Knockout of a putative ergothioneine transporter in Caenorhabditis elegans decreases lifespan and increases susceptibility to oxidative damage.

In addition to excretion of metabolic waste products, organic ionic transporters facilitate uptake of specific compounds of physiological importance. In animals, the organic cation transporter, OCTN1 was found to enable the specific uptake of the unique amino acid, ergothioneine (EGT). EGT can accumulate in the body at up to millimolar concentrations and is believed to function as a physiological antioxidant. However the main function of EGT and the reasons for its active accumulation in the body remain obscure. Through bioinformatic approaches, we identified an analogous EGT transporter in the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans. The present study investigated and characterized deletion mutants of this gene, OCT-1, in the nematodes. Gene deletion mutations of the OCT-1 transporter were shown to decrease overall lifespan of the worms and increase oxidative damage. However the absence of impaired EGT uptake and the inability of excess EGT to rescue the debilitating phenotype indicate that EGT transport does not explain the deleterious effects of the gene deletion.

A high-fat and cholesterol diet causes fatty liver in guinea pigs. The role of iron and oxidative damage.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common chronic liver disease. Iron, cholesterol, and oxidative damage are frequently suggested to be related to the progression of NAFLD, but the precise relationship between them remains unclear. Guinea pigs fed on a high cholesterol and fat diet (without oxidized lipids) generated a disease model of NAFLD with hallmark observations in liver histology and increased liver damage markers. Hepatic cholesterol and iron levels were found to be significantly elevated and directly correlated. Plasma hepcidin and transferrin levels were decreased. Plasma iron concentrations were found to be elevated, likely due to an increased intestinal iron absorption caused by the decrease in plasma hepcidin. However, hepatic transferrin receptor-2 levels were unchanged. No significant increase in hepatic lipid peroxidation was detected using F2-isoprostanes as a reliable biomarker, nor was there a rise in protein carbonyls, a general index of oxidative protein damage. Some increases in cholesterol oxidation products were observed, but largely negated after normalizing for the elevated hepatic cholesterol content. Indeed, increased hemosiderin deposition and unchanged ferritin levels in liver suggested that the excess iron mainly existed as hemosiderin, which is redox-inactive.