Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a distinct form of diabetes that poses significant threats to the health of both pregnant women and fetuses. The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of behenic acid (BA) on glucose metabolism, inflammation, and insulin resistance in GDM mice, as well as elucidate its underlying molecular mechanism. Here, we demonstrate that BA effectively ameliorated abnormal glucose metabolism in GDM mice and their offspring and improving birth outcomes forthe offspring. Moreover, BA promoted the proliferation of islet β cells and restored their normal function. Additionally, BA enhanced glucose uptake of skeletal muscle cells while mitigated inflammation and insulin resistance of GDM mice through inhibiting the activation of TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway. Our study provides compelling evidence supporting the efficacy of BA in improving GDM, suggesting its potential use as a promising dietary supplement for preventing and treating GDM.

BACKGROUND:Diabetes mellitus (DM) and complications such as chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular symptoms pose a substantial public health burden. Increasing studies have shown that circular RNAs (circRNAs) regulate many gene expressions that are essential in diverse pathological and biological procedures. However, the roles of particular circRNAs in DM are unclear. METHODS:In the current investigation, endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) were used to search for abnormal expression of circRNAs by using high-throughput sequencing under high glucose (HG) conditions. The regulatory mechanisms and targets were then studied through bioinformatics analysis, luciferase reporter analysis, angiogenic differentiation experiments, flow cytometry detection of apoptosis and RT-qPCR analysis. RESULTS:The circ-Astn1 expression in EPCs decreased after HG treatment. Overexpression or circ-Astn1 suppressed HG induced endothelial cell damage. MicroRNA (miR)-138-5p and SIRT5 were found to be the downstream targets of circ-Astn1 through luciferase reporter analysis. SIRT5 downregulation or miR-138-5p overexpression reversed circ-Astn1's protective effect against HG induced endothelial cell dysfunction, including apoptosis and abnormal vascular differentiation. Furthermore, circ-Astn1 overexpression promoted autophagy activation by increasing SIRT5 expression under HG conditions. Our findings suggest that circ-Astn1 mediated promotion of SIRT5 facilitates autophagy by sponging miR-138-5p. CONLUSION:Together, our findings show that the overexpression of circ-Astn1 suppresses HG induced endothelial cell damage by targeting miR-138-5p/SIRT5 axis.

Background: The cellular mechanism of the formation of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is very complicated. A series of sophisticated events eventually led to significant pathological changes in the anatomical structure and function of the arterial wall and they are still not clear nowadays. Methods: We pooled publicly available GEO datasets (GSE57691 and GSE47472) to get a comprehensive comparisons between normal tissues and AAA tissues to try to reveal molecular mechanism underlying the disease. Total 63 AAA samples and 18 normal tissue samples were compared and we fond that there were 784 significantly different gene (DEGs, threshold set as adjusted P < 0.05 and Log FC < 1) were identified. At the same time, we validate the possible signaling factor expression of AAA by comparing the normal tissue of the human body with the AAA tissue. Results: In the pathway enrichment, we found that FOXP3 related signaling pathways, inflammation-related cytokine signaling pathways, interleukin-8-CXCR1 related signaling pathways and VEGFA and FGFR1 related signal pathway were significantly enrichmented. In Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), we found that the key hub genes were significantly related to lipid catabolic metabolism, which further verified the possibility that AAA might relate to energy metabolism disorders. Conclusion: Based on the comprehensive analysis of previous high-throughput data and the validation of basic experiments, we found that the occurrence of AAA may be related to energy metabolism disorders and local inflammation.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) regulate the expression of genes that are critical for various biological and pathological processes. Previous studies have reported that the expression of hsa_circ_0058092 is decreased in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM); however, the specific role of this circRNA in DM is unknown. In the present study, endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) were isolated and a decreased hsa_circ_0058092 expression was found under conditions of hyperglycemia (HG). The overexpression of hsa_circ_0058092 protected the EPCs against HG-induced damage by preserving cell survival, proliferation, migration and angiogenic differentiation. The overexpression of hsa_circ_0058092 also decreased the HG-induced increase in NADPH-oxidase proteins and inflammatory cytokines. Further investigation revealed that the overexpression of hsa_circ_0058092 enhanced FOXO3 expression, which was mediated through the interaction with miR-217. Furthermore, the upregulation of miR-217 or the downregulation of FOXO3 abolished the protective effects of hsa_circ_0058092 against HG-induced EPC damage. On the whole, these data suggest that hsa_circ_0058092 acts via the miR-217/FOXO3 pathway to protect against EPCs HG-induced damage, and to preserve the migration and angiogenesis of EPCs.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic, multifactorial metabolic disease whereby insulin deficiency or resistance results in hyperglycemia. A sustained high glucose environment results in inflammation and endothelial cell dysfunction. However, the underlying mechanisms are still not entirely clear. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are recognized as functional non-coding RNAs involved in diverse biological processes, including DM. Previous studies have found that hsa_circ_0068087 is increased in DM patients. In order to identify whether hsa_circ_0068087 plays a role in high glucose (HG)-induced inflammation and endothelial cell dysfunction Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cell (HUVECs), quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRTPCR), tube formation assay, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and bifluorescein reporter experiments were employed in this study. The results showed that the expression of hsa_circ_0068087 was upregulated in HUVECs following increases in glucose. Knockdown of hsa_circ_0068087 suppressed HG-induced HUVEC dysfunction and inflammation by suppression of the TLR4/NF-κB/NLRP3 inflammasome signaling pathway. Downregulation of miR-197 reversed hsa_circ_0068087 silence-induced HUVEC dysfunction and inflammation in the HG condition. It was found that TLR4 was the target of miR-197 and that overexpression of TLR4 ameliorated miR-197-induced HUVEC dysfunction and inhibited inflammation in the HG condition. Bifluorescein report experiments confirmed that miR-197 is a potential target of hsa_circ_0068087 and that TLR4 is a potential miR-197 target. Taken together, these results suggest that downregulation of hsa_circ_0068087 ameliorates TLR4/NF-κB/NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated inflammation and endothelial cell dysfunction in the high glucose condition by sponging miR-197.

Purpose: To investigate the effects of exogenous basic fibroblast growth factor -2 (FGF-2) on the biological activity of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) exposed to high glucose conditions. Materials and Methods: 1) Bone marrow EPCs from C57BL/6 mice were isolated and cultured in vitro. EPC purity was identified by flow cytometry and immunofluorescence staining. 2) Apoptosis was detected by TUNEL assay. Migration and tube formation ability was detected by Transwell chamber and Matrigel assays, respectively. The expression and activation of β-catenin was detected by Western blot. 3) Doppler flowmetry was used to detect the effect of FGF2 on blood flow recovery in ischemic hind limbs of mice. Results: 1) FGF-2 treatment reversed high glucose induced growth inhibition of EPCs. FGF-2 treatment also increased migration and tube formation ability of EPCs even in high glucose conditions. 2) Western blot analysis demonstrated that the percentage of activated β-catenin/total β-catenin in the high glucose group were significantly lower than that in the control group, while FGF-2 treatment reversed high glucose induced β-catenin inhibition. 3) In vivo experiments demonstrated that the blood flow recovery in ischemic hind limbs of mice was significantly improved after FGF-2 treatment. Conclusion: Exogenous FGF-2 could play a role in the functional repair of damaged EPC exposed to high glucose conditions, via the activation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.