Dietary redox-active/antioxidant phytochemicals may help control or mitigate the inflammatory response in chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In the present study, the anti-inflammatory activity of indicaxanthin (Ind), a pigment from the edible fruit of cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica, L.), was shown in an IBD model consisting of a human intestinal epithelial cell line (Caco-2 cells) stimulated by IL-1β, a cytokine known to play a major role in the initiation and amplification of inflammatory activity in IBD. The exposure of Caco-2 cells to IL-1β brought about the activation of NADPH oxidase (NOX-1) and the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) to activate intracellular signalling leading to the activation of NF-κB, with the over-expression of inflammatory enzymes and release of pro-inflammatory mediators. The co-incubation of the cells with Ind, at a nutritionally relevant concentration (5–25 μm), and IL-1β prevented the release of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-8, PGE2 and NO, the formation of ROS and the loss of thiols in a dose-dependent manner. The co-incubation of the cells with Ind and IL-1β also prevented the IL-1β-induced increase of epithelial permeability. It was also shown that the activation of NOX-1 and NF-κB was prevented by Ind and the expression of COX-2 and inducible NO synthase was reduced. The uptake of Ind in Caco-2 cell monolayers appeared to be unaffected by the inflamed state of the cells. In conclusion, our findings suggest that the dietary pigment Ind may have the potential to modulate inflammatory processes at the intestinal level.

The impact of di-cationic pentamidine-analogues against Toxoplama gondii (Rh- and Me49-background) was investigated. The 72 h-growth assays showed that the arylimidamide DB750 inhibited the proliferation of tachyzoites of T. gondii Rh and T. gondii Me49 with an IC50 of 0·11 and 0·13 μm, respectively. Pre-incubation of fibroblast monolayers with 1 μm DB750 for 12 h and subsequent culture in the absence of the drug also resulted in a pronounced inhibiton of parasite proliferation. However, upon 5–6 days of drug exposure, T. gondii tachyzoites adapted to the compound and resumed proliferation up to a concentration of 1·2 μm. Out of a set of 32 di-cationic compounds screened for in vitro activity against T. gondii, the arylimidamide DB745, exhibiting an IC50 of 0·03 μm and favourable selective toxicity was chosen for further studies. DB745 also inhibited the proliferation of DB750-adapted T. gondii (IC50=0·07 μm). In contrast to DB750, DB745 also had a profound negative impact on extracellular non-adapted T. gondii tachyzoites, but not on DB750-adapted T. gondii. Adaptation of T. gondii to DB745 (up to a concentration of 0·46 μm) was much more difficult to achieve and feasible only over a period of 110 days. In cultures infected with DB750-adapted T. gondii seemingly intact parasites could occasionally be detected by TEM. This illustrates the astonishing capacity of T. gondii tachyzoites to adapt to environmental changes, at least under in vitro conditions, and suggests that DB745 could be an interesting drug candidate for further assessments in appropriate in vivo models.

Nutrigenomics represents a shift of nutrition research from epidemiology and physiology to molecular biology and genetics. Nutrigenomics seeks to understand nutrition influences on homeostasis, the mechanism of genetic predispositions for diseases, to identify the genes influencing risk of diet related diseases. This review presents some in vitro models applicable in nutrigenomic studies, and discuses the use of animal models, their advantages and limitations and relevance for human situation. In vitro and in vivo models are suitable for performance of DNA microarrays, proteomic and transcriptomic analyses. In vitro models (intracellular organelles and suborganellar compartments, cell cultures, or tissue samples/cultures) give insight in metabolic pathways and responses to test stimuli on cellular and molecular levels. Animal models allow evaluation of the biological significance of the effects recorded in vitro and testing of the hypothesis on how a specific factor affects specific species under specific circumstances. Therefore, the evaluation of the data in relation to human organism should be done carefully, considering the species differences. The use of in vitro and in vivo models is likely to continue as the effects of nutrition on health and disease cannot be fully explained without understanding of nutrients action at nuclear level and their role in the intra- and intercellular signal transduction. Through advances in cell and molecular biology (including genomic and proteomic), the use of these models should become more predictively accurate. However, this predictive value relies on an underpinning knowledge of the advantages and limitations of the model in nutrigenomic research as in other fields of biomedical research.