Ascorbic acid, or vitamin C, is well known as a co-factor for proline-hydroxylase and as an anti-oxidant. However, it is also capable of forming covalent bonds, particularly in the role of a nucleophile, henceforth termed 'ascorbylation'.
The ascorbylation of electrophiles can occur under physiological conditions. Furthermore, there are a number...
Dietary nitrate (NO3-), consumed primarily from leafy green and root vegetables, lowers blood pressure, improves vascular function and aerobic exercise performance. This performance-enhancing effect of nitrate supplementation is largely attributed to the increased bioavailability of the signaling molecule, nitric oxide (NO). Nitric oxide is a ubiquitous free radical signaling molecule...
Obesity is a complex multifactorial disease resulting from excessive energy intake compared to energy expenditure. The excess energy is mostly stored as fat in enlarged adipocytes, but some lipids may infiltrate other organs such as the liver to form ectopic fat. Adipose tissue and ectopic fat produce and secrete a...
Nitric oxide (NO) is a signaling molecule that regulates blood pressure and vascular tone. Humans produce NO by endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), which is impaired in patients with cardiovascular disease leading to increased blood pressure, endothelial dysfunction, and an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes. Maintaining optimal levels of...
Obesity is achieved at the point where fat accumulation begins to exert deleterious effects on an organism. The human body accrues fat when there is an energy imbalance occurring, where caloric intake exceeds expenditure.Many anti-obesity drugs used in the past have had undesirable side effects, and currently there is a...
Metabolic syndrome, characterized by a collection of risk factors including abdominal obesity, insulin insensitivity, elevated plasma triglycerides, hypertension and low plasma high-density lipoproteins (HDLs), is a major contributing factor to the development of cardiovascular diseases and type II diabetes (T2D). Xanthohumol (XN), a flavonoid isolated from Humulus lupulus cones, has...
This work sought to characterize a link between Vitamin C and nitroglycerin at the level of enzymatic bioactivation. Before we could proceed, we needed to develop a method that sensitively and selectively identified the product of bioactivation, nitrite. We successfully adapted traditional diaminonaphthalene derivatization with the use of stable isotope...
Flavonoids are a large family of compounds synthesized by plants that have a common chemical structure. It is believed that the health effects of fruits and vegetables are primarily due to dietary flavonoids content. Current research indicates that dietary flavonoids show promise for mitigating and/or preventing chronic conditions associated with...