Chemical profile and antioxidant potency of essential oils (EOs) of Thymus quinquecostatus Celak. (thyme oils) obtained from Loess Plateau in China had been studied. 130 constituents of thyme oils ...were determined using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and carvacrol ethyl ether was firstly reported as a new natural product, which has been used as a synthetic flavoring substance with no safety concern. The thyme oils showed the anti-oxidant activity using 2,2 diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2'-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) (ABTS), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and conferred protection against oxidative stress in zebrafish. In addition, a class of carvacrol analogues was found to develop as potential natural antioxidant products of thyme oils from Loess Plateau by the correlation analysis. YL-thyme oil performed the best antioxidant activity in this research, which could be recommended as preferred sources of thyme oils. Furthermore, YL-thyme oil exhibited a potent antioxidant capacity by reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging, enhancing the endogenous antioxidant system, inhibiting lipid peroxidation and activation of Keap1/Nrf2 pathway in zebrafish.
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Bioprosthetic heart valves (BHVs) originating from pigs are extensively used for heart valve replacement in clinics. However, recipient immune responses associated with chronic ...calcification lead to structural valve deterioration (SVD) of BHVs. Two well-characterized epitopes on porcine BHVs have been implicated in SVD, including galactose-α1,3-galactose (αGal) and N-glycolylneuraminic acid (Neu5Gc) whose synthesis are catalyzed by α(1,3) galactosyltransferase (encoded by the GGTA1 gene) and CMP-Neu5Ac hydroxylase (encoded by the CMAH gene), respectively. It has been reported that BHV from αGal-knockout pigs are associated with a significantly reduced immune response by human serum. Moreover, valves from αGal/Neu5Gc-deficient pigs could further reduce human IgM/IgG binding when compared to BHV from αGal-knockout pigs. Recently, another swine xenoantigen, Sd(a), produced by β-1,4-N-acetyl-galactosaminyl transferase 2 (β4GalNT2), has been identified. To explore whether tissue from GGTA1, CMAH, and β4GalNT2 triple gene-knockout (TKO) pigs would further minimize human antibody binding to porcine pericardium, TKO pigs were successfully produced by CRISPR/Cas9 mediated gene targeting. Our results showed that the expression of αGal, Neu5G and Sd(a) on TKO pigs was negative, and that human IgG/IgM binding to pericardium was minimal. Moreover, the analysis of collagen composition and physical characteristics of porcine pericardium from the TKO pigs indicated that elimination of the three xenoantigens had no significant impact on the physical proprieties of porcine pericardium. Our results demonstrated that TKO pigs would be an ideal source of BHVs.
Surgical heart valve replacement is an established lifesaving treatment for diseased heart valve. Bioprosthetic heart valves (BHVs) made from glutaraldehyde-fixed porcine or bovine tissues are widely used in clinics but exhibit age-dependent structural valve degeneration (SVD) which is associated with the immune response against BHVs. Three major xenoantigens present on commercial BHVs, Galactosea α1,3 galactose (αGal), N-glycolylneuraminic acid (Neu5Gc) and glycan products of β-1,4-N-acetyl-galactosaminyl transferase 2 (β4GalNT2) are eliminated through CRISPR/Cas9 mediated gene targeting in the present study. The genetically modified porcine pericardium showed reduced immunogenicity but comparable collagen composition and physical characteristics of the pericardium from wild-type pigs. Our data suggested that BHVs from TKO pigs is a promising alternative for currently available BHVs from wild-type pigs.
The genus
(Betulaceae) is comprised of more than 40 species. Many species of this genus have a long history of use in folk medicines. Phytochemical investigations have revealed the presence of ...diarylheptanoids, polyphenols, flavonoids, terpenoids, steroids and other compounds. Diarylheptanoids, natural products with a 1,7-diphenylheptane structural skeleton, are the dominant constituents in the genus, whose anticancer effect has been brought into focus. Pure compounds and crude extracts from the genus exhibit a wide spectrum of pharmacological activities both in vitro and in vivo. This paper compiles 273 naturally occurring compounds from the genus
along with their structures and pharmacological activities, as reported in 138 references.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a multifactorial autoimmune disease. Recently, growing evidence demonstrates that gut microbiota (GM) plays an important role in RA. But so far, no bibliometric studies ...pertaining to GM in RA have ever been published. This study attempts to depict the knowledge framework in this field from a holistic and systematic perspective based on the bibliometric analysis.
Literature related to the involvement of GM in RA was searched and picked from the Web of Science Core Collection (WOSCC) database. The annual output, cooperation, hotspots, research status and development trend of this field were analyzed by bibliometric software (VOSviewer and Bibliometricx).
255 original research articles and 204 reviews were included in the analysis. The articles in this field that can be retrieved in WOSCC were first published in 2004 and increased year by year since then. 2013 is a growth explosion point. China and the United States are the countries with the most contributions, and Harvard University is the affiliation with the most output. Frontiers in Immunology (total citations = 603) is the journal with the most publications and the fastest growth rate. eLife is the journal with the most citations (total citations = 1248). Scher, Jose U. and Taneja, Veena are the most productive and cited authors. The research in this field is mainly distributed in the evidence, mechanism and practical application of GM participating in RA through the analysis of keywords and documents. There is sufficient evidence to prove the close relationship between GM and RA, which lays the foundation for this field. This extended two colorful and tender branches of mechanism research and application exploration, which have made some achievements but still have broad exploration space. Recently, the keywords "metabolites", "metabolomics", "acid", "b cells", "balance", "treg cells", "probiotic supplementation" appeared most frequently, which tells us that research on the mechanism of GM participating in RA and exploration of its application are the hotspots in recent years.
Taken together, these results provide a data-based and objective introduction to the GM participating in RA, giving readers a valuable reference to help guide future research.
Purpose
Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is a major health issue globally. In addition to pharmacotherapy, dietary support is also regarded as reliable strategy for ALD management. As a widely ...distributed natural constituent within edible plants, the present study aims to investigate the hepatoprotective effects of ursolic acid (UA) against ALD and also to deepen insights into the underlying targets and mechanisms comprehensively.
Methods
The hepatoprotective activity of UA against chronic alcohol-induced liver injury was investigated on Lieber–DeCarli liquid diet-based mouse model. In-depth RNA-seq transcriptomics and TMT-based proteomics analyses were conducted in parallel. Data integration as well as bioinformatics analysis were also performed to unravel the targets and mechanisms associated with the hepatoprotective activity of UA intake against alcoholic liver injury comprehensively.
Results
The serum biomarkers and pathological characteristics indicated the hepatoprotective effects of UA intake on alcoholic liver injury. 567 target genes and 377 target proteins related to the hepatoprotective activity of UA were identified in transcriptomics and proteomics analysis respectively, most of which were associated with function of cellular process, cell part and binding. After data integration, 56 co-regulated targets, including ADH4, CYP450 enzymes, NQO1, apolipoproteins, glutathione–S–transferase, etc. which were consistently modulated on both mRNA and protein levels were identified. These co-regulated targets were found to be correlated with 70 KEGG pathways led by carcinogenesis, retinol metabolism and CYP450 metabolism pathways.
Conclusion
UA intake ameliorated chronic alcohol-induced liver injury. Given the role of the co-regulated targets in ALD and the bioinformatics analysis results, CYP450-, glutathione and redox homeostasis-dependent antioxidation, promotion of lipid transport, and restoration of ethanol metabolic capacity are the potentially underlying mechanisms. This information will further deepen our insights into the hepatoprotective effects of UA-rich edible plants, and provide us valuable instruction for ALD management.
Asian shrew moles, genus
, are the most primitive members of family Talpidae. They are distributed mainly in southwestern China and adjacent Bhutan, Myanmar, and Vietnam. In June 2022, we collected ...five specimens of
from Mount Huanggang, Jiangxi Province, eastern China, which is the highest peak of the Wuyi Mountains. We sequenced two mitochondrial (
and
) and three nuclear (
,
, and
) genes to estimate the phylogenetic relationship of the five shrew moles. We also compared their morphology with recognized species within the genus. Our results show that these specimens collected from Mount Huanggang differ from all named species in
. We formally describe the species here as
Morphologically, the new species is distinguishable from the other
species by the combination of dark chocolate-brown pelage, long snout, enlarged first upper incisor, similarly sized lacrimal and infraorbital foramens, and the curved and sickle-like coronoid process. The genetic distances of the cytochrome b (
) gene between
and other recognized
species ranged between 9.3% and 16.4%. The new species is geographically distant from other species in the genus and is the easternmost record of the
. The divergence time of
was estimated to be the late Pliocene (1.92 Ma, 95% CI = 0.88-2.99).
In recent years, remarkable progress has been made in the research of injectable hydrogel for internal tissue healing. However, the therapeutic outcome is usually limited when the hydrogel is used ...for the treatment of gastric perforation due to the high acidic gastric juice and violent deformation of the gastric wall. Regarding these challenges, we proposed an ionic nano-reservoir (INR)-based dual-network hydrogel, which has excellent adhesion and mechanical properties, and can be easily applied to the perforation site to block the perforation while promoting tissue repairing. The results showed that the first network made of polyacrylamide had cross-linked on the stomach tissue within 5 s under blue light, and enhanced the adhesion performance through mechanical interlock. The nano-hydroxyapatite acted as ionic INR, which can gradually release Ca2+ under acid environments to form the second network with sodium alginate and inhibit the swelling of hydrogel in gastric juice. Meanwhile, the adhesion was further enhanced through amide covalent bonds at the hydrogel-tissue interface with the presence of 1- ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide/N-hydroxysuccinimide (EDC/NHS). The dual network hydrogels obtained by the INR strategy could be employed as a potential therapeutic option for gastric perforation and other similar biomedical prolems.
Miniature pigs have advantages over rodents in modeling atherosclerosis because their cardiovascular system and physiology are similar to that of humans. Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) deficiency has long ...been implicated in cardiovascular disease in humans. To establish an improved large animal model of familial hypercholesterolemia and atherosclerosis, the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-associated protein 9 system (CRISPR/Cas9) was used to disrupt the
gene in Bama miniature pigs. Biallelic-modified
pigs with in-frame mutations (
) and frameshift mutations (
) were simultaneously produced.
pigs exhibited moderately increased plasma cholesterol levels when fed with a regular chow diet, but displayed severe hypercholesterolemia and spontaneously developed human-like atherosclerotic lesions in the aorta and coronary arteries after feeding on a high-fat and high-cholesterol (HFHC) diet for 6 months. Thus, these
pigs could be valuable large animal models for providing further insight into translational studies of atherosclerosis.
Abstract Implantable neural probes, essential for brain electrophysiological research, have advanced with ultra-flexible designs to mitigate immune responses and postoperative complications. ...Strategies of shuttle-assisted implantation and temporary stiffening address issues in penetrating these probes into the target region, avoiding undesired bending. However, the risk of intraoperative bleeding remains due to these implants’ necessary rigidity during insertion. Here, we describe a neural probe with mechanical compliance accompanying self-implantation along the principal axis in the absence of bleeding. Crucial to the behavior is its anisotropic relaxation, which is dominated by the cross-sectional in-plane deformation inhibition due to interchain interactions between the parallel backbones in the globally aligned polymer system. We observed the ensured upright insertion of the probe into the brain while avoiding angiorrhexis with a two-photon microscope and a high-speed camera. The probes permit electrophysiological studies with minimal foreign body responses and imageological compatibility, underscoring their clinical potential.
Thymus quinquelostatus Celak, a kind of food additive and folk medicine, has obvious antioxidative and anti-inflammatory effects. However, there have been no reports about the cardioprotective ...effects of polyphenol-rich fraction from Thymus quinquelostatus Celak (TCPRF). Here, we predicted the targets and pathways of TCPRF related to myocardial ischemia (MI) using network pharmacology, and examined the effects as well as the mechanisms of TCPRF in ISO-induced MI mice. The results verified that TCPRF could decrease the serum CK level, improve ECG and the pathological alterations of myocardium. TCPRF also increased SOD activity, decreased MDA content, reduced the positive apoptotic cells, decreased the expression of Bax, and increase the expression of Bcl-2, PI3K and p-AKT in the myocardium. These results demonstrated that TCPRF was able to alleviate ISO-induced MI injury, which is partly related to inhibiting myocardium apoptosis, antioxidation and activating PI3K/AKT pathway.
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