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Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), with the strong toxicity and carcinogenicity, has been reported to great toxicity to the liver and other organs of animals. It cause huge economic losses to breeding industry, including the aquaculture industry. Chinese mitten crabs (Eriocheir sinensis), as one of important species of freshwater aquaculture in China, are deeply disturbed by it. However, the molecular and metabolic mechanisms of hepatopancreas and ovary in crabs underlying coping ability are still unclear. Hence, we conducted targeted injection experiment with or without AFB1, and comprehensively analyzed transcriptome and metabolomics of hepatopancreas and ovary. As a result, 210 and 250 DEGs were identified in the L-C vs. L-30 m and L-C vs. L-60 m comparison, among which 14 common DEGs were related to six major functional categories, including antibacterial and detoxification, ATP energy reaction, redox reaction, nerve reaction, liver injury repair and immune reaction. A total of 228 and 401 DAMs in the ML-C vs. ML-30 m and ML-C vs. ML-60 m comparison both enriched 12 pathways, with clear functions of cutin, suberine and wax biosynthesis, tyrosine metabolism, purine metabolism, nucleotide metabolism, glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, ABC transporters and tryptophan metabolism. Integrated analysis of metabolomics and transcriptome in hepatopancreas discovered three Co-enriched pathways, including steroid biosynthesis, glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, and sphingolipid metabolism. In summary, the expression levels and functions of related genes and metabolites reveal the regulatory mechanism of Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) adaptability to the Aflatoxin B1, and the findings contribute to a new perspective for understanding Aflatoxin B1 and provide some ideas for dealing with it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become the most prevalent liver disease in China. Sinisan (SNS) is a traditional Chinese medicine formula that has been widely used in treating chronic liver diseases, including NAFLD. However, its underlying biological mechanisms are still unclear. In this study, we employed a network pharmacology approach consisting of overlapped terms- (genes or pathway terms-) based analysis, protein-protein interaction (PPI) network-based analysis, and PPI clusters identification. Unlike the previous network pharmacology study, we used the shortest path length-based network proximity algorithm to evaluate the efficacy of SNS against NAFLD. And we also used random walk with restart (RWR) algorithm and Community Cluster (Glay) algorithm to identify important targets and clusters. The screening results showed that the mean shortest path length between genes of SNS and NAFLD was significantly smaller than degree-matched random ones. Six PPI clusters were identified and ten hub targets were obtained, including STAT3, CTNNB1, MAPK1, MAPK3, AGT, NQO1, TOP2A, FDFT1, ALDH4A1, and KCNH2. The experimental study indicated that SNS reduced hyperlipidemia, liver steatosis, and inflammation. Most importantly, JAK2/STAT3 signal was inhibited by SNS treatment and was recognized as the most important signal considering the network pharmacology part. This study provides a systems perspective to study the relationship between Chinese medicines and diseases and helps to discover potential mechanisms by which SNS ameliorates NAFLD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies have reported polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentrations in soil, root, and aerial parts of vegetables. However, few studies have measured the contribution of PCBs bound to particles in air in relation to uptake by vegetables. In the present study, PCB concentrations were measured in five types of vegetables, soil, and settled air particle samples from two sites (at a domestic waste incinerator and at 20 km away from the incinerator) in Guangzhou, South China. ∑PCB concentrations in rhizosphere soil samples from the two sites ranged from 17.2-77.7 to 5.48-25.57 ng/g, respectively. ∑PCB concentrations in aerial parts of vegetables were greater than those in rhizosphere soils and roots with median values of 108 and 47.08 ng/g, respectively. Among the five types of vegetables studied, the highest concentration of PCBs was found in bitter lettuce. No significant correlation between PCBs in soil and roots or aerial parts of vegetables was observed. However, principal component analysis indicated that settled air particles were the dominant source of PCBs in the aerial parts of vegetables. In addition, similar PCB congener profiles were found in the aerial parts of vegetables and settled air particles. This suggests that foliar uptake of PCBs is an important pathway. Risk assessment indicated that human exposure to PCBs by way of dietary intake of vegetables from incinerator sites would result in high risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is limited study focusing on the bioaccumulation of heavy metals in vegetables and human exposure to bioaccessible heavy metals in soil. In the present study, heavy metal concentrations (Cr, Ni, Cu, Pb and Cd) were measured in five types of vegetables, soil, root, and settled air particle samples from two sites (at a domestic waste incinerator and at 20 km away from the incinerator) in Guangzhou, South China. Heavy metal concentrations in soil were greater than those in aerial parts of vegetables and roots, which indicated that vegetables bioaccumulated low amount of heavy metals from soil. The similar pattern of heavy metal (Cr, Cd) was found in the settled air particle samples and aerial parts of vegetables from two sites, which may suggest that foliar uptake may be an important pathway of heavy metal from the environment to vegetables. The highest levels of heavy metals were found in leaf lettuce (125.52 μg/g, dry weight) and bitter lettuce (71.2 μg/g) for sites A and B, respectively, followed by bitter lettuce and leaf lettuce for sites A and B, respectively. Swamp morning glory accumulated the lowest amount of heavy metals (81.02 μg/g for site A and 53.2 μg/g for site B) at both sites. The bioaccessibility of heavy metals in soil ranged from Cr (2%) to Cu (71.78%). Risk assessment showed that Cd and Pb in soil samples resulted in the highest non-cancer risk and Cd would result in unacceptable cancer risk for children and risk. The non-dietary intake of soil was the most important exposure pathway, when the bioaccessibility of heavy metals was taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inhalation bioaccessibility of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in PM 2.5 was assessed in numerous studies, however, the lung cell uptake and penetration of PAHs was seldom taken into account in risk assessment. In the present study, eighteen indoor PM 2.5 samples collected from Guangzhou, China were analyzed for the inhalation bioavailability of PAHs combining the inhalation bioaccessibility and cell absorption of PAHs. Two simulated epithelial lung fluid mimicking the healthy condition (as represented by gamble's solution (GMB), pH = 7.4) and the inflammatory condition (as represented by artificial lysosomal fluid (ALF), pH = 4.5) were employed to evaluate the inhalation bioaccessibility. The results indicated that the bioaccessibility of PAHs under the inflammatory condition (1.28%-87.7%) was higher than that under healthy condition (0.88%-87.6%). Naphthalene, phenanthrene, pyrene and benzo[a]pyrene were selected for absorption assay of lung epithelial cells (A549). The absorption rate of PAHs ranged from 64.7 to 90.7% and it was inversely proportional to the number of aromatic rings. Taken together, the inhalation bioavailability based on the bioaccessibility of PAHs and the lung cell absorption ratio ranged from 9.9 to 56.9% under the healthy state, from 12.7 to 65.6% under inflammatory condition. The correction parameter (F c ) was thus established and can be used to improve the risk assessment of human exposure to PAHs via PM 2.5 inhalation in future work., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declared that they have no conflicts of interest to this work.We declare that we do not have any commercial or associative interest that represents a conflict of interest in connection with the work submitted., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in house dust have raised significant concern around the world. However, few studies have reported the correlation between BFR concentrations in house dust and children's hair samples. In this study, BFR concentrations in house dust and children's hair were measured. Chemical analysis showed that the total concentrations of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in house dust ranged from 334 to 4444 ng g -1 , with a median of 442 ng g -1 , and the concentrations in children's hair ranged from 352 to 655 ng g -1 , with a median of 530 ng g -1 . In addition, two alternative flame retardants, pentabromoethylbenzene (PBEB) and hexabromobenzene, were frequently detected in house dust and human hair. BDE209 was the most abundant PBDE congener detected in both house dust and children's hair. A significant correlation was found between the integrated PCA score of BFR concentrations in house dust and in children's hair ( r 2 = 0.31, P  < 0.05), indicating the great contribution of house dust to the bodily burden of PBDEs in children. Risk assessment indicated that children's exposure to PBDEs via non-dietary intake of house dust should be recognized as an important exposure pathway.