A common East-Asian ALDH2 mutation causes metabolic disorders and the therapeutic effect of ALDH2 activators.

Obesity and type 2 diabetes have reached pandemic proportion. ALDH2 (acetaldehyde dehydrogenase 2, mitochondrial) is the key metabolizing enzyme of acetaldehyde and other toxic aldehydes, such as 4-hydroxynonenal. A missense Glu504Lys mutation of the ALDH2 gene is prevalent in 560 million East Asians, resulting in reduced ALDH2 enzymatic activity. We find that male Aldh2 knock-in mice mimicking human Glu504Lys mutation were prone to develop diet-induced obesity, glucose intolerance, insulin resistance, and fatty liver due to reduced adaptive thermogenesis and energy expenditure. We find reduced activity of ALDH2 of the brown adipose tissue from the male Aldh2 homozygous knock-in mice. Proteomic analyses of the brown adipose tissue from the male Aldh2 knock-in mice identifies increased 4-hydroxynonenal-adducted proteins involved in mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation and electron transport chain, leading to markedly decreased fatty acid oxidation rate and mitochondrial respiration of brown adipose tissue, which is essential for adaptive thermogenesis and energy expenditure. AD-9308 is a water-soluble, potent, and highly selective ALDH2 activator. AD-9308 treatment ameliorates diet-induced obesity and fatty liver, and improves glucose homeostasis in both male Aldh2 wild-type and knock-in mice. Our data highlight the therapeutic potential of reducing toxic aldehyde levels by activating ALDH2 for metabolic diseases.

A Novel ALDH2 Activator AD-9308 Improves Diastolic and Systolic Myocardial Functions in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Mice.

Diabetes mellitus has reached epidemic proportion worldwide. One of the diabetic complications is cardiomyopathy, characterized by early left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction, followed by development of systolic dysfunction and ventricular dilation at a late stage. The pathogenesis is multifactorial, and there is no effective treatment yet. In recent years, 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (4-HNE), a toxic aldehyde generated from lipid peroxidation, is implicated in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases. Its high bioreactivity toward proteins results in cellular damage. Mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) is the major enzyme that detoxifies 4-HNE. The development of small-molecule ALDH2 activator provides an opportunity for treating diabetic cardiomyopathy. This study found that AD-9308, a water-soluble andhighly selective ALDH2 activator, can improve LV diastolic and systolic functions, and wall remodeling in streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice. AD-9308 treatment dose-dependently lowered serum 4-HNE levels and 4-HNE protein adducts in cardiac tissue from diabetic mice, accompanied with ameliorated myocardial fibrosis, inflammation, and apoptosis. Improvements of mitochondrial functions, sarco/endoplasmic reticulumcalcium handling and autophagy regulation were also observed in diabetic mice with AD-9308 treatment. In conclusion, ADLH2 activation effectively ameliorated diabetic cardiomyopathy, which may be mediated through detoxification of 4-HNE. Our findings highlighted the therapeutic potential of ALDH2 activation for treating diabetic cardiomyopathy.

Statistical quality control process for traditional Chinese medicine.

The statistical quality control process on raw materials and/or the final product of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is examined. We develop a statistical quality control (QC) method to assess a proposed consistency index of raw materials from different sources and/or final products manufactured at different sites. The idea is to construct a 95% confidence interval for a proposed consistency index under a sampling plan. If the constructed 95% confidence lower limit is greater than a prespecified QC lower limit, then we claim that the raw material or final products have passed the QC and hence can be released for further processing or use; otherwise, the raw materials and/or final product should be rejected. For a given component (the most active component if possible), a sampling plan is derived to ensure that there is a desired probability for establishing consistency between sites when there is truly no difference in raw materials or final products between sites. An example concerning the development of a TCM is presented to illustrate the proposed statistical QC method for assessing consistency in raw materials from two sites.

On the assessment of dose proportionality: a comparison of two slope approaches.

The problem for assessment of dose proportionality (or linearity) is studied. Various methods for assessment of dose proportionality (or linearity) such as ANOVA type F-test have been proposed. Cheng et al. (2006) proposed an alternative approach based on the slopes of adjacent dose levels under a crossover design. They showed that when dose proportionality (or linearity) cannot be established, their proposed slope approach is useful for evaluation of the degree of departure from dose proportionality (or linearity). In this article, we propose the use of slopes between the dose level and the initial dose (baseline), which we refer to as the baseline slope approach. The two slope approaches are compared under a parallel group design by means of an ANOVA type F-test and other tests. Simulation studies show that the proposed method has a satisfactory small sample performance.