• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.19 no.6
• /
• pp.779-783
• /
• 2006

The adiponectin gene is known to be involved in the regulation of energy homeostasis involving food intake, carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. Human adiponectin gene polymorphisms have been recently reported to be associated with obesity, insulin sensitivity and the risk of type 2 diabetes. The present study was carried out to investigate the porcine adiponectin gene as a candidate gene for fat deposition and carcass traits. A mutation of A178G of the porcine adiponectin gene that resulted in substitution of the amino acid Isoleucine to Valine was identified. AcyI PCR-RFLP was used to detect the polymorphism of the genotypes in five different pig populations (Large White, Landrace, Duroc, Chinese breeds Meishan and Qingping). The A allele frequency was significantly higher among subjects from Chinsese lard type breeds, while the G allele was the only one present in those from Western lean type breeds. To determine if there was an association of the polymorphism with phenotypic variation, the mutation was tested in 267 pigs of the "Large $White{\times}Meishan$" F2 resource population. The results of association analyses showed significant associations of the genotypes with fat deposition and carcass traits. Allele G was significantly associated with increase in loin eye height, loin eye area and lean meat percentage and bone percentage, and decrease in fat mean percentage, ratio of lean to fat, shoulder fat thickness, 6-7 rib fat thickness, thorax-waist fat thickness and buttock fat thickness. The substitution of A178G (Ile60Val) happened to be located at amino acid 60 in the collagenous domain of porcine adiponectin which might affect the association into higher-order structures, and accordingly affect the posttranslational modifications and optimal biological activity of the multimeric forms. The identified functional polymorphism provides new evidence of adiponectin as an important candidate gene affecting fat deposition and carcass traits in pigs.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.24 no.12
• /
• pp.1356-1363
• /
• 2014

Ghrelin is a 28 amino acid orexigenic peptide hormone that is secreted predominantly by tX/A cells in the stomach, and it plays a major role in energy homeostasis. Activated ghrelin has an n-octanoyl group covalently linked to the hydroxyl group of the Ser3 residue, which is critical for its binding to the G-protein coupled growth hormone secretagogue receptor-1a (GHS-R1a). According to recent reports, both ghrelin and its receptor, GHS-R1a, are expressed by a variety of immune cells, including T- and B-lymphocytes, monocytes, and dendritic cells, and ghrelin stimulation of leukocytes provides a potent immunomodulatory signal controlling systemic and age-associated inflammation and thymic involution. Here, we report that ghrelin protected murine thymocytes from dexamethasone (DEX)-induced cell death both in vivo and in vitro. Subsequently, we explored the molecular mechanisms of the antiapoptotic effect of ghrelin. According to our experiments, ghrelin inhibited the expression of proapoptotic proteins via the regulation of glucocorticoid receptor (GR) phosphorylation. As a result, ghrelin inhibited the proapoptotic activation of proteins, such as Caspase-3, PARP, and Bim. These data suggest that ghrelin, through GHS-R, inhibits the pathway to apoptosis by regulation of the proapoptotic protein activation signal pathway. They provide evidence that blocking apoptosis is an essential function of ghrelin during the development of thymocytes.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
• /
• v.31 no.2
• /
• pp.99-106
• /
• 2011

In order to investigate rice stem proteome in response to heat stress, rice plants were subjected to heat treatment at 42$^{\circ}C$ and total soluble proteins were extracted from stem tissues, and were fractionated with 15% PEG (poly ethylene glycol) and separated by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2-DE). After staining of 2-DE gels, 46 of differentially expressed proteins were extracted, digested by trypsin, and subjected to matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) analysis. Proteins were identified through database search by using peptide mass fingerprints. Among them, 10 proteins were successfully identified. Seven proteins were up- and 3 proteins were down-regulated, respectively. These proteins are involved in energy and metabolism, redox homeostasis, and mitochondrial small heat shock proteins. The identification of some novel proteins in the heat stress response provides new insights that can lead to a better understanding of the molecular basis of heat-sensitivity in plants, and also useful to molecular breeding of thermotolerant forage crops.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.27 no.7
• /
• pp.826-833
• /
• 2017

The rising concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide is causing ocean acidification and global warming. The seahorse is an important species in marine ecosystems and fishery markets, however, their populations have recently decreased due to ocean acidification. As a result, we examined changes in the physiological responses of the spotted seahorse Hippocampus kuda when it was exposed to acidic sea water (pH 6.0, 6.5, and 7.0) and normal seawater (pH 8.0 as the control) over a period of 15 days. As the pH decreased, the seahorses' body weight and length also decreased. Components in body of ash, the crude lipids and crude proteins also differed significantly with changes in pH, due to stress caused by the seahorses' exposure to the acidic water conditions. The superoxide dismutase levels were significantly lower in the pH 6.0 and 6.5 groups than they were in the pH 7.0 and pH 8.0 groups. However, the catalase and glutathione levels were significantly higher in the acidic sea water groups. We suggest that decreasing the pH level of rearing water induces a stress response in H. kuda, damaging their ability to maintain their homeostasis and energy metabolism. Antioxidant enzymes are generally sensitive to acidic stress; in this study, the antioxidant activity was significantly affected by the pH level of the rearing water. These results indicate that physiological stress, induced by exposure to acidification, induces an antioxidant reaction, which can reduce general components in the body and the growth of H. kuda.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
• /
• v.27 no.6
• /
• pp.646-652
• /
• 2004

The objective of this study was to determine the acute effect of trimetazidine (TMZ) on the pre-fatigue, fatigue and post-fatigue contractile characteristics and tension-frequency relationships of isolated rat diaphragm muscle. Muscle strips were taken from the ventral-costal aspects of the diaphragm muscle of rats killed by decapitation. The muscle strips were suspended in organ baths containing Krebs solution, with a gas mixture of 95% $O_2$ and 5% $CO_2$ at $37^{\circ}C$ and pH 7.35-7.45. After determining the thermoregulation and optimum muscle length the muscles were subjected to direct supramaximal stimulation with 0.05 Hz frequency square pulses for periods of 0.5 msec to obtain control values. After adding $5{\times}10^{-6}{\;}and{\;}5{\times}10^{-5}$ M trimetazidine solution to the respective bath media, the contractile parameters of the muscles were recorded. The contractile parameters were also recorded for both the trimetazidine and tri-metazidine-free media after application of the high frequency fatigue protocols. Later, the tension-frequency relationship was determined by applying stimulating pulses of 10, 20, 50 and 100 Hz to the muscle strips. Whilst the twitch tension obtained from the $5{\times}10^{-6}{\;}and{\;}5{\times}10^{-5}$ M trimetazidine media showed numerical increases compared to that of the controls, these were not statistically significant (p>0.05). The contraction time exhibited a dose dependent increase (p<0.001), whilst the contraction and relaxation rates did not differ significantly. The isometric contraction forces obtained with the different stimulating frequencies showed a significant increase in the tetanic contraction only at 100 Hz (p<0.05). A comparison of the pre- and post-fatigue twitch tensions in the trimetazidine media showed the post- fatigue twitch tensions to be significantly higher than those of the pre-fatigue contraction forces (p<0.05). In the $5{\times}10^{-6}{\;}and{\;}5{\times}10^{-5}$ M trimetazidine media the increases in the post-fatigue contraction force were 22 and 30%, respectively. These results demonstrated that in isolated rat diaphragm muscle, TMZ significantly limited the mechanical performance decrease during fatigue. It is our opinion that trimetazidine contributed to the observed fatigue tolerance by eliminating the factors of fatigue, due to preservation of intracellular calcium homeostasis, provision of the ATP energy levels needed by ATPase dependent pumps and especially by keeping the intracellular pH within cer-tain limits.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
• /
• v.49 no.4
• /
• pp.437-442
• /
• 2007

The melanocortin-4 receptor(MC4R) is virtually expressed in all brain regions and plays an important role in energy homeostasis in mammals. MC4R has been intensively studied as a trait gene controlling economically important traits, such as growth and feed conversion, etc. Six hundreds and sixty Duroc pigs were genotyped for the MC4R locus and analyzed their relationships with breeding values for average daily gain(ADG), backfat thickness(BF), days to 90kg(D90) and feed conversion(FC). The estimated genotype frequencies for the all Duroc pigs were: 30.8%, 45.2%, 24.1% for AA, AB and BB genotypes, respectively. The mutant A allele was significantly associated with ADG, D90 and BF whereas no significant relationship was found with FC. The change of gene frequencies by generation was shown in both selected and culled groups. These results indicate that the MC4R polymorphism could be integrated in the present selection program to realize a marker-assisted selection for the growth traits of the Duroc population.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
• /
• v.38 no.4
• /
• pp.1117-1128
• /
• 2021

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effects of 4-week health promotion intervention program consisting of high-intensity aerobic exercise to improve energy consumption and cardiorespiratory capacity, circuit training to strengthen muscular strength and endurance and education for lifestyle changes on the obesity level, physical fitness, insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome among overweight or obese elementary school students. Twenty three overweight or obese children as obese group and 15 normal body weight children as normal group were recruited. The health promotion program consisted of two exercise sessions and one education session, 3days/week in 4-week. Obesity level(body mass index, waist circumference, %body fat), physical fitness(muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, cardiopulmonary fitness), insulin resistance(homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance) and metabolic syndrome risk factors(blood pressure, fasting glucose, triglycerides, high density lipoprotein cholesterol) were measured. There was not significant decrease in obesity level; however, there were significant improvement in physical fitness, insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome risk factors after program participation among obese children. As a result, through participation in the summer camp consisting mainly of exercise, the improvement of the physical fitness level and the decrease of insulin resistance had an effect on the reduction of the metabolic syndrome frequency.

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.54 no.5
• /
• pp.266-271
• /
• 2021

Estrogen-related receptor γ (ERRγ), a member of the orphan nuclear receptor family, is a key mediator in cellular metabolic processes and energy homeostasis. Therefore, ERRγ has become an attractive target for treating diverse metabolic disorders. We recently reported that ERRγ acts as a negative regulator of osteoclastogenesis induced by receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand (RANKL). In the present study, we explored the effects of an ERRγ-specific modulator, GSK5182, on ERRγ-regulated osteoclast differentiation and survival. Interestingly, GSK5182 increased ERRγ protein levels much as does GSK4716, which is an ERRγ agonist. GSK5182 inhibited osteoclast generation from bone-marrow-derived macrophages without affecting cytotoxicity. GSK5182 also attenuated RANKL-mediated expression of cFos and nuclear factor of activated T-cells cytoplasmic 1 (NFATc1), pivotal transcription factors for osteoclastogenesis. Arrested osteoclast differentiation was associated with reduced RANK expression, but not with the M-CSF receptor, c-Fms. GSK5182 strongly blocked the phosphorylation of IκBα, c-Jun N-terminal kinase, and extracellular signal-regulated kinase in response to RANKL. GSK5182 also suppressed NF-κB promoter activity in a dose-dependent manner. In addition to osteoclastogenesis, GSK5182 accelerated osteoclast apoptosis by caspase-3 activation. Together, these results suggest that GSK5182, a synthetic ERRγ modulator, may have potential in treating disorders related to bone resorption.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.295-303
• /
• 2023

Immune and metabolic systems are important factors in maintaining homeostasis. Immune response and metabolic regulation are highly associated, so, when the normal metabolism is disturbed, the immune response changed followed the metabolic diseases occur. Likewise, obesity is highly related to immune response. Obesity, which is caused by an imbalance in energy metabolism, is associated with metabolic diseases, such as insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver diseases, atherosclerosis and hypertension. As known, obesity is characterized in chronic low-grade inflammation. In obesity, the microenvironment of immune cells became inflammatory by the unique activation phenotypes of immune cells such as macrophage, natural killer cell, T cell. Also, the immune cells interact each other in cellular or cytokine mechanisms, which intensify the obesity-induced inflammatory response. This phenomenon suggests the possibility of regulating the activation of immune cells as a pharmacological therapeutic strategy for obesity in addition to the common pharmacological treatment of obesity which is aimed at inhibiting enzymes such as pancreatic lipase and α-amylase or inhibiting differentiation of preadipocytes. In this review, we summarize the activation phenotypes of macrophage, natural killer cell and T cell, and their aspects in obesity. We also summarize the pharmacological substances that alleviates obesity by regulating the activation of immune cells.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.419-428
• /
• 2000

Leptin, the product of obese (ob) gene, is an adipocyte-derived satiety factor that plays a major role in the regulation of food intake, energy homeostasis, body weight, reproductive physiology and neuropeptide secretion. The present study was designed to generate transgenic mice expressing antisense mouse ob (mob) gene. Total RNA was extracted from the adipose tissues of mouse, then reverse transcription was performed. The 303 and 635 bp fragments of anti I and II cDNAs were amplified from mob cDNAs by PCR. The two mob cDNAs were reversely ligated into between adipose tissue specific aP2 promote and SV40 poly(A) site. Transgenic mice carrying two different kinds of antisense mob transgenes were generated by DNA microinjection into pronucleus. Total 14 transgenic mice were born, and the 4 and 5 founder lines of the transgenic mice with anti I and II transgenes were respectively established. Antisense mRNA expression was detected in transgenic F$_1$ mice by RT-PCR analysis. This result suggests that the transgenic mice expressing antisense mob mRNA may be useful as an animal disease model to be obesity caused by decreased amount of leptin secretion.