Cristina Manuela Drăgoi

By Andreea Letitia Arsene, Cristina Manuela Dragoi, Alina Crenguta Nicolae, Daniela Elena Popa, George T.A. Burcea‐Dragomiroiu, Ion Bogdan Dumitrescu, Olivia Carmen Timnea and Denisa Ioana Udeanu

Gut microbiota is essential for the development of the intestinal immune system, protecting the host against pathogens and harmful inflammatory processes. Germ‐free animals have smaller Peyer's patches, fewer immune cells and impaired immunoglobulin A (IgA) secretion, fewer intraepithelial lymphocytes, as well as compromised production of antimicrobial peptides. Mucositis (mucosal barrier injury) is a major oncological problem caused by chemotherapeutic agents. Intestinal mucositis translates into a broad spectra of clinical symptoms (diarrhea, vomiting) and can be worsened by neutropenia and antibiotics. Since IECs do not regulate intestinal homeostasis by themselves, but require symbiotic coordination with commensal bacteria and local gut leukocytic cells, the role of intestinal microbiota in the development and severity of mucositis induced by chemotherapeutic products became an issue. The present chapter reviews the interplay between microbiota, immune system, and anticancer therapy. The published researches in this field showed that microbiota has immunomodulatory effect on the anticancer immune response, both in the presence and in the absence of chemotherapy. Animal and human studies evoked that the anticancer response depends on microbiota variability.

Part of the book: Anti-cancer Drugs

By Cristina Manuela Drăgoi, Andreea Letiţia Arsene, Cristina Elena Dinu-Pîrvu, Ion Bogdan Dumitrescu, Daniela Elena Popa, George T.A. Burcea-Dragomiroiu, Denisa Ioana Udeanu, Olivia Carmen Timnea, Bruno Ștefan Velescu and Alina Crenguţa Nicolae

In the human organism, the circadian regulation of carbohydrates metabolism is essential for the glucose homeostasis and energy balance. Unbalances in glucose and insulin tissue and blood levels have been linked to a variety of metabolic disorders such as obesity, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes. Melatonin, the pineal hormone, is the key mediator molecule for the integration between the cyclic environment and the circadian distribution of physiological and behavioral processes and for the optimization of energy balance and body weight regulation, events that are crucial for a healthy organism. This chapter reviews the interplay between melatonin modulatory physiological effects, glucose homeostasis and metabolic balance, from the endocrinology perspective. The tremendous effect of melatonin in the regulation of metabolic processes is observed from the chronobiology perspective, considering melatonin as a major synchronizer of the circadian internal order of the physiological processes involved in energy metabolism.

Part of the book: Carbohydrate

By Daniela Elena Popa, Cristina Manuela Drăgoi, Andreea Letiţia Arsene, Ion Bogdan Dumitrescu, Alina Crenguţa Nicolae, Bruno Stefan Velescu and George T.A. Burcea-Dragomiroiu

All multicellular organisms live in a strong bond with the microorganisms from around the world, and the humans are not the exceptions. Human microbiota (a complex bacterial community) contains about 1014 microbial cells, 10 times more than the content of the cells from our body and the microbial genome named microbiome, 1000 more that the human genome. It colonises any surface of the human body, above our skin, in the genitourinary tract, gut and airways. From all this, the gut is the most colonised organ, with an amount of almost 70% of the human microbes. Considering the large size of the gut, compared with a tennis terrain, filled with substances that plays a key, nutritive role for the microbes, polyphenols are micronutrients from our diet, with an emerging role in the modulation of the colonic microbial population composition and activity. Therefore, many studies underline that long-term consumption of diets rich in plants polyphenols offers protection against cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, osteoporosis and neurodegenerative diseases. This chapter reviews the biological effects of plant polyphenols in the context of relevance to human health, especially considering the food functionality area, together with the complexity of the human microbiota and the bioavailability highly dependent on their intestinal absorption.

Part of the book: Phenolic Compounds

By Cristina Manuela Drăgoi and Alina Crenguța Nicolae

Part of the book: Melatonin

By Cristina Manuela Drăgoi, Ion-Bogdan Dumitrescu and Alina Crenguța Nicolae

Part of the book: Circadian Rhythm

By Alina Crenguța Nicolae, Ion-Bogdan Dumitrescu, Camelia Cristina Diaconu, Mirela Elena Ritivoiu, Carmen Adella Sirbu and Cristina Manuela Drăgoi

New scientific evidence raises awareness concerning the human-specific interplay among primary environmental conditions, such as the light–dark cycle, activity–rest alternation, nutritional patterns, and their reflection on the physiological and pathological characteristics that are displayed uniquely by every individual. One of the critical aspects in the clinic is to understand the role of circadian rhythms as remarkable modulators of the biological effects of drugs and to aim for an optimal overlapping of the time of administration of medicines with the physiologic release of certain hormones, the time-dependent expression of genes, or the key-regulatory protein synthesis, which are all circadian-driven processes. The pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics profiles, as well as the possible drug interactions of neurotropic and cardiovascular agents, are intensely subjected to endogenous circadian rhythms, being essential to identify as much as possible the patients’ multiple risk factors, from age and gender to lifestyle elements imprinted by dietary features, sleep patterns, psychological stress, all the way to various other associated pathological conditions and their own genetic and epigenetic background. This review chapter will highlight the involvement of biological rhythms in physiologic processes and their impact on various pathological mechanisms, and will focus on the nutritional impact on the circadian homeostasis of the organism and neurologic and cardiovascular chronotherapy.

Part of the book: Circadian Rhythm