Natural therapy: Inflammation

Showing posts with label Inflammation. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

How DHA Resolves Inflammation Explained By Harvard and USC Scientists

by Rukmani Krishna on? July 05, 2013 at 10:52 PM General Health News Bethesda, MD?Chronic inflammation is a major factor in a wide range of problems from arthritis to cardiovascular disease. DHA (found in fish oil) is known to temper this problem. A new research report helps explain why DHA is important in reducing inflammation, and provides an important lead to finding new drugs that will help bring people back to optimal health. The report can be found in the July 2013 issue of The FASEB Journal. Specifically, researchers found that macrophages (a type of white blood cell) use DHA to produce "maresins," which serve as the "switch" that turns inflammation off and switches on resolution. How DHA Resolves Inflammation Explained By Harvard and USC Scientists
"We hope that the results from this study will enable investigators to test the relevance of the maresin pathway in human disease," said Charles N. Serhan, Ph.D., a researcher involved in the work from the Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass. "Moreover, we hope to better understand resolution biology and its potential pharmacology so that we can enhance our ability to control unwanted inflammation and improve the quality of life."

To make this discovery, Serhan and colleagues deconstructed the biosynthetic pathway for maresin biosynthesis and found that human macrophages are responsible for converting DHA to the novel epoxide intermediate "13S, 14S-epoxy-maresin." Then, they learned how to synthesize the molecule and found that maresins caused macrophages to change their "type" so they no longer caused inflammation (switching them from M1 to M2 phenotypes).

"We've known for a long time that DHA tames inflammation, now, we learn exactly how DHA works: via new substances called maresins," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. "We encounter inflammation almost daily, but our body has ways of turning it off. This is an important step toward understanding exactly this happens. You're likely to be hearing a lot more about maresins if, or when, new therapies arise from this discovery."

Source-Eurekalert

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Monday, June 10, 2013

In COPD Patients, Inflammation Is Associated With Depression

by Bidita Debnath on? May 25, 2013 at 11:48 PM Research News In chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients, depression is common and has been linked with disease severity and impaired quality of life. In COPD Patients, Inflammation Is Associated With Depression
Now, for the first time, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have linked the systemic inflammation associated with COPD with depression in these patients.

"Systemic inflammation is thought to be an important mediator of comorbidities in COPD, but the relationship between inflammation and depression has not been explored," said researcher Hilary Strollo, M.S., a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. "In our study, we found a strong association between depressive symptoms and levels of the inflammatory biomarker interleukin-6 (IL-6) which was independent of the severity of airflow obstruction."

The study results will be presented at the ATS 2013 International Conference in Philadelphia.

The study included 450 tobacco-exposed patients. Assessment included the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Saint George Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), and the UCSD Shortness of Breath Questionnaire (SOBQ). Spirometry and multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) of the chest were also performed.

Of 235 male patients enrolled, 37 were depressed, and of 215 females, 49 were depressed. Clinical and biological variables that were found to be significantly associated with depression included the forced expiratory volume or FEV1, a measure of the maximum amount of air that can be exhaled in one second, gender, IL-6 levels, SGRQ Total Score, UCSD SOBQ Total Score, Visual Emphysema Score, and current smoking status.

The strongest associations were seen between depressive symptoms and FEV1, followed by female gender, current smoking status and increased IL-6.

"Depression has been linked with a number of symptoms and comorbidities in COPD patients," said Ms. Strollo. "Our findings add evidence of a strong relationship between depression and one of the hallmarks of COPD, systemic inflammation, independent of the severity of disease."

"The assessment and treatment of depression should be part of the routine care of COPD patients."

Source-Newswise

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DM

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

How DHA Resolves Inflammation Explained By Harvard and USC Scientists

Monday, June 10, 2013

In COPD Patients, Inflammation Is Associated With Depression