macrophagy autophagy

Obesity is related to several organs, but the liver is particularly affected. Adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a cellular energy sensor and regulator of liver lipid dysfunction and glucose metabolism. The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a protein kinase regulating cell growth, survival, metabolism, and immunity. Together, these pathways are involved in obesity, insulin resistance, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and its progression, and autophagy. During energy demand, liver kinase B (LKB) phosphorylation helps activate the AMPK/mTOR pathways...

Engelhardia roxburghiana Wall. is a traditional Chinese medicine used for treating cardiovascular diseases. Our previous study has implicated potential effects of total flavonoids of Engelhardia roxburghiana Wall. (TFER) against hyperlipidemia. The aim of the study is to uncover the effects and underlying mechanisms of TFER on foam cells formation after atherosclerosis. We used high fat diet (HFD) induced Apoe-/- mice and oxidized density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) induced THP-1 cells to mimic process of atherosclerosis in vivo and in vitro, respectively...

With the growth of the aging population, osteoporosis is becoming a global health problem. Ursolic acid (UA) is an active ingredient existed in a variety of foods and nature plants and owns plenty of pharmacological effects especially in treating metabolic disease. Our predication from network pharmacology hinted that UA has potential for ameliorating osteoporosis. Firstly through in vivo experiment, we confirmed that UA administration obviously protected against ovariectomy (OVX)-induced osteoporosis in rats by improving microarchitectural deterioration of trabecular bone (P < 0...

Cellular autophagy (Macrophagy) is a self-degradative process, executed through the network of autophagy associated genes (ATGs) encoded proteins. Both in vitro and in vivo studies suggest that dengue virus (DENV) induces autophagy and supports the viral genome replication and translation. Therefore, the cellular autophagy induced by dengue virus can be a good target for antiviral drug development. The action of mycophenolic acid (MPA), a specific inhibitor of DENV replication, was investigated in the stable BHK-21/DENV2 replicon cells...

Disturbed systemic glycemic and insulinemic status elicits cardiomyocyte metabolic stress and altered glucose handling. In diabetes, pathological myocardial glycogen accumulation occurs. Recently, evidence of a specific myocardial autophagic degradation pathway for glycogen ("glycophagy") has been reported, differentiated from the more well-characterized protein "macrophagy" pathway. The goal of this study was to identify potential mechanisms involved in cardiac glycogen accumulation, glycophagy, and macrophagy regulation using cultured neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVMs)...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Huntington's disease is a neurodegenerative process associated with mitochondrial alterations. Inhibitors of the electron-transport channel complex II, such as 3-nitropropionic acid (3NP), are used to study the molecular and cellular pathways involved in this disease. We studied the effect of 3NP on mitochondrial morphology and its involvement in macrophagy. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: Pharmacological and biochemical methods were used to characterize the effects of 3NP on autophagy and mitochondrial morphology...