BackgroundNon-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is caused by multiple factors including hepatic oxidative stress, lipotoxicity, and mitochondrial dysfunction. Obesity is among the risk factors for NAFLD alongside type 2 diabetes mellitus and hyperlipidemia. α- mangostin (α-MG) extracts from the pericarps of mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana Linn.) may regulate high fat diet-induced hepatic steatosis; however the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the regulatory effect of α-MG on high fat diet-induced hepatic steatosis and the underlying mechanisms related to mitochondrial functionality and apoptosis in vivo and in vitro.MethodsSprague Dawley (SD) rats were fed on either AIM 93-M control diet, a high-fat diet (HFD), or high-fat diet supplemented with 25 mg/day mangosteen pericarp extract (MGE) for 11 weeks. Thereafter, the following were determined: body weight change, plasma free fatty acids, liver triglyceride content, antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, SOD; glutathione, GSH; glutathione peroxidase, GPx; glutathione reductase GRd; catalase, CAT) and mitochondrial complex enzyme activities. In the in vitro study, primary liver cells were treated with 1 mM free fatty acid (FFA) (palmitate: oleate acid = 2:0.25) to induce steatosis. Thereafter, the effects of α-MG (10 μM, 20 μM, 30 μM) on total and mitochondria ROS (tROS, mitoROS), mitochondria bioenergetic functions, and mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis were examined in the FFA-treated primary liver cells.ResultsThe MGE group showed significantly decreased plasma free fatty acids and hepatic triglycerides (TG) and thiorbarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) levels; increased activities of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, GSH, GPx, GRd, CAT); and enhanced NADH-cytochrome c reductase (NCCR) and succinate-cytochrome c reductase (SCCR) activities in the liver tissue compared with HFD group. In the in vitro study, α-MG significantly increased mitochondrial membrane potential, enhanced cellular oxygen consumption rate (OCR), decreased tROS (total ROS) and mitoROS (mitochondrial ROS) levels ; reduced Ca2+ and cytochrome c (cyt c) release from mitochondria, and reduced caspases 9 and 3 activities compared with control group.ConclusionThese findings demonstrate α-MG attenuated hepatic steatosis in high fat-diet fed rats potentially through enhanced cellular antioxidant capacity and improved mitochondrial functions as well as suppressed apoptosis of hepatocytes. The findings of study represent a novel nutritional approach on the use of α-MG in the prevention and management of NAFLD.

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Many meteorological and air-quality models require land characteristics as inputs. A field experiment was conducted to study the surface energy budget of a rice paddy in Taiwan. During the day, the energy balance ratio measured by an eddy covariance (EC) system was found to be 95% after considering the photosynthetic and local advected heat fluxes. The observations by the EC system suggest that the Bowen ratio was about 0.18 during the daytime. The EC system also measured the daytime absorbed carbon dioxide flux. The equivalent photosynthetic energy flux was about 1% of the net solar radiation. A reference table describing the land characteristics of rice paddies for use in meteorological and air-quality models is listed that shows that the albedo and the Bowen ratio measured over rice paddies were lower than those listed in many state-of-the-art models. This study proposes simulating latent heat flux by assigning proper values for canopy resistance rather than by assigning constant values for Bowen ratio or surface moisture availability. The diurnal pattern of the canopy resistance of the rice paddy was found to be "U" shaped. Daytime canopy resistance was observed to be 87 s m Ϫ1 , and a high canopy resistance (ϳ900 s m Ϫ1 ) should be assigned during nighttime periods.

The uv spectrum of the CCH radical was recorded using the laser-induced fluorescence technique on the 193 nm photolysis product of acetylene. Four 2Π–2Π bands at 38 805, 37 946, 37 010, and 36 075 cm−1 of CCH were rotationally analyzed and assigned as transitions from the (0,v21,0) (v2=1, 3, 5, 7) vibrational levels of the X̃ 2Σ+ state to a common upper vibronic state (denoted as U), which possibly belongs to the 2 2Π state. A simultaneous nonlinear least squares fit of the uv bands, in combination with the infrared transitions previously observed in the X̃ 2Σ+ state, provided improved spectroscopic parameters for the U state and the (0,31,0), (0,51,0), and (0,71,0) levels of the X̃ state.