Intermittent Fasting Improves Social Interaction and Decreases Inflammatory Markers in Cortex and Hippocampus.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a psychiatric condition characterized by reduced social interaction, anxiety, and stereotypic behaviors related to neuroinflammation and microglia activation. We demonstrated that maternal exposure to Western diet (cafeteria diet or CAF) induced microglia activation, systemic proinflammatory profile, and ASD-like behavior in the offspring. Here, we aimed to identify the effect of alternate day fasting (ADF) as a non-pharmacologic strategy to modulate neuroinflammation and ASD-like behavior in the offspring prenatally exposed to CAF diet.

Contribution of ceramides metabolism in psychiatric disorders.

Psychiatric disorders affect 970 million people worldwide, representing a significant source of disability. Although the underlying neurobiological traits for these disorders are not fully understood, a complex interplay between psychological, environmental, and biological factors contributes to their outcomes. Recent advances in lipidomic analysis and artificial intelligence algorithms have improved the identification of selective lipid species modulating the susceptibility to mental disorders.

Defining the Role of Anti- and Pro-inflammatory Outcomes of Interleukin-6 in Mental Health.

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a major cytokine that promotes anti- and pro-inflammatory outcomes by activating the membrane IL-6 receptor (IL-6R) or the soluble IL-6 receptor (sIL-6R). IL-6R and sIL-6R signaling engage the JAK1/2/3 targets and the downstream transcription of STAT1 and STAT3 family. In the brain, physiological IL-6 signaling preserves neurogenesis, neuronal differentiation, and neuroprotection against tissue injury, but IL-6 has been proposed as a biomarker for poor prognosis in several mental pathologies such as depressive disorders, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and autism.

Immunomodulatory Effects of L. and its Constituents against Viral Infections and Metabolic Diseases.

Background: Allium sativum L., or garlic, is one of the most studied plants worldwide within the field of traditional medicine. Current interests lie in the potential use of garlic as a preventive measure and adjuvant treatment for viral infections, e.

Breastfeeding Contributes to Physiological Immune Programming in the Newborn.

The first 1,000 days in the life of a human being are a vulnerable stage where early stimuli may program adverse health outcomes in future life. Proper maternal nutrition before and during pregnancy modulates the development of the fetus, a physiological process known as fetal programming. Defective programming promotes non-communicable chronic diseases in the newborn which might be prevented by postnatal interventions such as breastfeeding.

Chitosan gold nanoparticles induce different ROS-dependent cell death modalities in leukemic cells.

Background: Nanotechnology proposes the use of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) for drug delivery, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer. Leukemia is a type of hematopoietic cancer that results from the malignant transformation of white blood cells. Chitosan-coated AuNPs (CH-AuNPs) are cell death inductors in HeLa and MCF-7 cancer cells without affecting peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC).