S. Sciuto’s research while affiliated with University of Catania and other places

... The additional NOESY interactions, among H-6α, Η-12 and Η3-16, and between the latter and H-9α, as well as the correlations of H-8 with H-5β, H-6β, H-9β, H-10β and H-13, and of H-13 with H-10β, established the uncommon cis-fusion of the two cyclohexane rings, previously reported for coronone [24]. Moreover, the β-equatorial orientation of Η3-15 was evident from its synchronous NOEs observed with H-12 and H-13, thus permitting the assignment of the relative configuration of debromosphaerol (7). ...

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Halogenated Diterpenes with In Vitro Antitumor Activity from the Red Alga Sphaerococcus coronopifolius

... The fruits of O. dillenii consist of different types of phytochemicals compositions, including phenolic compounds, natural antioxidants, and minerals. Fruits contain a high amount of fiber, ash, acidity, fat, ascorbic acid, total phenolics and minerals like sodium (Na), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), manganese (Mn), and chromium (Cr), and little amount of°Brix, proteins, potassium (K), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn) and nickel (Ni) (Medina et al., 2007) as show It is found that fruits of O. dillenii contain 14 C-labeled betanidin an indole carboxylic acid (Sciuto et al., 1972). O. dillenii fruits ingestion represents a significant impact on the consumption of fiber, ascorbic acid, minerals, Mn, Cr, and total phenolics that making it a prominent antioxidant and a dominant complementary diet. ...

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Opuntia dillenii (Ker Gawl.) Haw

... As regards the more southerly populations, data are fragmentary and papers describing variations in hepatocyte storage and melanomacrophages seldom give information about a possible hibernating and/or aestivating condition, or about the climatic features of the sampling site. Some analyses of seasonal variation were made using biochemical methods on glycogen (Scapin & Di Giuseppe 1994), lipids (Milone et al. 1978(Milone et al. , 1983(Milone et al. , 1990Bruscalupi et al. 1989) and melanin (Sichel et al. 1981;Corsaro et al. 1990). Apparently, no author has studied the liver cycle by histochemical methods. ...

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Seasonal changes in the liver of a non-hibernating population of water frogs, Pelophylax kl. esculentus (Anura: Ranidae)

... The sinusoids are capillaries lined by endothelial cells and macrophages, which in the liver are called Kupffer cells. Finally, aggregates of pigment-containing cells called melano-macrophages (MMs) can be observed in the hepatic parenchyma, which have various functions, such as melanin synthesis, phagocytosis, and free radical neutralization [52]. ...

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Could Exposure to Glyphosate Pose a Risk to the Survival of Wild Animals? A Case Study on the Field Lizard Podarcis siculus

... A series of chromatographic separations of the CH 2 Cl 2 / MeOH extract of the red alga S. coronopifolius, collected in Agios Giannis bay off Parga in Greece, resulted in the isolation of 14 diterpenes (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14) and one sesquiterpene (15) as the major constituents. By comparison of their spectroscopic and physical characteristics with those reported in the literature, the isolated metabolites were identified as bromosphaerol (1) [33,34], 12S-hydroxybromosphaerol (2) [35,36], 12R-hydroxy-bromosphaerol (3) [36,37], sphaerococcinol A (4) [38,39], 14R-hydroxy-13,14-dihydro-sphaerococcinol A (5) [36], 8-methoxy-dihydrosphaerococcenol (6) [40], 2S-hydroxy-isobromosphaerol (7) [41], bromosphaerol B (8) [36], bromosphaerodiol (9) [42], 1S-hydroperoxy-12S-hydroxy-bromosphaerodiol B (10) [36], 1S-hydroperoxy-12R-hydroxy-bromosphaerodiol B (11) [36], 1S-hydroxy-1,2-dihydrobromosphaerol (12) [41,43], bromotetrasphaerol (13) [37], 12R-hydroxy-bromocorodienol (14) [44] and allo-aromadendrene (15) [45] (Figure 1). ...

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Antifouling Activity of Halogenated Compounds Derived from the Red Alga Sphaerococcus coronopifolius: Potential for the Development of Environmentally Friendly Solutions

... The melanin of the melanomacrophages appears to play an important role in the sequestration of cytotoxic compounds and other toxic substances in the liver of amphibians and other vertebrates (Bustamante et al., 1993;Loumbourdis, 2007;Rozanowska et al., 1999). Bernabò et al. (2014) raised the hypothesis that the melanin of amphibians may represent a valid alternative to the enzymes involved in the detoxification process, substituting the antioxidant activity of both superoxide dismutase and glutathione (Geremia et al., 1989;Sichel et al., 1987). ...

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The Use of Multiple Biomarkers to Assess the Health of Anuran Amphibians in the Brazilian Cerrado Savanna: An Ecotoxicological Approach

... Pigmentation and melanin have been reported in the gonads of many vertebrates, both avian and nonavian, including fish and reptiles (Ellis et al. 1976;Agrawal and Bansal 1983;Guillette et al. 1983;Galván et al. 2011). The liver of some fish (Stosik et al. 2019), amphibians, and reptiles (Sichel et al. 2002;Guida et al. 2004;Ahmed et al. 2018;Nafady and Awadalla 2019) has melanomacrophages, which have an immune function similar to that of mammalian Kupffer cells that are capable of synthesizing melanin (Cicero et al. 1982;Scalia et al. 1988;Sichel et al. 1997;Hamdi et al. 2014). Liver pigmentation via melanin has been proposed to function in a variety of mechanisms, such as hepatic defense systems against cytotoxic substances (Fenoglio et al. 2005;Leknes 2007), scavenging of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and sequestration of toxic metal ions (Dubey and Roulin 2014;Rossi et al. 2019;McNamara et al. 2021), regulation of redox reactions and hypoxemia (Solano 2014), organ development and function (Dubey and Roulin 2014), and protection against pollutants (Agius and Roberts 2003;Rossi et al. 2019;McNamara et al. 2021). ...

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Variation in Melanin Content of Lizard Livers: Hybrids Turning to the Dark Side

... Bioassays open the possibility of the detection of diverse substances, which behave like cytokinins (Biddington & Thomas, 1973;Sciuto et al., 1981;Serdyuk et al., 1995), gibberellins (Sciuto et al., 1981;Kinsman et al., 1975), androgens (Leusch et al., 2017;Cooper et al., 2013), progestagens, glucocorticoids, estrogens, and exhibit thyroidal activity (Leusch et al., 2017). The role of stimuli could be played not only by hormones, but also by their analogs, such as precursors and mimetics. ...

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State-of-art and some ideas for future progress of bioassays with plants