A disposable immunosensor array using cellulose paper assembled chemiresistive biosensor for simultaneous monitoring of mycotoxins AFB1 and FB1.

Due to the common contamination of multiple mycotoxins in food, which results in stronger toxicity, it is particularly important to simultaneously test for various mycotoxins for the protection of human health. In this study, a disposable immunosensor array with low-cost was designed and fabricated using cellulose paper, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), and semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (s-SWCNTs), which was modified with specific antibodies for mycotoxins AFB1 and FB1 detection. The strategy for fabricating the immunosensor array with two individual channels involved a two-step protocol starting with the form of two kinds of carbon films by depositing single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and s-SWCNTs on the cellulose paper as the conductive wire and sensing element, followed by the assembly of chemiresistive biosensor with SWCNTs strip as the wire and s-SWCNTs as the sensing element. After immobilizing AFB1-bovine serum albumin (AFB1-BSA) and FB1-bovine serum albumin (FB1-BSA) separately on the different sensing regions, the formation of mycotoxin-BSA-antibody immunocomplexes transfers to electrochemical signal, which would change with the different concentrations of free mycotoxins. Under optimal conditions, the immunosensor array achieved a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.46 pg/mL for AFB1 and 0.34 pg/mL for FB1 within a wide dynamic range from 1 pg/mL to 20 ng/mL. Furthermore, the AFB1 and FB1 spiked in the ground corn and wheat extracts were detected with satisfactory recoveries, demonstrating the excellent practicality of this established method for simultaneous detection of mycotoxins.

Anti-Inflammatory Diet and Protein-Enriched Diet Can Reduce the Risk of Cognitive Impairment among Older Adults: A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Research.

BACKGROUND: Cognitive impairment (CI) is a common mental health disorder among older adults, and dietary patterns have an impact on cognitive function. However, no systematic researches have constructed anti-inflammatory diet (AID) and protein-enriched diet (PED) to explore their association with CI among older adults in China. METHODS: The data used in this study were obtained from the 2018 waves of the China Longitudinal Health and Longevity Survey (CLHLS). We construct AID, PED, and calculate scores for CI. We use binary logistic regression to explore the relationship between them, and use restrictive cubic splines to determine whether the relationships are non-linear. Subgroup analysis and sensitivity analysis were used to demonstrate the robustness of the results. RESULTS: A total of 8692 participants (mean age is 83.53 years) were included in the analysis. We found that participants with a higher AID (OR = 0.789, 95% confidence interval: 0.740-0.842, p < 0.001) and PED (OR = 0.910, 95% confidence interval: 0.866-0.956, p < 0.001) score showed lower odds of suffering from CI. Besides, the relationship between the two dietary patterns and CI is linear, and the results of subgroup analysis and sensitivity analysis are also significant. CONCLUSION: Higher intakes of AID and PED are associated with a lower risk of CI among older adults, which has important implications for future prevention and control of CI from a dietary and nutritional perspective.

N6-methyladenosine modification of KLF2 may contribute to endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition in pulmonary hypertension.

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a progressive disease characterized by pulmonary vascular remodeling. Increasing evidence indicates that endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT) in pulmonary artery endothelial cells (PAECs) is a pivotal trigger initiating this remodeling. However, the regulatory mechanisms underlying EndMT in PH are still not fully understood. METHODS: Cytokine-induced hPAECs were assessed using RNA methylation quantification, qRT-PCR, and western blotting to determine the involvement of N6-methyladenosine (m6A) methylation in EndMT. Lentivirus-mediated silencing, overexpression, tube formation, and wound healing assays were utilized to investigate the function of METTL3 in EndMT. Endothelial-specific gene knockout, hemodynamic measurement, and immunostaining were performed to explore the roles of METTL3 in pulmonary vascular remodeling and PH. RNA-seq, RNA Immunoprecipitation-based qPCR, mRNA stability assay, m6A mutation, and dual-luciferase assays were employed to elucidate the mechanisms of RNA methylation in EndMT. RESULTS: The global levels of m6A and METTL3 expression were found to decrease in TNF-α- and TGF-ß1-induced EndMT in human PAECs (hPAECs). METTL3 inhibition led to reduced endothelial markers (CD31 and VE-cadherin) and increased mesenchymal markers (SM22 and N-cadherin) as well as EndMT-related transcription factors (Snail, Zeb1, Zeb2, and Slug). The endothelial-specific knockout of Mettl3 promoted EndMT and exacerbated pulmonary vascular remodeling and hypoxia-induced PH (HPH) in mice. Mechanistically, METTL3-mediated m6A modification of kruppel-like factor 2 (KLF2) plays a crucial role in the EndMT process. KLF2 overexpression increased CD31 and VE-cadherin levels while decreasing SM22, N-cadherin, and EndMT-related transcription factors, thereby mitigating EndMT in PH. Mutations in the m6A site of KLF2 mRNA compromise KLF2 expression, subsequently diminishing its protective effect against EndMT. Furthermore, KLF2 modulates SM22 expression through direct binding to its promoter. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings unveil a novel METTL3/KLF2 pathway critical for protecting hPAECs against EndMT, highlighting a promising avenue for therapeutic investigation in PH.

Seeding Atomic Silver into Internal Lattice Sites of Transition Metal Oxide for Advanced Electrocatalysis.

Transition metal oxides (TMOs) are widely studied for loading of various catalysts due to their low cost and high structure flexibility. However, the prevailing close-packed nature of most TMOs crystals has restricted the available loading sites to surface only, while their internal bulk lattice remains unactuated due to the inaccessible narrow space that blocks out most key reactants and/or particulate catalysts. Herein, using tunnel-structured MnO2, this study demonstrates how TMO's internal lattice space can be activated as extra loading sites for atomic Ag in addition to the conventional surface-only loading, via which a dual-form Ag catalyst within MnO2 skeleton is established. In this design, not only faceted Ag nanoparticles are confined onto MnO2 surface by coherent lattice-sharing, Ag atomic strings are also seeded deep into the sub-nanoscale MnO2 tunnel lattice, enriching the catalytically active sites. Tested for electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (eCO2RR), such dual-form catalyst exhibits a high Faradaic efficiency (94%), yield (67.3 mol g-1 h-1) and durability (≈48 h) for CO production, exceeding commercial Ag nanoparticles and most Ag-based electrocatalysts. Theoretical calculations further reveal the concurrent effect of such dual-form catalyst featuring facet-dependent eCO2RR for Ag nanoparticles and lattice-confined eCO2RR for Ag atomic strings, inspiring the future design of catalyst-substrate configuration.

Inhibition of inosine metabolism of the gut microbiota decreases testosterone secretion in the testis.

Growing evidence indicates that gut microbiota is involved in the regulation of the host's sex hormone levels, such as through interfering with the sex hormone metabolism in the intestine. However, if gut microbiota or its metabolites directly influence the sex hormone biosynthesis in the gonad remains largely unknown. Our previous study showed that colistin, as a narrow-spectrum antibiotic, can significantly downregulate the serum testosterone levels and thus enhance the antitumor efficiency of anti-PD-L1 in male mice; however, the underlying mechanism for the regulation of the host's testosterone levels remains uninvestigated. In the present study, we analyzed the impact of colistin on the immune microenvironment of the testis as well as the composition and metabolism of gut microbiota in male mice. Our results showed that colistin has an impact on the immune microenvironment of the testis and can downregulate serum testosterone levels in male mice through inhibition of Akkermansia, leading to destroyed inosine metabolism. Supplement with inosine can restore testosterone secretion probably by prompting the recovery of the intestinal mucus barrier and the serum lipopolysaccharides levels. All these findings reveal a new pathway for the regulation of the host's sex hormone levels by gut microbiota.IMPORTANCEThis study demonstrates that exposure to even narrow-spectrum antibiotics may affect the host's testosterone levels by altering the gut microbiota and its metabolites. Our findings provide evidence that some specific gut bacteria have an impact on the sex hormone biosynthesis in the testis.

Optimization technology for DCF dispersion compensation based on cascaded fiber Bragg grating.

A cascaded fiber Bragg grating (FBG) structure is proposed to reduce the dispersion of optical signals in single-mode fibers. Using the OptiSystem software for simulation, the three compensation schemes (precompensation, postcompensation, and symmetric compensation) of dispersion-compensated optical fiber (DCF) are analyzed, and the results show that the best of the three schemes is the postcompensation structure. For the postcompensation scheme, the influence of the coding method and duty cycle on the system is analyzed, and then the fiber grating is cascaded behind the transmitter to obtain a narrow linewidth of the optical signal and minimize the reflectivity sidelobe, and a chirped fiber grating is connected in front of the receiver to compensate for the dispersion of the channel residue. With or without cascaded FBGs, system performance at different input powers and different transmission distances is discussed. The results show that cascading fiber gratings can improve the performance of the system.

Catalytic Hydrogenation of Nitroarenes over Ag33 Nanoclusters: The Ligand Effect.

Using ligand-protected metallic nanoclusters with atomic precision as catalysts and elucidating its ligand effect in the catalysis are the prerequisites to deepen the structure-catalysis relationship of nanoclusters at the molecular level. Herein, a series of Ag33 nanoclusters protected with different thiolate ligands (2-phenylethanethiol, 4-chlorobenzyl mercaptan, and 4-methoxybenzyl mercaptan as precursors) were synthesized and used as heterogeneous catalysts for the conversion of nitroarenes to arylamine with NaBH4 as reductant. The obtained nanoclusters exhibited ligand-dependent catalytic activity, with benzyl thiolate ligands distinctly superior to the phenethyl thiolate ligands. DFT calculations revealed that the ligand regulated catalytic activity of the nanoclusters was ascribed to the H-π and π-π interactions between the ligands and the substrates, owing to the presence of phenyl rings in these structures. This work highlighted the importance of the ligands on the metallic nanoclusters in catalysis and provides a strategy to regulate the catalytic activity by utilizing weak interactions between the catalysts and the substrates.

Early evaluation of waist-to-height ratio for the prediction of worsening acute pancreatitis.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between the waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) and the aggravation of acute pancreatitis (AP). This prospective study included AP patients treated from May 2019 to December 2019 in the Department of Gastroenterology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University. Receiver operating characteristic curves were constructed to determine the optimal threshold values for predicting the aggravation of AP. Risk factor analysis was performed via logistic regression analysis. Of 258 patients included in this study, 77 (29.84%) were diagnosed with mild acute pancreatitis, 120 (46.51%) with moderately severe acute pancreatitis, and 61 (23.64%) with severe acute pancreatitis (SAP). WHtR, waist circumference, weight, and body mass index were all associated with AP severity, and the highest area under the receiver operating characteristic value was observed for WHtR. The optimal threshold WHtR value for predicting SAP was 0.567. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified WHtR ≥ 0.567 as independent risk factor for SAP. Moreover, the hospital stay was longer and intensive care unit admission rate was higher among AP patients with a WHtR ≥ 0.567. The WHtR was found to be closely related to the severity of AP and an independent risk factor for the aggravation of AP. This simple parameter can aid the early prediction of AP progression, thereby facilitating early intervention and improving patient outcomes.

Metagenomic insight on consortium degradation of soil weathered petroleum and its supplement based on gene abundance change.

Petroleum biodegradation is of importance for the mitigation of secondary pollutants from soil chemical remediation. Describing the gene abundance change of the petroleum degradation emerged as an important practice for success. In this study, an indigenous consortium with targeting-enzyme was utilized to develop a degradative system that was later subjected to metagenomic analysis on the soil microbial community. Centering on ko00625 pathway, abundance change of dehydrogenase gene was firstly found increasing from groups D, DS to DC in turn, just in an opposite direction with that of oxygenase. In addition, gene abundance of responsive mechanism went rising with degradative process as well. This finding sufficiently promoted that equal attention should be paid to both degradative and responsive processes. Hydrogen donor system was innovatively built on the consortium-used soil to satisfy the demand of dehydrogenase gene tendency and to sustain further petroleum degradation. Anaerobic pine-needle soil was supplemented to this system, bi-functionally serving as dehydrogenase substrate with nutrients and hydrogen donor. In doing so, two successive degradations optimally achieved the total removal rate 75.6-78.7% for petroleum hydrocarbon. The conception on the gene abundance changes and its corresponding supplement helps industries of concern to develop geno-tag guided framework.

Value of serum free prostate-specific antigen density in the diagnosis of prostate cancer.

PURPOSE: To investigate the value of serum free prostate-specific antigen density (fPSAD) in the diagnosis of prostate cancer (PCa). METHODS: The data of 558 patients who underwent transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy were retrospectively analyzed. According to the pathological results, the patients were divided into a PCa group and a benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) group. Receiver operating characteristic curves were plotted, based on which the sensitivity, specificity, Youden index, concordance, and kappa values of free prostate-specific antigen (fPSA), the free-to-total f/tPSA, prostate-specific antigen density (PSAD), the free-to-total (f/t)/PSAD ratio, and fPSAD were compared. The patients were divided into three groups by PSA levels (PSA < 4 ng/mL, PSA = 4-10 ng/mL, and PSA > 10 ng/mL), into three groups by age (age < 60 year, age = 60-80y, and age > 80 years), and into two groups by prostate volume (PV) (PV ≤ 80 mL and PV > 80 mL) to compare the sensitivity, specificity, and concordance of indicators. RESULTS: tPSA, PSAD, (f/t)/PSAD, and fPSAD had high accuracy in predicting PCa with AUC values of 0.820, 0.900, 0.846, and 0.867. fPSAD showed lower diagnostic sensitivity but significantly higher specificity and concordance for PCa than tPSA, f/tPSA, (f/t)/PSAD, or PSAD. Thus, fPSAD had the highest accuracy in the diagnosis of PCa. In the groups with different PSA, age, and PV stratification, the concordance of fPSAD was significantly higher (88.61%, 90.74%, and 90.38%) than that of other indicators. CONCLUSION: With the optimal cutoff value of 0.062, fPSAD has a higher diagnostic value for PCa than tPSA, f/tPSA, (f/t)/PSAD, and PSAD, and can well predict the risk of PCa, significantly improve the clinical diagnostic rate of PCa, and reduce unnecessary biopsy.

Mitochondria Transplantation from Stem Cells for Mitigating Sarcopenia.

Sarcopenia is defined as the age-related loss of muscle mass and function that can lead to prolonged hospital stays and decreased independence. It is a significant health and financial burden for individuals, families, and society as a whole. The accumulation of damaged mitochondria in skeletal muscle contributes to the degeneration of muscles with age. Currently, the treatment of sarcopenia is limited to improving nutrition and physical activity. Studying effective methods to alleviate and treat sarcopenia to improve the quality of life and lifespan of older people is a growing area of interest in geriatric medicine. Therapies targeting mitochondria and restoring mitochondrial function are promising treatment strategies. This article provides an overview of stem cell transplantation for sarcopenia, including the mitochondrial delivery pathway and the protective role of stem cells. It also highlights recent advances in preclinical and clinical research on sarcopenia and presents a new treatment method involving stem cell-derived mitochondrial transplantation, outlining its advantages and challenges.

Increased iron deposition in nucleus accumbens associated with disease progression and chronicity in migraine.

BACKGROUND: Migraine is one of the world's most prevalent and disabling diseases. Despite huge advances in neuroimaging research, more valuable neuroimaging markers are still urgently needed to provide important insights into the brain mechanisms that underlie migraine symptoms. We therefore aim to investigate the regional iron deposition in subcortical nuclei of migraineurs as compared to controls and its association with migraine-related pathophysiological assessments. METHODS: A total of 200 migraineurs (56 chronic migraine [CM], 144 episodic migraine [EM]) and 41 matched controls were recruited. All subjects underwent MRI and clinical variables including frequency/duration of migraine, intensity of migraine, 6-item Headache Impact Test (HIT-6), Migraine Disability Assessment (MIDAS), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were recorded. Quantitative susceptibility mapping was employed to quantify the regional iron content in subcortical regions. Associations between clinical variables and regional iron deposition were studied as well. RESULTS: Increased iron deposition in the putamen, caudate, and nucleus accumbens (NAC) was observed in migraineurs more than controls. Meanwhile, patients with CM had a significantly higher volume of iron deposits compared to EM in multiple subcortical nuclei, especially in NAC. Volume of iron in NAC can be used to distinguish patients with CM from EM with a sensitivity of 85.45% and specificity of 71.53%. As the most valuable neuroimaging markers in all of the subcortical nuclei, higher iron deposition in NAC was significantly associated with disease progression, and higher HIT-6, MIDAS, and PSQI. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide evidence that iron deposition in NAC may be a biomarker for migraine chronicity and migraine-related dysfunctions, thus may help to understand the underlying vascular and neural mechanisms of migraine. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT04939922.

FGF-21 and GDF-15 are increased in migraine and associated with the severity of migraine-related disability.

BACKGROUND: Migraine is a prevalent disorder with significant socioeconomic impact. The impairment of metabolic homeostasis in migraine warrants further investigation. Changes in serum levels of Fibroblast-growth-factor 21 (FGF-21) and Growth-differentiation-factor 15 (GDF-15) are characteristic of some metabolic and mitochondrial diseases. This study aimed to assess whether the presence of migraine affects serum levels of FGF-21 and GDF-15, and taking metabolic disorders into account as potential confounding factors. METHODS: We collected serum samples from 221 migraine patients (153 episodic migraineurs and 68 chronic migraineurs) and 124 healthy controls. The serum concentrations of FGF-21 and GDF-15 were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based approach. Clinical variables, including monthly headache days, peak headache pain intensity, the 6-item Headache Impact Test (HIT-6), and the Migraine Disability Assessment (MIDAS), were also addressed. The associations between the clinical variables of migraine patients and serum levels of FGF-21 and GDF-15 were studied. RESULTS: In the multiple regression that corrected for age, we found that the serum levels of FGF-21 and GDF-15 were significantly higher in migraine sufferers than in healthy controls. A significant elevation in serum concentration of FGF-21, but not GDF-15, was observed in patients with chronic migraine (CM) compared to those with episodic migraine (EM). Regarding migraine-related disability, higher scores on the HIT-6 and MIDAS were associated with higher levels of FGF-21 and GDF-15. For the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, the diagnosis of migraine using GDF-15 showed that the area under the ROC curve (AUC) was 0.801 and the AUC of chronic migraine was 0.880. CONCLUSION: Serum GDF-15 and FGF-21 levels are increased in patients with migraine and associated with the severity of migraine-related disability.

Effect of animal activity and air temperature on heat production, heart rate, and oxygen pulse in lactating Holstein cows.

A linear relationship between heart rate (HR) and oxygen consumption (VO2) has been reported in homeothermic animals, indicating that is possible to estimate heat production through HR measurements. This relationship may depend on the animal activity and environmental conditions. The main objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of the air temperature and animal posture and activity on heat production and VO2 in relation to HR. In addition, as a secondary objective, the energy cost of eating and ruminating versus idling and standing versus lying down was determined. Twelve Holstein lactating cows were housed inside climate-controlled respiration chambers for 8 d, where the air temperature was gradually increased from 7 to 21°C during the night and from 16 to 30°C during the day with daily increments of 2°C for both daytime and nighttime. During the 8-d data collection period, HR and gaseous exchange measurements were performed, and animal posture and activity were recorded continuously. The oxygen pulse (O2P), which represents the amount of oxygen that is consumed by the cow per heartbeat, was calculated as the ratio between VO2 and HR. Results showed that heat production and VO2 were linearly and positively associated with HR, but this relationship largely varied between individual cows. Within the range tested, O2P was unaffected by temperature, but we detected a tendency for an interaction of O2P with the temperature range tested during the night versus during the day. This indicates that the effect of air temperature on O2P is nonlinear. Standing and eating slightly increased O2P (1.0 and 2.5%) compared with lying down and idling, respectively, whereas rumination increased O2P by 5.1% compared with idling. It was concluded that the potential bias introduced by these effects on the O2P for the application of the technique is limited. The energy cost of eating and ruminating over idling was 223 ± 11 and 45 ± 6 kJ/kg0.75 per day, respectively, whereas the energy cost of standing over lying down was 53 ± 6 kJ/kg0.75 per day. We concluded that O2P in dairy cows was slightly affected by both animal posture and activity, but remained unaffected by air temperature within 8 to 32°C. Nonlinearity of the relationship between the O2P and air temperature suggests that caution is required extrapolating O2P beyond the temperature range evaluated in our experiment.

Endodontic Microsurgery of Mandibular Second Molars Using the Bony Lid Approach: A Case Series.

Endodontic microsurgery is important for preservation of natural teeth with symptomatic apical periodontitis when conventional endodontic treatment is neither feasible nor effective. The thick buccal cortex, poor visibility, and potential neurovascular complications can make microsurgical procedures of mandibular second molars infeasible. With the aid of cone-beam computed tomography, the bony lid approach was applied in 10 cases of endodontic microsurgery of mandibular second molars at the VIP Center, Hangzhou Stomatology Hospital between 2019 and 2020. In all cases, the clinical and radiographic findings at the 24- or 36-month follow-up revealed complete healing of the periapical lesions. The bony lid technique contributed to precise root-end localization and helped avoid excessive postoperative pain or unfavorable healing that occurred in cases of excessive alveolar bone resection. Some clinical tips on preserving the cortical bone, obtaining precise access, and improving surgical efficiency have been proposed in this report.

Functional Teas from Penthorum chinense Pursh Alleviates Ethanol-Induced Hepatic Oxidative Stress and Autophagy Impairment in Zebrafish via Modulating the AMPK/p62/Nrf2/mTOR Signaling Axis.

Penthorum chinense Pursh (PCP), a medicinal and edible plant, is widely used in many clinical liver diseases. Oxidative stress and autophagy impairment play crucial roles in the pathophysiology of alcoholic liver disease (ALD). Therefore, the aim of this study was to elucidate the mechanism of PCP in attenuating ethanol-induced liver injury. The liver-specific transgenic zebrafish larvae (lfabp: EGFP) at three days post-fertilization (3 dpf) were treated with different concentrations of PCP (100, 50 and 25 µg/mL) for 48 h, after soaked in a 350 mM ethanol for 32 h. Whole-mount oil red O, H&E staining and biochemical kits were used to detect fatty liver function and fat accumulation, western blot (WB) and immunofluorescence were used to determine proteins expression, and RT-qPCR was used to further verify the related gene expression. PCP restored zebrafish liver function. Additionally, PCP (as dose-dependent) blocked the expression of cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1), the production of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and alleviated liver fat accumulation and oxidative damage. PCP exerted its hepatoprotective function by downregulating the expression of kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (Keap1), up-regulating the expression of nucleus factor-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) (transferring to the nucleus), and attenuating systemic oxidative stress. Furthermore, PCP reduced the expression of sequestosome 1 (p62/SQSTM1, p62), Atg13, and Beclin 1, up-regulating autophagy signaling pathway. Taken together, the molecular evidence that PCP protected the ethanol-induced hepatic oxidative stress and autophagy impairment through activating AMPK/p62/Nrf2/mTOR signaling axis.

Reconfigurable electro-optical logic gates using a 2-layer multilayer perceptron.

In this work, we aim to use the optical amplifiers, directional couplers and phase modulators to build the electro-optical gates. Thanks to the 2-layer-multilayer-perceptron structure, the inversion of matrix is performed to obtain the coupling ratio of the directional couplers and the phase delay of the phase modulators. The electro-optical OR, AND, XOR, NAND, NOR and XNOR gates are demonstrated. Moreover, we not only study the results under the ideal condition of device, but also discuss the imperfect situation with 1% error of fabrication or operation to study the tolerance of this system. Through our simulation results, the visibility of the gate output can be higher than 0.83. The gates can be fabricated in a silicon-based chip to develop the integrated optics computing system.

Forsythiae Fructuse extracts alleviates LPS-induced acute lung injury in mice by regulating PPAR-γ/RXR-α in lungs and colons.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Forsythiae Fructuse (FF), the dried fruit of Forsythia suspensa (Thunb.) Vahl, is used as a traditional Chinese medicine that has been reported to exert good anti-inflammatory effects in the treatment of many lung diseases. AIM OF THE STUDY: The purpose of this study was to investigate the anti-inflammatory mechanism of FF in the treatment of acute lung injury (ALI) based on gut-lung axis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: ALI model was established by the intratracheal instillation of 5 mg/kg LPS in ICR mice. Mice were administered intragastrically with dexamethasone (DEX), and low-dose, medium-dose and high-dose of FF extracts (LFF, MFF and HFF) in addition to the mice of control (CON) and model (MOD) groups. Pathological observation and inflammation scoring of lung tissues were based on HE staining. Limulus lysate assay was used to detect endotoxin levels in serum. Western blot and Real-time quantitative PCR were respectively applied to detect the protein and mRNA expressions in both lung and colon tissues. RESULTS: Lung pathological injury, inflammatory score and inflammatory genes (IL-6, IL-1ß, TNF-α) could be effectively suppressed by FF in LPS-induced ALI mice. FF also increased the proteins of epithelial markers (E-cadherin, ZO-1 and Claudin-1) in lung and colon tissues, and decreased colonic inflammatory genes for protecting the epithelial barriers of lung and colon. The protein expression of TLR4/MAPK/NF-κB inflammatory signaling pathway in lung and colon was significantly inhibited by FF via the regulation of PPAR-γ, a nuclear hormone receptor that forms the heterodimer with RXR-α to inhibit inflammatory gene transcription. More specifically, FF promoted the upregulation of protein, phosphorylated proteins and genes of PPAR-γ/RXR-α in lungs, while inhibited the protein overexpression and phosphorylation of PPAR-γ/RXR-α in colons. CONCLUSIONS: FF exhibited anti-inflammatory effects and protected the epithelial barriers in lungs and colons by regulating PPAR-γ/RXR-α in the treatment of LPS-induced ALI.

Research Progress of Quercetin Delivery Systems.

BACKGROUND: Quercetin is the main dietary flavonoid with a wide range of pharmacological activities. However, the poor gastrointestinal absorption and low bioavailability of quercetin curtail its clinical applications. METHODS: We performed a systematic research on the quercetin drug delivery system in PubMed, Web of Science, SciFinder, Google Scholar, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure database, and summarized it reasonably. RESULT AND CONCLUSION: The bioavailability of quercetin can be improved through the application of delivery systems technologies, such as microparticle delivery systems, solid dispersions, encapsulation, phospholipid complexes, and hydrogels. Quercetin delivery systems have been demonstrated to exhibit stronger antibacterial, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and other pharmacological effects in vitro and in vivo animal experiments, promoting the development and optimization of quercetin delivery systems for clinical applications.

Immune Response Studies Based on P2X7 Receptors: A Mini-Review.

Inflammation, as a complex immunopathological process, is the organism's natural defense response against harmful, foreign, and destructive immune or non-immune factors. It is the main pathological form of various diseases, such as tumors, neurodegenerative diseases, periodontitis, alcoholic steatohepatitis, asthma, and other diseases. The P2X7 receptor (P2X7R) is widely distributed in vivo and up-regulated in various inflammatory pathological states. Studies have shown that milder chronic inflammation is related to a deficiency or inhibition of P2X7R, which is an indispensable part of the pro-inflammatory mechanism in vivo. P2X7R, a unique subtype of seven purinergic P2X receptors, is an ATP-gated non-selective cationic channel. P2X7R will promote the influx of Ca2+ and the outflow of K+ after being stimulated. The influx of Ca2+ is essential for activating the body's innate immune response and inducing the production of inflammatory factors. This paper reviews the regulation of P2X7R in inflammation from the perspectives of innate immunity and adaptive immunity.