Effect of consuming a purple-fleshed sweet potato beverage on health-related biomarkers and safety parameters in Caucasian subjects with elevated levels of blood pressure and liver function biomarkers A 4-week open-label non-comparative trial

An open-label study with one treatment arm was conducted to investigate changes in health-related biomarkers (blood pressure and liver enzyme activity) and the safety of 4 weeks of consuming a purple-fleshed sweet potato beverage in Caucasian subjects. Twenty healthy adults, 18-70 years of age, with a body mass index > 25 kg/m2, elevated blood...

Hepatic glucose production is more sensitive to insulin-mediated inhibition than hepatic VLDL-triglyceride production

Insulin is an important inhibitor of both hepatic glucose output and hepatic VLDL-triglyceride (VLDL-TG) production. We investigated whether both processes are equally sensitive to insulin-mediated inhibition. To test this, we used euglycemic clamp studies with four increasing plasma concentrations of insulin in wild-type C57Bl/6 mice. By...

Metabolomics in the context of systems biology: Bridging Traditional Chinese Medicine and molecular pharmacology

The introduction of the concept of systems biology, enabling the study of living systems from a holistic perspective based on the profiling of a multitude of biochemical components, opens up a unique and novel opportunity to reinvestigate natural products. In the study of their bioactivity, the necessary reductionistic approach on single active...

Choline supplemented as phosphatidylcholine decreases fasting and postmethionine-loading plasma homocysteine concentrations in healthy men

Background: A high homocysteine concentration is a potential risk factor for cardiovascular disease that can be reduced through betaine supplementation. Choline is the precursor for betaine, but the effects of choline supplementation on plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) concentrations in healthy humans are unknown. Objective: The objective was to...

Hepatic low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein deficiency in mice increases atherosclerosis independent of plasma cholesterol

The low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor-related protein (LRP) has a well-established role in the hepatic removal of atherogenic apolipoprotein E (APOE)-rich remnant lipoproteins from plasma. In addition, LRP recognizes multiple distinct pro- and antiatherogenic ligands in vitro. Here, we investigated the role of hepatic LRP in atherogenesis...

Hemostasis and fibrinolysis in severe liver failure and their relation to hemorrhage

In a study of severe, decompensated liver failure, we tried to find a correlation between hemorrhage and parameters of hemostasis and fibrinolysis. Three groups of patients were studied: alcoholic cirrhosis; nonalcoholic cirrhosis, and acute liver failure without known prior liver disease. The two cirrhotic groups did not differ significantly...

The effect of age on the biliary excretion of digitoxin and its metabolites in female BN/Bi rats

The biliary excretion of digitoxin (Dt3) and its metabolites was studied in female BN/Bi rats of different ages ranging from 3 to 30 mth. The disappearance of radioactivity from plasma after an i.v. injection of [3H]Dt3 (0.01 mg/100 g body weight) gradually slowed as rat age advanced. The 2-h biliary recovery of radioactivity (percent of the...

Safety evaluation of yeast grown on hydrocarbons. I: One-year feeding study in rats with yeast grown on gas oil

Yeast grown on hydrocarbons according to the gas-oil process was fed to rats at dietary levels of 10, 20 or 30% for 1 yr. Two control diets were used, one being similar to the yeast diets but containing soyabean-oil meal instead of yeast and the other being the institute's stock diet. The yeast diets had no effect on mortality, general condition...

Toxicologic studies of iocetamic acid in rats and dogs

A new oral cholecystographic medium called iocetamicacid was submitted to a toxicologic study in rats and dogs. Dosages, which were equivalent to 200 and 1000 mg of the compound per kilogram of body weight per day and were 5 times and 25 times the human routine dose, were administered daily for 3 weeks in order to establish whether the substance...