| 1. |
- Gnad, T., et al.
(författare)
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Adenosine activates brown adipose tissue and recruits beige adipocytes via A(2A) receptors
- 2014
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 516:7531
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is specialized in energy expenditure, making it a potential target for anti-obesity therapies(1-5). Following exposure to cold, BAT is activated by the sympathetic nervous system with concomitant release of catecholamines and activation of beta-adrenergic receptors(1-5). Because BAT therapies based on cold exposureor beta-adrenergic agonists are clinically not feasible, alternative strategies must be explored. Purinergic co-transmission might be involved in sympathetic control of BAT and previous studies reported inhibitory effects of the purinergic transmitter adenosine in BAT from hamster or rat(6-8). However, the role of adenosine in human BAT is unknown. Here we show that adenosine activates human and murine brown adipocytes at low nanomolar concentrations. Adenosine is released in BAT during stimulation of sympathetic nerves as well as from brown adipocytes. The adenosine A(2A) receptor is the most abundant adenosine receptor in human and murine BAT. Pharmacological blockade or genetic loss of A(2A) receptors in mice causes adecrease in BAT-dependent thermogenesis, whereas treatment with A(2A) agonists significantly increases energy expenditure. Moreover, pharmacological stimulation of A(2A) receptors or injection of lentiviral vectors expressing the A(2A) receptor into white fat induces brown-like cells-so-called beige adipocytes. Importantly, mice fed a high-fat diet and treated with an A(2A) agonist are leaner with improved glucose tolerance. Taken together, our results demonstrate that adenosine-A(2A) signalling plays an unexpected physiological role in sympathetic BAT activation and protects mice from diet-induced obesity. Those findings reveal new possibilities for developing novel obesity therapies.
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| 2. |
- Essam, Tamer, et al.
(författare)
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Sequential UV–biological degradation of chlorophenols
- 2006
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Ingår i: Chemosphere. - : Elsevier BV. - 1879-1298 .- 0045-6535. ; 63:2, s. 277-284
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The sequential UV–biological degradation of a mixture of 4-chlorophenol (CP), 2,4-dichlorophenol (DCP), 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP), and pentachlorophenol (PCP) was first tested with each pollutant supplied at an initial concentration of 50 mg l−1. Under these conditions, the chlorophenols were photodegraded in the following order of removal rate: PCP > TCP > DCP > CP with only CP and DCP remaining after 40 h of irradiation. The remaining CP (41 mg l−1) and DCP (13 mg l−1) were then completely removed by biological treatment with an activated sludge mixed culture. Biodegradation did not occur in similar tests conducted with a non-irradiated mixture due to the high microbial toxicity of the solution. UV treatment lead to a significant reduction of the phytotoxicity to Lipedium sativum but no further reduction of phytotoxicity was observed after biological treatment. Evidence was found that the pollutants were partially photodegraded into toxic and non-biodegradable products. When the pollutants were tested individually (initial concentration of 50 mg l−1), PCP, TCP, DCP, 4-CP were photodegraded according to first order kinetic model (r2 > 99) with half-lives of 2.2, 3.3, 5.7, and 54 h, respectively. The photoproducts were subsequently biodegraded. This study illustrates the potential of UV as pre-treatment for biological treatment in order to remove toxicity and enhance the biodegradability of organic contaminants. However, it also shows that UV treatment must be carefully optimized to avoid the formation of toxic and/or recalcitrant photoproducts and results from studies conducted on single contaminants cannot be extrapolated to mixtures.
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