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The excessive presence of Cu2+ could be harmful to human health. Therefore, a ratiometric fluorescence sensor based on multicolor fluorescent carbon dots (CDs) was developed for Cu2+ detection. The blue and yellow carbon dots (B-CDs/Y-CDs) were synthesized by one-step hydrothermal method. After adding Cu2+, it is captured by the amino groups of B-CDs to form complexes, resulting in a strong fluorescence quenching via photoinduced electron transfer (PET). Meanwhile, the amino groups from Y-CDs also binds with Cu2+ that inhibit the internal PET thus enhancing the fluorescence of Y-CDs. The sensor has the merits in rapid, visual, and selective with a low limit of detection (LOD) at 2.29 nM. Furthermore, an intelligent device composed of portable optical detector and smartphone is constructed, which realizes the visual point-of-care testing (POCT) of Cu2+ with a LOD of 7.51 nM. The strategy provides an accessible approach for monitoring heavy metal pollution and food safety.

This study examined effects of different processing methods on phenolic compounds in flaxseed meal. The optimal SE treatment was 1.0 MPa for 3 min, and the contents of total flavonoids and phenolic acid were 2.26 times and 1.63 times of the control group, respectively. Notably, erucic acid increased 85.76 %. Optimal extrusion conditions (15 % moisture content, 140 °C, 29 hz) led to the presence of rutin and a 2.81 times increase in protocatechuic acid content over the control. Fermenting with 3 % Bacillus subtilis for 4 days yielded gallic acid in bound form and vanillic acid in free form, with protocatechuic acid increasing 40.65 % compared to the control. Among all the treatments, extrusion produced the highest levels of phenolic compounds in flaxseed meal. Each treatment significantly increased the open ring isomer ester phenol (SDG) compared to the control. Overall, various processing methods impacted the phenolic content and composition in flaxseed meal differently.

This study identified phenolic compounds in five flaxseed varieties and evaluated their antioxidant activities. Results showed significant variations in phenolic acids and flavonoids among the varieties. Longya 16 had the lowest flavonoid content, Longya 13 had the lowest phenolic acid content, while Longya 10 exhibited the highest content and diversity of polyphenols, including six flavonoids (vitexin, quercitrin, quercetin, apigenin, kaempfero1, (+)-dihydroquercetin) and five phenolic acids (gallic acid, vanillic acid, ferulic acid, sinapic acid, and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid). Antioxidant activity was assessed using DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging assays, and cell-based assays under tBHP-induced oxidative stress. Flaxseed polyphenol extracts significantly reduced ROS, MDA, and GSSG levels and increased SOD and CAT activities, preserving cell vitality and morphology. These findings confirmed the significant antioxidant activity of flaxseed polyphenols, providing a theoretical basis for their application in antioxidative functional areas.

Limu smoked chicken is a traditional Chinese delicacy; however, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are generated during the smoking process. We developed a pyrolysis process for pear wood liquid smoke with minimal PAH generation. Pear wood liquid smoke products were prepared under different pyrolysis conditions in a self-made pyrolysis reactor, and the total phenol, carbonyl compound, total acid, and PAH contents and PAH toxicity risk were evaluated. With increasing temperatures, the toxicity equivalent ΣPAH of the smoke liquid reached 3.004 μg/kg. With increasing particle sizes, the total phenol content reached 1.6 mg/mL; the phenol content was 5.95 mg/mL. With increasing particle sizes, the toxicity equivalent ΣPAHs of the smoke liquor reached 2.441 μg/kg. The optimal parameters for treating pear wood smoke liquid in the thermal reaction device were a pyrolysis temperature of pear wood of >350 °C, particle size of S2, and sucrose content of 8%.

2′-fucosyllactose (2′-FL) is one of the most prevalent milk oligosaccharides. In this study, the anti-obesity effect of 2′-FL was explored in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed mice. Results showed that 2′-FL alleviated body weight gain, improved serum lipid profiles and increased energy expenditure. Under cold exposure, 2′-FL group showed higher body and rectal temperature, improving adaptive thermogenesis. 2′-FL alleviated lipid accumulation, increased mitochondrial DNA content, as well as upregulated the protein expression of thermogenic markers including UCP1, PRDM16, PGC-1α and the phosphorylation of AMPK in both white and brown adipose tissue. 2′-FL also increased the diversity of gut microbiota in HFD mice. The Bacteroides/Firmicutes ratio, and the Bifidobacterium abundance were increased, while Lachnospiraceae abundance was decreased after 2′-FL treatment. Moreover, 2′-FL to HFD mice altered the bile acid profiles at levels comparable to normal diet group. These results indicates that 2′-FL promotes thermogenesis and modulates gut microbiota to alleviate obesity.

Changes in physio-biochemical metabolism, phenolics and antioxidant capacity during germination were studied in eight different wheat varieties. Results showed that germination enhanced sprout growth, and caused oxidative damage, but enhanced phenolics accumulation. Ferulic acid and p-coumaric acid were the main phenolic acids in wheat sprouts, and dihydroquercetin, quercetin and vitexin were the main flavonoids. The phenolic acid content of Jimai 44 was the highest on the 2th and 4th day of germination, and that of Bainong 307 was the highest on the 6th day. The flavonoid content of Hei jingang was the highest during whole germination. The enzymes activities of phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL), cinnamic acid 4-hydroxylase (C4H) and 4-coumarate coenzyme A ligase (4CL) were up-regulated. The activities of catalase, polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase were also activated. Antioxidant capacity of wheat sprouts was enhanced. The results provided new ideas for the production of naturally sourced phenolic rich foods.

Poria cocos peel residue (PCPR) still contains much soluble dietary fiber (SDF), steam explosion (SE) treatment was applied to PCPR to create a superior SDF. Steam pressure of 1.2 MPa, residence period of 120 s, and moisture content of 13% were the optimized parameters for SE treatment of PCPR. Under optimized circumstances, SE treatment of PCPR enhanced its SDF yield from 5.24% to 23.86%. Compared to the original SDF, the SE-treated SDF displayed improved enzyme inhibition, including the inhibition of α-amylase and pancreatic lipase, also enhanced water holding, oil holding, water swelling, nutrient adsorption including cholesterol, nitrite ions, and glucose and antioxidant abilities. Additionally, it had a decreased molecular weight, improved thermal stability, and a rough surface with many pores of different sizes. Given that SDF had been improved physiochemical and functional characteristics thanks to SE treatment, it might be the excellent functional ingredient for the food business.

It is well known that lead-induced neurotoxicity is closely related to oxidative stress. According to previous reports, wheat germ peptides (WGPs) isolated from wheat germ have been shown to have potent antioxidant capacity. This study hypothesized that WGPs could protect PC12 cells from lead-induced oxidative stress. Here, the protecting-efficacies of WGPs were investigated in PC12 cells that were pretreated with WGPs (200 μM, 4 h) and exposed to lead (10 μM, 24 h). The antioxidant capacity was assessed by cell viability, ROS, MDA, SOD, CAT, GR, GPx, GSH, and GSSG. The experimental results showed that WGP3, WGP8, and WGP9 could reverse the reduction of cell viability caused by lead exposure. Lead exposure causes oxidative stress by increasing the levels of ROS and MDA. Moreover, the decrease in the levels of SOD, CAT, GPx, GR, and GSH/GSSG could be observed. However, WGP3, WGP8, and WGP9 can protect PC12 cells against lead-induced oxidative stress by reversing these phenomena. The protein expression of TXNIP, Keap1, and Nrf2 was characterized by western blotting, and the results illustrated that lead exposure up-regulated the expression of TXNIP and Keap1 and down-regulated the expression of Nrf2, and WGP3, WGP8, and WGP9 could improve the antioxidant capacity of PC12 cells by reversing this phenomenon. Therefore, the present study demonstrated that WGP3, WGP8, and WGP9 may protect against lead-induced oxidative stress in PC12 cells by regulating the TXNIP/Keap1/Nrf2 pathway.

Lead (Pb) is a heavy metal environmental pollutant that can cause functional damage and anemia of immune organs. More and more evidence indicate that the toxicity of lead was related to apoptosis driven by oxidative stress and endoplasmic reticulum stress. This article mainly discusses the protective effect and mechanism of folic acid intervention on lead-induced spleen injury and apoptosis. In this study, Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into control group, lead exposure group (0.2% lead acetate), folic acid + lead group (0.4 mg/kg folic acid and 0.2% lead acetate), and folic acid group (0.4 mg/kg folic acid). By recording and calculating the rat's initial body weight, final body weight, net weight gain, daily weight gain, and spleen index, observe the rat's weight change and spleen weight. And adopt the immunofluorescence staining method to determine the expression level of NrF2, HO-1, GRP78, CHOP protein in the spleen. The results showed that The 0.4 mg/kg folic acid diet did not significantly improve in the body weight and spleen index of lead-exposed rats (P > 0.05). While compared with the control group, the expression levels of HO-1 and CHOP protein were significantly increased in the lead exposure group (P

The heavy metal lead in the environment is a neurotoxin with very strong biological toxicity which can cause serious damage to the learning and memory ability of humans and animals, folic acid can be involved in biological process to prevent impaired learning and memory. however, the specific mechanism is not clear. Herein, in order to explore whether folic acid has a protective effect on learning ousing on the M6A of FTO/METTL3 pathway control and learning and memory ability by lead exposure. Forty 6-week-old male rats were randomly divided into four groups, which drinking water freely model to establish folic acid (0.4 mg/ kg ·bw/day) intervention model of acute lead (0.2% lead acetate solution) exposure, and the determination of lead in hippocampus and Serum by GFAAP and the expression of FTO and METTL3 protein was detected by immunofluorescence assay, the methylation level of m6A in hippocampus was detected by EpiQuikTM m6A RNA methylation quantitative. A Morris water maze was used to test the spatial learning and memory ability of animals by positioning navigation experiment and space exploration experiment. Result display: Comparing to the control group, in the hippocampus, the expression of FTO in the lead exposure group was significantly increased (P

Early diagnosis and treatment of occupational medicamentosa-like dermatitis due to trichloroethylene (OMLDT) are absence of specific and reliable diagnostic/therapeutic biomarkers. This study was conducted on 30 cases of OMLDT, 58 workers exposed to trichloroethylene (TCE) and 40 unexposed controls in order to identify any cytokine signatures that give an index to CD4 + T cell differential and serve as biomarkers of OMLDT. Expression profiles of Th 1 , Th 2 , Th 17 and Treg cell type-specifying transcription factors and cytokines were analyzed using real time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) assay. To explore whether such expression profiles reflected their steady state plasma levels, a Luminex liquid fluorescence analysis was conducted. We found that the expression of transcription factors FoxP3 transcription factors (P = 0.006 and P < 0.0001) and IL-10 cytokine (P = 0.0008 and P < 0.0001) of the Treg subset were significantly higher in patients than TCE exposure workers and unexposed controls, suggesting that Treg cells were active after the occurrence of OMLDT. The transcript levels of IL-6 were significantly lower in the TCE exposure groups including patients and exposure workers as compared to the unexposed controls (P < 0.0001 and P = 0.0008). Circulating levels of assessed cytokines of IL-6 (P = 0.001 and P = 0.011) and TFN-α (P = 0.005 and P < 0.0001) were lower in the exposure groups than in the unexposed controls. Compared to the controls, the levels of IL-10 in patients were higher (P = 0.001 and P = 0.0008). There was a significantly positive correlation between the plasma levels IL-6 and IL-10 in TCE exposed workers. These alterations in the expression of transcription factors and cytokines highlight the underlying dysregulation of T cell subsets in OMLDT that reflect an immune tolerance or immune inhibition. Therefore, the elevation of IL-10 level may be a kind of pathogenesis indicator, and the decline in IL-6 level may be a kind of TCE exposure biomarker. These biomarkers need additional longitudinal follow-up studies to warrant to clinically useful biomarkers of OMLDT., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)