Observation of a Flowing Duct in the Abdominal Wall by Using Nanoparticles.

The primo vascular system (PVS) is being established as a circulatory system that corresponds to acupuncture meridians. There have been two critical questions in making the PVS accepted as a novel liquid flowing system. The first one was directly to show the flow of liquid in PVS and the second one was to explain why it was not observed in the conventional histological study of animal tissues. Flow in the PVS in the abdominal cavity was previously verified by injecting Alcian blue into a primo node. However, the tracing of the dye to other subsystems of the PVS has not been done. In the current work we injected fluorescent nanoparticles (FNPs) into a primo node and traced them along a primo vessel which was inside a fat tissue in the abdominal wall. Linea alba is a white middle line in the abdominal skin of a mammal and a band of fat tissue is located in parallel to the linea alba in the parietal side of the abdominal wall of a rat. In this fat band a primo vessel runs parallel to the prominent blood vessels in the fat band and is located just inside the parietal peritoneum. About the second question on the reason why the PVS was not in conventional histological study the current work provided the answer. Histological analysis with hematoxyline and eosine, Masson's trichrome, and Toluidine blue could not discriminate the primo vessel even when we knew the location of the PVS by the trace of the FNPs. This clearly explains why the PVS is hard to observe in conventional histology: it is not a matter of resolution but the contrast. The PVS has very similar structure to the connective tissues that surround the PVS. In the current work we propose a method to find the PVS: Observation of mast cell distribution with toluidine blue staining and the PN has a high density of mast cells, while the lymph node has low density.

Red-koji fermented red ginseng ameliorates high fat diet-induced metabolic disorders in mice.

Fermentation of medicinal herbs improves their pharmacological efficacy. In this study, we investigated the effects of red-koji fermented red ginseng (fRG) on high-fat diet (HFD)-mediated metabolic disorders, and those effects were compared to those of non-fermented red ginseng (RG). fRG (500, 250 or 125 mg/kg), RG (250 mg/kg), simvastatin (10 mg/kg), silymarin (100 mg/kg) and metformin (250 mg/kg) were orally administered from 1 week after initiation of HFD supply for 84 days. The diameter of adipocytes in periovarian and abdominal fat pads and the thickness of the abdominal fat were significantly decreased by fRG treatment, while HFD-mediated weight gain was partly alleviated by fRG in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, biochemical and histomorphometrical analyses clearly indicated that fRG significantly inhibited HFD-induced metabolic disorders such as hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, hepatopathy and nephropathy in a dose-dependent manner. More favorable pharmacological effects on HFD-mediated metabolic disorders were also observed with fRG compared to an equal dose of RG. This finding provides direct evidence that the pharmacological activities of RG were enhanced by red-koji fermentation, and fRG could be a neutraceutical resource for the alleviation of obesity-mediated metabolic disorders.

Grape powder extract attenuates tumor necrosis factor α-mediated inflammation and insulin resistance in primary cultures of human adipocytes.

Grapes are rich in phenolic phytochemicals that possess anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. However, the ability of grape powder extract (GPE) to prevent inflammation and insulin resistance in human adipocytes caused by tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα), a cytokine elevated in plasma and white adipose tissue (WAT) of obese, diabetic individuals, is unknown. Therefore, we examined the effects of GPE on markers of inflammation and insulin resistance in primary cultures of newly differentiated human adipocytes treated with TNFα. We found that GPE attenuated TNFα-induced expression of inflammatory genes including interleukin (IL)-6, IL-1ß, IL-8, monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1, cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 and Toll-like receptor (TLR)-2. GPE attenuated TNFα-mediated activation of extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK) and c-Jun NH(2)-terminal kinase (JNK) and activator protein-1 (AP-1, i.e., c-Jun). GPE also attenuated TNFα-mediated IκBα degradation and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) activity. Finally, GPE prevented TNFα-induced expression of protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP)-1B and phosphorylation of serine residue 307 of insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1), which are negative regulators of insulin sensitivity, and suppression of insulin-stimulated glucose uptake. Taken together, these data demonstrate that GPE attenuates TNFα-mediated inflammation and insulin resistance in human adipocytes, possibly by suppressing the activation of ERK, JNK, c-Jun and NF-κB.

Influence of amount and type of dietary fat on deposition, adipocyte count and iodine number of abdominal fat in broiler chickens.

This study described the relation between the type and amount of dietary fat on the deposition of abdominal fat by broiler chickens. It was hypothesized that at higher fat intakes, the well-known lowering effect of polyunsaturated fatty acids on the deposition of abdominal fat would be diminished. Experimental diets were formulated to contain three levels of added fat (3%, 6% and 9%). Each level had different proportions of the saturated fatty acids (SFA) and unsaturated fatty acids (UFA) by installing the ratios of 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 1:4 and 1:5 with the use of tallow and soybean oil. Arbor Acres chicks, aged 7 days, were fed one of the 15 experimental diets until they were aged 42 days. Feed and water were provided ad libitum. There was no systematic effect of the dietary fat type and the amount on the weight gain and the feed intake. The lowest SFA:UFA ratio of 1:5 produced the lowest feed conversion rates, irrespective of the amount of the fat in the diet. The abdominal fat deposition was similar in the birds fed on diets containing either 3% or 6% added fat, but deposition was lower than in those fed 9% fat. A decrease in the SFA:UFA ratio of the diet was associated with a dose-dependent decrease in abdominal fat, irrespective of the amount of fat in the diet. This observation leads to the rejection of the hypothesis stated above. A decrease in the dietary SFA:UFA from 1:1 to 1:4 caused a decrease in the number of the fat cells per surface unit of breast meat. It is concluded that an increased intake of soybean oil at the expense of tallow reduced the abdominal fat deposition and the number of fat cells in the breast meat of broiler chickens.