The Proteolytic Fraction From Vasconcellea cundinamarcensis Latex Displays Anti-Inflammatory Effect in A Mouse Model of Acute TNBS-Induced Colitis

Combined Effect of High Hydrostatic Pressure and Proteolytic Fraction P1G10 from Vasconcellea cundinamarcensis Latex against Botrytis cinerea in Grape Juice

The effect of high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) and the proteolytic fraction P1G10 from papaya latex was studied to find out whether a synergy exists in the growth inhibition of Botrytis cinerea in grape juice, contributing to the improvement of conservation techniques and extending the shelf life and quality of food products. Grape juice (GJ) diluted to 16 °Brix with a water activity (aw) of 0.980 was prepared from a concentrated GJ and used in this study. Results indicated a 92% growth inhibition of B. cinerea when exposed to 1 mg/mL of P1G10 and 250 MPa/4 min of pressure treatment. The proximate composition and antioxidant compounds present in the GJ were not significantly affected after the treatments. Eight phenolic compounds and two flavonoids in GJ were identified and quantified, with values fluctuating between 12.77 ± 0.51 and 240.40 ± 20.9 mg/L in the control sample (0.1 MPa). The phenolic compounds showed a significant decrease after the applied treatments, with the HHP sample having a content of 65.4 ± 6.9 mg GAE/100 mL GJ. In conclusion, a synergistic effect at moderate HHP of 250 MPa/4 min with the addition of P1G10 was observed, and the successful development of a stable and acceptable GJ product was possible.

Acknowledging the use of botanicals to treat diabetic foot ulcer during the 21st century: A systematic review

BACKGROUND

Diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) is a serious health issue of diabetes mellitus that affects innumerable people worldwide. Management and treatment of this complication are challenging, especially for those whose immune system is weak.

AIM

To discuss the plants and their parts used to heal DFU, along with the mode of their administration in diabetic patients.

METHODS

The original articles on “the plants for the treatment of DFU” studied in clinical cases only were obtained from various bibliographic databases using different keywords.

RESULTS

The search resulted in 22 clinical cases records with 20 medicinal plants belonging to 17 families on 1553 subjects. The fruits and leaves were the most preferentially used parts for DFU treatment, regardless of whether they were being administered orally or applied topically. Of the 20 medicinal plants, 19 reported their effectiveness in increasing angiogenesis, epithelialization, and granulation, thus hastening the wound-healing process. The efficacy of these botanicals might be attributed to their major bioactive compounds, such as actinidin and ascorbic acid (in Actinidia deliciosa), 7-O-(β-D-glucopyranosyl)-galactin (in Ageratina pichinchensis), omega-3-fatty acid (in Linum usitatissimum), isoquercetin (in Melilotus officinalis), anthocyanins (in Myrtus communis), and plantamajoside (in Plantago major).

CONCLUSION

The validation of mechanisms of action underlying these phytocompounds contributing to the management of DFU can aid in our better understanding of creating efficient treatment options for DFU and its associated problems.

Human skin dermis-derived fibroblasts are a kind of functional mesenchymal stromal cells: judgements from surface markers, biological characteristics, to therapeutic efficacy

Background

Human mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) have been widely advocated to clinical use. Human skin dermis-derived fibroblasts shared similar cellular morphology and biological characteristics to MSCs, while it still keeps elusive whether fibroblasts are functionally equivalent to MSCs for therapeutic use.

Methods

We isolated various fibroblasts derived from human foreskins (HFFs) and human double-fold eyelids (HDF) and MSCs derived from human umbilical cords (UC-MSCs), and then comprehensively investigated their similarities and differences in morphology, surface markers, immunoregulation, multilineage differentiation, transcriptome sequencing, and metabolomics, and therapeutic efficacies in treating 2,4,6-Trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS) induced colitis and carbontetrachloride (CCL4) induced liver fibrosis.

Results

Fibroblasts and UC-MSCs shared similar surface markers, strong multilineage differentiation capacity, ability of inhibiting Th1/Th17 differentiation and promoting Treg differentiation in vitro, great similarities in mRNA expression profile and metabolites, and nearly equivalent therapeutic efficacy on TNBS-induced colitis and CCL4-induced hepatic fibrosis.

Conclusion

Human skin dermis-derived fibroblasts were a kind of functional MSCs with functionally equivalent therapeutic efficacy in treating specific complications, indicating fibroblasts potentially had the same lineage hierarchy of origin as MSCs and had a remarkable potential as an alternative to MSCs in the treatment of a variety of diseases.

An assessment of vaping-induced inflammation and toxicity: A feasibility study using a 2-stage zebrafish and mouse platform

It is currently understood that tobacco smoking is a major cause of pulmonary disease due to pulmonary/lung inflammation. However, due to a highly dynamic market place and an abundance of diverse products, less is known about the effects of e-cigarette (E-cig) use on the lung. In addition, varieties of E-cig liquids (e-liquids), which deliver nicotine and numerous flavor chemicals into the lungs, now number in the 1000s. Thus, a critical need exists for safety evaluations of these E-cig products. Herein, we employed a "2-stage in vivo screening platform" (zebrafish to mouse) to assess the safety profiles of e-liquids. Using the zebrafish, we collected embryo survival data after e-liquid exposure as well as neutrophil migration data, a key hallmark for a pro-inflammatory response. Our data indicate that certain e-liquids induce an inflammatory response in our zebrafish model and that e-liquid exposure alone results in pro-inflammatory lung responses in our C57BL/6J model, data collected from lung staining and ELISA analysis, respectively, in the mouse. Thus, our platform can be used as an initial assessment to ascertain the safety profiles of e-liquid using acute inflammatory responses (zebrafish, Stage 1) as our initial metric followed by chronic studies (C57BL/6J, Stage 2).