Scuto Maria

Title : Hormetic nutrition with medicinal mushrooms in neurodegeneration: Redoxomics and metabolomics approaches from bench to clinic

Abstract:

Hormetic nutrition for enhancing stress resilience and overall human health, recently, have received much attention. Redoxomics has been successfully applied to study neurodegeneration of ganglion neurons of the inner ear for the identification of potential biomarkers and novel mechanisms of Meniere’s disease (MD) neurodegeneration and the assessment of treatment prognosis and outcome. The identification and quantification of diverse lipidic species in human urine by innovative mass spectrometry platforms is of considerable importance to study redox metabolic homeostasis in normal and pathofisiological conditions. To date, the cause of Meniere's disease remains substantially unknown, despite many study reports indicate idiopathic endolymphatic hydrops as the main pathophysiological event, and increasing evidence suggests that oxidative stress and neuroinflammation are central to the development of endolymphatic hydrops and consequent vestibular otholitic degeneration and crisis. Emerging evidence indicate that hormetic nutrients including mushrooms supplementation targeting Nrf2 pathway and stress resilience vitagenes have shown to improve neurotoxic insults and mitochondrial dysfunction thus inhibiting oxidative stress and neuroinflammation that trigger neurosensorial degeneration of spiral ganglion cells. In this study we showed increased levels of carbonyls, HNE and pro-inflammatory NF-kB pathway as well as reduced mitochondrial complex activities in MD patients with respect to MD plus Coriolus treated group for 6 months. According to hormesis, supplementation by mushrooms exhibits biphasic dose-response effects by upregulating at low dose the expression of HO-1, Hsp70, Sirt1, Y-GCs and Trx (P < 0.05) in lymphocytes of MD patients as compared to untreated MD patients and by a significant increase in the plasma ratio reduced glutathione (GSH) vs oxidized glutathione (GSSG) (P<0.05) as measure of antioxidant status to oxidative stress. Lipidomics showed a significant increase of bioactive eicosanoid lipoxin A4 in lymphocytes, plasma and urine of MD patients compared to controls as well as a significant reduction of pro-inflammatory eicosanoid F2-isoprostanes. Metabolomics approach and results will be also discussed. In conclusion, hormetic nutrients including Coriolus versicolor biomass supplementation targeting vitagenes could be considered a promising nutritional approach in healthy aging medicine and anti-neurodegenerative therapeutics for neuroprotection in order to prevent or inhibit neuroinflammation releated to oxidative stress-induced neurodegeneration of vulnerable ganglion neurons in MD patients and high risk of developing sensorineural hearing loss.

Biography:

Dr. Maria Scuto is a researcher in Clinical Biochemistry and Clinical Molecular Biology for the Degrees Courses in Biomedical Laboratory Techniques and in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technologies and in the Specialization in Clinical Pathology and Clinical Biochemistry. On October 13th 2010 she is graduated in Cellular and Molecular Biology at University of Catania. On February 13th 2015 she received the PhD in Neurobiology at the University of Catania discussing a thesis entitled "Mitochondrial biogenesis, misfolding and cellular stress response in aging and in neurodegenerative disorders: proteomic approach ". From 2017 to 2019 she was the holder of a research grant disciplinary scientific sector Clinical Biochemistry and Clinical Molecular Biology (Bio/12) on the project: "Regulation of MiRNA, neuroinflammation, response to stress in neurodegeneration: from basic research to the clinic", University of Catania. From 2019 to 2022 as a post-doc, she carried out diagnostic assistance research at the Oncological Reference Center (CRO), National Cancer Institute-IRCCS, in Aviano. Since 2021 she is specialized in Clinical Pathology and Clinical Biochemistry. In 2022 she worked as a Tutor sector BIO/12 in the Degree Course of Human Nutrition Sciences at the San Raffaele Telematic University, Rome. From 2020 she is qualified in sector Clinical Biochemistry and Clinical Molecular Biology. Since 2011 he has actively collaborated at the Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, University of Catania. The quality and productive results of the work carried out by Dr. Scuto are evidenced by numerous scientific publications in prestigious International Journals. Furthermore, she has collaborated in multiple teaching activities and as co-tutor for graduate students of the Degree Courses in Biotechnology, Biological Sciences and interns of the Degree Course in Medicine and Surgery. She is a member of the Editorial Board of several high peer-reviewed journals including: Clinical and Community Medicine, Current Research in Food Technology and Nutritional Sciences, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, and International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Clinical Pharmacy. Her research focuses on the role of Oxidative stress, Cellular Resilience and Nutraceuticals in the human diet targeting antioxidant pathways and to develop novel preventive and therapeutic strategies that have a critical impact on treating human chronic diseases understanding how diet could cause or prevent them.