ISTRY 2013 Special Issue

OPen ACCess Full open access to this and thousands of other papers at The 13th international conference of the International Society for Tryptophan Research (ISTRY) has been held in Sydney, 7th to 9th of November 2012. It was a really successful meeting with high quality speakers and presentations. ISTRY 2013 has attracted attendees from 14 different countries—Australia, A satellite meeting organized by the Japanese Society for Tryptophan Research (JSTRY) has been held in Brisbane on the 5th of November. This JSTRY meeting was very successful with more than 40 Japanese scientists present. The scientific program selected was deliberately as broad as possible, to highlight the growing interest in tryp-tophan metabolism in different research fields. Methodology, nutrition, sleep, development, immunity, inflammation , psychiatric disorders and therapeutic strategies have been presented and discussed at this conference. Tryptophan research is progressively gaining recognition, even if probably still not fast enough, and is becoming of significant interest in many scientific disciplines. Several of the ISTRY and JSTRY presenters have submitted manuscripts related to their respective presentations to this special issue of the International Journal of Tryptophan Research. Dr. Murakami has demonstrated that the activity of the enzymes of the kynurenine pathway is different between species, tissue and cell types in physiological conditions, highlighting once more the importance of choosing animal models and cell types carefully to evaluate changes in the kynurenine pathway in human physiologic and pathologic conditions. Dr. Fukushima has compared the levels of tryptophan in the serum of male and female subjects. He found significantly higher levels in males, but no significant differences in the kynurenine levels or the ratio of kynurenine to tryptophan. Prof Takikawa has reviewed the latest evidence of the involvement of the kynurenine pathway in cancer, focusing on the role of kynurenine, the aryl hydrocarbon receptor and the mechanisms associated with tumor growth and immunosuppression. Dr. Fukuwatari reported that the liver plays an essential role in nicotinamide supply and demonstrated that 67 mg of tryptophan intake leads to the formation of 1 mg of nicotinamide. He also showed that the conversion ratio of tryptophan to nicotinamide is enhanced from mid to late pregnancy. Dr. Ito has studied the psychological factors influenc