Selective Hepatic Cbs Knockout Aggravates Liver Damage, Endothelial Dysfunction and ROS Stress in Mice Fed a Western Diet

Gut Microbiota and Sinusoidal Vasoregulation in MASLD: A Portal Perspective

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is a common condition with heterogeneous outcomes difficult to predict at the individual level. Feared complications of advanced MASLD are linked to clinically significant portal hypertension and are initiated by functional and mechanical changes in the unique sinusoidal capillary network of the liver. Early sinusoidal vasoregulatory changes in MASLD lead to increased intrahepatic vascular resistance and represent the beginning of portal hypertension. In addition, the composition and function of gut microbiota in MASLD are distinctly different from the healthy state, and multiple lines of evidence demonstrate the association of dysbiosis with these vasoregulatory changes. The gut microbiota is involved in the biotransformation of nutrients, production of de novo metabolites, release of microbial structural components, and impairment of the intestinal barrier with impact on innate immune responses, metabolism, inflammation, fibrosis, and vasoregulation in the liver and beyond. The gut-liver axis is a conceptual framework in which portal circulation is the primary connection between gut microbiota and the liver. Accordingly, biochemical and hemodynamic attributes of portal circulation may hold the key to better understanding and predicting disease progression in MASLD. However, many specific details remain hidden due to limited access to the portal circulation, indicating a major unmet need for the development of innovative diagnostic tools to analyze portal metabolites and explore their effect on health and disease. We also need to safely and reliably monitor portal hemodynamics with the goal of providing preventive and curative interventions in all stages of MASLD. Here, we review recent advances that link portal metabolomics to altered sinusoidal vasoregulation and may allow for new insights into the development of portal hypertension in MASLD.

Identification of hub genes significantly linked to tuberous sclerosis related-epilepsy and lipid metabolism via bioinformatics analysis

Background

Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is one of the most common genetic causes of epilepsy. Identifying differentially expressed lipid metabolism related genes (DELMRGs) is crucial for guiding treatment decisions.

Methods

We acquired tuberous sclerosis related epilepsy (TSE) datasets, GSE16969 and GSE62019. Differential expression analysis identified 1,421 differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Intersecting these with lipid metabolism related genes (LMRGs) yielded 103 DELMRGs. DELMRGs underwent enrichment analyses, biomarker selection, disease classification modeling, immune infiltration analysis, weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) and AUCell analysis.

Results

In TSE datasets, 103 DELMRGs were identified. Four diagnostic biomarkers (ALOX12B, CBS, CPT1C, and DAGLB) showed high accuracy for epilepsy diagnosis, with an AUC value of 0.9592. Significant differences (p < 0.05) in Plasma cells, T cells regulatory (Tregs), and Macrophages M2 were observed between diagnostic groups. Microglia cells were highly correlated with lipid metabolism functions.

Conclusions

Our research unveiled potential DELMRGs (ALOX12B, CBS, CPT1C and DAGLB) in TSE, which may provide new ideas for studying the psathogenesis of epilepsy.

Nitrous Oxide Abuse: Clinical Outcomes, Pharmacology, Pharmacokinetics, Toxicity and Impact on Metabolism

The recreational use of nitrous oxide (N2O), also called laughing gas, has increased significantly in recent years. In 2022, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) recognized it as one of the most prevalent psychoactive substances used in Europe. Chronic nitrous oxide (N2O) exposure can lead to various clinical manifestations. The most frequent symptoms are neurological (sensitive or motor disorders), but there are also other manifestations like psychiatric manifestations or cardiovascular disorders (thrombosis events). N2O also affects various neurotransmitter systems, leading to its anesthetic, analgesic, anxiolytic and antidepressant properties. N2O is very challenging to measure in biological matrices. Thus, in cases of N2O intoxication, indirect biomarkers such as vitamin B12, plasma homocysteine and plasma MMA should be explored for diagnosis and assessment. Others markers, like oxidative stress markers, could be promising but need to be further investigated.