[Research practice and strategy of resource utilization of residues for edible medicinal plants under background of Big Health].

In recent years, with the acceleration of population aging in China, the frequent occurrence of chronic diseases, and the increase in the number of sub-health groups, people began to seek ways to maintain health in line with the laws of nature. Healthy China has become a national strategy, and the Big Health industry has ushered in a golden period of development. In this context, the concept of medicine and food homology and edible medicinal substances which have guided Chinese people to pursue health since ancient times have ushered in significant and favorable development opportunities, and the industrial scale has gradually expanded. The development and utilization of edible medicinal plants have also become an important research direction. In the industrialization process of modern health care and edible medicinal products, a large number of drug residues are often abandoned due to ineffective utilization, resulting in a huge waste of resources and increasing the pressure on the ecological environment. Under the guidance of the homology theory of medicine and food, based on the recycling strategy of Chinese medicine resources, this paper analyzed the inherent common characteristics such as physical and chemical properties and biological activity of Chinese medicine residues of edible medicinal plants and put forward some suitable resource utilization strategies and suggestions in combination with the current situation of resource development and utilization of Chinese medicine residues of edible medicinal plants, in order to promote the high-value development and utilization of medicinal and edible resources, and extend the industrial chain of edible medicinal resources, thereby empowering Big Health industry and facilitating Healthy China.

Admittance analysis of broadband omnidirectional near-perfect absorber in epsilon-near-zero mode.

In this paper, we propose a broadband omnidirectional near-perfect absorber that transforms light energy into heat. In contrast to previous research on structural metamaterials, this study focuses on light absorption in the epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) layers without any structural patterns. Chromium (Cr) thin films were applied as ENZ layers. Using the admittance method, we found the proper thicknesses of SiO2 layers to match the incident medium and achieve perfect absorption. Also, the absorber is angular insensitive up to 60°. The temperature of the absorber increases from room temperature to 42°C, which is 4°C higher than the uncoated substrate at 38°C, after exposure to sunlight for 20 min.

Deguelin inhibits HCV replication through suppressing cellular autophagy via down regulation of Beclin1 expression in human hepatoma cells.

AIMS: Deguelin, a natural compound derived from Mundulea sericea (Leguminosae) and some other plants exhibits an activity to inhibit autophagy, a cellular machinery required for hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication. This study aimed to illuminate the impact of deguelin on HCV replication and mechanism(s) involved. METHODS: HCV JFH-1-Huh7 infectious system was used for the investigation. Real time RT-PCR, Western blot, fluorescent microscopy assay were used to measure the expression levels of viral or cellular factors. Overexpression and silencing expression techniques were used to determine the role of key cellular factors. RESULTS: Deguelin treatment of Huh7 cells significantly inhibited HCV JFH-1 replication in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Deguelin treatment suppressed autophagy in Huh7 cells, evidenced by the decrease of LC3B-II levels, the conversion of LC3B-I to LC3B-II, and the formation of GFP-LC3 puncta as well as the increase of p62 level in deguelin-treated cells compared with control cells. HCV infection could induce autophagy which was also suppressed by deguelin treatment. Mechanism research reveals that deguelin inhibited expression of Beclin1, which is a key cellular factor for the initiation of the autophagosome formation in autophagy. Overexpression or silencing expression of Beclin1 in deguelin-treated Huh7 cells could weaken or enhance the inhibitory effect on autophagy by deguelin, respectively, and thus partially recover or further inhibit HCV replication correspondingly. CONCLUSIONS: Deguelin may serve as a novel anti-HCV compound via its inhibitory effect on autophagy, which warrants further investigation as a potential therapeutic agent for HCV infection.

Alcohol-induced autophagy via upregulation of PIASy promotes HCV replication in human hepatoma cells.

Both alcohol and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection could induce cellular autophagy in liver cells, which is considered to be essential for productive HCV replication. However, whether alcohol-induced autophagy is involved in the pathogenesis of HCV infection is still poorly understood. Alcohol treatment could induce autophagy in Huh7 cells (a hepatoma cell line that supports HCV JFH-1 replication), evidenced by the increase of LC3B-II levels, the conversion of LC3B-I to LC3B-II, and the formation of GFP-LC3 puncta as well as the decrease of p62 level in alcohol-treated cells compared with control cells. Alcohol treatment also significantly increased PIASy (a member of the PIAS family) expression, which can act as a SUMO (small ubiquitin-like modifier protein) E3 ligase to regulate a broader range of cellular processes including autophagy. Overexpression or the silencing expression of PIASy in alcohol-treated Huh7 cells could increase or decrease autophagic activation caused by alcohol treatment, respectively, and thus affect HCV replication correspondingly. In the absence of alcohol, overexpression or silencing expression of PIASy increase or decrease the level of cellular autophagy, judged by the changes of LC3B-II and p62 levels in the presence or absence of chloroquine (CQ), a lysosome inhibitor. More importantly, in the presence of 3-methyladenine (3-MA), an inhibitor in the early stage of autophagy, the effects of overexpression or silencing expression of PIASy on HCV replication were largely blocked. Furthermore, PIASy could selectively drive the accumulation of SUMO1-conjugated proteins, along with upregulation of the expression of several important autophagy factors, including ATG7 and ATG5-ATG12. In conclusion, alcohol promotes HCV replication through activation of autophagy in Huh7 cells, which partly attributes to its induction of PIASy expression. PIASy-enhanced accumulation of SUMO1-conjugated proteins may contribute to its inducing effect of autophagy. Our findings provide a novel mechanism for the action of alcohol-promoting HCV replication in the context of cellular autophagy.

Alcohol attenuates anti-HCV function of IFN-λ1 through up-regulation of PLASy expression in human hepatic cells.

Alcohol could compromise the anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) function of interferon-alpha (IFN-α). However, little information is available about the effect of alcohol on interferon-lambda (IFN-λ, type III IFN), a novel candidate for development of therapy for HCV infection. Huh7 cells were infected with HCV JFH-1 virus, then treated with alcohol, and/or IFN-λ1. RT-PCR and Western blot were used to detect the levels of HCV and key cellular factors. Overexpression or silencing expression was performed to verify the role of key factors in alcohol-attenuated anti-HCV function of IFN-λ1. Alcohol treatment compromised anti-HCV effect of IFN-λ1 in HCV JFH-1-infected Huh7 cells, evidenced by the significantly increased levels of HCV RNA, and HCV core protein in alcohol-/IFN-λ1-treated cells compared to cells with IFN-λ1 treatment alone. Investigation of the mechanisms responsible for the alcohol action revealed that alcohol enhanced the expression of protein inhibitor of activated STAT (PIASy). Overexpression of PIASy compromised anti-HCV ability of IFN-λ1, whereas silencing expression of PIASy partly restored the alcohol-attenuated anti-HCV effect of IFN-λ1. More importantly, overexpression of PIASy significantly down-regulated the level of IFN-λ1-indcued phosphorylation of STAT1 (p-STAT1), an important adaptor in IFN-λ pathway, as well as reduced the expression of IFN-λ1-induced IFN-stimulated genes 56 (ISG56), and myxovirus resistance 1 (Mx1), two antiviral effectors in in IFN-λ pathway. These findings indicate that alcohol, through inducing the expression of negative regulator in IFN-λ pathway, inhibits IFN-λ-mediated anti-HCV action in human hepatic cells, which may lead to the poor efficacy of IFN-λ-based therapy against HCV infection.

Varying stress of SiOxCy thin films deposited by plasma polymerization.

SiOxCy thin films were deposited by plasma polymerization. The stress of the deposited SiOxCy thin films can be modified by adjusting the beam current, the anode voltage, and the flow rate of hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) gas and oxygen. Reducing the beam current or increasing the flow rate of HMDSO gas increased the linear/cage structure ratio and turned the stress of the SiOxCy thin films from compressive to tensile. The linear/cage structure ratio can be adjusted by changing the composite parameter, W[FM]c/[FM]m, to control the stress of the deposited plasma polymer films. Multilayers of TiO2/SiO2/TiO2 were coated on a SiOxCy plasma polymer film herein, reducing their stress by 70% from 0.06 to 0.018 GPa. The refractive index is 1.55, and the absorption coefficient is less than 10-4 at 550 nm of the SiOxCy films. Superior optical performances of SiOxCy thin films make their use in optical thin films.

[Preparation of tanshinone â ¡A loaded nanostructured lipid carrier and its in vitro transdermal permeation characteristics].

To prepare tanshinone ⅡA loaded nanostructured lipid carrier (Tan ⅡA-NLC), and study its in vitro transdermal permeation characteristics. The Tan ⅡA-NLC was prepared by high pressure homogenization technology and optimized by Box-Behnken design-response surface method, and it was characterized in terms of morphology, particle size, zeta potention, et al. The transdermal permeation of Tan ⅡA-NLC was evaluated by using Franz diffusion cells. The results showed that, the optimal formulation was as follows: drug/lipid materials ratio 88, GMS/MCT ratio 2, emulsifier concentration 1%, average particle size (182±14) nm, polydispersity index PDI (0.190 6±0.024 5), zeta potential (－27.8± 5.4) mV, encapsulation efficiency EE (86.44%±9.26%) and drug loading DL (0.98%±0.18%), respectively. The in vitro transdermal permeation results showed that as compared with Tan ⅡA solution, Tan ⅡA-NLC had lower transdermal permeation amount after applying drug for 24 h, but its retention in the epidermis was 3.18 times that of solution. These results indicated that the prepared Tan ⅡA-NLC could effectively increase the regention of Tan ⅡA in the epidermis, and had a broad application prospect.

Formulation of dried lignans nanosuspension with high redispersibility to enhance stability, dissolution, and oral bioavailability.

Herpetospermum caudigerum lignans (HTL), one of the potential drugs with anti-hepatitis B virus and hepatoprotective effects, has limited clinical applications because of poor aqueous solubility and low bioavailability. Both herpetrione (HPE) and herpetin (HPN) are the most abundant ingredients in HTL and exhibit weak acidity. The purpose of the present study was to produce dried preparations of HTL (composed of HPE and HPN) nanosuspensions (HTL-NS) with high redispersibility using lyophilization technology. The HTL-NS was prepared by utilizing precipitation-combined homogenization technology based on acid-base neutralization reactions, and critical formulation and process parameters affecting the characteristics of HTL-NS were optimized. The resultant products were characterized by particle size analysis, SEM, XRD, stability, solubility, dissolution and in vivo bioavailability. HTL-NS showed near-spherical-shaped morphology and the size was 243 nm with a narrow PDI value of 0.187. The dried preparations with a relatively large particle size of 286 nm and a PDI of 0.215 were achieved by using 4% (W/V) mannitol as cryoprotectants, and had a better stability at 4 or 25 °C for 2 months, compared to HTL-NS. In the in vitro test, the dried preparations showed markedly increased solubility and dissolution velocity. Besides, in the in vivo evaluation, it exhibited significant increases in AUC0-t, Cmax,MRT and a decrease in Tmax, compared to the raw drug. In conclusion, our results provide a basis for the development of a drug delivery system for poorly water-soluble ingredients with pH-dependent solubility.