Dietary stearic acid regulates mitochondria in vivo in humans.

Since modern foods are unnaturally enriched in single metabolites, it is important to understand which metabolites are sensed by the human body and which are not. We previously showed that the fatty acid stearic acid (C18:0) signals via a dedicated pathway to regulate mitofusin activity and thereby mitochondrial morphology and function in cell culture. Whether this pathway is poised to sense changes in dietary intake of C18:0 in humans is not known. We show here that C18:0 ingestion rapidly and robustly causes mitochondrial fusion in people within 3 h after ingestion. C18:0 intake also causes a drop in circulating long-chain acylcarnitines, suggesting increased fatty acid beta-oxidation in vivo. This work thereby identifies C18:0 as a dietary metabolite that is sensed by our bodies to control our mitochondria. This could explain part of the epidemiological differences between C16:0 and C18:0, whereby C16:0 increases cardiovascular and cancer risk whereas C18:0 decreases both

A Genome-Wide Collection of Mos1 Transposon Insertion Mutants for the C. elegans Research Community

Methods that use homologous recombination to engineer the genome of C. elegans commonly use strains carrying specific insertions of the heterologous transposon Mos1. A large collection of known Mos1 insertion alleles would therefore be of general interest to the C. elegans research community. We describe here the optimization of a semi-automated methodology for the construction of a substantial collection of Mos1 insertion mutant strains. At peak production, more than 5,000 strains were generated per month. These strains were then subject to molecular analysis, and more than 13,300 Mos1 insertions characterized. In addition to targeting directly more than 4,700 genes, these alleles represent the potential starting point for the engineered deletion of essentially all C. elegans genes and the modification of more than 40% of them. This collection of mutants, generated under the auspices of the European NEMAGENETAG consortium, is publicly available and represents an important research resource

Brain imaging of the cortex in ADHD: a coordinated analysis of large-scale clinical and population-based samples

Objective: Neuroimaging studies show structural alterations of various brain regions in children and adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), although nonreplications are frequent. The authors sought to identify cortical characteristics related to ADHD using large-scale studies. Methods: Cortical thickness and surface area (based on the Desikan–Killiany atlas) were compared between case subjects with ADHD (N=2,246) and control subjects (N=1,934) for children, adolescents, and adults separately in ENIGMA-ADHD, a consortium of 36 centers. To assess familial effects on cortical measures, case subjects, unaffected siblings, and control subjects in the NeuroIMAGE study (N=506) were compared. Associations of the attention scale from the Child Behavior Checklist with cortical measures were determined in a pediatric population sample (Generation-R, N=2,707). Results: In the ENIGMA-ADHD sample, lower surface area values were found in children with ADHD, mainly in frontal, cingulate, and temporal regions; the largest significant effect was for total surface area (Cohen’s d=−0.21). Fusiform gyrus and temporal pole cortical thickness was also lower in children with ADHD. Neither surface area nor thickness differences were found in the adolescent or adult groups. Familial effects were seen for surface area in several regions. In an overlapping set of regions, surface area, but not thickness, was associated with attention problems in the Generation-R sample. Conclusions: Subtle differences in cortical surface area are widespread in children but not adolescents and adults with ADHD, confirming involvement of the frontal cortex and highlighting regions deserving further attention. Notably, the alterations behave like endophenotypes in families and are linked to ADHD symptoms in the population, extending evidence that ADHD behaves as a continuous trait in the population. Future longitudinal studies should clarify individual lifespan trajectories that lead to nonsignificant findings in adolescent and adult groups despite the presence of an ADHD diagnosis

Subcortical brain volume, regional cortical thickness, and cortical surface area across disorders: findings from the ENIGMA ADHD, ASD, and OCD Working Groups

Objective Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are common neurodevelopmental disorders that frequently co-occur. We aimed to directly compare all three disorders. The ENIGMA consortium is ideally positioned to investigate structural brain alterations across these disorders. Methods Structural T1-weighted whole-brain MRI of controls (n=5,827) and patients with ADHD (n=2,271), ASD (n=1,777), and OCD (n=2,323) from 151 cohorts worldwide were analyzed using standardized processing protocols. We examined subcortical volume, cortical thickness and surface area differences within a mega-analytical framework, pooling measures extracted from each cohort. Analyses were performed separately for children, adolescents, and adults using linear mixed-effects models adjusting for age, sex and site (and ICV for subcortical and surface area measures). Results We found no shared alterations among all three disorders, while shared alterations between any two disorders did not survive multiple comparisons correction. Children with ADHD compared to those with OCD had smaller hippocampal volumes, possibly influenced by IQ. Children and adolescents with ADHD also had smaller ICV than controls and those with OCD or ASD. Adults with ASD showed thicker frontal cortices compared to adult controls and other clinical groups. No OCD-specific alterations across different age-groups and surface area alterations among all disorders in childhood and adulthood were observed. Conclusion Our findings suggest robust but subtle alterations across different age-groups among ADHD, ASD, and OCD. ADHD-specific ICV and hippocampal alterations in children and adolescents, and ASD-specific cortical thickness alterations in the frontal cortex in adults support previous work emphasizing neurodevelopmental alterations in these disorders

Differences of Phenylalanine Concentrations in Dried Blood Spots and in Plasma: Erythrocytes as a Neglected Component for This Observation

Monitoring phenylalanine (Phe) concentrations is critical for the management of phenylketonuria (PKU). This can be done in dried blood spots (DBS) or in EDTA plasma derived from capillary or venous blood. Different techniques are used to measure Phe, the most common being flow-injection analysis tandem mass spectrometry (FIA-MS-MS) and ion exchange chromatography (IEC). Significant differences have been reported between Phe concentrations in various sample types measured by different techniques, the cause of which is not yet understood. We measured Phe concentrations in 240 venous blood samples from 199 patients with hyperphenylalaninemia in dried blood spots, EDTA plasma and erythrocytes by FIA-MS-MS and IEC. Phe concentrations were significantly lower in erythrocytes than in plasma leading to about 19% lower Phe DBS concentrations compared with plasma independent from the method used for quantification. As most therapy recommendations for PKU patients are based on plasma concentrations reliable conversion of DBS into plasma concentrations is necessary. Variances of Phe concentrations in plasma and DBS are not linear but increases with higher concentrations indicating heteroscedasticity. We therefore suggest the slope of the 75th percentile from quantile regression as a correction factor

Differences of Phenylalanine Concentrations in Dried Blood Spots and in Plasma: Erythrocytes as a Neglected Component for This Observation

Monitoring phenylalanine (Phe) concentrations is critical for the management of phenylketonuria (PKU). This can be done in dried blood spots (DBS) or in EDTA plasma derived from capillary or venous blood. Different techniques are used to measure Phe, the most common being flow-injection analysis tandem mass spectrometry (FIA-MS-MS) and ion exchange chromatography (IEC). Significant differences have been reported between Phe concentrations in various sample types measured by different techniques, the cause of which is not yet understood. We measured Phe concentrations in 240 venous blood samples from 199 patients with hyperphenylalaninemia in dried blood spots, EDTA plasma and erythrocytes by FIA-MS-MS and IEC. Phe concentrations were significantly lower in erythrocytes than in plasma leading to about 19% lower Phe DBS concentrations compared with plasma independent from the method used for quantification. As most therapy recommendations for PKU patients are based on plasma concentrations reliable conversion of DBS into plasma concentrations is necessary. Variances of Phe concentrations in plasma and DBS are not linear but increases with higher concentrations indicating heteroscedasticity. We therefore suggest the slope of the 75th percentile from quantile regression as a correction factor