Betaine chemistry, roles, and potential use in liver disease

Day, Christopher; Kempson, Stephen A.

doi:10.1016/j.bbagen.2016.02.001

Cited by 179 publications

(136 citation statements)

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“…Betaine insufficiency is associated with metabolic syndrome, lipid disorders, and increased vascular risk [37]. Betaine supplementation has already been explored in some pathologic conditions, including liver disease, atherosclerosis, and hyperhomocysteinemia in CKD patients [38][39][40][41].…”

Section: Serum Metabolic Profile Of Hd Patients Differs Significantlymentioning

confidence: 99%

Metabolite Profiling of Feces and Serum in Hemodialysis Patients and the Effect of Medicinal Charcoal Tablets

Liu

Liang

Liu

et al. 2018

Kidney Blood Press Res

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Background/Aims: Recently, the colon has been recognized as an important source of various uremic toxins in patients with end stage renal disease. Medicinal charcoal tablets are an oral adsorbent that are widely used in patients with chronic kidney disease in China to remove creatinine and urea from the colon. A parallel fecal and serum metabolomics study was performed to determine comprehensive metabolic profiles of patients receiving hemodialysis (HD). The effects of medicinal charcoal tablets on the fecal and serum metabolomes of HD patients were also investigated. Methods: Ultra-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry was used to investigate the fecal and serum metabolic profiles of 20 healthy controls and 31 HD patients before and after taking medicinal charcoal tablets for 3 months. Results: There were distinct metabolic variations between the HD patients and healthy controls both in the feces and serum according to multivariate data analysis. Metabolic disturbances of alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism, arginine and proline metabolism figured prominently in the serum. However, in the feces, alterations of tryptophan metabolism, lysine degradation and beta-alanine metabolism were pronounced, and the levels of several amino acids (leucine, phenylalanine, lysine, histidine, methionine, tyrosine, and tryptophan) were increased dramatically. Nineteen fecal metabolites and 21 serum metabolites were also identified as biomarkers that contributed to the metabolic differences. Additionally, medicinal charcoal treatment generally enabled the serum and fecal metabolomes of the HD patients to draw close to those of the control subjects, especially the serum metabolic profile. Conclusion: Parallel fecal and serum metabolomics uncovered the systematic metabolic variations of HD patients, especially disturbances in amino acid metabolism in the colon. Medicinal charcoal tablets had an impact on the serum and fecal metabolomes of HD patients, but their exact effects still need to be studied further.

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Section: Serum Metabolic Profile Of Hd Patients Differs Significantlymentioning

confidence: 99%

Metabolite Profiling of Feces and Serum in Hemodialysis Patients and the Effect of Medicinal Charcoal Tablets

Liu

Liang

Liu

et al. 2018

Kidney Blood Press Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…CH 3 -THF can be regenerated from THF in the folate cycle (Tibbets and Appling 2010; Locasale 2013). In the liver and kidney, betaine-homocysteine methyltransferase (BHMT) can use betaine as a methyl donor in the synthesis of methionine from homocysteine (Day and Kempson 2016).…”

Section: Synthesis Of the Universal Methyl Donor Sammentioning

confidence: 99%

Undercover: gene control by metabolites and metabolic enzymes

2016

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To make the appropriate developmental decisions or maintain homeostasis, cells and organisms must coordinate the expression of their genome and metabolic state. However, the molecular mechanisms that relay environmental cues such as nutrient availability to the appropriate gene expression response remain poorly understood. There is a growing awareness that central components of intermediary metabolism are cofactors or cosubstrates of chromatin-modifying enzymes. As such, their concentrations constitute a potential regulatory interface between the metabolic and chromatin states. In addition, there is increasing evidence for a direct involvement of classic metabolic enzymes in gene expression control. These dual-function proteins may provide a direct link between metabolic programing and the control of gene expression. Here, we discuss our current understanding of the molecular mechanisms connecting metabolism to gene expression and their implications for development and disease.Metabolism and gene regulation are two fundamental biological processes that are essential to all living organisms. Homeostasis, cell growth, and differentiation all require the coordination of metabolic state and gene expression programs. Nevertheless, how expression of the genome adapts to metabolic state or environmental changes is not well understood. One level of regulation involves signal transduction pathways that control key transcription factors that act as master regulators of gene expression programs. In addition, post-translational modifications (PTMs) of chromatin play a major role in the activation or repression of gene transcription. These include acetylation, methylation, and phosphorylation of the histones and DNA methylation. Some of these chromatin modifications are involved in the maintenance of stable patterns of gene expression, usually referred to as epigenetic regulation. Pertinently, the activity of enzymes that modulate chromatin is critically dependent on central metabolites as cofactors or cosubstrates. Thus, the availability of metabolites that are required for the activity of histone-modifying enzymes may connect metabolism to chromatin structure and gene expression. Finally, selective metabolic enzymes act in the nucleus to adjust gene transcription in response to changes in metabolic state. Here, we review the interface between metabolism and gene transcription. We focus on the molecular mechanisms involved and discuss unresolved issues and implications for development and disease. The basics of metabolism and gene expression controlMetabolism is the total of all chemical reactions in cells and organisms that maintain life. Metabolism can be divided into two classes: catabolic processes (the breakdown of molecules that usually results in the release of energy) and anabolic processes (the synthesis of components such as proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids, which costs energy). Cellular (or intermediary) metabolism is organized in separate chemical pathways formed by a chain of linked enzymatic reactions in wh...

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“…In this study, increased ␣-SMA, COL1A1, and TGF-␤ protein expressions and TIMP-1, TIMP-2, and MMP-2 mRNA expressions indicate an alteration in production and degradation of ECM as a result of HSC activation. BET has antioxidant Erman et al, 2004;Tsai et al, 2015) and antiinflammatory (Day and Kempson, 2016;Jung et al, 2013) effects. BET administration decreases homocysteine (HS) levels (Day and Kempson, 2016;Ueland et al, 2005) and increases S-adenosyl methionine (SAM) and GSH levels, which have strong antioxidant effects in organisms (Day and Kempson, 2016;Jung et al, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…BET has antioxidant Erman et al, 2004;Tsai et al, 2015) and antiinflammatory (Day and Kempson, 2016;Jung et al, 2013) effects. BET administration decreases homocysteine (HS) levels (Day and Kempson, 2016;Ueland et al, 2005) and increases S-adenosyl methionine (SAM) and GSH levels, which have strong antioxidant effects in organisms (Day and Kempson, 2016;Jung et al, 2013). The antioxidant activity of BET is suggested to be related to its effect on the metabolism of sulfur-containing substances in the liver (Kim et al, 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%