Beneficial Effects of Fermentation of Red Chili Pepper Using Lactococcus lactis subs. Cremoris RPG-HL-0136 in High-Fat Diet-Induced Obese Mice.

Red chili pepper is a beneficial natural spicy food that has antiobesity and antitype II diabetes effects, but it is not conducive to in-depth research as a dietary strategy to treat obesity. This study aims to investigate the beneficial effects of red chili pepper, fermented with a novel Lactococcus lactis subs. cremoris RPG-HL-0136. LC-MS/MS analysis is conducted to detect the content of capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin, and no significant difference is observed between the nonfermented red chili pepper (NFP) (W/W) and the prepared L. lactis subs. cremoris RPG-HL-0136-fermented chili mixture (LFP). After establishing a high-fat diet-induced obese type II diabetic mouse model, the effects on weight gain, weight loss of liver and testicular fat, total cholesterol, triglyceride, fasting glucose, insulin, and homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance in LFP were evaluated to be better than those in NFP following 10 weeks of interventions. All animal experiments were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Xinxiang medical university. NFP and LFP could increase the expression of transient receptor potential vanilloid subfamily 1, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-alpha and caspase-2 in the high-fat mice. Compared with unfermented red chili pepper, the fermented red chili pepper complex significantly reduced LPS, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and interleukin-6 in serum (P < .05). Intake of LFP significantly increased the expression of claudin-1 and occludin in the colon of the high-fat mice (P < .05), and there was no damage to the stomach and colon. This study provides scientific evidence that red chili pepper, fermented with L. lactis subs. cremoris RPG-HL-0136, may be beneficial for future treatment of obesity and accompanying diabetes. (IACUC.No.XYLL-20200019).

Fabrication of ß-CoV3O8 nanorods embedded in graphene sheets and their application for electrochemical charge storage electrode.

The fabrication of ß-CoV3O8 nanorods embedded in graphene sheets and their application as electrochemical charge storage electrodes is reported. From the surfactant treatment of raw graphite, graphene was directly prepared and its nanocomposite with ß-CoV3O8 nanorods distributed between graphene layers (ß-CoV3O8-G) was synthesized by a hydrothermal method. When applied as an anode in lithium-ion batteries, the ß-CoV3O8-G anode exhibits greatly improved charge and discharge capacities of 790 and 627 mAh · g-1, respectively, with unexpectedly high initial efficiency of 82%. The observed discharge capacity reflected that at least 3.7 mol of Li+ is selectively accumulated within the ß-CoV3O8 phase (LixCoV3O8, x > 3.7), indicative of significantly improved Li+ uptake when compared with aggregated ß-CoV3O8 nanorods. Moreover, very distinct peak plateaus and greatly advanced cycling performance are observed, showing more improved Li+ storage within the ß-CoV3O8 phase. As a supercapacitor electrode, moreover, our composite electrode exhibits very high peak pseudocapacitances of 2.71 F · cm-2 and 433.65 F · g-1 in the ß-CoV3O8 phase with extremely stable cycling performance. This remarkably enhanced performance in the individual electrochemical charge storage electrodes is attributed to the novel phase formation of ß-CoV3O8 and its optimized nanocomposite structure with graphene, which yield fast electrical conduction through graphene, easy accessibility of ions through the open multilayer nanosheet structure, and a relaxation space between the ß-CoV3O8-G.