Search

Trichinella spiralis is recognized for its ability to regulate host immune responses. The serine protease inhibitor of T. spiralis (Ts-SPI) participates in T. spiralis-mediated immunoregulatory effects. Studies have shown that helminth therapy exhibits therapeutic effects on metabolic diseases. In addition, we previously found that T. spiralis-derived crude antigens could alleviate diet-induced obesity. Thus, Ts-SPI was hypothesized to alleviate non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Herein, recombinant Ts-SPI (rTs-SPI) was prepared from the muscle larvae T. spiralis. The relative molecular mass of rTs-SPI was approximately 35,000 Da, and western blot analysis indicated good immunoreactivity. rTs-SPI ameliorated hepatic steatosis, inflammation, and pyroptosis in NAFLD mice, which validated the hypothesis. rTs-SPI also reduced macrophage infiltration, significantly expanded Foxp3+ Treg population, and inactivated TLR4/NF-κB/NLRP3 signaling in the liver. Furthermore, rTs-SPI treatment significantly shifted the gut microbiome structure, with a remarkable increase in beneficial bacteria and reduction in harmful bacteria to improve gut barrier integrity. Finally, Abx-treated mice and FMT confirmed that gut-liver crosstalk contributed to NAFLD improvement after rTs-SPI treatment. Taken together, Taken together, these findings suggest that rTs-SPI exerts therapeutic effects in NAFLD via anti-inflammatory activity and gut–liver crosstalk.

Enzyme-assisted ultrasonic extraction (EAUE) was utilized and optimized for extracting polysaccharides from Schizochytrium limacinum meal (SLMPs) via the response surface methodology. The optimal EAUE conditions were determined as follows: enzyme concentration at 5.18%, ultrasonic temperature at 53 °C, ultrasonic duration of 40 min, ultrasonic power at 60 W, and a liquid-to-material ratio of 34 mL/g, achieving a polysaccharide extraction yield of 11.86 ± 0.61%. The purified polysaccharide component, SLMP1-1, isolated using DEAE Sepharose Fast Flow and Sephadex G-100 columns, exhibited potent antioxidant activity. SLMP1-1, with a molecular weight of 25.5 kDa, comprises glucose, mannose, arabinose, and galactose in a molar ratio of 16.39:14.75:1:693.03. 1H NMR analysis revealed the α configuration of SLMP1-1. Antioxidant assessments, including DPPH, ABTS, and ferric ion reduction assays, were detected with inhibitory values at 21.82–82.98%, 38.21–98.46%, and 3.30–20.30% at 0.2–1.0 mg/mL. This confirmed the effective antioxidant capacity of SLMP1-1, which is notably enhanced post oral and gastric digestion. The findings suggest that polysaccharides extracted from Schizochytrium limacinum meal hold significant promise as natural antioxidants.

Inhibiting α-amylase can lower postprandial blood glucose levels and delay glucose absorption, offering an effective approach for the development of antidiabetic diets. In this study, an active constituent with inhibitory activity against α-amylase was isolated and purified by bioassay-guided fractionation from Carya cathayensis Sarg. peel (CCSP). The active constituent was identified by NMR and Q-Exactive Orbitrap Mass Spectrometry as 5-O-p-coumaroylquinic acid (5-CQA). 5-CQA possessed strong inhibitory activity against α-amylase, with an IC50 value of 69.39 µM. In addition, the results of the kinetic study indicated that 5-CQA was a potent, reversible, noncompetitive inhibitor against α-amylase. The findings indicate that 5-CQA derived from CCSP has potential as a novel inhibitor against α-amylase, which can help mitigate postprandial blood sugar spikes, making it suitable for inclusion in antidiabetic diets.

The worrying emergence of multiple resistance genes to last-resort antibiotics in food animals and human populations throughout the food chain and relevant environments has been increasingly reported worldwide. Enterobacteriaceae pathogens are considered the most common reservoirs of such antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Thus, a rapid, efficient and accurate detection method to simultaneously screen and monitor such ARGs in Enterobacteriaceae pathogens has become an urgent need. Our study developed a recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) assay combined with a lateral flow dipstick (LFD) for simultaneously detecting predominant resistance genes to last-resort antibiotics of Enterobacteriaceae pathogens, including mcr-1, blaNDM-1 and tet(X4). It is allowed to complete the entire process, including crude DNA extraction, amplification as well as reading, within 40 min at 37°C, and the detection limit is 101 copies/μl for mcr-1, blaNDM-1 and tet(X4). Sensitivity analysis showed obvious association of color signals with the template concentrations of mcr-1, blaNDM-1 and tet(X4) genes in Enterobacteriaceae pathogens using a test strip reader (R2 = 0.9881, R2 = 0.9745, and R2 = 0.9807, respectively), allowing for quantitative detection using multiplex RPA-LFD assays. Therefore, the RPA-LFD assay can suitably help to detect multiple resistance genes to last-resort antibiotics in foodborne pathogens and has potential applications in the field.

BackgroundPolycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a complex disease that afflicts women of reproductive age, and its pathological mechanism has not been well explained. The gut microbiota is believed to be closely related to the development of PCOS. Although an important component of the gut microbiome, the role of the gut virome in the development of PCOS is still unclear.MethodsIn this study, we profiled and compared the gut viral community of 50 patients with PCOS and 43 healthy women based on the analysis of their fecal whole-metagenome dataset.ResultsThe gut virome of PCOS patients exhibited a significant decrease in within-sample viral diversity and a remarkable alteration of the overall virome composition compared with that of healthy controls. At the family level, Siphoviridae was significantly depleted in the gut virome of patients, while Quimbyviridae was enriched. We identified 1,089 viral operational taxonomic units (vOTUs) that differed in relative abundance between the two groups, of which 455 vOTUs were enriched in PCOS patients (including numerous Bacteroidaceae phages) and 634 were enriched in controls (including numerous viruses predicted to infect Oscillospiraceae, Prevotellaceae, and Ruminococcaceae). Functional comparison of the PCOS-enriched and control-enriched vOTUs uncovered the viral functional signatures associated with PCOS. Furthermore, we demonstrated gut viral signatures for disease discrimination and achieved an area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.938, demonstrating the potential of the gut virome in the prediction of PCOS.ConclusionOur findings reveal specific alterations in viral diversity and taxonomic and functional compositions of the gut virome of PCOS patients. Further studies on the etiology of PCOS and the gut viral community will offer new prospects for treating and preventing PCOS and its related diseases.

Objective. Thin endometrium is considered as a leading cause of infertility, recurrent pregnancy loss, and repeated implantation failure. The seed of Cuscutae Semen (CS) has been used to prevent aging and improve sexual function in Traditional Chinese Medicine. However, the pharmacological mechanism of CS in preventing and treating thin endometrium remains to be elucidated. Methods. Three public databases, TCMSP, GeneCards, and OMIM, were searched to collect the main active compounds and putative molecules of CS, as well as the targets of thin endometrium, respectively. The CS and thin endometrium common targets were subject to protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis followed by functional enrichment analysis. The best binding mode of CS compounds and common target proteins was evaluated by molecular docking and analysis in the AutoDockTools. Results. In total, 11 main active compounds, 102 drug target proteins, and 70 CS and thin endometrium common targets were identified. There were 68 nodes with 722 edges in the PPI network; HIF1A, MYC, ESR1, and EGFR were the top 4 targets. After functional enrichment analysis, it was revealed that the therapeutic effects of active compounds of CS on thin endometrium were achieved through cellular response to chemical stress, transcription regulator, DNA-binding transcription factor binding, chemical carcinogenesis-receptor activation, lipid, and atherosclerosis. The molecular docking analysis revealed that the 3 active compounds of CS, quercetin, matrine, and isorhamnetin, have good binding ability with their targets, HIF1A, MYC, ESR1, and EGFR. Conclusion. Our study uncovers the main active compounds in CS and their corresponding targets related to thin endometrium which explains the pharmacological mechanism underlying therapeutic effects of CS on thin endometrium.

Iron (Fe) is an essential micronutrient for human growth and health. Organic iron is an excellent iron supplement due to its bioavailability. Both amino acids and peptides improve iron bioavailability and absorption and are therefore valuable components of iron supplements. This review focuses on protein hydrolysates as potential promoters of iron absorption. The ability of protein hydrolysates to chelate iron is thought to be a key attribute for the promotion of iron absorption. Iron-chelatable protein hydrolysates are categorized by their absorption forms: amino acids, di- and tri-peptides and polypeptides. Their structural characteristics, including their size and amino acid sequence, as well as the presence of special amino acids, influence their iron chelation abilities and bioavailabilities. Protein hydrolysates promote iron absorption by keeping iron soluble, reducing ferric iron to ferrous iron, and promoting transport across cell membranes into the gut. We also discuss the use and relative merits of protein hydrolysates as iron supplements.

Casticin is one of the major active components isolated from Fructus viticis. Increasing studies have revealed that casticin has potential anticancer activity in various cancer cells, but its effects on breast cancer cell migration and invasion are still not well known. Therefore, the ability of cell migration and invasion in the breast cancer MDA-MB-231 and 4T1 cells treated by casticin was investigated. The results indicated that casticin significantly inhibited cellmigration and invasion in the cells exposed to 0.25 and 0.50 μM of casticin for 24 h. Casticin treatment reduced matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) 9 (MMP-9) activity and down-regulated MMP-9 mRNA and protein expression, but not MMP-2. Casticin treatment suppressed the nuclear translocation of transcription factors c-Jun and c-Fos, but not nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), and decreased the phosphorylated level of Akt (p-Akt). Additionally, the transfection of Akt overexpression vector to MDA-MB-231 and 4T1 cells could up-regulate MMP-9 expression concomitantly with a marked increase in cell invasion, but casticin treatment reduced Akt, p-Akt, and MMP-9 protein levels and inhibited the ability of cell invasion in breast cancer cells. Additionally, casticin attenuated lung metastasis of mouse 4T1 breast cancer cells in the mice and down-regulated MMP-9 expression in the lung tissues of mice treated by casticin. These findings suggest that MMP-9 expression suppression by casticin may act through inhibition of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling pathway, which in turn results in the inhibitory effects of casticin on cell migration and invasion in breast cancer cells. Therefore, casticin may have potential for use in the treatment of breast cancer invasion and metastasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enzyme-assisted ultrasonic extraction (EAUE) was utilized and optimized for extracting polysaccharides from Schizochytrium limacinum meal (SLMPs) via the response surface methodology. The optimal EAUE conditions were determined as follows: enzyme concentration at 5.18%, ultrasonic temperature at 53 °C, ultrasonic duration of 40 min, ultrasonic power at 60 W, and a liquid-to-material ratio of 34 mL/g, achieving a polysaccharide extraction yield of 11.86 ± 0.61%. The purified polysaccharide component, SLMP1-1, isolated using DEAE Sepharose Fast Flow and Sephadex G-100 columns, exhibited potent antioxidant activity. SLMP1-1, with a molecular weight of 25.5 kDa, comprises glucose, mannose, arabinose, and galactose in a molar ratio of 16.39:14.75:1:693.03. 1H NMR analysis revealed the α configuration of SLMP1-1. Antioxidant assessments, including DPPH, ABTS, and ferric ion reduction assays, were detected with inhibitory values at 21.82–82.98%, 38.21–98.46%, and 3.30–20.30% at 0.2–1.0 mg/mL. This confirmed the effective antioxidant capacity of SLMP1-1, which is notably enhanced post oral and gastric digestion. The findings suggest that polysaccharides extracted from Schizochytrium limacinum meal hold significant promise as natural antioxidants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inhibiting α-amylase can lower postprandial blood glucose levels and delay glucose absorption, offering an effective approach for the development of antidiabetic diets. In this study, an active constituent with inhibitory activity against α-amylase was isolated and purified by bioassay-guided fractionation from Carya cathayensis Sarg. peel (CCSP). The active constituent was identified by NMR and Q-Exactive Orbitrap Mass Spectrometry as 5-O-p-coumaroylquinic acid (5-CQA). 5-CQA possessed strong inhibitory activity against α-amylase, with an IC50 value of 69.39 µM. In addition, the results of the kinetic study indicated that 5-CQA was a potent, reversible, noncompetitive inhibitor against α-amylase. The findings indicate that 5-CQA derived from CCSP has potential as a novel inhibitor against α-amylase, which can help mitigate postprandial blood sugar spikes, making it suitable for inclusion in antidiabetic diets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fipronil, as an excellent insecticide, is widely used around the world, but its residues in agricultural products and the environment cause a series of health and ecological risks. In this study, a novel aptamer sensor for the sensitive, selective, and quantitative detection of fipronil in eggs was prepared using nitrogen-doped carbon quantum dots (NCQDs) modified by fipronil aptamer. It is based on the adsorption of apt-NCQDs on the surface of graphene oxide (GO) through π-stacking and hydrophobic interactions, and quenching the fluorescence of apt-NCQDs through the fluorescence resonance energy transfer between NCQDs and GO. In the presence of fipronil, apt-NCQDs were desorbed from GO and the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) process was inhibited to recover the fluorescence. Under the optimized conditions, the linear range of fipronil was 10–60 nM, R2 = 0.9907, and the LOD was 3.58 nM, which showed good selectivity and sensitivity to fipronil. In addition, the recovery of this method for detection in egg samples ranged 89–104% with an RSD < 8%, which indicates that this method has good prospects for practical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Thin endometrium is considered as a leading cause of infertility, recurrent pregnancy loss, and repeated implantation failure. The seed of Cuscutae Semen (CS) has been used to prevent aging and improve sexual function in Traditional Chinese Medicine. However, the pharmacological mechanism of CS in preventing and treating thin endometrium remains to be elucidated.Methods: Three public databases, TCMSP, GeneCards, and OMIM, were searched to collect the main active compounds and putative molecules of CS, as well as the targets of thin endometrium, respectively. The CS and thin endometrium common targets were subject to protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis followed by functional enrichment analysis. The best binding mode of CS compounds and common target proteins was evaluated by molecular docking and analysis in the AutoDockTools.Results: In total, 11 main active compounds, 102 drug target proteins, and 70 CS and thin endometrium common targets were identified. There were 68 nodes with 722 edges in the PPI network; HIF1A, MYC, ESR1, and EGFR were the top 4 targets. After functional enrichment analysis, it was revealed that the therapeutic effects of active compounds of CS on thin endometrium were achieved through cellular response to chemical stress, transcription regulator, DNA-binding transcription factor binding, chemical carcinogenesis-receptor activation, lipid, and atherosclerosis. The molecular docking analysis revealed that the 3 active compounds of CS, quercetin, matrine, and isorhamnetin, have good binding ability with their targets, HIF1A, MYC, ESR1, and EGFR.Conclusion: Our study uncovers the main active compounds in CS and their corresponding targets related to thin endometrium which explains the pharmacological mechanism underlying therapeutic effects of CS on thin endometrium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. Intrauterine adhesion (IUA) represents an endometrial repair disorder that is associated with menstrual disorders, recurrent pregnancy loss, and infertility. This study aimed to explore the underlying biological mechanisms of Guishen Huoxue decoction for the treatment of IUA based on network pharmacology. Methods. The selection of active compounds for Guishen Huoxue decoction and prediction of relevant targets were performed by the TCMSP and Swiss Target Prediction databases, respectively. The targets of IUA were obtained by three databases, including Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM), DisGeNET, and GeneCards. The drug-disease regulatory network was constructed via Cytoscape software, following the acquisition of common genes of active compounds of drug Guishen Huoxue decoction and disease IUA, which was carried out through Venny software. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network and function enrichment analyses were performed. Results. According to the data obtained from TCMSP, a total of 200 potential active compounds of Guishen Huoxue decoction and their related targets (1068) were screened by the Swiss Target Prediction database. 1303 disease targets and 134 common targets were identified. The drug-disease regulatory network showed that 165 active compounds were found to be involved in the treatment of IUA. Among 134 common targets, AKT1, SRC, TP53, VEGFA, and IL-6 were predicted as core genes against IUA. PI3K-Akt, Rap1, Ras, and AGE-RAGE were the main signaling pathways that participated in the treatment of Guishen Huoxue decoction for IUA. Conclusion. The active compounds of Guishen Huoxue decoction confer therapeutic effects against IUA by regulating fibrosis, inflammation, and oxidative stress through major signaling pathways such as PI3K-Akt and AGE-RAGE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. The peculiarities of obtaining stable, easily digestible and safe ferric ion complexes with bioligands of the probiotic origin and their characteristics have been investigated. Materials and research methods. As bioligands, the products of metabolism and processing of biomass Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. Bulgaricus B-3964, namely, lactic acid, amino acids, low molecular weight peptides and muropeptides, were used. The destruction of biomass peptidoglycans was performed by alternating treatment of sonication and papain. The progress of complexation was monitored using the turbidimetry method. Results and discussion. The destruction of biomass peptidoglycans, performed by alternating sonication and the papain enzyme preparation, resulted in a mixture of amino acids, low molecular weight peptides and muropeptides, the concentration of which was 10.24 mg/cm3, 6.45 mg/cm3 and 2.25 mg/m3 respectively. Lactic acid was isolated from the culture fluid by crystallization of calcium lactate. Three polydentate systems were used to form Fe3+ complexes: peptidoglycan destruction products; lactic acid; a mixture of degradation products and lactic acid. It was found that the bioligand systems under study bind Fe3+ ions in the amounts of 32, 40 and 46 mol/dm3 10-2 respectively. Electrostatic and coordination interactions are involved in the formation of the complex of iron (III) and probiotic bioligands. The behavior of complexes at different pH values and temperatures was studied. Most stable is the complex formed with the participation of the bioligands system containing the products of peptidoglycans degradation and lactic acid. Such system of bioligands provides the formation of ferric ions chelate complexes, stable in the pH range of 1-10 units. Obtained complex is a promising ingredient of dietary supplements and dietic products whose technology involves high-temperature processing. That was proven that, the complex is stable in the temperature range of 20-122 °C. When the temperature reaches 122-125 °C, the mass loss is 3% for the complex and 14% for the mechanical mixture. In the temperature range of 122-178 °C, an endothermic reaction is observed during the thermal treatment of the complex, and no thermal effects are observed during the mechanical mixture treatment. The weight loss of the complex in this temperature range is 22%, mechanical mixture - 16%. The presence of an endothermic peak on the differential thermal analysis curve of the complex may indicate the presence in its structure of chelate bonds, and during their destruct the enthalpy changes are occurred. Conclusion. The research results indicate the effectiveness of the use of polydendant mixed ligand systems of probiotic origin for complexation with ferric ions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tenebrio molitor is an excellent source of high-quality protein that produces various bioactive peptides. It is a traditional Chinese herbal medicine which has the effect of "activating blood and dissolving stasis". It aimed to obtain antithrombotic peptides from the Tenebrio molitor larvae hydrolysate generated by treatment with pepsin and trypsin. The hydrolysate was subjected to ion exchange chromatography and gel filtration chromatography; the obtained antithrombotic activity values of the fractions were 40.87% and 65.61% at 8.0 mg/mL, respectively. After further preparation by reverse-phase liquid chromatography, the peptides with antithrombotic activity of 28.66% at 0.2 mg/mL were identified by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry as SLVDAIGMGP and AGFAGDDAPR. Both of the peptides were shown to be nontoxic and could interact with thrombin exosite 1 by molecular docking. These results indicate that peptides from Tenebrio molitor might be used as potential antithrombotic components in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shrimp processing byproducts were hydrolyzed by various proteases, and calcium binding activity of the hydrolysates was examined. Among the digests, trypsin digest showed the most potent calcium binding activity (0.294 mmol/g-protein) and highest degree of hydrolysis (18.4%). The trypsin hydrolysate was fractionated according to the molecular weights using ultrafiltration membrane system. The lowest molecular weight fraction (<1 kDa) showed the highest calcium binding activity. Then, the lowest molecular weight fraction was isolated and purified by ion-exchange chromatography, gel filtration, and ODS reversed high-performance liquid chromatography. The purified peptide showed the highest calcium binding activity of 2.70 mmol/g-protein, and its structure was identified as Thr-Cys-His by ESI/MS/MS. Therefore, these results suggested that the peptide derived from shrimp processing byproducts protein hydrolysates is responsible for higher calcium binding properties and may be as natural functional additive in food industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the use of the homeomorphism theory and fixed point theory, the existence and uniqueness of solutions to boundary value problems are investigated. Two basic theorems are obtained without the boundness condition, which generalizes results of Brown. When our results are applied to the existence and uniqueness of periodic solutions for nonlinear perturbed conservative systems (Newtonian equations of motion), the existence and uniquenes of the solution are obtained. The results in this note seem less restrictive than those of the former papers we have seen. Meanwhile, as far as we know, it seems that applying the homeomorphism theory to the research of this kind of problem is new. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cell lines derived from tumors are the most frequently utilized models in cancer research and their use has advanced the understanding of cancer biology tremendously over the past decades. The average five-year survival rates of stage III and IV ovarian cancer patients have been demonstrated as being around 37% and 25%, respectively. This poor survival rate is attributed to diagnosis at advanced stage and resistance to chemotherapy. The present study investigates the measurement of conventional delivery of thymoquinone (TQ) and epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) when applied to the ovarian cancer cell lines Caov-3 and SK-OV-3. A total of 72 wells were plated with ([10.sup.5]) Caov-3 and SK-OV-3 cells according to standard lab protocols and subdivided into 4 groups of 6 wells each. Group 1 served as control and groups 2, 3, and 4 were treated with TQ (16 µM), EGCG (3 µg/ml), and TQ + EGCG, respectively. Biomarker evaluations were performed following standard lab techniques. The results of the study revealed: (1) an increase in the SK-OV-3 cell protein levels following treatment with TQ+EGCG which was statistically different (p, INTRODUCTION Ovarian cancer is a leading cause of mortality among gynecological malignancies worldwide. The excessive mortality rate stems from the broad and generally misinterpreted signs and symptoms associated with the [...]