Autophagy is reported to have important roles in relation to regulated cell death pathways and neurodegeneration. This study used chronic hypertensive glaucoma rat model to investigate whether the autophagy pathway has a role in the apoptosis of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) after chronic intraocular pressure (IOP) elevation. Under electron microscopy, autophagosomes were markedly accumulated in the dendrites and cytoplasm of RGCs after IOP elevation. Western blot analysis showed that LC3-II/LC3-I and beclin-1 were upregulated throughout the 8-weeks period after IOP elevation. The pattern of LC3 immunostaining showed autophagy activation in the cytoplasm of RGCs to increase and peak at 4 weeks after IOP elevation. Most of these LC3B-positive RGCs underwent apoptosis by terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated biotinylated UTP nick end labeling, and inhibition of autophagy with 3-methyladenine decreased RGC apoptosis. The activated pattern shows that autophagy is initially activated in the dendrites of the RGCs, but, thereafter autophagy is mainly activated in the cytoplasm of RGCs. This may show that autophagy is differently regulated in different compartments of the neuron. This present study showed that autophgy is activated in RGCs and has a role in autophagic cell death after chronic IOP elevation.

Objective: To examine the effects of a s1 -casein hydrolysate on females with stress-related symptoms. Design: Double-blind, randomized, crossover, placebo-controlled trial. Setting: The a s1 -casein hydrolysate was manufactured by INGREDIA (Arras, France) and the placebo was manufactured by DIETAROMA (Bourg, France). Study was designed and performed at PROCLAIM (Rennes, France), and the statistical analyses were performed by D Desor (Nancy, France). Subjects: A total of 63 female volunteers suffering from at least one disorder that may be related to stress such as anxiety, sleep problems and general fatigue. Interventions: A total of 63 volunteers participated in a double-blind, randomized, crossover, placebo-controlled study. Subjects were randomly allocated to receive either tablets containing a s1 -casein hydrolysate or placebo at the dose of 150 mg/ day for 30 days. After a 3 weeks washout period, they were crossed over for a new 30-day period of tablets intake. The outcome measure was a questionnaire including 44 items of symptoms that may be related stress in which the severity of each sign was evaluated using a 10-degree scale. These measures were studied repeatedly at the day of 0, 15 and 30 after the start of each interventional period. Results: The 30-day treatment by a s1 -casein hydrolysate in females with stress-related symptoms reduced their symptoms, particularly in digestion (Po0.01), cardiovascular (Po0.05), intellectual (Po0.01), emotional (Po0.05) and social problems (Po0.05). Conclusion: This study showed that a 30-day ingestion of a s1 -casein hydrolysate decreased the stress-related symptoms in females suggesting that this product may be used as an effective functional ingredient alleviating such symptoms.

Menopausal status is associated with weight gain, increased central fat mass, abnormal lipid metabolism, insulin resistance and susceptibility to metabolic syndrome (MetS). Leptin is synthesised and secreted by adipocytes. Serum leptin levels are highly correlated with fat mass. We determined the association between MetS and serum leptin levels in 153 postmenopausal women. The difference in serum leptin level between MetS and non-MetS groups showed a statistical significance after adjusting for body mass index (BMI; 19.9 ± 9.5 vs 12.1 ± 5.9 ng/ml, p = 0.013). The indicator of abdominal obesity, waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and visceral fat area (VFA), had a positive correlation with serum leptin level in non-obese subjects after adjusting for BMI (p = 0.017, p < 0.001, respectively). Of the components of MetS, abdominal obesity and the number of MetS components had a positive correlation with serum leptin level (p < 0.05, p < 0.001, respectively).