Poloxamer 407 and Hyaluronic Acid Thermosensitive Hydrogel-Encapsulated Ginsenoside Rg3 to Promote Skin Wound Healing.

Ginsenoside Rg3 has shown beneficial effects in various skin diseases. The current interest in designing and developing hydrogels for biomedical applications continues to grow, inspiring the further development of drug-loaded hydrogels for tissue repair and localized drug delivery. The aim of the present study was to develop an effective and safe hydrogel (Rg3-Gel), using ginsenoside Rg3, and we evaluated the wound-healing potential and therapeutic mechanism of Rg3-Gel. The results indicated that the optimized Rg3-Gel underwent discontinuous phase transition at low and high temperatures. Rg3-Gel also exhibited good network structures, swelling water retention capacity, sustainable release performance, and excellent biocompatibility. Subsequently, the good antibacterial and antioxidant properties of Rg3-Gel were confirmed by in vitro tests. In full-thickness skin defect wounded models, Rg3-Gel significantly accelerated the wound contraction, promoted epithelial and tissue regeneration, and promoted collagen deposition and angiogenesis. In addition, Rg3-Gel increased the expression of autophagy proteins by inhibiting the MAPK and NF-KB pathways in vivo. It simultaneously regulated host immunity by increasing the abundance of beneficial bacteria and the diversity of the wound surface flora. From these preliminary evaluations, it is possible to conclude that Rg3-Gel has excellent application potential in wound-healing drug delivery systems.

The therapeutic effects of silymarin for patients with glucose/lipid metabolic dysfunction: A meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: To comprehensively evaluate the treatment efficacy and safety of silymarin for patients with glucose/lipid metabolic dysfunction using a meta-analysis. METHODS: A systematic literature search in PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane Library databases was performed up to October 1, 2019. STATA 13.0 software was used to estimate pooled standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI). RESULTS: Sixteen studies involving 1358 patients were identified. Overall meta-analysis showed that compared with control, silymarin significantly reduced levels of fasting blood glucose (SMD: -1.27, 95% CI = [-1.78, -0.76]; P < .001), homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (SMD: -0.41, 95% CI = [-0.70, -0.12]; P = .005), hemoglobin A1c (SMD: -1.88, 95% CI = [-2.57, -1.20]; P < .001), total cholesterol (SMD: -1.13, 95% CI = [-1.82, -0.77]; P < .001), triglyceride (SMD: -0.37, 95% CI = [-0.69, -0.05]; P = .025), low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (SMD: -1.30, 95% CI = [-1.93, -0.67]; P < .001), C-reactive protein (SMD: -0.63, 95% CI = [-1.01, -0.27]; P = .001), and increased high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (SMD: 0.17, 95% CI = [0.05, 0.29]; P = .005), but had no impacts on function indicators of liver and kidney (alanine transaminase, aspartate aminotransferase, creatinine phosphokinase, creatinine) and the complication rate. Subgroup analyses indicated that insulin (which was negative in overall analysis) was significantly decreased in patients undergoing silymarin monotherapy (SMD: -2.03, 95% CI = [-3.03, -1.04]; P = .044) for more than 3 months (SMD: -0.01, 95% CI = [-0.25, -0.24]; P = .035). CONCLUSION: Supplementation of silymarin may be effective and safe for the management of diabetes mellitus and hyperlipidemia.

Dense, uniform, smooth SiO2/TiO2 hard coatings derived from a single precursor source of tetra-n-butyl titanate modified perhydropolysilazane.

SiO2/TiO2 composite coatings are of great interest due to their optical, photocatalytic, electrical and mechanical properties. There are many methods for preparing SiO2/TiO2 composite coatings. Among these, the sol-gel process is eco-friendly and easily implementable for industrial applications. However, it is still a great challenge to prepare dense, uniform and smooth SiO2/TiO2 composite coatings with a sol-gel process. In this work, we show a modified sol-gel process for achieving dense, uniform and smooth SiO2/TiO2 coatings with tetra-n-butyl titanate modified perhydropolysilazane (PHPS) as a single precursor source, in which PHPS acts as the source for SiO2 instead of a traditional alkoxylsilane compound. The micro-morphology and composition evolution during the preparation process have been investigated; a smooth surface with a roughness average (S a) below 4.5 nm and a uniform distribution of Ti elements over the entire coating are shown. These dense, uniform SiO2/TiO2 coatings exhibit excellent mechanical robustness, with hardness values as high as 9.45 GPa, excellent optical transparency and hydrophilic properties.

[Changes of total flavonoids and rutin contents in different parts of wild and cultivated Hypericum attenuatum ].

OBJECTIVE: To determine the content of total flavonoids and rutin in different parts of wild and cultivated Hypericum attenuatum. METHODS: Ethanol ultrasonic extraction method was used to extract total flavonoids and rutin in different parts of Hypericum attenuatum. With rutin as reference substance, UV spectrophotometry and high performance liquid chromatography were applied to deter- mine the total flavonoids and rutin content in Hypericum attenuatum samples (leaves, stems and flowers). RESULTS: There were great differences between the total flavonoids in different parts of Hypericum attenuatum that the content of flavonoids in the wild one was leaves > flowers > stems; The content of flavonoids in the cultivated was leaves > flowers > fruits > stems. The content of flavonoids in each part of cultivated Hypericum attenuatum was higher than that in the wild,but did not reach a statistically significant level,while the difference of content of rutin was extremely significant. CONCLUSION: There are differences between the content of flavonoids in different parts of Hypericum attenuatum. The highest content is found in leaves and the lowest in stems. The content of flavonoids in cultivated Hypericum attenuatum is higher than that in the wild.