During the third trimester of pregnancy, there is an increase in serum triglyceride and cholesterol levels. The mechanisms accounting for these changes in lipid metabolism during pregnancy are unknown. We hypothesized that, during pregnancy, the expression of nuclear hormone receptors involved in regulating lipid metabolism would decrease. In 19-day pregnant mice, serum triglyceride and non-HDL...

Experimental data suggest that dysregulation of growth factors and the cognate receptors may play an important role in hepatocarcinogenesis. The objective of the present study was to characterize the expression of two hepatotrophic growth factor/receptor systems [transforming growth factor-alpha/epidermal growth factor receptor (TGF-alpha/EGFR) and hepatocyte growth factor/c-met receptor (HGF/c...

INTRODUCTION Intestinal or hepatic ischemia/reperfusion induces acute lung injury in animal models of multiple organ failure. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)- alpha is involved in the underlying inflammatory mechanism of acute respiratory distress syndrome. Although the inflammatory cascade leading to acute respiratory distress syndrome has been extensively investigated, the mechanical components o...

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) is a master regulator for white adipocyte differentiation and lipid storage. The increased level of hepatic PPARγ2 isoform reprograms liver for lipid storage and causes abnormal fat accumulation in certain pathophysiologic conditions. The current study aimed to investigate a role of transcriptional repressor hairy and enhancer of split 6 ...

Hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 alpha (HNF4α) is known as the master regulator of hepatic differentiation, which regulates over 60% of the hepatocyte specific genes. Recent studies including this (Walesky et al. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 304:G26-37, 2013) demonstrated that HNF4α also inhibits hepatocyte proliferation via repression of pro-mitogenic genes. In this study hepatocyte spe...

Investigation of the molecular basis of a severe factor VII (fVII) deficiency revealed compound heterozygosity in the fVII gene. On the paternal allele the patient had 3 structural gene abnormalities frequently associated with fVII deficiency. A new mutation, a C to T transition at position -55 relative to the translational start site, was found on the maternal allele. The study demonstrates th...

Mammalian AMP-activated protein kinase presents strong structural and functional similarities with the yeast sucrose non-fermenting 1 (Snf1) kinase involved in the derepression of glucose-repressed genes. It is now clearly established that AMP-activated protein kinase in the liver decreases glycolytic/lipogenic gene expression as well as genes involved in hepatic glucose production. This is ach...

BACKGROUND Trichloroacetic acid, an oxidative metabolite of trichloroethylene (TRI), is a ligand of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPAR) alpha, which is involved in lipid homeostasis and anti-inflammation. OBJECTIVE We examined the role of mouse and human PPARalpha in TRI-induced hepatic steatosis and toxicity. METHODS Male wild-type (mPPARalpha), Pparalpha-null, and ...

An effective field theory (EFT) for a nuclear reaction at low energies is studied. The astrophysical $S$-factor of radiative $\alpha$ capture on $^{12}$C the Gamow-peak energy, $T_G=0.3$ MeV, fundamental quantity in nuclear-astrophysics, and we construct an EFT reaction. To fix parameters appearing Lagrangian, applied to study three reactions: elastic $\alpha$-$^{12}$C scattering energies, $E1$...