Cyanidin-3-glucoside attenuates silica-induced pulmonary inflammatory responses by modulating T cell immune responses and STAT1/STAT3 signaling

Transcriptome and proteome profile of jejunum in chickens challenged with Salmonella Typhimurium revealed the effects of dietary bilberry anthocyanin on immune function

Introduction

The present study investigated the effects of bilberry anthocyanin (BA) on immune function when alleviating Salmonella Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) infection in chickens.

Methods

A total of 180 newly hatched yellow-feathered male chicks were assigned to three groups (CON, SI, and SI + BA). Birds in CON and SI were fed a basal diet, and those in SI + BA were supplemented with 100 mg/kg BA for 18 days. Birds in SI and SI + BA received 0.5 ml suspension of S. Typhimurium (2 × 109 CFU/ml) by oral gavage at 14 and 16 days of age, and those in CON received equal volumes of sterile PBS.

Results

At day 18, (1) dietary BA alleviated weight loss of chickens caused by S. Typhimurium infection (P < 0.01). (2) Supplementation with BA reduced the relative weight of the bursa of Fabricius (P < 0.01) and jejunal villus height (P < 0.05) and increased the number of goblet cells (P < 0.01) and the expression of MUC2 (P < 0.05) in jejunal mucosa, compared with birds in SI. (3) Supplementation with BA decreased (P < 0.05) the concentration of immunoglobulins and cytokines in plasma (IgA, IL-1β, IL-8, and IFN-β) and jejunal mucosa (IgG, IgM, sIgA, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α, IFN-β, and IFN-γ) of S. Typhimurium-infected chickens. (4) BA regulated a variety of biological processes, especially the defense response to bacteria and humoral immune response, and suppressed cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction and intestinal immune network for IgA production pathways by downregulating 6 immune-related proteins.

Conclusion

In summary, the impaired growth performance and disruption of jejunal morphology caused by S. Typhimurium were alleviated by dietary BA by affecting the expression of immune-related genes and proteins, and signaling pathways are related to immune response associated with immune cytokine receptors and production in jejunum.

A systematic review of the research progress of traditional Chinese medicine against pulmonary fibrosis: from a pharmacological perspective

Pulmonary fibrosis is a chronic progressive interstitial lung disease caused by a variety of etiologies. The disease can eventually lead to irreversible damage to the lung tissue structure, severely affecting respiratory function and posing a serious threat to human health. Currently, glucocorticoids and immunosuppressants are the main drugs used in the clinical treatment of pulmonary fibrosis, but their efficacy is limited and they can cause serious adverse effects. Traditional Chinese medicines have important research value and potential for clinical application in anti-pulmonary fibrosis. In recent years, more and more scientific researches have been conducted on the use of traditional Chinese medicine to improve or reduce pulmonary fibrosis, and some important breakthroughs have been made. This review paper systematically summarized the research progress of pharmacological mechanism of traditional Chinese medicines and their active compounds in improving or reducing pulmonary fibrosis. We conducted a systematic search in several main scientific databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, using keywords such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, pulmonary fibrosis, interstitial pneumonia, natural products, herbal medicine, and therapeutic methods. Ultimately, 252 articles were included and systematically evaluated in this analysis. The anti-fibrotic mechanisms of these traditional Chinese medicine studies can be roughly categorized into 5 main aspects, including inhibition of epithelial-mesenchymal transition, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, improvement of extracellular matrix deposition, mediation of apoptosis and autophagy, and inhibition of endoplasmic reticulum stress. The purpose of this article is to provide pharmaceutical researchers with information on the progress of scientific research on improving or reducing Pulmonary fibrosis with traditional Chinese medicine, and to provide reference for further pharmacological research.

Polyphenols in Jabuticaba (Plinia spp.) Peel Flours: Extraction and Comparative Evaluation of FTIR and HPLC for Quantification of Individual Compounds

Jabuticabas are wild fruits native to Brazil, and their peels, the main residue from jabuticaba processing, contain significant amounts of bioactive compounds, which are mostly phenolics. Conventional methods based on the estimation of total extractable phenolics (TEP—Folin–Ciocalteau) or total monomeric anthocyanins (TMA) have limitations and may not reflect the actual antioxidant potential of these peels. Analytical methods, such as high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), are more appropriate for the quantification of specific phenolics, and can be used as a reference for the construction of mathematical models in order to predict the amount of compounds using simple spectroscopic analysis, such as Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). Therefore, the objectives of this study were (i) to evaluate the composition of specific polyphenols in flours prepared from jabuticaba peels and verify their correlation with TEP and TMA results from a previous study, and (ii) to employ FTIR coupled with chemometrics to predict the concentrations of these polyphenols in jabuticaba peel flours (JPFs) using HPLC as a reference method. Cyanidin-3-glucoside (C3G), ellagic acid (EA) and delphinidin-3-glucoside (D3G) were the main polyphenols found in the samples. The C3G contents ranged from 352.33 mg/100 g (S10) to 1008.73 mg/100 g (S22), with a strong correlation to TMA (r = 0.97; p = 0.00) and a moderate correlation to TEP (r = 0.45; p = 0.02). EA contents ranged from 163.65 mg/100 g (S23) to 334.69 mg/100 g (S11), with a moderate to strong correlation to TEP (r = 0.69; p = 0.00). The D3G values ranged from 94.99 mg/100 g (S10) to 203.36 mg/100 g (S5), with strong correlations to TMA (r = 0.91; p = 0.00) and C3G levels (r = 0.92; p = 0.00). The developed partial least squares-PLS models based on FTIR data provided satisfactory predictions of C3G and EA levels, reasonably matching those of HPLC.

Anthocyanins: Metabolic Digestion, Bioavailability, Therapeutic Effects, Current Pharmaceutical/Industrial Use, and Innovation Potential

In this work, various concepts and features of anthocyanins have been comprehensively reviewed, taking the benefits of the scientific publications released mainly within the last five years. Within the paper, common topics such as anthocyanin chemistry and occurrence, including the biosynthesis of anthocyanins emphasizing the anthocyanin formation pathway, anthocyanin chemistry, and factors influencing the anthocyanins' stability, are covered in detail. By evaluating the recent in vitro and human experimental studies on the absorption and bioavailability of anthocyanins present in typical food and beverages, this review elucidates the significant variations in biokinetic parameters based on the model, anthocyanin source, and dose, allowing us to make basic assumptions about their bioavailability. Additionally, special attention is paid to other topics, such as the therapeutic effects of anthocyanins. Reviewing the recent in vitro, in vivo, and epidemiological studies on the therapeutic potential of anthocyanins against various diseases permits a demonstration of the promising efficacy of different anthocyanin sources at various levels, including the neuroprotective, cardioprotective, antidiabetic, antiobesity, and anticancer effects. Additionally, the studies on using plant-based anthocyanins as coloring food mediums are extensively investigated in this paper, revealing the successful use of anthocyanins in coloring various products, such as dietary and bakery products, mixes, juices, candies, beverages, ice cream, and jams. Lastly, the successful application of anthocyanins as prebiotic ingredients, the innovation potential of anthocyanins in industry, and sustainable sources of anthocyanins, including a quantitative research literature and database analysis, is performed.

Prophylactic role of olive fruit extract against cigarette smoke-induced oxidative stress in Sprague-Dawley rats

Cigarette smoke exposure increases the production of free radicals leading to initiation of several pathological conditions by triggering the oxidative stress and inflammatory cascade. Olive fruit owing to its unique phytochemical composition possesses antioxidant, immune modulatory, and anti-inflammatory potential. Considering the compositional alterations in olive fruits during ripening, the current experimental trail was designed to investigate the prophylactic role of green and black olives against the oxidative stress induced by cigarette smoke exposure in rats. Purposely, rats were divided into five different groups: NC (negative control; normal diet), PC [positive control; normal diet + smoke exposure (SE)], drug (normal diet + SE + citalopram), GO (normal diet + SE + green olive extract), and BO (normal diet + SE + black olive extract). Rats of all groups were exposed to cigarette smoke except "NC" and were sacrificed for collection of blood and organs after 28 days of experimental trial. The percent reduction in total oxidative stress by citalopram and green and black olive extracts in serum was 29.72, 58.69, and 57.97%, respectively, while the total antioxidant capacity increased by 30.78, 53.94, and 43.98%, accordingly in comparison to PC. Moreover, malondialdehyde (MDA) was reduced by 29.63, 42.59, and 45.70% in drug, GO, and BO groups, respectively. Likewise, green and black olive extracts reduced the leakage of hepatic enzymes in sera, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) by 23.44 and 25.80% and 35.62 and 37.61%, alanine transaminase (ALT) by 42.68 and 24.39% and 51.04 and 35.41%, and aspartate transaminase (AST) by 31.51 and 16.07% and 40.50 and 27.09% from PC and drug group, respectively. Additionally, olive extracts also maintained the antioxidant pool, i.e., superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione in serum. Furthermore, histological examination revealed that olive extracts prevented the cigarette smoke-induced necrosis, pyknotic alterations, and congestion in the lung, hepatic, and renal parenchyma. Besides, gene expression analysis revealed that olive extracts and citalopram decreased the brain and lung damage caused by stress-induced upregulation of NRF-2 and MAPK signaling pathways. Hence, it can be concluded that olives (both green and black) can act as promising antioxidant in alleviating the cigarette smoke-induced oxidative stress.

Cyanidin‐3‐galactoside from Aronia melanocarpa ameliorates silica‐induced pulmonary fibrosis by modulating the TGF‐β/mTOR and NRF2/HO‐1 pathways

Cyanidin‐3‐galactoside (C3G), the most abundant anthocyanin in Aronia melanocarpa, has many beneficial health effects, such as antioxidation. C3G was extracted from A. melanocarpa and applied (100, 200, and 400 mg/kg body weight) to 50‐μl silica particles (SP) solution‐exposed mice to research its antifibrotic properties using histological analysis, hydroxyproline assay, quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction, and western blot analysis. The results showed that C3G treatment significantly ameliorated pulmonary fibrosis and cell infiltration into the lungs of mice. It also relieved SP‐induced epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), 400 mg/kg C3G treatment increasing epithelial‐cadherin mRNA expression and decreasing α‐smooth muscle actin mRNA expression to the level of that in the control group. Western blot analysis showed that exposure to SP increased the production of transforming growth factor‐β1 (TGF‐β1) and phosphorylated mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) by 4.71‐ and 4.15‐fold, respectively, in the lungs of mice, which were significantly inhibited by C3G treatment. Moreover, 400 mg/kg C3G treatment up‐regulated two important antioxidant mediators, nuclear factor erythroid‐2‐related factor 2 (NRF2; 4.91‐fold) and heme oxygenase‐1 (HO‐1; 4.81‐fold). The mechanism study indicated that C3G might inhibit the TGF‐β/mTOR signaling via the NRF2/HO‐1 pathway and that SP‐induced pulmonary EMT was ameliorated by inhibiting the TGF‐β/mTOR signaling pathway. Our findings could provide new avenues for C3G as a functional food for preventing or mediating the progression of SP‐induced pulmonary fibrosis.