1,721,081 research outputs found
Drug targeting of leptin resistance
No full textLeptin regulates glucose, lipid and energy homeostasis as well as feeding behavior, serving as a bridge between peripheral metabolically active tissues and the central nervous system (CNS). Indeed, this adipocyte-derived hormone, whose circulating levels mirror fat mass, not only exerts its anti-obesity effects mainly modulating the activity of specific hypothalamic neurons expressing the long form of the leptin receptor (Ob-Rb), but it also shows pleiotropic functions due to the activation of Ob-Rb in peripheral tissues. Nevertheless, several mechanisms have been suggested to mediate leptin resistance, including obesity-associated hyperleptinemia, impairment of leptin access to CNS and the reduction in Ob-Rb signal transduction effectiveness, among others. During the onset and progression of obesity, the dampening of leptin sensitivity often occurs, preventing the efficacy of leptin replacement therapy from overcoming obesity and/or its comorbidities. This review focuses on obesity-associated leptin resistance and the mechanisms underpinning this condition, to highlight the relevance of leptin sensitivity restoration as a useful therapeutic strategy to treat common obesity and its complications. Interestingly, although promising strategies to counteract leptin resistance have been proposed, these pharmacological approaches have shown limited efficacy or even relevant adverse effects in preclinical and clinical studies. Therefore, the numerous findings from this review clearly indicate a lack of a single and efficacious treatment for leptin resistance, highlighting the necessity to find new therapeutic tools to improve leptin sensitivity, especially in patients with most severe disease profiles
Response to comment by Juan Segura-Aguilar: New preclinical model are required to discover neuroprotective compound in Parkinson's disease
No full textChapter 14 Natural Antioxidant in the Pharmacological Treatment of Rheumatic Immune and Inflammatory Diseases
No full textEffect of L-alpha-glycerylphorylcholine on muscarinic receptors and membrane microviscosity of aged rat brain
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Role of innate immune response in non alcoholic fatty liver disease: metabolic complications and therapeutic tools
No full textNon alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is currently the most common liver disease worldwide, both in adults and children. It is characterized by an aberrant lipid storage in hepatocytes, named hepatic steatosis. Simple steatosis remains a benign process in most affected patients, while some of them develop superimposed necroinflammatory activity with a nonspecific inflammatory infiltrate and a progression to non alcoholic steatohepatitis with or without fibrosis. Deep similarity and interconnections between innate immune cells and those of liver parenchyma have been highlighted and showed to play a key role in the development of chronic liver disease. The liver can be considered as an immune organ because it hosts non lymphoid cells, such as macrophage Kupffer cells, stellate and dendritic cells, and lymphoid cells. Many of these cells are components of the classic innate immune system, enabling the liver to play a major role in response to pathogens. Although the liver provides a tolerogenic environment , aberrant activation of innate immune signaling may trigger harmful inflammation, that contributes to tissue injury, fibrosis and carcinogenesis. Pathogen recognition receptors, such as toll-like receptors and nucleotide oligomerization domain-like receptors, are responsible for the recognition of immunogenic signals, and represent the major conduit for sensing hepatic and non-hepatic noxious stimuli. A pivotal role in liver inflammation is also played by cytokines, which can initiate or have a part in immune response, triggering hepatic intracellular signaling pathways. The sum of inflammatory signals and deranged substrate handling induce most of the metabolic alteration traits: insulin resistance, obesity, diabetes, hyperlipidemia and their compounded combined effects. In this review we discuss the relevant role of innate immune cell activation in relation to non alcoholic fatty liver disease, the metabolic complications associated to this pathology, a
Palmitoylethanolamide in CNS health and disease
No full texthe existence of acylethanolamides (AEs) in the mammalian brain has been known for decades. Among AEs, palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) is abundant in the central nervous system (CNS) and conspicuously produced by neurons and glial cells. Antihyperalgesic and neuroprotective properties of PEA have been mainly related to the reduction of neuronal firing and to control of inflammation. Growing evidence suggest that PEA may be neuroprotective during CNS neurodegenerative diseases. Advances in the understanding of the physiology and pharmacology of PEA have potentiated its interest as useful biological tool for disease management. Several rapid non-genomic and delayed genomic mechanisms of action have been identified for PEA as peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-α dependent. First, an early molecular control, through Ca(+2)-activated intermediate- and/or big-conductance K(+) channels opening, drives to rapid neuronal hyperpolarization. This is reinforced by the increase of the inward Cl(-) currents due to the modulation of the gamma aminobutyric acid A receptor and by the desensitization of the transient receptor potential channel type V1. Moreover, the gene transcription-mediated mechanism sustains the long-term anti-inflammatory effects, by reducing pro-inflammatory enzyme expression and increasing neurosteroid synthesis. Overall, the integration of these different modes of action allows PEA to exert an immediate and prolonged efficacious control in neuron signaling either on inflammatory process or neuronal excitability, maintaining cellular homeostasis. In this review, we will discuss the effect of PEA on metabolism, behavior, inflammation and pain perception, related to the control of central functions and the emerging evidence demonstrating its therapeutic efficacy in several neurodegenerative diseases
The effect of age and sex on the expression of prolactin binding activity in the chicken bursa of Fabricius
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