Search

Cholesterol was usually used to stabilize liposome, although there have been controversies on the relationship between dietary cholesterol and health. The present study aimed to prepare a novel multifunctional nanoliposomes stabilized by sea cucumber-derived saponins using ultrasound-assisted film dispersion method. A novel uniform liposome with a mass ratio of egg yolk lecithin/sea cucumber saponins at 75:25 was successfully prepared to encapsulate saponin, and the particle size was 164.8 ± 1.70 nm with a PDI value of 0.214 ± 0.022 and zeta potential of -15.97 ± 1.23 mV. The digestion and absorption results in vivo showed that the dietary saponins in liposome form could delay the peak time of saponins and prolong their residence time in the serum. Moreover, saponins were more easily converted into their corresponding metabolites after administration with saponins in the liposome form. The novel liposome as an efficient carrier with multiple functions had great potential in the development of functional food and biomedical applications.

Sea cucumber-derived sulfated sterols exhibited more significant bioactivities compared to plant sterols due to the distinctive structure of the sulfate group at the C-3 position; however, their absorption, pharmacokinetics, tissue distribution, and excretion profiles are unknown, which limits the analysis of molecular mechanisms related to their unique activities. In this study, the absorption characteristics of sea cucumber sterols were determined by oral gavage administration, and their pharmacokinetics, excretion, and tissue distribution were studied by tail vein injection. The results showed that SS1 and SS2 reached the peak at 3 h (20.14 ± 1.2 μg/mL) and 4 h (13.32 ± 0.9 μg/mL) in serum, respectively, after oral gavage administration, suggesting the faster absorption rate of SS1 than SS2 due to the difference in the side-chain groups. Besides, lipid-containing food media improved the digestion and absorption rates of sea cucumber sterols. Moreover, SS1 exhibited a relatively longer duration of efficacy than SS2, and they were almost completely excreted within 9 h through urine. Additionally, sea cucumber sterols were found to be mainly accumulated in the liver (

The emulsification ability of phospholipids might be associated with fatty acid composition. However, there is no research regarding the emulsification ability of marine-derived phospholipids rich in docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). The present study developed a nanoemulsion delivery system using DHA-enriched phosphatidylcholine as an emulsifier to deliver the poorly soluble ingredient nobiletin. The prepared nobiletin-loaded nanoemulsion was stable, with a small particle size of approximately 200 nm, a polydispersity index of 0.082, and a neutral zeta potential. The nobiletin-loaded nanoemulsion exhibited high lipolysis ability in in vitro experiments. Moreover, the nobiletin-encapsulated nanoemulsion was digested quickly and entered the serum faster than the oil suspension. There was a high distribution of nobiletin in organs such as the liver, brain, kidney, and spleen in the emulsion group after oral administration for 2 h. The findings provided a nanoemulsion delivery system to increase the bioavailability of nobiletin in vitro and in vivo.

Compared with terrestrial organisms, the sterols in sea cucumber exhibit a sulfate group at the C-3 position. Our previous study demonstrated that dietary sterol sulfate was superior to phytosterol in alleviating metabolic syndrome by ameliorating inflammation and mediating cholesterol metabolism in high-fat-high-fructose diet mice, which indicated its potential anti-atherosclerosis bioactivity. In the present study, administration with sea cucumber-derived sterol sulfate (SCS) significantly decreased the cholesterol level in oleic acid/palmitic acid-treated HepG2 cells, while no significant changes were observed in the triacylglycerol level. RNA-seq analysis showed that the metabolic changes were mostly attributed to the steroid biosynthesis pathway. ApoE-/- mice were used as an atherosclerosis model to further investigate the regulation of SCS on cholesterol metabolism. The results showed that SCS supplementation dramatically reduced atherosclerotic lesions by 45% and serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels by 59% compared with the model group. Dietary SCS inhibited hepatic cholesterol synthesis via downregulating SREBP-2 and HMGCR. Meanwhile, SCS administration increased cholesterol uptake via enhancing the expression of Vldlr and Ldlr. Noticeably, SCS supplementation altered bile acid profiles in the liver, serum, gallbladder and feces, which might cause the activation of FXR in the liver. These findings provided new evidence about the high bioactivity of sterols with the sulfate group on atherosclerosis.

A novel silver(I) complex sustained by a flexible dicarboxylic acid ligand, [Ag2(L)]n (1, H2L = 2,2′-{[1,2-phenylenebis(methylene)]-bis(sulfanediyl)}dibenzoic acid), has been synthesized and structurally characterized. In 1, four anti conformation L2− ligands bind three silver(I) ions to form a trinuclear subunit through S···Ag and Ag···Ag interactions, and then those trinuclear subunits are further extended to an infinite 1D silver(I) chain through the anti L2− ligands. Thus, the thermal stability, luminescent behavior and antibacterial activity of 1 were also discussed.

Recently, there has been an increasing interest in the development of efficient food-grade oral nano-delivery systems for encapsulation, protection and target delivery of nutraceuticals to enhance their bioavailability, further to prevent disease and promote human health and well-being. Food proteins represent promising candidates for efficient nutraceutical nanocarriers due to their exceptional characteristics, namely biodegradability, nonantigenicity, high nutritional value, abundant renewable sources and extraordinary binding capacity to various nutraceuticals. In addition, their biocompatibility, biodegradability, low toxicity, low cost, and non-starch polysaccharides possess many favourable characteristics such as stability in the harsh gastric environment, resistance to digestive enzymes, and mucoadhesiveness to intestinal mucosal surface. This review describes the design and formation of nanoscaled delivery systems for nutraceuticals using food-grade proteins (including peptides), polysaccharides and their associative complexes. The toxicity and cellular uptake fate of the nanostructures, as well as their effects on the intestinal absorption of the encapsulated nutraceuticals were also discussed.

Two types of satellite RNAs (XJs1 and XJs2) were found to be associated with the two Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) beet isolates XJ1 and XJ2 consisting of 384 nucleotides and 336 nucleotides, respectively. Our work showed that XJs1 and XJs2 could attenuate symptoms on Nicotiana glutinosa induced by CMV and the effect of XJs1 on symptoms was stronger than XJs2. Co-inoculation of CMV with XJs1 produced lighter oxidative stress than that with XJs2. Oxygen uptake rates through the alternative pathway in leaves infected with CMV and XJs2 were always higher than that with CMV and XJs1 and lower than infection with CMV alone. The non-photochemical fluorescence quenching (qN) increased more in N. glutinosa infected with CMV and XJs2 than that with CMV and XJs1. The relationship among helper virus, satRNAs and the host plants is discussed. Two closely-related satRNAs from the same plant has not been reported so far. The effects of these two satRNAs on virus-infected N. glutinosa were significantly different. The difference may be caused by deletion and mutation of the satRNAs.

Dark green islands (DGIs) are a common symptom of plants systemically infected with the mosaic virus. DGIs are clusters of green leaf cells that are free of virus but surrounded by yellow leaf tissue that is full of virus particles. In Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV)-infected Nicotiana tabacum leaves, the respiration and photosynthesis capabilities of DGIs and yellow leaf tissues were measured. The results showed that the cyanide-resistant respiration was enhanced in yellow leaf tissue and the photosynthesis was declined, while in DGIs they were less affected. The activities of the oxygen-scavenging enzymes catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in infected leaves were signifi cantly higher than those in the healthy leaves, and the enzyme activities in DGIs were always lower than in the yellow leaf tissues. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) staining showed that the hydrogen peroxide content in yellow leaf tissues was apparently higher than that in DGIs, while the superoxide content was on the contrary. Formation of DGIs may be a strategy of the host plants resistance to the CMV infection.