Depression and Anxiety Correlate Differently with Salivary Free Cortisol in the Morning in Patients with Functional Somatic Syndrome

Patients presenting with functional somatic syndrome (FSS) are common, and the symptoms are persistent and difficult to treat for doctors and costly for society. The aim of this study was to clarify the common pathophysiology of FSS, especially the relationship between hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function and psychological characteristics of patients with FSS. The subjects were 45 patients with FSS and 29 healthy controls. Salivary free cortisol was measured in the morning, and psychological tests examining depression, anxiety and quality of life (QOL) were performed on the same day. In patients with FSS, depressive scores showed a significant negative correlation with salivary free cortisol in the morning, although in healthy controls, cortisol showed a significant positive correlation with depressive scores. In addition, the correlation between other psychological test scores and cortisol secretion in patients with FSS contrasted with that of controls. The relationship between cortisol and depression, anxiety or QOL, suggests that the HPA axis of patients with FSS is dysfunctional and does not function properly when patients with FSS are under stress. This dysfunction may explain the pathology of medically unexplained persistent symptoms of patients with FSS.     

Dantrolene prevents hepatic steatosis by reducing cytoplasmic Ca2+ level and ER stress

IntroductionOur previous studies demonstrated that dantrolene, a ryanodine receptor stabilizer, prevents endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in the heart. ER stress is a strong mediator of impaired lipid metabolism in the liver, thereby contributing to fatty liver disease. In this study, we investigated the effects of dantrolene on fatty liver disease in mice and ER stress in hepatocytes.Methods and resultsEight weeks old C57BL/6 mice were fed high-fat diet (HFD) for 8 weeks with or without the oral administration of dantrolene (100 mg/kg/day). The livers of mice without dantrolene (HFD group) showed severe fatty liver, whereas the livers of the mice treated with dantrolene (HFD + DAN group) only showed slightly fatty liver. To address the preventive effects of dantrolene, primary hepatocytes were cultured with palmitate in the presence or absence of dantrolene. Dantrolene reduced lipid load and prevents palmitate-induced increase in cytoplasmic Ca²⁺ and ER stress. Based on these findings, we propose that dantrolene is a potential new therapeutic agent against fatty liver disease.     

Molecular cloning, genetic mapping, and expression of the mouse Sf3b1 (SAP155) gene for the U2 snRNP component of spliceosome

SAP155, a subunit of the U2 snRNP, is essential for prespliceosome assembly and splicing catalysis of the major spliceosome. Moreover, the protein has been identified in the minor (U12-dependent) spliceosome. These facts strongly suggest that SAP155 is shared by two distinct complexes owing to its importance in the removal of any type of intron. Here we have isolated a cDNA encoding the 146-kDa mouse homolog, designated Sf3b1. The amino acid sequence of Sf3b1 is very highly conserved among homologs from Schizosaccharomyces pombe (52.4% identity) to human (99.6%), and the C-terminal 825 residues of these Sf3b1 homologs show even higher identities. This C-terminal region shows significant similarity to the PR65 subunit of protein phosphatase 2A, which is composed of 15 tandem repeats of a 39 amino acid sequence. Mouse genome analyses showed Sf3b1 to be a single-copy gene mapping to the central part of Chromosome (Chr) 1. Northern blot analysis and whole mount in situ hybridization revealed Sf3b1 to be ubiquitously expressed in a variety of adult tissues and mid-gestation embryos. Received: 14 June 2000 / Accepted: 19 October 2000