Diet supplementation with sodium pyruvate increases sleep time and lifespan in Drosophila model

Sodium pyruvate is a natural metabolite commonly used in biological fields, including cell culture. This study investigated the effects of sodium pyruvate on the lifespan and other physiological characters of Drosophila melanogaster, by measuring feeding, fecundity, and spontaneous activity. The results indicated that 0.2 mol/L of sodium pyruvate increased the median lifespan of female flies by 8.33%. Moreover, the group sleep duration of female flies significantly increased by 53.98% when exposed to the sodium pyruvate concentration. However, the intake of sodium pyruvate did not significantly affect the fecundity or food intake of female flies. Our results also show that the effect of extending lifespan and increasing sleep time was dose-dependent and sex-specific. Our data provides the role of sodium pyruvate as an insect culture additive by enhancing survival.

Release of sodium pyruvate from sacral prophylactic dressings: A computational model

The use of sacral dressings for pressure ulcer prevention is growing rapidly. In addition to their passive biomechanical role in pressure and shear reduction, in the near future, prophylactic dressings may also provide active tissue protection by releasing preventive agents or drugs into skin and deeper tissues. We investigated delivery of sodium pyruvate (NaPy) from an active dressing to potentially protect the sacral skin and underlying tissues in addition. We used four finite element model variants describing different skin roughness levels to determine time profiles of NaPy diffusion from the dressing into the skin layers. The NaPy concentrations for the different modelled cases stabilised after 1 to 6.5 hours from the time of application of the dressings, at 1% to 3% of the NaPy concentration in the dressing reservoir, which is considered potent. We conclude that prophylactic sacral dressings have the potential to deliver NaPy into skin and subdermally, to potentially increase soft tissue tolerance to sustained bodyweight-caused cell and tissue deformations. The time durations to achieve the steady-state potent NaPy dermal concentrations are clinically feasible, for example, for preparation of patients for surgery or for use in intensive care units.

[Treatment effect of sodium pyruvate nasal spray on allergic rhinitis]

Objective:Pyruvate is a key intermediate in several metabolic pathways of human body Sodium pyruvate possesses anti-oxidation and anti-inflammatory effects, which make it a possible novel therapy for allergic rhinitis. However, the relevant clinical research is rare. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the treatment effect of sodium pyruvate nasal spray on allergic rhinitis.Method:This was a randomized, parallel-group, single-center study, and 53 adult patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis caused by Artemisia pollen were recruited. In the pollen season, all the participants were given corticosteroid nasal spray of standard dose for two weeks, and during the next two weeks they were randomized to treatment group (n = 23) taking nasal sodium pyruvate, and control group (n = 30) without sodium pyruvate. Daily rhinoconjunctivitis symptom score and daily rescue medication score were analyzed. Also the fraction of exhaled nitric oxide of the upper airway was measured before and after the treatment of sodium pyruvate. Result:The demographic characteristics and baseline disease severity were not significantly different between the treatment group and control group. Both the daily symptom score (1.4±0.6 vs 1.7±0.4, P= 0.006) and rescue medication score (4.8±1.2 vs 5.8±1.2, P= 0.000) of the treatment group was significantly lower than the scores of control group. In addition, nasal fraction of exhaled nitric oxide of the treatment group (596.3±134.6)ppb tended to be lower than control group (709.6±311.3)ppb, although the difference was not significant, P= 0.408. Conclusion:Sodium pyruvate nasal spray was effective in attenuating the rhinoconjunctivitis symptoms and reducing the rescue medication use of allergic rhinitis patients. The application value and mechanism of action of sodium pyruvate are worth further studying.

Pyruvate dose response studies targeting the vital signs following hemorrhagic shock

Objectives:

To determine the optimal effective dose of sodium pyruvate in maintaining the vital signs following hemorrhagic shock (HS) in rats.

Materials and Methods:

Anesthetized, male Sprague-Dawley rats underwent computer-controlled HS for 30 minute followed by fluid resuscitation with either hypertonic saline, or sodium pyruvate solutions of 0.5 M, 1.0 M, 2.0 M, and 4.0 M at a rate of 5ml/kg/h (60 minute) and subsequent blood infusion (60 minute). The results were compared with sham and non- resuscitated groups. The animals were continuously monitored for mean arterial pressure, systolic and diastolic pressure, heart rate, pulse pressure, temperature, shock index and Kerdo index (KI).

Results:

The Sham group remained stable throughout the experiment. Non-resuscitated HS animals did not survive for the entire experiment due to non-viable vital signs and poor shock and KI. All fluids were effective in normalizing the vital signs when shed blood was used adjunctively. Sodium pyruvate 2.0 M was most effective, and 4.0 M solution was least effective in improving the vital signs after HS.

Conclusions:

Future studies should be directed to use 2.0 M sodium pyruvate adjuvant for resuscitation on multiorgan failure and survival rate in HS.

Reactivity of pyruvic acid and its derivatives towards reactive oxygen species

Pyruvic acid and its derivatives occurring in most biological systems are known to exhibit several pharmacological properties, such as anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective or anticancer, many of which are suggested to originate from their antioxidant and free radical scavenger activity. The therapeutic potential of these compounds is a matter of particular interest, due to their mechanisms of action, particularly their possible antioxidant behaviour. Here, we report the results of a study of the effect of pyruvic acid (PA), ethyl pyruvate (EP) and sodium pyruvate (SP) on reactions generating reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as superoxide anion radicals, hydroxyl radicals and singlet oxygen, and their total antioxidant capacity. Chemiluminescence (CL) and spectrophotometry techniques were employed. The pyruvate analogues studied were found to inhibit the CL signal arising from superoxide anion radicals in a dose-dependent manner with IC50 = 0.0197 ± 0.002 mM for EP and IC50 = 69.2 ± 5.2 mM for PA. These compounds exhibited a dose-dependent decrease in the CL signal of the luminol + H2O2 system over the range 0.5-10 mM with IC50 values of 1.71 ± 0.12 mM for PA, 3.85 ± 0.21 mM for EP and 22.91 ± 1.21 mM for SP. Furthermore, these compounds also inhibited hydroxyl radical-dependent deoxyribose degradation in a dose-dependent manner over the range 0.5-200 mM, with IC50 values of 33.2 ± 0.3 mM for SP, 116.1 ± 6.2 mM for EP and 168.2 ± 6.2 mM for PA. All the examined compounds also showed antioxidant capacity when estimated using the ferric-ferrozine assay. The results suggest that the antioxidant activities of pyruvate derivatives may reflect a direct effect on scavenging ROS and, in part, be responsible for their pharmacological actions.

Three cases of adult-onset type II citrullinemia treated with different therapies: Efficacy of sodium pyruvate and low-carbohydrate diet

We report three cases of adult-onset type II citrullinemia (CTLN2) treated with different therapies including one case successfully treated with p.o. administration of sodium pyruvate and low-carbohydrate diet. Although recent advances in liver transplantation have enabled successful treatment of patients with CTLN2, several issues concerning liver transplantation remain. Further, there is still an urgent need for therapies that do not rely on liver transplantation. The first case was a 41-year-old man who developed impaired consciousness in 1992. The patient was treated with conventional therapy for hepatic encephalopathy and died of severe brain edema. The second case was a 31-year-old man who suddenly presented a syncope-like attack with hyperammonemia. He was treated with carbohydrate-restricted diet but the encephalopathy could not be controlled, and he received emergency living donor liver transplantation. The third patient was a 67-year-old man who developed abnormal behavior with hyperammonemia. He has remained well with oral sodium pyruvate and a low-carbohydrate diet without receiving liver transplantation.

Development and evaluation of a novel combinatorial selective enrichment and multiplex PCR technique for molecular detection of major virulence-associated genes of enterotoxigenic Staphylococcus aureus in food samples

AIMS

To develop a multiplex PCR assay coupled with selective enrichment step to detect major virulence-associated genes of enterotoxigenic Staphylococcus aureus and evaluate the same directly on contaminated food samples.

METHODS AND RESULTS

The most important virulence-associated genes of Staph. aureus, which are commonly related to food safety issues, are targeted in this study. They include five major enterotoxigenic genes-sea, seb, sec, seg and sei, tst-which encodes TSST-1, mecA-which confer methicillin resistance and coa-for the enzyme coagulase along with an internal amplification control (IAC) to rule out false-negative result. A modified mannitol salt broth (MSB) supplemented with sodium pyruvate was used for selective enrichment of Staph. aureus from food samples prior to PCR. Evaluation of efficiency of different media revealed that enrichment of samples in modified MSB followed by PCR resulted in specific, sensitive and effective amplification of the targeted genes in comparison with other enrichment media. Incorporation of bovine serum albumin (BSA) as PCR enhancer improved the intensity of amplicons. The standardized multiplex PCR (mPCR) format was able to detect all the target genes at a bacterial load of 10(6) CFU ml(-1) in any sample. The PCR results were unequivocally correlated with the conventional methods when the mPCR format was assessed on a total of 91 Staph. aureus isolates. The entire assay was found to be effectual when evaluated on naturally contaminated food samples.

CONCLUSIONS

The combinatorial approach involving selective enrichment followed by mPCR developed in this study was found to be effective for the detection of toxigenic Staph. aureus directly from various food sources.

SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY

The developed format would find a promising application in early detection of food contaminations as well as in the diagnosis of food poisoning due to Staph. aureus.