Anthropometric Markers and Iron Status of 6–12-Year-Old Thai Children: Associations and Predictors

Introduction. Obesity may be associated with poor iron status. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between different indices of iron status and anthropometric measurements in Thai children. Materials and Methods. Anthropometry (weight, height, waist circumference (WC), and body composition assessed by bioelectrical impedance analysis) and iron indices were measured in 336 Thai children aged 6–12 years. Iron deficiency (ID) was defined using two or more of the following: (1) %transferrin saturation (%Tsat)  5 mg/L. Iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) was defined as haemoglobin 5 mg/L. Puberty and menarche were significant predictors of ID (puberty adjusted OR: 2.20, 95% CI: 0.43, 11.25; menarche adjusted OR: 6.11, 95% CI: 1.21, 30.94). Conclusion. Greater adiposity was associated with poorer iron status. However, SF may not be a good indicator of iron status in Thai children, particularly in those who are overweight/obese, whereas sTfR merits further investigation

Deciphering migraine pain mechanisms through electrophysiological insights of trigeminal ganglion neurons

Abstract Migraine is a complex neurological disorder that affects millions of people worldwide. Despite extensive research, the underlying mechanisms that drive migraine pain and related abnormal sensation symptoms, such as hyperalgesia, allodynia, hyperesthesia, and paresthesia, remain poorly understood. One of the proposed mechanisms is cortical spreading depression (CSD), which is believed to be involved in the regulation of trigeminovascular pathways by sensitizing the pain pathway. Another mechanism is serotonin depletion, which is implicated in many neurological disorders and has been shown to exacerbate CSD-evoked pain at the cortical level. However, the effects of CSD and serotonin depletion on trigeminal ganglion neurons, which play a critical role in pain signal transmission, have not been thoroughly studied. In this study, we aimed to investigate the association between CSD and serotonin depletion with peripheral sensitization processes in nociceptive small-to-medium (SM) and large (L) -sized trigeminal ganglion neurons at the electrophysiological level using rat models. We divided the rats into four groups: the control group, the CSD group, the serotonin depletion group, and the CSD/serotonin depletion group. We induced CSD by placing KCl on a burr hole and serotonin depletion by intraperitoneal injection of PCPA (para-chlorophenoxyacetic acid). We then isolated trigeminal ganglion neurons from all groups and classified them according to size. Using patch-clamp recording, we recorded the excitability parameters and action potential (AP) properties of the collected neurons. Our results showed that in SM-sized trigeminal ganglion neurons, the CSD-SM and CSD/serotonin depletion groups had a higher positive resting membrane potential (RMP) than the control-SM group (p = 0.001 and p = 0.002, respectively, post-hoc Tukey’s test). In addition, the gap between RMP and threshold in the CSD-SM group was significantly narrower than in the control-SM group (p = 0.043, post-hoc Tukey’s test). For L-sized neurons, we observed prolongation of the AP rising time, AP falling time, and AP duration in neurons affected by CSD (p < 0.05, pairwise comparison test). In conclusion, our study provides new insights into the underlying mechanisms of migraine pain and abnormal somatosensation. CSD and serotonin depletion promote the transmission of pain signals through the peripheral sensitization process of nociceptive small-to-medium-sized trigeminal ganglion neurons, as well as nociceptive and non-nociceptive large-sized trigeminal ganglion neurons

A Biosensing System Based on Extracellular Potential recording of Ligand-Gated Ion Channel Function Overexpressed in Insect cells

Copyright © 2003 American Chemical SocietyWe have used outer cell potential measurement to record agonist-dependent cellular responses in cells engineered to express ligand-gated ion channels and grown on a microelectrode surface. Application of glutamate, a natural agonist, induced a complex and robust potentiometric response in cells expressing homomeric GluR-D glutamate receptor, but not in nonexpressing control cells. The response consisted of an initial decrease in outer potential followed by a transient increase and was not obtained for other amino acids devoid of agonist activity at glutamate receptors. Furthermore, the pharmacological agonist of the GluR-D receptor, kainate, also produced the potentiometric response whereas 6-cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione, a competitive antagonist, was not active in itself but attenuated the responses to glutamate. The time course of the measured changes was slow, which may be partially due to the ligand being applied by free diffusion but may also reflect a contribution by secondary changes in the behavior of the cells. This novel approach should be applicable to other ligand-gated ion channels and holds promise as a cell-based biosensor for high-throughput drug screening and other applications.Tetsuya Haruyama, Saknan Bongsebandhu-Phubhakdi, Ibuki Nakamura, David Mottershead, Kari Keinänen, Eiry Kobatake, and Masuo Aizaw