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Glial cells are non-neuronal elements of the nervous system (NS) and play a central role in its development, maturation, and homeostasis. Glial cell interest has increased, leading to the discovery of novel study fields. The CRISPR/Cas system has been widely employed for NS understanding. Its use to study glial cells gives crucial information about their mechanisms and role in the central nervous system (CNS) and neurodegenerative disorders. Furthermore, the increasingly accelerated discovery of genes associated with the multiple implications of glial cells could be studied and complemented with the novel screening methods of high-content and single-cell screens at the genome-scale as Perturb-Seq, CRISP-seq, and CROPseq. Besides, the emerging methods, GESTALT, and LINNAEUS, employed to generate large-scale cell lineage maps have yielded invaluable information about processes involved in neurogenesis. These advances offer new therapeutic approaches to finding critical unanswered questions about glial cells and their fundamental role in the nervous system. Furthermore, they help to better understanding the significance of glial cells and their role in developmental biology., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Barragán-Álvarez, Flores-Fernandez, Hernández-Pérez, Ávila-Gónzalez, Díaz, Padilla-Camberos, Dublan-García, Gómez-Oliván and Diaz-Martinez.)

Recently, the demand for food proteins in the market has increased due to a rise in degenerative illnesses that are associated with the excessive production of free radicals and the unwanted side effects of various drugs, for which researchers have suggested diets rich in bioactive compounds. Some of the functional compounds present in foods are antioxidant and antimicrobial peptides, which are used to produce foods that promote health and to reduce the consumption of antibiotics. These peptides have been obtained from various sources of proteins, such as foods and agri-food by-products, via enzymatic hydrolysis and microbial fermentation. Peptides with antioxidant properties exert effective metal ion (Fe 2+ /Cu 2+ ) chelating activity and lipid peroxidation inhibition, which may lead to notably beneficial effects in promoting human health and food processing. Antimicrobial peptides are small oligo-peptides generally containing from 10 to 100 amino acids, with a net positive charge and an amphipathic structure; they are the most important components of the antibacterial defense of organisms at almost all levels of life-bacteria, fungi, plants, amphibians, insects, birds and mammals-and have been suggested as natural compounds that neutralize the toxicity of reactive oxygen species generated by antibiotics and the stress generated by various exogenous sources. This review discusses what antioxidant and antimicrobial peptides are, their source, production, some bioinformatics tools used for their obtainment, emerging technologies, and health benefits.

The aim of this study was evaluation of the physico-chemical properties and adhesion of microorganisms on poly(lactic acid) (PLA)-based films loaded with grapevine cane extract (5-15 wt%). The films were processed in a compression molding machine and characterized by mechanical, thermal, water vapor barrier and microbiological tests. The best physical-chemical properties for PLA film containing 10 wt% of extract were obtained. The addition of 10 wt% of extract into PLA films led to decrease of tensile strength for 52% and increase in elongation at break for 30%. The water vapor barrier of this film formulation was enhanced for 55%. All films showed thermal stability up to 300 °C. The low release of the active compounds from films negatively influenced their antimicrobial and antifungal activity. Botrytis cinerea growth inhibition onto PLA containing extracts (PLA-E) films was in the range between 15 and 35%. On the other side, PLA/extract films exhibited the antiadhesive properties against Pseudomonas aeruginosa , Pectobacterium carotovorum , Saccharomyces pastorianus , and Listeria monocytogenes , which could imply their potential to be used as sustainable food packaging materials for preventing microbial contamination of food.

Active packaging represents a large and diverse group of materials, with its main role being to prolong the shelf-life of food products. In this work, active biomaterials based on thermoplastic starch-containing cinnamon oil emulsions were prepared by the compression molding technique. The thermal, mechanical, and antifungal properties of obtained materials were evaluated. The results showed that the encapsulation of cinnamon oil emulsions did not influence the thermal stability of materials. Mechanical resistance to break was reduced by 27.4%, while elongation at break was increased by 44.0% by the addition of cinnamon oil emulsion. Moreover, the novel material provided a decrease in the growth rate of Botrytis cinerea by 66%, suggesting potential application in food packaging as an active biomaterial layer to hinder further contamination of fruits during the storage and transport period.

Acesulfame potassium (ACS) is a widely-used sweetener worldwide. Its presence has been demonstrated in diverse bodies of water. However, the deleterious effects this causes in aquatic organisms has not yet been identified, which generates controversy concerning the risks that ACS represents after its disposal into the bodies of water. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate if the exposure of ACS in environmentally-relevant concentrations was capable of producing oxidative stress in blood, liver, gill, brain and muscle of common carp (Cyprinus carpio). With this finality, the carp were exposed to two environmentally-relevant concentrations (0.05 and 149 μg L -1 ) at different exposure times (12, 24, 48, 72 and 96 h), having controls in the same conditions for each exposure time. Posteriorly, the following biomarkers of damage were evaluated: hydroperoxide content (HPC), level of lipoperoxidation (LPX) and protein carbonyl content (PCC), as well as the activity of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT). The results showed that ACS produces significant increase in damage biomarkers evaluated in all organs, mainly in gill, brain and muscle, as well as significant changes in the activity of antioxidant enzymes in the same organs. Thus, it is concluded that ACS is capable of producing oxidative stress in common carp (Cyprinus carpio)., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)