Animal model Mice with cardiomyocyte-restricted low-level overexpression of long-chain acylCoA synthetase 1 (ACStg) and control littermates (WT) were originally on the FVB background1. We prepared a transgenic line on the C57BL6j background by backcrossing more than 8 generations. DRP1 floxed mice (Kind gift of Hiromi Sesaki, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD) were used to generate cardiom...

Nicotine addiction is considered to be the main preventable cause of death worldwide. While growing evidence indicates that the neurohypophysial peptide oxytocin can modulate the addictive properties of several abused drugs, the regulation of the oxytocinergic system following nicotine administration has so far received little attention. Here, we examined the effects of long-term nicotine or sa...

BACKGROUND Genistein has high estrogenic activity. Previous studies have shown beneficial effects of estrogen or hormone replacement therapy on muscle mass and muscle atrophy. OBJECTIVE We investigated the preventive effects and underlying mechanisms of genistein on muscle atrophy. METHODS In Expt. 1, male Wistar rats were fed a diet containing no genistein [control (CON)] or 0.05% genistei...

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a frequent and critical complication in the clinical setting. In rodents, AKI can be effectively prevented through caloric restriction (CR), which has also been shown to increase lifespan many species. Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), longevity studies revealed that marked CR-induced reduction of endocannabinoids may key mechanism. Thus, we hypothesized regulati...

Iron is an essential nutrient that functions as a cofactor for cellular enzymatic redox reactions. Hosts and pathogens compete over iron survival. Previous studies have implicated the skin unique site homeostasis major contributing source to excretion from body: Primary human keratinocytes store ferritin function of exogenous addition, with modulation their differentiation. Wildtype mice subjec...

Body odors provide a rich source of sensory information for other animals. There is considerable evidence to suggest that short-term fluctuations in body odor can be caused by diet; however, few, if any, previous studies have demonstrated that specific compounds can directly mask or alter mouse urinary odor when ingested and thus alter another animal's behavior. To investigate whether the inges...