Enhancement of Lytic Activity by Leptin Is Independent From Lipid Rafts in Murine Primary Splenocytes.

Leptin, a pleiotropic adipokine, is known as a regulator of food intake, but it is also involved in inflammation, immunity, cell proliferation, and survival. Leptin receptor is integrated inside cholesterol-rich microdomains called lipid rafts, which, if disrupted or destroyed, could lead to a perturbation of lytic mechanism. Previous studies also reported that leptin could induce membrane remodeling. In this context, we studied the effect of membrane remodeling in lytic activity modulation induced by leptin. Thus, primary mouse splenocytes were incubated with methyl-ß-cyclodextrin (ß-MCD), a lipid rafts disrupting agent, cholesterol, a major component of cell membranes, or ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), a membrane stabilizer agent for 1 h. These treatments were followed by splenocyte incubation with leptin (absence, 10 and 100 ng/ml). Unlike ß-MCD or cholesterol, UDCA was able to block leptin lytic induction. This result suggests that leptin increased the lytic activity of primary spleen cells against syngenic EO771 mammary cancer cells independently from lipid rafts but may involve membrane fluidity. Furthermore, natural killer cells were shown to be involved in the splenocyte lytic activity. To our knowledge it is the first publication in primary culture that provides the link between leptin lytic modulation and membrane remodeling. J. Cell. Physiol. 232: 101-109, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Delivery of oral nutrition supplement in hospital: Evaluation of professional practices in evaluation of nutritional status and representations of ONS by the caregivers and patients.

BACKGROUND: Nutritional evaluation and detection of malnutrition are based on criteria recommended by French health authorities. In practice, doctors do not always ensure strict implementation of the recommendations. The aim of this study is to evaluate professional practices in France regarding nutritional follow-up on arrival, during and after the hospitalization of inpatients who have oral nutritional supplements (ONS) prescribed and to discuss how ONS are seen by medical staff and patients. METHODS: A prospective study including patients consecutively admitted to digestive surgery and endocrinology units of the Dijon university hospital was conducted. Malnutrition risk at hospital admission was identified using anthropometric and biological criteria: Body Mass Index, percentage of weight loss, albumin, prealbumin, C-reactive protein and Mini Nutritional Assessment. Nutritional evaluation and monitoring of inpatients on arrival, during and after hospitalization was analyzed. Interviews were held with caregivers and patients to raise the question of their attitudes toward ONS. RESULTS: The sample was composed of 61 patients. At the beginning of hospitalization, nutritional evaluation of patients was satisfactory. Follow-up during hospitalization was not optimal and depends on the degree of malnutrition. Post-hospitalization testing for albumin was rare, whereas ONS were regularly prescribed. ONS was viewed differently by caregivers and inpatients, which makes the status of ONS ambiguous. CONCLUSION: Our results show good evaluation of nutritional status of inpatients at the beginning of hospitalization but low follow-up during and after hospitalization. Representation of ONS differed between caregivers and patients leading to a confusion around them. Therefore, interdisciplinary work is necessary to encourage systematic assessment of nutritional status in patients and standardize the message regarding ONS.