Glycine Alleviated Intestinal Injury by Inhibiting Ferroptosis in Piglets Challenged with Diquat

Vascular endothelium, a promising target for effectively treating fulminant diquat intoxication?

Following the withdrawal of paraquat, diquat (DQ) has emerged as the predominant herbicide. When people come into contact with or ingest DQ, may lead to poisoning and potentially fatal outcomes. Reports suggest that the mortality of DQ poisoning can be as high as 50%. DQ poisoning can be categorized as mild, moderate or severe. In cases of severe poisoning, victims often succumb to multiple organ failure within 48 h. This presents a significant challenge in the clinical management. Scholars have discovered that oxidative stress, inflammatory injury, and cell apoptosis play crucial roles in the DQ poisoning. However, the underlying connection of the extensive organ damage remains unknown. The abnormal function and activity of endothelial cells (EC) should play a crucial role in tissue damage caused by DQ due to rich microcirculation and high sensitivity to perfusion in the vulnerable organs. However, reports on DQ-induced EC injury is rare. We made a significant discovery-the presence of severe vascular endothelial damage in the kidneys and lungs affected by DQ. Therefore, we hypothesize that DQ poisoning may be attributed to oxidative stress damage and cell apoptosis in EC, ultimately resulting in multiple organ failure.

Vascular endothelium, a promising target for effectively treating fulminant diquat intoxication?

Following the withdrawal of paraquat, diquat (DQ) has emerged as the predominant herbicide. When people come into contact with or ingest DQ, may lead to poisoning and potentially fatal outcomes. Reports suggest that the mortality of DQ poisoning can be as high as 50%. DQ poisoning can be categorized as mild, moderate to severe or fulminant. In cases of fulminant poisoning, victims often succumb to multiple organ failure within 48 h. This presents a significant challenge in the clinical management. Scholars have discovered that oxidative stress, inflammatory injury, and cell apoptosis play crucial roles in the DQ poisoning. However, the underlying connection of the extensive organ damage remains unknown. The abnormal function and activity of endothelial cells (EC) should play a crucial role in tissue damage caused by DQ due to rich microcirculation and high sensitivity to perfusion in the vulnerable organs. However, reports on DQ-induced EC injury is rare. We made a preliminary discovery-the presence of severe vascular endothelial damage in the kidneys and lungs affected by DQ. Therefore, we hypothesize that DQ poisoning may be attributed to EC damage, ultimately resulting in multiple organ failure.

The use of amino acids and their derivates to mitigate against pesticide-induced toxicity

Exposure to pesticides induces oxidative stress and deleterious effects on various tissues in non-target organisms. Numerous models investigating pesticide exposure have demonstrated metabolic disturbances such as imbalances in amino acid levels within the organism. One potentially effective strategy to mitigate pesticide toxicity involves dietary intervention by supplementing exogenous amino acids and their derivates to augment the body's antioxidant capacity and mitigate pesticide-induced oxidative harm, whose mechanism including bolstering glutathione synthesis, regulating arginine-NO metabolism, mitochondria-related oxidative stress, and the open of ion channels, as well as enhancing intestinal microecology. Enhancing glutathione synthesis through supplementation of substrates N-acetylcysteine and glycine is regarded as a potent mechanism to achieve this. Selection of appropriate amino acids or their derivates for supplementation, and determining an appropriate dosage, are of the utmost importance for effective mitigation of pesticide-induced oxidative harm. More experimentation is required that involves large population samples to validate the efficacy of dietary intervention strategies, as well as to determine the effects of amino acids and their derivates on long-term and low-dose pesticide exposure. This review provides insights to guide future research aimed at preventing and alleviating pesticide toxicity through dietary intervention of amino acids and their derivates.

Amino acids in piglet diarrhea: Effects, mechanisms and insights

Piglet diarrhea is among one of the most serious health problems faced by the pig industry, resulting in significant economic losses. Diarrheal disease in piglets has a multifactorial etiology that is affected by physiology, environment, and management strategy. Diarrhea is the most apparent symptom of intestinal dysfunction. As a key class of essential nutrients in the piglet diet, amino acids confer a variety of beneficial effects on piglets in addition to being used as a substrate for protein synthesis, including maintaining appropriate intestinal integrity, permeability and epithelial renewal, and alleviating morphological damage and inflammatory and oxidative stress. Thus, provision of appropriate levels of amino acids could alleviate piglet diarrhea. Most amino acid effects are mediated by metabolites, gut microbes, and related signaling pathways. In this review, we summarize the current understanding of dietary amino acid effects on gut health and diarrhea incidence in piglets, and reveal the mechanisms involved. We also provide ideas for using amino acid blends and emphasize the importance of amino acid balance in the diet to prevent diarrhea in piglets.

Accurate models and nutritional strategies for specific oxidative stress factors: Does the dose matter in swine production?

Oxidative stress has been associated with a number of physiological problems in swine, including reduced production efficiency. Recently, although there has been increased research into regulatory mechanisms and antioxidant strategies in relation to oxidative stress-induced pig production, it remains so far largely unsuccessful to develop accurate models and nutritional strategies for specific oxidative stress factors. Here, we discuss the dose and dose intensity of the causes of oxidative stress involving physiological, environmental and dietary factors, recent research models and the antioxidant strategies to provide theoretical guidance for future oxidative stress research in swine.

Glycine recalibrates iron homeostasis of lens epithelial cells by blocking lysosome-dependent ferritin degradation

One of the major pathological processes in cataracts has been identified as ferroptosis. However, studies on the iron metabolism mechanism in lens epithelial cells (LECs) and the methods of effectively alleviating ferroptosis in LECs are scarce. Along these lines, we found that in the ultraviolet radiation b (UVB) induced cataract model in vitro and in vivo, the ferritin of LECs is over-degraded by lysosomes, resulting in the occurrence of iron homeostasis disorder. Glycine can affect the ferritin degradation through the proton-coupled amino acid transporter (PAT1) on the lysosome membrane, further upregulating the content of nuclear factor erythrocyte 2 related factor 2 (Nrf2) to reduce the damage of LECs from two aspects of regulating iron homeostasis and alleviating oxidative stress. By co-staining, we further demonstrate that there is a more sensitive poly-(rC)-binding protein 2 (PCBP2) transportation of iron ions in LECs after UVB irradiation. Additionally, this study illustrated the increased expression of nuclear receptor coactivator 4 (NCOA4) in NRF2-KO mice, indicating that Nrf2 may affect ferritin degradation by decreasing the expression of NCOA4. Collectively, glycine can effectively regulate cellular iron homeostasis by synergistically affecting the lysosome-dependent ferritin degradation and PCBP2-mediated ferrous ion transportation, ultimately delaying the development of cataracts.