Pharmacological treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD) still relies on the use of serotonergic drugs, despite their limited efficacy. A few mechanistically new drugs have been developed in recent years, but many fail in clinical trials. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain MDD pathophysiology, indicating that physiological processes such as neuroplasticity, circadian rhythms, and metabolism are potential targets.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCircadian rhythms are present throughout biology, from the molecular level to complex behaviors such as eating and sleeping. They are driven by molecular clocks within cells, and different tissues can have unique rhythms. Circadian disruption can trigger obesity and other common metabolic disorders such as aging, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, and circadian genes control metabolism.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntioxidants (Basel)
February 2022
The use of natural products and derivatives for the prevention and control of non-communicable chronic diseases, such as type-2 diabetes (T2D), obesity, and hepatic steatosis is a way to achieve homeostasis through different metabolic pathways. Thus, male C57BL/6 mice were divided into the following groups: high-fat diet (HFD) vehicle, HFD + Supplemented, HFD + Supplemented_S, and isolated compounds. The vehicle and experimental formulations were administered orally by gavage once a day over the four weeks of the diet (28 consecutive days).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Cachexia is a paraneoplastic syndrome that accompanies and compromises cancer treatment, especially in advanced stages, affecting the metabolism and function of several organs. The adipose tissue is the first to respond to the presence of the tumor, contributing to the secretion of factors which drive the systemic inflammation, a hallmark of the syndrome. While inflammation is a defensive innate response, the control mechanisms have been reported to be disrupted in cachexia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSporadic Alzheimer's disease (sAD) is associated with energy metabolism deficiency and impairment of insulin receptor (IR) signaling in the brain. In this context, low doses of intracerebroventricular (icv) injection of streptozotocin (STZ) in rodents has been used as an experimental model of sAD which leads to an insulin-resistant brain state and neurodegeneration. However, the STZ effects on brain insulin signaling-related proteins it is not appropriately elucidated.
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