Effect of lifelong sucrose consumption at human-relevant levels on food intake and body composition of C57BL/6N mice.

Introduction: Controversies surround the issue if chronic consumption of a high-sugar diet is detrimental to health or not. This study investigates whether lifelong consumption of a higher sucrose diet will induce overeating, and obesity, and cause metabolic dysfunctions such as hyperglycemia and dyslipidaemia in C57BL/6N mice, compared to a lower sucrose diet.

Methods: Male C57BL/6N mice at 3 weeks of age were randomized into consuming a diet with 25 or 10% kcal from sucrose for the rest of their lives.

Effect of using commercial pre-packaged baby foods on the Fe intake of 7-8 months old infants.

Objectives: To examine the potential effect on Fe intake of 7-8 months old infants if pre-packaged baby foods (PBF) were used as the sole source of complementary foods.

Design: Based on the 7-d recommended feeding plan for 7-8 months old infants in Hong Kong (moderate Fe-fortified rice cereal with home-cooked meals), twenty-four modelling scenarios were created which comprised of two milk use modes (breastmilk v. infant formula), three modes of rice cereal use (no-rice cereal; non-Fe-fortified rice cereal and Fe-fortified rice cereal) and four baby foods usage modes (home-cooked meals; low-Fe PBF only; high-Fe PBF only and mixed PBF).

Cordyceps cicadae induces G2/M cell cycle arrest in MHCC97H human hepatocellular carcinoma cells: a proteomic study.

Background: Cordyceps cicadae is a medicinal fungus that is often used for treating cancer. However, the anticancer mechanisms of C. cicadae are largely unknown.

Premature delivery reduces intestinal cytoskeleton, metabolism, and stress response proteins in newborn formula-fed pigs.

Objective: Preterm infants often show intolerance to the first enteral feeds, and the structural and functional basis of this intolerance remains unclear. We hypothesized that preterm and term neonates show similar gut trophic responses to feeding but different expression of intestinal functional proteins, thus helping to explain why preterm neonates are more susceptible to feeding-induced disorders such as necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).

Methods: Incidence of feeding-induced NEC, intestinal mass, and brush border enzyme activities, and the intestinal proteome in preterm cesarean-delivered pigs were compared with the corresponding values in pigs delivered spontaneously at term.

Intestinal proteome changes during infant necrotizing enterocolitis.

Background: Changes in the intestinal and colonic proteome in patients with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) may help to characterize the disease pathology and identify new biomarkers and treatment targets for NEC.

Methods: Using gel-based proteomics, proteins in NEC-affected intestinal and colonic sections were compared with those in adjacent, near-normal tissue sections within the same patients. Western blot and immunohistochemistry were applied to crossvalidate proteomic data and histological location of some selected proteins.

Protective effect of Phellinus linteus polysaccharide extracts against thioacetamide-induced liver fibrosis in rats: a proteomics analysis.

Background: The hepatoprotective potential of Phellinus linteus polysaccharide (PLP) extracts has been described. However, the molecular mechanism of PLP for the inhibition of liver fibrosis is unclear. This study aims to investigate the molecular protein signatures involved in the hepatoprotective mechanisms of PLP via a proteomics approach using a thioacetamide (TAA)-induced liver fibrosis rat model.

Antibiotics increase gut metabolism and antioxidant proteins and decrease acute phase response and necrotizing enterocolitis in preterm neonates.

Background: The appropriate use of antibiotics for preterm infants, which are highly susceptible to develop necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), is not clear. While antibiotic therapy is commonly used in neonates with NEC symptoms and sepsis, it remains unknown how antibiotics may affect the intestine and NEC sensitivity. We hypothesized that broad-spectrum antibiotics, given immediately after preterm birth, would reduce NEC sensitivity and support intestinal protective mechanisms.

Sonoporation induces apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in human promyelocytic leukemia cells.

Despite being a transient biophysical phenomenon, sonoporation is known to disturb the homeostasis of living cells. This work presents new evidence on how sonoporation may lead to antiproliferation effects including cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis through disrupting various cell signaling pathways. Our findings were obtained from sonoporation experiments conducted on HL-60 human promyelocytic leukemia cells (with 1% v/v microbubbles; 1 MHz ultrasound; 0.

Supplementation of bitter melon to rats fed a high-fructose diet during gestation and lactation ameliorates fructose-induced dyslipidemia and hepatic oxidative stress in male offspring.

This study examined the impact of maternal high-fructose intake and if metabolic control in the offspring could benefit from supplementing bioactive food components such as bitter melon (BM) to the maternal diet. In Expt. 1, virgin female rats received control (C), high-fructose (F; 60%), or BM-supplemented fructose (FBM; 1%) diet before conception until d 21 of lactation.

Spatial distribution of ciguateric fish in the Republic of Kiribati.

Ciguatera is food poisoning caused by human consumption of reef fish contaminated with ciguatoxins (CTXs). The expanding international trade of tropical fish species from ciguatera-endemic regions has resulted in increased global incidence of ciguatera, and more than 50000 people are estimated to suffer from ciguatera each year worldwide. The Republic of Kiribati is located in the Pacific Ocean; two of its islands, Marakei and Tarawa, have been suggested as high-risk areas for ciguatera.

Identification of liver proteins and their roles associated with carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatotoxicity.

Carbon tetrachloride (CCl(4)) is a common hepatotoxin used in experimental models to elicit liver injury. To identify the proteins involved in CCl(4)-induced hepatotoxicity, two-dimensional gel electrophoresis was employed followed by mass spectrometry - mass spectrometry (MS/MS) to study the differentially expressed proteins during CCl(4) exposure in the Fischer 344 rat liver proteome for 5 weeks. Ten spots with notable changes between the Control and CCl(4) groups were successfully identified.

Bacterial colonization affects the intestinal proteome of preterm pigs susceptible to necrotizing enterocolitis.

Background: In newborns, colonizing bacteria and enteral nutrition are important for early gut development and immunity. However, in preterm newborns, bacterial colonization, coupled with enteral feeding, can lead to marked intestinal inflammation and disease such as necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). We hypothesized that the initial bacterial colonization of the gut affects the intestinal proteome independently of enteral feeding.

Enteral feeding in utero induces marked intestinal structural and functional proteome changes in pig fetuses.

Intestinal adaptation from parenteral to enteral nutrition is crucial for survival and growth of newborns. Rapid feeding-induced gut maturation occurs immediately after birth in both preterm and term neonates, but it remains unclear whether the responses depend on factors related to birth transition (e.g.

Regulatory properties of polysaccharopeptide derived from Coriolus versicolor and its combined effect with ciclosporin on the homeostasis of human lymphocytes.

Objectives: Lymphocyte homoeostasis is essential in inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. In search of natural fungal metabolites with effects on lymphocyte homoeostasis, we recently reported that polysaccharopeptide (PSP) from Coriolus versicolor exhibited ciclosporin-like activity in controlling aberrant lymphocyte activation. This object of this study was to investigate its effect on lymphocyte homoeostasis.

Polysaccharopeptides derived from Coriolus versicolor potentiate the S-phase specific cytotoxicity of Camptothecin (CPT) on human leukemia HL-60 cells.

Background: Polysaccharopeptide (PSP) from Coriolus versicolor (Yunzhi) is used as a supplementary cancer treatment in Asia. The present study aims to investigate whether PSP pre-treatment can increase the response of the human leukemia HL-60 cells to apoptosis induction by Camptothecin (CPT).

Methods: We used bivariate bromodeoxyuridine/propidium iodide (BrdUrd/PI) flow cytometry analysis to measure the relative movement (RM) of the BrdUrd positively labeled cells and DNA synthesis time (Ts) on the HL-60 cell line.

The cell cycle effects of docosahexaenoic acid on human metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma proliferation.

Given the reported side effects associated with chemotherapy and surgical resection, dietary intervention with omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) has been postulated to be an alterative way to prevent liver cancer progression and metastasis. We studied the effects of an omega-3 PUFA, docahexaenoic acid (DHA) on COX-2 expression and the cell cycle control machinery that co-ordinately regulate the HCC cells growth. Our data showed that DHA (0-200 microM) retarded proliferation of the human metastatic HCC cell line MHCC97L dose-dependently.

Temporal proteomic analysis of intestine developing necrotizing enterocolitis following enteral formula feeding to preterm pigs.

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a serious gastrointestinal inflammatory disease, frequently occurs in preterm neonates that fail to adapt to enteral nutrition. A temporal gel-based proteomics study was performed on porcine intestine with NEC lesions induced by enteral formula feeding. Functional assignment of the differentially expressed proteins revealed that important cellular functions, such as the heat shock response, protein processing; and purine, nitrogen, energy metabolism, were possible involved in the early progression of NEC.

Polysaccharopeptide mimics ciclosporin-mediated Th1/Th2 cytokine balance for suppression of activated human T cell proliferation by MAPKp38 and STAT5 pathways.

The activation of T helper (Th) cell subsets plays an important role in the human immune system. Uncontrolled Th1 and Th2 responses lead to autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, respectively. The identification of agents that modulate the Th1/Th2 cytokines is therefore essential for controlling these diseases.

The small intestine proteome is changed in preterm pigs developing necrotizing enterocolitis in response to formula feeding.

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is the most common gastrointestinal emergency in newborn premature infants. Clinical studies show increased incidence of NEC in premature infants with enteral formula feeding; however, pathogenesis remains unclear. To identify the NEC-related proteins for molecular mechanisms, we applied proteomics analysis to characterize changes in the protein expression profile of newborn premature piglet intestines with NEC developed after enteral formula feeding for 24 h.

Polysaccharopeptide enhances the anticancer activity of doxorubicin and etoposide on human breast cancer cells ZR-75-30.

In search of natural bioactive microbial compounds with adjuvant properties, we have previously showed that the polysaccharopeptide (PSP), isolated from Chinese medicinal mushroom Coriolus versicolor, was able to enhance the cytotoxicity of certain S-phase targeted-drugs on human leukemic HL-60 cells via some cell-cycle and apoptotic-dependent pathways. The present study aimed to investigate whether the synergism of mechanisms of PSP with certain chemotherapeutic drugs also applies to human breast cancer. PSP treatment enhanced the cytotoxicity of doxorubicin (Doxo), etoposide (VP-16) but not cytarabine (Ara-C).

Proteome of human T lymphocytes with treatment of cyclosporine and polysaccharopeptide: analysis of significant proteins that manipulate T cells proliferation and immunosuppression.

The aberrant activation of T lymphocyte proliferation is one of the key events in organ transplant recipients and autoimmune disorders. The present study adopted a gel-based proteomics approach to define the proteins representative of the T cell proliferation and to discover the molecules that play critical roles during the suppression of T cell proliferation. Human T lymphocytes were isolated from healthy donors and primed with phytohemagglutinin (PHA) to undergo proliferation.

Markedly increased urinary preprohaptoglobin and haptoglobin in passive Heymann nephritis: a differential proteomics approach.

Membranous nephropathy (MN), a common cause of idiopathic nephrotic syndrome in adults, remains a potentially devastating problem worldwide. At present, there is no reliable noninvasive method for predicting and/or monitoring this glomerular disease, and its pathophysiology remains poorly understood. In the present study, the urinary proteome profile of rats after 10 days of an induction of passive Heymann nephritis (PHN), which resembles human MN, was compared to that of the baseline (control) urine prior to the induction of PHN by anti-Fx1A injection.

Serial changes in urinary proteome profile of membranous nephropathy: implications for pathophysiology and biomarker discovery.

Membranous nephropathy is one of the most common causes of primary glomerular diseases worldwide. The present study adopted a gel-based proteomics approach to better understand the pathophysiology and define biomarker candidates of human membranous nephropathy using an animal model of passive Heymann nephritis (PHN). Clinical characteristics of Sprague-Dawley rats injected with rabbit anti-Fx1A antiserum mimicked those of human membranous nephropathy.

Protection of lethal toxicity of endotoxin by Salvia miltiorrhiza BUNGE is via reduction in tumor necrosis factor alpha release and liver injury.

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) has been implicated as one of the major cause of Gram-negative bacteria-induced sepsis that are life-threatening syndromes occurring in intensive care unit patients. Many natural products derived from medicinal plants may contain therapeutic values on protecting endotoxemia-induced sepsis by virtue their ability to modulate multiple pro-inflammatory cytokines. In the present study, we show that Salvia miltiorrhiza (SM) BUNGE or Danshen, used in treatment of various systemic and surgical infections in the hospitals of China, was able to block the lethal toxicity of LPS in mice via suppression of TNF-alpha release and protection on liver injury.

Identification and characterization of a "biomarker of toxicity" from the proteome of the paralytic shellfish toxin-producing dinoflagellate Alexandrium tamarense (Dinophyceae).

The objective of this study was to identify and characterize a "biomarker of toxicity" from the proteome of Alexandrium tamarense, a paralytic shellfish toxin (PST)-producing dinoflagellate. A combination of 2-DE and MS approaches was employed to identify proteins of interest in the vegetative cells of several strains of A. tamarense with different toxin compositions and from different geographical locations.