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•NADES efficiently extract natural pigments from Curcuma longa L.•Compared with conventional organic solvents, CGH provides the highest pigments content and storage potential.•The ...target pigments can be readily and directly recovered from NADESs extracts by solid phase extraction column.
Natural deep eutectic solvents (NADESs) formed by organic acids and sugars were tested for their effectiveness in extracting the natural pigments called curcuminoids. Under optimum conditions (50 °C temperature, 0.1/10 g/mL solid/liquid ratio, and 30-minute extraction time), higher extraction yields were obtained when the solvent with 1:1 citric-acid-to-glucose ratio and 15% water (CGH) was used, as compared with conventional extraction solvents. Moreover, we studied the target curcuminoids antioxidant activities and stabilities in different solvents. Lastly, we demonstrated that solid phase extraction was an effective approach to recycle the natural pigments in the extracts. These results indicate that the proposed method is an excellent alternative for the extraction of natural pigments because it is environmentally friendly and can promote sustainability.
Difenoconazole, a typical triazole fungicide, inhibits lanosterol-14R-demethylase (CYP51) to prevent fungal sterol synthesis and its residues are frequently detected in the environment due to its ...wide application. Previous studies have demonstrated that difenoconazole altered the triglyceride levels, and gene expression relevant to cholesterol biosynthesis in zebrafish. However, endocrine-disruption in the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal-liver (HPGL) axis, the effects of transferring to offspring, and the underlying mechanisms of difenoconazole in aquatic organisms are still unknown. In this study, we defined the effects of difenoconazole at environmental concentrations on endocrine disturbance using zebrafish as an experimental model. The results indicated that difenoconazole induced a significant change in the somatic index, and pathological variations in tissues, and steroid hormone levels. RT-PCR experiments further confirmed that difenoconazole significantly induced expression alteration of lhr, hsd3β, hsd11β, cyp19a in the ovary and star, cyp19a, cyp3c1 in the testis, and erα genes in livers. In addition, difenoconazole exposure in parental zebrafish affected the hatchability and length of its offspring. Moreover, the burdens of difenoconazole and difenoconazole alcohol in females were higher than in males. These findings highlighted that difenoconazole exposure at environmentally relevant concentrations elicited estrogenic endocrine-disruption effects via altering homeostasis of sex steroid hormones in the HPGL axis and the adverse effects can be transferred to the offspring.
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•Difenoconazole reduced gonadal and hepatic pathology in zebrafish.•Difenoconazole altered the concentrations of sex steroid hormones and vitellogenin.•The expression profiles of genes in HPGL axis was disrupted by difenoconazole.•Difenoconazole affected the development of its offspring.•Heavy bioaccumulations of difenoconazole aggravated genotoxic effects at environmental concentrations.
The widespread application of organophosphorous flame retardants (OPFRs) has led to considerable human exposure, with major concerns regarding their health risks. Herein, we investigate the effects ...of triphenyl phosphate (TPP), one of the most widely used OPFRs, and one of its main metabolite diphenyl phosphate (DPP) on the endocrine systems and metabolic profiles after neonatal exposure from postnatal days 1–10 at two dosages (2 and 200 μg per day). Both TPP and DPP had no negative effect on uterine weight, glucose tolerance, and estradiol. 1H-NMR-based metabolomics revealed a sex-specific metabolic disturbance of TPP. Specifically, low dose of TPP altered the metabolic profiles of male mice while exerting no significant effects on female ones. Furthermore, a dose-dependent effect of TPP in male mice was observed, where a low toxicity dose up-regulated lipid-related metabolites, while a high toxicity dose down-regulated the pyruvate metabolism and TCA cycles. These results highlight the importance of carefully assessing the health impact of TPP on infants.
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•The health effects of neonatal exposure to TPP were evaluated using NMR-based metabolomics approach.•Sex- and dose-dependent metabolic disruptions in adult mice were observed.•TPP and its metabolite DPP have no negative effects on uterine weight and estradiol.•Low dose of TPP can increase body weight of male mice.
Neonatal exposure to TPP induced sex- and dose-specific metabolic disruptions.
Previous in vitro studies have implied that triphenyl phosphate (TPHP) may act as an obesogen. However, its specific contributions to the progression of obesity and related metabolic diseases are ...still unclear in vivo in mice. In this study, we evaluated the effects of in utero and lactational exposure to three doses of TPHP (10, 100, and 1000 μg/kg BW) on obesity and metabolic dysfunctions in adult male mice fed a low-fat diet (LFD) or high-fat diet (HFD), by examining body weight, liver weight, histopathology, blood biochemistry, gene expression, and gut microbiota compositions and metabolic functions. Results showed that TPHP exposure led to increased body weight, liver weight, fat mass, hepatic steatosis, impaired glucose homeostasis, and insulin resistance, and mRNA levels of genes involved in lipid metabolism, especially lipogenesis and lipid accumulation, were significantly altered by TPHP treatment. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis further supported the changes in fatty acid composition. Intestinal flora measurements by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and 1H NMR based fecal metabolomics indicated that TPHP treatment modulated gut microbiome composition and influenced host-gut co-metabolism, especially for bile acids and short chain fatty acids (SCFAs). These results suggest that fetal exposure to TPHP can promote the development of obesity and metabolic dysfunctions in adult mice.
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•The effects of fetal exposure to TPHP on obesity and metabolic diseases were evaluated.•Fetal exposure to TPHP promote the development of obesity.•Fetal exposure to TPHP modulated gut microbiota composition and metabolic profiles.
Effects of triphenyl phosphate exposure on obesity and metabolic dysfunctions.
•Residues of difenoconazole is contamination in aquatic environment.•Using the zebrafish embryo to evaluate toxicity at environmental concentrations.•The adverse outcomes in zebrafish embryos were ...induced by difenoconazole.•Omics approaches firstly revealed to comprehensive toxicity of difenoconazole.•Difenoconazole exposure altered biological pathways related to its toxicity.
Difenoconazole is widely used to inhibit the growth of fungi, but its residue in the water environment may threaten ecosystem and human health. Here, 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and LC–MS/MS based metabolomics and transcriptomics approaches were used to assess the response of zebrafish to difenoconazole exposure. Early life stages of zebrafish were exposed to difenoconazole at environmentally relevant concentrations for 168h. Their comparison with the control group suggested an adverse development and disturbance of steroid hormones and VTG. KEGG pathway analysis identified five biological processes on the basis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs), as well as altered metabolites and amino acids in zebrafish following difenoconazole exposure. These affected processes included energy metabolism, amino acids metabolism, lipid metabolism, nucleotide metabolism, and an immune-related pathway. Collectively, these results bring us closer to an incremental understanding of the toxic effects of difenoconazole on zebrafish in its early development, and lend support to the continued use of the early life stages of zebrafish as a classical model to evaluate underlying environmental risks of xenobiotics in aquatic organisms.
Selenium (Se) is in great demand as a health supplement due to its superior reactivity and excellent bioavailability, despite selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) having signs of minor toxicity. At ...present, the efficiency of preparing SeNPs using lactic acid bacteria is unsatisfactory. Therefore, a probiotic bacterial strain that is highly efficient at converting selenite to elemental selenium is needed. In our work, four selenite-reducing bacteria were isolated from soil samples. Strain LAB-Se2, identified as
DSM20284, had a reduction rate of up to 98% at ambient temperature. This strain could reduce 100 mg L
of selenite to elemental Se within 48 h at pH 4.5-6.0, a temperature of 30-40 °C, and a salinity of 1.0-6.5%. The produced SeNPs were purified, freeze-dried, and subsequently systematically characterised using FTIR, DSL, SEM-EDS, and TEM techniques. SEM-EDS analysis proved the presence of selenium as the foremost constituent of SeNPs. The strain was able to form spherical SeNPs, as determined by TEM. In addition, DLS analysis confirmed that SeNPs were negatively charged (-26.9 mV) with an average particle size of 239.6 nm. FTIR analysis of the SeNPs indicated proteins and polysaccharides as capping agents on the SeNPs. The SeNPs synthesised by
showed remarkable antibacterial activity against
,
,
, and
with inhibition zones of 17.5 mm, 13.4 mm, 27.9 mm, and 16.2 mm, respectively; they also showed varied MIC values in the range of 15-120 μg mL
. The DPPH, ABTS, and hydroxyl, and superoxide scavenging activities of the SeNPs were 70.3%, 72.8%, 95.2%, and 85.7%, respectively. The SeNPs synthesised by the probiotic
have the potential for safe use in biomedical and nutritional applications.
As a systemic triazole fungicide, limited information is known about diniconazole. In this study, toxicological effects and bioaccumulation behavior of diniconazole in zebrafish were both evaluated ...to perform an overall assessment of its environmental risk towards aquatic organisms. The 1H NMR-based metabolomics analysis revealed that 70 μg L−1 diniconazole exposure increased valine, leucine, isoleucine, alanine, lactate and choline, accompanied by decreased glucose, creatine and taurine, in comparison to the control. In the exposure group of 300 μg L−1 diniconazole, only down-regulated glucose and creatine were observed. The above results indicated that diniconazole disturbed energy metabolism, amino acid metabolism and lipid metabolism. Histological examination showed that the swell and vacuolization in the liver, as well as the reduction of spermatids in the diniconazole exposure groups. No enantioselectivity was observed in the bioaccumulation process of both 70 and 300 μg L−1 diniconazole exposure groups. The above results play a vital role for a comprehensive environmental assessment of diniconazole.
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•The bioaccumulation process of diniconazole in zebrafish is not enantioselective.•Diniconazole exposure disturbed energy, amino acid and lipid metabolism of zebrafish.•Diniconazole treatment resulted the damages to testis and liver of zebrafish.
Rhizoma Coptidis (RC), a widely used traditional Chinese medicine, has been used for the treatment of heat-clearing and detoxifying, but there is very little information on its safety.
To provide ...information on the safety of RC, we evaluated the toxicity of the crude RC and RC alkaloids (berberine, coptisine, palmatine and epiberberine) including cytotoxicity, acute toxicity in mice and sub-chronic toxicity in rats.
The cytotoxicity of RC alkaloids was tested in HepG2 and 3T3-L1 cells by the MTT assay. The acute toxicity of RC alkaloids was tested in mice and the mortality was calculated at the end of experiment. For sub-chronic toxicity study, the rats were treated with the RC alkaloids at a dose of 156mg/kg/day and RC at a dose of 521mg/kg/day for 90 days. Mortality, clinical signs, body weight changes, organ weights, urinalysis and hematological parameters, gross necropsy and histopathology were monitored during the study period.
The cell assay indicates that the IC50 values of berberine, coptisine, palmatine and epiberberine in HepG2 cells were 48.17, 64.81, 112.80 and 120.58μg/mL, which in 3T3-L1 cells were 41.76, 56.48, 84.32 and 104.18μg/mL, respectively. In the acute toxicity assay, the LD50 values of four alkaloids were 713.57, 852.12, 1533.68 and 1360mg/kg, respectively. However, in the sub-chronic toxicity study, no mortality and morbidity were observed which could be related to RC alkaloids and RC treatment. Besides, there was no abnormality in clinical signs, body weights, organ weights, urinalysis, hematological parameters, gross necropsy and histopathology in any of the animals after the oral administration of RC alkaloids and RC.
Taking these results together, we came to the conclusion that the toxicity of berberine is the maximum and palmatine is the minimal in four RC alkaloids. The currently recommended doses of RC alkaloids and RC consumed are relatively safe.
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Blueberries, which are rich in nutrition, are susceptible to fungal infection during postharvest or storage. However, early detection of diseases in blueberry is challenging because of their opaque ...appearance and the inconspicuousness of spots in the early stage of disease. The goal of this study was to investigate the potential of hyperspectral imaging over the spectral range of 400-1000 nm to discriminate early disease in blueberries. Scanning electron microscope observation verified that fungal damage to the cellular structure takes place during the early stages. A total of 400 hyperspectral images, 200 samples each of healthy and early disease groups, were collected to obtain mean spectra of each blueberry samples. Spectral correlation analysis was performed to select an effective spectral range. Partial least square discrimination analysis (PLSDA) models were developed using two types of spectral range (i.e., full wavelength range of 400-1000 nm and effective spectral range of 685-1000 nm). The results showed that the effective spectral range made it possible to provide better classification results due to the elimination of the influence of irrelevant variables. Moreover, the effective spectral range combined with an autoscale preprocessing method was able to obtain optimal classification accuracies, with recognition rates of 100% and 99% for healthy and early disease blueberries. This study demonstrated that it is feasible to use hyperspectral imaging to measure early disease blueberries.
Biofilm-associated prosthetic joint infections (PJIs) cause significant morbidity due to their recalcitrance to immune-mediated clearance and antibiotics, with Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) among ...the most prevalent pathogens. We previously demonstrated that S. aureus biofilm-associated monocytes are polarized to an anti-inflammatory phenotype and the adoptive transfer of pro-inflammatory macrophages attenuated biofilm burden, highlighting the critical role of monocyte/macrophage inflammatory status in dictating biofilm persistence. The inflammatory properties of leukocytes are linked to their metabolic state, and here we demonstrate that biofilm-associated monocytes exhibit a metabolic bias favoring oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos) and less aerobic glycolysis to facilitate their anti-inflammatory activity and biofilm persistence. To shift monocyte metabolism in vivo and reprogram cells to a pro-inflammatory state, a nanoparticle approach was utilized to deliver the OxPhos inhibitor oligomycin to monocytes. Using a mouse model of S. aureus PJI, oligomycin nanoparticles were preferentially internalized by monocytes, which significantly reduced S. aureus biofilm burden by altering metabolism and promoting the pro-inflammatory properties of infiltrating monocytes as revealed by metabolomics and RT-qPCR, respectively. Injection of oligomycin alone had no effect on monocyte metabolism or biofilm burden, establishing that intracellular delivery of oligomycin is required to reprogram monocyte metabolic activity and that oligomycin lacks antibacterial activity against S. aureus biofilms. Remarkably, monocyte metabolic reprogramming with oligomycin nanoparticles was effective at clearing established biofilms in combination with systemic antibiotics. These findings suggest that metabolic reprogramming of biofilm-associated monocytes may represent a novel therapeutic approach for PJI.
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