The features and regulation of uterine angiogenesis and vascular remodelling during pregnancy are poorly defined. Here we show that dynamic and variable decidual angiogenesis (sprouting, intussusception and networking), and active vigorous vascular remodelling such as enlargement and elongation of ‘vascular sinus folding’ (VSF) and mural cell drop-out occur distinctly in a spatiotemporal manner in the rapidly growing mouse uterus during early pregnancy — just after implantation but before placentation. Decidual angiogenesis is mainly regulated through VEGF-A secreted from the progesterone receptor (PR)-expressing decidual stromal cells which are largely distributed in the anti-mesometrial region (AMR). In comparison, P4-PR-regulated VEGF-A-VEGFR2 signalling, ligand-independent VEGFR3 signalling and uterine natural killer (uNK) cells positively and coordinately regulate enlargement and elongation of VSF. During the postpartum period, Tie2 signalling could be involved in vascular maturation at the endometrium in a ligand-independent manner, with marked reduction of VEGF-A, VEGFR2 and PR expressions. Overall, we show that two key vascular growth factor receptors — VEGFR2 and Tie2 — strikingly but differentially regulate decidual angiogenesis and vascular remodelling in rapidly growing and regressing uteri in an organotypic manner.

SIRT1 activation deacetylates and inactivates NF-κB, and thereby, exerts an anti-inflammatory effect on chondrocytes, suggesting that SIRT1 activators could be explored as potential treatments for arthritis.

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Melatonin has neuroprotective effects in the models of neurodegenerative disease including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Several studies have shown that melatonin prevents neurodegeneration by regulation of mitochondrial function. However, the protective action of melatonin has not been reported in prion disease. We investigated the influence of melatonin on prion-mediated neurotoxicity. Melatonin rescued neuronal cells from PrP(106-126)-induced neurotoxicity by prevention of mitochondrial dysfunction. Moreover, the protective effect of melatonin against mitochondrial dysfunction was related with autophagy activation. Melatonin-treated cells were dose-dependently increased in LC3-II, an autophagy marker. Melatonin-induced autophagy prevented a PrP(106-126)-induced reduction in mitochondrial potential and translocation of Bax to the mitochondria and cytochrome c release. On the other hand, downregulation of autophagy protein 5 with Atg5 siRNA or the autophagy blocker 3-methyladenine prevented the melatonin-mediated neuroprotective effects. This is the first report demonstrating that treatment with melatonin appears to protect against prion-mediated neurotoxicity and that the neuroprotection is induced by melatonin-mediated autophagy signals. The results of this study suggest that regulation of melatonin is a therapeutic strategy for prion peptide-induced apoptosis.

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Prion diseases caused by aggregated misfolded prion protein (PrP) are transmissible neurodegenerative disorders that occur in both humans and animals. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) has preventive effects on prion disease; however, the mechanisms related to preventing prion diseases are unclear. We investigated whether EGCG, the main polyphenol in green tea, prevents neuron cell damage induced by the human prion protein. We also studied the neuroprotective mechanisms and proper signals mediated by EGCG. The results showed that EGCG protects the neuronal cells against human prion protein-induced damage through inhibiting Bax and cytochrome c translocation and autophagic pathways by increasing LC3-II and reducing and blocking p62 by using ATG5 small interfering (si) RNA and autophagy inhibitors. We further demonstrated that the neuroprotective effects of EGCG were exhibited by a class III histone deacetylase; sirt1 activation and the neuroprotective effects attenuated by sirt1 inactivation using sirt1 siRNA and sirtinol. We demonstrated that EGCG activated the autophagic pathways by inducing sirt1, and had protective effects against human prion protein-induced neuronal cell toxicity. These results suggest that EGCG may be a therapeutic agent for treatment of neurodegenerative disorders including prion diseases.

Higher levels of body fat are associated with an increased risk for development numerous adverse health conditions. FTY720 is an immune modulator and a synthetic analogue of sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P), activated S1P receptors and is effective in experimental models of transplantation and autoimmunity. Whereas immune modulation by FTY720 has been extensively studied, other actions of FTY720 are not well understood. Here we describe a novel role of FTY720 in the prevention of obesity, involving the regulation of adipogenesis and lipolysis in vivo and in vitro. Male C57B/6J mice were fed a standard diet or a high fat diet (HFD) without or with FTY720 (0.04 mg/kg, twice a week) for 6 weeks. The HFD induced an accumulation of large adipocytes, down-regulation of phosphorylated AMP-activated protein kinase α (p-AMPKα) and Akt (p-Akt); down-regulation of hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL), adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) and perilipin mRNA as well as up-regulation of phosphorylated HSL (p-HSL, Ser563) and glycogen synthase kinase 3 α/β (p-GSK3α/β). All these effects were blunted by FTY720 treatment, which inhibited adipogenesis and promoted lipolysis. Also, FTY720 significantly decreased lipid accumulation in maturing preadipocytes. FTY720 down-regulated the transcriptional levels of the PPARγ, C/EBPα and adiponectin, which are markers of adipogenic differentiation. FTY720 significantly increased the release of glycerol and the expression of the HSL, ATGL and perilipin, which are regulators of lipolysis. These results show that FTY720 prevented obesity by modulating adipogenesis and lipolysis, and suggest that FTY720 is used for the treatment of obesity.