Ovariectomy and 17β-estradiol alter transcription of lipid metabolism genes and proportions of neo-formed n-3 and n-6 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids differently in brain and liver.

Hormonal and nutritional factors regulate the metabolism of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA). We aimed to determine whether ovarian hormones influence the capacity of rats to synthesize the end-products 22:6n-3 (DHA) and 22:5n-6 (n-6DPA) from their respective dietary precursors (18:3n-3 and 18:2n-6), and can regulate PUFA conversion enzymes gene transcription in brain and/or liver. Females born with a low DHA status were fed from weaning to 8 weeks of age a diet providing both essential precursors, and were concurrently submitted to sham-operated control (SOC) or ovariectomy (OVX) in combination with or without 17β-estradiol (E2) dosed at 8 or 16 μg/day.

Relationships between molecular structure and perceived odor quality of ligands for a human olfactory receptor.

Perception of thousands of odors by a few hundreds of olfactory receptors (ORs) results from a combinatorial coding, in which one OR recognizes multiple odorants and an odorant is recognized by a specific group of ORs. Moreover, odorants could act both as agonists or antagonists depending on the OR. This dual agonist-antagonist combinatorial coding is in good agreement with behavioral and psychophysical observations of mixture perception.