Inhibitors for cholesterol ester accumulation in macrophages from Chinese cabbage

Natural chlorophyll: a review of analysis methods, health benefits, and stabilization strategies

Chlorophyll (Chl) is a natural pigment, widely distributed ranging from photosynthetic prokaryotes to higher plants, with an annual yield of up to 1.2 billion tons worldwide. Five types of Chls are observed in nature, that can be distinguished and identified using spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Chl is also used in the food industry owing to its bioactivities, including obesity prevention, inflammation reduction, viral infection inhibition, anticancer effects, anti-oxidation, and immunostimulatory properties. It has great potential of being applied as a colorant and dietary supplement in the food industry. However, Chl is unstable under various enzymatic, acidic, heat, and light conditions, which limit its application. Although some strategies, such as aggregation with other food components, microencapsulation, and metal cation replacement, have been proposed to overcome these limitations, they are still not enough to facilitate its widespread application. Therefore, stabilization strategies and bioactivities of Chl need to be expected to expand its application in various fields, thereby aiding in the sustainable development of mankind.

The immune and metabolic changes with age in giant panda blood by combined transcriptome and DNA methylation analysis

Giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is an endangered mammalian species. Exploring immune and metabolic changes that occur in giant pandas with age is important for their protection. In this study, we systematically investigated the physiological and biochemical indicators in blood, as well as the transcriptome, and methylation profiles of young, adult, and old giant pandas. The white blood cell (WBC), neutrophil (NEU) counts and hemoglobin (HGB) concentrations increased significantly with age (young to adult), and some indicators related to blood glucose and lipids also changed significantly with age. In the transcriptome analysis, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were found in comparisons of the young and adult (257), adult and old (20), young and old (744) groups. Separation of the DEGs into eight profiles according to the expression trend using short time-series expression miner (STEM) software revealed that most DEGs were downregulated with age. Functional analysis showed that most DEGs were associated with disease and that these DEGs were also associated with the immune system and metabolism. Furthermore, gene methylation in giant pandas decreased globally with age, and the expression of CCNE1, CD79A, IL1R1, and TCF7 showed a highly negative correlation with their degree of methylation. These results indicate that the giant panda's immune function improves gradually with age (young to adult), and that changes in the methylation profile are involved in the effects of age on immune and metabolic functions. These results have important implications for the understanding and conservation of giant pandas.

The role of cholesterol-enriched diet and paraoxonase 1 inhibition in atherosclerosis progression

Introduction: Atherosclerosis could be deemed as a chronic, progressive, and inflammatory disease. It has been well-documented that high-density lipoprotein (HDL) can reduce the risk of the atherosclerosis occurrence through exerting some anti-atherogenic mechanisms. In recent years, the strong evidence has suggested that paraoxonase 1 (PON1) may contribute to antioxidant properties of HDL. In the present study, the impact of a diet enriched with cholesterol and also the PON1 inhibition on atheroma formation and lipid profile has been investigated.

Methods: In this study, 24 New Zealand rabbits were randomly assigned to three groups receiving standard diet, atherogenic diet, and atherogenic diet plus once daily intramuscular injection of nandrolone decanoate as the PON1 inhibitor. Triglyceride, cholesterol, HDL, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) were determined and both cholesterol accumulation in aorta and fatty streak formation were evaluated.

Results: The comparison of the results in three groups reveals that cholesterol level in the group received cholesterol-enriched diet plus once daily injection of PON1 inhibitor was higher than the groups received standard diet or atherogenic diet without PON1 inhibitor (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the percentage of atheroma with type-I lesions was equal to 75% compared with the group received atherogenic diet plus nandrolone at 30%. Additionally, the differences in fatty streak formation in aorta, as well as the right and left coronary arteries in three groups given show that the difference between groups receiving atherogenic diet and standard diet was significantly lower (P < 0.05) than the difference between groups receiving atherogenic diet plus PON1 inhibitor and standard diet.

Conclusion: It can be concluded that lack of paraoxanase1 or even reduced the activity of this enzyme could accelerate the progression of fatty streak lesions toward advanced atherosclerotic lesions.

Bastadins, brominated-tyrosine derivatives, suppress accumulation of cholesterol ester in macrophages

The formation of foam cells in macrophages has been suggested to play an essential role in the progression of early atherosclerotic lesions in vivo and, thus, its suppression is considered to be one of the major approaches for the treatment of atherosclerosis. We isolated eight brominated-tyrosine derivatives, bastadins, from the EtOH extract of the marine sponge Ianthella vasta as inhibitors of the formation of foam cells induced by acetylated low-density lipoproteins in human monocyte-derived macrophages. Bastadin 6 was the strongest inhibitor of foam cell formation due to its suppression of acyl-coenzyme A:cholesterol acyltransferase.