3ß-Corner Stability by Comparative Molecular Dynamics Simulations.

This study explored the mechanisms by which the stability of super-secondary structures of the 3ß-corner type autonomously outside the protein globule are maintained in an aqueous environment. A molecular dynamic (MD) study determined the behavioral diversity of a large set of non-homologous 3ß-corner structures of various origins. We focused on geometric parameters such as change in gyration radius, solvent-accessible area, major conformer lifetime and torsion angles, and the number of hydrogen bonds. Ultimately, a set of 3ß-corners from 330 structures was characterized by a root mean square deviation (RMSD) of less than 5 Å, a change in the gyration radius of no more than 5%, and the preservation of amino acid residues positioned within the allowed regions on the Ramachandran map. The studied structures retained their topologies throughout the MD experiments. Thus, the 3ß-corner structure was found to be rather stable per se in a water environment, i.e., without the rest of a protein molecule, and can act as the nucleus or "ready-made" building block in protein folding. The 3ß-corner can also be considered as an independent object for study in field of structural biology.

In Silico Study of the Interactions of Anle138b Isomer, an Inhibitor of Amyloid Aggregation, with Partner Proteins.

Herein, we aimed to highlight current "gaps" in the understanding of the potential interactions between the Anle138b isomer ligand, a promising agent for clinical research, and the intrinsically disordered alpha-synuclein protein. The presence of extensive unstructured areas in alpha-synuclein determines its existence in the cell of partner proteins, including the cyclophilin A chaperone, which prevents the aggregation of alpha-synuclein molecules that are destructive to cell life. Using flexible and cascaded molecular docking techniques, we aimed to expand our understanding of the molecular architecture of the protein complex between alpha-synuclein, cyclophilin A and the Anle138b isomer ligand. We demonstrated the possibility of intricate complex formation under cellular conditions and revealed that the main interactions that stabilize the complex are hydrophobic and involve hydrogen.

Atomic Simulation of the Binding of JAK1 and JAK2 with the Selective Inhibitor Ruxolitinib.

Rheumatoid arthritis belongs to the group of chronic systemic autoimmune diseases characterized by the development of destructive synovitis and extra-articular manifestations. Cytokines regulate a wide range of inflammatory processes involved in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis and contribute to the induction of autoimmunity and chronic inflammation. Janus-associated kinase (JAK) and signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) proteins mediate cell signaling from cytokine receptors, and are involved in the pathogenesis of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Targeted small-molecule drugs that inhibit the functional activity of JAK proteins are used in clinical practice for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. In our study, we modeled the interactions of the small-molecule drug ruxolitinib with JAK1 and JAK2 isoforms and determined the binding selectivity using molecular docking. Molecular modeling data show that ruxolitinib selectively binds the JAK1 and JAK2 isoforms with a binding affinity of -8.3 and -8.0 kcal/mol, respectively. The stabilization of ligands in the cavity of kinases occurs primarily through hydrophobic interactions. The amino acid residues of the protein globules of kinases that are responsible for the correct positioning of the drug ruxolitinib and its retention have been determined.

Convolutional neural network in proteomics and metabolomics for determination of comorbidity between cancer and schizophrenia.

The association between cancer risk and schizophrenia is widely debated. Despite many epidemiological studies, there is still no strong evidence regarding the molecular basis for the comorbidity between these two pathological conditions. The vast majority of assays have been performed using clinical records of schizophrenic patients or those undergoing cancer treatment and monitored for sufficient time to find shared features between the considered conditions. We performed mass spectrometry-based proteomic and metabolomic investigations of patients with different cancer phenotypes (breast, ovarian, renal, and prostate) and patients with schizophrenia. The resulting vast quantity of proteomic and metabolomic data were then processed using systems biology and one-dimensional (1D) convolutional neural network (1DCNN) machine learning approaches. Traditional systematic approaches permit the segregation of schizophrenia and cancer phenotypes on the level of biological processes, while 1DCNN recognized "signatures" that could segregate distinct cancer phenotypes and schizophrenia at the comorbidity level. The designed network efficiently discriminated unrelated pathologies with a model accuracy of 0.90 and different subtypes of oncophenotypes with an accuracy of 0.94. The proposed strategy integrates systematic analysis of identified compounds and application of 1DCNN model for unidentified ones to reveal the similarity between distinct phenotypes.

Mass Spectrometric Identification of Proteins Enhanced by the Atomic Force Microscopy Immobilization Surface.

An approach to highly-sensitive mass spectrometry detection of proteins after surface-enhanced concentrating has been elaborated. The approach is based on a combination of mass spectrometry and atomic force microscopy to detect target proteins. (1) Background: For this purpose, a technique for preliminary preparation of molecular relief surfaces formed as a result of a chemical or biospecific concentration of proteins from solution was developed and tested on several types of chip surfaces. (2) Methods: mass spectrometric identification of proteins using trailing detectors: ion trap, time of flight, orbital trap, and triple quadrupole. We used the electrospray type of ionization and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization. (3) Results: It is shown that when using locally functionalized atomically smooth surfaces, the sensitivity of the mass spectrometric method increases by two orders of magnitude as compared with measurements in solution. Conclusions: It has been demonstrated that the effective concentration of target proteins on specially prepared surfaces increases the concentration sensitivity of mass spectrometric detectors-time-of-flight, ion trap, triple quadrupole, and orbital ion trap in the concentration range from up to 10-15 M.

Role of Chiral Configuration in the Photoinduced Interaction of D- and L-Tryptophan with Optical Isomers of Ketoprofen in Linked Systems.

The study of the L- and D-amino acid properties in proteins and peptides has attracted considerable attention in recent years, as the replacement of even one L-amino acid by its D-analogue due to aging of the body is resulted in a number of pathological conditions, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. A recent trend is using short model systems to study the peculiarities of proteins with D-amino acids. In this report, the comparison of the excited states quenching of L- and D-tryptophan (Trp) in a model donor-acceptor dyad with (R)- and (S)-ketoprofen (KP-Trp) was carried out by photochemically induced dynamic nuclear polarization (CIDNP) and fluorescence spectroscopy. Quenching of the Trp excited states, which occurs via two mechanisms: prevailing resonance energy transfer (RET) and electron transfer (ET), indeed demonstrates some peculiarities for all three studied configurations of the dyad: (R,S)-, (S,R)-, and (S,S)-. Thus, the ET efficiency is identical for (S,R)- and (R,S)-enantiomers, while RET differs by 1.6 times. For (S,S)-, the CIDNP coefficient is almost an order of magnitude greater than for (R,S)- and (S,R)-. To understand the source of this difference, hyperpolarization of (S,S)-and (R,S)- has been calculated using theory involving the electron dipole-dipole interaction in the secular equation.

Optical Configuration Effect on the Structure and Reactivity of Diastereomers Revealed by Spin Effects and Molecular Dynamics Calculations.

The peculiarities of spin effects in photoinduced electron transfer (ET) in diastereomers of donor-acceptor dyads are considered in order to study the influence of chirality on reactivity. Thus, the spin selectivity-the difference between the enhancement coefficients of chemically induced dynamic nuclear polarization (CIDNP)-of the dyad's diastereomers reflects the difference in the spin density distribution in its paramagnetic precursors that appears upon UV irradiation. In addition, the CIDNP coefficient itself has demonstrated a high sensitivity to the change of chiral centers: when one center is changed, the hyperpolarization of all polarized nuclei of the molecule is affected. The article analyzes the experimental values of spin selectivity based on CIDNP calculations and molecular dynamic modeling data in order to reveal the effect of optical configuration on the structure and reactivity of diastereomers. In this way, we succeeded in tracing the differences in dyads with L- and D-tryptophan as an electron donor. Since the replacement of L-amino acid with D-analog in specific proteins is believed to be the cause of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, spin effects and molecular dynamic simulation in model dyads can be a useful tool for investigating the nature of this phenomenon.

Stereoselectivity of Electron and Energy Transfer in the Quenching of (S/R)-Ketoprofen-(S)-Tryptophan Dyad Excited State.

Photoinduced elementary processes in chiral linked systems, consisting of drugs and tryptophan (Trp) residues, attract considerable attention due to several aspects. First of all, these are models that allow one to trace the full and partial charge transfer underlying the binding of drugs to enzymes and receptors. On the other hand, Trp fluorescence is widely used to establish the structure and conformational mobility of proteins due to its high sensitivity to the microenvironment. Therefore, the study of mechanisms of Trp fluorescence quenching in various systems has both fundamental and practical interest. An analysis of the photo-chemically induced dynamic nuclear polarization (CIDNP) and Trp fluorescence quenching in (R/S)-ketoprofen-(S)-tryptophan ((S/R)-KP-(S)-Trp) dyad carried out in this work allowed us to trace the intramolecular reversible electron transfer (ET) and obtain evidence in favor of the resonance energy transfer (RET). The fraction of dyad's singlet excited state, quenched via ET, was shown to be 7.5 times greater for the (S,S)-diastereomer than for the (R,S) analog. At the same time, the ratio of the fluorescence quantum yields shows that quenching effectiveness of (S,S)-diastereomer to be 5.4 times lower than for the (R,S) analog. It means that the main mechanism of Trp fluorescence quenching in (S/R)-KP-(S)-Trp dyad is RET.

Revelation of Proteomic Indicators for Colorectal Cancer in Initial Stages of Development.

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) at a current clinical level is still hardly diagnosed, especially with regard to nascent tumors, which are typically asymptotic. Searching for reliable biomarkers of early diagnosis is an extremely essential task. Identification of specific post-translational modifications (PTM) may also significantly improve net benefits and tailor the process of CRC recognition. We examined depleted plasma samples obtained from 41 healthy volunteers and 28 patients with CRC at different stages to conduct comparative proteome-scaled analysis. The main goal of the study was to establish a constellation of protein markers in combination with their PTMs and semi-quantitative ratios that may support and realize the distinction of CRC until the disease has a poor clinical manifestation. Results: Proteomic analysis revealed 119 and 166 proteins for patients in stages I-II and III-IV, correspondingly. Plenty of proteins (44 proteins) reflected conditions of the immune response, lipid metabolism, and response to stress, but only a small portion of them were significant (p < 0.01) for distinguishing stages I-II of CRC. Among them, some cytokines (Clusterin (CLU), C4b-binding protein (C4BP), and CD59 glycoprotein (CD59), etc.) were the most prominent and the lectin pathway was specifically enhanced in patients with CRC. Significant alterations in Inter-alpha-trypsin inhibitor heavy chains (ITIH1, ITIH2, ITIH3, and ITIH4) levels were also observed due to their implication in tumor growth and the malignancy process. Other markers (Alpha-1-acid glycoprotein 2 (ORM2), Alpha-1B-glycoprotein (A1BG), Haptoglobin (HP), and Leucine-rich alpha-2-glycoprotein (LRG1), etc.) were found to create an ambiguous core involved in cancer development but also to exactly promote tumor progression in the early stages. Additionally, we identified post-translational modifications, which according to the literature are associated with the development of colorectal cancer, including kininogen 1 protein (T327-p), alpha-2-HS-glycoprotein (S138-p) and newly identified PTMs, i.e., vitamin D-binding protein (K75-ac and K370-ac) and plasma protease C1 inhibitor (Y294-p), which may also contribute and negatively impact on CRC progression. Conclusions: The contribution of cytokines and proteins of the extracellular matrix is the most significant factor in CRC development in the early stages. This can be concluded since tumor growth is tightly associated with chronic aseptic inflammation and concatenated malignancy related to loss of extracellular matrix stability. Due attention should be paid to Apolipoprotein E (APOE), Apolipoprotein C1 (APOC1), and Apolipoprotein B-100 (APOB) because of their impact on the malfunction of DNA repair and their capability to regulate mTOR and PI3K pathways. The contribution of the observed PTMs is still equivocal, but a significant decrease in the likelihood between modified and native proteins was not detected confidently.

Determination of Hyperfine Coupling Constants of Fluorinated Diphenylacetylene Radical Anions by Magnetic Field-Affected Reaction Yield Spectroscopy.

Magnetic field-affected reaction yield (MARY) spectroscopy is a spin chemistry technique for detecting short-lived radical ions. Having sensitivity to transient species with lifetimes as short as nanoseconds, MARY spectroscopy usually does not provide detailed information on their magnetic resonance parameters, except for simple systems with equivalent magnetic nuclei. In this work, the radical anions of two fluorinated diphenylacetylene derivatives with nonequivalent magnetic nuclei and unknown hyperfine coupling constants ( AHF) were investigated by MARY spectroscopy. The MARY spectra were found to be resolved and have resonance lines in nonzero magnetic fields, which are determined by the AHF values. Simple relationships between the positions of resonance MARY lines and the AHF values were established from the analysis of the different Hamiltonian block contributions to the MARY spectrum. The obtained experimental AHF values are in agreement with the results of quantum chemical calculations at the density functional theory level.

X-ray Generated Recombination Exciplexes of Substituted Diphenylacetylenes with Tertiary Amines: A Versatile Experimental Vehicle for Targeted Creation of Deep-Blue Electroluminescent Systems.

Customizable and technology-friendly functional materials are one of the mainstays of emerging organic electronics and optoelectronics. We show that recombination exciplexes of simple substituted diphenylacetylenes with tertiary amines can be a convenient source of tunable deep-blue emission with possible applications in organic electroluminescent systems. The optically inaccessible exciplexes were produced via recombination of radiation-generated radical ion pairs in alkane solution, which mimics charge transport and recombination in the active layer of practical organic light-emitting diodes in a simple solution-based experiment. Despite varying and rather poor intrinsic emission properties, diphenylacetylene and its prototypical methoxy (donor) or trifluoromethyl (acceptor) monosubstituted derivatives readily form recombination exciplexes with N,N-dimethylaniline and other tertiary amines that produce emission with maxima ranging from 385 to 435 nm. The position of emission band maximum linearly correlates with readily calculated gas-phase electron affinity of the corresponding diphenylacetylene, which can be used for fast computational prescreening of the candidate molecules, and various substituted diphenylacetylenes can be synthesized via relatively simple and universal cross-coupling reactions of Sonogashira and Castro. Together, the simple solution-based experiment, computationally cheap prescreening method, and universal synthetic strategy may open a very broad and chemically convenient class of compounds to obtain OLEDs and OLED-based multifunctional devices with tunable emission spectrum and high conversion efficiency that has yet not been seriously considered for these purposes.

Circulating IgG Fragments for Gastric Cancer and Esophageal Cancer.

Blood serum of patients with gastric (n = 68) and esophageal (n = 43) cancer was assessed for proteolytic fragments of IgG. Serum samples of 20 healthy donors were used as a control. We analyzed indicators of hemostasis (prothrombin time, fibrinogen, plasminogen activity, a2-antiplasmin activity, protein C activity) in blood plasma and the level of total IgG in the blood serum. The median IgG-LysK of healthy donors was lower than in esophageal cancer and in patients with gastric cancer. ROC-analysis showed high sensitivity (91%) and specificity (85%) in the group with esophageal cancer but 68% and 85%, respectively, in patients with gastric cancer. Analysis of false negatives IgG-LysK in cancer patients showed that most patients had an advanced stage of cancer accompanied by metastases. Total IgG in the plasma of patients with false-negative IgG-LysK values was 30% lower than in samples with positive values, while the level of a2-antiplasmin was increased and the prothrombin time was shorter. These changes in blood homeostasis may be the reason for an increase in the proportion of false-negative values of the IgG-LysK coefficient. Circulatory IgG-LysK levels increase in the early stages of such cancers as gastric and esophageal cancers. Thus, when used in a panel with other more specific markers for these pathologies, this indicator can significantly increase the early detection of cancer.

Metabolomic and Proteomic Profiling of Athletes Performing Physical Activity under Hypoxic Conditions.

Proteomic and metabolomic research enables quantitation of the molecular profile of athletes. Multiomic profiling was conducted using plasma samples collected from 18 male athletes performing aerobic activity (running) at high altitude. Metabolomic profiling detected changes in the levels of 4-hydroxyproline, methionine, oxaloacetate, and tyrosine during the recovery period. Furthermore, proteomic profiling revealed changes in expression of proteins contributing to the function of the immune system, muscle damage, metabolic fitness and performance, as well as hemostasis. Further research should focus on developing metabolic models to monitor training intensity and athlete adaptation.

Consolidation of metabolomic, proteomic, and GWAS data in connective model of schizophrenia.

Despite of multiple systematic studies of schizophrenia based on proteomics, metabolomics, and genome-wide significant loci, reconstruction of underlying mechanism is still a challenging task. Combination of the advanced data for quantitative proteomics, metabolomics, and genome-wide association study (GWAS) can enhance the current fundamental knowledge about molecular pathogenesis of schizophrenia. In this study, we utilized quantitative proteomic and metabolomic assay, and high throughput genotyping for the GWAS study. We identified 20 differently expressed proteins that were validated on an independent cohort of patients with schizophrenia, including ALS, A1AG1, PEDF, VTDB, CERU, APOB, APOH, FASN, GPX3, etc. and almost half of them are new for schizophrenia. The metabolomic survey revealed 18 group-specific compounds, most of which were the part of transformation of tyrosine and steroids with the prevalence to androgens (androsterone sulfate, thyroliberin, thyroxine, dihydrotestosterone, androstenedione, cholesterol sulfate, metanephrine, dopaquinone, etc.). The GWAS assay mostly failed to reveal significantly associated loci therefore 52 loci with the smoothened p < 10-5 were fractionally integrated into proteome-metabolome data. We integrated three omics layers and powered them by the quantitative analysis to propose a map of molecular events associated with schizophrenia psychopathology. The resulting interplay between different molecular layers emphasizes a strict implication of lipids transport, oxidative stress, imbalance in steroidogenesis and associated impartments of thyroid hormones as key interconnected nodes essential for understanding of how the regulation of distinct metabolic axis is achieved and what happens in the conditioned proteome and metabolome to produce a schizophrenia-specific pattern.

Molecular Profiling of Athletes Performing High-Intensity Exercises in Extreme Environments.

The aim of this study was to determine the influence of high-intensity training under extreme conditions (T = 40 °C) on the metabolism and immunological reactions of athletes. Male triathletes (n = 11) with a high level of sports training performed load testing to failure (17 ± 2.7 min) and maximum oxygen consumption (64.1 ± 6.4 mL/min/kg). Blood plasma samples were collected before and immediately after exercise. Mass spectrometric metabolomic analysis identified 30 metabolites and 6 hormones in the plasma, of which 21 and 4 changed after exercise, respectively. Changes in the intermediate products of tricarboxylic and amino acids were observed (FC > 1.5) after exercise. The obtained data can be associated with the effect of physical activity on metabolism in athletes. Therefore, constant monitoring of the biochemical parameters of athletes can help coaches identify individual shortcomings in a timely manner and track changes, especially as the volume of training increases. In addition, it was revealed that the immunological reaction (manifestation of a hyperactive reaction to food components) is personalized in nature. Therefore, it is important for coaches and sports doctors to analyze and control the eating behavior of athletes to identify food intolerances or food allergies in a timely manner and develop an individual elimination diet.

Determination of Heterogeneous Proteomic and Metabolomic Response in anti-TNF and anti-IL-6 Treatment of Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Reduction in tumor necrosis factor (αTNF) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) activities is a widely utilized strategy for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with a high success rate. Despite both schemes targeting the deprivation of inflammatory reactions caused by the excessive activity of cytokines, their mechanisms of action and the final output are still unequal. This was a comparative longitudinal study that lasted for 24 weeks and aimed to find the answer to why the two schemes of therapy can pass out of proportion in attitude of their efficiency. What are the differences in metabolic and proteomic responses among patients who were being treated by either the anti-TNF or anti-IL-6 strategy? We found increased levels of immunoglobulins A and G (more than 2-fold in anti-IL-6 and more than 4-5-fold in anti-TNF groups) at the final stage (24 weeks) of monitoring but the most profound increase was determined for µ-chains of immunoglobulins in both groups of study. Metabolomic changes displayed main alterations with regard to arginine metabolism and collagen maintenance, where arginine increased 8.86-fold (p < 0.001) in anti-TNF and 5.71-fold (p < 0.05) in anti-IL-6 groups but patients treated by the anti-TNF scheme suffered a higher depletion of arginine before the start of therapy. Some indicators of matrix and bone tissue degradation also increased 4-hydroxyproline (4-HP) more than 6-fold (p < 0.001) in anti-TNF and more than 2-fold (p < 0.05) in the anti-IL-6 group, but the growth dynamics in the anti-IL6 group was delayed (gradually raised at week 24) compared to the anti-TNF group (raised at week 12) following a smooth reduction. The ELISA analysis of IL-6 and TNFα concentration in the study population supported proteomic and metabolomic data. A positive correlation between ΔCDAI and ΔDAS28 indicators and ESR and CRP was established for the majority of patients after 24 weeks of treatment where ESR and CRP reduced by 20% and 40% finally, respectively. A regression model using the Forest Plot was estimated to elucidate the impact of the most significant clinical, biochemical, and anthropometric indicators for the evaluation of differences between considered anti-TNF and anti-IL-6 schemes of therapy.

Influence of Sports Training in Foothills on the Professional Athlete's Immunity.

Neuroplasticity and inflammation play important part in the body's adaptive reactions in response to prolonged physical activity. These processes are associated with the cross-interaction of the nervous and immune systems, which is realized through the transmission of signals from neurotransmitters and cytokines. Using the methods of flow cytometry and advanced biochemical analysis of blood humoral parameters, we showed that intense and prolonged physical activity at the anaerobic threshold, without nutritional and metabolic support, contributes to the development of exercise-induced immunosuppression in sportsmen. These athletes illustrate the following signs of a decreased immune status: fewer absolute indicators of the content of leukocytes, lowered values in the immunoregulatory index (CD4+/CD8+), and diminished indicators of humoral immunity (immunoglobulins A, M, and G, and IFN-γ). These factors characterize the functional state of cellular and humoral immunity and their reduction affects the prenosological risk criteria, indicative of the athletes' susceptibility to develop exercise-induced immunosuppression.

Chromatomass-Spectrometric Method for the Quantitative Determination of Amino- and Carboxylic Acids in Biological Samples.

A highly sensitive method for the qualitative and quantitative determination of amino- and carboxylic acids, as well as a number of urea and methionine cycle metabolites in the studied solutions, is presented. Derivatives (esterification) were obtained for amino acids by their reaction in a solution of 3 N of hydrochloric acid in n-butanol for 15 min at 65 °C and for carboxylic acids by their reaction with phenol in ethyl acetate with 3 N of hydrochloric acid for 20 min at 65 °C. Experimental work on the determination of individual metabolites was carried out using the HPLC-MS/MS method and included the creation of a library of spectra of the analyzed compounds and their quantitative determination. Multiplex methods have been developed for the quantitative analysis of the desired metabolites in a wide range of concentrations of 3-4 orders of magnitude. The approach to the analysis of metabolites was developed based on the method of the dynamic monitoring of multiple reactions of the formation of fragments for a mass analyzer with a triple quadrupole (QQQ). The effective chromatographic separation of endogenous metabolites was carried out within 13 min. The calibration curves of the analyzed compounds were stable throughout the concentration range and had the potential to fit below empirical levels. The developed methods and obtained experimental data are of interest for a wide range of biomedical studies, as well as for monitoring the content of endogenous metabolites in biological samples under various pathological conditions. The sensitivity limit of the methods for amino acids was about 4.8 nM and about 0.5 µM for carboxylic acids. Up to 19 amino- and up to 12 carboxy acids and about 10 related metabolites can be tested in a single sample.

Tracking Health, Performance and Recovery in Athletes Using Machine Learning.

Training and competitive periods can temporarily impair the performance of an athlete. This disruption can be short- or long-term, lasting up to several days. We analyzed the health indicators of 3661 athletes during an in-depth medical examination. At the time of inclusion in the study, the athletes were healthy. Instrumental examinations (fluorography, ultrasound examination of the abdominal cavity and pelvic organs, echocardiography, electrocardiography, and stress testing "to failure"), laboratory examinations (general urinalysis and biochemical and general clinical blood analysis), and examinations by specialists (ophthalmologist, otolaryngologist, surgeon, cardiologist, neurologist, dentist, gynecologist (women), endocrinologist, and therapist) were performed. This study analyzed the significance of determining the indicators involved in the implementation of the "catabolism" and "anabolism" phenotypes using the random forest and multinomial logistic regression machine learning methods. The use of decision forest and multinomial regression models made it possible to identify the most significant indicators of blood and urine biochemistry for the analysis of phenotypes as a characterization of the effectiveness of recovery processes in the post-competitive period in athletes. We found that the parameters of muscle metabolism, such as aspartate aminotransferase, creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, and alanine aminotransferase levels, and the parameters of the ornithine cycle, such as creatinine, urea acid, and urea levels, made the most significant contribution to the classification of two types of metabolism: catabolism and anabolism.

Diversity of Plant Sterols Metabolism: The Impact on Human Health, Sport, and Accumulation of Contaminating Sterols.

The way of plant sterols transformation and their benefits for humans is still a question under the massive continuing revision. In fact, there are no receptors for binding with sterols in mammalians. However, possible biotransformation to steroids that can be catalyzed by gastro-intestinal microflora, microbial cells in prebiotics or cytochromes system were repeatedly reported. Some products of sterols metabolization are capable to imitate resident human steroids and compete with them for the binding with corresponding receptors, thus affecting endocrine balance and entire physiology condition. There are also tremendous reports about the natural origination of mammalian steroid hormones in plants and corresponding receptors for their binding. Some investigations and reports warn about anabolic effect of sterols, however, there are many researchers who are reluctant to believe in and have strong opposing arguments. We encounter plant sterols everywhere: in food, in pharmacy, in cosmetics, but still know little about their diverse properties and, hence, their exact impact on our life. Most of our knowledge is limited to their cholesterol-lowering influence and protective effect against cardiovascular disease. However, the world of plant sterols is significantly wider if we consider the thousands of publications released over the past 10 years.