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Mazza E, Troiano E, Ferro Y, Lisso F, Tosi M, Turco E, Pujia R, Montalcini T. Obesity, Dietary Patterns, and Hormonal Balance Modulation: Gender-Specific Impacts. Nutrients 2024; 16:1629. [PMID: 38892561 PMCID: PMC11174431 DOI: 10.3390/nu16111629] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2024] [Revised: 05/22/2024] [Accepted: 05/23/2024] [Indexed: 06/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Understanding the intricate relationship between nutrition, hormonal balance, and gender-specific factors is crucial for developing targeted interventions to mitigate obesity-related endocrine disruptions and improve metabolic health. This narrative review examines the impact of various dietary patterns on hormonal regulation in both men and women, focusing on their effects on hormonal balance and metabolic health in the context of obesity. Calorie restriction, the Western diet, high-fat diets, low-CHO diets, plant-based diets, and the Mediterranean diet are analyzed in relation to their influence on obesity-related endocrine disruptions and metabolic health. Future research directions include investigating the specific mechanisms underlying dietary influences on hormonal regulation, addressing the gender-specific metabolic differences and body fat distribution, and exploring the dietary needs of individuals undergoing gender transition. Personalized dietary interventions tailored to individual metabolic and hormonal profiles are essential for optimizing health outcomes across the gender spectrum. By integrating gender-specific considerations into dietary recommendations, healthcare professionals can better support individuals in achieving optimal metabolic health and hormonal balance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisa Mazza
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University Magna Græcia, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy; (E.M.); (T.M.)
- Technical Scientific Association of Food, Nutrition and Dietetics (ASAND), 95128 Catania, Italy; (E.T.); (F.L.)
| | - Ersilia Troiano
- Technical Scientific Association of Food, Nutrition and Dietetics (ASAND), 95128 Catania, Italy; (E.T.); (F.L.)
- Social Educational Directorate of Rome III Montesacro Municipality, 00139 Rome, Italy
| | - Yvelise Ferro
- Department of Medical and Surgical Science, University Magna Græcia, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy; (Y.F.); (R.P.)
| | - Fabrizia Lisso
- Technical Scientific Association of Food, Nutrition and Dietetics (ASAND), 95128 Catania, Italy; (E.T.); (F.L.)
- “Sant’Anna” Hospital, San Fermo della Battaglia, 22042 Como, Italy
| | - Martina Tosi
- Technical Scientific Association of Food, Nutrition and Dietetics (ASAND), 95128 Catania, Italy; (E.T.); (F.L.)
- Department of Health Sciences, University of Milan, 20146 Milan, Italy
| | - Ettore Turco
- Department of Public Health, University of Naples “Federico II”, 80131 Naples, Italy;
| | - Roberta Pujia
- Department of Medical and Surgical Science, University Magna Græcia, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy; (Y.F.); (R.P.)
| | - Tiziana Montalcini
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University Magna Græcia, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy; (E.M.); (T.M.)
- Research Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Metabolic Diseases, University Magna Græcia, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy
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Kumar M, Bhatt B, Gusain C, Mahajan N, Bishnoi M. Sex-specific effects of ketogenic diet on anxiety-like behavior and neuroimmune response in C57Bl/6J mice. J Nutr Biochem 2024; 127:109591. [PMID: 38311044 DOI: 10.1016/j.jnutbio.2024.109591] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2023] [Revised: 01/27/2024] [Accepted: 01/29/2024] [Indexed: 02/06/2024]
Abstract
The ketogenic diet (KD) has been shown to reduce anxiety and enhance cognitive functions in neurological diseases. However, the sex-specific effects of KD on anxiety-like behavior in healthy individuals and the underlying molecular mechanisms contributing to these effects, including neuroinflammation, are unelucidated. This study investigated the sex-specific effects of KD on anxiety-like behavior and the neuroimmune response in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and hippocampus of healthy C57BL/6J male and female mice. Animals were fed either a control diet (CD- 17% fat, 65% carb, 18% protein) or a KD (80% fat, 5% carb, 15% protein) for 4 weeks. KD increased the levels of circulating β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) both in males and females. However, PFC BHB levels were found to be elevated only in KD males. Moreover, KD did not affect the behavior of females but improved motor abilities and reduced anxiety levels in males. KD suppressed the mRNA expression of the pan microglial markers (Cd68, P2ry12) and induced morphological changes in the male PFC microglia. A sex-specific decrease in IL1β and an increase in IL-10 levels was found in the PFC of KD males. A similar trend was observed in the hippocampus of males where KD reduced the mRNA expression of P2ry12, Il1β, and cFos. Additionally, BHB increased the production of IL-10 whereas it decreased the production of IL1β from human microglia in in-vitro conditions. In summary, these results demonstrate that the anxiolytic and motor function enhancement abilities of KD are male-specific. Reduced pro-inflammatory and improved anti-inflammatory factors in the male PFC and hippocampus may underlie these effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohit Kumar
- Centre for Excellence in Functional Foods, Food & Nutrition Biotechnology Division, National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, S.A.S Nagar, Sector 81 (Knowledge City), Punjab, India; Adjunct faculty, Regional Centre for Biotechnology, Faridabad, Haryana, India.
| | - Babita Bhatt
- Centre for Excellence in Functional Foods, Food & Nutrition Biotechnology Division, National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, S.A.S Nagar, Sector 81 (Knowledge City), Punjab, India
| | - Chitralekha Gusain
- Centre for Excellence in Functional Foods, Food & Nutrition Biotechnology Division, National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, S.A.S Nagar, Sector 81 (Knowledge City), Punjab, India
| | - Nayan Mahajan
- Centre for Excellence in Functional Foods, Food & Nutrition Biotechnology Division, National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, S.A.S Nagar, Sector 81 (Knowledge City), Punjab, India
| | - Mahendra Bishnoi
- Centre for Excellence in Functional Foods, Food & Nutrition Biotechnology Division, National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, S.A.S Nagar, Sector 81 (Knowledge City), Punjab, India
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Roussos P, Ma Y, Girdhar K, Hoffman G, Fullard J, Bendl J. Sex differences in brain cell-type specific chromatin accessibility in schizophrenia. RESEARCH SQUARE 2024:rs.3.rs-4158509. [PMID: 38645177 PMCID: PMC11030506 DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4158509/v1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/23/2024]
Abstract
Our understanding of the sex-specific role of the non-coding genome in serious mental illness remains largely incomplete. To address this gap, we explored sex differences in 1,393 chromatin accessibility profiles, derived from neuronal and non-neuronal nuclei of two distinct cortical regions from 234 cases with serious mental illness and 235 controls. We identified sex-specific enhancer-promoter interactions and showed that they regulate genes involved in X-chromosome inactivation (XCI). Examining chromosomal conformation allowed us to identify sex-specific cis- and trans-regulatory domains (CRDs and TRDs). Co-localization of sex-specific TRDs with schizophrenia common risk variants pinpointed male-specific regulatory regions controlling a number of metabolic pathways. Additionally, enhancers from female-specific TRDs were found to regulate two genes known to escape XCI, (XIST and JPX), underlying the importance of TRDs in deciphering sex differences in schizophrenia. Overall, these findings provide extensive characterization of sex differences in the brain epigenome and disease-associated regulomes.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Yixuan Ma
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
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Bass K, Sivaprakasam S, Dharmalingam-Nandagopal G, Thangaraju M, Ganapathy V. Colonic ketogenesis, a microbiota-regulated process, contributes to blood ketones and protects against colitis in mice. Biochem J 2024; 481:295-312. [PMID: 38372391 PMCID: PMC10903465 DOI: 10.1042/bcj20230403] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2023] [Revised: 02/01/2024] [Accepted: 02/04/2024] [Indexed: 02/20/2024]
Abstract
Ketogenesis is considered to occur primarily in liver to generate ketones as an alternative energy source for non-hepatic tissues when glucose availability/utilization is impaired. 3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA synthase-2 (HMGCS2) mediates the rate-limiting step in this mitochondrial pathway. Publicly available databases show marked down-regulation of HMGCS2 in colonic tissues in Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. This led us to investigate the expression and function of this pathway in colon and its relevance to colonic inflammation in mice. Hmgcs2 is expressed in cecum and colon. As global deletion of Hmgcs2 showed significant postnatal mortality, we used a conditional knockout mouse with enzyme deletion restricted to intestinal tract. These mice had no postnatal mortality. Fasting blood ketones were lower in these mice, indicating contribution of colonic ketogenesis to circulating ketones. There was also evidence of gut barrier breakdown and increased susceptibility to experimental colitis with associated elevated levels of IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α in circulation. Interestingly, many of these phenomena were mostly evident in male mice. Hmgcs2 expression in colon is controlled by colonic microbiota as evidenced from decreased expression in germ-free mice and antibiotic-treated conventional mice and from increased expression in a human colonic epithelial cell line upon treatment with aqueous extracts of cecal contents. Transcriptomic analysis of colonic epithelia from control mice and Hmgcs2-null mice indicated an essential role for colonic ketogenesis in the maintenance of optimal mitochondrial function, cholesterol homeostasis, and cell-cell tight-junction organization. These findings demonstrate a sex-dependent obligatory role for ketogenesis in protection against colonic inflammation in mice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin Bass
- Department of Cell Biology and Biochemistry, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, TX 79430, U.S.A
| | - Sathish Sivaprakasam
- Department of Cell Biology and Biochemistry, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, TX 79430, U.S.A
| | | | - Muthusamy Thangaraju
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Augusta University, Augusta, GA 30912, U.S.A
| | - Vadivel Ganapathy
- Department of Cell Biology and Biochemistry, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, TX 79430, U.S.A
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