Oral administration of cystine and theanine attenuates 5-fluorouracil-induced intestinal mucositis and diarrhea by suppressing both glutathione level decrease and ROS production in the small intestine of mucositis mouse model.

Background: Chemotherapy is frequently used in cancer treatment; however, it may cause adverse events, which must be managed. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been reported to be involved in the induction of intestinal mucositis and diarrhea, which are common side effects of treatment with fluoropyrimidine 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). Our previous studies have shown that oral administration of cystine and theanine (CT) increases glutathione (GSH) production in vivo.

Cancer usurps skeletal muscle as an energy repository.

Cancer cells produce energy through aerobic glycolysis, but contributions of host tissues to cancer energy metabolism are unclear. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the cancer-host energy production relationship, in particular, between cancer energy production and host muscle. During the development and progression of colorectal cancer, expression of the secreted autophagy-inducing stress protein HMGB1 increased in the muscle of tumor-bearing animals.

Microscopic imaging mass spectrometry assisted by on-tissue chemical derivatization for visualizing multiple amino acids in human colon cancer xenografts.

Imaging MS combined with CE/MS serves as a method to provide semi-quantitative and spatial information of small molecular metabolites in tissue slices. However, not all metabolites including amino acids have fully been visualized, because of low-ionization efficiency in MALDI MS. This study aimed to acquire semi-quantitative spatial information for multiple amino acids in frozen tissue slices.

Effects of oral monosodium glutamate in mouse models of asthma.

The available evidence from numerous clinical studies has failed to demonstrate a clear and consistent relationship between monosodium glutamate (MSG) and asthma. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of MSG on bronchial inflammation by measuring cytological, histological and functional changes in an ovalbumin-induced asthma mouse model. BALB/c mice with experimentally induced asthma were fed a diet containing 0.

Intracellular thiol redox status of macrophages directs the Th1 skewing in thioredoxin transgenic mice during aging.

We have been proposing the functional distinction of two classes of macrophages (Mp), namely the reductive macrophages (RMp) with high intracellular content of glutathione (GSH) and the oxidative macrophages (OMp) with reduced content. At the same time we have been investigating the variation of RMp/OMp balance during aging of mice, especially in relation to the age related onset of autoimmune diseases. In this paper we have investigated the Th1/Th2 balance of thioredoxin (TRX) transgenic (Tg) mice, with prolonged life longevity, during aging in the context of the intracellular redox status of Mp, which has been hypothesized to be crucial in regulating the Th1/Th2 balance.