Lonicerin promotes wound healing in diabetic rats by enhancing blood vessel regeneration through Sirt1-mediated autophagy.

Among the numerous complications of diabetes mellitus, diabetic wounds seriously affect patients' quality of life and result in considerable psychological distress. Promoting blood vessel regeneration in wounds is a crucial step in wound healing. Lonicerin (LCR), a bioactive compound found in plants of the Lonicera japonica species and other honeysuckle plants, exhibits anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities, and it recently has been found to alleviate ulcerative colitis by enhancing autophagy. In this study we investigated the efficacy of LCR in treatment of diabetic wounds and the underlying mechanisms. By comparing the single-cell transcriptomic data from healing and non-healing states in diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) of 5 patients, we found that autophagy and SIRT signaling activation played a crucial role in mitigating inflammation and oxidative stress, and promoting cell survival in wound healing processes. In TBHP-treated human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), we showed that LCR alleviated cell apoptosis, and enhanced the cell viability, migration and angiogenesis. Furthermore, we demonstrated that LCR treatment dose-dependently promoted autophagy in TBHP-treated HUVECs by upregulating Sirt1 expression, and exerted its anti-apoptotic effect through the Sirt1-autophagy axis. Knockdown of Sirt1 significantly decreased the level of autophagy, and mitigated the anti-apoptotic effect of LCR. In a STZ-induced diabetic rat model, administration of LCR significantly promoted wound healing, which was significantly attenuated by Sirt1 knockdown. This study highlights the potential of LCR as a therapeutic agent for the treatment of diabetic wounds and provides insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying its effects.

Sorting Technology for Mesenchymal Stem Cells from a Single Tissue Source.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are adult stem cells that can be obtained, enriched and proliferated in vitro. They owned enormous potential in fields like regenerative medicine, tissue engineering and immunomodulation. However, though isolated from the same origin, MSCs are still essentially heterogeneous cell populations with different phenotypes and functions. This heterogeneity of MSCs significantly affects their therapeutic efficacy and brings obstacles to scientific research. Thus, reliable sorting technology which can isolate or purify MSC subpopulations with various potential and differentiation pathways is urgently needed. This review summarized principles, application status and clinical implications for these sorting methods, aiming at improving the understanding of MSC heterogeneity as well as providing fresh perspectives for subsequent clinical applications.

Fluorescence "Off-On" Probe for L-Cysteine Detection Based on Nitrogen Doped Carbon Dots.

Herein, a simple and efficient fluorescence analysis method for L-Cysteine (L-Cys) was established. The method was based on the fluorescent "off-on" mode of nitrogen doped carbon dots (NCDs). The NCDs were prepared via a facile one-step solvothermal method. In the process of exploring the bio-functional application of these newly synthesized NCDs, we found these NCDs with rich functional groups exhibited excellent optical properties. In addition, these newly synthesized NCDs showed an excitation-dependent emissions photolumine-scent (PL) property and exhibited good performance in the detection of Fe3+ ions by quenching the blue emission fluorescence. Interestingly, the quenched fluorescence of NCDs was recovered with the addition of L-Cys, which provided a novel approach for L-Cys detection. The NCDs-based fluorescent "off-on" sensor has a wide linear detection range (0-100 µM), and a relatively low detection limits (0.35 µM) for L-Cys. This simple fluorescent "off-on" approach is, very sensitive and selective for L-Cys detection, which also provides a new insight on NCDs biosensor application.

Size-Dependent Effect of Cu2O Nanocubes in Electrochemical and Photocatalytic Properties.

Cu2O nanocubes with different size (ranging from 20 nm to 400 nm) were prepared by a seed-mediated method to systematically explore the strong size-dependent properties in photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange (MO). Cu2O nanotubes were characterized by TEM, XRD, UV-Vis measurements. The size-dependent photocatalytic efficiency of the Cu2O nanocubes was evaluated by degradation of methyl orange (MO) in water under visible light (λ > 420 nm) irradiation. Furthermore, the photocurrent, linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) measurements were applied to elucidate the size-dependent properties of Cu2O nanocubes, which demonstrated that smaller Cu2O nanocubes with certain length (30 nm) showed higher current density, faster electron transfer and lower rate of charge recombination in their exposed (100) facet. Therefore, 30 nm Cu2O nanocubes showed stronger visible light absorption capacity and higher photocatalytic activity in MO degradation among a series of nanocubes (20, 30, 100, 130, 200 and 400 nm) and their corresponding photocatalytic activities decreased with increasing the particles sizes.