Lipase-catalyzed acidolysis of fish liver oil with dihydroxyphenylacetic acid in organic solvent media

Lipase-catalyzed acidolysis reaction of fish liver oil with dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DHPA) was investigated in terms of enzyme specificity as well as the effects of enzyme concentration, molar substrate ratio and organic solvent mixture on the bioconversion yield. The highest bioconversion yield of 83% was obtained when Novozym 435 was used as biocatalyst in a hexane:2-butanone mixture of 75:25 (v/v) at a fish liver oil to DHPA substrate molar ratio of 4:1; however, lower bioconversion yield (15%) was obtained when Lipozyme IM 20 was used. The bioconversion yield of phenolic monoacylglycerols (MAGs) increased from 11 to 70% when the ratio of the hexane/2-butanone reaction medium was changed from 85:15 to 75:25 (v/v), whereas that of phenolic diacylglycerols (DAGs) remained relatively unchanged (13–16%). The results also showed that the acidolysis reaction resulted in an increase of C_20:5 ω-3 and C_22:6 ω-3 proportions from 11.5 and 20.2% in the original fish liver oil to 22.6–27.1 and 22.8–23.1% in the phenolic lipids, respectively. The radical scavenging ability of phenolic lipids was determined to be about half-time lower than that of α-tocopherol.     

Binding of more than one retinoid to visual opsins

Visual opsins bind 11-cis retinal at an orthosteric site to form rhodopsins but increasing evidence suggests that at least some are capable of binding an additional retinoid(s) at a separate, allosteric site(s). Microspectrophotometric measurements on isolated, dark-adapted, salamander photoreceptors indicated that the truncated retinal analog, β-ionone, partitioned into the membranes of green-sensitive rods; however, in blue-sensitive rod outer segments, there was an enhanced uptake of four or more β-ionones per rhodopsin. X-ray crystallography revealed binding of one β-ionone to bovine green-sensitive rod rhodopsin. Cocrystallization only succeeded with extremely high concentrations of β-ionone and binding did not alter the structure of rhodopsin from the inactive state. Salamander green-sensitive rod rhodopsin is also expected to bind β-ionone at sufficiently high concentrations because the binding site is present on its surface. Therefore, both blue- and green-sensitive rod rhodopsins have at least one allosteric binding site for retinoid, but β-ionone binds to the latter type of rhodopsin with low affinity and low efficacy.     

PI3K Inhibition Enhances Doxorubicin-Induced Apoptosis in Sarcoma Cells

We searched for a drug capable of sensitization of sarcoma cells to doxorubicin (DOX). We report that the dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitor PI103 enhances the efficacy of DOX in several sarcoma cell lines and interacts with DOX in the induction of apoptosis. PI103 decreased the expression of MDR1 and MRP1, which resulted in DOX accumulation. However, the enhancement of DOX-induced apoptosis was unrelated to DOX accumulation. Neither did it involve inhibition of mTOR. Instead, the combination treatment of DOX plus PI103 activated Bax, the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway, and caspase 3. Caspase 3 activation was also observed in xenografts of sarcoma cells in nude mice upon combination of DOX with the specific PI3K inhibitor GDC-0941. Although the increase in apoptosis did not further impact on tumor growth when compared to the efficient growth inhibition by GDC-0941 alone, these findings suggest that inhibition of PI3K may improve DOX-induced proapoptotic effects in sarcoma. Taken together with similar recent studies of neuroblastoma- and glioblastoma-derived cells, PI3K inhibition seems to be a more general option to sensitize tumor cells to anthracyclines.     

Unacylated ghrelin acts as a potent insulin secretagogue in glucose-stimulated conditions

Acylated and unacylated ghrelin (AG and UAG) are gut hormones that exert pleiotropic actions, including regulation of insulin secretion and glucose metabolism. In this study, we investigated whether AG and UAG differentially regulate portal and systemic insulin levels after a glucose load. We studied the effects of the administration of AG (30 nmol/kg), UAG (3 and 30 nmol/kg), the ghrelin receptor antagonist [D-Lys(3)]GHRP-6 (1 micromol/kg), or various combinations of these compounds on portal and systemic levels of glucose and insulin after an intravenous glucose tolerance test (IVGTT, d-glucose 1 g/kg) in anesthetized fasted Wistar rats. UAG administration potently and dose-dependently enhanced the rise of insulin concentration induced by IVGTT in the portal and, to a lesser extent, the systemic circulation. This UAG-induced effect was completely blocked by the coadministration of exogenous AG at equimolar concentrations. Similarly to UAG, [D-Lys(3)]GHRP-6, alone or in combination with AG and UAG, strongly enhanced the portal insulin response to IVGTT, whereas exogenous AG alone did not exert any further effect. Our data demonstrate that, in glucose-stimulated conditions, exogenous UAG acts as a potent insulin secretagogue, whereas endogenous AG exerts a maximal tonic inhibition on glucose-induced insulin release.     

Crosstalk between environmental light and internal time in humans

Daily exposure to environmental light is the most important zeitgeber in humans, and all studied characteristics of light pattern (timing, intensity, rate of change, duration, and spectrum) influence the circadian system. However, and due to lack of current studies on environmental light exposure and its influence on the circadian system, the aim of this work is to determine the characteristics of a naturalistic regimen of light exposure and its relationship with the functioning of the human circadian system. Eighty-eight undergraduate students (18-23 yrs) were recruited in Murcia, Spain (latitude 38°01'N) to record wrist temperature (WT), light exposure, and sleep for 1 wk under free-living conditions. Light-exposure timing, rate of change, regularity, intensity, and contrast were calculated, and their effects on the sleep pattern and WT rhythm were then analyzed. In general, higher values for interdaily stability, relative amplitude, mean morning light, and light quality index (LQI) correlated with higher interdaily stability and relative amplitude, and phase advance in sleep plus greater stability in WT and phase advance of the WT circadian rhythm. On the other hand, a higher fragmentation of the light-exposure rhythm was associated with more fragmented sleep. Naturalistic studies using 24-h ambulatory light monitoring provide essential information about the main circadian system input, necessary for maintaining healthy circadian tuning. Correcting light-exposure patterns accordingly may help prevent or even reverse health problems associated with circadian disruption.     

The effect of visible light on the regeneration of rhodopsin

Both $\text{in}\text{vitro}$ and $\text{in}\text{vivo}$, increased exposure to visible light decreases the regenerability of the visual pigment. Isolated opsin irradiated with increasing periods of white light decreased in pigment formation yields on combination with 9- or 11-$\text{cis}$ retinal. The yield of regeneration of the visual pigment extracted from albino rats depended on the amount of light to which the animal had been exposed. Animals exposed to normal room light demonstrated lower regeneration yields than dark-reared animals, but these yields increased on dark adaption. Opsin from animals exposed to sunlamps did not regenerate any pigment. On dark adaption, the pigment yields increased but the opsin level remained below that for the control group.