METHODS: Chinese and Malay men (n = 382) aged 20 years or above residing in the Klang Valley, Malaysia were recruited. Their fasting blood was collected for serum testosterone, sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) and 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) assays. Relationship between 25(OH)D and testosterone levels was analyzed using multiple regression analysis. Testosterone and SHBG levels among subjects with different vitamin D status were compared using univariate analysis. Confounders such as age, ethnicity and body mass index (BMI) were adjusted.
RESULTS: 25(OH)D was significantly and positively associated with total testosterone and SHBG levels before and after adjustment for age and ethnicity (p 0.05).
CONCLUSION: 25(OH)D is significantly associated with total testosterone and SHBG in Malaysian men but this association is BMI-dependent.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Tocotrienol-rich fraction was used to treat different stages of cellular aging of primary human diploid fibroblasts viz. young (passage 6), pre-senescent (passage 15) and senescent (passage 30). Several selected targets involved in the downstream of PI3K/AKT and RAF/MEK/ERK pathways were compared in total RNA and protein.
RESULTS: Different transcriptional profiles were observed in young, pre-senescent and senescent HDFs, in which cellular aging increased AKT, FOXO3, CDKN1A and RSK1 mRNA expression level, but decreased ELK1, FOS and SIRT1 mRNA expression level. With tocotrienol-rich fraction treatment, gene expression of AKT, FOXO3, ERK and RSK1 mRNA was decreased in senescent cells, but not in young cells. The three down-regulated mRNA in cellular aging, ELK1, FOS and SIRT1, were increased with tocotrienol-rich fraction treatment. Expression of FOXO3 and P21Cip1 proteins showed up-regulation in senescent cells but tocotrienol-rich fraction only decreased P21Cip1 protein expression in senescent cells.
CONCLUSIONS: Tocotrienol-rich fraction exerts gene modulating properties that might be responsible in promoting cell cycle progression during cellular aging.