Zearalenone (ZEA) can perturb the differentiation of cells, reduce the generation of reproductive cells and induce a death of germ cells, but the molecular mechanism remains unclear. In order to ...investigate the potential mechanism of ZEA-induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, we studied the effects of ZEA on cell proliferation, cell-cycle distribution, cell-cycle-related proteins, cell death, cell apoptosis, ROS generation and the ATP/AMPK pathway in Sertoli cells. The role of ROS, ER stress and the ATP/AMPK pathway in ZEA-induced cell-cycle arrest and cell apoptosis was explored by using the antioxidant NAC, ER stress inhibitor 4-PBA and the AMPK inhibitor dorsomorphin, respectively. The results revealed that ZEA inhibited the cell proliferation, influenced the distribution of the cell cycle and induced cell apoptosis through the ATP/AMPK pathway. The ATP/AMPK pathway was regulated by ER stress that was induced by ROS generation after exposure to ZEA. Taking these together, this study provided evidence that ROS regulated the process of ZEA-induced cell cycle arrest and cell apoptosis through ER stress and the ATP/AMPK signal ways.
The fall armyworm (FAW) Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith; Lepidoptera; Noctuidae) has invaded Jiangxi Province, Southeast China for the past 3 years. Although the FAW displays a wide host range, ...its main host plants in Jiangxi Province are field corn. Understanding the population dynamics of the FAW on different host plants is critical for developing an appropriate control strategy. This study investigated the effects of food plants (corn, peanut, soybean and sugarcane) on life‐history traits of FAW and tested the leaf contents of the total flavonoids, reducing sugars, sucrose and C/N ratio of these host plants. We found that the FAW fed on corn leaves exhibited significantly shorter larval and pupal development times, larger body weight, higher growth rate, lower weight loss, smaller sexual size dimorphism, shorter preoviposition period and higher fecundity than those fed on peanut, soybean and sugarcane leaves. The FAW showed a protogyny phenomenon because the pupal development stage was significantly longer in males than females. Food plants changed the relationships between larval development time and pupal weight and between fecundity and longevity. The corn leaves showed significantly higher contents of reducing sugars and sucrose, lower content of the total flavonoids and a moderate C/N ratio compared with the other leaves, suggesting that the corn leaf tissues are more nutritious. Our results provide the most comprehensive information about the life‐history traits of this newly invasive pest. These findings may help us understand why the FAW mainly infests corn plants and may be critical for the development of strategies to predict infestation levels.
Biochar that is directly obtained by pyrolysis exhibits a low adsorption efficiency; furthermore, the process of recycling adsorbents is ineffective. To solve these problems, conventional chemical ...coprecipitation, sol-gel, multimetal multilayer loading and biomass pyrolysis coking processes have been integrated. After selecting specific components for structural design, a novel high-performance biochar adsorbent was obtained. The effects of the O2 concentration and temperature on the regeneration characteristics were explored. An isothermal regeneration method to repair the deactivated adsorbent in a specific atmosphere was proposed, and the optimal regeneration mode and conditions were determined. The microscopic characteristics of the regenerated samples were revealed along with the mechanism of Hg0 removal and regeneration by using temperature-programmed desorption technology and adsorption kinetics. The results show that doping multiple metals can reduce the pyrolysis reaction barrier of the modified biomass. On the modified surface of the sample, the doped metals formed aggregated oxides, and the resulting synergistic effect enhanced the oxidative activity of the biochar carriers and the threshold effect of Ce oxide. The optimal regeneration conditions (5% O2 and 600 °C) effectively coordinated the competitive relationship between the deep carbonization process and the adsorption/oxidation site repair process; in addition, these conditions provided outstanding structure-effect connections between the physico-chemical properties and Hg0 removal efficiency of the regenerated samples. Hg0 adsorption by the regenerated samples is a multilayer mass transfer process that involves the coupling of physical and chemical effects, and the surface adsorption sites play a leading role.
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•The Hg0 removal amount of modified biochar is 13 times that of unmodified biochar.•The regenerated biochar exhibits better Hg0 removal performance than fresh samples.•After 10 cycles, the bimetal-doped samples still maintain above 90% regeneration rate.•Inherent difference in regeneration mechanism between the adsorption/oxidation sites.•A competitive relationship between deep carbonization and active site repair.
The 2,3-dihydro-3,5-dihydroxy-6-methyl-4(H)-pyran-4-one (DDMP) is one of the Mallard reaction product with intense bitter and strong antioxidant activity. Insight into DDMP formation pathways is ...important to manage Maillard reaction products quality. In this work, wet- and dry-heating glucose-amino acid model reactions were investigated to understand the DDMP formation pathways. Lysine and proline facilitated the DDMP generation in wet- and dry-heating system, respectively, suggesting the reaction intensity and amino acid properties are primary factors mediating DDMP generation. Fundamental mechanism on DDMP formation or inhibition was evaluated via quantitatively monitoring enolization products, which suggested that the formation of DDMP was facilitated at lower moisture content condition caused by more 1-deoxyglucosone (1-DG) generation via 2,3-enolization. However, increasing moisture content resulted in the decay of DDMP because of the transformation of 2,3-enolization to 1,2-enolization, which inhibited DDMP generation but transformed to form 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF).
•Maillard reaction intensity is a leading role in DDMP generation in aqueous systems.•Amino acid property is a primary factor in DDMP formation in dry systems.•Lower moisture facilitated the 2,3-enolization to form DDMP in Glc-Pro system.•Higher moisture content facilitated the 1,2-enolization to form HMF.
NMR serves as an important technique for probing rock pore space, such as pore structure characterization, fluid identification, and petrophysical property testing, due to the reusability of cores, ...convenience in sample processing, and time efficiency in laboratory tests. In practice, NMR signal collection is normally achieved through polarized nuclei relaxation which releases crucial relaxation messages for result interpretation. The impetus of this work is to help engineers and researchers with petroleum background obtain new insights into NMR principals and extend existing methodologies for characterization of unconventional formations. This article first gives a brief description of the development history of relaxation theories and models for porous media. Then, the widely used NMR techniques for characterizing petrophysical properties and pore structures are presented. Meanwhile, limitations and deficiencies of them are summarized. Finally, future work on improving these insufficiencies and approaches of enhancement applicability for NMR technologies are discussed.
Caramel colours become one of the most widely used colorings in various foods and beverages due to their total miscibility with water and great coloring properties by containing colloidal aggregates. ...Bitterness in caramel colours can negatively influence their acceptability. The sequential solvent extraction (SSE) and semi‐preparative liquid chromatography (SP‐LC) combined with the taste dilution analysis were applied to identify the most intense bitter‐tasting compounds in class‐III caramel colours. Four main compounds with the highest bitterness intensity were isolated and structurally elucidated based on high resolution‐electrospray ionization‐mass spectrum (HR‐ESI‐MS), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and gas chromatography‐mass spectrum (GC‐MS): 2,3‐dihydro‐3,5‐dihydroxy‐6‐methyl‐4(H)‐pyran‐4‐one (DDMP), 5‐(hydroxymethyl) furfural (HMF), furfural and 5‐methylfurfural (MF). The threshold concentrations of DDMP, HMF, furfural and MF were 14.3, 30.0, 4.4 and 17.5μmol L−1, respectively. Furthermore, two volatile bitter compounds were identified: 5‐(di‐methoxymethyl) furan‐2‐yl methanol (DMFM) and 2,3,4,4‐tetramethyl‐pentane‐1,3‐diol (TMP). Based on the composition of the caramel colours and the structures of these compounds, Maillard reaction was supported to generate these bitter compounds in caramel colour‐III.
Main bitter compounds in class‐III caramel colours.
Controllable and on-demand delivery of agrochemicals such as plant hormones is conducive to improving agrochemicals utilization, tackling water and environmental pollution, reducing soil ...acidification, and realizing the goals of precision agriculture. Herein, a smart plant hormone delivery system based on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and supramolecular nanovalves, namely gibberellin (GA)-loaded CLT6@PCN-Q, is constructed through supramolecular host-guest interaction to regulate the growth of dicotyledonous Chinese cabbage and monocotyledonous wheat. The porous nanoscale MOF (NMOF) with a uniform diameter of 97 nm modified by quaternary ammonium (Q) stalks is served as a cargo reservoir, followed by the decoration of carboxylated leaning tower6arene (CLT6) based nanovalves on NMOF surfaces through host-guest interactions to fabricate CLT6@PCN-Q with a diameter of ∼101 nm and a zeta potential value of -13.2 mV. Interestingly, the as-fabricated supramolecular nanoplatform exhibits efficient cargo loading and multi-stimuli-responsive release under various external stimuli including pH, temperature, and competitive agent spermine (SPM), which can realize the on-demand release of cargo. In addition, GA-loaded CLT6@PCN-Q is capable of effectively promoting the seeds germination of wheat and stem growth of dicotyledonous Chinese cabbage and monocotyledonous wheat (1.86 and 1.30 times of control groups, respectively). The smart supramolecular nanoplatform based on MOFs and supramolecular nanovalves paves a way for the controlled delivery of plant hormones and other agrochemicals for promoting plant growth, offering new insights and methods to realize precision agriculture.
To achieve controllable and sustainable release of cargos such as agrochemicals, a smart MOF-based multi-stimuli-responsive supramolecular nanoplatform equipped with supramolecular nanovalves was fabricated via the host-guest interaction between quaternary ammonium stalks-functionalized nanoMOFs and water-soluble leaning tower6arene. The as-prepared supramolecular nanoplatform with uniform diameter distribution demonstrated good cargo release in response to various external stimuli. The installation of synthetic macrocycles could effectively reduce cargo loss in the pre-treatment process. This type of supramolecular nanoplatform exhibited good promoting effect on seed germination and plant growth dicotyledonous Chinese cabbage and monocotyledonous wheat. As an eco-friendly, controlled, and efficient cargo delivery system, this supramolecular nanoplatform will be a promising candidate in precision agriculture and controlled drug release to attract the broad readership.
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•Deep eutectic solvents were used as green extraction solvents.•Efficient and green extraction of flavonoids from pigeon pea root was optimized.•Deep eutectic solvent-based microwave-assisted ...extraction was developed.•The kinetics of DES-MAE process was investigated for the first time.
The purpose of the study was to develop a new deep eutectic solvent-based microwave-assisted extraction (DES-MAE) method for extracting the three major active compounds genistin, genistein and apigenin from pigeon pea roots. Optimal conditions for DES-MAE, proposed by the single factor and the Box-Behnken design (BBD) tests, were 30% of water in 1,6-hexanediol/ChCl (7:1, mol/mol) as the extraction solvent, microwave power 600W, liquid/solid ratio 14mL/g, temperature 80°C and time 11min. The yields of genistin, genistein and apigenin reached 0.449, 0.617 and 0.221mg/g DW, respectively. The kinetics experiment showed the prominent advantages of DES-MAE such as higher extraction efficiency than other extraction methods. The present results showed that DES could be a kind of green solvent for fast and efficient extraction of the active ingredients from plant materials.
Objectives
To comprehensively evaluate the pelvic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings of Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome and summarize the typical and atypical characteristics.
...Methods
A retrospective analysis of 201 consecutive MRKH patients was carried out. Pelvic MRI was reviewed by two experienced gynecological radiologists in consensus. Characteristics including the morphology, signal pattern and volumes of the uterine rudiments, location and volume of the ovaries, and the degree of vaginal dysgenesis were evaluated. Other noted abnormalities were also recorded.
Results
Morphologically, the majority (95%) of patients displayed bilateral uterine rudiments combined with a fibrous band. The minority of patients showed no (3.5%) or unilateral (1.5%) uterine rudiments. A total of 385 uterine rudiments were detected which showed four types of signal patterns: one-layer differentiation (325, 84.4%), two-layer differentiation (27, 7%), three-layer differentiation without subsequent alteration (23, 6.0%), and three-layer differentiation with hematometra and/or ipsilateral hematosalpinx (10, 2.6%). The median volumes of these four types of uterine rudiments were 2.6 ml (1.69–3.81 ml), 3.19 ml (2.67–4.51 ml), 6.05 ml (3.37–12.44 ml), and 31.97 ml (19.2–38.7 ml), respectively. The mean ovarian volume was 6.49 ± 3.91 ml. Abnormally located ovaries were detected in 63 (31.3%) patients. The distal vagina was discernable in 25.1% of patients.
Conclusion
MRKH patients typically display bilateral uterine rudiments combined with a fibrous band and normally located ovaries. The uterine rudiments are generally small with only one-layer differentiation, a subset of which might be large and exhibited other atypical presentations, including two- or three-layer differentiation or even hematometra. Abnormally located ovaries are not rare.
Key Points
• Morphologically, MRKH patients typically displayed bilateral uterine rudiments combined with a fibrous band.
• Typically, the uterine rudiments (84.4%) were small and displayed only one-layer differentiation.
• About 15.6% of rudiments showed atypical characteristics including two- or three-layer differentiation, even complicated with hematometra or hematosalpinx.
Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have been regarded as a substitute extraction solvent for conventional organic reagents due to their low toxicity and unique solubility. In this study, fifteen choline ...chloride-based DESs were prepared and successfully integrated with microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) technique for extracting Hibiscus manihot L. flowers natural antioxidants. The selected DES exhibited superior extraction performance than those by water and 60% ethanol. After statistical optimization by single-factor experiments, Taguchi orthogonal design and response surface methodology, the maximal extraction yields of ten natural antioxidants reached 0.880, 0.328, 0.176, 0.243, 5.143, 4.098, 4.852, 0.171, 0.509 and 0.303 mg/g, which was 1.42–1.94 folds to those by conventional extraction media and methods. In addition, ten natural antioxidants were enriched and recovered with a satisfactory recovery yield of 88.45%–92.02%, and the regenerative DES could be recycled at least four times. Overall, this study established a green, safe, high-efficiency and sustainable alternative for efficiently extracting bioactive ingredients from plant matrices.
•DESs were first applied as novel and sustainable media for the extraction of H. manihot L. flowers natural antioxidants.•DES-MAE technique exhibited prominent performance in incremental extraction.•The extraction parameters were optimized by Taguchi orthogonal design and response surface methodology.•Natural antioxidants can be directly and efficiently recovered from DES, and the regenerated DES can be recycled.•Green, simple and efficient sample preparation are merits of the proposed method.
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