Whey proteins inhibit food intake and tend to improve oxidative balance in obese zucker rats.

Background/aims: Whey proteins (WP), obtained from milk after casein precipitation, represent a heterogeneous group of proteins. WP are reported to inhibit food intake in diet-induced experimental obesity; WP have been proposed as adjuvant therapy in oxidative stress-correlated pathologies. This work evaluates the effects of WP in comparison with casein, as a source of alimentary proteins, on food intake, weight growth and some indexes of oxidative equilibrium in Zucker Rats, genetically prone to obesity.

Impaired synthesis contributes to diabetes-induced decrease in liver glutathione.

Diabetes-induced glutathione (GSH) decrease is usually ascribed to GSH oxidation. Here we investigate, in streptozotocin-treated rats, if impairment of GSH synthesis contributes to GSH decrease in diabetic liver, and if antioxidant treatments can provide protection. Diabetic rats were divided into 3 groups: untreated diabetic rats (UD); N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC)-treated diabetic rats; taurine (TAU)-treated diabetic rats; a group of non-streptozotocin-treated rats was used as control (CTR).

Early effects of portal flow modulation after extended liver resection in rat.

Introduction: The incidence of small-for-size-liver-syndrome after liver transplantation and extended liver resection may be reduced by portal flow modulation. However, many aspects of the small-for-size-liver-syndrome pathogenesis are still unclear. In this experimental study we evaluated the early effects of portal flow modulation after 80% hepatic resection in rats.

Human mesangial cells resist glycoxidative stress through an antioxidant response.

The generation of advanced glycation end-products (AGE), the interaction with their receptors, the generation of reactive oxygen species, and the modulation of intracellular redox equilibrium are believed to be the main factors causing alterations of mesangial cell physiology leading to diabetic nephropathy. Normal human primary mesangial cells were exposed to glycoxidative stress by culture in high glucose (HG) or treatment with AGE for up to 6 days. In both cases only a moderate generation of reactive oxygen species and production of HNE-protein adducts were induced while protein nitrotyrosination was not affected.

Biochemical and morphologic effects after extended liver resection in rats: preliminary results.

After hepatic resection and transplantation with a partial graft, death and regeneration of the hepatocytes coexist in the liver. However, when the functional liver mass is inadequate to ensure a proper balance between regeneration vs functional and metabolic demands, small-for-size syndrome develops. We assessed the early effects of extended hepatic resection on liver function in a rat model.