Abstract
The Euganean Thermal District (Italy) represents the oldest and largest thermal center in Europe, and its therapeutic mud is considered a unique product whose beneficial effects have been documented since Ancient Roman times. Mud properties depend on the heat and electrolytes of the thermal water, as well as on the bioactive molecules produced by its biotic component, mainly represented by cyanobacteria. The investigation of the healing effects of compounds produced by the Euganean cyanobacteria represents an important goal for scientific validation of Euganean mud therapies and for the discovering of new health beneficial biomolecules. In this work, we evaluated the therapeutic potential of exopolysaccharides (EPS) produced by Phormidium sp. ETS05, the most abundant cyanobacterium of the Euganean mud. Specifically, Phormidium EPS resulted in exerting anti-inflammatory and pro-resolution activities in chemical and injury-induced zebrafish inflammation models as demonstrated using specific transgenic zebrafish lines and morphometric and expression analyses. Moreover, in vivo and in vitro tests showed no toxicity at all for the EPS concentrations tested. The results suggest that these EPS, with their combined anti-inflammatory and pro-resolution activities, could be one of the most important therapeutic molecules present in the Euganean mud and confirm the potential of these treatments for chronic inflammatory disease recovery.
Highlights
The therapeutic Euganean thermal mud is a unique product of the Euganean Thermal District (Italy) that represents the largest and oldest thermal center in Europe
We evaluated the beneficial effects of Phormidium EPS treatment on the developmental delays produced by the inflammatory processes, and we confirmed the potential benefits of these molecules by molecular expression analysis
Chemical Characterization of the EPS Produced by Phormidium sp
Summary
The therapeutic Euganean thermal mud is a unique product of the Euganean Thermal District (Italy) that represents the largest and oldest thermal center in Europe. The mud maturation process begins when virgin clay, obtained from the lakes of Arquà Petrarca (Padova, Italy), is laid in open air tanks or silos of the different thermal Spas, and maintained there for a period of at least two months, constantly covered by a layer of flowing thermal water, at the indicated temperature of 38–40 ◦C. This maturation procedure allows a microbial community, mainly represented by cyanobacteria [1,2], to grow on the mud surface. Before using the mud for therapies, this is mixed and put in tanks in which thermal water at nearly 60 ◦C is present, in order to reduce the natural microbial load and maintain the fluidity of the product
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