Pediatric celiac disease in India is associated with multiple DR3-DQ2 haplotypes

The role of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) DQ2 heterodimer (DQA1*0501-DQB1*0201) in presenting gluten peptides to effector T cells in celiac disease (CD) has been well documented. Because HLA-DQ2 is carried on DR3 haplotypes due to linkage disequilibrium, such haplotypes are encountered more frequently in patients with autoimmune disease. This study analyzed 35 North Indian children below 15 years of age and diagnosed to have CD as per the ESPGAN criteria, which included histopathologic alterations in duodenal biopsies, clinical response to gluten withdrawal, and presence of antiendomysial antibodies. The HLA class I and class II alleles were determined by polymerase chain reaction-sequence-specific primers, sequence-specific oligonucleotide probe, and reverse line strip molecular techniques. A statistically significant positive association of the disease with HLA-DRB1*03 (94.2% versus 22.1% in controls, chi(2) = 73.4, p = 7.54E-11), and a negative association with DRB1*15 (chi(2) = 7.4, p = 6.5E-03) and DRB1*13 alleles was observed. The HLA-DQB1*0201 was observed in all the 35 patients (100%), whereas the DQ2 heterodimer alpha(0)beta(0) occurred in 97.1% of CD patients (31.4% in double dose, 65.7% in single dose) and revealed significant deviation from healthy controls (chi(2) = 102.08, p = 7.56E-11). Further analysis revealed involvement of multiple DR3+ve haplotypes with CD in Indians, of which A26-B8-DR3 was the most common DR3 haplotype among patients (34.28%, chi(2) = 40.57, p = 2.65E-10) followed by Ax-B21-DR3 (11.4%) (chi(2) = 13.8, p = 2E-04) and the classical Caucasian haplotype A1-B8-DR3 (5.7%). The former two haplotypes are characteristic of Asian Indians and are involved in the development of CD. We conclude that the high risk DR3 haplotypes that play a crucial role in the development of CD are unique in Asian Indians. Detailed analysis of these haplotypes in Indian patients with autoimmune diseases may help understand the influence of other intervening genes within the major histocompatibility complex.

Lesions of the posterior paraventricular thalamus block habituation of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal responses to repeated restraint

We examined the role of the posterior division of the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (pPVTh) in habituation of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) responses to repeated restraint. Habituation refers to the decrement in HPA activity that occurs with repeated exposure to the same or homotypic stressor. To date, the pPVTh has been shown to inhibit the enhanced or facilitated HPA responses to novel, heterotypic restraint in previously chronically cold stressed rats. We hypothesized that the pPVTh also inhibits HPA activity under conditions of habituation. In the first experiment, we lesioned the pPVTh and examined adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and corticosterone responses to the first or eighth restraint exposure. In sham-lesioned rats, we found lower ACTH and corticosterone responses to the eighth period of 30 min restraint compared to the first exposure, evidence for habituation. In pPVTh-lesioned rats, there was no difference in ACTH and corticosterone responses to the eighth compared to the first restraint exposure. Therefore, pPVTh lesions prevented the habituation of HPA responses to repeated restraint. In the second experiment, we examined whether habituation to restraint is observable in response to an acute, single restraint on day 28 in sham and pPVTh lesioned rats that were exposed to restraint only on days 1 through 8. In this experiment, we replicated the results from the first experiment, and found evidence that habituation to restraint can be observed weeks after chronic stress has been terminated. Furthermore, pPVTh lesions had no additional effects on HPA responses to acute stress on day 28. In summary, pPVTh lesions inhibit habituation of HPA activity to a homotypic stressor, without altering HPA responses to the first restraint. Thus, the intact pPVTh inhibits HPA activity under conditions of habituation, as well as facilitation, and represents an important regulator of HPA activity under conditions of chronic stress.

Sentra, a database of signal transduction proteins

Sentra (http://www-wit.mcs.anl.gov/sentra) is a database of signal transduction proteins with the emphasis on microbial signal transduction. The database was updated to include classes of signal transduction systems modulated by either phosphorylation or methylation reactions such as PAS proteins and serine/threonine kinases, as well as the classical two-component histidine kinases and methyl-accepting chemotaxis proteins. Currently, Sentra contains signal transduction proteins from 43 completely sequenced prokaryotic genomes as well as sequences from SWISS-PROT and TrEMBL. Signal transduction proteins are annotated with information describing conserved domains, paralogous and orthologous sequences, and conserved chromosomal gene clusters. The newly developed user interface supports flexible search capabilities and extensive visualization of the data.

DNA short tandem repeat profiling of three North Indian populations

POPULATION

Fifty healthy unrelated individuals were randomly chosen from each of the three populations viz., Bhargavas, Chaturvedies, and Brahmins. Three generation pedigree charts were prepared to ensure sirname endogamy in Bhargavas Chaturvedies and group endogamy in Brahmins subjects were chosen from several parts of Uttar Pradesh, a northern state of the Indian republic.

Sucrose ingestion normalizes central expression of corticotropin-releasing-factor messenger ribonucleic acid and energy balance in adrenalectomized rats: a glucocorticoid-metabolic-brain axis?

Both CRF and norepinephrine (NE) inhibit food intake and stimulate ACTH secretion and sympathetic outflow. CRF also increases anxiety; NE increases attention and cortical arousal. Adrenalectomy (ADX) changes CRF and NE activity in brain, increases ACTH secretion and sympathetic outflow and reduces food intake and weight gain; all of these effects are corrected by administration of adrenal steroids. Unexpectedly, we recently found that ADX rats drinking sucrose, but not saccharin, also have normal caloric intake, metabolism, and ACTH. Here, we show that ADX (but not sham-ADX) rats prefer to consume significantly more sucrose than saccharin. Voluntary ingestion of sucrose restores CRF and dopamine-beta-hydroxylase messenger RNA expression in brain, food intake, and caloric efficiency and fat deposition, circulating triglyceride, leptin, and insulin to normal. Our results suggest that the brains of ADX rats, cued by sucrose energy (but not by nonnutritive saccharin) maintain normal activity in systems that regulate neuroendocrine (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal), behavioral (feeding), and metabolic functions (fat deposition). We conclude that because sucrose ingestion, like glucocorticoid replacement, normalizes energetic and neuromodulatory effects of ADX, many of the actions of the steroids on the central nervous system under basal conditions may be indirect and mediated by signals that result from the metabolic effects of adrenal steroids.

Zinc and cognitive development

Cognition is a field of thought processes by which an individual processes information through skills of perception, thinking, memory, learning and attention. Zinc deficiency may affect cognitive development by alterations in attention, activity, neuropsychological behavior and motor development. The exact mechanisms are not clear but it appears that zinc is essential for neurogenesis, neuronal migration, synaptogenesis and its deficiency could interfere with neurotransmission and subsequent neuropsychological behavior. Studies in animals show that zinc deficiency during the time of rapid brain growth, or during the juvenile and adolescent period affects cognitive development by decreasing activity, increasing emotional behavior, impairing memory and the capacity to learn. Evidence from human studies is limited. Low maternal intakes of zinc during pregnancy and lactation were found to be associated with less focused attention in neonates and decreased motor functions at 6 months of age. Zinc supplementation resulted in better motor development and more playfulness in low birth weight infants and increased vigorous and functional activity in infants and toddlers. In older school going children the data is controversial but there is some evidence of improved neuropsychological functions with zinc supplementation. Additional research is required to determine the exact biological mechanisms, the critical periods, the threshold of severity and the long-term effects of zinc deprivation on cognitive development.

Tramadol for postoperative shivering: a double-blind comparison with pethidine

In most operating and recovery rooms, shivering is controlled by the use of humidifiers, warming blankets, and inhalation of humidified heated oxygen. However, pharmacological control is an effective alternate treatment modality. This randomized, double-blind trial, conducted in 30 ASA Grade 1 or 2 patients, was designed to explore the efficacy of tramadol and pethidine in the treatment of post-anaesthetic shivering. Tramadol is an inhibitor of the re-uptake of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) and norepinephrine in the spinal cord. This facilitates 5-hydroxytryptamine release, which influences thermoregulatory control. We compared the efficacy of tramadol with that of pethidine, presently a widely used drug for the control of shivering. Patients received either tramadol 1 mg/kg or pethidine 0.5 mg/kg intravenously and the grade of shivering, pulse rate, blood pressure and respiratory rate were observed every 10 minutes after injection for one hour Shivering was significantly more likely to have ceased in the tramadol group (12 of 15 versus 4 of 15 cases, P<0.05) at 10 minutes after drug administration and this control was better sustained. No patients receiving tramadol had a recurrence of shivering. It is concluded that intravenous tramadol 1 mg/kg is more effective for the treatment of postoperative shivering than pethidine 0.5 mg/kg.

Inflammatory pseudotumour of lung

Inflammatory pseudotumour of lung is a rare benign lung tumour of uncertain aetiology. It is difficult to distinguish clinically as well as histologically from inflammatory lesions, hamartomas and neoplasms. Only two such cases have been reported from India earlier. We report one such case, that was clinically misdiagnosed as neuroblastoma.

Disruption of arcuate/paraventricular nucleus connections changes body energy balance and response to acute stress

The mediobasal hypothalamus regulates functions necessary for survival, including body energy balance and adaptation to stress. The purpose of this experiment was to determine the contribution of the arcuate nucleus (ARC) in controlling these two functions by the paraventricular nucleus (PVN). Circular, horizontal cuts (1.0 mm radius) were placed immediately above the anterior ARC to sever afferents to the PVN. In shams the knife was lowered to the same coordinates but was not rotated. Food intake and body weight were monitored twice daily, at the beginning and end of the light cycle, for 1 week. On the final day the animals were restrained for 30 min. Lesioned animals had increased food intake in light and dark periods, higher weight gain per day, and more body fat as compared with shams. There was no difference in caloric efficiency. Unlike shams, lesioned rats had no predictable relationship between plasma insulin and leptin. Plasma ACTH was increased at 0 min in lesioned rats but was decreased 15 and 30 min after restraint as compared with shams. There was no difference in plasma corticosterone. Immunostaining revealed that alpha-melanocortin (alphaMSH) and neuropeptide Y (NPY) accumulated below the cuts, and both were decreased in PVN. Food intake and body weight were correlated negatively to alphaMSH, but not NPY in PVN. There was no difference in proopiomelanocortin (POMC) mRNA, but NPY mRNA was reduced in the ARC of lesioned animals. We conclude that ARC controls body energy balance in unstressed rats, possibly by alphaMSH input to PVN, and that ARC also is necessary for PVN regulation of ACTH.

A cholecystokinin-mediated pathway to the paraventricular thalamus is recruited in chronically stressed rats and regulates hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal function

Chronic stress alters hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) responses to acute, novel stress. After acute restraint, the posterior division of the paraventricular thalamic nucleus (pPVTh) exhibits increased numbers of Fos-expressing neurons in chronically cold-stressed rats compared with stress-naive controls. Furthermore, lesions of the PVTh augment HPA activity in response to novel restraint only in previously stressed rats, suggesting that the PVTh is inhibitory to HPA activity but that inhibition occurs only in chronically stressed rats. In this study, we further examined pPVTh functions in chronically stressed rats. We identified afferent projections to the pPVTh using injection of the retrograde tracer fluorogold. Of the sites containing fluorogold-labeled cells, neurons in the lateral parabrachial, periaqueductal gray, and dorsal raphe containing fluorogold also expressed cholecystokinin (CCK) mRNA. We then examined whether these CCKergic inputs to the pPVTh were involved in HPA responses to acute, novel restraint after chronic stress. We injected the CCK-B receptor antagonist PD 135,158 into the PVTh before restraint in control and chronically cold-stressed rats. ACTH responses to restraint stress were augmented by PD 135,158 only in chronically stressed rats but not in controls. In addition, CCK-B receptor mRNA expression in the pPVTh was not altered by chronic cold stress. We conclude that previous chronic stress specifically facilitates the release of CCK into the pPVTh in response to acute, novel stress. The CCK is probably secreted from neurons in the lateral parabrachial, the periaqueductal gray, and/or the dorsal raphe nuclei. Acting via CCK-B receptors in pPVTh, CCK then constrains facilitated ACTH responses to novel stress in chronically stressed but not naive rats. These results demonstrate clearly that chronic stress recruits a new set of pathways that modulate HPA responsiveness to a novel stress.

Bottomed out: metabolic significance of the circadian trough in glucocorticoid concentrations

Mild chronic stressors characteristically increase circadian trough corticosteroid concentrations in rats and man. The elevation in trough concentrations is often accompanied by a reduction in peak concentrations and no change in the daily mean values. Here we point out that elevation of trough glucocorticoids, probably through daily increases of glucocorticoid receptor occupancy, has major metabolic effects that bias organisms toward storage of calories as fat. Thus, chronic mild stress, by overriding the normal mineralocorticoid receptor-mediated corticosteroid feedback regulation of trough CRF and ACTH secretion, facilitates development of the metabolic syndrome.

Molecular modeling of the complex of endothelin-1 (ET-1) with the endothelin type A (ET(A)) receptor and the rational design of a peptide antagonist

ET-1 is the most potent vasoconstrictor known to date, causing vasoconstriction when bound to the ET(A) receptor. Inhibitors of the binding of ET-1 to the ET(A) receptor would be of immense value as potential therapeutic agents in the treatment of cardiovascular disorders such as angina and hypertension. We present here the rational design of such an inhibitor, which is arrived at on the basis of a model of the ET-1/ET(A) receptor complex proposed by us. The model is found to be consistent with binding and mutagenesis studies of ET-1 as well as of BQ123, a known, potent ET(A)-selective antagonist which competes with ET-1 for receptor binding. BQ123 is a peptidic antagonist which is constrained to adopt a definite conformation on account of its cyclic nature. The noncyclic peptide antagonist designed by us also has a unique conformation because it contains two dehydro-Alanine (deltaAla) residues which, on account of their planarity, cause the peptide backbone to bend in a specific and predictable manner. The folding rules for peptides containing deltaAla were derived in our earlier studies. Energy minimization and modelling of the complex of the designed peptide with the ET(A) receptor indicate that the antagonist is ET(A)-selective and the binding is more stable and more specific as compared to that of BQ123.

Corticosterone facilitates saccharin intake in adrenalectomized rats: does corticosterone increase stimulus salience?

Unlike normal rats, adrenalectomized rats do not voluntarily drink sweet saccharin solutions. To test whether this is a function of corticosterone in the circulation, and if corticosterone also increases the impetus for drinking saccharin after a period of withdrawal, we performed the following experiments. Young male rats were sham adrenalectomized (sham) or adrenalectomized (ADX); the ADX rats were provided with subcutaneous pellets containing (percent replacement of corticosterone, %B) 0%B, 15%B, 30%B or 100%B. Sham and ADX rats were immediately provided with saline (0.5%) and saccharin (2 mM) bottles in their home cages. Saccharin was allowed for 4 days on, 3 days off, 4 days on, 3 days off and a final day on, over the 15 days experiment. The dose of corticosterone determined both how much saccharin was voluntarily drunk by the ADX rats and the degree of overshoot after days off. Corticosterone also determined energy balance of the groups of ADX rats. The 30%B pellets restored food intake, body weight gain, insulin and caloric efficiency to the normal levels observed in sham rats. White fat depot weights and uncoupling protein concentration in brown adipose tissue were restored to sham levels by 100%B, suggesting that these variables which depend on activity in the sympathetic nervous system require considerable glucocorticoid receptor occupancy. We conclude that corticosterone increases the willingness to ingest sweetened water in a unimodal, dose-related manner, while moderate doses of corticosterone restore energy balance.

Voluntary sucrose ingestion, like corticosterone replacement, prevents the metabolic deficits of adrenalectomy

We tested whether corticosterone replacement causes increased sucrose drinking in adrenalectomized (ADX) rats compared to sham-ADX (sham) rats. ADX rats given high doses of corticosterone drank as much sucrose as sham rats, whereas at three lower doses of corticosterone, drinking was similar between groups and was only approximately 40% of that ingested by shams. Compared to sham rats, ADX rats drinking saline, or saline and saccharin, gain weight more slowly, contain less white adipose tissue, and have higher sympathetic outflow as assessed by uncoupling protein content in brown adipose tissue. Allowing sucrose as well as saline to drink restored all of these variables to normal in ADX rats with no- or low-corticosterone. All endpoints from sucrose-drinking ADX rats with no-or low-corticosterone were indistinguishable from those in water-drinking shams. By contrast, sucrose-drinking ADX rats that were given high doses of corticosterone exhibited the usual catabolic effects of corticosterone on body weight gain and, unlike sucrose-drinking shams, were obese. We conclude that (i) high corticosterone stimulates the potability of sucrose and inhibits sympathetic stimulation of uncoupling protein; (ii) sucrose, without corticosterone, normalizes metabolic deficits in ADX rats probably through actions mediated both peripherally and by the central nervous system; and (iii) ADX rats have a distinct sucrose appetite.

Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal dysfunction in Apoe(-/-) mice: possible role in behavioral and metabolic alterations

Several neurological diseases are frequently accompanied by dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. The HPA axis regulates the secretion of glucocorticoids (GCs), which play important roles in diverse brain functions, including cognition, emotion, and feeding. Under physiological conditions, GCs are adaptive and beneficial; however, prolonged elevations in GC levels may contribute to neurodegeneration and brain dysfunction. In the current study, we demonstrate that apolipoprotein E (apoE) deficiency results in age-dependent dysregulation of the HPA axis through a mechanism affecting primarily the adrenal gland. Apoe(-/-) mice, which develop neurodegenerative alterations as they age, had an age-dependent increase in basal adrenal corticosterone content and abnormally increased plasma corticosterone levels after restraint stress, whereas their plasma and pituitary adrenocorticotropin levels were either unchanged or lower than those in controls. HPA axis dysregulation was associated with behavioral and metabolic alterations. When anxiety levels were assessed in the elevated plus maze, Apoe(-/-) mice showed more anxiety than wild-type controls. Apoe(-/-) mice also showed reduced activity in the open field. Finally, Apoe(-/-) mice showed age-dependent increases in food and water intake, stomach and body weights, and decreases in brown and white adipose tissues. These results support a key role for apoE in the tonic inhibition of steroidogenesis and HPA axis activity and have important implications for the behavioral analysis of Apoe(-/-) mice.

The paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus alters rhythms in core temperature and energy balance in a state-dependent manner

Exposure to chronic stress facilitates activity within the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and is associated with enhanced neuronal activity in a discreet set of brain regions, including the posterior division of the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (pPVTh). Because HPA function is intimately associated with systems that regulate metabolism, including core temperature and energy balance, we examined the effects of chronic stress on circadian rhythms in temperature, locomotor activity, body weight gain and food intake and adipose depot weights in rats. We also examined the potential role of the pPVTh in mediating these functions using ibotenate lesions of this nucleus. Chronic stress lowered the amplitude of core temperature rhythms, and lesions of the pPVTh blocked this effect in chronically stressed animals, but did not affect the amplitude of temperature rhythms in unstressed controls. In addition, lesions of the pPVTh increased cumulative food intake and overall body weight gain in controls but they increased subcutaneous white adipose depot weight in chronically stressed animals. Thus, the functional paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus appears to inhibit both temperature rhythms and specific white adipose depots only in chronically stressed animals. Together with our previous results, we show that the PVTh affects rhythms in food intake and body weight and is a nexus that differentially regulates core temperature rhythms/HPA activity/specific white adipose depots depending on the stress state of the animal.

Interactions among chronic cold, corticosterone and puberty on energy intake and deposition

We have shown that chronic cold stress strongly interacts with corticosterone (B) to determine subsequent regulation of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis responses to novel stress. These studies, using the same 2 sets of rats, show that chronic cold also interacts with B and testosterone on signals of energy balance. The two groups of rats differed in weight by 20% and in age by 2 weeks (44-59 days of age). Adrenalectomized rats, replaced with varying doses of B, were exposed to cold or served as controls. Food intake and body weight during the experiments and hormones, metabolites and fat depots were measured on day 5. B, but not cold, affected food intake in the younger rats; by contrast, cold, but not B, affected food intake in the older rats. Testosterone was higher in older control rats and was markedly depressed by cold; younger rats had lower testosterone that was minimally affected by cold. Weight gain decreased in all rats at room temperature with increasing B, whereas they all lost weight in cold independently of B. Cold stimulated and B inhibited interscapular brown adipose tissue DNA content (reflecting sympathetic stimulation of thermogenesis). B stimulated insulin, whereas cold inhibited leptin and insulin; B also increased white adipose tissue weight gain in controls and inhibited its loss in cold. Leptin was unrelated to white adipose tissue depots in older control rats but was strongly related to these stores in younger rats and in all rats in cold. We conclude that: 1. By decreasing signals that act centrally to inhibit food intake (insulin, leptin and testosterone) cold allows B to stimulate food intake; 2. B inhibits weight gain although it causes accrual of fat; 3. Cold, probably through sympathetic stimulation of white adipose tissue, causes fat loss which is modulated by the inhibitory effect of B on sympathetic outflow; and, 4. The slope of the relationship between fat depot size and leptin becomes flatter in cold, possibly because of increased sympathetic outflow to these depots.

Warning! Nearby construction can profoundly affect your experiments

This is meant to alert people to potentially major effects of construction projects on research results. Because we study the effects of stress on regulation of ACTH and corticosterone secretion and of serotonin receptors and stress on energy balance, we serve as an early warning system when things go awry. Most of our experiments include taking daily, or twice daily, measurements of rat or mouse weights and food intake as well as stress hormone levels. We are highly sensitized to environmental disruption and we've shown previously the effects of construction on stress hormones (1). However, we did not anticipate the change and disruption in energy balance that may occur in response to environmental perturbation. We provide two examples of these, below.

Starvation: early signals, sensors, and sequelae

To identify the sequences of changes in putative signals, reception of these and responses to starvation, we sampled fed and starved rats at 2- to 6-h intervals after removal of food 2 h before dark. Metabolites, hormones, hypothalamic neuropeptide expression, fat depots, and leptin expression were measured. At 2 h, insulin decreased, and FFA and corticosterone (B) increased; by 4 h, leptin and glucose levels decreased. Neuropeptide Y messenger RNA (mRNA) increased 6 h after food removal and thereafter. Adrenal and plasma B did not follow ACTH and were elevated throughout, with a nadir at the dark-light transition. Leptin correlated inversely with adrenal B. Fat stores decreased during the last 12 h. Leptin mRNA in perirenal and sc fat peaked during the dark period, resembling plasma leptin in fed rats. We conclude that 1) within the first 4 h, hormonal and metabolic signals relay starvation-induced information to the hypothalamus; 2) hypothalamic neuropeptide synthesis responds rapidly to the altered metabolic signals; 3) catabolic activity quickly predominates, reinforced by elevated B, not driven by ACTH, but possibly to a minor extent by leptin, and more by adrenal neural activity; and 4) leptin secretion decreases before leptin mRNA or fat depot weight, showing synthesis-independent regulation.