Repeated Domperidone treatment modulates pulmonary cytokines in LPS-induced acute lung injury in mice.

The dopaminergic antagonist drug Domperidone has immunomodulatory effects. We investigated the effects of repeated Domperidone treatment in a model of Lypopolyssacharide (LPS)-induced acute lung inflammation. Adult C57BL/6J mice were treated with either Vehicle or Domperidone for 5days, and challenged intranasally with LPS in the following day. The behavior of mice was analyzed in the open field and elevated plus-maze test before and 24h after LPS challenge. The bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, blood and lung tissue were collected 24h and 48h after LPS challenge. Domperidone treatment increased LPS-induced tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and interleukin (IL)-6 production in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, without altering tissue damage and the number of immune cells in the lungs and circulation. Locomotor and anxiety-like behavior were unchanged after Domperidone and/or LPS treatment. Cytokine data indicate that Domperidone promotes a change in activity of other cell types, likely alveolar epithelial cells, without affecting immune cell migration in the present model. Due to the role of these cytokines in progression of inflammation, Domperidone treatment may exacerbate a subsequent inflammatory injury.

Prolonged fasting elicits increased hepatic triglyceride accumulation in rats born to dexamethasone-treated mothers.

We investigated the effect of dexamethasone during the last week of pregnancy on glucose and lipid metabolism in male offspring. Twelve-week old offspring were evaluated after fasting for 12-hours (physiological) and 60-hours (prolonged). Physiological fasting resulted in glucose intolerance, decreased glucose clearance after pyruvate load and increased PEPCK expression in rats born to dexamethasone-treated mothers (DEX). Prolonged fasting resulted in increased glucose tolerance and increased glucose clearance after pyruvate load in DEX. These modulations were accompanied by accumulation of hepatic triglycerides (TG). Sixty-hour fasted DEX also showed increased citrate synthase (CS) activity, ATP citrate lyase (ACLY) content, and pyruvate kinase 2 (pkm2), glucose transporter 1 (slc2a1) and lactate dehydrogenase-a (ldha) expressions. Hepatic AKT2 was increased in 60-hour fasted DEX, in parallel with reduced miRNAs targeting the AKT2 gene. Altogether, we show that metabolic programming by prenatal dexamethasone is characterized by an unexpected hepatic TG accumulation during prolonged fasting. The underlying mechanism may depend on increased hepatic glycolytic flux due to increased pkm2 expression and consequent conversion of pyruvate to non-esterified fatty acid synthesis due to increased CS activity and ACLY levels. Upregulation of AKT2 due to reduced miRNAs may serve as a permanent mechanism leading to increased pkm2 expression.