virtual screening is time demanding and usually requires dedicated computer clusters. There are a number of software tools that perform virtual screening using AutoDock4 but they require access to dedicated Linux compute...
Wild mushrooms have been described as sources of natural antioxidants, particularly phenolic compounds. However, many other compounds present in wild mushrooms can also act as antioxidants (reducers), so whole extracts from a wide range of species need to be examined. To gain further knowledge in this area, the relationship between the antioxidant...
A QSAR study was developed in order to model the antioxidant activity, specifically the radical scavenger activity (RSA), of 26 di(hetero)arylamines' derivatives of benzo[b]thiophenes. The QSAR model was constructed, using the partial least squares projection of latent structures (PLS) method, and its robustness and predictability were verified by...
Cyclic voltammetry was used to evaluate the antioxidant activity of 7-aryl or 7-heteroarylamino-2,3-dimethylbenzo[b]thiophenes previously synthesized by some of us, comparing their oxidation potentials with those of the well-known synthetic standards (BHA, BHT). Compounds with electron-donating groups on the arylamine moiety have lower Ep/2 than co...
Maintenance of equilibrium between free radical production and antioxidant defences (enzymatic and non enzymatic) is an essential condition for normal organism functioning. When this equilibrium has a tendency for the production of free radicals we say that the organism is in oxidative stress. In this situation, excess free radicals may damage cell...
The antioxidant effects of carvedilol and its analog BM-910228 (also known as SB 211475) were studied in rat liver mitochondria as well as their action on mitochondrial bioenergetics. Carvedilol and BM-910228 inhibited ADP/Fe(2+)-initiated lipid peroxidation (measured in mitochondrial membranes as thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and oxygen...
