Turn-on fluorescent probe for sensing exogenous and endogenous hypochlorous acid in living cells, zebrafishes and mice.

Hypochlorous acid (HOCl), belonging to biologically significant reactive oxygen species (ROS), plays crucial roles in many biological and pathological processes. It is of great value to explore fluorescent probes for the image of hypochlorous acid in various biological environments. We herein reported a novel fluorescent probe HN-ClO for monitoring HOCl with moderate water-solubility, good photostability, high fluorescence quantum yield and large Stokes shift. This probe exhibited excellent selectivity and high sensitivity to sense HOCl. Furthermore, probe HN-ClO was successfully applied to monitor endogenous and exogenous HOCl in living cells, zebrafishes and mice, and possessed the potential to further explore the physiological and pathological roles of hypochlorous acid in biological systems.

Preparation of magnetic polyethylenimine lignin and its adsorption of Pb(II).

In this paper, magnetic polyethyleneimine lignin (M-Lignin-PEI) was prepared by a reversed-phase suspension crosslinking method to remove Pb (II) form aqueous solutions. SEM, FT-IR, TGA, XRD and VSM technology were employed to explain their structures. Batch adsorption experiments for Pb (II) were carried out to estimate their adsorption performance. Results showed that lignin successfully grafted with polyethyleneimine and coated on the surface of Fe3O4 with a saturation magnetization of 24.08 emu/g, which could achieve good solid-liquid separation. In addition, the experiment results indicated that the adsorption of Pb (II) by M-Lignin-PEI was in line with Langmuir model, and the adsorption process could be described by a pseudo-second-order model, suggesting that Pb (II) adsorption onto sorbents were a chemical process and monolayer adsorption. The maximum adsorption capacity of M-Lignin-PEI for Pb (II) could reach 96.60 mg/g and the removal rate was 99.73%. Moreover，the lead-loading M-Lignin-PEI could be easily regenerated with only 15% decrease of adsorption capacity after five times regeneration.

Supplementing Oregano Essential Oil in a Reduced-Protein Diet Improves Growth Performance and Nutrient Digestibility by Modulating Intestinal Bacteria, Intestinal Morphology, and Antioxidative Capacity of Growing-Finishing Pigs.

This study investigated the effects of supplementing oregano essential oil (OEO) to a reduced-protein diet on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, intestinal bacteria, intestinal morphology, and antioxidative capacity of growing-finishing pigs. Forty-eight barrows were randomly allotted to four treatments including normal-protein diet (NPD), reduced-protein, amino acid-supplemented diet (RPD), the same RPD supplemented with chlortetracycline (RPA), and RPD supplemented with OEO (RPO). The data showed that dietary OEO supplementation increased the average daily gain of pigs compared with NPD and RPD. The gain:feed in RPO- and NPD-fed pigs was higher than those in RPD- and RPA-fed pigs. Increased average daily feed intake and 10th-rib backfat thickness were detected in RPA-fed pigs. Pigs fed the RPO had higher apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of crude protein than those fed the other diets. The RPD and RPA treatments showed reduced counts of Lactobacillus spp. in ileal digesta of pigs. The RPA and RPO treatments also showed lower Escherichia coli counts in ileal digesta than the NPD and RPD treatments. Dietary OEO supplementation increased villous height of the jejunum and the ileal and plasma total antioxidative capacity of pigs. In conclusion, dietary OEO supplementation could improve the growth performance and nutrient digestibility of pigs by modulating intestinal bacteria, intestinal morphology, and antioxidative capacity.

MiR-377 promotes white adipose tissue inflammation and decreases insulin sensitivity in obesity via suppression of sirtuin-1 (SIRT1).

Obesity is associated with a wide range of metabolic disorders including inflammation and insulin-resistance. Sirtuin-1 (SIRT1) is an important regulator of metabolic homeostasis and stress response pathways in white adipose tissue. However, involvement of microRNAs (miRNAs) in regulating SIRT1 during obesity-induced inflammation and insulin-resistance remains unclear. Here, we found that miR-377 was upregulated in adipose tissue and showed a negative correlation with SIRT1 in chronic high fat diet (HFD)-fed mice. MiR-377 belongs to a large miRNA cluster and functions as an important tumor suppressor in several human malignancies. Recently, it has also gained considerable attention in oxidative stress and diabetic nephropathy. In our present study, we found that overexpression of miR-377 decreased SIRT1 protein abundance and caused inflammation and insulin-resistance in differentiated 3T3-L1 cells. Conversely, miR-377 inhibition increased SIRT1 mRNA and protein levels, ameliorated inflammation and improved insulin sensitivity. Furthermore, we demonstrated that miR-377 targets the 3'-UTR of SIRT1 mRNA directly, and downregulates SIRT1 protein abundance. Inhibition of SIRT1 by EX527 significantly eliminated the downregulation of the inflammation and insulin-resistance levels induced by the miR-377 inhibitor. Furthermore, SIRT1 deficiency intensified adipose tissue inflammation and insulin-resistance, resulting in hepatic steatosis in chronic-HFD-fed mice. In conclusion, our findings suggest that miR-377 promotes white adipose tissue inflammation and decreases insulin sensitivity in obesity, at least in part, through suppressing SIRT1.

Effect of oregano essential oil and benzoic acid supplementation to a low-protein diet on meat quality, fatty acid composition, and lipid stability of longissimus thoracis muscle in pigs.

BACKGROUND: Consumers are becoming increasingly interested in food containing appropriately high concentration of intramuscular fat (IMF) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). The supplementation of feed with antioxidants decreases degradation of lipids in muscles thereby enhances nutritional and sensory properties of meat. Two experiments were conducted to determine the effects of adding oregano essential oil (OEO) and benzoic acid (BA) to low-protein, amino acid-supplemented diets on meat quality, sensory profile, fatty acid composition, and lipid oxidation of longissimus thoracis (LT) muscle in pigs. METHODS: In Exp. 1, 21 barrows were housed in metabolism cages and randomly allotted to 1 of 3 diets. The three diets were normal protein diet (NPD), medium protein diet (MPD) and low protein diet (LPD) with 1% and 2% less than NPD, respectively. In Exp. 2, 36 barrows were randomly divided into three experimental groups, namely, NPD, LPD, and identical LPD supplemented with blends of OEO (250 mg/kg feed) and BA (1000 mg/kg feed) (LPOB) groups. RESULTS: No significant effects of diets on meat quality were observed in Exp. 1. The b*45min, tenderness, and IMF content in LPD muscle were higher than those in NPD and LPOB muscle. The LT muscle in LPD group contained a higher percentage of oleic acid (C18:1n-9) and a lower percentage of linoleic acid (C18:2n-6) than those in NPD group. Dietary LPOB improved oxidative stability, total superoxide dismutase, and glutathione peroxidase but decreased drip loss in LT muscle. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that growing-finishing pigs fed with a low-protein, amino acid-supplemented diet show a high content of intramuscular fat in the longissimus thoracis muscle. Dietary LPOB enhances the anti-oxidative status by improving antioxidative capacity but deteriorates the sensory attributes by decreasing IMF content of meat.

Effect of oregano essential oil supplementation to a reduced-protein, amino acid-supplemented diet on meat quality, fatty acid composition, and oxidative stability of Longissimus thoracis muscle in growing-finishing pigs.

This study investigated the effects of reduced-protein, amino acid-supplemented diet supplementation with oregano essential oil (OEO) in pigs, from growing period to slaughter, on the meat quality, fatty acid composition, and oxidative stability of Longissimus thoracis (LT) muscle. Thirty-six barrows were randomly divided into three experimental treatments, namely, normal protein diet (NPD), reduced-protein, amino acid-supplemented diet (RPD), and identical RPD supplemented (250mg/kg feed) with OEO (OEO) treatments. Dietary RPD and OEO increased the b*45min, tenderness, overall acceptance, and intramuscular fat (IMF) content of pork compared with dietary NPD. The percentage of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (n-3 PUFA) and the percentage of monounsaturated fatty acid in OEO muscle were higher and lower than those in RPD muscle, respectively. Dietary OEO improved oxidative stability, total antioxidative capacity, and catalase but decreased drip loss in LT muscle. Results indicated that dietary OEO enhanced the sensory attributes and anti-oxidative status of pork meat by improving IMF and n-3 PUFA proportion and antioxidative capacity.