Research progress of drug toxicity mechanism based on the gut microbiota / 药学学报

The exploration of drug toxicity and mechanisms is a vital component in ensuring the safe use of drugs in clinical practice, as this topic has attracted widespread concern. The intestinal flora holds great significance for drug metabolism, efficacy and mechanism, and is an instrumental metabolic organ that facilitates material information transfer and biotransformation. However, an increasing number of studies have shown that intestinal bacteria are closely related to the toxicity of specific drugs. On the one hand, drugs are transformed into toxic metabolites under the influence of intestinal bacteria, thus inducing direct drug toxicity. On the other hand, the composition and function of the intestinal flora are altered under drug influence, resulting in disruption of endogenous metabolic pathways. Consequently, this disruption compromises the intestinal barrier and affects other organs, leading to indirect drug toxicity. This review meticulously compiles recent examples of drug toxicity attributed to intestinal bacteria, explores in depth the contention that metabolic enzymes of gut microbiota may be of great influence on oral drug toxicity, and outlines prospective avenues for future research on gut microbiota and drug toxicity and mechanisms. This not only provides novel perspectives for the judicious clinical utilization of drugs but also offers insights for the safety assessment of innovative pharmaceuticals.

The toxicity of ZnO and CuO nanoparticles on biological wastewater treatment and its detoxification: a review / 生物工程学报

The wide use of ZnO and CuO nanoparticles in research, medicine, industry, and other fields has raised concerns about their biosafety. It is therefore unavoidable to be discharged into the sewage treatment system. Due to the unique physical and chemical properties of ZnO NPs and CuO NPs, it may be toxic to the members of the microbial community and their growth and metabolism, which in turn affects the stable operation of sewage nitrogen removal. This study summarizes the toxicity mechanism of two typical metal oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs and CuO NPs) to nitrogen removal microorganisms in sewage treatment systems. Furthermore, the factors affecting the cytotoxicity of metal oxide nanoparticles (MONPs) are summarized. This review aims to provide a theoretical basis and support for the future mitigating and emergent treatment of the adverse effects of nanoparticles on sewage treatment systems.

Pay attention to health hazards of diesel exhaust exposure, and strengthen occupational protection / 环境与职业医学

The air pollution related health hazards have been a major public health issue for a long time. As an important source of air pollution, diesel exhaust (DE) exposure associates with serious adverse health outcomes. Apart from the exposure in general population, extensive occupational DE exposure populations are reported in many industries, such as transportation, mining, shipping, and construction. Therefore, the studies for internal exposure levels, biomarkers, and toxic mechanisms of DE in occupational population are critical for protecting human from DE-posed health hazards. This special column published some novel findings involving DE exposure (internal & external exposure level), multiple biological effects, toxicity mechanisms, key molecular events, and crucial biomarkers. These studies will provide scientific data for controlling DE associated occupational health hazards, formulating effective DE pollution control strategies, and provide a new scientific perspective and evidence for health risk assessment and prevention.

Integrated analysis of “eighteen incompatible medicaments” of Chinese materia medica based on supramolecular imprinting interaction / 中草药

The “eighteen incompatible medicaments” is an important content of Chinese materia medica (CMM) compatibility contraindication, involving the key basic problem of safe and effective clinical use of CMM. Based on the rule of the automatic action of supramolecular “imprinting template” previously proposed, the current research basis of “eighteen incompatible medicaments” were integrated and analyzed. Firstly, the history of “eighteen incompatible medicaments” were summarized, then the theory of Chinese materia medica (CMM) compatibility was interpreted by supramolecular “imprinting template”: the compatibility of CMM are that two or more than two kinds of CMM effective components group of molecules (object) are combined by non-covalent bonds, and the new formed supramolecular system and the human body (subject) are interacted with each other according to “imprinting template”, and then the toxicity and efficacy were generated, while the compatibility law of CMM is displayed macroscopically. Based on this, three groups of “eighteen incompatible medicaments” were discussed from the perspective of supramolecular chemistry, and the supramolecular method integrating toxicity with efficacy was put forward, including “chemicalkinetics”, “network kinetics” and “spectrum toxicity and efficacy kinetics” methods, thereby providing the ideas and reference for the research on the mechanism of “eighteen incompatible medicaments” and providing reference for clinical application.

The present situati on and prospect of research on artificial joint metal wear particles / 医学研究生学报

The artificial joints containing metal prosthetic components have different degrees of wear particles in the human body,which is the main reason for local osteolysis,inflammatory pseudotumor and prosthesis loosening.The metal wear debris after ar-tificial joint replacement can be derived from the normal wear of the weight-bearing interface volume,or from the edge wear of the non-weight-bearing interface.The particles produced by joint wear are mainly nano-sized particles,and their toxicity is stronger than that of micro-sized particles and ions.The wear particles can cause either local reactions by local accumulation or toxicity symptoms of multiple systems by entering the blood in various forms.Cobalt has the strongest toxicity among various metal particles.Oxidative stress,hyper-sensitivity,endoplasmic reticulum stress,autophagy,and direct destruction are the possible cytotoxic and genotoxic mechanisms,and the corresponding detoxification studies are also related to these mechanisms.There is no definite standard for the increase of the con-centration of metal particles and the clinical symptoms.At present, the main treatment is to remove the prosthesis and symptomatic treatment.Future research will focus on the improvement of prosthetic materials and finding new alternative treatment for joint diseases. Basic research will further explore the mechanism of toxicity of metal particles,especially the discovery of signal pathways and suscepti-bility genes as well as the in vivo and in vitro studies and clinical trials of new antidote.

Research Progress of Mechanism of PM2.5 Effects on the Body / 沈阳医学院学报

PM2.5 is composed of a particulate and gaseous pollutants in the air reaction, can carry a lot of material, including inorganic composition, organic compounds, trace metal elements, the carbon composition, biomass (bacteria, viruses, mold, etc.), can cause more bad influence.When pathogenic microorganisms carried by particles in the body, cause the function of cells and tissues, metabolism and the change of the structure, increase the sensitivity of bacteria, virus infection, make the body’ s resistance drops, induce infectious diseases. After when it enters the body of the respiratory tract, can colonize in the human respiratory tract mucous membrane surface, lower the pH, more easily cause the engraftment of gram-negative pathogenic bacteria and conditional pathogenic bacteria,then cause respiratory tract normal flora disorder.

Poisoning mechanism and protective drugs of sulfur mustard: An update / 第二军医大学学报

Sulfur mustard (SM) is a bifunctional alkylating agent that can react with multiple biochemical molecules such as DNA, RNA, proteins, and so on, and its alkylation with DNA is one of the major poisoning mechanisms. Presently the pathogenesis of SM included DNA alkylation, poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) activation, oxidative stress, inflammation, activation of immunoregulation and proteolytic enzymes, etc. By now there have been no specific antidotes in clinical treatment, and all the existing drugs are mainly used for symptomatic treatment. The drugs used clinically and currently being under development include free radical scavengers, antioxidant agents, PARP inhibitors, anti-inflammatory drugs and protease inhibitors. This review summarized the advances in pathogenesis of SM and the corresponding protective drugs.

Research advance in neurotoxicity of quantum dots / 中国药理学与毒理学杂志

As quantum dots( QDs),an advanced porduct of nanotechnology,have been widely used in bio-medicine due to their unique photoelectric properties. QD safety evaluation has become a hot area of research. So far,some researchers have expressed concern about the neurotoxic potential of QDs because the central nervous system was confirmed to be one of the target organs. Several studies found that QDs could enter the central nervous system by crossing the blood brain barrier and following neural pathways and produce some neurotoxic effects,such as damaging the structure and function of neural cells and impairing synaptic plasticity. The potential toxicity mechanisms could include oxidative stress,inflammation and change of ion channels.