Search

N-acetyl-chitooligosaccharide (NACOS), prepared from the shells of shrimp and crabs, has displayed various biological activities. As prebiotics and dietary supplements, these bioactive materials can be incorporated into functional foods and beverages. This study aimed to explore the anti-inflammatory effects and associated mechanism of NACOS in macrophages. We found that NACOS reduced the levels of inflammation-related cytokines in lipopolysaccharide stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages. NACOS attenuated NF-κB activation not only through the repressed IKK phosphorylation but also the blunted nuclear translocation of NF-κB subunit p65. Additionally, NACOS inhibited the level of p-JNK. Moreover, NACOS promoted NLRP3 degradation, accompanied by the blockade of caspase-1 activation and IL-1β maturation in human THP-1 cells. This study demonstrated for the first time that NACOS has a negative effect against NLRP3 protein and NLRP3 inflammasome activation. It was suggested that the pharmacological intervention of inflammatory responses by NACOS should be a promising approach against inflammation-related clinical complications.

In the recent years, a wide range of metabonomic technologies are widely used in the modern research of traditional chinese medicine (TCM). At present, the most prevailing methods for TCM research are mainly nuclear magnetic resonance (N MR), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC- MS), and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC- MS). With these techniques, metabonomics will help to understand syndromes, efficacy and toxicity of TCM. However, every analytical technique has its advantages and drawbacks, and there exist some obstacles of its applications on TCM. So, we discuss metabonomics in TCM and analyze some problems of its applications to study TCM in recent years. We believe that with the further development of metabonomic analytical technology, especially multianalysed techniques, metabonomics will greatly promote TCM research and be beneficial to the modernization of TCM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]