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This dataset contains data collected in the project DIANA - Postbiotici per la salute della Donna e delle nuove generazionI: una strategiA “bio” e “greeN” in linea con le priorità di innovAzione e sviluppo sostenibile [Postbiotics for women's health and new generations: a “bio” and "green" strategy in line with the priorities of innovation and sustainable development], funded by the Fondazione del Monte di Bologna e Ravenna – Settore Ricerca Scientifica Bando 2021. Some technological features, i.e. critical micellar concentration and emulsification index, of a biosurfactant (BS) recovered from Lactobacillus gasseri BC12 were evaluated. After that, two different type of antimicrobial activities of BS-BC12 were investigated toward Candida spp. The anti-biofilm activity of BS solubilized in water toward C. abicans and non albicans species was evaluated by considering two mechanisms of action: inhibition of biofilm formation and eradication of pre-formed biofilm. The impact of BS on the proliferation of HeLa cells was studied by MTT assay. The anti-adhesive activity of BS toward Candida spp. was determined on the same cells by competition and exclusion assays.

In this Ph.D. project, original and innovative approaches for the quali-quantitative analysis of abuse substances, as well as therapeutic agents with abuse potential and related compounds were designed, developed and validated for application to different fields such as forensics, clinical and pharmaceutical. All the parameters involved in the developed analytical workflows were properly and accurately optimised, from sample collection to sample pretreatment up to the instrumental analysis. Advanced dried blood microsampling technologies have been developed, able of bringing several advantages to the method as a whole, such as significant reduction of solvent use, feasible storage and transportation conditions and enhancement of analyte stability. At the same time, the use of capillary blood allows to increase subject compliance and overall method applicability by exploiting such innovative technologies. Both biological and non-biological samples involved in this project were subjected to optimised pretreatment techniques developed ad-hoc for each target analyte, making also use of advanced microextraction techniques. Finally, original and advanced instrumental analytical methods have been developed based on high and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC,UHPLC) coupled to different detection means (mainly mass spectrometry, but also electrochemical, and spectrophotometric detection for screening purpose), and on attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) for solid-state analysis. Each method has been designed to obtain highly selective, sensitive yet sustainable systems and has been validated according to international guidelines. All the methods developed herein proved to be suitable for the analysis of the compounds under investigation and may be useful tools in medicinal chemistry, pharmaceutical analysis, within clinical studies and forensic investigations.

Simple Summary Investigations concerning the impact of D-Aspartate on fertility suggest that it has a positive influence on the in vitro fertilization rate in young C57BL/6N mice. Here, we demonstrated that adult C57BL/6N mice that received an oral treatment of D-Aspartate also have a higher fertilizing capability and the quality of their spermatozoa increased after only two weeks of treatment. Hence, this study gives us new insights on the role of D-Aspartate in the regulation of the reproductive activity in both young and adult mice. D-Aspartate (D-Asp) treatment improved the fertility of young male C57BL/6N mice in vivo revealing a direct role on capacitation, acrosome reaction, and fertility in vitro in young males only. We investigated whether the positive effect of D-Asp on fertility could be extended to adult males and evaluated the efficacy of a 2- or 4-week-treatment in vivo. Therefore, 20 mM sodium D-Asp was supplied in drinking water to males of different ages so that they were 9 or 16 weeks old at the end of the experiments. After sperm freezing, the in vitro fertilization (IVF) rate, the birth rate, hormone levels (luteinizing hormone (LH), epitestosterone, and testosterone), the sperm quality (morphology, abnormalities, motility, and velocity), the capacitation rate, and the acrosome reaction were investigated. Oral D-Asp treatment improves the fertilizing capability in mice regardless of the age of the animals. Importantly, a short D-Asp treatment of 2 weeks in young males elevates sperm parameters to the levels of untreated adult animals. In vivo, D-Asp treatment highly improves sperm quality but not sperm concentration. Therefore, D-Asp plays a beneficial role in mouse male fertility and may be highly relevant for cryorepositories to improve mouse sperm biobanking.

Volumetric absorptive microsampling (VAMS) and dried urine spot (DUS) strategies were applied for the collection of dried microsamples for anti-doping testing of low-stability peptide hormones and growth factors prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Drying, storage and transport conditions, as well as pretreatment steps, were optimised before liquid chromatography - tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) analysis. The analytical method has been fully validated in terms of sensitivity (limits of quantitation 0.3−10 ng/mL), precision (RSD% < 6.6 %) and extraction yields (78–91 %). Dried microsample stability studies (90 days) have been performed and compared to fluid urine stability. Significantly higher losses have been observed in fluid urine stored at −20 °C (up to 55 %) and −80 °C (up to 29 %) than in dried urine microsamples stored at room temperature (< 19 %). The final microsampling and analysis protocols allow the collection of urine microvolumes, unlikely to be tampered, stably storable and shippable with no particular precautions for possible anti-doping testing of prohibited peptides and hormones., EKL Processing

The goal of this study was to investigate the effects of oral administration of D-aspartate (D-Asp) to sexually immature male C57BL/6NTacCnrm (B6N) mice on the in vitro fertilisation (IVF) rate with cryopreserved-thawed spermatozoa and on cryopreserved sperm quality as well as on LH, epitestosterone, and testosterone levels. Males were treated at 7 weeks of age with a dose of 20 mM sodium D-aspartate in drinking water for 1.3, 2, 4 or 6 weeks so that they were 8.3, 9, 11 or 13 weeks of age, respectively, at the end of the study. The timepoints for controls were week 0 (start of experiment), 1.3, 2, 4 or 6, whereby mice received no D-Asp. At each timepoint, spermatozoa were cryopreserved for IVF and testes as well as sera were frozen for hormone level measurement. After 2 and 4 weeks of treatment, the IVF rate was significantly higher in the D-Asp group than in the controls (64% vs. 44% and 52% vs. 38%, respectively). Spermatozoa from D-Asp-treated males showed lower morphological abnormalities than their control counterparts. After 2 and especially after 4 weeks of treatment, the hormone levels in sera and testes and the total and progressive motility of the spermatozoa were higher in D-Asp-treated males. Although we did not elucidate the full mechanism leading to an improved IVF rate with spermatozoa from D-Asp-treated males lower morphological abnormalities and increased motility contribute to this observation. Importantly, D-Asp significantly improved the IVF rates as early as 2 weeks after treatment when mice were only 9 weeks old. This implies that sperm can be efficiently cryopreserved from younger males, compared to 13-weeks-old males, which are usually used for sperm cryopreservation. This is of relevance when genetic alterations cause premature death in males as well as high severity levels in older mice and aids in better resource management. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Plants, animals and micro-organisms represent a reservoir of natural products, the so called “natural source-derived compounds”. This is particularly true for the plant kingdom, as it offers a variety of species still used as remedies for several diseases in many parts of the world. Nevertheless, the bioactive potential of many plant species remains largely unexplored. Thus, biodiversity represents an unlimited source of chemical entities with potential beneficial effects on human health. These compounds are usually secondary metabolites often present in low quantity in plant material and their extraction, purification and quantitation still remain a great challenge for analytical scientists. The research activity carried out during these three years of PhD Programme was focused on the development, validation and application of original methods aimed at the quali-quantitative analysis of compounds with potential bioactive interest in plant matrices, foods, drinks and related products, as well as the analytical screening of plant by-products from cosmetic manufacture. Bioactive substances, belonging to the classes of polyphenols, aminoacids, coumarins, triterpenes and phytohormones, have been investigated as authenticity markers, in order to identify high quality products and to valorise niche products. The study regarded herbs (Argania spinosa), fruits (Citrus × myrtifolia, Punica granatum) and berries (Myrtus communis) mainly used as folk medicines for their broad spectrum of supposed pharmacological and therapeutic effects. The analytical methods developed within this study are based on high performance liquid chromatography and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to spectrofluorometric detection, triple quadrupole and high-resolution triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (HPLC-F, LC-MS/MS and UHPLC-HRMS). Significant efforts have been put also into the development and optimisation of miniaturised sample pretreatment strategies, such as micro-solid

Great strides have been made in the last few years in the pharmacological treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders, with the introduction into the therapy of several new and more efficient agents, which have improved the quality of life of many patients. Despite these advances, a large percentage of patients is still considered “non-responder” to the therapy, not drawing any benefits from it. Moreover, these patients have a peculiar therapeutic profile, due to the very frequent application of polypharmacy, attempting to obtain satisfactory remission of the multiple aspects of psychiatric syndromes. Therapy is heavily individualised and switching from one therapeutic agent to another is quite frequent. One of the main problems of this situation is the possibility of unwanted or unexpected pharmacological interactions, which can occur both during polypharmacy and during switching. Simultaneous administration of psychiatric drugs can easily lead to interactions if one of the administered compounds influences the metabolism of the others. Impaired CYP450 function due to inhibition of the enzyme is frequent. Other metabolic pathways, such as glucuronidation, can also be influenced. The Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) of psychotropic drugs is an important tool for treatment personalisation and optimisation. It deals with the determination of parent drugs and metabolites plasma levels, in order to monitor them over time and to compare these findings with clinical data. This allows establishing chemical-clinical correlations (such as those between administered dose and therapeutic and side effects), which are essential to obtain the maximum therapeutic efficacy, while minimising side and toxic effects. It is evident the importance of developing sensitive and selective analytical methods for the determination of the administered drugs and their main metabolites, in order to obtain reliable data that can correctly support clinical decisions. During the three years of Ph.D. p