8th International Strawberry Symposium

Strawberry bioactive phytochemicals are of increasing interest for their roles in the prevention and in the treatment of several chronic degenerative diseases. During the last 10 years, our group have studied the effects of strawberry extracts or strawberry consumption on different models: in vitro (i) on human dermal fibroblast stressed through the exposure to UV-A radiation, LPS or chemical substances, (ii) on HepG2 and 3T3-L1 adipocytes and in vivo (i) on young rats, stressed with ethanol administration or Doxorubicin/LPS injection, (ii) on old rats and (iii) on healthy young humans. Our results showed that strawberry bioactive compounds were able to protect human fibroblasts, reducing the intracellular ROS and NO production, lipid, protein and DNA damage, pro-inflammatory cytokine levels and restoring the antioxidant enzymes reservoir and mitochondrial functionality. At the same time strawberry treatment was also effective in ameliorating the lipid profile by reducing lipid accumulation, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides levels and lipid peroxidation, in HepG2 and 3T3-L1 cells. With regard to the in vivo studies, in rats stressed with ethanol/Doxorubicin/LPS administration strawberry consumption improved antioxidant defences, decreased biomarkers of oxidative damage and inflammation and enhanced mitochondrial functionality. Similar results were obtained on old rats. Finally, in human healthy volunteers, acute and medium-term strawberry intake led to significant increase in plasma total antioxidant capacity and in folate and in vitamin C serum concentrations as well as to significant improvements of plasma lipid profile and erythrocyte and lymphocyte resistance to ex vivo induced oxidative damage.