Propofol prevents human umbilical vein endothelial cell injury from Ang II-induced apoptosis by activating the ACE2-(1-7)-Mas axis and eNOS phosphorylation.

Angiotensin II (AngII), a vasoactive peptide that elevates arterial blood pressure and results in hypertension, has been reported to directly induce vascular endothelial cell apoptosis. Recent work has demonstrated that propofol pre-treatment attenuates angiotensin II-induced apoptosis in human coronary artery endothelial cells. However, the underlying mechanism remains largely unknown. Here, we investigated human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) subjected to angiotensin II-induced apoptosis in the presence or absence of propofol treatment and found that angiotensin II-induced apoptosis was attenuated by propofol in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, ELISA assays demonstrated that the ratio of angiotensin (1-7) (Ang (1-7)) to Ang II was increased after propofol treatment. We examined the expression of ACE2, Ang (1-7) and Mas and found that the ACE2-Ang (1-7)-Mas axis was up-regulated by propofol, while ACE2 overexpression increased phosphorylated endothelial nitric oxide synthase (phosphorylated eNOS) expression and siACE2 resulted in the repression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) phosphorylation. In conclusion, our study revealed that propofol can inhibit endothelial cell apoptosis induced by Ang II by activating the ACE2-Ang (1-7)-Mas axis and further up-regulating the expression and phosphorylation of eNOS.

Protective effect of propofol on ischemia-reperfusion injury detected by HPLC-MS/MS targeted metabolic profiling.

Ischemia-reperfusion injury(IRI), described as tissue damage caused by reversible ischemic injury or hypoxia prior to the blood supply restoration, is a common pathological phenomenon. In recent study, a hypoxia-reoxygenation (H/R) in the presence or absence of propofol posthypoxia treatment (P-PostH) cell model was built to simulate the condition of IRI, and researchers found propofol may protect cells by suppressing autophagic cell death. To investigate the mechanism underling the protective effect of propofol. A metabolomic analysis was performed in this study using ultra performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC/Q-TOF- MS) to compare the metabolism during the process of H/R in the presence or absence of P-PostH. A total of 22 metabolites were detected varied after propofol posthypoxia treatment. Pathway analysis revealed these metabolites were mainly involved in the purine metabolic pathway, three carboxylic acid metabolic pathways, alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism pathway and lipid metabolism pathway. We measured the level of Hypoxanthine to verify the metabolomics work, for pathway analysis, we detect the level of reactive oxygen species with H/R and P-PostH treatment. Our study achieved a global comparison of metabolism profiling of H/R cell model with or without propofol posthypoxic treatment. The result indicated that propofol can attenuate endothelial injury caused by IRI by reducing oxidative damage.

Non-Markovian full counting statistics in quantum dot molecules.

Full counting statistics of electron transport is a powerful diagnostic tool for probing the nature of quantum transport beyond what is obtainable from the average current or conductance measurement alone. In particular, the non-Markovian dynamics of quantum dot molecule plays an important role in the nonequilibrium electron tunneling processes. It is thus necessary to understand the non-Markovian full counting statistics in a quantum dot molecule. Here we study the non-Markovian full counting statistics in two typical quantum dot molecules, namely, serially coupled and side-coupled double quantum dots with high quantum coherence in a certain parameter regime. We demonstrate that the non-Markovian effect manifests itself through the quantum coherence of the quantum dot molecule system, and has a significant impact on the full counting statistics in the high quantum-coherent quantum dot molecule system, which depends on the coupling of the quantum dot molecule system with the source and drain electrodes. The results indicated that the influence of the non-Markovian effect on the full counting statistics of electron transport, which should be considered in a high quantum-coherent quantum dot molecule system, can provide a better understanding of electron transport through quantum dot molecules.

Negative differential conductance and super-Poissonian shot noise in single-molecule magnet junctions.

Molecular spintroinic device based on a single-molecule magnet is one of the ultimate goals of semiconductor nanofabrication technologies. It is thus necessary to understand the electron transport properties of a single-molecule magnet junction. Here we study the negative differential conductance and super-Poissonian shot noise properties of electron transport through a single-molecule magnet weakly coupled to two electrodes with either one or both of them being ferromagnetic. We predict that the negative differential conductance and super-Poissonian shot noise, which can be tuned by a gate voltage, depend sensitively on the spin polarization of the source and drain electrodes. In particular, the shot noise in the negative differential conductance region can be enhanced or decreased originating from the different formation mechanisms of negative differential conductance. The effective competition between fast and slow transport channels is responsible for the observed negative differential conductance and super-Poissonian shot noise. In addition, we further discuss the skewness and kurtosis properties of transport current in the super-Poissonian shot noise regions. Our findings suggest a tunable negative differential conductance molecular device, and the predicted properties of high-order current cumulants are very interesting for a better understanding of electron transport through single-molecule magnet junctions.

A scheme for detecting the atom-field coupling constant in the Dicke superradiation regime using hybrid cavity optomechanical system.

We proposed a scheme for detecting the atom-field coupling constant in the Dicke superradiation regime based on a hybrid cavity optomechanical system assisted by an atomic gas. The critical behavior of the Dicke model was obtained analytically using the spin-coherent-state representation. Without regard to the dynamics of cavity field an analytical formula of one-to-one correspondence between movable mirror's steady position and atom-field coupling constant for a given number of atoms is obtained. Thus the atom-field coupling constant can be probed by measuring the movable mirror's steady position, which is another effect of the cavity optomechanics.

Exact soliton solution and inelastic two-soliton collision in a spin chain driven by a time-dependent magnetic field.

We investigate dynamics of exact N-soliton trains in a spin chain driven by a time-dependent magnetic field by means of an inverse scattering transformation. The one-soliton solution indicates obviously the spin precession around the magnetic field and periodic shape variation induced by the time-varying field as well. In terms of the general soliton solutions, N-soliton interaction and particularly various two-soliton collisions are analyzed. The inelastic collision by which we mean the soliton shape change before and after collision appears is generally due to the time-varying field. We, moreover, show that complete inelastic collisions can be achieved by adjusting spectrum and field parameters. This may lead to a potential technique of shape control of soliton.