Highlights d Gut alterations are related to impaired sociability in alcohol use disorder patients d Human-to-mice microbiota transplantation reproduces metabolic and behavioral disorders d Microbial ethanol production is linked to reduced b-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) synthesis d In mice and humans, BHB level is associated with depression and social impairments

Hence, it is critical that toxicologists in industry, regulatory agencies and academic institutions develop a consensus, based on rigorous methods, about the reliability and interpretation of endpoints. It will also be important to regulate the integration of conventional methods for toxicity assessments with new "omics" technologies.

Balkan endemic nephropathy is a chronic tubulointerstitial disease with insidious onset, slowly progressing to end-stage renal disease and frequently associated with urothelial carcinoma of the upper urinary tract (UTUC). It was described in South-East Europe at the Balkan peninsula in rural areas around tributaries of the Danube River. After decades of intensive investigation, the causative factor was identified as the environmental phytotoxin aristolochic acid (AA) contained in Aristolochia clematitis, a common plant growing in wheat fields that was ingested through homebaked bread. AA initially was involved in the outbreak of cases of rapidly progressive renal fibrosis reported in Belgium after intake of root extracts of Aristolochia fangchi imported from China. A high prevalence of UTUC was found in these patients. The common molecular link between Balkan and Belgian nephropathy cases was the detection of aristolactam-DNA adducts in renal tissue and UTUC. These adducts are not only biomarkers of prior exposure to AA, but they also trigger urothelial malignancy by inducing specific mutations (A:T to T:A transversion) in critical genes of carcinogenesis, including the tumor-suppressor TP53. Such mutational signatures are found in other cases worldwide, particularly in Taiwan, highlighting the general public health issue of AA exposure by traditional phytotherapies.

Due to its production of potent antimicrobial oxidants including hypochlorous acid, human myeloperoxidase (MPO) plays a critical role in innate immunity and inflammatory diseases. Thus MPO is an attractive target in drug design. (Aminoalkyl)fluoroindole derivatives were detected to be very potent MPO inhibitors; however, they also promote inhibition of the serotonin reuptake transporter (SERT) at the same concentration range. Via structure-based drug design, a new series of MPO inhibitors derived from 3-alkylindole were synthesized and their effects were assessed on MPO-mediated taurine chlorination and low-density lipoprotein oxidation as well as on inhibition of SERT. The fluoroindole compound with three carbons in the side chain and one amide group exhibited a selectivity index of 35 (Ki/IC50) with high inhibition of MPO activity (IC50 = 18 nM), whereas its effect on SERT was in the micromolar range. Structure-function relationships, mechanism of action, and safety of the molecule are discussed.

Two linear polyamide conjugates of Gd(DTPA) 2-were synthesized and characterized by high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and size exclusion chromatography (SEC). DTPA was copolymerized with two different diamines, 1,6-hexanediamine and trans-1,4-cyclohexanediamine, yielding the polymers DTPA-HMD and DTPA-CHD, with low polydispersity. Their molecular flexibility in solution was studied using 13 C spin-lattice relaxation time measurements, indicating that the cyclohexanediamine linking moiety of the DTPA-HMD polymer is more rigid than that of DTPA-CHD. The influence of the flexibility of the linking functionalities on the relaxivity of the Gd 3+ -DTPApolymer conjugates was studied by water nuclear magnetic relaxation dispersion (NMRD). The relaxivity of the Gd(DTPA-CHD) polymer was only slightly higher than that of the Gd(DTPA-HMD) polymer, and only two times higher than the usual values for small Gd-DTPA-like chelates. The low relaxivities obtained for both polymers, much lower than expected from the polymer apparent molecular weights, result from their substantial residual flexibility, and also from a too long, nonoptimal, value of the inner-sphere water exchange rate. These polymeric compounds are also cleared very quickly from the blood of rats, indicating that they are of limited value as blood pool contrast agents for MRA.