Passiflora: interindividual variation in bioavailability of phenolic compounds and effect on metabolic response

• Grant number: 22/16139-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: July 01, 2023
• End date: October 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Food Science and Technology - Food Science
• Principal Investigator: Franco Maria Lajolo
• Grantee: Isabella de Araújo Esteves Duarte
• Supervisor: Dragan Milenkovic
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas (FCF). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of California, Davis (UC Davis), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/05463-8 - Passiflora fruit: interindividual variables on bioavailability of phenolic compounds and effects on metabolic response, BP.PD

Abstract

The insertion of fruits from native species in the market can enhance the socio-economic development of the region, in addition to valuing Brazilian biodiversity. Native passion fruit is rich in bioactive compounds associated with reducing the incidence of obesity-associated comorbidities. Our research group demonstrated that fruits of P. tenuifila, passion fruit native to the Brazilian Cerrado, are rich in phenolic compounds, mainly proanthocyanidins, and their ingestion promotes the improvement of some cardiometabolic markers. However, a large interindividual variation in the biological response is observed. Thus, considering that the biological activity attributed to these phenolic compounds depends on their absorption and metabolism, and that a great interindividual variation is observed in the bioavailability of these compounds, the objective of this work is to evaluate the bioavailability of the phenolic compounds of P. tenuifila and to study the mechanisms by which these compounds act on metabolism under a nutrigenomic approach. For this, PBMC from clinical trial volunteers with P. tenuifila consumption will be isolated for RNA extraction and analysis of global gene expression. (AU)