• Experimental and Molecular Medicine
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• v.50 no.12
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• pp.5.1-5.15
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• 2018

Targeting hair follicle regeneration has been investigated for the treatment of hair loss, and fundamental studies investigating stem cells and their niche have been described. However, knowledge of stem cell metabolism and the specific regulation of bioenergetics during the hair regeneration process is currently insufficient. Here, we report the hair regrowth-promoting effect of a newly synthesized novel small molecule, IM176OUT05 (IM), which activates stem cell metabolism. IM facilitated stemness induction and maintenance during an induced pluripotent stem cell generation process. IM treatment mildly inhibited mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation and concurrently increased glycolysis, which accelerated stemness induction during the early phase of reprogramming. More importantly, the topical application of IM accelerated hair follicle regeneration by stimulating the progression of the hair follicle cycle to the anagen phase and increased the hair follicle number in mice. Furthermore, the stem cell population with a glycolytic metabotype appeared slightly earlier in the IM-treated mice. Stem cell and niche signaling involved in the hair regeneration process was also activated by the IM treatment during the early phase of hair follicle regeneration. Overall, these results show that the novel small molecule IM promotes tissue regeneration, specifically in hair regrowth, by restructuring the metabolic configuration of stem cells.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.585-592
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• 2021

Cisplatin has been reported to cause side effects such as muscle wasting in humans and rodents. The physiological mechanisms involved in preventing muscle wasting, such as the regulation of AKT, PGC1-α, and autophagy-related factor FOXO3a by MuRF 1 and Atrogin-1, remain unclear following different types of exercise and in various skeletal muscle types. Eight-week-old male Wistar rats (n = 34) were assigned to one of four groups: control (CON, n = 6), cisplatin injection (1 mg/kg) without exercise (CC, n = 8), cisplatin (1 mg/kg) + resistance exercise (CRE, n = 9) group, and cisplatin (1 mg/kg) + aerobic exercise (CAE, n = 11). The CRE group performed progressive ladder exercise (starting with 10% of body weight on a 1-m ladder with 2-cm-interval grids, at 85°) for 8 weeks. The CAE group exercised by treadmill running (20 m/min for 60 min daily, 4 times/week) for 8 weeks. Compared with the CC group, the levels of the autophagy-related factors BNIP3, Beclin 1, LC3-II/I ratio, p62, and FOXO3a in the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles were significantly decreased in the CRE and CAE groups. The CRE and CAE groups further showed significantly decreased MuRF 1 and Atrogin-1 levels and increased phosphorylation of AKT, FOXO3a, and PGC1-α. These results suggest that both ladder and aerobic exercise directly affected muscle wasting by modulating the AKT/PGC1-α/FOXO3a signaling pathways regardless of the skeletal muscle type.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2019.04a
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• pp.33-33
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• 2019

The AKT signaling pathway is a highly regulated cell signaling system that forms a network with other cell signaling pathways. Hence, the AKT signaling pathway mediates several important cellular functions that include cell survival, proliferation, cell migration, and et cetera. Irregularities that led overactive AKT signaling have been linked to many diseases such as cancer and metabolic-associated diseases. Hence, modulating the overactive AKT signaling pathway via inhibitor is a tantalizing prospect for treatment of cancer and metabolic-associated diseases. Two inhibitors of the AKT signaling pathway will be presented in this symposium: 1) Bisleuconothine A (BisA), a bisindole alkaloid that inhibit autophagy and 2) Ceramicine B (CerB), a limonoid that inhibit adipogenesis. The first topic is on a bisindole alkaloid, BisA and its mechanism in inducing autophagosome formation in lung cancer cell line, A549.(1) Since most autophagy inducing agents generally induce apoptosis, we found that BisA does not induce apoptosis even in high dose. BisA up-regulation of LC3 lipidation is achieved through mTOR inactivation. The phosphorylation of PRAS40, a mTOR repressor was suppressed by BisA. This observation suggested that BisA inactivates mTOR via suppression of PRAS40 phosphorylation. Interestingly, the phosphorylation of AKT, an upstream regulator of PRAS40 phosphorylation was also down-regulated by BisA. These findings suggested that Bis-A induces autophagosomes formation by interfering with the AKT-mTOR signaling pathway. The second topic is on CerB and its mechanism in inhibiting adipogenesis in preadipocytes cell line, MC3T3-G2/PA6.(2,3) CerB inhibits the phosphorylation of protein kinase B (AKT) at the Thr308 position but not the Ser473. Consequently, the phosphorylation of FOXO3 which is located downstream of AKT is also inhibited. Considering that FOXO3 is an important regulator of PPARγ which is a key factor in adipogenesis, CerB may inhibit adipogenesis via the AKT-FOXO3 signaling pathway. Taken together, both BisA and CerB highlighted the potential of AKT signaling pathway modulation as an approach to induce autophagy and inhibit the formation of fat cells, respectively.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.460-469
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• 2019

Purpose: The ${\beta}3-adrenergic$ receptor (ADRB3) is expressed in visceral adipose tissue and has been speculated to contribute to lipolysis, energy metabolism, and regulation of the metabolic rate. In this study, we aimed to investigate the association of polymorphism of the ADRB3 gene with the sex of children with obesity and related pathologies. Methods: ADRB3 gene trp64arg genotyping was conducted in 441 children aged 6-18 years. Among these subjects, 264 were obese (103 boys; 161 girls) and 179 were of normal weight (81 boys; 98 girls). In the obese group, fasting lipids, glucose and insulin levels, and blood pressure were measured. Metabolic syndrome (MS) was defined according to the modified World Health Organization criteria adapted for children. Results: The frequency of trp64arg genotype was similar in obese and normal weight children. In obese children, serum lipid, glucose, and insulin levels; homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) scores; and MS were not different between arg allele carriers (trp64arg) and noncarriers (trp64trp). In 264 obese children, genetic analysis results revealed that the arg allele carriers were significantly higher in girls than in boys (p=0.001). In the normal weight group, no statistically significant difference was found between genotypes of boys and girls (p=0.771). Conclusion: Trp64arg polymorphism of the ADRB3 gene was not associated with obesity and MS in Turkish children and adolescents. Although no relationships were observed between the genotypes and lipids, glucose/insulin levels, or HOMA-IR, the presence of trp64arg variant was frequent in obese girls, which can lead to weight gain as well as difficulty in losing weight in women.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.34-46
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• 2019

Obesity is frequently associated with metabolic disease. This study showed whether fenofibrate, a hypolipidemic agent, swimming and swimming combined with fenofibrate (: combination) regulate obesity, and whether combination is more effective than fenofibrate on regulation of obesity in high-fat diet-fed mice for 8 weeks. Both fenofibrate and swimming decreased obesity-associated factors such as body weight, adipose tissue mass, serum lipid levels and adipoctye size, compared with control mice. When mice were concomitantly treated with fenofibrate and swimming, combination reduced further the inhibitory effects on obesity-associated factors, compared with fenofibrate. Both fenofibrate, swimming and combination decreased serum glucose levels, compared with control mice. The evidence is presented herein that combination were effective to control obesity and serum glucose levels, suggesting that swimming combined with fenofibrate might contribute to inhibition of high-fat diet fed-induced metabolic syndrome.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.715-722
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• 2008

There are marked variations in the activity of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) among adipose depots. The aim of this study was to compare the mechanisms of 24 h of fasting on LPL regulation between epididymal (EPI) adipocytes and mesenteric (MES) adipocytes in rats. 1-Day fasting consistently decreased activities of heparin-releasable LPL, total extractable LPL and cellular LPL markedly in both EPI and MES fat pads. LPL activity in MES fat pads was relatively lower than in the EPI fat pads. Consistent with data on LPL activity, the levels of expression of LPL mRNA in both nutritional states were lower in MES than EPI adipose tissue and isolated adipocytes. The decreased LPL activity after 1 day of fasting in MES adipocytes was explained mainly by a 50% decrease in the relative abundance of LPL mRNA level and a parallel 50% decrease in relative rate of LPL synthesis. In contrast, fasting of 1 day in EPI adipocytes decreased total LPL activity by 47% but did not affect LPL mRNA level or relative rate of LPL synthesis. A decrease in overall protein synthesis contributed to the decreased LPL activity after 1 day fasting both in EPI and MES adipocytes. In MES adipocytes the decrease in LPL activity, LPL mRNA and LPL synthesis were comparable, but in EPI adipocytes the changes in LPL activity were substantially larger than the changes in LPL mRNA level and LPL synthesis. Therefore, fasting decreased fat cell size, LPL activity, LPL mRNA level and relative rate of LPL synthesis in rats, and these effects were more marked in the MES adipocytes. These results clearly demonstrate the regional variations in the metabolic response of adipose tissue and LPL functions to fasting.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.203-208
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• 2005

Thioacetamide (TA) is potent haptotoxincant that requires metabolic activation by mixed-function oxidases. Micrcarray technology, which is massive parallel gene expression profiling in a single hybridization experiment, has provided as a powerful molecular genetic tool for biological system related toxicant. In this study we focus on the use of toxicogenomics for the determination of gene expression analysis associated with hepatotoxicity in rat liver epithelial cell line WB-F344 (WB). The WB cells was used to assess the toxic effects of TA. WB cells were exposed to two concentrations of TA-doses which caused 20% and 50% cell death were chosen and the cells exposed for periods of 2 and 24 h. Our data revealed that following the 2-h exposure at the both of doses and 24-h exposure at the low doses, few changes in gene expression were detected. However, after 24-h exposure of the cells to the high concentration, multiple changes in gene expression were observed. TA treatment gave rise predominantly to up-regulation of genes involved in cell cycle and cell death, but down-regulation of genes involves in cell adhesion and calcium ion binding. Exposure of WB cells to higher doses of the TA gave rise to more changes in gene expression at lower exposure times. These results show that TA regulates expression of numerous genes via direct molecular signaling mechanisms in liver cells.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.213-218
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• 2005

Phellinus linteus (PL), one of the immune-regulatory substances, is recognized to play the role in the metabolic process on inflammation and immunity. It has been traditionally used in the oriental medicine to treat inflammatory related disease. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of water extracts of PL on the mesenteric lymph node lymphocytes immune function in the ICR male mice. Control mice received vehicle only. The PL treated mice were administered the respective extract by oral gavages for 4 weeks. IgE concentrations in serum and MLN lymphocytes were significantly lower in PL treated mice than in control mice. PL increased the proportion of $CD4^+\;and\;CD8^+$ T cells in MLN lymphocytes. PL significantly decreased Th2 cytokine concentrations and mRNA expression levels in cytokine secretions. Therefore, water extracts of PL modulate inflammatory parameters through regulation of immunoglobulin production resulting from decreased Th2 cytokine secretion and mRNA expression levels and reduce pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion and mRNA expression in MLN lymphocytes.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.24 no.9
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• pp.1211-1216
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• 2011

Sexual maturity in poultry is controlled by a complex neural circuit located in the basal forebrain, which integrates the central and peripheral signals to activate hypothalamic gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) secretion. This study demonstrated the changes of GnRH-I, POMC and NPY mRNA transcription in hypothalamus and IGF-I and leptin levels in serum of Shaoxing ducks during puberty. Body weight increased progressively from d30 to d120 and at d120 the flock reached 5% of laying rate. A significant upregulation of hypothalamic GnRH-I mRNA expression was observed from d60, reaching the peak at d120. POMC and NPY mRNA expression in hypothalamus showed a similar pattern, which increased from d30 to d60, followed by a significant decrease towards sexual maturity. Serum IGF-I levels exhibited two peaks at d30 and d120, respectively. Serum leptin displayed a single peak at d90. The results indicate that the down-regulation of POMC and NPY genes in hypothalamus coincides with the up-regulation of GnRH-I gene to initiate sexual maturation in ducks. In addition, peripheral IGF-I and leptin may relay the peripheral metabolic status to the central system and contribute to the initiation of the reproductive function in ducks.

• BMB Reports
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• v.47 no.9
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• pp.494-499
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• 2014

NADH:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) is known to be involved in the regulation of energy synthesis and metabolism, and the functional studies of NQO1 have largely focused on metabolic disorders. Here, we show for the first time that compared to NQO1-WT mice, NQO1-KO mice exhibited a marked increase of permeability and spontaneous inflammation in the gut. In the DSS-induced colitis model, NQO1-KO mice showed more severe inflammatory responses than NQO1-WT mice. Interestingly, the transcript levels of claudin and occludin, the major tight junction molecules of gut epithelial cells, were significantly decreased in NQO1-KO mice. The colons of NQO1-KO mice also showed high levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and histone deacetylase (HDAC) activity, which are known to affect transcriptional regulation. Taken together, these novel findings indicate that NQO1 contributes to the barrier function of gut epithelial cells by regulating the transcription of tight junction molecules.