Synthetic small interfering RNA (siRNA) has become the basis of a new generation of gene-silencing cancer therapeutics. However, successful implementation of this novel therapy relies on the ability to effectively deliver siRNA into target cells and to prevent degradation of siRNA in lysosomes after endocytosis. In this study, our goal was to design and optimize new amphiphilic cationic lipid carriers that exhibit selective pH-sensitive endosomal membrane disruptive capabilities to allow for the efficient release of their siRNA payload into the cytosol. The pH sensitive siRNA carriers consist of three domains (cationic head, hydrophobic tail, amino acid-based linker). A library of eight lipid carriers were synthesized using solid phase chemistry, and then studied to determine the role of (1) the number of protonable amines and overall pKa of the cationic head group, (2) the degree of unsaturation of the hydrophobic tail, and (3) the presence of histidine residues in the amino acid linker for transfection and silencing efficacy. In vitro screening evaluation of the new carriers demonstrated at least 80% knockdown of a GFP reporter in CHO cells after 72 hours. The carriers ECO and ECLn performed the best in a luciferase knockdown study in HT29 human colon cancer cells, which were found to be more difficult to transfect. They significantly reduced expression of this reporter to 22.7±3.31% and 23.5±5.11% after 72 hours post-transfection, better than Lipofectamine RNAiMax. Both ECO and ECLn carriers caused minimal cytotoxicity, preserving relative cell viabilities at 87.3±2.72% and 88.9±6.84%, respectively. A series of hemolysis assays at various pHs revealed that increasing the number of amines in the protonable head group, and removing the histidine residue from the linker, both resulted in improved membrane disruptive activity at the endosomal pH of 6.5. Meanwhile, the cellular uptake into HT29 cancer cells was improved, not only by increasing the amines of the head group, but also by increasing the degree of unsaturation in the lipid tails. Due to flexibility of the synthetic procedure, the delivery system could be modified further for different applications. The success of ECO and ECLn for in-vitro siRNA delivery potentially makes them promising candidates for future in-vivo studies

Mouse models of human diseases are used to study the metabolic and physiological processes leading to altered whole‐body energy expenditure (EE), which is the sum of EE of all body organs and tissues. Isotopic techniques, arterio‐venous difference of substrates, oxygen, and blood flow measurements can provide essential information to quantify tissue/organ EE and substrate oxidation. To complement and integrate experimental data, quantitative mathematical model analyses have been applied in the design of experiments and evaluation of metabolic fluxes. In this study, a method is presented to quantify the energy expenditure of the main mouse organs using metabolic flux measurements. The metabolic fluxes and substrate utilization of the main metabolic pathways of energy metabolism in the mouse tissue/organ systems and the whole body are quantified using a mathematical model based on mass and energy balances. The model is composed of six organ/tissue compartments: brain, heart, liver, gastrointestinal tract, muscle, and adipose tissue. Each tissue/organ is described with a distinct system of metabolic reactions. This model quantifies metabolic and energetic characteristics of mice under overnight fasting conditions. The steady‐state mass balances of metabolites and energy balances of carbohydrate and fat are integrated with available experimental data to calculate metabolic fluxes, substrate utilization, and oxygen consumption in each tissue/organ. The model serves as a paradigm for designing experiments with the minimal reliable measurements necessary to quantify tissue/organs fluxes and to quantify the contributions of tissue/organ EE to whole‐body EE that cannot be easily determined currently.

Skeletal muscle resistance to insulin is related to accumulation of lipid-derived products, but it is not clear whether this accumulation is caused by skeletal muscle mitochondrial dysfunction. Diabetes and obesity are reported to have a selective effect on the function of subsarcolemmal and interfibrillar mitochondria in insulin-resistant skeletal muscle. The current study investigated the role of the subpopulations of mitochondria in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance in the absence of obesity. A non-obese spontaneous rat model of type 2 diabetes mellitus, (Goto-Kakizaki), was used to evaluate function and biochemical properties in both populations of skeletal muscle mitochondria. In subsarcolemmal mitochondria, minor defects are observed whereas in interfibrillar mitochondria function is preserved. Subsarcolemmal mitochondria defects characterized by a mild decline of oxidative phosphorylation efficiency are related to ATP synthase and structural alterations of inner mitochondria membrane but are considered unimportant because of the absence of defects upstream as shown with polarographic and spectrophometric assays. Fatty acid transport and oxidation is preserved in both population of mitochondria, whereas palmitoyl-CoA increased 25% in interfibrillar mitochondria of diabetic rats. Contrary to popular belief, these data provide compelling evidence that mitochondrial function is unaffected in insulin-resistant skeletal muscle from T2DM non-obese rats.

Using a multidisciplinary approach, conditions were identified to maximize SSM and IFM recovery while preserving mitochondrial integrity, biochemistry, and morphology. High quality and recovery of mitochondrial subpopulations allow to study the relationship between these organelles and disease.

Sialyl Lewis x (sLex) and its related glycans are found on the surface of leukocytes and are known to be ligands for endothelial expressed E‐selectin. HECA‐452 is a rat IgM mAb which recognizes sLex and its related glycans. It has been shown that pre‐treatment of HECA‐452 positive T‐lymphoblasts with HECA‐452 does not inhibit adhesion to E‐selectin under flow conditions. This lack of inhibition could be due to (a) HECA‐452 not binding to the exact set of glycoproteins/glycolipids that bind to E‐selectin (b) HECA‐452 binding to the exact set of glycoproteins/glycolipids that bind to E‐selectin but not at the glycans that binds to E‐selectin or (c) HECA‐452 binding to the involved glycans but not at the same epitope as E‐selectin. It is difficult to discern amongst the various scenarios with whole cells. However, if one has a particle that only has sLex, one can investigate scenario (c). Therefore we sought to determine if HECA‐452 is a blocking mAb for sLex adhesion to E‐selectin. We conjugated leukocyte‐sized microspheres with sLex. Flow cytometric analysis revealed that HECA‐452 recognized and bound avidly to the sLex microspheres. We next tested the adhesion of the sLex microspheres to 4 hr. interleukin‐1β (IL‐1β‐ an inducer of E‐selectin expression) activated human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). sLex microspheres exhibited significant adhesion to IL‐1β activated HUVEC but did not bind to unactivated HUVEC. Pre‐treatment of activated HUVEC with anti‐E‐selectin mAb inhibited the adhesion of sLex microspheres. Pre‐treatment of the sLex microspheres with HECA‐452 had no effect on sLex microsphere adhesion to IL‐1β activated HUVEC. Combined, these results suggest that HECA‐452 is a non‐blocking mAb for sLex mediated adhesion to endothelial expressed E‐selectin.

Creatine kinetics were measured in young healthy subjects, eight males and seven females, age 20–30 years, after an overnight fast on creatine free diet. Whole body turnover of glycine and its appearance in creatine was quantified using [1-13C] glycine and the rate of protein turnover was quantified using L-ring [2H5] phenylalanine. The creatine pool size was estimated by the dilution of a bolus [C2H3] creatine. Studies were repeated following a five days supplement creatine 21g.day−1 and following supplement amino acids 14.3 g.day−1. Creatine caused a ten folds increase in the plasma concentration of creatine and a 50% decrease in the concentration of guanidinoacetic acid. Plasma amino acids profile showed a significant decrease in glycine, glutamine and taurine and a significant increase in citrulline, valine, lysine and cysteine. There was a significant decrease in the rate of appearance of glycine, suggesting a decrease in de-novo synthesis (p=0.006). The fractional and absolute rate of synthesis of creatine was significantly decreased by supplemental creatine. Amino acid supplement had no impact on any of the parameters. Creatine supplement caused a significant decrease in the rate of synthesis of creatine. This is the first detailed analysis of creatine kinetics and the effects of creatine supplement in healthy young men and women. These methods can be applied for the analysis of creatine kinetics in different physiological states.

Wnt5a is a noncanonical member of the Wnt family of signaling molecules that has been linked to various physiological and pathological processes including cell differentiation, cell migration, cell growth, vascular remodeling, cancer and chronic inflammation. To understand the role of Wnt5a in these processes, it is necessary to determine the function and expression level of Wnt5a. In this study we developed a sensitive and specific sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detecting Wnt5a. We found that a rabbit anti-human Wnt5a is a suitable capture antibody for establishing a sandwich ELISA. We used two systems to detect Wnt5a: (1) goat anti-mouse Wnt5a and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) conjugated F(ab’)2 donkey anti-goat IgG as detection and enzyme-linked antibodies respectively, or (2) biotinylated goat anti-mouse Wnt5a and HRP-streptavidin as detection antibody and enzyme-linked avidin respectively. A sandwich ELISA using either of these systems failed to detect recombinant mouse (rm) - Wnt5a diluted in Hank’s balanced salt solution supplemented with Ca2+ and Mg2+ and 1% bovine serum albumin (HBBS+, 1% BSA). Addition of polyethylene glycol (PEG) to the HBBS+, 1% BSA buffer during the binding stage of rm-Wnt5a, afforded the detection of rm-Wnt5a. The use of PEG during both the binding of rm-Wnt5a and detection antibody stages of the assay yielded the maximum signal for rm-Wnt5a. The relationship between the ELISA signal and concentration of Wnt5a was linear with an R2 of 0.9934. In summary, we have developed a specific and sensitive sandwich ELISA that detects rm-Wnt5a.

Nonspecific association of serum molecules with short-interfering RNA (siRNA) nanoparticles can change their physiochemical characteristics, and results in reduced cellular uptake in the target tissue during the systemic siRNA delivery process. Serum albumin is the most abundant protein in the body and has been used to modify the surface of nanoparticles, to inhibit association of other serum molecules. Here, we hypothesized that surface modification of lipid-based nanoparticular siRNA delivery systems with albumin could prevent their interaction with serum proteins, and improve intracellular uptake. In this study, we investigated the influence of albumin on the stability and intracellular siRNA delivery of the targeted siRNA nanoparticles of a polymerizable and pH-sensitive multifunctional surfactant N-(1-aminoethyl) iminobis[N-(oleoylcysteinylhistinyl-1-aminoethyl)propionamide] (EHCO) in serum. Serum resulted in a significant increase in the size of targeted EHCO/siRNA nanoparticles and inhibited cellular uptake of the nanoparticles. Coating of targeted EHCO/siRNA nanoparticles with bovine serum albumin at 9.4 µM prior to cell transfection improved cellular uptake and gene silencing efficacy of EHCO/siRNA targeted nanoparticles in serum-containing media, as compared with the uncoated nanoparticles. At a proper concentration, albumin has the potential to minimize interactions of serum proteins with siRNA nanoparticles for effective systemic in vivo siRNA delivery.