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Akgül B, Lin KW, Ou Yang HM, Chen YH, Lu TH, Chen CH, Kikuchi T, Chen YT, Tu CPD. Garlic accelerates red blood cell turnover and splenic erythropoietic gene expression in mice: evidence for erythropoietin-independent erythropoiesis. PLoS One 2010; 5:e15358. [PMID: 21206920 PMCID: PMC3012072 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0015358] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2010] [Accepted: 11/15/2010] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Garlic (Allium sativum) has been valued in many cultures both for its health effects and as a culinary flavor enhancer. Garlic's chemical complexity is widely thought to be the source of its many health benefits, which include, but are not limited to, anti-platelet, procirculatory, anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic, neuro-protective, and anti-cancer effects. While a growing body of scientific evidence strongly upholds the herb's broad and potent capacity to influence health, the common mechanisms underlying these diverse effects remain disjointed and relatively poorly understood. We adopted a phenotype-driven approach to investigate the effects of garlic in a mouse model. We examined RBC indices and morphologies, spleen histochemistry, RBC half-lives and gene expression profiles, followed up by qPCR and immunoblot validation. The RBCs of garlic-fed mice register shorter half-lives than the control. But they have normal blood chemistry and RBC indices. Their spleens manifest increased heme oxygenase 1, higher levels of iron and bilirubin, and presumably higher CO, a pleiotropic gasotransmitter. Heat shock genes and those critical for erythropoiesis are elevated in spleens but not in bone marrow. The garlic-fed mice have lower plasma erythropoietin than the controls, however. Chronic exposure to CO of mice on garlic-free diet was sufficient to cause increased RBC indices but again with a lower plasma erythropoietin level than air-treated controls. Furthermore, dietary garlic supplementation and CO treatment showed additive effects on reducing plasma erythropoietin levels in mice. Thus, garlic consumption not only causes increased energy demand from the faster RBC turnover but also increases the production of CO, which in turn stimulates splenic erythropoiesis by an erythropoietin-independent mechanism, thus completing the sequence of feedback regulation for RBC metabolism. Being a pleiotropic gasotransmitter, CO may be a second messenger for garlic's other physiological effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bünyamin Akgül
- Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan Authority
- Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Izmir Institute of Technology, Urla, Turkey
| | - Kai-Wei Lin
- Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan Authority
| | - Hui-Mei Ou Yang
- Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan Authority
- National Genotyping Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan Authority
| | - Yen-Hui Chen
- Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan Authority
- Taiwan Mouse Clinic, National Phenotyping Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan Authority
| | - Tzu-Huan Lu
- Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan Authority
- National Genotyping Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan Authority
| | - Chien-Hsiun Chen
- Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan Authority
- National Genotyping Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan Authority
| | - Tateki Kikuchi
- Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan Authority
- Taiwan Mouse Clinic, National Phenotyping Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan Authority
| | - Yuan-Tsong Chen
- Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan Authority
- National Genotyping Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan Authority
| | - Chen-Pei D. Tu
- Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan Authority
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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Que EL, Domaille DW, Chang CJ. Metals in neurobiology: probing their chemistry and biology with molecular imaging. Chem Rev 2008; 108:1517-49. [PMID: 18426241 DOI: 10.1021/cr078203u] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1513] [Impact Index Per Article: 94.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Emily L Que
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
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Meguro R, Asano Y, Odagiri S, Li C, Iwatsuki H, Shoumura K. Nonheme-iron histochemistry for light and electron microscopy: a historical, theoretical and technical review. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2007; 70:1-19. [PMID: 17558140 DOI: 10.1679/aohc.70.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 181] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
We reviewed the methods of nonheme-iron histochemistry with special focus on the underlying chemical principles. The term nonheme-iron includes heterogeneous species of iron complexes where iron is more loosely bound to low-molecular weight organic bases and proteins than that of heme (iron-protoporphyrin complex). Nonheme-iron is liberated in dilute acid solutions and available for conventional histochemistry by the Perls and Turnbull and other methods using iron chelators, which depend on the production of insoluble iron compounds. Treatment with strong oxidative agents is required for the liberation of heme-iron, which therefore is not stained by conventional histochemistry. The Perls method most commonly used in laboratory investigations largely stains ferric iron, but stains some ferrous iron as well, while the Turnbull method is specific for the latter. Although the Turnbull method performed on sections fails in staining ferrous iron or stains only such parts of the tissue where iron is heavily accumulated, an in vivo perfusion-Turnbull method demonstrated the ubiquitous distribution of ferrous iron, particularly in lysosomes. The Perls or Turnbull reaction is enhanced by DAB/silver/gold methods for electron microscopy. The iron sulfide method and the staining of redox-active iron with H(2)O(2) and DAB are also applicable for electron microscopy. Although the above histochemical methods have advantages for visualizing iron by conventional light and electron microscopy, the quantitative estimation of iron is not easy. Recent methods depending on the quenching of fluorescent divalent metal indicators by Fe(2+) and dequenching by divalent metal chelators have enabled the quantitative estimation of chelatable Fe(2+) in isolated viable cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Reiko Meguro
- Department of Anatomy, Hirosaki University School of Medicine, Hirosaki, Japan
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