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ObjectiveWe aimed to evaluate the efficacy of stem cell-derived exosomes for treating ischemic stroke and to screen for the optimal administration strategy.MethodsWe searched PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Scopus databases for relevant studies published from their inception to 31 December 2023. Conventional and network meta-analyses of the routes of administration, types, and immune compatibility of stem cell-derived exosomes were performed using the cerebral infarct volume (%) and modified neurological severity score (mNSS) as outcome indicators.ResultsA total of 38 randomized controlled animal experiments were included. Conventional meta-analysis showed that compared with the negative control group: intravenous administration significantly reduced the cerebral infarct volume (%) and mNSS; intranasal administration significantly reduced the cerebral infarct volume (%); and intracerebral administration significantly reduced the mNSS. Adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes (ADSC-Exos), bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes (BMSC-Exos), dental pulp stem cell-derived exosomes (DPSC-Exos) and neural stem cell-derived exosomes (NSC-Exos) significantly reduced the cerebral infarct volume (%) and mNSS; Endothelial progenitor cell-derived exosomes (EPC-Exos), embryonic stem cell-derived exosomes (ESC-Exos), induced pluripotent stem cell-derived exosomes (iPSC-Exos) and neural progenitor cell-derived exosomes (NPC-Exos) significantly reduced the cerebral infarct volume (%); Umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes (UCMSC-Exos) significantly reduced the mNSS; and there was no significant difference between urogenital stem cell-derived exosomes (USC-Exos) and negative controls. Engineered modified exosomes had better efficacy than unmodified exosomes. Both allogeneic and xenogeneic stem cell-derived exosomes significantly reduced the cerebral infarct volume (%) and the mNSS. The network meta-analysis showed that intravenous administration was the best route of administration for reducing the cerebral infarct volume (%) and mNSS. Among the 10 types of stem cell-derived exosomes that were administered intravenously, BMSC-Exos were the best type for reducing the cerebral infarct volume (%) and the mNSS. Allogeneic exosomes had the best efficacy in reducing the cerebral infarct volume (%), whereas xenogeneic stem cell-derived exosomes had the best efficacy in reducing the mNSS.ConclusionThis meta-analysis, by integrating the available evidence, revealed that intravenous administration is the best route of administration, that BMSC-Exos are the best exosome type, that allogeneic exosomes have the best efficacy in reducing the cerebral infarct volume (%), and that xenogeneic exosomes have the best efficacy in reducing mNSS, which can provide options for preclinical studies. In the future, more high-quality randomized controlled animal experiments, especially direct comparative evidence, are needed to determine the optimal administration strategy for stem cell-derived exosomes for ischemic stroke.Systematic Review Registration:https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/display_record.php?ID=CRD42024497333, PROSPERO, CRD42024497333

As one of the developed genetically modified (GM) maize varieties in China, CC-2 has demonstrated promising commercial prospects during demonstration planting. The establishment of detection methods is a technical prerequisite for effective supervision and regulation of CC-2 maize. In this study, we have developed an event-specific quantification method that targets the junction region between the exogenous gene and the 5’ flanking genomic DNA (gDNA) of CC-2. The accuracy and precision of this method were evaluated across high, medium, and low levels of CC-2 maize content, revealing biases within ±25% and satisfactory precision data. Additionally, we determined the limits of quantification of the method to be 0.05% (equivalent to 20 copies) of the CC-2 maize. A collaborative trial further confirmed that our event-specific method for detecting CC-2 produces reliable, comparable, and reproducible results when applied to five different samples provided by various sources. Furthermore, we calculated the expanded uncertainty associated with determining the content level of CC-2 in these samples.

Gastrointestinal cancers account for approximately one-third of the total global cancer incidence and mortality with a poor prognosis. It is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Most of these diseases lack effective treatment, occurring as a result of inappropriate models to develop safe and potent therapies. As a novel preclinical model, tumor patient-derived organoids (PDOs), can be established from patients’ tumor tissue and cultured in the laboratory in 3D architectures. This 3D model can not only highly simulate and preserve key biological characteristics of the source tumor tissue in vitro but also reproduce the in vivo tumor microenvironment through co-culture. Our review provided an overview of the different in vitro models in current tumor research, the derivation of cells in PDO models, and the application of PDO model technology in gastrointestinal cancers, particularly the applications in combination with CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology, tumor microenvironment simulation, drug screening, drug development, and personalized medicine. It also elucidates the ethical status quo of organoid research and the current challenges encountered in clinical research, and offers a forward-looking assessment of the potential paths for clinical organoid research advancement.

Meat adulteration caused by economic intentions has long been concerning food safety. Accurate quantification of meat products can distinguish between artificial adulteration and unintentional contamination during its processing or packaging. After determining the species-specific constant and the correlation between mass fraction and copy number of each species, we developed an effective approach-based droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) platform that can identify target species with high detection sensitivity: 13 copies of beef, 6 copies of lamb, 13 copies of pork, 13 copies of chicken, 6 copies of duck, and 6 copies of turkey. Using this method, a level as low as 1% of the adulterated ingredients blended in beef and lamb was accurately quantified. Following the addition of reference species, several quantitative equations were constructed for simultaneous analysis of different species in commercial processed products; even the animal components with a minimum content of 0.5% can be quantified to judge whether the label ingredients are fraudulent. This suggests the feasibility of the proposed strategy for the accurate identification and quantification of animal-derived adulteration according to the processing degree and food commodity.

Chronic cerebral hypoperfusion (CCH) is a major global disease with chronic cerebral blood flow reduction. It is also the main cause of cognitive impairment and neurodegenerative diseases. Pyroptosis, a novel form of cell death, is characterized by the rupture of the cell membrane and the release of pro-inflammatory mediators. In recent years, an increasing number of studies have identified the involvement of pyroptosis and its mediated inflammatory response in the pathological process of CCH. Therefore, preventing the activation of pyroptosis following CCH is beneficial to inhibit the inflammatory cascade and reduce brain injury. In this review, we discuss the research progress on the relationship between pyroptosis and CCH, in order to provide a reference for research in related fields.

IntroductionThe establishment of intestinal microbiota and the maintenance of its equilibrium structure plays an important role in Tibetan pigs during different growth stages. Understanding the structure and function of the intestinal microbiota at different growth stages of Tibetan pigs can provide a theoretical basis for guiding nutritional regulation and feeding management in different stages.MethodsFecal samples were collected from the Tibetan piglets at different growth stages, and the 16S rRNA was sequenced to analyze the changes of intestinal microbiota.ResultsAlpha and Beta diversity indexes showed that the diversity of the intestinal microbiota did not change during the three growth stages, and the main components of intestinal microbiota were not significantly different. At the phylum level, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were dominant and abundant at different growth stages and were not restricted by age. At the genus level, Streptococcus, Lactobacillus, and Bifidobacterium were the most dominant in the TP10d and TP40d groups, Streptococcus was the most dominant in the TP100d group, followed by Treponema_2 and Lactobacillus. Fusobacteria, Gluconobacter, and Synergistetes were found to be specific genera of 10-day-old Tibetan piglets by LEfSe combined with LDA score. The change of diet made Tenericutes and Epsilonbacteraeota, which are closely related to digestive fiber, become specific bacteria at the age of 40 days. With the consumption of oxygen in the intestine, obligate anaerobes, such as Verrucomicrobia, Fibrobacter, and Planctomycetes, were the characteristic genera of 100 days. KEGG function prediction analysis showed that the intestinal microbiota function of Tibetan pigs changed dynamically with the growth and development of Tibetan piglets.DiscussionIn conclusion, the structure and composition of the intestinal microbiota of Tibetan pigs are significantly different at different growth and development stages, which plays an important role in their immune performance.

Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most important pathogens causing mastitis in dairy cows. It mainly utilizes the properties of its pathogenic factor, lipoteichoic acid (LTA), to elicit a host-cell inflammatory response and evade the host-cell immune response. Arachidonic acid (AA) has a regulatory role in the inflammatory response, cell metabolism, and apoptosis. The study aimed to establish a cell model by determining the optimal concentration of LTA and AA for cell induction using the Cell Counting Kit−8 assay and the quantitative polymerase chain reaction of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-2, and IL-6. MAC-T cells were planted in 36 10-cm2 culture dishes at a density of 1 × 107 cells per dish. They were treated with LTA for 24 h to constitute the LTA group and with AA for 12 h to constitute the AA group. The cells were pretreated with LTA for 24 h followed by treatment with AA for 12 h to constitute the LTA + AA group. Using proteomic, transcriptomic, and metabolomic analyses, this study determined that LTA can regulate the expression of Actin Related protein 2/3 complex (ARPC)3, ARPC4, Charged Multivesicular Body Protein 3, protein kinase cGMP-dependent, NF-κB Inhibitor Alpha,and other genes to affect cellular metabolism, immune regulation and promote apoptosis. In contrast, AA was observed to regulate the expression of genes such as ARPC3, ARPC4, Charged Multivesicular Body Protein 3, Laminin Gamma 1, Insulin Receptor, Filamin B, and Casein Kinase 1 Epsilon to inhibit cellular apoptosis and promote immune regulation, which provides a theoretical basis for future studies.

Microribonucleic acids (miRNAs) play significant roles in the regulation of biological processes and in responses to biotic or abiotic environmental stresses. Therefore, it is necessary to quantitatively detect miRNAs to understand these complicated biological regulation mechanisms. This study established an ultrasensitive and highly specific method for the quantitative detection of miRNAs using simple operations on the ground of the ligation reaction of ribonucleotide-modified deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) probes. This method avoids the complex design of conventional reverse transcription. In the developed assay, the target miRNA miR156b was able to directly hybridize the two ribonucleotide-modified DNA probes, and amplification with universal primers was achieved following the ligation reaction. As a result, the target miRNA could be sensitively measured even at a detection limit as low as 0.0001 amol, and differences of only a single base could be detected between miR156 family members. Moreover, the proposed quantitative method demonstrated satisfactory results for overexpression-based genetically modified (GM) soybean. Ligation-based quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) therefore has potential in investigating the biological functions of miRNAs, as well as in supervising activities regarding GM products or organisms.