9 research outputs found
Upregulation of mGlu2 receptors via NF-kB p65 acetylation is involved in the proneurogenic and antidepressant effects of acetyl-L-carnitine
Acetyl-L-carnitine (ALC) is a naturally occurring molecule with an important role in cellular bioenergetics and as donor of acetyl groups to proteins, including NF-kappa B p65. In humans, exogenously administered ALC has been shown to be effective in mood disturbances, with a good tolerability profile. No current information is available on the antidepressant effect of ALC in animal models of depression and on the putative mechanism involved in such effect. Here we report that ALC is a proneurogenic molecule, whose effect on neuronal differentiation of adult hippocampal neural progenitors is independent of its neuroprotective activity. The in vitro proneurogenic effects of ALC appear to be mediated by activation of the NF-kappa B pathway, and in particular by p65 acetylation, and subsequent NF-kappa B-mediated upregulation of metabotropic glutamate receptor 2 (mGlu2) expression. When tested in vivo, chronic ALC treatment could revert depressive-like behavior caused by unpredictable chronic mild stress, a rodent model of depression with high face validity and predictivity, and its behavioral effect correlated with upregulated expression of mGlu2 receptor in hippocampi of stressed mice. Moreover, chronic, but not acute or subchronic, drug treatment significantly increased adult born neurons in hippocampi of stressed and unstressed mice. We now propose that this mechanism could be potentially involved in the antidepressant effect of ALC in humans. These results are potentially relevant from a clinical perspective, as for its high tolerability profile ALC may be ideally employed in patient subpopulations who are sensitive to the side effects associated with classical antidepressant
Inner-Sphere Oxidation of 2-Aminobenzothiazole Chromium(III) Complex by Periodate. Evidence for the Inhibiting Effect of Copper(II) and Iron(II) Ions
Assisted Reproduction and the Legal Recognition of Multiple Parents: A Comparative Analysis
Recommended from our members
Scientific positivism and the controversy over research into lesbian and gay parenting
Researchers in developmental psychology have concluded that no significant differences exist between children raised by lesbians and gay men and those raised by heterosexuals. Although these scientific studies have attracted criticism, scrutiny has shown that they are actually epistemologically sounder than the body of knowledge that the critics themselves have developed in order to mount their case against lesbian and gay parenting. Nevertheless, to the extent that they are limited by a number of problematic assumptions structuring the paradigm within which they have been conducted, the parenting studies are not a body of maximally objective knowledge. The same assumptions have also tended to inform legal discourse on lesbian and gay parenting. A paradigm shift away from questions about the goodness or badness of lesbian and gay parenting is overdue, both in sexuality-focused psychological research on child development and in the law’s approach to nonheterosexual parenting.15 page(s