1Background Inflammatory bowel disease is a group of pathologies characterised by chronic 2 inflammation of the intestine and an unclear aetiology. Its main manifestations are Crohn's disease 3 and ulcerative colitis. Currently, biopsies are the most used diagnostic tests for these diseases and 4 metabolomics could represent a less invasive approach to identify biomarkers of disease presence and 5 progression. 6Objectives The lipid and the polar metabolite profile of plasma samples of patients affected by 7 inflammatory bowel disease have been compared with healthy individuals with the aim to find their 8 metabolomic differences. Also, a selected sub-set of samples was analysed following solid phase 9 extraction to further characterise differences between pathological samples. 10 Methods A total of 200 plasma samples were analysed using drift tube ion mobility coupled with 11 time of flight mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography for the lipid metabolite profile analysis, 12 while liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectromety was used for the polar 13 metabolite profile analysis. 14 Results Variations in the lipid profile between inflammatory bowel disease and healthy individuals 15 were highlighted. Phosphatidylcholines, lyso-phosphatidylcholines and fatty acids were significantly 16 changed among pathological samples suggesting changes in phospholipase A2 and arachidonic acid 17 metabolic pathways. Variations in the levels of cholesteryl esters and glycerophospholipids were also 18 found. Furthermore, a decrease in amino acids levels suggests mucosal damage in inflammatory 19 bowel disease.20Conclusions Given good statistical results and predictive power of the model produced in our study, 21 metabolomics can be considered as a valid tool to investigate inflammatory bowel disease. 22 23 Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a group of pathologies characterised by a chronic phlogosis, 24 and a not specified etiology (Baumgart and Carding 2007). The main clinically defined forms of IBD 25 are Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) (Kaser et al. 2010, Kumar and Clark 2016). The 26 incidence of IBD fluctuates from country to country but the main two typologies affect 1.5 million 27 Americans, 2.2 million Europeans, and several hundred thousands more worldwide (Kumar and 28 Clark 2016, Cosnes et al. 2011). Diagnosis of IBDs is particularly challenging, as other diseases 29 causing similar signs and symptoms need to be excluded first through a combination of tests, but the 30 ultimate diagnostic tool remains endoscopic examination coupled with biopsies. Furthermore, 31 discrimination between the two manifestations, UC and CD, is particularly complicated given the 32 similarity of the symptoms, resulting in 10-15% of cases lacking a defined diagnosis (undefined 33 colitis) (Kumar and Clark 2016). Different causative agents have been proposed in the past for CD 34 and UC diagnosis. One of these theories is based on the T-cell pathway, that proposes the idea that T 35 cells activation...

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The main objective of this review is to summarize the compositional characteristics and the health and functional properties of Mediterranean buffalo milk and whey derived from mozzarella cheese production. Several studies have investigated the composition of buffalo milk and in particular its fat, protein, and carbohydrates contents. These characteristics may change depending on the breed, feeding regime, and rearing system of the animals involved in the study, and also with the seasons. In particular, buffalo milk showed a higher nutritional value and higher levels of proteins, vitamins, and minerals when compared to milks produced by other animal species. Additionally, buffalo milk contains beneficial compounds such as gangliosides that can provide antioxidant protection and neuronal protection, and can improve bone, heart, and gastrointestinal health in humans.

Abnormal consumption of ethanol, the ingredient responsible for alcoholic drinks’ addictive liability, causes millions of deaths yearly. Ethanol’s addictive potential is triggered through activation, by a still unknown mechanism, of the mesolimbic dopamine (DA) system, part of a key motivation circuit, DA neurons in the posterior ventral tegmental area (pVTA) projecting to the ipsilateral nucleus accumbens shell (AcbSh). The present in vivo brain microdialysis study, in dually-implanted rats with one probe in the pVTA and another in the ipsilateral or contralateral AcbSh, demonstrates this mechanism. As a consequence of the oral administration of a pharmacologically relevant dose of ethanol, we simultaneously detect a) in the pVTA, a substance, 1-methyl-6,7-dihydroxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline (salsolinol), untraceable under control conditions, product of condensation between DA and ethanol’s first by-product, acetaldehyde; and b) in the AcbSh, a significant increase of DA release. Moreover, such newly generated salsolinol in the pVTA is responsible for increasing AcbSh DA release via μ opioid receptor (μOR) stimulation. In fact, inhibition of salsolinol’s generation in the pVTA or blockade of pVTA μORs prevents ethanol-increased ipsilateral, but not contralateral, AcbSh DA release. This evidence discloses the long-sought key mechanism of ethanol’s addictive potential and suggests the grounds for developing preventive and therapeutic strategies against abnormal consumption.

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