Vertical sleeve gastrectomy improves indices of metabolic disease in rodent model of surgical menopause.

Objective: Although women are the most common recipients of weight loss surgeries for the amelioration of the comorbidities of obesity, few studies have addressed the efficacy of these procedures with specific attention to reproductive stage. Here we ask in a rodent model of vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG) whether improvements to metabolic health are realized in women having received surgical menopause. Specifically we were interested in knowing whether rats made menopausal through surgical means would exhibit persistent hepatic steatosis as reported in previously pregnant, freely cycling female VSG rats or if it is resolved as reported in male VSG rats.

Membrane-Anchored Cyclic Peptides as Effectors of Mitochondrial Oxidative Phosphorylation.

The echinocandins are membrane-anchored, cyclic lipopeptides (CLPs) with antifungal activity due to their ability to inhibit a glucan synthase located in the plasma membrane of fungi such as Candida albicans. A hydrophobic tail of an echinocandin CLP inserts into a membrane, placing a six-amino acid cyclic peptide near the membrane surface. Because processes critical for the function of the electron transfer complexes of mitochondria, such as proton uptake and release, take place near the surface of the membrane, we have tested the ability of two echinocandin CLPs, caspofungin and micafungin, to affect the activity of electron transfer complexes in isolated mammalian mitochondria.

Early alterations in platelet mitochondrial function are associated with survival and organ failure in patients with septic shock.

Introduction: The objective of the study is to determine if changes in platelet mitochondrial function in patients with sepsis are present early after presentation and the association of these changes with clinical outcomes and systemic metabolic function.

Materials And Methods: This is a prospective observational cohort study of a convenience sample of patients with severe sepsis. Mitochondrial function of intact, nonpermeabilized platelets suspended in their own plasma was estimated using high-resolution respirometry.

Loss of STAT3 in mouse embryonic fibroblasts reveals its Janus-like actions on mitochondrial function and cell viability.

STAT3 has been implicated in mitochondrial function; however, the physiological relevance of this action is not established. Here we studied the importance of STAT3 to the cellular response to stimuli, TNFα and serum deprivation, which increase mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation. Experiments were performed using wild type (WT) and STAT3 knockout (KO) mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF).