Dietary fatty acid profile influences circulating and tissue fatty acid ethanolamide concentrations in a tissue-specific manner in male Syrian hamsters

BackgroundThe discovery of N‑acylethanolamines (NAEs) has prompted an increase in research aimed at understanding their biological roles including regulation of appetite and energy metabolism. However, a knowledge gap remains to understand the effect of dietary components on NAE levels, in particular, heterogeneity in dietary fatty acid (DFA) profile, on NAE levels across various organs.ObjectiveTo identify and elucidate the impact of diet on NAE levels in seven different tissues/organs of male hamsters, with the hypothesis that DFA will act as precursors for NAE synthesis in golden Syrian male hamsters.MethodA two-month feeding trial was performed, wherein hamsters were fed various dietary oil blends with different composition of 18-C fatty acid (FA).ResultsDFA directly influences tissue FA and NAE levels. After C18:1n9-enriched dietary treatments, marked increases were observed in duodenal C18:1n9 and oleoylethanolamide (OEA) concentrations. Among all tissues; adipose tissue brown, adipose tissue white, brain, heart, intestine-duodenum, intestine-jejunum, and liver, a negative correlation was observed between gut-brain OEA concentrations and body weight.ConclusionDFA composition influences FA and NAE levels across all tissues, leading to significant shifts in intestinal-brain OEA concentrations. The endogenously synthesized increased OEA levels in these tissues enable the gut-brain-interrelationship. Henceforth, we summarize that the brain transmits anorexic properties mediated via neuronal signalling, which may contribute to the maintenance of healthy body weight. Thus, the benefits of OEA can be enhanced by the inclusion of C18:1n9-enriched diets, pointing to the possible nutritional use of this naturally occurring bioactive lipid-amide in the management of obesity.     

Context dependency of animal resource subsidies

The transport of resource subsidies by animals has been documented across a range of species and ecosystems. Although many of these studies have shown that animal resource subsidies can have significant effects on nutrient cycling, ecosystem productivity, and food‐web structure, there is a great deal of variability in the occurrence and strength of these effects. Here we propose a conceptual framework for understanding the context dependency of animal resource subsidies, and for developing and testing predictions about the effects of animal subsidies over space and time. We propose a general framework, in which abiotic characteristics and animal vector characteristics from the donor ecosystem interact to determine the quantity, quality, timing, and duration (QQTD) of an animal input. The animal input is translated through the lens of recipient ecosystem characteristics, which include both abiotic and consumer characteristics, to yield the QQTD of the subsidy. The translated subsidy influences recipient ecosystem dynamics through effects on both trophic structure and ecosystem function, which may both influence the recipient ecosystem's response to further inputs and feed back to influence the donor ecosystem. We present a review of research on animal resource subsidies across ecosystem boundaries, placed within the context of this framework, and we discuss how the QQTD of resource subsidies can influence trophic structure and ecosystem function in recipient ecosystems. We explore the importance of understanding context dependency of animal resource subsidies in increasingly altered ecosystems, in which the characteristics of both animal vectors and donor and recipient ecosystems may be changing rapidly. Finally, we make recommendations for future research on animal resource subsidies, and resource subsidies in general, that will increase our understanding and predictive capacity about their ecosystem effects.     

Tracking a century of change in trophic structure and dynamics in a floodplain wetland: integrating palaeoecological and palaeoisotopic evidence

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Chemotype of tansy (Tanacetum vulgare L.) determines aphid genotype and its associated predator system

Field assessments and genetic analyses on tansy aphid, Metopeurum fuscoviride Stroyan were made aiming to investigate whether a specialist aphid species and its associated predator density differ between chemotypes of the plant host, tansy, and whether the essential oil composition of the plant host determines the genetic differences observed between colonies of M. fuscoviride inhabiting these different chemotypes. Tansy plants were defined after volatile extractions as Camphor Pure and Borneol Pure, respectively, with hybrid chemotypes defined as Camphor Hybrid, Borneol Hybrid, and Thujone Hybrid, respectively. Ladybird beetles, Coccinella septempunctata (L.), clearly dominated Pure Camphor plants, whereas significantly higher numbers of the nursery web spider, Pisaura mirabilis (Clerck), were detected on Borneol Pure and Borneol Hybrid plants. Genetic analyses using five polymorphic microsatellite markers revealed that higher genetic similarity existed between M. fuscoviride aphids from Borneol Pure and Borneol Hybrid plants and between Camphor Pure and Camphor Hybrid plants, respectively, whereas a lower level of genetic similarity was seen between these aphids from Thujone Hybrid plants. Accordingly, it is possible that host plant‐adapted species can create much context‐dependency in the nature and strength of predation effects, which may in turn alter costs and benefits of host plant chemical differentiations, or even the prey genotype variations. © 2014 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2014, 114 , 709–719.     

Guest editor's introduction: Energy homeostasis in context

This article is part of a Special Issue “Energy Balance”.     

Food hoarding,but not food intake,is attenuated by acute diazepam treatment in female Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus)

This article is part of a Special Issue “Energy Balance”. Effects of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) on food hoarding are unknown in rodents, and the effects of energy balance and GABA have not been evaluated in females. To evaluate the role of food deprivation and GABA on food hoarding, female Mongolian gerbils were given i.p. injection of diazepam (1 mg/kg and 3 mg/kg, respectively), a GABA_A receptor agonist. Among food-deprived females, there was a bimodal pattern in the frequency of gerbils with different levels of food hoarding. High food hoarding (HFH) and low food hoarding (LFH) gerbils were analyzed. Diazepam blocked food deprivation-induced food hoarding in HFH gerbils, but not in LFH gerbils. This blockade was associated with increased cellular activation in selected brain areas, such as the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), caudate putamen (CP) and ventral tegmental area (VTA), which suggested that direct activation of GABA in the brain reward circuitry decreased food hoarding in HFH females. Moreover, diazepam increased Fos expression in field CA₂ and CA₃ of the hippocampus, but had no significant effect on Fos expression in field CA₁ and dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus, indicating that the hippocampus has area-specific effects on food hoarding in HFH gerbils. Diazepam did not alter food intake in both HFH and LFH gerbils. In addition, serum corticosterone concentrations were higher in the HFH than in the LFH ones. Together, these data indicated that food deprivation increased food hoarding in female gerbils, diazepam reduced food deprivation-induced food hoarding in HFH gerbils, and that GABA might influence food hoarding via classical reward circuitry via the mesolimbic dopamine system and specific hippocampal areas.     

Our stolen figures: The interface of sexual differentiation,endocrine disruptors,maternal programming,and energy balance

This article is part of a Special Issue “Energy Balance”.     

Parasite-induced alteration of plastic response to predation threat: increased refuge use but lower food intake in Gammarus pulex infected with the acanothocephalan Pomphorhynchus laevis

Larvae of many trophically-transmitted parasites alter the behaviour of their intermediate host in ways that increase their probability of transmission to the next host in their life cycle. Before reaching a stage that is infective to the next host, parasite larvae may develop through several larval stages in the intermediate host that are not infective to the definitive host. Early predation at these stages results in parasite death, and it has recently been shown that non-infective larvae of some helminths decrease such risk by enhancing the anti-predator defences of the host, including decreased activity and increased sheltering. However, these behavioural changes may divert infected hosts from an optimal balance between survival and foraging (either seeking food or a mate). In this study, this hypothesis was tested using the intermediate host of the acanthocephalan parasite Pomphorhynchus laevis, the freshwater amphipod Gammarus pulex. We compared activity, refuge use, food foraging and food intake of hosts experimentally infected with the non-infective stage (acanthella), with that of uninfected gammarids. Behavioural assays were conducted in four situations varying in predation risk and in food accessibility. Acanthella-infected amphipods showed an increase in refuge use and a general reduction in activity and food intake. There was no effect of parasite intensity on these traits. Uninfected individuals showed plastic responses to water-borne cues from fish by adjusting refuge use, activity and food intake. They also foraged more when the food was placed outside the refuge. At the intra-individual level, refuge use and food intake were positively correlated in infected gammarids only. Overall, our findings suggest that uninfected gammarids exhibit risk-sensitive behaviour including increased food intake under predation risk, whereas gammarids infected with the non-infective larvae of P. laevis exhibit a lower motivation to feed, irrespective of predation risk and food accessibility.     

Interactions of the natural product kendomycin and the 20S proteasome

Natural products are a valuable source for novel lead structures in drug discovery, but for the majority of isolated bioactive compounds, the cellular targets are unknown. The structurally unique ansa-polyketide kendomycin (KM) was reported to exert its potent cytotoxic effects via impairment of the ubiquitin proteasome system, but the exact mode of action remained unclear. Here, we present a systematic biochemical characterization of KM–proteasome interactions in vitro and in vivo, including complex structures of wild type and mutant yeast 20S proteasome with KM. Our results provide evidence for a polypharmacological mode of action for KM's cytotoxic effect on cancer cells.