Aspirin may influence cellular energy status

Our current mass spectroscopic studies further confirm the metabolism of the drugs ASA and SA. Our studies show that HepG2 cells readily converted ASA to SA, which was then metabolized to 2,3-DHBA. HepG2 cells transfected with aryl hydrocarbon receptor siRNA upon treatment with SA showed the absence of a DHBA peak as measured by LC-MS/MS. MS studies for Sirt1 action also showed a peak at 180.9 m/z for the deacetylated and chlorinated product formed from N-acetyl lε-lysine. Thus an increase in Sirt4, Nrf2, Tfam, UCP1, eNOS, HO1 and STAT3 genes could profoundly affect mitochondrial function, cholesterol homeostasis, and fatty acid oxidation, suggesting that ASA could be beneficial beyond simply its ability to inhibit cyclooxygenase.