| 1. |
- Hu, Minyu, et al.
(författare)
-
Comparison of lycopene and fluvastatin effects on atherosclerosis induced by a high-fat diet in rabbits
- 2008
-
Ingår i: Nutrition Journal. - : Elsevier BV. - 1475-2891 .- 1475-2891. ; 24:10, s. 1030-1038
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective We evaluated the antiatherogenic effect of lycopene in rabbits fed a high-fat diet. Methods Forty adult male rabbits were divided into five groups that were fed a standard diet, a high-fat diet, a high-fat diet plus 4 mg/kg of lycopene, a high-fat diet plus 12 mg/kg of lycopene, and a high-fat diet plus 10 mg/kg of fluvastatin, respectively. Lycopene and fluvastatin were administered intragastrically. The level of serum total cholesterol, total triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, total antioxidant capacity, and malondialdehyde were measured before and after 4 and 8 wk of experimental treatment. In addition, plasma levels of lycopene, oxidized low-density lipoprotein, serum nitric oxide, and interleukin-1 were measured after the experiment. The area of atherosclerotic plaque and pathologic changes of the aorta were evaluated. Results Compared with the control, levels of total cholesterol, total triacylglycerol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, malonaldehyde, oxidized low-density lipoprotein, and interleukin-1 were increased and total antioxidant capacity and nitric oxide were decreased in the animals with a high-fat diet (P < 0.05). Intragastric administration of lycopene counteracted the change in these parameters (P < 0.05). In this case, the data showed that lycopene in the used dose was better than the fluvastatin intervention. Morphologic analysis revealed that lycopene and fluvastatin markedly reduced the formation of atherosclerotic plaques in the aorta compared with the situation in rabbits on a high-fat diet alone. Conclusion Lycopene, like fluvastatin, significantly attenuated atherogenesis in rabbits fed a high-fat diet.
|
|
| 2. |
- Klionsky, Daniel J., et al.
(författare)
-
Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy in higher eukaryotes
- 2008
-
Ingår i: Autophagy. - : Landes Bioscience. - 1554-8627 .- 1554-8635. ; 4:2, s. 151-175
-
Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Research in autophagy continues to accelerate,1 and as a result many new scientists are entering the field. Accordingly, it is important to establish a standard set of criteria for monitoring macroautophagy in different organisms. Recent reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose.2,3 There are many useful and convenient methods that can be used to monitor macroautophagy in yeast, but relatively few in other model systems, and there is much confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure macroautophagy in higher eukaryotes. A key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers of autophagosomes versus those that measure flux through the autophagy pathway; thus, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation needs to be differentiated from fully functional autophagy that includes delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (in most higher eukaryotes) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of the methods that can be used by investigators who are attempting to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as by reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that investigate these processes. This set of guidelines is not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to verify an autophagic response.
|
|
| 3. |
- Lin, Na, et al.
(författare)
-
Solvent Effects on the Three-Photon Absorption of a Symmetric Charge-Transfer Molecule
- 2008
-
Ingår i: Journal of Physical Chemistry B. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1520-6106 .- 1520-5207. ; 112, s. 4703-4710
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present a theoretical study of the solvent-induced three-photon absorption cross section of a highly conjugated fluorene derivative, performed using density functional (DFT) cubic response theory in combination with the polarizable continuum model. The applicability of the often used two-state model is examined by comparison against the full DFT response theory results. It is found that the simplified model performs poorly for the three-photon absorption properties of our symmetric charge-transfer molecule. The dielectric medium enhances the three-photon absorption cross section remarkably. The effects of solvent polarity and geometrical distortions have been carefully examined. A detailed comparison with experiment is presented.
|
|
| 4. |
- Lin, Na, et al.
(författare)
-
Vibronically-induced change in the chiral response of molecules revealed by electronic circular dichroism spectroscopy
- 2008
-
Ingår i: Chemical Physics Letters. - : Elsevier BV. - 0009-2614 .- 1873-4448. ; 464, s. 144-149
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A computational study of the vibronically resolved electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra of R-(+)- 3-methyl-cyclopentanone, including both Franck-Condon and Herzberg-Teller contributions, shows how the latter can introduce a change of sign on the chiral response of an electronic excited state. This sign inversion within the vibronically resolved electronic band, which can be interpreted as a change of the chirality of the system, has in principle important consequences in comparisons of theoretical and experimental ECD spectra employed for the assignment of absolute configurations.
|
|
| 5. |
- Tao, Yi, et al.
(författare)
-
Rapid synthesis of auxin via a new tryptophan-dependent pathway is required for shade avoidance in plants
- 2008
-
Ingår i: Cell. - : Elsevier. - 0092-8674 .- 1097-4172. ; 133:1, s. 164-176
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Plants grown at high densities perceive a decrease in the red to far-red (R:FR) ratio of incoming light, resulting from absorption of red light by canopy leaves and reflection of far-red light from neighboring plants. These changes in light quality trigger a series of responses known collectively as the shade avoidance syndrome. During shade avoidance, stems elongate at the expense of leaf and storage organ expansion, branching is inhibited, and flowering is accelerated. We identified several loci in Arabidopsis, mutations in which lead to plants defective in multiple shade avoidance responses. Here we describe TAA1, an aminotransferase, and show that TAA1 catalyzes the formation of indole-3-pyruvic acid (IPA) from L-tryptophan (L-Trp), the first step in a previously proposed, but uncharacterized, auxin biosynthetic pathway. This pathway is rapidly deployed to synthesize auxin at the high levels required to initiate the multiple changes in body plan associated with shade avoidance.
|
|
| 6. |
- Yang, Chia-Min, et al.
(författare)
-
2D-Rectangular c2mm mesoporous silica nanoparticles with tunable elliptical channels and lattice dimensions
- 2008
-
Ingår i: Chemical Communications. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 1359-7345 .- 1364-548X. ; :45, s. 5969-5971
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mesoporous silica nanoparticles with a two-dimensional center-rectangular (plane group c2mm) lattice and coiled elliptical channels have been synthesized; the new synthetic route also allows simple control over the lattice dimensions and the elliptical shape of the channels.
|
|
