Orally administered melanin from Sepiapharaonis ink ameliorates depression-anxiety-like behaviors in DSS-induced colitis by mediating inflammation pathway and regulating apoptosis.

The effects of intestinal inflammation on the brain and behavior have received a lot of attention. Melanin (MSI) from Sepiapharaonis ink as an emerging functional food, it exhibited a significant protective effect on dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) induced colitis in previous study. In present study, C57BL/6J mice were free to drink 2.5% DSS solution to establish the colitis model. During the DSS treatment, mice were orally administrated with MSI once per day (75, 150, and 300 mg/kg, respectively). The results showed that MSI treatment ameliorated the depression and anxiety symptoms of colitis mice. Further mechanism studies indicated that MSI alleviated inflammatory response by adjusting cytokines TNF-α, IL-1ß, IFN-γ, and IL-10, and proteins NLRP3/ASC/caspase-1 inflammasome), inhibited the activation of microglia, restored brain synaptic density, reduced oxidative stress (SOD, MDA) and regulated apoptosis (tunel staining, caspase-3). MSI could modulate depression-anxiety states by targeting inflammation, nerve tissue, oxidative stress and apoptosis. MSI administration could serve as an emerging blue food and nutrition strategy for the prevention of digestive tract inflammation and behavioral disorders.

Co-processing of the MSWI flue gas in a lab-scale coal-fired drop-tube furnace.

Coal-fired power plants are characterized by high combustion temperature and well-equipped air pollution control devices. The trace organic pollutants in the municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) flue gas would be completely destroyed if the MSWI flue gas was injected into the high temperature area of a coal-fired boiler. In this study, the emission characteristics of common gas pollutants, heavy metals, and dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) in both flue gas and bottom ash when the MSWI flue gas was injected into a lab-scale coal-fired drop-tube furnace were investigated. After co-processing, the concentrations of NOx, SO2, CO, and all heavy metals in the flue gas emitted from the coal-fired drop-tube furnace did not change a lot. However, the concentration of HCl in the flue gas from drop-tube furnace increased after coupling the MSWI flue gas. Moreover, the I-TEQ values of the PCDD/Fs in the flue gas and bottom ash after coupling the MSWI flue gas were 0.037 ng I-TEQ/Nm3 and 0.63 ng I-TEQ/g, respectively. The main formation pathways of PCDD/Fs in the flue gas of drop-tube furnace were suggested to be de novo synthesis and precursor synthesis. Furthermore, the effects of oxygen content and temperature on the formation of PCDD/Fs were also studied. The reduction efficiencies of the total amount of PCDD/Fs in the flue gas from the co-processing system were more than 60%, and even reached 90%. Therefore, co-processing of the MSWI flue gas in coal-fired power plants might be an environmentally friendly technology.