Therapeutic potential of MCC950, a specific inhibitor of NLRP3 inflammasome in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a complex autoimmune disorder with a pathogenesis that remains incompletely understood, resulting in limited treatment options. MCC950, a highly specific NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitor, effectively suppresses the activation of NLRP3, thus reducing the production of caspase-1, the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1ß and IL-18. This review highlights the pivotal role of NLRP3 inflammasome activation pathways in the pathogenesis of SLE and discusses the potential therapeutic application of MCC950 in SLE. Notably, it comprehensively elucidates the mechanism of MCC950 targeting the NLRP3 pathway in SLE treatment, outlining its potential role in regulating autophagy and necroptosis. The insights gained contribute to a deeper understanding of the value of MCC950 in SLE therapy, serving as a robust foundation for further research and potential clinical applications.

[In Vitro Fatigue Test of Lung Volume Reduction Loop].

Lung volume reduction loop uses bronchoscopic lung volume reduction(BLVR) technology to compress and collapse the necrotic emphysema tissue and exhaust the internal gas to achieve the purpose of lung volume reduction to treat emphysema. After the lung volume reduction loop is implanted into the human body, the compressed part of the lung tissue tends to expand with breathing, which makes the lung volume reduction loop expand into a linear trend periodically. Fatigue resistance is one of the most important performance indexes of the lung volume reduction loop. In the paper, Z-direction vibration fatigue machine was used to simulate the changes of human respiratory cycle movement to test the fatigue performance of lung volume reduction loop, which can provide some reference for the test method of in vitro fatigue performance of lung volume reduction related products in the future.

Evaluation for Adverse Effects of InP/ZnS Quantum Dots on the in Vitro Cultured Oocytes of Mice.

So far, cadmium-containing quantum dots (QDs), such as cadmium telluride (CdTe), have been known for causing time- and dose-dependent toxicity for cells, tissues, or organs in living organisms. Yet, there has been no unified conclusion on whether indium phosphide (InP) QDs, a kind of noncadmium QD, have the same effects on these structures, especially on female germ cells. In this work, we evaluated the adverse effects of InP/ZnS-based core/shell QDs on oocytes of the Kunming mice. The immature oocytes were cocultured with InP/ZnS QDs at concentrations of 0, 0.2, 2.0, and 20 µg/mL for 16 h, respectively. The statistics of morphology showed that InP/ZnS QDs significantly (P < 0.05) affected the maturation rate of oocytes at concentrations above 2 µg/mL, while measurements of diameter did not seem to display a difference between the groups. Fluorescence images showed that the uptakes of QDs by granulosa cells increased with the increasing concentration, but no fluorescence signal of QDs was detected inside the oocytes. The abnormality rate of both spindles and chromosomes in the control group was the same as that in experimental groups. However, two hormone levels were both disturbed by InP/ZnS QDs. These results indicated that InP/ZnS QDs decreased the oocyte maturation in a dose-dependent manner by changing the culture environment, which was similar to the effects of cadmium-containing QDs. This study provides the reproductive toxicology data of InP/ZnS QDs, which are useful for biomedical safe application of QDs in the future.