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Physiology

Brigham Young University

Mitochondria

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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Insulin And Ketones: Their Roles In Brain Mitochondrial Function, Sheryl Teresa Carr May 2017

Insulin And Ketones: Their Roles In Brain Mitochondrial Function, Sheryl Teresa Carr

Theses and Dissertations

The prevalence of both Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) is increasing worldwide, and the trends are unfortunately expected to continue. AD has recently been tied with mitochondrial dysfunction and insulin resistance, creating a mechanistic tie between AD and T2DM. Unfortunately, insulin resistance is often increased with aging and therefore, all individuals are at risk of brain mitochondrial dysfunction. Without proper mitochondrial function, the brain will degenerate, causing impaired cognitive function and reduced quality of life. The purpose of this study is two-fold: first, to understand the role of ceramides in insulin-induced brain mitochondrial dysfunction, and; second, …


Insulin And Ketones: Their Roles In Brain Mitochondrial Function, Sheryl Teresa Carr May 2017

Insulin And Ketones: Their Roles In Brain Mitochondrial Function, Sheryl Teresa Carr

Theses and Dissertations

The prevalence of both Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) is increasing worldwide, and the trends are unfortunately expected to continue. AD has recently been tied with mitochondrial dysfunction and insulin resistance, creating a mechanistic tie between AD and T2DM. Unfortunately, insulin resistance is often increased with aging and therefore, all individuals are at risk of brain mitochondrial dysfunction. Without proper mitochondrial function, the brain will degenerate, causing impaired cognitive function and reduced quality of life. The purpose of this study is two-fold: first, to understand the role of ceramides in insulin-induced brain mitochondrial dysfunction, and; second, …


Neofunctionalization Of Dual-Targeted Plant Organelle Dna Replication Proteins Mar 2016

Neofunctionalization Of Dual-Targeted Plant Organelle Dna Replication Proteins

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Neofunctionalization is the process by which genes gain a new or modified function as a result of gene duplication and modification of one or more of the new genes. This exciting area of research helps explain the diversification of protein functions in cells. The number of documented examples has increased in recent years in all classes of organisms (Deng et al., 2010; Han et al. 2011; Cannela et al. 2014; Sakuma et al. 2013; Zhang et al. 2014). In some cases a protein that was previously thought to function in only one cellular compartment has been shown to also function …


Cigarette Smoke Increases Cardiomyocyte Ceramide Accumulation And Inhibits Mitochondrial Respiration, Trevor Stanley Tippetts Jun 2015

Cigarette Smoke Increases Cardiomyocyte Ceramide Accumulation And Inhibits Mitochondrial Respiration, Trevor Stanley Tippetts

Theses and Dissertations

Cigarette smoking is a common and lethal worldwide habit, with considerable mortality stemming from its deleterious effects on heart function. While current theories posit altered blood lipids and fibrinogen metabolism as likely mediators, none have explored the role of the sphingolipid ceramide in exacerbating heart function with smoke exposure. Ceramide production is a consequence of cigarette smoke in the lung, and considering ceramide's harmful effects on mitochondrial function, we sought to elucidate the role of ceramide in mediating smoke-induced altered heart mitochondrial respiration. Lung cells were exposed to cigarette smoke extract and heart cells were exposed to the lung-cell conditioned …


The Role Of Receptors For Advanced Glycation End-Products (Rage) And Ceramide In Cardiovascular Disease, Michael Bruce Nelson Mar 2015

The Role Of Receptors For Advanced Glycation End-Products (Rage) And Ceramide In Cardiovascular Disease, Michael Bruce Nelson

Theses and Dissertations

Type 2 diabetes and cigarette smoke exposure are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular complications. The role of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) is already well-established in numerous comorbidities including cardiomyopathy. Given the role of AGEs and their receptor, RAGE, in activating inflammatory pathways, we sought to determine whether ceramides could be a mediator of RAGE-induced altered heart mitochondrial function. Using an in vitro model, we treated H9C2 cardiomyocytes with carboxy-methyl lysine-BSA, followed by mitochondrial respiration assessment. We found that mitochondrial respiration was significantly impaired in AGE-treated cells, but not when co-treated with myriocin, an inhibitor of de novo …


The Role Of Ceramides In Mediating Endotoxin-Induced Mitochondrial Disruption, Melissa Ellen Hansen Dec 2014

The Role Of Ceramides In Mediating Endotoxin-Induced Mitochondrial Disruption, Melissa Ellen Hansen

Theses and Dissertations

Ceramides are sphingolipids that serve as important second messengers in an increasing number of stress-induced pathways. Ceramide has long been known to affect the mitochondria, altering both morphology and physiology. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a prevalent circulating inflammatory agent in obesity, potentially mediating some of the pathologies associated with weight gain. Given previous findings of TLR4-mediated ceramide accrual and ceramide-mediated mitochondrial disruption, we questioned whether ceramide is necessary for LPS-induced mitochondrial disruption. We found that LPS treatment increased gene transcript levels of ceramide synthesis enzymes and mitochondrial fission proteins and increased ceramide content in cultured myotubes and in mouse tissue. Mitochondrial …


Liver Kinase B1/Amp-Activated Protein Kinase Signaling In The Diaphragm, Jacob D. Brown Jun 2010

Liver Kinase B1/Amp-Activated Protein Kinase Signaling In The Diaphragm, Jacob D. Brown

Theses and Dissertations

The Liver Kinase B1 (LKB1)/AMP-Activated Protein Kinase (AMPK) signaling pathway is a major regulator of skeletal muscle metabolic processes. During exercise, LKB1-mediated phosphorylation of AMPK leads to its activation, promoting mitochondrial biogenesis and glucose transport, among other effects. The roles of LKB1 and AMPK have not been fully characterized in the diaphragm. Two methods of AMPK activation were used to characterize LKB1/AMPK signaling in diaphragms from muscle-specific LKB1 knockout (KO) and littermate control (C) mice: (1) acute injection of 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleoside (AICAR) and (2) 5-min direct electrical stimulation (ES) of the diaphragm. Diaphragms were excised 60 minutes post-AICAR injection and …


Effects Of Endurance Training On The Ampk Response To Exercise., David Gerald Chesser Dec 2007

Effects Of Endurance Training On The Ampk Response To Exercise., David Gerald Chesser

Theses and Dissertations

Activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) results in the upregulation of several intracellular systems which help to prepare a cell for a high energy challenge. The magnitude of the AMPK response to a 10 min bout of exercise has been found to decrease in red quadriceps (RQ) following training, while putative AMPK roles seem to be maintained; specifically, the biogenesis of mitochondria and higher levels of hexokinase II and glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4). If the AMPK response to exercise is responsible in part for these adaptations, how can they be maintained if the AMPK response is attenuated? The purpose of …