Basic and Clinical Studies With Marine LipoFishins and Vegetal Favalins in Neurodegeneration and Age-Related Disorders

Abstract

Over the past 30 years, many different types of nutraceuticals have been produced for the natural management of diverse health conditions. Nutraceuticals are vegetal, marine, or animal bioderivatives in nature. A novel category of nutraceutical compounds is represented by the ProteoLipins, a series of complex lipoproteins derived from natural sources. Among ProteoLipins, LipoFishins (LFs) are a new class of lipoproteins obtained from the muscle of different fish species. Examples of LFs obtained from biomarine sources by means of nondenaturing biotechnological procedures include the following: E-JUR-94013 (DefenVid®), E-CAB-94011 (CabyMar®), E-Congerine-10423 (AntiGan®), E-SAR-94010 (LipoEsar®), and E-MHK-0103 (MineraXin®). Specifically, these compounds show immune-enhancing, cell growth and maturation, antitumoral, hypolipemic, and hormone-modulating properties, respectively. Favalins are a novel category of nutraceuticals extracted from the structural components of the Vicia faba plant. E-PodoFavalin-15999 is a powerful antiparkinsonian agent with procatecholaminergic properties and neuroprotective activity on dopaminergic neurons. Clinical studies with some of these products in different clinical conditions (cardiovascular disorders, dyslipidemia, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, menopause) have revealed that most of the effects of these novel bioproducts are genotype-dependent, showing specific nutrigenomic and pharmacogenomic profiles.