(Press-News.org) CORVALLIS, Ore. - Research by Oregon State University suggests a pair of compounds originating from hops can help thwart a dangerous buildup of fat in the liver known as hepatic steatosis.
The findings, published today in eLife, are important because the condition affects roughly one-fourth of people in the United States and Europe. While heavy drinking is often associated with liver problems, people with little or no history of alcohol use comprise that 25%, which is why their illness is known as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, or NAFLD.
Resistance to insulin, the hormone that helps control blood sugar levels, is a risk factor for NAFLD, as are obesity, a high-fat diet and elevated levels of fat in the blood. The liver helps the body process nutrients and also acts as a filter for the circulatory system, and too much fat in the liver can lead to inflammation and liver failure.
In a mouse-model study, Oregon State researchers led by Adrian Gombart showed that the compounds xanthohumol and tetrahydroxanthohumol, abbreviated to XN and TXN, can mitigate diet-induced accumulation of fat in the liver.
XN is a prenylated flavonoid produced by hops, the plant that gives beer its flavor and color, and TXN is a hydrogenated derivative of XN.
In the study, 60 mice were randomly assigned to one of five groups - low-fat diet, high-fat diet, high-fat diet supplemented by XN, high-fat diet supplemented by more XN, and high-fat diet supplemented by TXN.
The scientists found that TXN helped put the brakes on the weight gain associated with a high-fat diet and also helped stabilize blood sugar levels, both factors in thwarting the buildup of fat in the liver.
"We demonstrated that TXN was very effective in suppressing the development and progression of hepatic steatosis caused by diet," said Gombart, professor of biochemistry and biophysics in the OSU College of Science and a principal investigator at the Linus Pauling Institute. "TXN appeared to be more effective than XN perhaps because significantly higher levels of TXN are able to accumulate in the liver, but XN can slow progression of the condition as well, at the higher dose."
The mechanism behind the compounds' effectiveness involves PPARγ, a nuclear receptor protein - one that regulates gene expression. PPARγ controls glucose metabolism and the storage of fatty acids, and the genes it activates stimulate the creation of fat cells from stem cells.
XN and TXN act as "antagonists" for PPARγ - they bind to the protein without sending it into action, unlike a PPARγ agonist, which would activate it as well as bind to it. The upshot of antagonism in this case is less fat collecting in the liver.
"Activated PPAR? in liver stimulates storage of lipids and our data suggest that XN and TXN block activation and greatly reduce expression of the genes the promote lipid storage in the liver," Gombart elaborated. "These findings are consistent with studies that show weaker PPARγ agonists are more effective at treating hepatic steatosis than strong agonists. In other words, lower PPARγ activation in the liver may be beneficial."
TXN was better at accumulating in the liver than XN, which may explain why it was more effective in reducing lipids, but the difference in tissue accumulation is not fully understood.
"It may be because XN is metabolized by the host and its gut microbiota more than TXN is, but additional studies are needed to figure that out," Gombart said. "Also, while XN and TXN are effective preventative approaches in rodents, future studies need to determine if the compounds can treat existing obesity in humans. But our findings suggest antagonism of PPARγ in the liver is a logical approach to prevent and treat diet-induced liver steatosis and related metabolic disorders, and they support further development of XN and TXN as low-cost therapeutic compounds."
INFORMATION:
Also collaborating on this research were Yang Zhang, Matthew Robinson, Donald Jump and Carmen Wong of OSU's College of Public Health and Human Sciences; Gerd Bobe of the College of Agricultural Sciences; Cristobal Miranda and Fred Stevens of the College of Pharmacy; Malcolm Lowry, Thomas Sharpton, Claudia Maier and Victor Hsu of the College of Science; and Christiane V. Lo?hr of the Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine.
Funding the study were the National Institutes of Health; the Linus Pauling Institute; the OSU College of Pharmacy; Hopsteiner, Inc; and the OSU Foundation Buhler-Wang Research Fund.
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Adults who skip breakfast are likely to miss out on key nutrients that are most abundant in the foods that make up morning meals, a new study suggests.
An analysis of data on more than 30,000 American adults showed that skipping breakfast - and missing out on the calcium in milk, vitamin C in fruit, and the fiber, vitamins and minerals found in fortified cereals - likely left adults low on those nutrients for the entire day.
"What we're seeing is that if you don't eat the foods that are commonly consumed at breakfast, you have a tendency not to eat them the rest of the day. So those common breakfast nutrients become a nutritional gap," said Christopher Taylor, professor of medical dietetics in the College of Medicine at The Ohio State ...
State-of-the-art video microscopy has enabled researchers at WEHI, Australia, to see the molecular details of how malaria parasites invade red blood cells - a key step in the disease.
The researchers used a custom-built lattice light sheet microscope - the first in Australia - to capture high-resolution videos of individual parasites invading red blood cells, and visualise the molecular and cellular changes that occur throughout this process. The research has provided critical new information about malaria parasite biology that may have applications for the development of much-needed new antimalarial medicines.
The research, which was published today in Nature Communications, was led by Ms Cindy Evelyn, Dr Niall Geoghegan, Dr Lachlan Whitehead, ...
Makeup wearers may be absorbing and ingesting potentially toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), according to a new study published today in Environmental Science & Technology Letters. The researchers found high fluorine levels--indicating the probable presence of PFAS--in most waterproof mascara, liquid lipsticks, and foundations tested. Some of the products with the highest fluorine levels underwent further analysis and were all confirmed to contain at least four PFAS of concern. The majority of products with high fluorine, including those ...
Many cosmetics sold in the United States and Canada likely contain high levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a potentially toxic class of chemicals linked to a number of serious health conditions, according to new research from the University of Notre Dame.
Scientists tested more than 200 cosmetics including concealers, foundations, eye and eyebrow products and various lip products. According to the study, 56 percent of foundations and eye products, 48 percent of lip products and 47 percent of mascaras tested were found to contain high levels of fluorine, which is an indicator of PFAS use in ...
WASHINGTON (June 15, 2021)--Malicious COVID-19 online content -- including racist content, disinformation and misinformation -- thrives and spreads online by bypassing the moderation efforts of individual social media platforms, according to new research published in the journal END ...
More than 50 species of tree snail in the South Pacific Society Islands were wiped out following the introduction of an alien predatory snail in the 1970s, but the white-shelled Partula hyalina survived.
Now, thanks to a collaboration between University of Michigan biologists and engineers with the world's smallest computer, scientists understand why: P. hyalina can tolerate more sunlight than its predator, so it was able to persist in sunlit forest edge habitats.
"We were able to get data that nobody had been able to obtain," said David Blaauw, the Kensall D. Wise Collegiate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. "And ...
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (JUNE 15, 2021). In this longitudinal study, researchers from Wake Forest School of Medicine and the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas, Texas, examined the frequency and severity of head impacts experienced by youth football players and how exposure to head impacts changes from one year to the next in returning players. The researchers then compared the resulting data with findings on neuroimaging studies obtained over consecutive years in the same athletes. The comparison demonstrated a significant positive association between changes in head impact exposure (HIE) metrics and changes in abnormal findings on brain imaging studies. ...
A new therapy prompts immune defense cells to swallow misshapen proteins, amyloid beta plaques and tau tangles, whose buildup is known to kill nearby brain cells as part of Alzheimer's disease, a new study shows.
Led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the investigation showed that elderly monkeys had up to 59 percent fewer plaque deposits in their brains after treatment with CpG oligodeoxynucleotides (CpG ODN), compared with untreated animals. These amyloid beta plaques are protein fragments that clump together and clog the junctions between nerve cells (neurons).
Brains of treated animals also had a ...
When young adults are more interested in socializing and casually dating, they tend to drink more alcohol, according to a new paper led by a Washington State University professor.
On the other hand, scientists found that when young adults are in serious relationships, are not interested in dating or place less importance on friendship, their alcohol use was significantly lower.
Published June 15 in the journal Substance Use & Misuse, the study included more than 700 people in the Seattle area aged 18-25 who filled out surveys every month for two years. The study used a community sample that was not limited to college students.
"Young adults shift so much in terms of social relationships ...
Nearly one in four teachers may leave their job by the end of the current (2020-'21) school year, compared with one in six who were likely to leave prior to the pandemic, according to a new RAND Corporation survey. Teachers who identified as Black or African American were particularly likely to consider leaving.
U.S. public-school teachers surveyed in January and February 2021 reported they are almost twice as likely to experience frequent job-related stress as the general employed adult population and almost three times as likely to experience depressive symptoms as the general adult population.
These results suggest potential immediate and long-term threats to the teacher supply.
"Teacher stress was a concern prior ...
