Alisma orientale Juzepzuk (AO) is widely used for various diuretic and nephropathic treatments in traditional Chinese medicines (TCM). In a clinical setting, AO is used as both a lipid-lowering and tubular interstitial fibrosis agent. However, the mechanisms of AO for the treatment of renal interstitial fibrosis and abnormal lipid metabolism are not well-understood. In this study, pharmacologic...

Encapsulation of soluble protein antigens in liposomes was previously shown to result in processing of antigen via the major histocompatibility complex class I pathway, as evidenced by costaining of the trans-Golgi region of murine bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMs) by fluorophore-labeled liposomal antigen and by a trans-Golgi-specific fluorescent lipid. Evidence is presented here that free ...

BACKGROUND/AIMS We previously reported that porcine intramuscular (i.m.) preadipocytes were different from subcutaneous (s.c.) preadipocytes on cell differentiation and lipid accumulation, but the underlying mechanisms remained unknown. The paper aims to investigate the underlying mechanisms by comparing the differences between i.m. and s.c. preadipocytes in glucose utilization, lipid metabolis...

The extent to which modifications in intermediary metabolism contribute to life history variation and trade-offs is an important but poorly understood aspect of life history evolution. Artificial selection was used to produce replicate genetic stocks of the wing-polymorphic cricket, Gryllus firmus, that were nearly pure-breeding for either the flight-capable (LW[f]) morph, which delays ovarian ...

Constitutive biosynthesis of lipid A via the Raetz pathway is essential for the viability and fitness of Gram-negative bacteria, includingChlamydia trachomatis Although nearly all of the enzymes in the lipid A biosynthetic pathway are highly conserved across Gram-negative bacteria, the cleavage of the pyrophosphate group of UDP-2,3-diacyl-GlcN (UDP-DAGn) to form lipid X is carried out by two un...

Lipid metabolism is regulated by multiple signaling pathways, and generates a variety of bioactive lipid molecules. These bioactive lipid molecules known as signaling molecules, such as fatty acid, eicosanoids, diacylglycerol, phosphatidic acid, lysophophatidic acid, ceramide, sphingosine, sphingosine-1-phosphate, phosphatidylinositol-3 phosphate, and cholesterol, are involved in the activation...

Proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids are three major components of the cell. Despite a few basic metabolic pathways, we know very little about lipids, compared with the explosion of knowledge about proteins and nucleic acids. How many different forms of lipids are there? What are the in vivo functions of individual lipid? How does lipid metabolism contribute to normal development and human healt...

Although abnormal glucose metabolism defines type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and accounts for many of its symptoms and complications, efforts to understand the pathogenesis of T2DM are increasingly focused on disordered lipid metabolism. Here we review recent human studies exploring the mechanistic links between disorders of fatty acid/lipid metabolism and insulin resistance. As "mouse models o...

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a multifunctional organelle responsible for production of both lumenal and membrane components of secretory pathway compartments. Secretory proteins are folded, processed, and sorted in the ER lumen and lipid synthesis occurs on the ER membrane itself. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, synthesis of ER components is highly regulated: the ER-resident protein...