Synthesis of Ternary Metal Oxides for Battery-Supercapacitor Hybrid Devices: Influences of Metal Species on Redox Reaction and Electrical Conductivity

Designing battery-type materials with good electrocapacitive performance and high electrical conductivity is necessary to improve the energy-storage capability of an battery-supercapacitor hybrid devices (BSH). Ternary metal oxides are synthesized by using a hydrothermal reaction with an extra metal of Mo, Fe, Cu, Zn, or Al incorporated in the nickel cobalt oxide as the battery-type material to enhance the electrical conductivity and generate numerous Faradaic reactions via the multiple oxidation state of transition metals. Because of the larger surface area of the nanosheet structure and the smaller charge transfer resistance with the participation of molybdenum, the best electrocapacitive performance among the ternary metal oxide electrodes is attained for the Ni_<i>x</i>Co_<i>y</i>Mo_<i>z</i>O electrode, which is further optimized by tuning the Mo ratios in the precursor solution. An optimized Ni_<i>x</i>Co_<i>y</i>Mo_<i>z</i>O electrode is prepared by using the Ni:Co:Mo ratio of 1:2:2. This electrode achieves an areal capacitance (<i>C</i>_F) of 2.94 F/cm², which is higher than those for the binary metal oxide electrodes of Ni_<i>x</i>Mo_<i>y</i>O (1.11 F/cm²), Co_<i>x</i>Mo_<i>y</i>O (1.63 F/cm²), and Ni_<i>x</i>Co_<i>y</i>O (1.45 F/cm²), inferring the success to improve the energy-storage ability of the electrode by incorporating more transition metals in the oxide as the electrocapacitive material. An BSH based on the Ni_<i>x</i>Co_<i>y</i>Mo_<i>z</i>O positive electrode and an activated carbon negative electrode shows a <i>C</i>_F value of 126 mF/cm² at 10 mA/cm², a potential window of 1.8 V, and a maximum energy density of 22.02 Wh/kg at a power density of 3.50 W/kg. This result provides new blueprints for constructing multiple metal oxides as the battery-type material for achieving more Faradaic reactions and higher electrical conductivity, and hence for enhancing the energy-storage capability of an BSH

RNA expression of zebrafish <i>mglur6 and gnao</i> paralogs.

<p>RNA expression of <i>mglur6a</i> (A1–A4), <i>mglur6b</i> (B1–B4), <i>gnaoa</i> (C1–C4) and <i>gnaob</i> (D1–D4) in dorsal (1) and lateral (2) views and in isolated eyes (3) of a 5 dpf zebrafish, as well as in adult retinal cross-sections (4). <b>A1, A2:</b> Expression of <i>mglur6a</i> is visible in the habenula (Ha), the medial (TeO) and lateral (lTeO) tectum opticum, the midbrain (mb), a part of the mid-hindbrain boundary (mhb) and a bilateral nucleus of the medulla oblongata (MO). <b>A3:</b> In an eye separated from a whole mount stained larva <i>mglur6a</i> is expressed in the proximal inner nuclear layer (INL, arrow) and the ganglion cell layer (GCL). <b>A4:</b> Additional to the cellular expression in the proximal INL (arrows) and the GCL, <i>mglur6a</i> labels cells in the medial INL (arrowheads) in adult. <b>B1, B2: </b><i>mglur6b</i> reveals a staining in the olfactory bulb (OB) and a weak labeling of a part of the diencephalon (di). <b>B3:</b> The isolated eye shows, <i>mglur6b</i> expression in the medial INL (arrowhead), the proximal INL (arrow) and the GCL. <b>B4:</b> The adult retinal cross section shows the same localization for <i>mglur6b</i> as the larval fish, however, the staining in the medial INL is restricted to a subset of cells (arrowheads). <b>C1, C2: </b><i>gnaoa</i> is expressed in the olfactory bulb (OB), the pallium (P), the habenula (Ha), the tectum opticum (TeO) and in all cranial ganglia (CG, arrowheads). <b>C3:</b> The retina reveals <i>gnaoa</i> labeling in the proximal INL (arrow) and the GCL. <b>C4:</b> Similar to the larval retina, <i>gnaoa</i> labels the proximal INL (arrow) and the GCL in the adult retina. Additionally, <i>gnaoa</i> stains weakly a subset of cells in the medial INL (arrowheads). <b>D1, D2: </b><i>gnaob</i> shows no expression in the brain. <b>D3:</b> The expression of <i>gnaob</i> in the larval fish eye is restricted to the medial INL (arrow) and the GCL. <b>D4:</b> Similar to the larval eye, in adult retinal cross-sections <i>gnaob</i> is located in cells of the medial INL and the GCL. All scale bars = 40 µm. Scale bar in A1 applies to all whole mount images, scale bar in A3 applies to A3, B3, C3 and D3, scale bar in A4 applies to A4, B4, C4 and D4.</p

Electroretinogram recordings of <i>mglur6b</i>-depleted zebrafish larvae.

<p>The downregulation of mGluR6b leads to a dose dependent decrease of the ERG b-wave in 5 day old zebrafish larvae indicating a diminished ON-response. <b>A:</b> Plotted b-wave amplitudes at different light intensities. Control Morpholino (MO) injected larvae of different concentrations showed no significant differences in b-wave amplitude, neither among each other nor in comparison to uninjected wild type larvae (data not shown). Therefore, recordings of all control MO larvae (n = 46) were taken together to build one curve. Injection of <i>mglur6b</i> MO leads to a dose dependent depletion of the b-wave (1.5 ng <i>mglur6b</i> MO: n = 14; 2.99 ng MO: n = 24; 7.48 ng MO: n = 13). All data points represent the means ± SEM. <b>B:</b> Significance of the b-wave amplitude reduction was calculated using a 2-way ANOVA (* = p<0.1; ** = p<0.01; *** = p<0.001).</p

Phylogenetic Reconstruction of mGluR class III genes.

<p><i>mGluR</i> sequences of class III metapotropic glutamate receptors of the following species were used in phylogenetic reconstructions (hs = <i>Homo sapiens</i>; mm = <i>Mus musculus</i> and dr = <i>Danio rerio</i>). Sequences were aligned using MUSCLE. A conserved stretch of 746 amino acids determined by the program Gblocks was used for phylogenetic reconstruction. The phylogenetic tree was build using the maximum likelihood method with the WAG amino acid replacement matrix. LRT values above 0.5 are shown. While zebrafish <i>mglurs</i> are shown in dark red, mouse <i>mGluRs</i> are given in light gray and human mGluRs in dark gray. The genomic organization of mGluR6 differs from other class III <i>mGluRs</i>. Analysis of the last exons within the <i>class III mGluRs</i> reveals an exon split and a reduced coding sequence length in mGluR6. While the first 7 exons within the class III mGluR subfamily are highly conserved in length, the 936 bp exon 8 found in mGluR4, mGluR7 and mGluR8 is split in mGluR6 (628 bp+308 bp). Moreover the sequence length following the split exons is significantly reduced. Human and zebrafish sequence identity is indicated.</p

Effects of Huanglian-Jie-Du-Tang and Its Modified Formula on the Modulation of Amyloid-β Precursor Protein Processing in Alzheimer's Disease Models

<div><p>Huanglian-Jie-Du-Tang (HLJDT) is a famous traditional Chinese herbal formula that has been widely used clinically to treat cerebral ischemia. Recently, we found that berberine, a major alkaloid compound in HLJDT, reduced amyloid-β (Aβ) accumulation in an Alzheimer’s disease (AD) mouse model. In this study, we compared the effects of HLJDT, four single component herbs of HLJDT (Rhizoma coptidis (RC), Radix scutellariae (RS), Cortex phellodendri (CP) and Fructus gardenia (FG)) and the modified formula of HLJDT (HLJDT-M, which is free of RS) on the regulatory processing of amyloid-β precursor protein (APP) in an <i>in vitro</i> model of AD. Here we show that treatment with HLJDT-M and its components RC, CP, and the main compound berberine on N2a mouse neuroblastoma cells stably expressing human APP with the Swedish mutation (N2a-SwedAPP) significantly decreased the levels of full-length APP, phosphorylated APP at threonine 668, C-terminal fragments of APP, soluble APP (sAPP)-α and sAPPβ-Swedish and reduced the generation of Aβ peptide in the cell lysates of N2a-SwedAPP. HLJDT-M showed more significant APP- and Aβ- reducing effects than berberine, RC or CP treatment alone. In contrast, HLJDT, its component RS and the main active compound of RS, baicalein, strongly increased the levels of all the metabolic products of APP in the cell lysates. The extract from FG, however, did not influence APP modulation. Interestingly, regular treatment of TgCRND8 APP transgenic mice with baicalein exacerbated the amyloid plaque burden, APP metabolism and Aβ production. Taken together, these data provide convincing evidence that HLJDT and baicalein treatment can increase the amyloidogenic metabolism of APP which is at least partly responsible for the baicalein-mediated Aβ plaque increase in the brains of TgCRND8 mice. On the other hand, HLJDT-M significantly decreased all the APP metabolic products including Aβ. Further study of HLJDT-M for therapeutic use in treating AD is warranted.</p></div

Extracts of HLJDT constituent herbs alter the processing of APP in N2a-SwedAPP cells.

<p>Conditioned medium and cell lysates were prepared from N2a-SwedAPP cells that were treated with (A) RC, (B) CP, (C) FG or (D) RS at various doses as indicated for 48 h. Western blotting was used to detect sAPPα and sAPPβ-sw in conditioned medium, and to detect Fl-APP, pAPPThr668 and β-actin in cell lysates. Bars represent mean±S.E.M. for three experiments. One-way ANOVA revealed significant differences due to treatment at various doses of components of HLJDT: *p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001.</p

Modulation of APP processing by HLJDT and HLJDT-M in N2a-SwedAPPcells.

<p>Conditioned medium and cell lysates were prepared from N2a-SwedAPP cells that were treated with (A) HLJDT or (B) HLJDT-M at various doses as indicated for 48 h. Western blotting was used to detect sAPPα and sAPPβ-sw in conditioned medium, and to detect Fl-APP, pAPPThr668, CTFs and β-actin in cell lysates. Bars represent mean±S.E.M. for three experiments. One-way ANOVA revealed significant differences due to treatment at various doses of HLJDT or HLJDT-M: *p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001.</p

Selected components of Huang-Liang-Jie-Du-Tang (HLJDT).

<p>A. Chemical structures of main compounds of Huang-Liang-Jie-Du-Tang (HLJDT). B. Quality analysis of HLJDT (at 245 nm) (A); Fructus gardeniae (FG) (at 245 nm) (B); Rhizoma coptidis (FG) (at 275 nm) (C); Radix scutellariae (RS) (at 275 nm) (D); Cortex phellodendri (CP) (at 275 nm) (E). Peaks of these compounds are shown: 1. Geniposide; 2. Berberine; 3. Palmatine; 4. Baicalein; 5. Baicalin; 6. Wogonin.</p

Regulation of the levels of intracellular Aβ by HLJDT, HLJDT-M and its components in cultured N2a-SwedAPP cells.

<p>Aβ1–40 and Aβ1–42 peptides were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in N2a-SwedAPP cell lysates 48 h after addition of (A) RC or CP; (B) RS; (C) HLJDT or HLJDT-M; or (D) berberine or baicalein. Bars represent mean±S.E.M. of the level of intracellular Aβ1–40 or Aβ1–42 peptides in three experiments relative to DMSO control (untreated). One-way ANOVA revealed significant differences due to treatment: *p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001.</p