Project description:Postoperative insulin resistance refers to the phenomenon that the body’s glucose uptake stimulated by insulin is reduced due to stress effects such as trauma or the inhibitory effect of insulin on liver glucose output is weakened after surgery.
There is a clear link between postoperative insulin resistance and poor perioperative prognosis. Therefore, exploring interventions to reduce postoperative stress insulin resistance, stabilize postoperative blood glucose, and reduce postoperative complications are clinical problems that need to be solved urgently. In recent years, research on branched-chain amino acids and metabolic diseases has become a hot spot. Studies have found that in the rat model, preoperatively given a high branched-chain amino acid diet can inhibit postoperative insulin resistance and stabilize blood glucose levels. This research plan is to try to add branched-chain amino acids before surgery to observe the occurrence of postoperative insulin resistance in patients.
Project description:Adequate protein intake is crucial for animals. Despite the recent progress in understanding protein hunger and satiety in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, how fruit flies assess prospective dietary protein sources and ensure protein consumption remains elusive. We show here that three specific amino acids, L-glutamate (L-Glu), L-alanine (L-Ala), and L-aspartate (L-Asp), but not the D-enantiomers, rapidly promote food consumption in fruit flies when present in food. The effect of dietary amino acids to promote food consumption is independent of mating experience and internal nutritional status. Calcium imaging experiments show that six brain neurons expressing diuretic hormone 44 (DH44) can be rapidly and directly activated by these three amino acids during feeding. Genetic analysis shows that DH44+ neurons are both necessary and sufficient for dietary amino acids to promote food consumption. By conducting single cell RNAseq analysis, we also identify a amino acid transporter, CG13248, which is highly expressed in DH44+ neurons and is required for dietary amino acids to promote food consumption. Therefore, these data suggest that dietary amino acids may enter DH44+ neurons via CG13248 and modulate their activity and hence food consumption. Taken together, these data identify an internal amino acid sensor in the fly brain that evaluate food sources post-ingestively and facilitates adequate protein intake. These results shed critical light on the regulation of protein homeostasis at organismal levels by the nervous system.
Project description:Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), affects nearly one-third of the global population with limited pharmacotherapy approved, underscoring the urgent need for new therapeutic strategies. N-acyl amino acids (NAAs), comprising amino acids linked to long-chain fatty acid acyl groups, are gaining interest, yet their metabolic regulation in MASH remains elusive. Metabolomic profiling in mice and humans with MASH revealed a marked depletion of NAAs, particularly C18:1-Leu, which inversely correlated with disease severity. The bidirectional PM20D1 expression was suppressed in the livers of human and mice with MASH, as well as in lipid-loaded primary mouse hepatocytes and hepatic cell lines. Stable isotope tracing studies in mice with and without MASH confirmed reduced biosynthesis of C18:1-Leu. Genetically, hepatocyte-specific overexpression of PM20D1 or pharmacological treatment with exogenous C18:1-Leu significantly attenuated or reversed established MASH. Mechanistically, C18:1-Leu bound and activated peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARα), enhancing fatty acid β-oxidation and suppressing the NF-κB/CCL2 axis, thereby reducing hepatic macrophage infiltration, inflammation, and fibrosis. These therapeutic effects were abolished in hepatocyte-specific PPARα- and CCL2-deficient mice, identifying C18:1-Leu as a promising metabolic therapy for MASH.