Ethanol Metabolite, Acetate, Increases Excitability of the Central Nucleus of Amygdala Neurons through Activation of NMDA Receptors.

The central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) is a key brain region involved in emotional and stressor responses due to its many projections to autonomic regulatory centers. It is also a primary site of action from ethanol consumption. However, the influence of active metabolites of ethanol such as acetate on the CeA neural circuitry has yet to be elucidated.

Anti-inflammatory Effects of Northern Highbush Blueberry Extract on an Inflammatory Bowel Disease Model.

Blueberry anthocyanins have the ability to efficiently reach the GI tract and exhibit a broad range of biochemical effects. In the context of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), they remain a promising complement to current IBD treatments. Here, we investigated the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant capabilities of Highbush blueberries on two normal colon epithelial cell lines, NCM 356 and CCD 841 CoN using fluorescent microscopy and flow cytometry following stimulation with a pro-inflammatory cytokine cocktail.

Anti-inflammatory and immune-modulating effects of rice callus suspension culture (RCSC) and bioactive fractions in an in vitro inflammatory bowel disease model.

Background: Rice callus suspension culture (RCSC) has been shown to exhibit potent antiproliferative activity in multiple cancer cell lines. RCSC and its bioactive compounds can fill the need for drugs with no side effects.

Hypothesis/purpose: The anti-inflammatory potential of RCSC and its bioactive fractions on normal colon epithelial cell lines, was investigated.

Acetate Mediates Alcohol Excitotoxicity in Dopaminergic-like PC12 Cells.

Neuronal excitotoxicity is the major cause of alcohol-related brain damage, yet the underlying mechanism remains poorly understood. Using dopaminergic-like PC12 cells, we evaluated the effect of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors (NMDAR) on acetate-induced changes in PC12 cells: cell death, cytosolic calcium, and expression levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα). Treatment of PC12 cells with increasing concentrations of acetate for 4 h caused a dose-dependent increase in the percentage of cells staining positive for cell death using propidium iodide (PI) exclusion and cytosolic reactive oxygen species (ROS) using cell ROX detection analyzed via flow cytometry.

Differential regulation of genes by retrotransposons in rice promoters.

Rice genome harbors genes and promoters with retrotransposon insertions. There is very little information about their function. The effect of retrotransposon insertions in four rice promoter regions on gene regulation, was investigated using promoter-reporter gene constructs with and without retrotransposons.

Major cis-regulatory elements for rice bidirectional promoter activity reside in the 5'-untranslated regions.

Bidirectional promoters are defined as those that regulate adjacent genes organized in a divergent fashion (head to head orientation) and separated by <1 kb. In order to dissect bidirectional promoter activity in a model plant, deletion analysis was performed for seven rice promoters using promoter-reporter gene constructs, which identified three promoters to be bidirectional. Regulatory elements located in or close to the 5'-untranslated regions (UTR) of one of the genes (divergent gene pair) were found to be responsible for their bidirectional activity.