Protective effect of selenomethionine on rabbit testicular injury induced by Aflatoxin B1.

The aim of this study was to investigate the alleviating effect of selenomethionine (SeMet) on aflatoxin B1 (AFB1)-induced testicular injury in rabbits. Twenty-five 90-d-old rabbits were randomly divided into 5 groups (the control group, the AFB1 group, the 0.2 mg/kg SeMet + AFB1 group, the 0.4 mg/kg SeMet + AFB1 group and the 0.6 mg/kg SeMet + AFB1 group). After 1 d of the experiment, the SeMet-treated groups were fed 0.2 mg/kg SeMet, 0.4 mg/kg SeMet, or 0.6 mg/kg SeMet daily, and the remaining two groups were fed a normal diet for 30 d. On Day 31, all rabbits in the model group and the three treatment groups were fed 0.5 mg/kg AFB1 for 21 d. The levels of testosterone (T), luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) in rabbit plasma were detected. Rabbit semen was collected, and its quality was evaluated. Pathological changes in rabbit testes were observed by hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining. The expression of related proteins in testicular tissue was detected by immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence and western blot (WB) analysis. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) were used to detect oxidative stress-related indices and inflammatory factors in testicular tissue. The results showed that AFB1 can induce oxidative stress and inflammation to activate the p38/MSK/NF-κB signalling pathway, mediate apoptosis, inhibit the proliferation and differentiation of testicular cells, destroy the integrity of the blood-testis barrier (BTB) and the normal structure of the testis, and reduce the content of sex hormones and semen quality. SeMet pretreatment significantly alleviated testicular injury oxidative stress, and the inflammatory response in rabbits. Thus, we demonstrated that SeMet restores AFB1-induced testicular toxicity by inhibiting the p38/MSK/NF-κB signalling pathway. In addition, in this study, 0.4 mg/kg SeMet had the most impactful effect.

Mixing Characteristic and High-Throughput Synthesis of Cadmium Sulfide Nanoparticles with Cubic Hexagonal Phase Junctions in a Chaotic Millireactor.

A four-stage oscillating feedback millireactor with splitters (S-OFM) was designed to improve the mixing performance based on chaotic advection. Three-dimensional CFD simulations were used to investigate its flow characteristics and mixing performance, and the generation mechanisms of secondary flows were examined. The results show that the mixing index (MIcup) increased with the increase in the Reynolds number (Re), and MIcup could reach 99.8% at Re = 663. Poincaré mapping and Kolmogorov entropy were adopted to characterize the chaotic advection intensity, which indicates that there is a intensity increase with the increase in Re. In addition, the results of Villermaux-Dushman experiments demonstrate that S-OFM performs excellently, and the mixing time could reach 1.04 ms at Re = 2764. Finally, S-OFM was successfully used to synthesize CdS nanoparticles with cubic hexagonal phase junctions. At a flow rate of 180 mL/min, the average particle size was 10.5 nm and the particle size distribution was narrow (with a coefficient of variation of 0.14).