How GPR40, a known receptor for dietary fatty acids, may protect from osteoarthritis?
2015-07-15
(Press-News.org) Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common age-related degenerative joint concerns. Although articular cartilage degradation is its main feature, this disease induces whole-joint damage characterized by synovitis, bone remodelling and osteophyte formation. Regarding bone, Yohann Wittrant, a researcher at the Human Nutrition Unit (INRA -France), has recently reported that stimulation of the orphan receptor GPR40, a fatty acid-activated receptor, preserved bone mass. Dietary fatty acids were described to improve joint function and reduce pain in OA patients and to decrease both inflammatory markers and cartilage catabolism factors in preclinical studies.
To test the hypothesis that GPR40 may prevent or protect from OA, a whole body GPR40 deficient mouse strain was used. Primary chondrocytes, isolated from these rodents, exhibited a higher pattern of inflammatory mediators' secretion and an enhanced cartilage catabolic activity after their stimulation. An in vivo study using a model of surgical joint destabilization, revealed that GPR40 deficiency led to an aggravated OA phenotype characterized by a higher cartilage breakdown associated with subchondral bone sclerosis and osteophyte formation. "Our results clearly demonstrate that GPR40 invalidation heightens inflammation, cartilage catabolism, and bone remodelling resulting in an aggravated OA phenotype;" stated Laurent-Emmanuel Monfoulet, researcher at the Human Nutrition Unit. These data, reported in the July 2015 issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine, demonstrates for the first time that the activation of GPR40 protects joints from OA. These findings provide new insights into the design of innovative strategies for OA management especially by nutritional approaches.
Dr. Steven R. Goodman, Editor-in-Chief of Experimental Biology and Medicine, said "This intriguing study by Monfoulet et al provides both in vitro and in vivo evidence that GPR40 deficiency results in a more severe OA phenotype. This raises the promise that GPR40 can be an important therapeutic target for OA"
INFORMATION:
Experimental Biology and Medicine is a journal dedicated to the publication of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research in the biomedical sciences. The journal was first established in 1903. Experimental Biology and Medicine is the journal of the Society of Experimental Biology and Medicine. To learn about the benefits of society membership visit http://www.sebm.org. If you are interested in publishing in the journal please visit http://ebm.sagepub.com/. END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2015-07-15
Marine litter can undermine the psychological benefits of coastal environments, a study has shown.
The beneficial effects of the blue environment to human health and well-being are well documented, but there has been little research into how the growing global issue of marine litter might negate them.
To measure this, Plymouth University secured funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to assess public reaction to the differing conditions of coastlines.
Participants were shown images of clean ...
2015-07-15
Limiting warming to any level requires CO2 emissions to be kept to within a certain limit known as a carbon budget. Can reducing shorter-lived climate forcers influence the size of this budget? A new IIASA study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters analyzes the impact of short-lived air pollutant and greenhouse gas reductions on carbon budgets compatible with the 2°C climate target.
Short-lived greenhouse gases and atmospheric pollutants--including methane, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), black carbon or soot, and sulfates-- are emitted by human activities ...
2015-07-15
Amsterdam, July 15, 2015 - People who depend on their relationship to make them feel good about themselves are more likely to drown their sorrows if they believe their partner is cheating, suggests new research. The study, published in Addictive Behaviors, links romantic jealousy, relationship-dependent self-esteem and alcohol problems for the first time.
The authors of the study, from the University of Houston, US, say understanding the link between these three factors could help identify people at risk of alcoholism more quickly.
Excessive alcohol use is the third ...
2015-07-15
Recent years have seen an unprecedented growth in number and availability of new synthetic psychoactive drugs in the US and worldwide. In 2014, 101 new psychoactive drugs were identified, worldwide. Such drugs are often sold as "legal" highs or "research chemicals" over the internet or in head shops. Among these new drugs, "bath salts" appear to be one of the more commonly used in the US. "Bath salt" use has been associated with numerous adverse cardiac, psychiatric, neurological, gastrointestinal and pulmonary outcomes. In 2011, the use of bath salts was responsible for ...
2015-07-15
Viruses, not bacteria, are the most commonly detected respiratory pathogens in U.S. adults hospitalized with pneumonia, according to a New England Journal of Medicine study released today and conducted by researchers at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and hospitals in Chicago and Nashville, including Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
The findings highlight a need for more sensitive rapid diagnostic tests to identify pneumonia pathogens and target appropriate treatments when considering that neither viruses nor bacteria were detected in 62 percent ...
2015-07-15
Many an injury will heal, but the damaged spinal cord is notoriously recalcitrant. There's new hope on the horizon, though. A team of researchers led by the University of South Carolina's Jeff Twiss just reported an innate repair mechanism in central nervous system axons that might be harnessed to regenerate nerves after brain or spinal cord injuries.
Twiss, a professor of biological sciences and the endowed SmartState chair of the Center for Childhood Neurotherapeutics, and graduate student Ashley Kalinski are building on breakthroughs that they and others have reported ...
2015-07-15
If you can't tell a smile from a scowl, you're probably not getting enough sleep.
"Recognizing the emotional expressions of someone else changes everything about whether or not you decide to interact with them, and in return, whether they interact with you," said study senior author Matthew Walker, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at UC Berkeley. The findings were published today in the Journal of Neuroscience.
"These findings are especially worrying considering that two-thirds of people in the developed nations fail to get sufficient sleep," Walker added.
Indeed, ...
2015-07-15
University of Adelaide researchers have shown that intelligence in animal species can be estimated by the size of the holes in the skull through which the arteries pass.
Published online ahead of print in the Journal of Experimental Biology, the researchers in the School of Biological Sciences show that the connection between intelligence and hole size stems from brain activity being related to brain metabolic rate.
"A human brain contains nearly 100 billion nerve cells with connections measured in the trillions," says project leader, Professor Emeritus Roger Seymour. ...
2015-07-15
An international team of researchers, including investigators from the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC), has identified a gene that underlies healthy information processing -- a first step on a complicated road to understand cognitive aging and age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease.
The study, published online and expected to come out this fall in a print edition of the journal Molecular Psychiatry, is one of the the largest genetics study to date to link a specific genetic mutation and information processing speed.
"It is well known that ...
2015-07-15
Special efforts should be made to identify and treat depression and urinary incontinence in postmenopausal women with vaginal symptoms, according to UC San Francisco researchers, as these two common conditions not only tend to co-exist with vaginal symptoms but also may complicate the impact of these symptoms on women's daily activities and quality of life.
The study appears online on July 15, 2015, in Menopause and will be featured in the January 2016 print edition.
"Our findings suggest that depression and urinary incontinence may magnify the effects of vaginal symptoms ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] How GPR40, a known receptor for dietary fatty acids, may protect from osteoarthritis?
