Josai University

Dysmenorrhea, characterized by painful menstruation, can influence body composition, muscle strength, and metabolic function. This study aimed to investigate differences and relationships between body composition variables, phase angle (PhA), muscle strength, and urine metabolites among Japanese female individuals with and without dysmenorrhea.

Thirty-four participants, divided into healthy menstruating control (n = 15) and dysmenorrhea (n = 19) groups, were included. PhA, whole body lean soft tissue (WB LST), visceral fat (VF) and subcutaneous fat (SF), hand grip strength (HGS), leg strength, and urine metabolites were measured using multifrequency bioelectrical impedance analysis, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, computed tomography, dynamometry, and liquid chromatography, respectively.

No significant differences were found in the characteristic variables. BMI, PhA, and muscle strength showed a positive association only in the control group. However, menstrual status (control/dysmenorrhea, 0/1) did not affect muscle strength. Conversely, a negative coefficient (LASSO: -0.098; Elastic net: -0.109) demonstrated that the dysmenorrhea group had lower predictive PhA values than did the control group. PhA and WB LST were identified as meaningful predictors of HGS (R² = 0.433) and leg strength (R² = 0.251). Acylcarnitine metabolites were positively associated with VF and PhA in the dysmenorrhea and control groups, respectively.

The study findings highlight distinct associations among body composition, PhA, muscle strength, and urinary metabolites in these female groups. However, the study is limited by the absence of severity of dysmenorrhea symptoms, phases of menstruation, and no adjustment for lifestyle factors. A future longitudinal study is warranted to understand these physiological association between the control and dysmenorrhea groups.

Microbiota-derived metabolites play crucial roles in gastrointestinal infections caused by enteric pathogens. One notable example is short-chain fatty acids, such as acetate, propionate, and butyrate, which are beneficial for health and protective against infection. This study highlights that the gut microbiota‒derived polyamine spermidine drives luminal growth of enteric bacterial pathogens. The findings suggest that higher luminal levels of polyamines may be a risk factor for enteric infections. Therefore, regulating luminal polyamines could represent a promising therapeutic intervention for gastrointestinal infections.

The more than 35 described biogenic polyamines have important roles in physiological processes ranging from acid-base buffering to the scavenging of oxygen free radicals. As such they have key cellular- and organismal-level functions in environmental adaptation, cell growth, cell differentiation, fertilization, and biomineralization. To determine cellular polyamine distribution profiles in animals at the base of the phylogenetic tree, the acid-extracted polyamines from cultured cells of a unicellular choanoflagellate and whole bodies of five multicellular invertebrate groups (total 20 species) were quantitatively analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography and high-performance gas chromatography. Both the choanoflagellate and hydra contained putrescine and spermidine. Diaminopropane, putrescine, cadaverine, norspermidine, spermidine, homospermidine, norspermine, spermine, thermospermine and agmatine were commonly identified among the other invertebrates. In unusual/rare polyamines, aminopropylhomospermidine, homospermine, caldopentamine and homopentamine were found in sponges; aminopropylhomospermidine and canavalmine in the comb jelly; canavalmine, aminopropylcanavalmine and homopyropentamine in jellyfishes; and canavalmine and homopyropentamine in sea anemones. However, long-chain polyamines were not found in soft corals.