Project description:Emerging new evidence highlights the importance of prolonged daily fasting periods for the health and survival benefits of calorie restriction (CR) and time-restricted feeding (TRF) in male mice; however, little is known about the impact of these feeding regimens in females. We placed 14-month-old female mice on five different dietary regimens, either CR or TRF with different feeding windows, and determined the effects of these regimens on physiological responses, progression of neoplasms and inflammatory diseases, serum metabolite levels, and lifespan. Compared with TRF feeding, CR elicited a robust systemic response, as it relates to energetics and healthspan metrics, a unique serum metabolomics signature in overnight fasted animals, and was associated with an increase in lifespan. These results indicate that daytime (rest-phase) feeding with prolonged fasting periods initiated late in life confer greater benefits when combined with imposed lower energy intake.
Project description:Intermittent fasting (IF) reduces cardiovascular risk factors in animals and humans, and can protect the heart against ischemic injury in models of myocardial infarction, but the underlying molecular mechanisms are unknown. To delineate molecular perturbations in response to IF, we carried out comprehensive analyses of molecular pathways and biological processes using proteomic and phosphoproteomic data followed by functional analysis of hearts from mice maintained for 6 months on either daily 12- or 16-hour fasting, every-other-day fasting or ad libitum control feeding regimens. IF regimens significantly affected pathways that regulate cyclic GMP signaling, lipid and amino acid metabolism, cell adhesion, cell death and inflammation. Comparison of differentially expressed proteome and transcriptome upon IF showed higher correlation of pathway alternation in early IF regimen, but inverse correlation of metabolic processes such as fatty acid oxidation and immune processes in later IF regimens. Echocardiographic analyses demonstrated that IF enhances stress-induced cardiac performance. In addition to providing a valuable resource, our systemic analyses reveal molecular framework for understanding how IF impacts the function of the heart and its vulnerability to injury and disease.
Project description:The effects of maternal microbiota on the fetal development was investigated by comparing tissues of fetuses from germ-free (GF) and normal (SPF) murine dams using RNA-seq and non-targeted metabolomics (for metabolomics data, see: https://bmcmicrobiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12866-022-02457-6). For RNA-seq, two E18.5 fetuses were collected from 6 GF dams and 6 SPF dams, and transcriptomes analyzed by QuantSeq in whole intestine, brain and placenta.
Project description:Using an "omics"-based approach, we investigated the interaction between the autonomous liver clock and feeding-fasting rhythm. Transcriptomic analysis and subsequent quantification of exonic and intronic reads revealed that transcriptional mechanisms mediate, at least in part, the integration of feeding signals by the liver clock to drive mRNA oscillations. Therefore, we performed ATAC-seq to probe the state of chromatin accessibility genome-wide. While most open chromatin regions are unchanged across genotype, time and feeding status, transcription factor (TFs) footprints showed altered activity of certain TFs in Liver-RE AL vs NF. For example, CEBPB activity is altered in Liver-RE AL and restored in NF, an observation accompanied by restored CEBPB and BMAL1 common target gene oscillations. Finally, metabolomics analysis illustrated the partial rescue of hepatic metabolism in Liver-RE NF compared to AL (extensive carbohydrate pathway oscillations), and made clear that extra-hepatic clocks contribute significantly to metabolic oscillations in the liver, particularly for pathways involving lipids. Please see the associated reference for full results.
Project description:Using an "omics"-based approach, we investigated the interaction between the autonomous liver clock and feeding-fasting rhythm. Transcriptomic analysis and subsequent quantification of exonic and intronic reads revealed that transcriptional mechanisms mediate, at least in part, the integration of feeding signals by the liver clock to drive mRNA oscillations. Therefore, we performed ATAC-seq to probe the state of chromatin accessibility genome-wide. While most open chromatin regions are unchanged across genotype, time and feeding status, transcription factor (TFs) footprints showed altered activity of certain TFs in Liver-RE AL vs NF. For example, CEBPB activity is altered in Liver-RE AL and restored in NF, an observation accompanied by restored CEBPB and BMAL1 common target gene oscillations. Finally, metabolomics analysis illustrated the partial rescue of hepatic metabolism in Liver-RE NF compared to AL (extensive carbohydrate pathway oscillations), and made clear that extra-hepatic clocks contribute significantly to metabolic oscillations in the liver, particularly for pathways involving lipids. Please see the associated reference for full results.
Project description:To better understand the hepatic metabolic response to intermittent fasting in chickens, Red Junglefowl chickens were raised on ad libitum (AL) feed until 14 days of age and then kept on AL feeding, switched to chronic feed restriction (CR) to around 70% or switched to an intermittent fasting (IF) regimen consisting of two fed days (150% of age-matched weight-specific AL intake offered daily) followed by a non-fed day. AL and CR were culled at 36 days of age, and IF birds either at 40 days of age (second consecutive feeding day) or 41 days of age (fasting day).