Shilpa Sharathraj Shetty

Fatty acid desaturases are key enzymes in lipid metabolism, crucial for converting saturated fatty acids into monounsaturated fatty acids. This review examines the roles of stearoyl-CoA desaturase, fatty acid desaturase 1, fatty acid desaturase 2 and fatty acid desaturase 3 in health and disease, highlighting their impact on cellular functions such as membrane fluidity, signalling and energy homeostasis. Dysregulation of desaturase activity can have significant implications for human health, contributing to the development of various pathological conditions, including cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders and cancer. Fatty acid desaturase 1 and fatty acid desaturase 2 overexpression in cancer correlates with tumour growth and chemoresistance, marking them as potential therapeutic targets. The development of inhibitors targeting stearoyl-CoA desaturase and fatty acid desaturase 1 offers promising therapeutic avenues for metabolic diseases and cancer. This review underscores the critical roles of desaturases in various diseases. It emphasises the need for ongoing research to develop effective diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic strategies, ultimately improving patient outcomes in altered fatty acid metabolism conditions.

Background: Despite rising public awareness and improvements in diagnostic and treatment methods, there are adverse effects brought on by drug resistance, an increase in overall treatment costs, and unanticipated side effects from pharmaceuticals. Main body: Therefore, efforts for development strategy that is more efficient, more affordable, and more secure are underway. Such a strategy involves employing naturally occurring phytochemicals to delay the beginning, prevent it from happening, or treat it, and it sparks an increase in interest in studies looking for an effective agent in herbs and other plant materials used in traditional medicines. Urolithins are polyphenol chemicals generated by the gut microbiota studied for potential health benefits and have a high bioavailability. After being ingested, urolithins can move throughout the body and mediate in different locations. Urolithins are studied for over 40 years, but their mechanistic role has been explored recently in understanding their potential health benefits. Short conclusion: This review gives an overview of the current Urolithin A research on human health. The findings highlight the importance of exploring the potential of urolithins as a natural compound for therapeutic applications. Elucidating the mechanisms behind the disease process and pinpointing candidate molecules and pathways to target preventive and therapeutic intervention are the need of the hour.

Fatty acid transport protein 1 (FATP1) is an integral transmembrane protein that is involved in facilitating the translocation of long-chain fatty acids (LCFA) across the plasma membrane, thereby orchestrating the importation of LCFA into the cell. FATP1 also functions as an acyl-CoA ligase, catalyzing the ATP-dependent formation of fatty acyl-CoA using LCFA and VLCFA (very-long-chain fatty acids) as substrates. It is expressed in various types of tissues and is involved in the regulation of crucial signalling pathways, thus playing a vital role in numerous physiological and pathological conditions. Structural insight about FATP1 is, thus, extremely important for understanding the mechanism of action of this protein and developing efficient treatments against its anomalous expression and dysregulation, which are often associated with pathological conditions such as breast cancer. As of now, there has been no prior prediction or evaluation of the 3D configuration of the human FATP1 protein, hindering a comprehensive understanding of the distinct functional roles of its individual domains. In our pursuit to unravel the structure of the most commonly expressed isoforms of FATP1, we employed the cutting-edge ALPHAFOLD 2 model for an initial prediction of the entire protein’s structure. This prediction was complemented by molecular dynamics simulations, focusing on the most promising model. We predicted the structure of FATP1 in silico and thoroughly refined and validated it using coarse and molecular dynamics in the absence of the complete crystal structure. Their relative dynamics revealed the different properties of the characteristic FATP1.

Introduction and Aim: Coconut palm sugar (CPS) is a functional food comprising unique phytonutrients such as polyphenolics, minerals, inulin, etc., and has a low glycemic index (GI). Based on its distinctive biochemical composition, it was hypothesized that CPS would provide a glucose homeostatic effect. We investigated the effects of CPS oral administration in Wistar rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes. Materials and Methods: Diabetic Wistar rats were administered with different doses of CPS (200,400 and 800 mg/Kg body weight) and standard gliclazide (5 mg/Kg b.w.) for 28 days. Biochemical estimations for fasting blood glucose, lipid profile and antioxidant status were performed. Results: Treatment with CPS significantly (P 0.001) decreased the plasma glucose levels at 120 min after glucose load. Serum blood glucose, hepatic enzymes (alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (AP)), total cholesterol (TC), total triglycerides (TG), and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels were also decreased. However, levels of total serum protein and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) increased in a significant manner. Pancreatic enzymatic antioxidant levels were restored, and lipid peroxidation was decreased by CPS. Conclusion: CPS showed quite a few health benefits in diabetic rats by bringing back the glucose and lipid homeostasis to normal and yielded favorable outcomes in case of oxidative stress.