2‑Hydroxypropyl‑β‑cyclodextrin blocks autophagy flux and triggers caspase‑8‑mediated apoptotic cascades in HepG2 cells

Comparison of Animal Models for the Study of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most prevalent chronic liver diseases, and there is still no effective treatment for its advanced stage, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). An ideal animal model of NAFLD/NASH is urgently needed for preclinical studies. However, the models reported previously are quite heterogeneous due to differences in animal strains, feed formulations, evaluation indicators, etc. Here, we report five NAFLD mouse models we developed in previous studies and comprehensively compared their characteristics. The high-fat diet (HFD) model is time-consuming and is characterized by early insulin resistance and slight liver steatosis at 12 weeks. Still, inflammation and fibrosis are rare, even at 22 weeks. The high fat, high fructose, and high cholesterol diet (FFC) exacerbates glucose and lipid metabolism disorders, showing distinct hypercholesterolemia, steatosis, and mild inflammation at 12 w. An FFC diet combined with streptozotocin (STZ) is a novel model that speeds up the process of lobular inflammation and fibrosis. The STAM model also used a combination of FFC and STZ but employs newborn mice and shows the fastest formation of fibrosis nodules. The HFD model is appropriate for the study of early NAFLD. FFC combined with STZ accelerates the pathological process of NASH and may be the most promising model for NASH research and drug development.

Biomimetic lipidic nanovectors for effective asparaginase supramolecule delivery

Effectiveness of enzyme therapy is limited by enzyme drawbacks such as short half-life, low bioavailability and high immunogenicity. We loaded asparaginase (Aase) into hydroxypropyl- or sulfonbutylether-beta cyclodextrin to form supramolecular amphiphilic molecules by self-assembly followed by entrapment inside the cores of two biomimetic lipidic nanovectors (AS-XLNs). Supramolecular structure was simulated by molecular docking. AS-XLNs maintained superior activity through isolating Aase from external environment due to docking with cyclodextrin and coating with biomimetic membrane. Fluorescent probes and computational simulations were used to reveal possible interactions between serum albumin/trypsin and Aase/nanovector membrane components which were partly responsible for enhanced bioavailability and bioactivity of AS-XLNs compared to Aase. AS-XLNs significantly increased cytotoxicity against pulmonary tumor cells due to synergistic effects of Aase and nanovector membrane components (killing tumor cells through apoptosis induced by asparagine depletion and autophagy inhibition or via targets such as vascular endothelial growth factor A, alpha-amylase, p-selectin or androgen receptor).