Endothermy is significant in vertebrate evolution because it changes the relations between animals and their environment. How endothermy has evolved in archosaurs (birds, crocodiles and dinosaurs) is controversial especially because birds do not possess brown adipose tissue, the specialized endothermic tissue of mammals. Internal heat production is facilitated by increased oxidative metabolic c...

Uncoupling proteins (UCPs) are mitochondrial transporters present in the inner membrane of mitochondria. They are found in all mammals and in plants. They belong to the family of anion mitochondrial carriers including adenine nucleotide transporters. The term "uncoupling protein" was originally used for UCP1, which is uniquely present in mitochondria of brown adipocytes, the thermogenic cells t...

Herba Cynomorii (Cynomorium songaricum Rupr., Cynomoriaceae) is one of the most commonly used 'Yang-invigorating' tonic herbs in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). An earlier study in our laboratory has demonstrated that HCY2, an ursolic acid-enriched fraction derived from Herba Cynomorii, increased mitochondrial ATP generation capacity (ATP-GC) and induced mitochondrial uncoupling as well as ...

Previous studies have demonstrated that HCF1, a semipurified fraction of Cistanches Herba, causes weight reduction in normal diet- and high fat diet-fed mice. The weight reduction was associated with the induction of mitochondrial uncoupling and changes in metabolic enzyme activities in mouse skeletal muscle. To further investigate the biochemical mechanism underlying the HCF1-induced weight re...

Recently, it was proposed that the thyroid hormone-mediated uncoupling in mitochondria is involved in the cellular defence system against free radicals (Skulachev V.P. (1996) Quart. Rev. Biophys. 29:169-202). This phenomenon was named "mild" uncoupling. It was postulated to be a protein-mediated process controlled by several factors. The data reported during the past 40 years, pointing to the p...

Uncoupling proteins, inner mitochondrial membrane proton transporters, are important for regulating myocardial energy efficiency. We investigated the effects of the ACE inhibitor perindopril on cardiac performance, myocardial energy efficiency, and uncoupling protein expression in an aortic regurgitation rat model. Twenty male Sprague-Dawley rats, in which aortic regurgitation was produced, wer...

OBJECTIVE To find out whether dexamethasone induces an uncoupling of the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). METHODS & RESULTS A major cause of eNOS uncoupling is a deficiency of its cofactor tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4). Treatment of human EA.hy 926 endothelial cells with dexamethasone decreased mRNA and protein expression of both BH4-synthesizing enzymes: GTP cyclohydrolase I and dihydro...

Electrical uncoupling at gap junctions during acute myocardial ischemia contributes to conduction abnormalities and reentrant arrhythmias. Increased levels of intracellular Ca(2+) and H(+) and accumulation of amphipathic lipid metabolites during ischemia promote uncoupling, but other mechanisms may play a role. We tested the hypothesis that uncoupling induced by acute ischemia is associated wit...

Abnormal gastric motility function could be related to gastric electrical uncoupling, the lack of electrical, and respectively mechanical, synchronization in different regions of the stomach. Therefore, non-invasive detection of the onset of gastric electrical uncoupling can be important for diagnosing associated gastric motility disorders. The aim of this study is to provide a wavelet-based an...