Dr. Du Zhen-Yu, senior scientist of National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research (NIFES), Norway, paid a visit to IHB during March 29 and 30, 2012.

Dr. Du Zhen-Yu, senior scientist of National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research (NIFES), Norway, paid a visit to Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IHB) during March 29 and 30, 2012.

On the afternoon of March 29, Dr. Du had a seminar with the students of the Research Group of Fish Physiological Ecology at IHB. Dr. Du explained the research puzzles for the students in a simple and vivid way. He encouraged the students to widen their perspectives and fields of study.  

On the morning of April 30, Dr. Du presented a report entitled "β-oxidation modulates competition between eicosapentaenoic acid and arachidonic acid regulating prostaglandin E2 synthesis in rat hepatocytes–Kupffer cells” for IHB researchers and students. Today, more and more people care about the effect of fatty acid and lipid on human health, which has a close relationship with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and obesity. Therefore, in recent years, many nutritional studies focused on the metabolic mechanism of fatty acid. It has been proved using single cell models that n-3 PUFA could competitively inhibit arachidonic acid (AA), the precursor of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), in membrane and prostaglandin synthesis and reduce the inflammation. But few literatures mentioned the pathways of fatty acid oxidation in cell models.  

In Dr. Du’s study, a rat hepatocyte–Kupffer cell (HPC/KC) co-culture system was introduced to investigate the metabolic competition between AA and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) for PGE2 synthesis. He found that L-carnitine affected competition between AA and EPA in PG synthesis by enhancing oxidation of EPA in HPCs. Dr. Du also pointed out that anti-in？ammation effects of n-3 PUFA, especially EPA, were modulated by the cellular oxidation capacity. The researchers and students of IHB communicated actively with Dr. Du on this topic after the presentation. 

Dr. Du’s fields of work are lipid and fatty acid metabolism in vivo and in vitro, cellular biochemistry and physiology, comparative physiology between mammalian and fish models, and food safety. He has published over 50 papers and over 30 papers have been published in international journals. Dr. Du also serves as reviewers of 13 international and Chinese journals.