25 documents found, page 1 of 3
Nutrient‐efficient catfish‐based aquaponics for producing lamb's lettuce at two...
Sebastião, Fernando; Vaz, Daniela C.; Pires, Cristiana L; Cruz, Pedro F; Moreno, Maria João; Brito, Rui M M; Cotrim, Luís; Oliveira, Nelson; Costa, AnaBACKGROUND: Aquaponic systems are sustainable processes of managing water and nutrients for food production. An innovate nutrient-efficient catfish-based (Clarias gariepinus) aquaponics system was implemented for producing two cultivars of two leafy vegetables largely consumed worldwide: lamb's lettuce (Valerianella locusta var. Favor and Valerianella locusta var. de Hollande) and arugula (Eruca vesicaria var. ...
Nutritive Value and Bioactivities of a Halophyte Edible Plant: Crithmum maritim...
Correia, Iris; Antunes, Madalena; Tecelão, Carla; Neves, Marta; Pires, Cristiana L.; Cruz, Pedro F.; Peralta, Claúdia C.; Pereira, Cidália D.Crithmum maritimum L. (sea fennel), an edible xerophyte of coastal habitats, is considered an emerging cash crop for biosaline agriculture due to its salt-tolerance ability and potential applications in the agri-food sector. Here, the nutritional value and bioactive properties of sea fennel are described. Sea fennel leaves, flowers, and schizocarps are composed of carbohydrates (>65%) followed by ash, proteins,...
Ligand's Partition to the Lipid Bilayer Should Be Accounted for When Estimating...
Moreno, Maria João; Salvador, ArmindoLigand-protein interactions are usually studied in complex media that also contain lipids. This is particularly relevant for membrane proteins that are always associated with lipid bilayers, but also for water-soluble proteins studied in in vivo conditions. This work addresses the following two questions: (i) How does the neglect of the lipid bilayer influence the apparent ligand-protein affinity? (ii) How can ...
Permeation of a Homologous Series of NBD-Labeled Fatty Amines through Lipid Bil...
Filipe, Hugo A. L.; Loura, Luís M. S.; Moreno, Maria JoãoPermeation through biomembranes is ubiquitous for drugs to reach their active sites. Asymmetry of the cell plasma membrane (PM) has been described as having an important role in this process. Here we describe the interaction of a homologous series of 7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazol-4-yl (NBD)-labeled amphiphiles (NBD-Cn, n = 4 to 16) with lipid bilayers of different compositions (1-palmitoyl, 2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3...
Interaction of a Homologous Series of Amphiphiles with P-glycoprotein in a Memb...
Moreno, Maria João; Filipe, Hugo A. L.; Cunha, Susana V. P.; Ramos, Cristiana V.; Martins, Patricia A. T.; Abel, Biebele; Loura, Luís M. S.The transport of drugs by efflux transporters in biomembranes limits their bioavailability and is a major determinant of drug resistance development by cancer cells and pathogens. A large number of chemically dissimilar drugs are transported, and despite extensive studies, the molecular determinants of substrate specificity are still not well understood. In this work, we explore the role of polar and non-polar ...
Contribution of non-ionic interactions on bile salt sequestration by chitooligo...
Coreta-Gomes, Filipe Manuel; Silva, Inês M. V.; Nunes, Cláudia; Marin-Montesinos, Ildefonso; Evtuguin, Dmitry Victorovitch; Geraldes, Carlos F. G. C.Chitooligosaccharides have been suggested as cholesterol reducing ingredients mostly due to their ability to sequestrate bile salts. The nature of the chitooligosaccharides-bile salts binding is usually linked with the ionic interaction. However, at physiological intestinal pH range (6.4 to 7.4) and considering chitooligosaccharides pKa, they should be mostly uncharged. This highlights that other type of intera...
Interaction of Hoechst 33342 with POPC Membranes at Different pH Values
Cordeiro, Margarida M.; Filipe, Hugo A. L.; Santos, Patrícia dos; Samelo, Jaime Amadeu Cruz Reis; Ramalho, João P Prates; Loura, Luís M. S.Hoechst 33342 (H33342) is a fluorescent probe that is commonly used to stain the DNA of living cells. To do so, it needs to interact with and permeate through cell membranes, despite its high overall charge at physiological pH values. In this work, we address the effect of pH in the association of H33342 with lipid bilayers using a combined experimental and computational approach. The partition of H33342 to 1-p...
Interactions between Rhodamine Dyes and Model Membrane Systems — Insights from ...
Magalhães, Nisa; Simões, Guilherme M.; Cristiana, Ramos; Samelo, Jaime; Oliveira, Alexandre C.; Filipe, Hugo A. L.; Prates Ramalho, João P.Background: rhodamines are dyes widely used as fluorescent tags in cell imaging, probing of mitochondrial membrane potential, and as P-glycoprotein model substrates. In all these applications, detailed understanding of the interaction between rhodamines and biomembranes is fundamental. Methods: we combined atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and fluorescence spectroscopy to characterize the interactio...
Modeling Gd 3+ Complexes for Molecular Dynamics Simulations: Toward a Rational ...
Oliveira, Alexandre C.; Filipe, Hugo; Prates Ramalho, João P.; Salvador, Armindo; Geraldes, Carlos F G C; Moreno, Maria João; Loura, Luís M SThe correct parametrization of lanthanide complexes is of the utmost importance for their characterization using computational tools such as molecular dynamics simulations. This allows the optimization of their properties for a wide range of applications, including medical imaging. Here we present a systematic study to establish the best strategies for the correct parametrization of lanthanide complexes using [...
Calculation of Permeability Coefficients from Solute Equilibration Dynamics: An...
Cordeiro, Margarida M.; Salvador, Armindo; Moreno, Maria JoãoPredicting the rate at which substances permeate membrane barriers in vivo is crucial for drug development. Permeability coefficients obtained from in vitro studies are valuable for this goal. These are normally determined by following the dynamics of solute equilibration between two membrane-separated compartments. However, the correct calculation of permeability coefficients from such data is not always strai...