Decreased plasma ELABELA level as a novel screening indicator for heart failure: a cohort and observational study.

The predictive power of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) is limited by its low specificity in patients with heart failure (HF). Discovery of more novel biomarkers for HF better diagnosis is necessary and urgent. ELABELA, an early endogenous ligand for the G protein-coupled receptor APJ (Apelin peptide jejunum, Apelin receptor), exhibits cardioprotective actions. However, the relationship between plasma ELABELA and cardiac function in HF patients is unclear. To evaluate plasma ELABELA level and its diagnostic value in HF patients, a total of 335 patients with or without HF were recruited for our monocentric observational study. Plasma ELABELA and Apelin levels were detected by immunoassay in all patients. Spearman correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between plasma ELABELA or Apelin levels and study variables. The receiver operating characteristic curves were used to access the predictive power of plasma ELABELA or Apelin levels. Plasma ELABELA levels were lower, while plasma Apelin levels were higher in HF patients than in non-HF patients. Plasma ELABELA levels were gradually decreased with increasing New York Heart Association grade or decreasing LVEF. Plasma ELABELA levels were negatively correlated with BNP, left atrial diameter, left ventricular end-diastolic diameter, left ventricular end-systolic diameter, and left ventricular posterior wall thickness and positively correlated with LVEF in HF patients. In contrast, the correlation between plasma Apelin levels and these parameters is utterly opposite to ELABELA. The diagnostic value of ELABELA, Apelin, and LVEF for all HF patients was 0.835, 0.673, and 0.612; the sensitivity was 62.52, 66.20, and 32.97%; and the specificity was 95.92, 67.23, and 87.49%, respectively. All these parameters in HF patients with preserved ejection fraction were comparable to those in total HF patients. Overall, plasma ELABELA levels were significantly reduced and negatively correlated with cardiac function in HF patients. Decreased plasma ELABELA levels may function as a novel screening biomarker for HF. A combined assessment of BNP and ELABELA may be a good choice to increase the accuracy of the diagnosis of HF.

A triphenylamine-benzofuran-derived fluorescent probe for monitoring sulfite in Chinese medicinal materials and bioimaging.

In this work, a triphenylamine-benzofuran-derived fluorescent probe TBSF was developed for monitoring the sulfite level in Chinese medicinal materials and imaging in living cells. In the testing system, under 445 nm excitation, TBSF responded to sulfite steadily with a 540 nm fluorescence reporting signal. The testing system showed advantages including high sensitivity, rapid response, and high selectivity. In particular, TBSF achieved the sulfite detection in the water decoction of Chinese medicinal materials from both addition and excessive fumigation. It also realized the intracellular imaging of both exogenous and endogenous sulfite in living HepG2 cells. The imaging in water decoction-treated cells inferred the potential for the interdisciplinary detection.

3-Methyl-4-nitrophenol Exposure Deteriorates Oocyte Maturation by Inducing Spindle Instability and Mitochondrial Dysfunction.

3-methyl-4-nitrophenol (PNMC), a well-known constituent of diesel exhaust particles and degradation products of insecticide fenitrothion, is a widely distributed environmental contaminant. PNMC is toxic to the female reproductive system; however, how it affects meiosis progression in oocytes is unknown. In this study, in vitro maturation of mouse oocytes was applied to investigate the deleterious effects of PNMC. We found that exposure to PNMC significantly compromised oocyte maturation. PNMC disturbed the spindle stability; specifically, it decreased the spindle density and increased the spindle length. The weakened spindle pole location of microtubule-severing enzyme Fignl1 may result in a defective spindle apparatus in PNMC-exposed oocytes. PNMC exposure induced significant mitochondrial dysfunction, including mitochondria distribution, ATP production, mitochondrial membrane potential, and ROS accumulation. The mRNA levels of the mitochondria-related genes were also significantly impaired. Finally, the above-mentioned alterations triggered early apoptosis in the oocytes. In conclusion, PNMC exposure affected oocyte maturation and quality through the regulation of spindle stability and mitochondrial function.

Smart Janus textiles for biofluid management in wearable applications.

Janus textiles with asymmetric wettability have shown great potential in wearable applications due to their ability to manage biofluids efficiently. This review summarizes recent advances in smart Janus textiles for biofluid control and monitoring, focusing on wearable technologies. We first introduce the design configurations and fabrication approaches of Janus textiles, including asymmetric generation and asymmetric decoration strategies. We then highlight their diverse wearable applications spanning personal thermal management textiles, sweat sensors, hemostatic wound dressings, and protective equipment. These textiles offer innovative solutions for directional sweat transport, enhancing cooling and humidity control, and providing antibacterial properties. Finally, we discuss current limitations in durability, biocompatibility, and manufacturing scalability, alongside emerging opportunities in the field of smart Janus textiles.

Advances in Research on Pig Salivary Analytes: A Window to Reveal Pig Health and Physiological Status.

Saliva is an important exocrine fluid that is easy to collect and is a complex mixture of proteins and other molecules from multiple sources from which considerable biological information can be mined. Pig saliva, as an easily available biological liquid rich in bioactive ingredients, is rich in nucleic acid analytes, such as eggs, enzymes, amino acids, sugars, etc. The expression levels of these components in different diseases have received extensive attention, and the analysis of specific proteins, metabolites, and biological compositions in pig saliva has become a new direction for disease diagnosis and treatment. The study of the changes in analytes in pig saliva can provide a new strategy for early diagnosis, prognosis assessment, and treatment of diseases. In this paper, the detection methods and research progress of porcine salivary analytes are reviewed, the application and research progress of porcine salivary analytes in diseases are discussed, and the future application prospect is presented.

Curculigoside Represses the Proliferation and Metastasis of Osteosarcoma via the JAK/STAT and NF-κB Signaling Pathways.

Curculigoside (Cur) is a natural component from Curculigo orchioides Gaertn, with various bioactivities. The function of Cur in the nervous system and osteoarthritis has been reported. However, its role in osteosarcoma (OS) needs to be investigated. Hence, we focus on probing the impact of Cur on OS. In vitro, cell counting kit 8 (CCK-8), flow cytometry and Transwell assay were used to investigate the effects of Cur on OS cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion. In vivo, we developed a xenograft model to figure out the effect of Cur on tumor growth in nude mice. Western blotting (WB) was conducted to compare the levels of Cur on apoptosis-related proteins (C-caspase-3, Bax, and Bcl-2), epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related proteins (N-cadherin, Snail, and E-cadherin) and the Janus kinase (JAK)/signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) pathways in vitro and in vivo. In-vitro data testified that Cur treatment markedly hampered OS cells' growth, migration and invasion and intensified their apoptosis compared to that of the control group. In vivo, Cur treatment notably hampered the growth of OS tumors in mice. In addition, both in vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrated that the phosphorylation of JAK2, STAT3, and NF-κB were inhibited through Cur treatment. Furthermore, the inhibition of Cur in OS cells was demonstrated by up-regulating the expression of JAK/STAT and NF-κB pathways protein levels. In summary, the data suggest that Cur curbs OS growth by down-regulating the JAK/STAT and NF-κB pathways, which is an underlying therapeutic option for OS treatment.

Formulating a fully converged biorefining chain with zero wastewater generation by recycling stillage liquid to dry acid pretreatment operation.

Huge wastewater generation is the major challenge of biorefinery technology for production of cellulosic ethanol. This study designed and verified a method for completely recycling of wastewater stream (the stillage liquid from the beer column) in cellulosic ethanol production by dry biorefining processing. When the stillage liquid was directly recycled to dry acid pretreatment operation, ethanol production gradually reduced after two recycles primarily because the inorganic compounds accumulated by around 139%. To ultimately solve this technical barrier, the stillage liquid was evaporated and condensed into distillated water, then recycled to the pretreatment for complete dry biorefining process. This strategy supported a stable cellulosic ethanol production, and the overall mass and heat balance confirmed that only 65% of the lignin residue consumption was used for wastewater evaporation with 35% surplus for electricity generation. This study provided a fully converged biorefining process with a closed-loop wastewater recycling.

Liuwei Dihuang pill suppresses metastasis by regulating the wnt pathway and disrupting -catenin/T cell factor interactions in a murine model of triple-negative breast cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate if the Liuwei Dihuang pill (LWDHP) can inhibit metastasis to the liver and lungs in mice bearing triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), and the molecular mechanism underpinning this action. METHODS: Ninety-nine TNBC bearing-mice were distributed randomly to five groups: control (Con), paclitaxel (PTX), low-dose LWDHP (LLP, 2.3 g·kg－1·d－1), middle-dose LWDHP (MLP, 4.6 g·kg－1·d－1) and high-dose LWDHP (HLP, 9.2 g·kg－1·d－1). The LWDHP were administered (p.o.) to the agonal stage. The morphology of BC cells was observed by hematoxylin & eosin staining. Expression of axin-2, ß-catenin, T cell factor (TCF), cyclin- D1 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was detected by western blotting or immunofluorescence. ß-catenin/TCF-1 interaction was measured using a co-immunoprecipitation assay. RESULTS: After LWDHP treatment, metastasis of BC cells to the lungs and liver was inhibited, expression of axin-2 was increased, expression of TCF-1, ß-catenin, cyclin-D1 and VEGF was decreased, and ß-catenin/TCF-1 interaction was disrupted. CONCLUSION: The LWDHP could inhibit metastasis of BC cells to the liver and lungs. The molecular mechanism underlying this action may be regulation of protein expression and ß-catenin/TCF-1 interactions in the Wnt pathway.

The antityrosinase and antioxidant activities of flavonoids dominated by the number and location of phenolic hydroxyl groups.

BACKGROUND: Compounds with the ability to scavenge reactive oxygen species (ROS) and inhibit tyrosinase may be useful for the treatment and prevention from ROS-related diseases. The number and location of phenolic hydroxyl of the flavonoids will significantly influence the inhibition of tyrosinase activity. Phenolic hydroxyl is indispensable to the antioxidant activity of flavonoids. Isoeugenol, shikonin, baicalein, rosmarinic acid, and dihydromyricetin have respectively one, two, three, four, or five phenolic hydroxyls. The different molecular structures with the similar structure to l-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (l-DOPA) were expected to the different antityrosinase and antioxidant activities. METHODS: This investigation tested the antityrosinase activity, the inhibition constant, and inhibition type of isoeugenol, shikonin, baicalein, rosmarinic acid, and dihydromyricetin. Molecular docking was examined by the Discovery Studio 2.5 (CDOCKER Dock, Dassault Systemes BIOVIA, USA). This experiment also examined the antioxidant effects of the five compounds on supercoiled pBR322 plasmid DNA, lipid peroxidation in rat liver mitochondria in vitro, and DPPH, ABTS, hydroxyl, or superoxide free radical scavenging activity in vitro. RESULTS: The compounds exhibited good antityrosinase activities. Molecular docking results implied that the compounds could interact with the amino acid residues in the active site center of antityrosinase. These compounds also exhibited antioxidant effects on DPPH, ABTS, hydroxyl, or superoxide free radical scavenging activity in vitro, lipid peroxidation in rat liver mitochondria induced by Fe2+/vitamin C system in vitro, and supercoiled pBR322 plasmid DNA. The activity order is isoeugenol < shikonin < baicalein < rosmarinic acid < dihydromyricetin. The results showed the compounds with more phenolic hydroxyls have more antioxidant and antityrosinase activities. CONCLUSION: This was the first study of molecular docking for modeling the antityrosinase activity of compounds. This was also the first study of the protective effects of compounds on supercoiled pBR322 plasmid DNA, the lipid peroxidation inhibition activity in liver mitochondria. These results suggest that the compounds exhibited antityrosinase and antioxidant activities may be useful in skin pigmentation and food additives.

Benzoquinone from Fusarium pigment inhibits the proliferation of estrogen receptor-positive MCF-7 cells through the NF-κB pathway via estrogen receptor signaling.

Natural pigments are known for possessing a wide range of pharmacological and health-promoting properties. The pigments, produced by a new strain Fusarium (Fusarium sp. JN158) previously identified in our laboratory, were found to have 6 peaks (representing 6 compounds) by high-performance liquid chromatography with a diode-array detector (HPLC-DAD) separation. The 6th peak compound (compound VI) is a benzoquinone compound. In this study, we examined the effects of compound VI on the proliferation of breast cancer cells and aimed to elucidate the underlying mechamisms. Compound VI exerted anti-proliferative effects on MCF­7 estrogen receptor (ER)+ cells in a dose-dependent manner (IC25, 7 µM; IC50, 11 µM), whereas it had no effect on MDA­MB­231 ER- cells and normal cells. The cell index (CI) began to decrease at 24 h following treatment with benzoquinone. Mechanistically, the results from molecular analysis revealed that compound VI inhibited the expression of ERα, progesterone receptor (PR), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), Bcl-2, cyclin D1 and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) p65, while it increased the expression of cleaved caspase-3 and Bax in the MCF­7 cells. Taken together, our findings indicate that compound VI exerts anti-proliferative effects on MCF­7 cells through the NF-κB pathway via the regulation of ER signaling. Our data may indicate that benzoquinone from Fusarium pigment may have potential for use as an anti-proliferative agent in the treatment of breast cancer.

Effect of Liuweidihuang pill and Jinkuishenqi pill on inhibition of spontaneous breast carcinoma growth in mice.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the preventing and treating action of Liuweidihuang pill (LP) and Jinkuishenqi pill (JP) on spontaneous breast carcinoma in mice. METHODS: A model of spontaneous breast carcinoma was derived from 11.5-month-old female Kunming breeding mice following the delivery of several litters. The mice were randomly divided into five groups: model control group (C), Liuweidihuang pill high-dose group (LH; 4.6 g · kg(-1) · d(-1)), Liuweidihuang pill low-dose group (LL; 2.3 g · kg(-1) · d(-1)), Jinkuishenqi pill high-dose group (JH; 4.6 g · kg(-1) · d(-1)) and Jinkuishenqi pill low-dose group (JL; 2.3 g · kg(-1) · d(-1)). Cancer tissue volume was measured by water immersion. Histopathology was analyzed by hematoxylin and eosin staining. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and cyclin D1 protein expression in cancer tissue was assayed by western blotting. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, cancer tissue volume and weight were lower in the LP and JP groups, and survival time was longer. The expression of VEGF, ERK and Cyclin D1 were inhibited in the LP and JP groups (P < 0.05), and cell differentiation was increased. Tumor weights and volumes and VEGF, ERK and Cyclin D1 expression in LL or LH were significantly lower than in JL and JH (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Both LP and JP could restrain cancer growth and promote cancer cell differentiation; moreover, LP was more effective than JP The likely mechanism of action was via inhibition of VEGF, ERK and cyclin D1.

A model of spontaneous mouse mammary tumor for human estrogen receptor- and progesterone receptor-negative breast cancer.

Breast cancer (BC) is the most frequently malignancy in women. Therefore, establishment of an animal model for the development of preventative measures and effective treatment for tumors is required. A novel heterogeneous spontaneous mammary tumor animal model of Kunming mice was generated. The purpose of this study was to characterize the spontaneous mammary tumor model. Histopathologically, invasive nodular masses of pleomorphic tubular neoplastic epithelial cells invaded fibro-vascular stroma, adjacent dermis and muscle tissue. Metastatic spread through blood vessel into liver and lungs was observed by hematoxylin eosin staining. No estrogen receptor (ER) or progesterone receptor (PR) immunoreactivity was detected in their associated malignant tumors, human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2) protein weak expression was found by immunohistochemistry. High expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), moderate or high expression of c-Myc and cyclin D1 were observed in tumor sections at different stages (2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks after cancer being found) when compared with that of the normal mammary glands. The result showed that the model is of an invasive ductal carcinoma. Remarkably in the mouse model, ER and PR-negative and HER2 weak positivity are observed. The high or moderate expressions of breast cancer markers (VEGF, c-Myc and cyclin D1) in mammary cancer tissue change at different stages. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a spontaneous mammary model displaying colony-strain, outbred mice. This model will be an attractive tool to understand the biology of anti-hormonal breast cancer in women.

Hepatoprotective effects and antioxidant, antityrosinase activities of phloretin and phloretin isonicotinyl hydrazone.

BACKGROUND: Acute liver damage is primarily induced by one of several causes, among them viral exposure, alcohol consumption, and drug and immune system issues. Agents with the ability to inhibit tyrosinase and protect against DNA damage caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS) may be therapeutically useful for the prevention or treatment of ROS-related diseases. METHODS: This investigation examined the hepatoprotective effects of phloretin and phloretin isonicotinyl hydrazone (PIH) on d-galactosamine (D-GalN)-induced acute liver damage in Kunming mice, as well as the possible mechanisms. The serum levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), γ-glutamyl transferase (γ-GT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and total bilirubin (TB) as well as the histopathological changes in mouse liver sections were determined. The antioxidant effects of phloretin, quercetin, and PIH on lipid peroxidation in rat liver mitochondria in vitro, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) or 2,2-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) free radical scavenging activity in vitro, and supercoiled pBR322 plasmid DNA were confirmed. The experiment also examined the antityrosinase activity, inhibition type, and inhibition constant of phloretin and PIH. RESULTS: Phloretin, quercetin, or PIH significantly prevented the increase in serum ALT, AST, γ-GT, ALP, and TB in acute liver damage induced by D-GalN, and produced a marked reduction in the histopathological hepatic lesions. Phloretin, quercetin, or PIH also exhibited antioxidant effects on lipid peroxidation in rat liver mitochondria in vitro, DPPH or ABTS free radical scavenging activity in vitro, and supercoiled pBR322 plasmid DNA. Phloretin, quercetin, or PIH also exhibited good antityrosinase activity. CONCLUSION: To the best of our knowledge, this was the first study of the hepatoprotective effects of phloretin and PIH on D-GalN-induced acute liver damage in Kunming mice as well as the possible mechanisms. This was also the first study of the lipid peroxidation inhibition activity of phloretin and PIH in liver mitochondria induced by the Fe(2+)/vitamin C (Vc) system in vitro, the protective effects on supercoiled pBR322 plasmid DNA, and the antityrosinase activity of phloretin and PIH.