Vitamin D metabolism is altered during aging alone or combined with obesity in male mice.

Aging and obesity are associated with a decrease in plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels. In the context of a growing aging population and the rising incidence of obesity, we hypothesized that aging process, either independently or in combination with obesity, could influence vitamin D (VD) metabolism, consequently resulting in the reduced 25(OH)D plasma concentrations. C57BL/6JRJ young (6 months) and old (23 months) mice fed with control (CD) or high fat diet (HF) were compared.

Low-Intensity Running and High-Intensity Swimming Exercises Differentially Improve Energy Metabolism in Mice With Mild Spinal Muscular Atrophy.

Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), an autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disease characterized by the loss of spinal-cord motor-neurons, is caused by mutations on Survival-of-Motor Neuron (SMN)-1 gene. The expression of 2, a gene copy, partially compensates for disruption due to exon-7 excision in 90% of transcripts subsequently explaining the strong clinical heterogeneity. Several alterations in energy metabolism, like glucose intolerance and hyperlipidemia, have been reported in SMA at both systemic and cellular level, prompting questions about the potential role of energy homeostasis and/or production involvement in disease progression.

Long-term exercise-specific neuroprotection in spinal muscular atrophy-like mice.

Key Points: The real impact of physical exercise parameters, i.e. intensity, type of contraction and solicited energetic metabolism, on neuroprotection in the specific context of neurodegeneration remains poorly explored.

Acute oral metformin enhances satiation and activates brainstem nesfatinergic neurons.

Objective: The study was designed to determine metformin effects on meal pattern, gastric emptying, energy expenditure, and to identify metformin-sensitive neurons and their phenotype.

Methods: This study was performed on C57BL/6J and obese/diabetic (db/db) mice. Metformin (300 mg/kg) was administered by oral gavage.

The central question of type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) represents a significant global epidemic with more than 285 million people affected worldwide. Regulating glycemia in T2D patients can be partially achieved with currently available treatment, but intensive research during the last decades have led to the discovery of modified compounds or new targets that could represent great hope for safe and effective treatment in the future. Among them, targets in the CNS that are known to control feeding and body weight have been also shown to exert glucoregulatory actions, and could be a key in the development of a new generation of drugs in the field of T2D.