Collaborative compounding of metal-organic frameworks for dispersive solid-phase extraction HPLC-MS/MS determination of tetracyclines in honey

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), a sort of dispersive solid-phase extraction (d-SPE) material, has shown considerable prospects in the pretreatment of food, biological and other complex samples. Herein, we developed a method for compounding MOFs for d-SPE and trace determination of tetracyclines (TCs) in honey. When the compounding ratio of MIL-101 (Cr), MIL-100 (Fe) and MIL-53 (Al) was 7:1:2, adsorption-extraction was effective. Followed by high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS), the limits of detection were 0.073-0.435 ng/g and the limits of quantitation ranged from 0.239 to 1.449 ng/g for oxytetracycline, tetracycline, chlortetracycline and doxycycline. The method was applied to four kinds of honey samples with recoveries from 88.1% to 126.2%. The compounding of MOFs provides a strategy for purification and multi-target extraction from complex food matrices by d-SPE.

The Protective Effect of Cyanidin-3-Glucoside on Myocardial Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury through Ferroptosis

This study was conducted to estimate the protective effect of Cyanidin-3-glucoside (C3G) on myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury and to explore its mechanism. The rats were subjected to left anterior descending ligation and perfusion surgery. In vitro experiments were performed on H9c2 cells using the oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R) model. The results showed the administration of C3G reduced the infarction area, mitigated pathological alterations, inhibited ST segment elevation, and attenuated oxidative stress and ferroptosis-related protein expression. C3G also suppressed the expressions of USP19, Beclin1, NCOA4, and LC3II/LC3I. In addition, treatment with C3G relieved oxidative stress, downregulated LC3II/LC3I, reduced autophagosome number, downregulated TfR1 expression, and upregulated the expressions of FTH1 and GPX4 in OGD/R-induced H9c2 cells. C3G could inhibit the protein levels of USP19 and LC3II. C3G promoted K11-linked ubiquitination of Beclin1. Further evidence that C3G reduced ferroptosis and ameliorated myocardial I/R injury was demonstrated with the ferroptosis promoter RSL3. Taken together, C3G could be a potential agent to protect myocardium from myocardial I/R injury.

Intratumoral Polymorphism of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Delta-87 T>C in Colorectal Cancer

Peroxisome proliferator activated receptor delta (PPARD) is a nuclear receptor transcription factor whose single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), especially PPARD-87 T>C (rs2016520), may play an important role in expression regulation of PPARD. But its expression patterns as well as contribution in colorectal cancer (CRC) are still controversial. In this study, whether the intratumoral heterogeneity of polymorphism of PPARD-87 T>C (rs2016520) existed and its influence in CRC were investigated. Tumor masses from primary CRC patients were collected during the operation of tumorectomy, specimens at the different sites of the same tumor mass were sampled and stored individually. The SNP of PPARD-87 T>C was detected by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP), and the expression of PPARD in vivo was observed by immunohistochemistry. The correlation of PPARD -87 T>C intratumoral polymorphism and the clinicopathological parameters of patients was analyzed statistically. Tumor samples were collected from 106 CRC patients (70 males and 36 females) with an average age of 61.04±13.67 years. A total number of 808 samples (7.60±1.60 per patient) were mainly harvested at peripheral superficial (n=376), central superficial (n=163), invasive front (n=112) and mesenteric cancer foci (n=42) of tumor tissues as well as cancerous adjacent mucosa (n=104). PCR-RFLP analysis showed that T/T (n=460, 56.9%) and T/C (n=334, 41.3%) were the main genotypes of -87 T>C among these samples. Furthermore, intratumoral genotype of -87 T>C was homogeneous in 90 patients and heterogeneous in other 16 patients. The intratumoral heterogeneity was related to patients' age (P=0.016), tumor location (P=0.011) and the grade of differentiation (P=0.022). For patients with intratumoral heterogeneity, immunochemistry showed the expressions of PPARD were not influenced by T/T or T/C genotypes. Intratumoral heterogeneity of PPARD-87 T>C wildly existed in CRC, and associated with patients' age, tumor location and differentiation. However, the immunochemistry assay revealed that there's no significant link between heterogeneity and expression of PPARD.

[Value analysis of preoperative and intra-operative ultrasound in diagnosis and treatment of parathyroid adenoma]

Objective:To explore the value characteristics of preoperative and intra-operative ultrasound in the diagnosis and treatment of parathyroid adenoma,and to further clarify the value of ultrasound in the diagnosis and treatment of parathyroid adenoma.Method:A total of 62 cases of parathyroid adenoma confirmed by postoperative pathology from March 2016 to November 2017 were collected, and the pre-operative ultrasound parameters were analyzed;and 26 cases were detected by intra-operative ultrasound.Result:In 62 cases of parathyroid adenoma, 58 cases of parathyroid adenoma were diagnosed by ultrasound before operation,and the sensitivity was 93.54%. Among the 26 cases,the lesions of 24 cases were detected by intra-operative ultrasound,and the sensitivity was 92.31%.Conclusion:Preoperative ultrasonography has a high diagnostic value for the qualitative diagnosis and location diagnosis of parathyroid adenoma, and intra-operative ultrasound can help to detect lesions quickly and safely, which is of great significance to shorten the operation time and improve the safety of operation. It is an important development space of ultrasound in the diagnosis and treatment of parathyroid glands.

Linker length affects expression and bioactivity of the onconase fusion protein in Pichia pastoris

The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of linker length on the expression and biological activity of recombinant protein onconase (ONC) in fusion with human serum albumin (HSA) in Pichia pastoris. Four flexible linkers with different lengths namely Linker L0, L1: (GGGGS)1, L2: (GGGGS)2, and L3:(GGGGS)3 were inserted into the fusion gene and referred to as HSA-n-ONC, where N = 0, 5, 10, or 15. The sequence of the fusion gene HSA-ONC was designed based on the GC content and codon bias in P. pastoris; the signal peptide of albumin was used as the secretion signal. Gene sequences coding for the fusion protein with different linkers were inserted into pPICZα-A to form recombinant plasmids pPICZα-A/HSA-n-ONC, which were then transformed into P. pastoris X-33 for protein expression. Ideal conditions for expression of the fusion proteins were optimized at a small scale, using shake flasks before proceeding to mass production in 10-L fermenters. The recombinant fusion proteins were purified by aqueous two-phase extraction coupled with DEAE anion exchange chromatography, and their cytotoxic effect on the tumor cell was evaluated by the sulforhodamine B assay. The results showed that the expressed amount of fusion proteins had no significant relationship with the length of different linkers and rHSA-0-ONC had no cytotoxic effect on the tumor cells. While rHSA-5-ONC and rHSA-10-ONC had a weak cytotoxic effect, rHSA-15-ONC could kill various tumor cells in vitro. In summary, the biological activity of the fusion protein gradually improved with increasing length of the linker.

rSj16, a recombinant protein of Schistosoma japonicum-derived molecule, reduces severity of the complete Freund's adjuvant-induced adjuvant arthritis in rats' model

Sj16, a 16-kDa protein produced by Schistosoma japonicum, has been demonstrated to have anti-inflammatory effect. However, the possible mechanism of these phenomena has not been discovered. Here, we tried to touch it with arthritis rats' model induced by injection of complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA). A set of pathogenic characters were observed in CFA-treated rat, including local and systematic read-out, which showed the model successfully set up. After administration of rSj16 (recombinant Sj16) in vivo, paw swelling reduced significantly and in a dose-dependent manner, the level of TNF-α, IL-1β and NO decreased and IL-10 in the serum increased. In vitro, rSj16 reversed the augmented surface expression of CD80, CD86, CD54 and OX6 induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in bone marrow-derived DCs (BMDCs), whereas endocytotic capacity of rSj16-treated dendritic cell (DC) was profoundly increased. IL-12p70 released from rSj16-treated BMDC was decreased but IL-10 increased. Further, following incubation with rSj16 primed BMDCs, the sensitized T cells exhibited increased production of anti-inflammatory IL-10 and IL-4 and decreased production of IL-12p70 and IFN-γ. Collectively, these results implied that rSj16 alleviated CFA-induced arthritis, and the possible mechanisms may be its interruption of maturation and function of DCs. rSj16 could be a potential therapeutic agent against rheumatoid arthritis.

[Study on the quality standards of decoction pieces of salt Eucommia]

OBJECTIVE

To establish the quality criteria of decoction pieces of salt Eucommia.

METHODS

Decoction pieces of salt Eucommia were measured with moisture, total ash and alcohol-extract, and were analyzed by TLC and HPLC for research.

RESULTS

We obtained 13 batches of decoction pieces of salt Eucommia moisture, total ash and alcohol-extract measurements; Meanwhile we set the TLC and HPLC method.

CONCLUSION

By studying the development of the decoction pieces of salt Eucommia, we established the quality control standards.