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Our primary aim in this study was to test the hypothesis that PEA, a member of the fatty acid ethanolamide family and an endogenous PPAR-α ligand, exerts anti-inflammatory effects on SAO shock, causing a severe form of circulatory shock and enhanced formation of ROS. SAO shock was induced by clamping the superior mesenteric artery and the celiac trunk, resulting in a total occlusion of these arteries for 30 min. After this period of occlusion, the clamps were removed. In this study, we demonstrated that the administration of PEA, 5 min before reperfusion, significantly reduced all of the parameters involved during inflammation, such as proinflammatory cytokine production (TNF-α, IL-1β), adhesion molecules (ICAM-1, P-selectin) expression, NF-κB expression, and apoptosis (Bax, Bcl-2, TUNEL assay) activation. In addition, to study whether the protective action of PEA on SAO shock is also related to the activation of PPAR-α, we have investigated the effect of PEA in PPAR-α KO mice subjected to SAO shock. Our study clearly demonstrates that PEA significantly attenuated the degree of intestinal injury and inflammation caused by I/R injury. Moreover, the positive effects of PEA were at least in part dependent on the PPAR-α pathway. The results clearly indicate that PEA exerts an anti-inflammatory effect, also in a SAO shock model, which could imply a future use of PEA in the treatment of I/R shock.

Abstract:Although the irritant effects of quaternium-15 have been established, little is known about the toxicological consequences induced by this xenobiotic on aquatic invertebrates. The present article reports toxicological, histological and physiological effects of quaternium-15 following the exposure of Mytilus galloprovincialis for 18 days at three different concentrations (0.1, 1.0 and 2.0 mg/L). The results demonstrate that at higher concentrations histological damages to M. galloprovincialis gills occur, like melanosis, light exfoliations, increase of mucus production and infiltrative inflammation. In addition digestive gland cells of M. galloprovincialis, were not able to perform the regulation volume decrease (RVD) owing to osmotic stress following the exposure to the preservative. Overall, this first study on quaternium-15 highlights that it can jeopardize both the morphology and vital physiological processes in marine invertebrates, depending on the duration of exposure and the concentration of the preservative, indicating that further studies are necessary to increase our knowledge about the effects of this substance, commonly added to our products of daily use.

The response of isolated digestive cells of the digestive gland of Mytilus galloprovincialis to hypotonic shock was studied using videometric methods. The isolated cells exposed to a rapid change (from 1100 to 800 mosmol kg(-1) ) of the bathing solution osmolality swelled but thereafter underwent a regulatory volume decrease (RVD), tending to recover the original size. When the hypotonic stress was applied in the presence of quinine and glibenclamide, known inhibitors of swelling activated ion channels, the cells did not exhibit an RVD response; in addition, they showed a larger increase in size in respect to control cells. These observations suggest that the digestive cells of the digestive gland have the machinery to cope with the hyposmotic shock allowing them to exhibit a small but significant RVD preventing an excessive increase in cell size. The pharmacological treatment of digestive cells during the RVD experiments suggests that cell volume is regulated by K(+) and Cl(-) efflux followed by an obliged water efflux from the cell. The involvement of organic osmolytes such as taurine and betaine seems to be excluded by NMR measurement on digestive cells.

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