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BackgroundAstragalus mongholicus (AM) and Salvia miltiorrhiza (SM) are commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat heart failure (HF). Ferroptosis has been studied as a key factor in the occurrence of HF. It remains unclear whether the combined use of AM and SM can effectively improve HF and the underlying mechanisms.ObjectiveThis study aims to explore whether the combined use of AM and SM can improve HF by inhibiting ferroptosis. It also examines the roles and interactions of the pathways associated with GPX4, FSP1, and DHODH.MethodsIn vitro experiments used angiotensin II-induced (4 μM for 48 h) hypertrophic H9c2 cells, while in vivo studies employed a rat model of transverse aortic constriction-induced (to 1 mm for 8 weeks) HF. Interventions included decoctions of AM and SM (for animal experiments) and medicated serum (for cell experiments), along with specific pathway inhibitors such as erastin, FSP1 inhibitor and brequinar. Subsequently, various molecular biology methods were used to measure the protein levels of GPX4, FSP1, and DHODH, as well as each sample group’s ferroptosis-related and HF-related indicators, to elucidate the underlying mechanisms.ResultsThe combined use of AM and SM can effectively restore the levels of GPX4, FSP1, and DHODH that are reduced after HF, as well as improve indicators related to ferroptosis and HF. When GPX4, FSP1, or DHODH is inhibited, the ferroptosis-inhibiting effect and the ability of AM and SM to improve HF are both weakened. When two of the three proteins are inhibited, the protective effect of HDC is strongest when GPX4 is retained, followed by FSP1, and weakest when DHODH is retained.ConclusionThis study confirms that the combined use of AM and SM inhibits ferroptosis and alleviates HF by increasing GPX4, FSP1, and DHODH levels. It shows that the protective effect is strongest through GPX4, followed by FSP1, and weakest through DHODH. These findings provide new insights into the therapeutic mechanisms of this combination of botanical drugs.

Upstream treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF, for short) is a new approach to the prevention and treatment of AF with non-antiarrhythmic drugs, which is essentially primary and secondary prevention of AF. The former refers to the prevention of AF by controlling risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart failure before AF occurs, and the latter mainly refers to targeting ion channels, inflammation, oxidative stress, and other pathways to reduce or reverse atrial electrical and structural remodeling, reduction of AF load, and reduction of the chance of AF occurrence or progression. More and more studies have shown that many traditional Chinese medicines, active ingredients of Chinese medicines, and Chinese herbal formulas have definite effects on the upstream treatment of AF, but their mechanisms of action are different. Therefore, we summarized the relevant literature on the application and mechanisms of Chinese medicine on the upstream treatment of AF in recent years, hoping to be helpful for subsequent studies.

BackgroundExisting studies have indicated that gut microbiota is closely related to the occurrence and development of coronary heart disease(CHD). Gut microbiota and its metabolites may be important diagnostic markers for CHD in the future and are expected to become new targets for the prevention and treatment of CHD. However, the current studies exploring the link between CHD and gut microbiota are miscellaneous and poorly targeted, without bibliometric analysis available.ObjectiveThe purpose of this research was to perform a bibliometric and visual analysis of published papers on the relationship between CHD and gut microbiota. The study also sought to identify principal authors, institutions, and countries to analyze the research status and trends of gut microbiota research in the field of CHD.MethodsThe Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database was searched for publications on CHD and gut microbiota between 2002 and 2022. CiteSpace 5.8. R1, VOSviewer 1.6.16, and Microsoft Excel 2019 software tools were utilized to perform this bibliometric analysis and visualization.ResultsThere were 457 qualified publications found in total, with the annual number of publications increasing. The United States dominated in this field. Hazen, Stanley l was the author of the most papers. Cleveland Clinic published the most papers of any institution. The six main clusters’ specific characteristics were discovered through analysis of the co-occurrence of keywords: inflammation, diet, trimethylamine n-oxide, metabolism, cardiovascular disease, and myocardial infarction. Newly emerging research has focused predominantly on gut microbiota metabolites and recent strategies for intervention in coronary atherosclerosis.ConclusionThese results provided a useful perspective on current research and future prospects for the research on the link between CHD and gut microbiota, which may help researchers to select suitable collaborators and facilitate their research to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms of CHD, including the causes, prevention, and treatment.

A central aim of neuroethological research is to discover the mechanisms of natural behaviors in controlled laboratory studies. This goal, however, comes with challenges, namely the selection of experimental paradigms that allow full expression of natural behaviors. Here, we explore this problem in echolocating bats that evolved Doppler shift compensation (DSC) of sonar vocalizations to yield close matching between echo frequency and hearing sensitivity. We ask if behavioral tasks influence the precision of DSC in Pratt’s roundleaf bat, Hipposideros pratti, in three classic laboratory paradigms evoking audio-vocal adjustments: Stationary bats listening to echo playbacks, bats transported on a moving pendulum, and bats flying freely. We found that experimental conditions had a strong influence on the expression of the audiovocal frequency adjustments in bats. H. pratti exhibited robust DSC in both free-flying and moving-pendulum experiments but did not exhibit consistent audiovocal adjustments in echo playback experiments. H. pratti featured a maximum compensation magnitude of 87% and a compensation precision of 0.27% in the free flight experiment. Interestingly, in the moving pendulum experiment H. pratti displayed surprisingly high-precision DSC, with an 84% maximum compensation magnitude and a 0.27% compensation precision. Such DSC performance places H. pratti among the bat species exhibiting the most precise audio-vocal control of echo frequency. These data support the emerging view that Hipposiderid bats have a high-precision DSC system and highlight the importance of selecting experimental paradigms that yield the expression of robust natural behaviors.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced in the ischemic myocardium can induce cardiomyocyte injury and death, resulting in cardiac remodeling. Ferroptosis, known as a newly type of cell death caused by iron-dependent oxidative stress, which is an essential death mechanism in cardiomyocytes. However, it is unclear whether oxidative stress products can further induce ferroptosis and aggravate cardiomyocyte injury. Geniposide (GEN), a major active component of Gardenia jasminoides J. Ellis, possesses the natural antioxidant activity and cardioprotective effect. Herein, we evaluated the role of ferroptosis in myocardial oxidative injury and the protective effect of GEN on myocardial ferroptosis. We first detected iron overload, massive ROS, and lipid peroxidation in ferric ammonium citrate (FAC)-treated cardiomyocytes, which were typical characteristics of ferroptosis. The iron overload-induced oxidative stress and ferroptosis aggravated cardiomyocyte injury, which were significantly alleviated by GEN treatment. Similar phenotypic changes of ferroptosis were consistently discovered in hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced cells, which were reversed by GEN treatment as well. Interestingly, the RNA-binding protein Grsf1, which directly upregulated Gpx4 at the translational level, was activated by GEN following myocardial oxidative injury. The specific knockdown of Grsf1 increased their sensitivity to ferroptosis and weakened the cardioprotective effect of GEN in H2O2-treated cardiomyocytes. Moreover, GEN treatment reduced iron overload and lipid peroxidation in myocardial infarction (MI) rats, thereby fighting against the cardiac ischemic injury. Collectively, our study revealed the pathogenesis of oxidative stress and ferroptosis associated with myocardial ischemia, and indicated the antioxidant and anti-ferroptosis effects of GEN on preventing myocardial injury by activating the Grsf1/GPx4 axis, serving as a potential therapeutic target.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells have been successfully used in the therapy of B cell leukemia and lymphoma, but still have many challenges in their use for treating T cell malignancies, such as the lack of unique tumor antigens, their limitation of T cell expansion, and the need for third party donors or genome editing. Therefore, we need to find novel targets for CAR T cell therapy to overcome these challenges. Here, we found that both adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL) patients and ATLL cells had increased CCR8 expression but did not express CD7. Moreover, targeting CCR8 in T cells did not impair T cell expansion in vitro. Importantly, anti-CCR8 CAR T cells exhibited antitumor effects on ATLL- and other CCR8-expressing T-ALL cells in vitro and in vivo, and prolonged the survival of ATLL and Jurkat tumor-bearing mouse models. In conclusion, these collective results show that anti-CCR8 CAR T cells possess strong antitumor activity and represent a promising therapeutic approach for ATLL and CCR8+ tumors.

Bazi Bushen capsule (BZBS), as a Chinese medicine used to relieve fatigue, has been proven effective for the treatment of atherogenesis through antilipid effects. To investigate the potential mechanism of BZBS in the anti-atherosclerotic effect, Ovx/ApoE-/- mice were applied to investigate the anti-atherosclerotic efficiency and potential mechanism of BZBS. Therapeutic effect was evaluated based on the number of CD68+ and CD3+ cells, the level of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), and the ratio of cleaved caspase-3/caspase-3, as well as increasing ratio of Bcl2/Bax. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were chosen to evaluate the role of GPER1. Treatment with BZBS reduced lipid deposition by reducing the numbers of CD68+ and CD3+ cells, the level of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1, and the ratio of cleaved caspase-3/caspase-3, and increasing the ratio of Bcl2/Bax as compared with the control group. In si-GPER1-treated HUVECs, the anti-apoptotic effect of BZBS was decreased. This study revealed that BZBS exhibited a clear effect against atherogenesis via GPER1-dependent anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic mechanisms. We believe that this manuscript is informative and useful for researchers pursuing the related alleviation of post-menopausal AS via anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic mechanisms.

Lanthanide-doped upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) are promising for applications as wide as biosensing, bioimaging, controlled drug release, and cancer therapy. These applications require surface engineering of as-prepared nanocrystals, commonly coated with hydrophobic ligand of oleic acid, to enable an aqueous dispersion. However, literature-reported approaches often require a long time and/or multiple step treatment, along with several fold upconversion luminescence (UCL) intensity decrease. Here, we describe a strategy allowing oleate-capped UCNPs to become water-soluble and open-modified, with almost undiminished UCL, through ultrasonication of minutes. The prompt phase transfer was enabled by oleate-mediated supramolecular self-assembly of amino modified β-cyclodextrin (amino-β-CD) onto UCNPs surface. We showed that this method is valid for a wide range of UCNPs with quite different sizes (6–400 nm), various dopant types (Er, Tm, and Ho), and hierarchical structures (core, core-shell). Importantly, the amino group of amino-β-CD on the surface of treated UCNPs provide possibilities to introduce entities for biotargeting or functionalization, as exemplified here, a carboxylic-containing near infrared dye (Cy 7.5) that sensitizes UCNPs to enhance their UCL by ~4,820 fold when excited at ~808 nm. The described method has implications for all types of oleate-capped inorganic nanocrystals, facilitating their myriad bioapplications.

Background: This study aimed to identify frontiers for further studies via brief understanding in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for substance use disorders (SUDs). Materials and Methods: Publications on the use of CAM for treating SUDs were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection from 2001 to 2020 on July 12, 2020, and visualized by CiteSpace V. Results: A total of 3,807 publications were obtained. The USA, China, and England were the leading research centers. However, India and Pakistan have recently focused on assessing CAM for the treatment of SUDs. Frederick L Altice was found to be the most productive author. Addiction ranked first among the frequently cited journals, which exceeded 1,000. The most common CAM therapies were acupuncture and CAM psychotherapies, such as mindfulness meditation. Conclusion: CAM is gaining attention globally for treating SUDs. CAM psychotherapy and acupuncture are hotspots and deserve further study. Researchers should strengthen peer cooperation in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]