Exploration of Noninvasive Detection of Advanced Glycation End Products in the Lens to Screen for Diabetic Kidney Disease.

Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is a complication of diabetes, which is the most common cause of end-stage renal disease (dialysis). DKD has a high mortality rate, and only early detection can nip this disease in the bud. Advanced glycation end products (AGEs)are generally believed to be involved in the occurrence of DKD. Studies have shown that the lens AGEs fluorescence for noninvasive detection has high consistency with the gold standard OGTT, has high sensitivity and specificity, and could be used as a practical tool for the early screening of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).Therefore, we speculated that the noninvasive lens AGEs fluorescence detection method can be used to predict the occurrence of DKD. This study detected levels of AGEs in multiple cellular and tissues and analyzed the relationships between AGEs and lens, eyeballs, peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC), serum, and kidney. Additionally, we examined the possible role of lens AGEs fluorescence in DKD screening. Our preexperimental study found that lens AGE levels in patients with T2DM were positively correlated with PBM and serum AGE levels. Lens AGE levels in patients with T2DM were negatively correlated with eGFR and positively correlated with urinary ACR. The animal and cell experiments showed that the AGE levels in the eyeballs of DM mice were also positively correlated with those in the serum and kidney. To increase the reliability of the experiment, we increased the sample size. In our results, lens AGEs levels were positively correlated with the occurrence of DKD, and the incidence of DKD in the high lens AGEs group was 2.739 times that in the low lens AGEs group. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves showed that patients with T2DM with a lens AGEs value ≥ 0.306 were likely to have DKD. The area under the ROC curve of the noninvasive technique for identifying DKD was 0.757 (95% Cl: 0.677-0.838, p<0.001), and the sensitivity and specificity were 70.0% and 78.7%, respectively. These results suggest that noninvasive lens AGEs detection technology has certain clinical value in diagnosing whether patients with T2DM have DKD.

[Distribution and Removal of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria and Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Petrochemical Wastewater Treatment Plants].

A petrochemical wastewater treatment plant (PWWTP) was selected to investigate the distribution and removal of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and three forms of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), namely intracellular ARGs (iARGs), adsorbed-extracellular ARGs (aeARGs), and free extracellular ARGs (feARGs). Tetracycline, sulfanilamide, and ampicillin ARB were detected with the total absolute concentration of 8.45×102-2.38×105 CFU·mL-1; the absolute concentrations of three types of ARB decreased by 0.04 lg-0.21 lg through anaerobic treatment. The effect of aeration and precipitation treatment on ARB varies with its type, and the absolute concentration of ARB in effluent was 0.12 lg-0.63 lg higher than that in influent. The absolute abundance of aeARGs and iARGs in activated sludge was 1.96×107-3.02×1010 copies·g-1 and 5.22×107-4.15×1010 copies·g-1, respectively; the absolute abundance of feARGs in wastewater was 5.90×108-1.01×1012 copies·L-1. Anaerobic treatment can remove 0.13 lg-0.65 lg aeARGs and 0.04 lg-0.28 lg iARGs, while the removal efficiency of aeARGs and iARGs by aeration and precipitation process was affected by ARGs types and forms. The absolute abundance of feARGs in effluent is 0.06 lg-0.81 lg higher than that in influent. Redundancy analysis showed that the concentration of ARB was significantly positively correlated with chemical oxygen demand (COD), Cl-, and total nitrogen concentration (P<0.05). The abundance of aeARGs was positively correlated with COD and total nitrogen concentration (P<0.05), and both the abundance of iARGs and feARGs are positively correlated with heavy metals concentration (P<0.05). This study confirmed the enrichment risk of ARB and different forms of ARGs in PWWTPs, which provided references for the research and prevention of antibiotic resistance pollution in industrial wastewater.

Effect of berberine on the ratio of high-molecular weight adiponectin to total adiponectin and adiponectin receptors expressions in high-fat diet fed rats.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effects of berberine (BBR) on high-molecular weight (HMW) adiponectin and adiponectin receptors (adipoR1/adipoR2) expressions in high-fat (HF) diet fed rats. METHODS: Forty Wistar male rats were randomly assigned into a normal diet fed group and three HF diet (fat for 45% calories) fed groups (n=10 for each group). All rats underwent 12 weeks of feeding. After 4 weeks feeding, rats in the two of three HF diet fed groups were treated with 150 mg·kg-1·day-1 BBR (HF+LBBR group) and 380 mg·kg-1·day-1 BBR (HF+HBBR group) by gavage once a day respectively for the next 8 weeks while the rats in other groups treated with vehicle (NF+Veh and HF+Veh). Body weight and food intake were observed and recorded on daily basis. At the end of 12 weeks, the blood, liver, epididymal fat tissues and quadriceps femoris muscles were collected. Fasting insulin, plasma fasting glucose, serum free fatty acid (FFA), total adiponectin and HMW adiponectin levels were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay method. Glucose tolerance test (GTT) and insulin tolerance test (ITT) were performed to determine the insulinsensitizing. Meanwhile the homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) method was used to determine insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). The expressions of adipoR1, adipoR2 and adenosine monophophate activated protein kinase (AMPK) phosphorylation level in skeletal muscle and liver tissue were detected by Western blot. Liver and kidney toxicity were evaluated during treatment. RESULTS: The body weight of rats in high- or low-dose BBR group reduced as well as HOMA-IR, FFA concentrations and fasting insulin levels decreased compared with HF+Veh group (P<0.05). BBR also increased the ratio of HMW to total adiponectin in high fat-fed rats compared with rats in the HF+Veh group. High- and low-dose BBR increased adipoR1 expression in skeletal muscle by over 6- and 2-fold (P<0.05), respectively, and high-dose BBR also increased adipoR2 expression in liver tissue by over 2-fold (P<0.05). BBR significantly increased AMPK phosphorylation in HF diet rats compared with normal diet rats (P<0.05). The ratio of HMW to total adiponectin was inversely correlated with HOMA-IR (r=-0.52, P=0.001). Meantime, no liver and kidney toxicity was found in high fat-fed rats that treated by BBR. CONCLUSION: Berberine may improve insulin resistance by increasing the expression of adiponectin receptors and the ratio of HMW to total adiponectin.

Functional study of the upregulation of miRNA-27a and miRNA-27b in 3T3-L1 cells in response to berberine.

Berberine is the major active component of Rhizoma Coptidis derived from a traditional Chinese herbal medicine and is known to regulate micro (mi)RNA levels, although the mechanism for this action remains unknown. The present study confirmed that treatment of 3T3­L1 cells with berberine inhibited cell viability and differentiation in a dose­ and time­dependent manner, and significantly increased the mRNA expression levels of miRNA­27a and miRNA­27b. In addition, in 3T3­L1 cells treated with berberine, overexpression of miRNA­27a and miRNA­27b improved the berberine-mediated inhibition of cell differentiation and reduction of triglyceride contents. By contrast, miRNA­27a and miRNA­27b inhibitors attenuated the berberine­mediated inhibition of cell differentiation and reduction of triglyceride contents. Additionally, peroxisome proliferator­activated receptors (PPAR)­Î³ was confirmed to be a target of miRNA­27a in the 3T3­L1 cells. A dual­luciferase reporter assay indicated that the expression of PPAR­Î³ was negatively regulated by miRNA-27a. These findings may provide novel mechanistic insight into the antiobesity effects of certain compounds in traditional Chinese herbal medicine.