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Frontier of Diet and Chronic Disease: New Progress on Fibrotic Diseases Inflammation and Pain

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Special Issue Information
Keywords
Published Papers

A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Nutritional Epidemiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 October 2022) | Viewed by 13257

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Ricardo Araujo

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Guest Editor

INEB-Instituto Nacional de Engenharia Biomédica and i3S-Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
Interests: dietary; lipid; microbiota; metabolism; bowel disease

Dr. Inês Alencastre

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

INEB-Instituto Nacional de Engenharia Biomédica and i3S-Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
Interests: fibrotic diseases; chronic kidney disease; biomarkers; biochemical pathways

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Fibrotic diseases represent a major health problem worldwide, being the main underlying cause of several highly incapacitating chronic diseases. Despite the advancements achieved in the last few years, there are still many key questions and challenges that remain unsolved. Up until now, few advancements have been made regarding the understanding of the pathogenic mechanism of the fibrotic process, the extraordinary heterogeneity of the disease aetiology and its clinical manifestations and the identification of biomarkers that allow early clinical diagnosis. Fibrotic diseases are frequently found in the tissues of the lung, liver or heart, but there are important manifestations in other tissues, such as in the kidney, intestine, brain or skin, that deserve further attention and more intensive study. In addition to the applied therapeutic approaches, the diet has been used for a long time and has a complementary strategy for the control and management of the fibrotic diseases, and there are nutritional guidelines for some patients, with increased risks of fibrotic diseases. Recently, several studies on the human microbiome revealed an intricate association between the dietary options and supplements, fibrotic diseases and the inflammatory processes.

In this Special Issue of the journal Nutrients, we will be accepting original research studies, extensive epidemiological analyses, reviews and meta-analyses that advance the current knowledge of the relationship between the diet of individuals, patients or populations and fibrotic diseases. In addition, we will be promoting the publication of studies focused on specific micronutrients, essential nutrients or trace elements in the development and progression of this disease in specific tissues.

Dr. Ricardo Araujo
Dr. Inês Alencastre
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nutrients is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

diet
fibrotic disease
chronic inflammation
chronic diseases
nutrition
micronutrients
supplements
essential nutrients
trace elements
microbiome
probiotics
biomarkers

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 990 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Effect of Palmitoylethanolamide on Pain Intensity, Central and Peripheral Sensitization, and Pain Modulation in Healthy Volunteers—A Randomized, Double-Blinded, Placebo-Controlled Crossover Trial

by Kordula Lang-Illievich, Christoph Klivinyi, Gudrun Rumpold-Seitlinger, Christian Dorn and Helmar Bornemann-Cimenti

Nutrients 2022, 14(19), 4084; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/nu14194084 - 01 Oct 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3515

Abstract

Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) is marketed as a “dietary food for special medical purposes”. Its broad-spectrum analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective effects make PEA an interesting substance in pain management. However, the underlying analgetic mechanisms have not yet been investigated in humans. The aim of our study is to provide a deeper understanding of the involved mechanisms, which is essential for differentiating therapeutic approaches and the establishment of mechanism-based therapeutic approaches. In this randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded crossover trial, 14 healthy volunteers were included. PEA (3 × 400 mg per day) or placebo were taken for 4 weeks. Our study investigated the mode of action of PEA using an established pain model, “Repetitive phasic heat application”, which is well-suited to investigate analgesic and anti-hyperalgesic effects in healthy volunteers. Parameters for peripheral and central sensitization as well as for pain modulation were assessed. Repetitive heat pain was significantly decreased, and the cold pain tolerance was significantly prolonged after the PEA treatment. The pressure pain tolerance and the conditioned pain modulation were increased after the PEA treatment. The wind-up ratio and the average distance of allodynia were significantly decreased after the PEA treatment. The heat pain tolerance was significantly higher after the PEA treatment. The present study has demonstrated that PEA has clinically relevant analgesic properties, acting on both peripheral and central mechanisms as well as in pain modulation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Frontier of Diet and Chronic Disease: New Progress on Fibrotic Diseases Inflammation and Pain)

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Review

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14 pages, 623 KiB

Open AccessReview

The Role of Zinc in the Pathogenesis of Lung Disease

by Xiaoying Liu, Md Khadem Ali, Kamal Dua and Ran Xu

Nutrients 2022, 14(10), 2115; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/nu14102115 - 19 May 2022

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4236

Abstract

Lung diseases, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD), and cystic fibrosis (CF), are among the leading causes of mortality and morbidity globally. They contribute to substantial economic burdens on society and individuals. Currently, only a few treatments are available to slow the development and progression of these diseases. Thus, there is an urgent unmet need to develop effective therapies to improve quality of life and limit healthcare costs. An increasing body of clinical and experimental evidence suggests that altered zinc and its regulatory protein levels in the systemic circulation and in the lungs are associated with these disease’s development and progression. Zinc plays a crucial role in human enzyme activity, making it an essential trace element. As a cofactor in metalloenzymes and metalloproteins, zinc involves a wide range of biological processes, such as gene transcription, translation, phagocytosis, and immunoglobulin and cytokine production in both health and disease. Zinc has gained considerable interest in these lung diseases because of its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, immune, and metabolic modulatory properties. Here we highlight the role and mechanisms of zinc in the pathogenesis of asthma, COPD, CF, acute respiratory distress syndrome, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and pulmonary hypertension. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Frontier of Diet and Chronic Disease: New Progress on Fibrotic Diseases Inflammation and Pain)

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29 pages, 849 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceReview

Gut Microbiome and Organ Fibrosis

by Carolina F. F. A. Costa, Benedita Sampaio-Maia, Ricardo Araujo, Diana S. Nascimento, Joana Ferreira-Gomes, Manuel Pestana, Maria J. Azevedo and Ines S. Alencastre

Nutrients 2022, 14(2), 352; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/nu14020352 - 14 Jan 2022

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 4649

Abstract

Fibrosis is a pathological process associated with most chronic inflammatory diseases. It is defined by an excessive deposition of extracellular matrix proteins and can affect nearly every tissue and organ system in the body. Fibroproliferative diseases, such as intestinal fibrosis, liver cirrhosis, progressive kidney disease and cardiovascular disease, often lead to severe organ damage and are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, for which there are currently no effective therapies available. In the past decade, a growing body of evidence has highlighted the gut microbiome as a major player in the regulation of the innate and adaptive immune system, with severe implications in the pathogenesis of multiple immune-mediated disorders. Gut microbiota dysbiosis has been associated with the development and progression of fibrotic processes in various organs and is predicted to be a potential therapeutic target for fibrosis management. In this review we summarize the state of the art concerning the crosstalk between intestinal microbiota and organ fibrosis, address the relevance of diet in different fibrotic diseases and discuss gut microbiome-targeted therapeutic approaches that are current being explored. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Frontier of Diet and Chronic Disease: New Progress on Fibrotic Diseases Inflammation and Pain)

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