Nrf2 mediated signaling axis in heart failure: Potential pharmacological receptor.

Heart failure (HF) has emerged as the most pressing health concerns globally, and extant clinical therapies are accompanied by side effects and patients have a high burden of financial. The protein products of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) target genes have a variety of cardioprotective effects, including antioxidant, metabolic functions and anti-inflammatory. By evaluating established preclinical and clinical research in HF to date, we explored the potential of Nrf2 to exert unique cardioprotective functions as a novel therapeutic receptor for HF. In this review, we generalize the progression, structure, and function of Nrf2 research in the cardiovascular system. The mechanism of action of Nrf2 involved in HF as well as agonists of Nrf2 in natural compounds are summarized. Additionally, we discuss the challenges and implications for future clinical translation and application of pharmacology targeting Nrf2. It's critical to developing new drugs for HF.

Luhong Formula Has a Cardioprotective Effect on Left Ventricular Remodeling in Pressure-Overloaded Rats.

BACKGROUND: Luhong formula (LHF)-a traditional Chinese medicine containing Cervus nippon Temminck, Carthamus tinctorius L., Astragalus membranaceus (Fisch.) Bge. var. mongholicus (Bge.) Hsiao, Codonopsis pilosula (Franch.) Nannf., Cinnamomum cassia Presl, and Lepidium apetalum Willd-is used in the treatment of heart failure, but little is known about its mechanism of action. We have investigated the effects of LHF on antifibrosis. METHODS: Forty-eight SD male rats were randomly assigned into six groups (n = 8), model group, sham-operation group, perindopril group (0.036 mg/ml), LHF high doses (LHF-H, 1.44 g/mL), LHF middle doses (LHF-M, 0.72 g/mL), and LHF low doses (LHF-L, 0.36 g/mL). Except the sham-operation group, the other groups were received an abdominal aorta constriction to establish a model of myocardial hypertrophy. The HW and LVW were measured to calculate the LVW/BW and HW/BW. ELISA was used to detect the serum concentration of BNP. The expressions of eNOS, TGF-ß1, caspase-3, VEGF, and VEGFR2 in heart tissues were assessed by western blot analysis. mRNA expressions of eNOS, Col1a1, Col3a1, TGF-ß1, VEGF, and VEGFR2 in heart tissues were measured by RT-PCR. The specimens were stained with hematoxylin-eosin (HE) and picrosirius red staining for observing the morphological characteristics and collagen fibers I and III of the myocardium under a light microscope. RESULTS: LHF significantly lowered the rat's HW/BW and LVM/BW, and the level of BNP in the LHF-treated group compared with the model group. Histopathological and pathomorphological changes of collagen fibers I and III showed that LHF inhibited myocardial fibrosis in heart failure rats. Treatment with LHF upregulated eNOS expression in heart tissue and downregulated Col1a1, Col3a1, TGF-ß1, caspase-3, VEGF, and VEGFR2 expression. CONCLUSION: LHF can improve left ventricular remodeling in a pressure-overloaded heart failure rat model; this cardiac protective ability may be due to cardiac fibrosis and attenuated apoptosis. Upregulated eNOS expression and downregulated Col1a1, Col3a1, TGF-ß1, caspase-3, VEGF, and VEGFR2 expression may play a role in the observed LHF cardioprotective effect.

Storage of telecom-C-band heralded single photons with orbital-angular-momentum encoding in a crystal.

A memory-based quantum repeater architecture provides a solution to distribute quantum information to an arbitrary long distance. Practical quantum repeaters are likely to be built in optical-fiber networks which take advantage of the low-loss transmission between quantum memory nodes. Most quantum memory platforms have characteristic atomic transitions away from the telecommunication band. A nondegenerate photon pair source is therefore useful for connection of a quantum memory to optical fibers. Here, we report a high-brightness narrowband photon-pair source which is compatible with a rare-earth-ion-doped crystal Pr3+:Y2SiO5. The photon-pair source is generated through a cavity-enhanced spontaneous parametric down-conversion process with the signal photon at 606 nm and the idler photon at 1540 nm. Moreover, using the telecom C-band idler photons for heralding, we demonstrate the reversible transfer of orbital-angular-momentum qubit between the signal photon and the quantum memory based on Pr3+:Y2SiO5.

Multiplexed storage and real-time manipulation based on a multiple degree-of-freedom quantum memory.

The faithful storage and coherent manipulation of quantum states with matter-systems would enable the realization of large-scale quantum networks based on quantum repeaters. To achieve useful communication rates, highly multimode quantum memories are required to construct a multiplexed quantum repeater. Here, we present a demonstration of on-demand storage of orbital-angular-momentum states with weak coherent pulses at the single-photon-level in a rare-earth-ion-doped crystal. Through the combination of this spatial degree-of-freedom (DOF) with temporal and spectral degrees of freedom, we create a multiple-DOF memory with high multimode capacity. This device can serve as a quantum mode converter with high fidelity, which is a fundamental requirement for the construction of a multiplexed quantum repeater. This device further enables essentially arbitrary spectral and temporal manipulations of spatial-qutrit-encoded photonic pulses in real time. Therefore, the developed quantum memory can serve as a building block for scalable photonic quantum information processing architectures.

High-mobility group box-1-Toll-Like receptor 4 axis mediates the recruitment of endothelial progenitor cells in alkali-induced corneal neovascularization.

Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) promote both physiological and pathological neovascularization. Recently we found high-mobility group box-1 (HMGB1)-Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) signaling pathway promotes corneal neovascularization (CNV) induced by alkali in a mouse model. However, it is still unclear whether HMGB1-TLR4 promotes the mobility of EPCs. In this study, we explored the role of HMGB1-TLR4 signaling in EPC recruitment by modulating the activity of HMGB1-TLR4 signaling in the corneas of alkali-induced CNV mouse model. The level of EPC recruitment in injured corneas, as detected by flow cytometry, is increased and reaches the peak level 4days after injury. Activating TLR4 with exogenous HMGB1 or LPS enhances the EPC recruitment, whereas inhibiting the activity of HMGB1 and TLR4 with A-box (selective HMGB1 antagonist) or LPS-RS (selective TLR4 antagonist), respectively, reverses this phenotype. Moreover, the TLR4 mediated EPC recruitment is associated with up-regulation of stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1), a pivotal cytokine in EPC mobilization. Activation of TLR4 or HMGB1 leads to increased SDF-1 expression, while blocking TLR4 or HMGB1 inhibits the expression of SDF-1. Topical administration of AMD-3100, an antagonist of SDF-1 receptor, suppresses the TLR4-mediated EPC recruitment and ameliorates CNV. Our results indicated that activation of HMGB1-TLR4 signaling pathway promotes EPC recruitment in CNV, at least in part through up-regulation of SDF-1.