Neuronal mitochondrial dysfunction in a cellular model of circadian rhythm disruption is rescued by donepezil.

Human circadian rhythm refers to the intrinsic ∼24-h oscillation that regulates biological processes to adapt to environments. Disruption of rhythmicity causes mitochondrial dysfunction, changes metabolism, and is associated with neurodegenerative diseases and mental disorders. By employing cellular respiration analyses and mitochondrial membrane potential characterization, we confirmed that donepezil, a sigma-1 receptor agonist, restored mitochondrial function in neuronal cells with induced-circadian rhythm disruption (CRD).

The role of extracellular matrix stiffness in regulating cytoskeletal remodeling via vinculin in synthetic smooth muscle cells.

Vinculin is a key player in sensing and responding to external mechanical cues such as extracellular matrix stiffness. Increased matrix stiffness is often associated with certain pathological conditions including hypertension induced cellular cytoskeleton changes in vascular smooth muscle (VSM) cells. However, little is known on how stiffness affects cytoskeletal remodeling via vinculin in VSM cells.

Adverse Outcomes Associated with Cigarette Smoke Radicals Related to Damage to Protein-disulfide Isomerase.

Identification of factors contributing to the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is crucial for developing new treatments. An increase in the levels of protein-disulfide isomerase (PDI), a multifaceted endoplasmic reticulum resident chaperone, has been demonstrated in human smokers, presumably as a protective adaptation to cigarette smoke (CS) exposure. We found a similar increase in the levels of PDI in the murine model of COPD.

Cigarette smoking affects oxidative protein folding in endoplasmic reticulum by modifying protein disulfide isomerase.

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress response (ERSR) and associated protein aggregation, is under investigation for its role in human diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) where cigarette smoking (CS) is a risk factor for disease development. Our hypothesis states that CS-associated oxidative stress interferes with oxidative protein folding in the ER and elicits ERSR. We investigated ERSR induction following acute CS exposure and delineated mechanisms of CS-induced ERSR.

Quantitative profiling of gut microbiota of children with diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome.

Objectives: Human intestinal microbiota has a number of important roles in human health and is also implicated in several gastrointestinal disorders. The goal of this study was to determine the gut microbiota in two groups of pre- and adolescent children: healthy volunteers and children diagnosed with diarrhea predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D).

Methods: Phylogenetic Microbiota Array was used to obtain quantitative measurements of bacterial presence and abundance in subjects ’ fecal samples.

Gut microbiota is not modified by Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Trial of VSL#3 in Diarrhea-predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a common condition that negatively impacts the quality of life for many individuals. The exact etiology of this disorder is largely unknown; however, emerging studies suggest that the gut microbiota is a contributing factor. Several clinical trials show that probiotics, such as VSL#3, can have a favorable effect on IBS.

Alterations in the gut microbiome of children with severe ulcerative colitis.

Background: Although the role of microbes in disease pathogenesis is well established, data describing the variability of the vast microbiome in children diagnosed with ulcerative colitis (UC) are lacking. This study characterizes the gut microbiome in hospitalized children with severe UC and determines the relationship between microbiota and response to steroid therapy.

Methods: Fecal samples were collected from 26 healthy controls and 27 children hospitalized with severe UC as part of a prospective multicenter study.

Distal gut microbiota of adolescent children is different from that of adults.

Human intestinal microbiota plays a number of important roles in human health and is also implicated in several gastrointestinal disorders. Although the diversity of human gut microbiota in adults and in young children has been examined, few reports of microbiota composition are available for adolescents. In this work, we used Microbiota Array for high-throughput analysis of distal gut microbiota in adolescent children 11-18 years of age.

High-throughput quantitative analysis of the human intestinal microbiota with a phylogenetic microarray.

Gut microbiota carry out key functions in health and participate in the pathogenesis of a growing number of diseases. The aim of this study was to develop a custom microarray that is able to identify hundreds of intestinal bacterial species. We used the Entrez nucleotide database to compile a data set of bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequences isolated from human intestinal and fecal samples.