Undurti Das

• MD, FAMS, FRSC DSc
• President, CEO and CSO at UND Life Sciences

Sepsis is triggered by microbial infection, injury, or even major surgery. Both innate and adaptive immune systems are involved in its pathogenesis. Cytoplasmic presence of DNA or RNA of the invading organisms or damaged nuclear material (in the form of micronucleus in the cytoplasm) in the host cell need to be eliminated by various nucleases; fail...

Seasonal variation in blood pressure that is higher in winter and lower in summer has been attributed to several factors that include changes in the activity of autonomic nervous system, vasopressin and expression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). Transient receptor potential melastatin 8 (TRPM8), a non-selective Ca2+-permeable cationic...

Arachidonic acid (AA), an ω-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid involved in signalling pathways that drive cell fate decisions, has an enhancing role in the immunomodulatory effect on mesenchymal stem cells and the vasculogenesis of embryonic stem cells. 3D embryoid bodies (EBs) from pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) have been used as in vitro models for embr...

Our previous studies revealed that certain endogenous low molecular weight lipids have potent anti-diabetic actions. Of all, arachidonic acid (AA) and its anti-inflammatory and inflammation resolving metabolite lipoxin A4 (LXA4) are the most potent anti-diabetic molecules. Similar anti-diabetic action is also shown by resolvins. In our efforts to i...

COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 is an inflammatory condition involving mainly lungs, vascular endothelium, liver, heart, and brain with significant disturbances in the innate and adaptive immune responses. SARS-CoV-2 virus enters the cells by binding to ACE2 receptor that is present in many tissues. The availability of effective vaccines against SARS...

Syntaxin regulates pancreatic β cell mass and participates in insulin secretion by regulating insulin exocytosis. In addition, syntaxin 4 reduces IFNγ and TNF-α signaling via NF-ĸB in islet β-cells that facilitates plasma glucose sensing and appropriate insulin secretion. Arachidonic acid (AA) has potent anti-inflammatory actions and prevents the c...

Radiation is pro-inflammatory in nature in view of its ability to induce the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors with associated inflammatory cells. Cells are efficient in repairing radiation-induced DNA damage; however, exactly how this happens is not clear. In the present study, GLA reduced DNA d...

Autoimmune diseases are driven by TH17 cells that secrete pro-inflammatory cytokines, especially IL-17. Under normal physiological conditions, autoreactive T cells are suppressed by TGF-β and IL-10 secreted by microglia and dendritic cells. When this balance is upset due to injury, infection and other causes, leukocyte recruitment and macrophage ac...

The essential fatty acids (EFA), n3 alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), and n6 linoleic acid (LA) are of benefit in diabetes mellitus, but their mechanisms of action are unknown. We, therefore, examined the effects of EFAs on the metabolism, gut microbiota, and inflammatory and retinal histopathology indices in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced type 1 diabetes...

For normal maintenance of blood pressure and blood volume a well-balanced renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAS) is necessary. For this purpose, renin is secreted as the situation demands by the juxtaglomerular cells (also called as granular cells) that are in the walls of the afferent arterioles. Juxtaglomerular cells can sense minute changes...

Juxtaglomerular cells or granular cells synthesize, store, and secrete renin needed for the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone (RAS) to fine tune the maintenance of blood pressure and blood volume. The baroreceptor function of these granular cells may function as a nuclear mechanotransducer to sense and transmit the extracellular physical forces to thei...

Purpose: To evaluate and correlate retinal microvascular changes in prediabetic and diabetic patients with functional and systemic parameters. Methods: Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) was performed on all subjects after medical evaluation and laboratory investigations for blood sugar, glycosylated hemoglobin, and others. Automate...

Type 1 diabetes mellitus is an autoimmune disease characterized by increased production of pro-inflammatory cytokines secreted by infiltrating macrophages and T cells that destroy pancreatic β cells in a free radical-dependent manner that causes decrease or absence of insulin secretion and consequent hyperglycemia. Hence, suppression of pro-inflamm...

Objective To study whether resolvin D1 (RvD1), a metabolite of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), prevents NA-STZ-induced type 2 diabetes mellitus (type 2 DM) in vivo and if so, what could be the mechanism of this action. Material and Methods Single intra-peritoneal (i.p) injection of NA-STZ (175 mg/kg body weight of NA and 65 mg/kg of STZ) was injected...

ps://doi.org/10.1016/j.arcmed.2017.01.009Get rights and content Background and Aims Evidence suggests that quantity and quality of dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) play a role in the development of cancer. However, the mechanisms involved in this interaction(s) are not clear. Endocannabinoids are lipid metabolites known to have growth mo...

Resveratrol modulates the transcription factor NF-κB, cytochrome P450 isoenzyme CYP1A1, expression and activity of cyclooxygenase (COX) enzymes, Fas/Fas ligand mediated apoptosis, p53, mTOR and cyclins and various phospho-diesterases resulting in an increase in cytosolic cAMP levels. Cyclic AMP, in turn, activates Epac1/CaMKKβ/AMPK/SIRT1/PGC-1α pat...

Abstract Objective To study whether minimal doses of arachidonic acid (AA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and lipoxin A4 (LXA4) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), when used in combination can protect RIN5F cells from chemical-induced cytotoxicity. As a corollary, to know whether plasma BDNF and LXA4 are alter...

Background: Proteins of the insulin signaling pathway are needed for cell proliferation and development and glucose homeostasis. It is not known whether insulin signalling markers (Foxo1, Gsk3β) can be correlated with the expression on PI3K-Akt-mTOR pathway, which are needed for cell survival and maintenance of glucose homeostasis. In the present...

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have growth inhibitory action on tumor cells possibly, by augmenting free‐radical generation and accumulation of lipid peroxides. This study focused on PUFAs and their metabolites role on IMR‐32 cell proliferation with and without doxorubicin to elucidate their mechanism of action by employing cell viability assa...

Traditionally arachidonic acid (AA, 20:4 n-6) is considered as a pro-inflammatory molecule since it forms precursor to prostaglandins (PGs), leukotrienes (LTs) and thromboxanes (TXs) that have pro-inflammatory actions. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (type 2 DM) is considered as a low-grade systemic inflammatory condition in which circulating PGs and LTs...

Background: Neurodegenerative disorders, such as deficits in learning, memory and cognition and Alzheimer's disease are associated with diabetes mellitus. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a neurotrophic factor and is known to possess anti-obesity, anti-diabetic actions and is believed to have a role in memory and Alzheimer's disease. O...

Background and aims To evaluate whether a regimen of corticosteroids and cyclophosphamide, and methods designed to enhance endothelial NO synthesis and augment antioxidant defenses can lead to long-lasting remission of lupus and other autoimmune diseases. Methods Patients with established lupus, dermatomyositis and rheumatoid arthritis are seelcte...

Background and aims Lupus and lupus nephritis progression and flares are difficult to predict. Recently, osteoprotegerin, endothelin-1, CXCR3⁺ CD4⁺ T cells and MCP-1 mRNA expression in urine sediments have been described as possible biomarkers of lupus and lupus nephritis. But their relationship with histological activity has not been sufficiently...

Background and aims: Evidence suggests that quantity and quality of dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) play a role in the development of cancer. However, the mechanisms involved in this interaction(s) are not clear. Endocannabinoids are lipid metabolites known to have growth modulatory actions. We studied the effect of supplementation wit...

Background: PPARγ is an isoform of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) belonging to a super family of nuclear receptors. PPARγ receptor is found to play a crucial role in the modulation of lipid and glucose homeostasis. Its commotion has been reported to play a significant role in a broad spectrum of diseases such as type 2 diabetes m...

Contributing reviewers The editors of Lipids in Health and Disease would like to thank all our reviewers who have contributed to the journal in Volume 14 (2015).

Background Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a complex disease with alterations in metabolic and inflammatory markers. Stillman Salgado rats (eSS) spontaneously develop type 2 DM by middle age showing progressive impairment of glucose tolerance with hyperglycemia, hypertriglyceridemia and hyperinsulinemia. We analyzed the effects of supplementation of ω-3...

Objective: We studied whether polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) can protect rat insulinoma (RIN5F) cells against alloxan-induced apoptosis in vitro and type 1 diabetes mellitus (type 1 DM) in vivo and if so, mechanism of this beneficial action. Material and methods: In vitro study was conducted using RIN5F cells while in vivo study was perform...

Background Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that displays significant heterogeneity. Comparison of subgroups within autism, and analyses of selected biomarkers as measure of the variation of the severity of autistic features such as cognitive dysfunction, social interaction impairment, and sensory abnormalities might help in understanding th...

Set 1 biomarker data collected from 35 autistic patients and 38 healthy control participants. PE: phosphatidylethanolamine, PS: phosphatidylserine, PC: phosphatidylcholine, MAP2K1: mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 1, IL-10: interleukin 10, IL-12: interleukin 12, NF-κB: nuclear factor kappa B. (DOC)

Set 2 biomarker data collected from 29 autistic patients and 16 healthy control participants. PGE2: prostaglandin E2, PGE2-EP2: prostaglandin E2 receptor 2, PGES: membrane-bound prostaglandin E synthase 1, COX-2: cyclooxygenase 2, cPLA2: cytosolic phospholipase A2. (DOC)

Diabetic macular edema (DME) and diabetic retinopathy (DR) are complications affecting about 25% of all patients with long-standing type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus and are a major cause of significant decrease in vision and quality of life. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is not uncommon, and diabetes mellitus affects the incidence and p...

Objective: The aim of this study was to observe whether polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) can protect rat insulinoma (RIN5 F) cells against streptozotocin (STZ)-induced apoptosis in vitro and type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and type 2 DM (T2DM) in vivo and if so, what would be the mechanism of this action. Methods: RIN5 F cells were used for t...

Obesity and its consequent complications such as hypertension and metabolic syndrome are increasing in incidence in almost all countries. Insulin resistance is common in obesity. Renin– angiotensin system (RAS) is an important target in the treatment of hypertension and drugs that act on RAS improve insulin resistance and decrease the incidence of...

Objective: The study was conducted to observe whether brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has cytoprotective actions against alloxan (AL), streptozotocin (STZ), doxorubicin (DB) and benzo(a)pyrene (BP) compounds in vitro that may account for its beneficial action in diabetes mellitus. Materials and methods: This in vitro study was performed...

The inflammatory process seen in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is due to excess production of pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-1 (IL-1), IL-6, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interferons (IFNs), macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), HMGB1 (high mobility group B1) and possibly, a reduction in anti-inflammatory cytokines IL-10, IL-4...

Free radicals and consequent lipid peroxidation process and lipid peroxides have direct effects on cell growth and development, cell survival and play a significant role in various diseases including cancer. During the electron-transport steps of ATP production, due to the leakage of electrons from mitochondria, reactive oxygen species (ROS), e.g.,...

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays an important role in neuronal survival and growth, serves as a neurotransmitter modulator, and participates in neuronal plasticity, which is essential for learning and memory. It is widely expressed in the CNS, gut and other tissues. BDNF binds to its high affinity receptor TrkB (tyrosine kinase B) and...

Introduction: Colorectal cancer is common in developed countries. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have been reported to possess tumoricidal action, but the exact mechanism of their action is not clear. Material and methods: In the present study, we studied the effect of various n-6 and n-3 fatty acids on the survival of the colon cancer cell...

Breast feeding not only reduces the risk of necrotizing enterocolitis, atopy, and infection, and improves cognitive development but also protects against development of obesity, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and imparts a favorable lipid profile in adult life. Human breast milk contains adequate amounts of protein, fat, carbohydrates, lactose, c...

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are vital for normal growth and development and physiological function of various tissues in humans. PUFAs have immunomodulatory actions in addition to their ability to modulate inflammation, vascular reactivity, neurotransmission and stem cell biology. PUFAs and their metabolites possess both pro- and anti-infla...

An imbalance of dietary lipids may potentially have a significant role in the pathobiology of some chronic diseases. Public health dietary fat recommendations have emphasized that low saturated fat, high monounsaturated fat, and high polyunsaturated fat with a lower ω-6 to ω-3 fatty acid ratio intake are necessary for normal health. However, such u...

Contributing reviewers The editors of Lipids in Health and Disease would like to thank all our reviewers who have contributed to the journal in Volume 13 (2014).

Gastric cancer is the second most common cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is a commonly used anti-cancer drug. Various polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are known to have tumoricidal action both in vitro and in vivo. Though PUFAs are known to augment the cytotoxic action of anti-cancer drugs, the exact mechanism...

Inflammation is associated with promotion of the initiation of various malignancies, partly due to bacterial infection-induced microenvironmental changes. However, the exact association between microbiota in urine, seminal fluid and the expressed prostatic secretions and benign prostatic hypertrophy and prostate cancer is not clear. In the present...

Background: Colorectal cancer is common. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) exert growth-inhibitory and pro-apoptotic effects on colon cancer cells. Metabolites of PUFAs such as prostaglandins (PGs), leukotrienes (LTs) and lipoxins (LXs) play a significant role in colon cancer. Methods: Human colon cancer LoVo and RKO cells were cultured with d...

Background Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is associated with carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), which is a good predictor of cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, among individuals with MetS, direct comparative data regarding the utility of the apoB/apoAΙ ratio and the non-HDL-C/HDL-C ratio to diagnose carotid atherosclerosis are scarce, particular...

Nutritional factors such as magnesium, folic acid, vitamin B12, vitamin B6, L-arginine, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and adequate intake of protein to maintain normal concentrations of plasma albumin are of benefit for patients with coronary heart disease, and heart failure. These nutritional factors (magnesium, folic acid, vitamin B12, vita...

Ageing is inevitable for all living organisms and the purpose of the present review is to discuss recent evidences that suggest that ageing could be delayed if not prevented in toto. Ageing is a low-grade systemic inflammatory condition so also type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension and endothelial dysfunction whose incidence increases with advanci...

In the present study, we noted that bleomycin induced growth inhibitory action was augmented by all the polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) tested on human neuroblastoma IMR-32 (0.5×104 cells/100 µl of IMR) cells (EPA> DHA> ALA = GLA = AA> DGLA = LA: ∼60, 40, 30, 10-20% respectively) at the maximum doses used. Of all the prostaglandins (PGE1, PGE2,...

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a serious complication of long-standing diabetes mellitus. It affects about 25% of all patients with diabetes mellitus and causes a significant decrease in the quality of life. Despite many years of research, the exact pathway that leads to the development and progression of DR is not clear. Recent studies suggest that...

Nutritional factors such as magnesium, folic acid, vitamin B12, vitamin B6, L-arginine, and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) appear to be of significant benefit for patients with coronary heart disease, and in the prevention and arresting the progression of heart failure and cardiac arrhythmias. In addition, ingestion of adequate amount of prote...

Background The aim of this study was to investigate the possible correlation between levels of serum liver enzymes and impaired fasting glucose (IFG) in Chinese adults and to provide a new perspective for the prevention of pre-diabetes. Material/Methods Serum liver enzymes of the samples including alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotra...

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease characterized by insulin resistance; inflammation; oxidative stress; vascular damage; and dysfunction of glucose, protein, and lipid metabolisms. However, comparatively less attention has been paid to neurologic alterations seen in elderly individuals with type 2 diabetes. We review clinical, metabolic,...

Objective We studied the effects of some PUFAs plus phytomelatonin from walnuts seeds in mammary gland adenocarcinoma (M3) development. Methods BALB/c mice were fed a semi-synthetic diet supplemented with either: 6% walnut oil and 8% walnut flour containing phytomelatonin (Walnut diet: WD); or 6% corn oil plus commercial melatonin (Melatonin diet:...

Sepsis accounts for more than 200,000 deaths annually in the USA alone. Both inflammatory and anti-inflammatory responses occur simultaneously in sepsis, the early phase dominated by the hyperinflammatory response and the late phase by immunosuppression. This late immunosuppression phase leads to loss of the delayed type hypersensitivity response,...

Many studies show that fish oil with high content of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) plays an important role in human health and disease. But the effects of fish oil with high content of PUFAs on gut microbiota, which are also known play a significant role in several human diseases, is not clear. In the present study we evaluated the effect...

Diabetic retinopathy is a common condition that occurs in patients with diabetes with long-standing hyperglycemia that is characterized by inappropriate angiogenesis. This pathological angiogenesis could be a sort of physiological proliferative response to injury by the endothelium. Recent studies suggested that reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a...

To evaluate the effect of effect of Yellow Capsicum extract (YCE) that is rich in capsaicin on the proliferation and differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes in vitro. 3T3 L1 cells that were exposed to differentiation-inducing medium containing high glucose DMEM (Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium) and subsequently were treated with capsaicin and YC...

Catheter-based renal denervation (RDN) is an effective treatment for resistant hypertension. But negative results with this procedure are also not uncommon. It is believed that the effectiveness of RDN is due to decreased sympathetic activity. It is suggested that the beneficial action of RDN could also at least, in part, due to restoration of bala...

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the leading causes of death in the elderly men. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) regulate proliferation of cancer cells. In the present study, we evaluated the effect of various PUFAs on the proliferation and survival of human prostate cancer (PC-3) and human prostate epithelial (RWPE-1) cells in vitro. LA, GLA, A...

Water caltrop is a popular traditional vegetable in China, and its pericarps are always wasted. In the present work reported here, pericarps from three different Chinese water caltrop cultivars were collected and extracted using 70% methanol and hot water. All the extracts contained significant amounts of polyphenols (183.7-201.7 mg GAE/g), flavono...