12 research outputs found
Arginase activities and global arginine bioavailability in wild-type and ApoE-deficient mice: Responses to high fat and high cholesterol diets
Increased catabolism of arginine by arginase is increasingly viewed as an important pathophysiological factor in cardiovascular disease, including atherosclerosis induced by high cholesterol diets. Whereas previous studies have focused primarily on effects of high cholesterol diets on arginase expression and arginine metabolism in specific blood vessels, there is no information regarding the impact of lipid diets on arginase activity or arginine bioavailability at a systemic level. We, therefore, evaluated the effects of high fat (HF) and high fat-high cholesterol (HC) diets on arginase activity in plasma and tissues and on global arginine bioavailability (defined as the ratio of plasma arginine to ornithine + citrulline) in apoE-/- and wild-type C57BL/6J mice. HC and HF diets led to reduced global arginine bioavailability in both strains. The HC diet resulted in significantly elevated plasma arginase in both strains, but the HF diet increased plasma arginase only in apoE-/- mice. Elevated plasma arginase activity correlated closely with increased alanine aminotransferase levels, indicating that liver damage was primarily responsible for elevated plasma arginase. The HC diet, which promotes atherogenesis, also resulted in increased arginase activity and expression of the type II isozyme of arginase in multiple tissues of apoE-/- mice only. These results raise the possibility that systemic changes in arginase activity and global arginine bioavailability may be contributing factors in the initiation and/or progression of cardiovascular disease
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Transactional Fish-for-Sex Relationships Amid Declining Fish Access in Kenya
Women's access to natural resources for food and livelihoods is shaped by resource availability, income, and the gender dynamics that mediate access. In fisheries, where men often fish but women comprise 90% of traders, transactional sex is among the strategies women use to access resources. Using the case of Lake Victoria, we employed mixed methods (in-depth interviews, n = 30; cross-sectional survey, n = 303) to analyze the influence of fish declines on fish-for-sex relationships. We found that fish declines affect relationship duration and women's bargaining power. Our results have broad implications for the dynamics of economies dependent on increasingly scarce resources throughout the world