To investigate if epigenome of sperm cells could be dynamically affected by nutrition. We assessed 40 healthy volunteers with different dietary habits and collected their demographic characteristics, Show more
To investigate if epigenome of sperm cells could be dynamically affected by nutrition. We assessed 40 healthy volunteers with different dietary habits and collected their demographic characteristics, as well as clinical and anthropometric parameters. We compared methylation profiles in sperm quantified by bisulfite pyrosequencing, at promoter-associated CpG sites of genes involved in metabolism including fat mass and obesity-associated ( Higher DNA methylation levels were detected in the sperm of vegan at Although limited by the small number of investigated cases, our data provide insight into the role of diet on sperm DNA methylation in genes involved in metabolism. Show less
Chromatin-derived acidic peptides (ACPs) have been shown to acutely modulate hypothalamic catecholamine release. To investigate whether this effect is mediated through membrane polysialylated neural-c Show more
Chromatin-derived acidic peptides (ACPs) have been shown to acutely modulate hypothalamic catecholamine release. To investigate whether this effect is mediated through membrane polysialylated neural-cell adhesion molecule (PSA-N-CAM), we pretreated rat hypothalamic synaptosomes with neuraminidase enzyme, which partially cleaves sialic acid residues from N-CAM, and perfused them with ACP-1 (Asp-Asp-Ser-Asp-Glu-Glu-Asn) or a more lipophilic derivative, ACP-2 ([Ala-Ile-Ser-Pro]-Asp-Asp-Ser-Asp-Glu-Glu-Asn). We have found that neuraminidase completely abolish the inhibitory effect of ACP-1 on dopamine release, while the inhibitory activity of ACP-1 on norepinephrine release is partially lost. On the other hand, ACP-2 inhibition of dopamine release is not modified by neuraminidase pretreatment. Show less