Bone action of the phytoestrogen genistein under hypoestrogenism and obesity.

Osteoporosis and obesity are prevalent diseases in menopause. The phytoestrogen genistein (Gen) is an antioxidant/anti-inflammatory agent proposed as natural therapy to counteract syndromes associated to menopause. In this work we evaluated the bone effect of Gen in a stress environment induced by hypoestrogenism and obesity.

Direct in vitro action of estrone on uterine and white adipose tissue in obesity.

The hypothesis whether estrone (E) could exhibit a direct action at uterus and white adipose tissue (WAT), under obesity was tested. In uterine tissue of obese rats, E increased nitric oxide (NO) synthesis, and reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. The anti-oxidative action of E was sustained under inflammatory stress or high glucose levels.

Replication and extension of association between common genetic variants in SIM1 and human adiposity.

Haplo-insufficiency of the bHLH (basic helix-loop-helix) transcription factor single-minded 1 (SIM1) causes severe obesity in mice and humans. We hypothesized that common genetic variations in/near SIM1 could exert more subtle effects on its function and associate with human adiposity. First, SIM1 coding regions were sequenced in severely obese subjects, and two common nonsynonymous single-nucleotide polymorphisms (nsSNPs) in complete linkage disequilibrium (LD) were identified: Pro352Thr (rs3734354) and Ala371Val (rs3734355).