The lipoxygenase inhibitor nafazatrom inhibits stimulated prolactin secretion in cultured rat lactotrophs (GH4C1 cells)

Identification of adolescent patients with depression via assessment of the niacin skin flushing response

BACKGROUND

Depressive disorder (DD) affects approximately 20 % of adolescents worldwide, but it is underdiagnosed due to the lack of objective biomarkers. Niacin skin flushing response (NSFR) is an objective and noninvasive biomarker of adult depression; however, its effectiveness has not been assessed in adolescents.

METHODS

This study included 198 adolescents with 50 % healthy controls (HC). Linear mixed-effects model and multiple linear regression analyses were performed to assess differences in NSFR between the DD and HC groups. Logistic regression models based on NSFR were constructed, and the area under curve (AUC) was calculated to evaluate the performance of models. Spearman correlations were calculated to assess the relationships between NSFR and disease duration and hormone levels associated with puberty.

RESULTS

Adolescents with DD displayed significantly attenuated and delayed NSFR compared to HC. NSFR effectively distinguished DD patients from HC with AUC values of 0.719 (sensitivity = 0.844) and 0.721 (sensitivity = 0.829) determined in the discovery and validation sets, respectively. Within the DD group, the maximum degree of NSFR was negatively correlated with the disease duration (r = -0.28, p = 0.011), and the overall degree of NSFR was positively associated with prolactin (r = 0.29, p = 0.039) and thyroxine (r = 0.29, p = 0.027) levels.

LIMITATIONS

Future investigations will be necessary to confirm our results in an independent sample set.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides the first evidence of the utility of NSFR as an objective auxiliary diagnostic biomarker for adolescent depression. It provides new clues to understand the pathophysiology of the disease, and helps promote precise diagnosis, treatment, and prognostic evaluation of adolescent depression.

Upregulation of lymphocyte apoptosis as a strategy for preventing and treating autoimmune disorders: a role for whole-food vegan diets, fish oil and dopamine agonists

Induced apoptosis of autoreactive T-lymphocyte precursors in the thymus is crucial for the prevention of autoimmune disorders. IGF-I and prolactin, which are lymphocyte growth factors, may have the potential to suppress apoptosis in thymocytes and thus encourage autoimmunity; conversely, dietary fish oil rich in omega-3 fats appears to upregulate apoptosis in lymphocytes. Since whole-food vegan diets may downregulate systemic IGF-I activity, it is proposed that such a diet, in conjunction with fish oil supplementation and treatment with dopamine agonists capable of suppressing prolactin secretion, may have utility for treating and preventing autoimmune disorders. This prediction is consistent with the extreme rarity of autoimmune disorders among sub-Saharan black Africans as long as they followed their traditional quasi-vegan lifestyles, and with recent ecologic studies correlating risks for IDDM and for multiple sclerosis mortality with animal product and/or saturated fat consumption. Moreover, there is evidence that vegan or quasi-vegan diets are useful in the management of rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and possibly SLE. The dopamine agonist bromocryptine exerts anti-inflammatory effects in rodent models of autoimmunity, and there is preliminary evidence that this drug may be clinically useful in several human autoimmune diseases; better tolerated D2-specific agonists such as cabergoline may prove to be more practical for use in therapy. The moderate clinical utility of supplemental fish oil in rheumatoid arthritis and certain other autoimmune disorders is documented. It is not unlikely that extra-thymic anti-inflammatory effects contribute importantly to the clinical utility of vegan diets, bromocryptine, and fish oil in autoimmunity. The favorable impact of low latitude or high altitude on autoimmune risk may be mediated by superior vitamin D status, which is associated with decreased secretion of parathyroid hormone; there are theoretical grounds for suspecting that parathyroid hormone may inhibit apoptosis in thymocytes. Androgens appear to up-regulate thymocyte apoptosis, may be largely responsible for the relative protection from autoimmunity enjoyed by men, and merit further evaluation for the management of autoimmunity in women. It will probably prove more practical to prevent autoimmune disorders than to reverse them once established; a whole-food vegan diet, coupled with fish oil and vitamin D supplementation, may represent a practical strategy for achieving this prevention, while concurrently lowering risk for many other life-threatening 'Western' diseases.

Vasoactive intestinal peptide increases the liberation of arachidonate from anterior pituitary cells in vitro

Several secretagogues increase prolactin (PRL) release from anterior pituitary cells through biochemical pathways that involve the liberation of arachidonate from cellular phospholipids. Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) increases PRL release from anterior pituitary cells through a mechanism involving the generation of cAMP. In this study, we determined whether VIP increases the liberation of arachidonate from anterior pituitary cells. Primary cultures of anterior pituitary cells were prepared from the anterior pituitary gland of female Sprague-Dawley rats. After four to five days in culture, the incubation medium was replaced with [3H] arachidonate containing medium, and the cells incubated for 90 min. The cells were then extensively rinsed with incubation medium without [3H] arachidonate to remove the [3H] fatty acid not associated with cellular phospholipids. The pituitary cells were then incubated with medium containing various concentrations of VIP and the release of [3H] arachidonate and PRL into the incubation medium determined. VIP (500 nM) significantly increased [3H] arachidonate liberation from primary cultures of anterior pituitary cells at 30 min (p < 0.5) and 60 min (p < 0.01), but had no significant effect on the liberation of this fatty acid at 15 or 120 min. PRL release was significantly increased by VIP at 30, 60, and 120 min. VIP (60 min exposure) at concentrations of 100 and 500 nM significantly increased PRL release and arachidonate liberation in a concentration-dependent manner. Similarly, VIP increased [3H] arachidonate liberation from a preparation of anterior pituitary cells enriched in lactotropes. Since the increment in [3H] arachidonate liberation was greater in the lactotrope-enriched population than in the anterior pituitary cell preparation, it is highly probable that the lactotropes are the primary source of [3H] arachidonate liberated by VIP. These experiments provide evidence that [3H] arachidonate liberation may play a role in VIP-stimulated PRL release.

Inhibitors of the arachidonic acid metabolism attenuate the thyroliberin (TRH) stimulated prolactin production without modifying the production of inositolphosphates in GH4C1 pituitary cells

Some arachidonic acid metabolites might be among the intracellular signalling substances that regulate hormone release. We report that the phospholipase A2 and diacylglycerol lipase inhibitor quinacrine (1-10 mumol l-1) inhibited the thyroliberin stimulated prolactin (rPRL) production in a dose-dependent way in a rat pituitary tumour cell line (GH4Cl cells). The lipoxygenase inhibitor nafazatrom (5-50 mumol-1) also dose-dependently inhibited the thyroliberin stimulated rPRL production, while the cyclo-oxygenase inhibitor indomethacin had no such effect on rPRL production. The inhibitors of the arachidonic acid metabolism (quinacrine, ETYA and nafazatrom) had no effect on the accumulation of inositolpolyphosphates indicating that the arachidonic acid metabolites are not involved in the regulation of the phospholipase C activity.