The role of bile acid metabolism in bone and muscle: from analytics to mechanisms.

Osteoporosis and sarcopenia are both common age-related disorders that are associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Bone and muscle are metabolically very active tissues that require large amounts of energy. Bile acids (BAs), a group of liver-derived steroid compounds, are primarily known as emulsifiers that facilitate the resorption of dietary fat and lipids. In addition, they have pleiotropic metabolic functions in lipoprotein and glucose metabolism, inflammation, and intestinal bacterial growth. Through these effects, they are related to metabolic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertriglyceridemia, atherosclerosis, and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. BAs mediate their metabolic effects through receptor dependent and receptor-independent mechanisms. Emerging evidence suggests that BAs are also involved in bone and muscle metabolism. Under normal circumstances, BAs support bone health by shifting the delicate equilibrium of bone turnover toward bone formation. In contrast, low or excessive amounts of BAs promote bone resorption. In cholestatic liver disease, BAs accumulate in the liver, reach toxic concentrations in the circulation, and thus may contribute to bone loss and muscle wasting. In addition, the measurement of BAs is in rapid evolution with modern mass spectrometry techniques that allow for the detection of a continuously growing number of BAs. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the biochemistry, physiology and measurement of bile acids. Furthermore, it summarizes the existing literature regarding their role in bone and muscle.

Studies on the interactions of bisphenols with anionic phospholipids of decomposer membranes in model systems.

Bisphenol A (BPA) and other bisphenols constitute a class of organic pollutants, which because of their estrogenic properties, low dose activity and bioaccumulation pose considerable risk for public health as well as for the environment. Accumulated in the sediment bisphenols can endanger the decomposers' populations being incorporated into their cellular membranes; however, the mechanism of their membrane activity is unknown. Therefore, to study these phenomena we applied anionic phospholipid Langmuir monolayers as simple but versatile models of decomposers biomembranes. Phosphatidylglycerols and cardiolipins are not only the main components of bacterial membranes but also of crucial importance in mitochondrial and thylakoid membranes in eukaryotic cells. In our investigations we applied five compounds of the bisphenol class most commonly detected in the environment. To characterize the bisphenols-model membrane interactions we applied multiple mutually independent methods of physical chemistry; namely: the Langmuir monolayer technique, surface potential measurements, Brewster angle microscopy for the visualization of the monolayers' texture and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction for the discussion of the phospholipids packing within the monolayers. Our studies indicated that all the investigated bisphenols interact with the model membrane, but the strength of the interactions is dependent on the bisphenol structure and hydrophobicity and the fluidity of the model membranes. We proved that bisphenol S often treated as the least toxic BPA analog can also be incorporated to the model membranes changing their structure and fluidity.