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The present study was envisaged to investigate the chemical constituents and the intervention effects of Portulaca oleracea extract (POE) on acute alcoholic liver injury of rats. The chemical composition of POE was detected by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Sixty male Wistar rats were divided into 6 groups: Normal control (NC) group, acute alcoholic liver injury model group (ALI), low, medium and high dose of POE (25, 50, 100 mg/kg) groups and bifendate (BF, 3.75 mg/kg) group. Each group was given by intragastrical administration for 7 days. Alcoholic liver injury was induced in the experimental model by administering 50% ethanol at 8 mL/kg and repeated administration after 6 h, for a period of 7 days. The results showed that pretreatment with POE significantly reduced the ethanol-elevated serum level of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and triglyceride (TG). The activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) in liver were enhanced followed by administration of POE, while the content of nitric oxide (NO) and malondialdehyde (MDA) was found to decrease. Hepatic content of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) was also reduced by POE treatment. These results indicated that POE could increase the antioxidant capacity and relieve the inflammatory injury of the liver cells induced by ethanol. Meanwhile, in our study, POE reduced the expression of miR-122, acetyl coenzyme A carboxylase (ACC) 1 mRNA and protein and increased the expression of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) mRNA and protein in liver, which indicated that POE could improve the lipid metabolism disorder induced by ethanol. Our findings suggested that POE had protective effects on acute alcoholic liver injury of rats.

Chronic glucocorticoid exposure is known to cause depression and metabolic disorders. It is critical to improve abnormal metabolic status as well as depressive-like behaviors in patients with long-term glucocorticoid therapy. This study aimed to investigate the effects of resveratrol on the depressive-like behaviors and metabolic abnormalities induced by chronic corticosterone injection. Male ICR mice were administrated corticosterone (40 mg/kg) by subcutaneous injection for three weeks. Resveratrol (50 and 100 mg/kg), fluoxetine (20 mg/kg) and pioglitazone (10 mg/kg) were given by oral gavage 30 min prior to corticosterone administration. The behavioral tests showed that resveratrol significantly reversed the depressive-like behaviors induced by corticosterone, including the reduced sucrose preference and increased immobility time in the forced swimming test. Moreover, resveratrol also increased the secretion of insulin, reduced serum level of glucose and improved blood lipid profiles in corticosterone-treated mice without affecting normal mice. However, fluoxetine only reverse depressive-like behaviors, and pioglitazone only prevent the dyslipidemia induced by corticosterone. Furthermore, resveratrol and pioglitazone decreased serum level of glucagon and corticosterone. The present results indicated that resveratrol can ameliorate depressive-like behaviors and metabolic abnormalities induced by corticosterone, which suggested that the multiple effects of resveratrol could be beneficial for patients with depression and/or metabolic syndrome associated with long-term glucocorticoid therapy.

The acidic extracellular microenvironment has become an effective target for diagnosing and treating tumors. A pH (low) insertion peptide (pHLIP) is a kind of peptide that can spontaneously fold into a transmembrane helix in an acidic microenvironment, and then insert into and cross the cell membrane for material transfer. The characteristics of the acidic tumor microenvironment provide a new method for pH-targeted molecular imaging and tumor-targeted therapy. As research has increased, the role of pHLIP as an imaging agent carrier in the field of tumor theranostics has become increasingly prominent. In this paper, we describe the current applications of pHLIP-anchored imaging agents for tumor diagnosis and treatment in terms of different molecular imaging methods, including magnetic resonance T1 imaging, magnetic resonance T2 imaging, SPECT/PET, fluorescence imaging, and photoacoustic imaging. Additionally, we discuss relevant challenges and future development prospects.