The hepatotoxic effect of carbon tetrachloride (CCl(4)) administered by gavage at 0.25 ml CCl(4) (1:1 in olive oil) per 100 g body weight was examined 24 h later in regular chow fed (RC) and 10% flax chow fed (FC) male and female Fischer 344 rats. CCl(4)-treated RC rats were subdued, lethargic and unkempt. CCl(4)-treated FC rats were much less affected. CCl(4) treatment resulted in loss of weight in RC and FC rats. In males, the weight loss was 6.7% body mass in RC rats compared to 5.6% body mass in FC rats. In females, the weight loss was 7.5% body mass in both RC and FC rats. While CCl(4) treatment increased the level of the liver injury marker plasma alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in RC rats, this CCl(4) effect was significantly attenuated in FC rats. In male rats, the ALT increase was 435-fold in RC rats and 119-fold in FC rats, over that of their respective controls. In female rats, the ALT increase was 454-fold in RC rats and 381-fold in FC rats, over that of their respective controls. These results provide evidence that flax consumption protects the liver against injury and that the extent of the protection is sex dependent. CCl(4) had no effect on the plasma level of gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase (gammaGT) in RC and FC rats supporting the contention that plasma gammaGT is not a useful marker for acute liver injury which is seen in this model. The activity of gammaGT was increased in the livers of FC rats compared to RC rats: 2.7-fold in males and 1.5-fold in females. In RC rats, the activity of liver gammaGT was decreased by CCl(4) treatment: 70% in the male and 25% in the female. However, this CCl(4) effect was reversed or abolished by flax consumption. Compared to RC rats: in male FC rats, CCl(4) actually increased the activity of liver gammaGT 1.28-fold; while in female FC rats, the depressing effect of CCl(4) treatment was abolished. The flax-induced preservation of gammaGT in the liver in response to injury may be involved in the observed hepatoprotection through generation of GSH. In RC male rats, CCl(4) treatment effected a 25% reduction in plasma glucose levels. There was no decrease in CCl(4)-treated FC male rats. In female rats, CCl(4) treatment effected a 21% decrease in plasma glucose levels in both RC and FC rats. In conclusion, multiple parameters for acute CCl(4)-induced injury were attenuated in the FC compared to the RC rat. That flaxseed consumption conferred greater protection against liver injury in the male than in the female suggests an involvement of the estrogenic lignan component of flaxseed. We discuss the possibility that this hepatoprotection is through a flax lignan-induced increase in reduced glutathione related to a flax effect on the activity of liver gammaGT in the resting state and the maintenance of its activity in response to injury.
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Adv Healthc Mater
January 2025
College of Polymer Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China.
The hydrogel adhesives with strong tissue adhesion and biological characteristics adhm202404447are urgently needed for injury sealing and tissue repair. However, the negative correlation between tissue adhesion and the mechanical strength poses a challenge for their practical application. Herein, a bio-inspired cohesive enhancement strategy is developed to prepare the hydrogel adhesive with simultaneously enhanced mechanical strength and tissue adhesion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCirc Res
January 2025
British Heart Foundation Centre for Research Excellence, School of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine and Sciences, James Black Centre, King's College London, United Kingdom (C.Y.H., M.-Y.W., J.T., S.A., L.D., G.A., R.H., C.M.S.).
Background: Vascular calcification is a detrimental aging pathology markedly accelerated in patients with chronic kidney disease. Prelamin A is a biomarker of vascular smooth muscle cell aging that accelerates calcification however the mechanisms remain undefined.
Methods: Vascular smooth muscle cells were transduced with prelamin A using an adenoviral vector and epigenetic modifications were monitored using immunofluorescence and targeted polymerase chain reaction array.
Hypertension
January 2025
Department of Environmental Health, Life Science and Human Technology, Nara Women's University, Japan.
Background: Exposure to cold environments is linked to cold-induced hypertension due to activated sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) and arterial baroreceptor reflex dysfunction. However, direct measurement of SNA during cold-induced hypertension and changes in baroreflex control of SNA remain unexplored.
Methods: Chronically instrumented rats were exposed to cold temperatures (10 °C) over 4 days after a control period (24 °C), and renal and lumbar sympathetic nerve activities were simultaneously measured during cold-induced hypertension.
J Pharm Anal
December 2024
Institute of Translational Medicine, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, 268 Kaixuan Road, Hangzhou, 310020, China.
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a major metabolic disease endangering global health, with diabetic nephropathy (DN) as a primary complication lacking curative therapy. Sporoderm-broken spores of (GLP), an herbal medicine, has been used for the treatment of metabolic disorders. In this study, DN was induced in Sprague-Dawley rats using streptozotocin (STZ) and a high-fat diet (HFD), and the protective mechanisms of GLP were investigated through transcriptomic, metabolomic, and network pharmacology (NP) analyses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Plant Sci
January 2025
Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.
Introduction: is a medicinal plant that produces silymarin, which has been demonstrated to possess antiviral, anti-neurodegenerative, and anticancer activities. Silybin (A+B) are two major hepatoprotective flavonolignans produced predominantly in fruits. Several attempts have been made to increase the synthesis of silymarin, or its primary components, silybin (A+B).
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