Fish sarcoplasmic proteins as a high value marine material for wound dressing applications

Technological and structural aspects of scaffold manufacturing for cultured meat: recent advances, challenges, and opportunities

In vitro cultured meat is an emerging area of research focus with an innovative approach through tissue engineering (i.e., cellular engineering) to meet the global food demand. The manufacturing of lab-cultivated meat is an innovative business that alleviates life-threatening environmental issues concerning public health and animal well-being on the global platform. There has been a noteworthy advancement in cultivating artificial meat, but still, there are numerous challenges that impede the swift headway of lab-grown meat production at a commercially large scale. In this review, we focus on the manufacturing of edible scaffolds for cultured meat production. In brief, first an introduction to cultivating artificial meat and its current scenario in the market is provided. Further, a discussion on the understanding of composition, cellular, and molecular communications in muscle tissue is presented, which are vital to scaling up the production of lab-grown meat. In continuation, the major components (e.g., cells, biomaterial scaffolds, and their manufacturing technologies, media, and potential bioreactors) for cultured meat production are conferred followed by a comprehensive discussion on the most recent advances in lab-cultured meat. Finally, existing challenges and opportunities including future research perspectives for scaling-up cultured meat production are discussed with conclusive interpretations.

Current Research on the Extraction, Functional Properties, Interaction with Polyphenols, and Application Evaluation in Delivery Systems of Aquatic-Based Proteins

Globally, aquatic processing industries pay great attention to the production of aquatic proteins for the fulfillment of the nutritive requirements of human beings. Aquatic protein can replace terrestrial animal protein due to its high protein content, complete amino acids, unique flavor, high quality and nutritional value, and requirements of religious preferences. Due to the superior functional properties, an aquatic protein based delivery system has been proposed as a novel candidate for improving the absorption and bioavailability of bioactive substances, which might have potential applications in the food industry. This review outlines the extraction techniques for and functional properties of aquatic proteins, summarizes the potential modification technologies for interaction with polyphenols, and focuses on the application of aquatic-derived protein in delivery systems as well as their interaction with the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). The extraction techniques for aquatic proteins include water, salt, alkali/acid, enzyme, organic solvent, and ultrasound-assisted extraction. The quality and functionality of the aquatic proteins could be improved after modification with polyphenols via covalent or noncovalent interactions. Furthermore, some aquatic protein based delivery systems, such as emulsions, gels, films, and microcapsules, have been reported to enhance the absorption and bioavailability of bioactive substances by in vitro GIT, cell, and in vivo animal models. By promoting comprehensive understanding, this review is expected to provide a real-time reference for developing functional foods and potential food delivery systems based on aquatic-derived proteins.

Gill and Liver Transcript Expression Changes Associated With Gill Damage in Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar)

Gill damage represents a significant challenge in the teleost fish aquaculture industry globally, due to the gill’s involvement in several vital functions and direct contact with the surrounding environment. To examine the local and systemic effects accompanying gill damage (which is likely to negatively affect gill function) of Atlantic salmon, we performed a field sampling to collect gill and liver tissue after several environmental insults (e.g., harmful algal blooms). Before sampling, gills were visually inspected and gill damage was scored; gill scores were assigned from pristine [gill score 0 (GS0)] to severely damaged gills (GS3). Using a 44K salmonid microarray platform, we aimed to compare the transcriptomes of pristine and moderately damaged (i.e., GS2) gill tissue. Rank Products analysis (5% percentage of false-positives) identified 254 and 34 upregulated and downregulated probes, respectively, in GS2 compared with GS0. Differentially expressed probes represented genes associated with functions including gill remodeling, wound healing, and stress and immune responses. We performed gill and liver qPCR for all four gill damage scores using microarray-identified and other damage-associated biomarker genes. Transcripts related to wound healing (e.g., neb and klhl41b) were significantly upregulated in GS2 compared with GS0 in the gills. Also, transcripts associated with immune and stress-relevant pathways were dysregulated (e.g., downregulation of snaclec 1-like and upregulation of igkv3) in GS2 compared with GS0 gills. The livers of salmon with moderate gill damage (i.e., GS2) showed significant upregulation of transcripts related to wound healing (i.e., chtop), apoptosis (e.g., bnip3l), blood coagulation (e.g., f2 and serpind1b), transcription regulation (i.e., pparg), and stress-responses (e.g., cyp3a27) compared with livers of GS0 fish. We performed principal component analysis (PCA) using transcript levels for gill and liver separately. The gill PCA showed that PC1 significantly separated GS2 from all other gill scores. The genes contributing most to this separation were pgam2, des, neb, tnnt2, and myom1. The liver PCA showed that PC1 significantly separated GS2 from GS0; levels of hsp70, cyp3a27, pparg, chtop, and serpind1b were the highest contributors to this separation. Also, hepatic acute phase biomarkers (e.g., serpind1b and f2) were positively correlated to each other and to gill damage. Gill damage-responsive biomarker genes and associated qPCR assays arising from this study will be valuable in future research aimed at developing therapeutic diets to improve farmed salmon welfare.

Changes in Protein and Non-Protein Nitrogen Compounds during Fishmeal Processing—Identification of Unoptimized Processing Steps

Quality changes of protein and non-protein nitrogen compounds during industrial fishmeal processing of fatty pelagic species (mackerel/herring rest material blend, MHB) and lean fish (whole blue whiting, BW) were studied to identify processing steps that require optimization to allow production of products for human consumption. Samples from protein-rich processing streams throughout the fishmeal production were analyzed for proximate composition, salt soluble protein content (SSP), biogenic amines (BA), total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), trimethylamine (TMA), and dimethylamine (DMA). Mass flows throughout processing were balanced based on the total mass and proximate composition data. The quality of the final fishmeal products was highly dependent on the fish species being processed, indicating that the processes require optimization towards each raw material. The chemical composition changed in each processing step, resulting in different properties in each stream. Most of the non-protein nitrogen compounds (including BA, TVB-N, TMA, and DMA) followed the liquid streams. However, the concentrate contributed less than 20% to the produced fishmeal quantity. Mixing of this stream into the fishmeal processing again, as currently carried out, should thus be avoided. Furthermore, the cooking, separating, and drying steps should be optimized to improve the water and lipid separation and avoid the formation of undesired nitrogen compounds to produce higher-value products intended for human consumption.

Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Cytocompatible Salvia officinalis Extracts: A Comparison between Traditional and Soxhlet Extraction

Chronic inflammation is characterized by an overproduction of several inflammatory mediators (e.g., reactive species and interleukins -IL) that play a central role in numerous diseases. The available therapies are often associated with serious side effects and, consequently, the need for safer drugs is of utmost importance. A plant traditionally used in the treatment of inflammatory conditions is Salvia officinalis. Therefore, conventional maceration and infusion of its leaves were performed to obtain hydroethanolic (HE-T) and aqueous extracts (AE-T), respectively. Their efficacy was compared to soxhlet extracts, namely aqueous (AE-S), hydroethanolic (HE-S), and ethanolic extracts (EE-S). Thin-layer chromatography demonstrated the presence of rosmarinic acid, carnosol, and/or carnosic acid in the different extracts. Generally, soxhlet provided extracts with higher antioxidant activities than traditional extraction. Moreover, under an inflammatory scenario, EE-S were the most effective, followed by HE-S, HE-T, AE-T, and AE-S, in the reduction of IL-6 and TNF-α production. Interestingly, the extracts presented higher or similar anti-inflammatory activity than diclofenac, salicylic acid, and celecoxib. In conclusion, the extraction method and the solvents of extraction influenced the antioxidant activity, but mainly the anti-inflammatory activity of the extracts. Therefore, this natural resource can enable the development of effective treatments for oxidative stress and inflammatory diseases.