Carotenoid dietary intake and their endogenous levels have been associated with a decreased risk of several chronic diseases. There are indications that carotenoid bioavailability depends, in addition to the food matrix, on host factors. These include diseases (e.g. colitis), life-style habits (e.g. smoking), gender and age, as well as genetic variations including single nucleotide polymorphism...

We used two-dimensional quantitative trait locus analysis to identify interacting genetic loci that contribute to the native airway constrictor hyperresponsiveness to methacholine that characterizes A/J mice, relative to C57BL/6J mice. We quantified airway responsiveness to intravenous methacholine boluses in eighty-eight (C57BL/6J X A/J) F₂ and twenty-seven (A/J X C57BL/6J) F₂ mice as well as ...

Obesity is associated with a series of metabolic complications, including dyslipidemia and insulin resistance (IR) that lack effective therapies. In recent years, intestinal inflammation has been suggested to contribute to obesity related metabolic syndrome and targeting gut inflammation with 5-ASA improves diet induced IR, however, its role in dyslipidemia is unknown and has never been explore...

OBJECTIVE Phospholipid transfer protein (PLTP) plays an important role in lipoprotein metabolism and atherosclerosis. PLTP gene knockout (KO) mice show significant reduction of plasma cholesterol levels. Because small intestine is one of the major tissue expressing PLTP, we hypothesize that PLTP deficient small intestine absorbs less cholesterol, thus contributing to the diminishing of choleste...

To the Editor: With regard to the article by Cannon et al. (June 18 issue),1 human serum cholesterol derives from two sources: it is either synthesized endogenously or absorbed in the intestine. Statins inhibit endogenous cholesterol synthesis, whereas ezetimibe inhibits intestinal cholesterol absorption.2 According to findings from the Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study3 and the German Di...

The discovery of the statins was a great success in cardiovascular research and pharmaceuticals development. It was the answer to the epidemiologic problem that higher plasma cholesterol concentrations were associated with a higher occurrence of coronary artery disease (CAD) events. The statins inhibit a ratelimiting enzyme of cholesterol synthesis, hydroxymethylglutaryl (HMG)-CoA reductase, an...

OBJECTIVE The activity of the antitumoral agent bexarotene (Targretin, Bexarotene) depends on its binding to the nuclear retinoid-X receptor (RXR) and subsequent transcriptional regulation of target genes. Through RXR activation, bexarotene may modulate numerous metabolic pathways involved in atherosclerosis. Here, we investigated the effect of bexarotene on atherosclerosis progression in a dys...

BACKGROUND Intestinal absorption of dietary lipids involves their hydrolysis in the lumen of proximal intestine as well as uptake, intracellular transport and re-assembly of hydrolyzed lipids in enterocytes, leading to the formation and secretion of the lipoproteins chylomicrons and HDL. In this study, we examined the potential involvement of cytosolic lipid droplets (CLD) whose function in the...

Plasma concentrations of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides are among the most important risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD) and are targets for therapeutic intervention. We screened the genome for common variants associated with plasma lipids in .100,000 individuals of European ancestry. Here we report 95 si...

BACKGROUND Disturbances in lipid homeostasis and myelination have been proposed in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. We have previously shown that several antipsychotic and antidepressant drugs increase lipid biosynthesis through activation of the Sterol Regulatory Element-Binding Protein (SREBP) transcription factors, which control the expression of numerous genes invo...