Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) are transcription factors belonging to the superfamily of nuclear receptors. Three isoforms (alpha, delta, and gamma) have been described. They act on DNA response elements as heterodimers with the nuclear retinoic acid receptor. Their natural activating ligands are fatty acids and lipid-derived substrates. PPAR-alpha is present in liver, hear...

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs; PPAR-alpha, PPAR-delta, and PPAR-gamma) comprise a family of nuclear receptors that sense fatty acid levels and translate this information into altered gene transcription. Previously, it was reported that treatment of mice with a synthetic ligand activator of PPAR-delta, GW0742, ameliorates experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), indi...

OBJECTIVES Myofibroblasts (myoFb) are the major cell types that appear at the site of myocardial infarction (MI) in response to injury and play a vital role in tissue repair/remodeling. Since vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays a crucial role in the infarcted/ischemic heart, we hypothesized that activation of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-gamma by its agonist...

BACKGROUND Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPAR-gamma) and its nuclear partners, the Retinoid X Receptors (RXRs), have been recognized as crucial players in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. The present study aimed to assess the clinical significance of PPAR-gamma and RXR-alpha expression in different cellular populations localized within advanced carotid atherosclerosis le...

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) are activated by an array of polyunsaturated fatty acid derivatives, oxidized fatty acids, and phospholipids and are proposed to be important modulators of immune and inflammatory responses. Recently, we showed that activation of PPAR-gamma alters the maturation process of dendritic cells (DCs), the most potent antigen-presenting cells. In the...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the influence of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPAR-gamma) gene variants on the response rate to therapy with the thiazolidinedione (TZD) pioglitazone, because in vitro studies have suggested that genetic variants of the PPAR-gamma gene may influence the drug efficacy of TZD. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A total of 131 patients were treated in an op...

PPARs are a family of nuclear hormone receptors involved in various processes that could influence ovarian function. We investigated the cellular localization and expression of PPARs during follicular development in ovarian tissue collected from rats 0, 6, 12, 24, and 48 h post-PMSG. A second group of animals received human CG (hCG) 48 h post-PMSG. Their ovaries were removed 0, 4, 8, 12, and 24...

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR gamma) plays an important role in the control of energy balance and lipid and glucose homeostasis. Different transcript variants were investigated not only in human but also in other vertebrates. To look into the evolutionary changes of these variants, we analyzed the genomic sequences of PPAR gamma genes from several vertebrate species, as...

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR-gamma) is a key regulator of lipid metabolism and energy balance implicated in the development of insulin resistance and obesity. The identification of putative natural and synthetic ligands and activators of PPAR-gamma has helped to unravel the molecular basis of its function, including molecular details regarding ligand binding, conformat...

The focus of the current review is to highlight some new insights into the molecular mechanism by which vitamin D, a potentially nutritionally modulated factor, influences adipogenesis. Recent studies, predominantly using the mouse 3T3-L1 pre-adipocyte cell culture model, have shown that the role of vitamin D in inhibiting adipogenesis is mediated at the molecular level through a vitamin D rece...