Search results for "BET"
showing 10 items of 8647 documents
Direct Sensing of Nutrients via a LAT1-like Transporter in Drosophila Insulin-Producing Cells
2016
Summary Dietary leucine has been suspected to play an important role in insulin release, a hormone that controls satiety and metabolism. The mechanism by which insulin-producing cells (IPCs) sense leucine and regulate insulin secretion is still poorly understood. In Drosophila, insulin-like peptides (DILP2 and DILP5) are produced by brain IPCs and are released in the hemolymph after leucine ingestion. Using Ca2+-imaging and ex vivo cultured larval brains, we demonstrate that IPCs can directly sense extracellular leucine levels via minidiscs (MND), a leucine transporter. MND knockdown in IPCs abolished leucine-dependent changes, including loss of DILP2 and DILP5 in IPC bodies, consistent wit…
Maternal and fetal genetic contribution to gestational weight gain
2018
Background: Clinical recommendations to limit gestational weight gain (GWG) imply high GWG is causally related to adverse outcomes in mother or offspring, but GWG is the sum of several inter-related complex phenotypes (maternal fat deposition and vascular expansion, placenta, amniotic fluid and fetal growth). Understanding the genetic contribution to GWG could help clarify the potential effect of its different components on maternal and offspring health. Here we explore the genetic contribution to total, early and late GWG. Participants and methods: A genome-wide association study was used to identify maternal and fetal variants contributing to GWG in up to 10 543 mothers and 16 317 offspri…
Curcumin-like compounds designed to modify amyloid beta peptide aggregation patterns
2017
International audience; Curcumin is a natural polyphenol able to bind the amyloid beta peptide, which is related to Alzheimer's disease, and modify its self-assembly pathway. This paper focuses on a multi-disciplinary study that starts from the design of curcumin-like compounds with the key chemical features required for inhibiting amyloid beta aggregation, and reports the effects of these compounds on the in vitro aggregation of amyloid beta peptides. Chemoinformatic screening was performed through the calculation of molecular descriptors that were able to highlight the drug-like profile, followed by docking studies with an amyloid beta peptide fibril. The computational design underlined t…
The Blood-Brain Barrier in Alzheimer’s Disease
2020
The accumulation of neurotoxic amyloid-beta (Aβ) in the brain is one of the characteristic hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Aβ-peptide brain homeostasis is governed by its production and various clearance mechanisms. The blood-brain barrier provides a large surface area for influx and efflux mechanisms into and out of the brain. Different transporters and receptors have been implicated to play crucial roles in Aβ clearance from brain. Besides Aβ transport, the blood-brain barrier tightly regulates the brain's microenvironment; however, vascular alterations have been shown in patients with AD. Here, we summarize how the blood-brain barrier changes during aging and in disease and focus …
Hsp60, amateur chaperone in amyloid-beta fibrillogenesis
2016
BACKGROUND: Molecular chaperones are a very special class of proteins that play essential roles in many cellular processes like folding, targeting and transport of proteins. Moreover, recent evidence indicates that chaperones can act as potentially strong suppressor agents in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Indeed, in vitro experiments demonstrate that several chaperones are able to significantly slow down or suppress aggregation of Aβ peptide and in vivo studies reveal that treatment with specific chaperones or their overexpression can ameliorate some distinct pathological signs characterizing AD. METHODS: Here we investigate using a biophysical approach (fluorescence, circular dichroism (CD), t…
Beyond Amyloid - Widening the View on Alzheimer's Disease
2017
For 25 years, the amyloid cascade hypothesis, based on the finding that mutations in the amyloid precursor protein are closely linked to familial forms of Alzheimer's disease (AD), dominated the research on this disease. Recent failures of clinical anti-amyloidogenic trials, however, substantially support the reasoning (i) that the pathomechanisms that trigger familial AD, namely the generation, aggregation, and deposition of amyloid beta, cannot necessarily be extrapolated to sporadic cases and (ii) that amyloid beta represents a prominent histopathological feature in AD but not its exclusive causative factor. In autumn 2016, the Volkswagen Foundation hosted the Herrenhausen Symposium ‘Bey…
Crosstalk between angiotensin and the nonamyloidogenic pathway of Alzheimer's amyloid precursor protein.
2017
The association between hypertension and an increased risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and dementia is well established. Many data suggest that modulation of the renin-angiotensin system may be meaningful for the prevention and therapy of neurodegenerative disorders, in particular AD. Proteolytic cleavage of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) by α-secretase precludes formation of neurotoxic Aβ peptides and is expected to counteract the development of AD. An established approach for the up-regulation of α-secretase cleavage is the activation of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Therefore, our study aimed to analyze whether stimulation of angiotensin AT1 or AT2 receptors stably expressed…
Renin-Angiotensin System Inhibition in Cardiovascular Patients at the Time of COVID19: Much Ado for Nothing? A Statement of Activity from the Directo…
2020
Cardiovascular diseases, in particular hypertension, as well as the cardiovascular treatment with Renin-Angiotensin System inhibitors such as Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and Angiotensin Receptor Blockers (ARBs), are claimed once again as mechanisms of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) during the COVID-19 outbreak due to Cov-2 epidemics. In vitro studies are available to support the eventual role of ACE inhibitors and ARBs in both the promotion and antagonism of the disease. The available literature, indeed, presents contrasting results, all concentrated in experimental models. Evidence in humans is lacking that those mechanisms are actually occurring in the present…
A novel ultradeformable liposomes of Naringin for anti-inflammatory therapy
2018
[EN] Ultradeformable liposomes were formulated using naringin (NA), a flavanone glycoside, at different concentrations (3, 6 and 9 mg/mL). Nanovesicles were small size (similar to 100 nm), regardless of the NA concentration used, and monodisperse (PI<0.30). All formulations showed a high entrapment efficiency (similar to 88%) and a highly negative zeta potential (around -30 mV). The selected formulations were highly biocompatible as confirmed by in vitro studies using 3T3 fibroblasts. In vitro assay showed that the amounts (%) of NA accumulated in the epidermis (similar to 10%) could explain the anti-inflammatory properties of ultradeformable liposomes. In vivo studies confirmed the higher …
New Pharmacological Opportunities for Betulinic Acid
2017
AbstractBetulinic acid is a naturally occurring pentacyclic lupane-type triterpenoid usually isolated from birch trees, but present in many other botanical sources. It is found in different plant organs, both as a free aglycon and as glycosyl derivatives. A wide range of pharmacological activities has been described for this triterpenoid, including antiviral and antitumor effects. In addition, several other interesting properties have been identified in the fields of immunity and metabolism, namely antidiabetic, antihyperlipidemic, and anti-inflammatory activities. Taken together, these latter three properties make betulinic acid a highly interesting prospect for treating metabolic syndrome…