Network pharmacology integrated with experimental validation to elucidate the mechanisms of action of the Guizhi-Gancao Decoction in the treatment of phenylephrine-induced cardiac hypertrophy.

CONTEXT: The mechanisms of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Guizhi-Gancao Decoction (GGD) remain unknown. OBJECTIVE: This study explores the mechanisms of GGD against cardiac hypertrophy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Network pharmacology analysis was carried out to identify the potential targets of GGD. In vivo experiments, C57BL/6J mice were divided into Con, phenylephrine (PE, 10 mg/kg/d), 2-chloroadenosine (CADO, the stable analogue of adenosine, 2 mg/kg/d), GGD (5.4 g/kg/d) and GGD (5.4 g/kg/d) + CGS15943 (a nonselective adenosine receptor antagonist, 4 mg/kg/d). In vitro experiments, primary neonatal rat cardiomyocytes (NRCM) were divided into Con, PE (100 µM), CADO (5 µM), GGD (10-5 g/mL) and GGD (10-5 g/mL) + CGS15943 (5 µM). Ultrasound, H&E and Masson staining, hypertrophic genes expression and cell surface area were conducted to verify the GGD efficacy. Adenosine receptors (ADORs) expression were tested via real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), western blotting and immunofluorescence analysis. RESULTS: Network pharmacology identified ADORs among those of the core targets of GGD. In vitro experiments demonstrated that GGD attenuated PE-induced increased surface area (with an EC50 of 5.484 × 10-6 g/mL). In vivo data shown that GGD attenuated PE-induced ventricular wall thickening. In vitro and in vivo data indicated that GGD alleviated PE-induced hypertrophic gene expression (e.g., ANP, BNP and MYH7/MYH6), A1AR over-expression and A2aAR down-expression. Moreover, CADO exerts effects similar to GGD, whereas CGS15943 eliminated most effects of GGD. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest the mechanism by which GGD inhibits cardiac hypertrophy, highlighting regulation of ADORs as a potential therapeutic strategy for HF.

Determination of sulfonamide antibiotics by magnetic porous carbon solid-phase extraction coupled with capillary electrophoresis.

Sulfonamide antibiotics (SAs) have been widely used as antibacterial drugs for the prevention and treatment of livestock and poultry diseases, but they seriously threaten human health because they can accumulate in humans. Therefore, it is highly important to develop methods for monitoring sulfonamide residues in aquaculture and food. In this research, based on the generation of porous carbon (PC) by the pyrolysis of sodium citrate, magnetic porous carbon (PC@Fe3O4) was synthesized by a solvothermal method and used as an adsorbent for the magnetic solid-phase extraction of SAs. The effects of the proportion of PC in PC@Fe3O4, adsorbent dosage, adsorption time, eluent type, extraction pH, salt concentration and eluent dosage on the extraction efficiency were systematically studied. The adsorption performance and behavior of PC@Fe3O4 on SAs were evaluated using adsorption kinetics and adsorption isotherms, and the adsorption mechanism was preliminarily discussed. Under optimal conditions, combined with capillary electrophoresis diode array detection, a sensitive detection method for SAs was developed. The proposed method can be used for the determination of six SAs in fishpond water and milk samples, with a linear range of 0.5-200 ng mL-1, detection limits of 0.24-0.34 ng mL-1, and spiked recoveries of 85.9-109.0 %.

Fabrication of Two Luminescent Imidazolyl Cadmium-Organic Frameworks and Their Sensing Mechanism for 2,6-Dichloro-4-nitroaniline.

2,6-Dichloro-4-nitroaniline, alias dicloran (DCN), is a broad-spectrum pesticide that can cause irreversible damage to the human body. Therefore, it is of great significance to develop a technology for the rapid and convenient detection of DCN. Luminescent metal organic frameworks have attracted extensive attention in the field of sensing and detection due to their excellent optical properties. In this study, two kinds of 2D Cd-MOFs (CdMOF-1 and CdMOF-2) were developed for the detection of residual DCN in the environment. Both CdMOFs exhibit excellent solvent and acid-base stability and can respond to DCN quickly and sensitively in a short time (30 s). CdMOFs not only have good selectivity and anti-interference toward DCN but also have good reusability. Under the conditions of DCN concentrations of 1-15 and 0.3-30 µM, the change in fluorescence intensity of CdMOF-1 and CdMOF-2 showed a good linear relationship with DCN concentration (R2 = 0.999/0.991), and the detection limits were 0.36 and 0.12 µM, respectively. Through ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy (UV-Vis), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, fluorescence lifetime, and density functional theory calculations, it is revealed that the fluorescence quenching mechanisms of DCN for two kinds of Cd-MOFs are competitive absorption and photoinduced electron transfer, and there may be a weak π-π interaction. Finally, it is demonstrated that by using two types of fluorescent CdMOFs to make the fluorescent test paper and detect actual soil, these can be applied to the actual scene and achieve onsite real-time detection.

Black Plastic Film Mulching Increases Soil Nitrous Oxide Emissions in Arid Potato Fields.

Black plastic film mulching is a common practice for potato production in the arid area of Northwest China. Many studies have reported the significant positive effect of black plastic film mulch on potato harvest, while the effect of black plastic film mulch treatment on soil nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions is still unclear. As a consequence, this study aimed to examine the effect of black plastic film mulch treatment on N2O emission from arid upland potato fields. With the static chamber-gas chromatography method, soil N2O emissions were measured. The results showed that black plastic film mulching treatment significantly increased cumulative soil N2O emissions by 21-26% compared with non-mulched treatment. Cumulative N2O emission positively correlated with soil temperature, soil moisture, soil CO2 concentration, and amoA-AOB abundance. This study indicated that black plastic film mulching, mainly through increasing soil temperature and soil moisture, increasing soil carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration, and promoting the abundance of nitrification-related functional gene of amoA-AOB, regulated N2O emissions. This study also highlighted that the specific soil environment under black plastic film mulch is conducive to N2O emissions and lay the foundation for settling the contradiction between food production and greenhouse gas mitigation in upland soils. The negative effects of black plastic film mulching on the environment should be considered in future applications in food production.

Protective Effect of Trimetazidine on Potassium Ion Homeostasis in Myocardial Tissue in Mice with Heart Failure.

The occurrence of heart failure (HF) is closely correlated with the disturbance of mitochondrial energy metabolism, and trimetazidine (TMZ) has been regarded as an effective agent in treating HF. Intracellular potassium ion (K+) homeostasis, which is modulated by K+ channels and transporters, is crucial for maintaining normal myocardial function and can be disrupted by HF. This study is aimed at exploring the protective effect of TMZ on K+ homeostasis within myocardial tissue in mice with HF. We observed the pathological changes of myocardial tissue under microscopes and further measured the content of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the activity of Na+-K+ ATPase, and the expression of ATP1α1 at the mRNA and protein levels. Moreover, we also analyzed the changes in K+ flux across the myocardial tissue in mice. As a result, we found that there was a large amount of myocardial fiber lysis and fracture in HF myocardial tissue. Meanwhile, the potassium flux of mice with HF was reduced, and the expression of ATP1α1, the activity of Na+-K+ ATPase, and the supply and delivery of ATP were also decreased. In contrast, TMZ can effectively treat HF by restoring K+ homeostasis in the local microenvironment of myocardial tissues.