Biochemical and biophysical research communications
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Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. · Sep 2014
Aloperine attenuated neuropathic pain induced by chronic constriction injury via anti-oxidation activity and suppression of the nuclear factor kappa B pathway.
To investigate whether aloperine (ALO) has antinociceptive effects on neuropathic pain induced by chronic constriction injury, whether ALO reduces ROS against neuropathic pain, and what are the mechanisms involved in ALO attenuated neuropathic pain. ⋯ ALO has antinociceptive effects on neuropathic pain induced by CCI. The antinociceptive effects of ALO against neuropathic pain is related to reduction of ROS, via suppression of NF-κB pathway.
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Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. · Sep 2014
Epistasis effects of COMT and MTHFR on inter-individual differences in mental health: under the inverted U-shaped prefrontal dopamine model.
Higher cognitive performance, maintenance of mental health and psychological well-being require adequate prefrontal cortex (PFC) function. "Inverted U-shaped" dopamine model indicates optimal PFC dopamine level is important to attain its function while high or low levels have adverse effects. Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) may be involved in this complex non-linear PFC dopamine regulation. We addressed whether genetic variation reflecting COMT and MTHFR activities can explain the inter-individual mental health differences in healthy Japanese men (n=188). ⋯ As a result, the relation between activity-ranked COMT genotype and MHI-5 score showed a tendency to fit into an "inverted U-shaped" quadratic curve (P=0.054). This curvilinear correlation was significant in the subjects with MTHFR-CC (P<0.001), but not with MTHFR T-allele carriers (P=0.793). Our pilot study implies a potential influence of COMT and MTHFR genotypic combination on normal variation of mental health.