Ekstrakcija, odvajanje i pročišćavanje antocijanina borovnice etanolom

Blueberry contains many substances that are important to the human body and can prevent cardiovascular diseases, protect the retina, and soften blood vessels. Anthocyanin, which is extracted from blueberry, can activate the retina, strengthen vision, reduce serum cholesterol, triglyceride and high-density lipoprotein, and protect cell nucleus tissues from radical oxidation; hence, blueberry is of importance to scientists from different countries. In this study, anthocyanin was extracted and separated from blueberry using ethyl alcohol to investigate the effects of factors, such as ethyl alcohol volume ratio on anthocyanin extraction and separation technologies. The extracting solution was then purified using the macroreticular resin purification method to investigate the effects of ethyl alcohol concentration and eluent dosage on anthocyanin extraction during purification. The research results demonstrated that 60 % ethyl alcohol volume fraction, 1 : 10 mass ratio of solid to liquid, and 60 °C ultrasonic temperature were the best conditions for anthocyanin extraction. The best purification conditions were 95 % ethyl alcohol, which had been acidized by 0.3 % hydrochloric acid and 70 ml of eluent. This work provides a reference for the application of ethyl alcohol in anthocyanin extraction. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.Borovnica sadrži niz tvari koje su važne za ljudsko tijelo te mogu spriječiti kardiovaskularne bolesti, zaštititi mrežnicu i poboljšati stanje krvnih žila. Antocijanin, ekstrahiran iz borovnice, može aktivirati mrežnicu, ojačati vid, smanjiti serumski kolesterol, triglicerid i lipoprotein visoke gustoće te zaštititi tkivo stanica od radikalske oksidacije; dakle, borovnica je važna znanstvenicima diljem svijeta. Kako bi se istražili učinci čimbenika kao što je volumni omjer etilnog alkohola pri ekstrakciji antocijanina i tehnologija odvajanja, antocijanin je u ovoj studiji ekstrahiran i odvojen iz borovnice etanolom. Otopina za ekstrakciju je zatim pročišćena makroretikularnom smolom radi ispitivanja učinaka koncentracije etanola i doziranja eluenta na ekstrakciju antocijanina tijekom čišćenja. Rezultati istraživanja pokazali su da su volumni udjel etanola od 60 %, maseni omjer čvrste tvari i tekućine od 1 : 10 i ultrazvučna kupelj pri 60 °C najbolji uvjeti za ekstrakciju antocijanina. Najbolji uvjeti za pročišćavanje bili su 95 % etilnog alkohola koji je bio zakiseljen s 0,3 % klorovodične kiseline i 70 ml eluenta. Ovaj rad daje referenciju za primjenu etanola u ekstrakciji antocijanina. Ovo djelo je dano na korištenje pod licencom Creative Commons Imenovanje 4.0 međunarodna

Relationships of peripheral IGF-1, VEGF and BDNF levels to exercise-related changes in memory, hippocampal perfusion and volumes in older adults

Animal models point towards a key role of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in mediating exercise-induced structural and functional changes in the hippocampus. Recently, also platelet derived growth factor-C (PDGF-C) has been shown to promote blood vessel growth and neuronal survival. Moreover, reductions of these neurotrophic and angiogenic factors in old age have been related to hippocampal atrophy, decreased vascularization and cognitive decline. In a 3-month aerobic exercise study, forty healthy older humans (60 to 77years) were pseudo-randomly assigned to either an aerobic exercise group (indoor treadmill, n=21) or to a control group (indoor progressive-muscle relaxation/stretching, n=19). As reported recently, we found evidence for fitness-related perfusion changes of the aged human hippocampus that were closely linked to changes in episodic memory function. Here, we test whether peripheral levels of BDNF, IGF-I, VEGF or PDGF-C are related to changes in hippocampal blood flow, volume and memory performance. Growth factor levels were not significantly affected by exercise, and their changes were not related to changes in fitness or perfusion. However, changes in IGF-I levels were positively correlated with hippocampal volume changes (derived by manual volumetry and voxel-based morphometry) and late verbal recall performance, a relationship that seemed to be independent of fitness, perfusion or their changes over time. These preliminary findings link IGF-I levels to hippocampal volume changes and putatively hippocampus-dependent memory changes that seem to occur over time independently of exercise. We discuss methodological shortcomings of our study and potential differences in the temporal dynamics of how IGF-1, VEGF and BDNF may be affected by exercise and to what extent these differences may have led to the negative findings reported here

Activation of pluripotency genes in human fibroblast cells by a novel mRNA based approach

Background: Several methods have been used to induce somatic cells to re-enter the pluripotent state. Viral transduction of reprogramming genes yields higher efficiency but involves random insertions of viral sequences into the human genome. Although induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells can be obtained with the removable PiggyBac transposon system or an episomal system, both approaches still use DNA constructs so that resulting cell lines need to be thoroughly analyzed to confirm they are free of harmful genetic modification. Thus a method to change cell fate without using DNA will be very useful in regenerative medicine. Methodology/Principal Findings: In this study, we synthesized mRNAs encoding OCT4, SOX2, cMYC, KLF4 and SV40 large T (LT) and electroporated them into human fibroblast cells. Upon transfection, fibroblasts expressed these factors at levels comparable to, or higher than those in human embryonic stem (ES) cells. Ectopically expressed OCT4 localized to the cell nucleus within 4 hours after mRNA introduction. Transfecting fibroblasts with a mixture of mRNAs encoding all five factors significantly increased the expression of endogenous OCT4, NANOG, DNMT3 beta, REX1 and SALL4. When such transfected fibroblasts were also exposed to several small molecules (valproic acid, BIX01294 and 5'-aza-2'-deoxycytidine) and cultured in human embryonic stem cell (ES) medium they formed small aggregates positive for alkaline phosphatase activity and OCT4 protein within 30 days. Conclusion/Significance: Our results demonstrate that mRNA transfection can be a useful approach to precisely control the protein expression level and short-term expression of reprogramming factors is sufficient to activate pluripotency genes in differentiated cells

Global and regional brain metabolic scaling and its functional consequences

Background: Information processing in the brain requires large amounts of metabolic energy, the spatial distribution of which is highly heterogeneous reflecting complex activity patterns in the mammalian brain. Results: Here, it is found based on empirical data that, despite this heterogeneity, the volume-specific cerebral glucose metabolic rate of many different brain structures scales with brain volume with almost the same exponent around -0.15. The exception is white matter, the metabolism of which seems to scale with a standard specific exponent -1/4. The scaling exponents for the total oxygen and glucose consumptions in the brain in relation to its volume are identical and equal to $0.86\pm 0.03$, which is significantly larger than the exponents 3/4 and 2/3 suggested for whole body basal metabolism on body mass. Conclusions: These findings show explicitly that in mammals (i) volume-specific scaling exponents of the cerebral energy expenditure in different brain parts are approximately constant (except brain stem structures), and (ii) the total cerebral metabolic exponent against brain volume is greater than the much-cited Kleiber's 3/4 exponent. The neurophysiological factors that might account for the regional uniformity of the exponents and for the excessive scaling of the total brain metabolism are discussed, along with the relationship between brain metabolic scaling and computation.Comment: Brain metabolism scales with its mass well above 3/4 exponen

A systematic analysis of host factors reveals a Med23-interferon-λ regulatory axis against herpes simplex virus type 1 replication

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is a neurotropic virus causing vesicular oral or genital skin lesions, meningitis and other diseases particularly harmful in immunocompromised individuals. To comprehensively investigate the complex interaction between HSV-1 and its host we combined two genome-scale screens for host factors (HFs) involved in virus replication. A yeast two-hybrid screen for protein interactions and a RNA interference (RNAi) screen with a druggable genome small interfering RNA (siRNA) library confirmed existing and identified novel HFs which functionally influence HSV-1 infection. Bioinformatic analyses found the 358 HFs were enriched for several pathways and multi-protein complexes. Of particular interest was the identification of Med23 as a strongly anti-viral component of the largely pro-viral Mediator complex, which links specific transcription factors to RNA polymerase II. The anti-viral effect of Med23 on HSV-1 replication was confirmed in gain-of-function gene overexpression experiments, and this inhibitory effect was specific to HSV-1, as a range of other viruses including Vaccinia virus and Semliki Forest virus were unaffected by Med23 depletion. We found Med23 significantly upregulated expression of the type III interferon family (IFN-λ) at the mRNA and protein level by directly interacting with the transcription factor IRF7. The synergistic effect of Med23 and IRF7 on IFN-λ induction suggests this is the major transcription factor for IFN-λ expression. Genotypic analysis of patients suffering recurrent orofacial HSV-1 outbreaks, previously shown to be deficient in IFN-λ secretion, found a significant correlation with a single nucleotide polymorphism in the IFN-λ3 (IL28b) promoter strongly linked to Hepatitis C disease and treatment outcome. This paper describes a link between Med23 and IFN-λ, provides evidence for the crucial role of IFN-λ in HSV-1 immune control, and highlights the power of integrative genome-scale approaches to identify HFs critical for disease progression and outcome

Operationalising factors that explain the emergence of infectious diseases : A case study of the human campylobacteriosis epidemic

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