“
“Telomeres are ribonucleoprotein

structures capping the end of every linear chromosome. In all vertebrates, they are composed of TTAGGG repeats coated with specific protecting proteins. Telomeres shorten with each mitotic cell division, but telomerase, a reverse transcriptase, elongate telomeres in very specific cells, such as embryonic and adult stem cells. Although telomere sequence is identical in mice and humans and telomeres serve the same role of protecting chromosomes and genetic information from damage and erosion in both species, abnormalities in telomere maintenance and in telomerase buy SNX-5422 function do not coincide in phenotype in humans and mice. The telomeres of most laboratory mice are 5 to 10 times longer than in humans, but their lifespan is 30 times shorter. Complete absence of telomerase has little expression in phenotype over several generations in mice, whereas heterozygosity for telomerase mutations in humans is sufficient to result in organ regeneration defect and cancer development. Patients with telomerase deficiency and very short telomeres may develop aplastic anemia, pulmonary fibrosis, or cirrhosis, whereas telomerase-null murine models display only modest hematopoietic deficiency and develop emphysema when exposed to cigarette smoke. In summary, telomerase

deficiency in both humans and mice accelerate telomere selleck kinase inhibitor shortening, but its consequences in the different organs and in the organism diverge, mainly due to telomere length differences. Semin Hematol 50:165-174. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.”
“Objective: We applied a comparative functional genomics GW786034 inhibitor approach to evaluate whether diet-induced obese ( DIO) rats serve as an effective obesity model.\n\nMethods and Procedures: Gene-expression profiles of epididymal fat from DIO and lean rats were generated using microarrays and compared with the published array data of obese and non-obese human subcutaneous adipocytes.\n\nResults: Caloric intake and fuel efficiency were significantly higher in DIO rats, which resulted in increased body weight and adiposity. Circulating glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride,

insulin, and leptin levels in DIO rats were significantly higher than those in the lean controls. DIO rats also exhibited impaired insulin sensitivity. A direct comparison of gene-expression profiles from DIO and lean rats and those from obese and non-obese humans revealed that global gene-expression patterns in DIO rat fat resemble those of obese human adipocytes. Differentially expressed genes between obese and non-obese subjects in both human and rat studies were identified and associated with biological pathways by mapping genes to Gene Ontology ( GO) categories. Immune response-related genes and angiogenesis-related genes exhibited significant upregulation in both obese humans and DIO rats when compared with non-obese controls.