High-carbohydrate diet-induced metabolic disorders in Gerbillus tarabuli (a new model of non-alcoholic fatty-liver disease). Protective effects of 20-hydroxyecdysone

20-Hydroxyecdysone bioavailability and pharmacokinetics in Gerbillus tarabuli, a gerbil model for metabolic syndrome studies

Phytoecdysteroids are active natural compounds that have demonstrated many beneficial pharmacological effects on mammals, including Humans. 20-Hydroxyecdysone (20E) is the major phytoecdysteroid present in plants, and gerbils are particularly good responders to the addition of 20E to their diet. We have examined the oral bioavailability of 20E in the desert gerbil, Gerbillus tarabuli. 20E (5 and 50 mg.kg-1 body weight) was administered to gerbils by intra-peritoneal injection and oral gavage, respectively. Plasma samples were collected over 8 h and analyzed by HPLC-MS/MS to determine the 20E concentrations. The calculated oral bioavailability of 20E is approx. 12%, with a half-life of 30.6 and 33 min after per os administration or intra-peritoneal injection, respectively. This bioavailabilitty is much higher than that observed in laboratory rodents (ca. 1%). It is proposed that this unexpectedly high oral bioavailability of 20E in gerbils contributes to its high efficacy in this animal.

Advances in research on the biology of the desert rodent Gerbillus tarabuli: a review

Selection of the appropriate species and strain of laboratory animals are among the scientist's major concerns. Tarabul's gerbil (Gerbillus tarabuli) is a small, seasonally breeding, desert rodent native to Africa. Despite its unique biological features, which make it an ideal model candidate for biomedical research, only a few reports have used it in research. Hence, the present review aims to provide more data about this species, covering all aspects of its biology, such as taxonomy, morphology, anatomy, ecology, wildlife biology, molecular biology, physiology, neurobiology, genetics, reproduction, development, evolutionary biology, and conservation biology, and covers current progress in exploration of G. tarabuli, discussing its valuable characteristics, which are widely useful for research in various fields. This review paper is destined for biologists, scientists, mammologists, zoologists, academics, and students.

Exploratory Data Analysis of Cell and Mitochondrial High-Fat, High-Sugar Toxicity on Human HepG2 Cells

Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), one of the deleterious stages of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, remains a significant cause of liver-related morbidity and mortality worldwide. In the current work, we used an exploratory data analysis to investigate time-dependent cellular and mitochondrial effects of different supra-physiological fatty acids (FA) overload strategies, in the presence or absence of fructose (F), on human hepatoma-derived HepG2 cells. We measured intracellular neutral lipid content and reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, mitochondrial respiration and morphology, and caspases activity and cell death. FA-treatments induced a time-dependent increase in neutral lipid content, which was paralleled by an increase in ROS. Fructose, by itself, did not increase intracellular lipid content nor aggravated the effects of palmitic acid (PA) or free fatty acids mixture (FFA), although it led to an up-expression of hepatic fructokinase. Instead, F decreased mitochondrial phospholipid content, as well as OXPHOS subunits levels. Increased lipid accumulation and ROS in FA-treatments preceded mitochondrial dysfunction, comprising altered mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) and morphology, and decreased oxygen consumption rates, especially with PA. Consequently, supra-physiological PA alone or combined with F prompted the activation of caspase pathways leading to a time-dependent decrease in cell viability. Exploratory data analysis methods support this conclusion by clearly identifying the effects of FA treatments. In fact, unsupervised learning algorithms created homogeneous and cohesive clusters, with a clear separation between PA and FFA treated samples to identify a minimal subset of critical mitochondrial markers in order to attain a feasible model to predict cell death in NAFLD or for high throughput screening of possible therapeutic agents, with particular focus in measuring mitochondrial function.

20-Hydroxyecdysone, from Plant Extracts to Clinical Use: Therapeutic Potential for the Treatment of Neuromuscular, Cardio-Metabolic and Respiratory Diseases

There is growing interest in the pharmaceutical and medical applications of 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E), a polyhydroxylated steroid which naturally occurs in low but very significant amounts in invertebrates, where it has hormonal roles, and in certain plant species, where it is believed to contribute to the deterrence of invertebrate predators. Studies in vivo and in vitro have revealed beneficial effects in mammals: anabolic, hypolipidemic, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, etc. The possible mode of action in mammals has been determined recently, with the main mechanism involving the activation of the Mas1 receptor, a key component of the renin-angiotensin system, which would explain many of the pleiotropic effects observed in the different animal models. Processes have been developed to produce large amounts of pharmaceutical grade 20E, and regulatory preclinical studies have assessed its lack of toxicity. The effects of 20E have been evaluated in early stage clinical trials in healthy volunteers and in patients for the treatment of neuromuscular, cardio-metabolic or respiratory diseases. The prospects and limitations of developing 20E as a drug are discussed, including the requirement for a better evaluation of its safety and pharmacological profile and for developing a production process compliant with pharmaceutical standards.

Phytochemical profile and antiproliferative activity of human lymphocytes of Gomphrena virgata Mart. (Amaranthaceae)

Gomphrena virgata Mart. popularly known as 'Cangussu-branco', is used in Brazilian folk medicine to treat inflammations and infections. This work aimed to carry out phytochemical analysis and evaluate the anti-inflammatory potential of Gomphrena virgata. In the phytochemical investigation, in addition to the presence of two ecdysteroids, 20 R-dihydroxyecdysone and 20-hydroxyecdysone, identified by HPLC-PDA-MS and NMR, 22 compounds were identified by GC-MS. In the cytotoxicity study, the aqueous extract of the roots of this species did not show in vitro toxicity of PBMCs in the concentrations of 250, 500 and 1000 µg/mL when analyzed by the trypan blue exclusion method. Also, it was effective in reducing lymphocyte proliferation, stimulated with the mitogen PHA, by 26.02%, 48.57% and 50.49% when compared to dexamethasone, respectively. In this work we present information about the phytochemicals of G. virgata, showing that the species is promising in obtaining compounds with medicinal potential mainly anti-inflammatory potential.