Molecular Biology Commons^™

The Protective Effects Of Anthocyanins On Neurons, Abigail Lynn

Pence-Boyce STEM Student Scholarship

Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s are debilitating neurodegenerative diseases that are largely thought to be exacerbated, and perhaps even caused, by oxidative stress in and around neurons. At the same time, there has been increased research in the field of nutrition and how the foods we eat impact our short- and long-term health. These combined interests have resulted in fascinating studies that have found certain foods, namely plants, can have a variety of medicinal benefits.....The purpose of this study is to determine if plant extracts that have high levels of certain phytonutrients can increase the activity of cellular enzymes that reduce oxidative …

Essential Amino Acid (Eaa) Regulation Of Skeletal Muscle Protein Turnover With Age, Mary Komp

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Skeletal muscle (SM) is vital for both long term health and quality of life. Recent research suggests an increase in catabolic signals with age triggers pathologic conditions, such as sarcopenia. Although results from in vitro studies model how EAA can regulate muscle protein synthesis (MPS), the relevance of these models to muscle protein breakdown (MPB) and the presence of physiological EAA concentrations remains to be established. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the effects of a low, normal, and supra physiological dose of EAA (0.2, 1.0, and 3.0 x EAA) in a young (passages 2-10) and aging …

Investigating Therapeutic Strategies To Target Metabolic Vulnerabilities Of Nsclc Tumors With Mutant Keap1 Gene, Pranavi Koppula

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

The metabolic vulnerability of cancers has long been envisaged as an attractive window to develop novel therapeutic strategies. Metabolic flexibility at the cellular level encompasses the efficient rerouting of anabolic and catabolic pathways in response to varying environmental stimuli to maintain cellular homeostasis and sustain proliferation. The primary objective of this study is to identify metabolic vulnerabilities bestowed by KEAP1/NRF2 signaling axis through SLC7A11. SLC7A11 is a transcriptional target of NRF2, an essential regulator of cellular anti-oxidant response. Under unstressed basal conditions, NRF2 interacts with KEAP1, a tumor suppressor gene and a substrate adaptor protein of the Cullin3-dependent ubiquitin ligase …

Purification And Functional Characterization Of The Iron-Responsive Transcription Factor Aft1 From C. Glabrata, Jade Ikahihifo-Bender

Senior Theses

Due to its unique ability to serve as both an electron donor and acceptor, iron is utilized as a co-factor for many biological processes, including electron transfer, oxygen binding, and vitamin synthesis. Iron is also a key factor during fungal infections as the human host and invading pathogens battle over limited iron pools. The primary iron-responsive transcription factor Aft1 in the opportunistic pathogenic yeast Candida glabrata responds to iron deficiency by activating expression of iron acquisition genes. However, the mechanisms for sensing intracellular iron levels and regulating Aft1 activity in response to iron are unknown. The C. glabrata iron regulation …

The Effect Of Epa And Dha On Skeletal Muscle Physiology And Energy Balance, Saeed Jebor Ghnaimawi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) supplementation commonly suggested during pregnancy confers many health benefits on offspring and more recently improves fetal BAT development and induces myoblast trans-differentiation into adiopocytes through activating PPARs expression. Embryonic myoblast is a highly flexible cell showing great capacity to change its phenotype into adipocyte in response to EPA and DHA supplementation in many in vitro models. However, a little is known about the identity of derived adipocytes, whether, they change into brown or white adipocyte, and in vivo evidence is still missing. Given that the myogeneis process is initiated at the mid of …

Ionic Mechanism Of Lysosomal Function And Cell Metabolism, Jian Xiong

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Two Pore Channels (TPCs) are endolysosomal ion channels that are permeable to sodium and calcium. Defects in TPCs have been implicated to impair vesicle trafficking, autophagy and cell metabolism control; however, the detailed mechanism remains largely unknown. In this study, I show that TPCs are critical for appropriate cargo delivery to the lysosomes and deletion of either TPC1 or TPC2 leads to delayed clearance of autophagosomes, resulting in enlarged lysosomes and accumulated contents inside the lysosomes. Cells with both TPC deleted also exhibit 50% reduction in lysosomal amino acids under normal culture conditions, leading to reduced homeostatic mTORC1 activation.

Glutamine …

Liver Transcriptomic Analysis After Short- And Long-Term Feeding Of Soy Protein Isolate And Its Ability To Reduce Liver Steatosis In Obese Zucker Rats, Melisa Kozaczek

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the prevalence of obesity in adults in the United States during 2017-2018 was a 42.4%, a high number considering all the risks factors associated with this disorder, such as cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance, diabetes type 2, and fatty liver disease, among others. Fatty liver disease is the accumulation of lipids in the liver that can account for more than 5 to 10% of the liver’s weight. There are two types of fatty liver disease, alcoholic fatty liver disease (AFLD), and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). AFLD is the detrimental accumulation …

Nutritional Supplementation And Skeletal Muscle Health In Chronic Diseases, Hexirui Wu

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Prevalence of chronic diseases in the United States keeps increasing in recent years. There are approximately four in ten adults having chronic diseases in America. Chronic diseases include obesity, aging, heart diseases, cancer and many others. This thesis mainly focuses on obesity and aging. Skeletal muscle performance is impaired in obesity and aging conditions. One common reason causing this could be higher fat mass and lower muscle mass. However, there is no study showing what pathways are involved in the imbalance of body composition. Therefore, the first objective of the thesis is to determine gene expression of selected pathways in …

Non-Invasive Method For Leptin Supplementation In Zebrafish (Danio Rerio), Regan Mcnamara

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

I tested the hypothesis that recombinant leptin protein can be introduced to zebrafish in vivo through non-invasive soaking in a solution containing the protein. One way to study various molecules’ effects in vivo is through intraperitoneal or intracerebroventricular injections during the embryonic or larval stage, which is invasive, difficult to administer, and can have a high mortality rate. 48 hours post fertilization (hpf) zebrafish were soaked in a His-tagged recombinant leptin protein solution at 10 nM and 100 nM concentrations (produced by Genscript). After soaking, zebrafish larvae were washed extensively to remove all recombinant protein on their exterior before homogenization. …

Whole Tart Cherry Improves Disease Activity Index In Rat Model Of Dextran Sulfate Solution – Induced Ulcerative Colitis By Downregulating The Janus 1 And Janus 3 Kinases And Tnf - Alpha, Johana Alexandra Coronel

LSU Master's Theses

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a disabling inflammatory bowel disease. UC is characterized by chronic, relapsing inflammation of the colon and rectum. Current treatments such as monoclonal antibodies against TNF-α, IL-6, IL-12/p40, adhesion molecules, Janus kinases (JAK) inhibitors have side effects or lose their effects over time. Alternative approaches with fewer side effects for patients are needed. Montmorency tart cherries (Prunus cerasus) are a good source of anti-inflammatory flavonoids. We hypothesized that regular consumption whole tart cherry (TC) standardized to its major anthocyanin content, namely cyanidin-3-glucosyl-rutinoside, would be effective in reducing inflammation in UC. The aim of this research was to …

Metabolic Reprogramming Of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Cells In Response To Chronic Low Ph Stress, Jaime Abrego

Theses & Dissertations

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is among the most lethal of all cancers with a 5-year survival rate of only 8.2%. This is because PDAC is diagnosed in its advanced stages and is characterized by radio and chemotherapy resistance. Aggressiveness of PDAC tumors is attributed to its high metabolic phenotype, which is characterized by increased glycolysis rate and lactate secretion, while oxidative metabolism is reduced. These metabolic features are required to fulfill the biosynthetic demands of proliferating PDAC cells. However, this increase in metabolic activity results in acidification of the extracellular space because the dense fibrotic stroma of PDAC tumors limits …

Role Of Retinoids In The Regulation Of Hepatic Glucose And Lipid Metabolism, Rui Li

Doctoral Dissertations

The liver plays an important role in controlling glucose and lipid homeostasis. Metabolic abnormalities such as obesity and type 2 diabetes are often associated with profound changes in the expression of genes involved in hepatic glucose and lipid metabolism. Dietary nutrients provide us with macronutrients for energy and micronutrients for maintenance of general health. However, the effects of individual micronutrients on the development of metabolic diseases are unknown. Sterol regulatory element binding protein-1c (SREBP-1c) is the master regulator of fatty acid synthesis, and glucokinase (GK) is the key enzyme in glucose metabolism. Based on the preliminary results from our laboratory …

Green Tea Extract Protects Against Fibrogenesis Associated With Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease In Diet-Induced Obese Rats, Allyson M. Bower

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Angiotensinogen Gene Silencing Reduces Lipid Accumulation And Inflammation In Cultured 3t3-L1 Adipocytes, Wenting Xin Carroll

Masters Theses

Obesity is characterized by metabolic complications which are related to several life-threatening diseases. Dysregulated inflammatory adipokines secretion from adipose tissue is believed as the major contributor to obesity-associated local and systemic inflammation, insulin resistance, and other metabolic dysfunctions.

Numerous studies in our lab and others pointed to the role of local adipose tissue renin-angiotensin system (RAS) in the pathogenesis of obesity, inflammation and insulin resistance. We hypothesized that adipocytes-derived angiotensinogen (Agt) played a critical role in adipogenesis and/or lipogenesis as well as adipose inflammation. To test, we established 3T3-L1 preadipocytes stably transfected with Agt-shRNA or scrambled sequence (Sc-shRNA). Transfected preadipocytes …