Maternal dietary alpine butter intake affects human milk: Fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid isomers

Consumption of CLA by lactating women affects the composition of their milk, but the pattern of the different CLA isomers is still unknown. We determined the effects of short maternal supplementation with CLA-rich Alpine butter on the occurrence of FA and CLA isomers in human milk. In an open randomized controlled study with a two-period cross-over design, milk FA and CLA isomer concentrations were measured on postpartum days >-20 in two parallel groups of lactating women before, during, and after consumption of defined quantities of Alpine butter or margarine with comparable fat content (10 d of butter followed by 10 d of margarine for one group, and vice versa in the other). In the 16 women who completed the study (8/group), Alpine butter supplementation, increased the C16 and C18 FA, the sum of saturated FA, the 18∶1 trans FA, and the trans FA with CLA. The CLA isomer 18∶2 c9, t11 increased by 19.7%. Significant increases were also found for the isomers t9,t111, t7,c9,t11,c13, and t8,c10 18∶2. The remaining nine of the total 14 detectable isomers showed no changes, and concentrations were <5 mg/100g fat. A breastfeeding mother can therefore modulate the FA/CLA supply of her child by consuming Alpine butter. Further studies will show whether human milk containing this FA and CLA isomer pattern acts as a functional food for newborn

A Genetic Animal Model of Alcoholism for Screening Medications to Treat Addiction

The purpose of this review is to present up-to-date pharmacological, genetic, and behavioral findings from the alcohol-preferring P rat and summarize similar past work. Behaviorally, the focus will be on how the P rat meets criteria put forth for a valid animal model of alcoholism with a highlight on its use as an animal model of polysubstance abuse, including alcohol, nicotine, and psychostimulants. Pharmacologically and genetically, the focus will be on the neurotransmitter and neuropeptide systems that have received the most attention: cholinergic, dopaminergic, GABAergic, glutamatergic, serotonergic, noradrenergic, corticotrophin releasing hormone, opioid, and neuropeptide Y. Herein, we sought to place the P rat's behavioral and neurochemical phenotypes, and to some extent its genotype, in the context of the clinical literature. After reviewing the findings thus far, this chapter discusses future directions for expanding the use of this genetic animal model of alcoholism to identify molecular targets for treating drug addiction in general

Maternal dietary alpine butter intake affects human milk: Fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid isomers

Consumption of CLA by lactating women affects the composition of their milk, but the pattern of the different CLA isomers is still unknown. We determined the effects of short maternal supplementation with CLA-rich Alpine butter on the occurrence of FA and CLA isomers in human milk. In an open randomized controlled study with a two-period cross-over design, milk FA and CLA isomer concentrations were measured on postpartum days >-20 in two parallel groups of lactating women before, during, and after consumption of defined quantities of Alpine butter or margarine with comparable fat content (10 d of butter followed by 10 d of margarine for one group, and vice versa in the other). In the 16 women who completed the study (8/group), Alpine butter supplementation, increased the C16 and C18 FA, the sum of saturated FA, the 18∶1 trans FA, and the trans FA with CLA. The CLA isomer 18∶2 c9, t11 increased by 19.7%. Significant increases were also found for the isomers t9,t111, t7,c9,t11,c13, and t8,c10 18∶2. The remaining nine of the total 14 detectable isomers showed no changes, and concentrations were <5 mg/100g fat. A breastfeeding mother can therefore modulate the FA/CLA supply of her child by consuming Alpine butter. Further studies will show whether human milk containing this FA and CLA isomer pattern acts as a functional food for newborn

MUS81 promotes common fragile site expression

Fragile sites are chromosomal loci with a propensity to form gaps or breaks during early mitosis, and their instability is implicated as being causative in certain neurological disorders and cancers. Recent work has demonstrated that the so-called common fragile sites (CFSs) often impair the faithful disjunction of sister chromatids in mitosis. However, the mechanisms by which CFSs express their fragility, and the cellular factors required to suppress CFS instability, remain largely undefined. Here, we report that the DNA structure-specific nuclease MUS81-EME1 localizes to CFS loci in early mitotic cells, and promotes the cytological appearance of characteristic gaps or breaks observed at CFSs in metaphase chromosomes. These data indicate that CFS breakage is an active, MUS81-EME1-dependent process, and not a result of inadvertent chromatid rupturing during chromosome condensation. Moreover, CFS cleavage by MUS81-EME1 promotes faithful sister chromatid disjunction. Our findings challenge the prevailing view that CFS breakage is a nonspecific process that is detrimental to cells, and indicate that CFS cleavage actually promotes genome stability