Inflammatory Links Between High Fat Diets and Diseases

In recent years, chronic overnutrition, such as consumption of a high-fat diet (HFD), has been increasingly viewed as a significant modifiable risk factor for diseases such as diabetes and certain types of cancer. However, the mechanisms by which HFDs exert adverse effects on human health remains poorly understood. Here, this paper will review the recent scientific literature about HFD-induced inflammation and subsequent development of diseases and cancer, with an emphasis on mechanisms involved. Given the expanding global epidemic of excessive HFD intake, understanding the impacts of a HFD on these medical conditions, gaining great insights into possible underlying mechanisms, and developing effective therapeutic strategies are of great importance

The Fabrication of a Probe-Integrated Electrochemiluminescence Aptasensor Based on Double-Layered Nanochannel Array with Opposite Charges for the Sensitive Determination of C-Reactive Protein

The effective and sensitive detection of the important biomarker, C-reactive protein (CRP), is of great significance in clinical diagnosis. The development of a convenient and highly sensitive electrochemiluminescence (ECL) aptasensor with an immobilized emitter probe is highly desirable. In this work, a probe-integrated ECL aptamer sensor was constructed based on a bipolar silica nanochannel film (bp-SNF) modified electrode for the highly sensitive ECL detection of CRP. The bp-SNF, modified on an ITO electrode, consisted of a dual-layered SNF film, including the negatively charged inner SNF (n-SNF) and the outer SNF with a positive charge and amino groups (p-SNF). The ECL emitter, tris(bipyridine) ruthenium (II) (Ru(bpy)32+), was stably immobilized in a nanochannel of bp-SNF using the dual electrostatic interactions with n-SNF attracting and p-SNF repelling. The amino groups on the outer surface of bp-SNF were aldehyde derivatized, allowing for the covalent immobilization of recognitive aptamers (5′-NH2-CGAAGGGGATTCGAGGGGTGATTGCGTGCTCCATTTGGTG-3′), leading to the recognition interface. When CRP bound to the aptamer on the recognition interface, the formed complex increased the interface resistance and reduced the diffusion of the co-reactant tripropylamine (TPA) into the nanochannels, leading to a decrease in the ECL signal. Based on this mechanism, the constructed aptamer sensor could achieve a sensitive ECL detection of CRP ranging from 0.01 to 1000 ng/mL, with a detection limit (DL) of 8.5 pg/mL. The method for constructing this probe-integrated ECL aptamer sensor is simple, and it offers a high probe stability, good selectivity, and high sensitivity

A Non-Enzymatic Sensor Based on Fc-CHIT/CNT@Cu Nanohybrids for Electrochemical Detection of Glucose

Herein, a composite structure, consisting of Cu nanoparticles (NPs) deposited onto carbon nanotubes and modified with ferrocene-branched chitosan, was prepared in order to develop a nonenzymatic electrochemical glucose biosensor ferrocene-chitosan/carbon nanotube@ Cu (Fc-CHIT/CNT@Cu). The elemental composition of the carbon nanohybrids, morphology and structure were characterized by various techniques. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was used to study the interfacial properties of the electrodes. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry methods in alkaline solution were used to determine glucose biosensing properties. The synergy effect of Cu NPs and Fc on current responses of the developed electrode resulted in good glucose sensitivity, including broad linear detection between 0.2 mM and 22 mM, a low detection limit of 13.52 μM and sensitivity of 1.256 μA mM−1cm−2. Moreover, the modified electrode possessed long-term stability and good selectivity in the presence of ascorbic acid, dopamine and uric acid. The results indicated that this inexpensive electrode had potential application for non-enzymatic electrochemical glucose detection

The profiles of mitochondrial respiration and glycolysis using extracellular flux analysis in porcine enterocyte IPEC-J2

The porcine intestinal mucosa require large amounts of energy for nutrient processing and cellular functions and is vulnerable to injury by weaning stress involving bioenergetics failure. The mitochondrial bioenergetic measurement in porcine enterocytes have not been defined. The present study was to establish a method to measure mitochondrial respiratory function and profile mitochondrial function of IPEC-J2 using cell mito stress test and glycolysis stress test assay by XF24 extracellular flux analyzer. The optimal seeding density and concentrations of the injection compounds were determined to be 40,000 cells/well as well as 0.5 µM oligomycin, 1 µM carbonyl cyanide p-trifluoromethoxy-phenylhydrazone (FCCP) and 1 µM rotenone & antimycin A, respectively. The profiles of mitochondrial respiration and glycolysis confirmed that porcine enterocyte preferentially derived much more energy from glutamine than glucose. These results will provide a basis for further study of mitochondrial function and bioenergetics of the porcine small intestine. Keywords: Mitochondrial respiration, Glycolysis, Extracellular flux analysis, Porcine enterocyt

Magnetic Nanozyme Based on Loading Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Dots on Mesoporous Fe₃O₄ Nanoparticles for the Colorimetric Detection of Glucose

The simple and accurate monitoring of blood glucose level is of great significance for the prevention and control of diabetes. In this work, a magnetic nanozyme was fabricated based on loading nitrogen-doped carbon dots (N-CDs) on mesoporous Fe3O4 nanoparticles for the colorimetric detection of glucose in human serum. Mesoporous Fe3O4 nanoparticles were easily synthesized using a solvothermal method, and N-CDs were then prepared in situ and loaded on the Fe3O4 nanoparticles, leading to a magnetic N-CDs/Fe3O4 nanocomposite. The N-CDs/Fe3O4 nanocomposite exhibited good peroxidase-like activity and could catalyze the oxidation of the colorless enzyme substrate 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) to blue TMB oxide (ox-TMB) in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). When the N-CDs/Fe3O4 nanozyme was combined with glucose oxidase (Gox), Gox catalyzed the oxidization of glucose, producing H2O2 and leading to the oxidation of TMB under the catalysis of the N-CDs/Fe3O4 nanozyme. Based on this mechanism, a colorimetric sensor was constructed for the sensitive detection of glucose. The linear range for glucose detection was from 1 to 180 μM, and the limit of detection (LOD) was 0.56 μM. The recovered nanozyme through magnetic separation showed good reusability. The visual detection of glucose was also realized by preparing an integrated agarose hydrogel containing the N-CDs/Fe3O4 nanozyme, glucose oxidase, and TMB. The colorimetric detection platform has an enormous potential for the convenient detection of metabolites

Changes in carcass traits, meat quality, muscle fiber characteristics and liver function of finishing pigs fed high level of fish oil

The study was aimed to investigate the changes in carcass traits, meat quality, muscle fiber characteristics, and liver function in pigs fed with high levels of fresh fish oil and oxidized fish oil. About 30 piglets were randomly assigned to receive basal diet plus 2% fish oil (LFO), basal diet plus 8% fish oil (HFO), or basal diet plus 8% oxidized fish oil (OFO) for 120 d. Pigs of the HFO and OFO group showed reduced carcass weight, dressing percentage, loin eye area, and increased yellowness of the longissimus dorsi muscle compared with LFO group (P < 0.05). Dietary HFO and OFO suppressed the relative expression levels of myosin heavy chain (MyHC) isoform (I and II a), glutathione peroxidase 4, and NAD(P)H: quinone oxidoreductase-1 and mitochondrial biogenesis in longissimus dorsi muscle (P < 0.05). Dietary HFO or OFO increased the serum aspartates aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, oxidized low-density lipoprotein, liver index, and concentration of malondialdehyde (MDA) in liver (P < 0.05). In conclusion, high levels of fresh fish oil and oxidized fish oil have adverse effects on carcass traits, muscle fiber characteristics, and liver function, which may be partly due to the mitochondrial dysfunction and impaired antioxidative capacity.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

Graphene quantum dots based fluorescence turn-on nanoprobe for highly sensitive and selective imaging of hydrogen sulfide in living cells

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), being an important gaseous signaling molecule, has been gaining increasing attention for its involvement in a wide range of physiological processes. Herein, we developed a novel fluorescence turn-on nanoprobe for selective and sensitive detection of H2S based on graphene quantum dots (GQDs) conjugated with (2,4-dinitrophenoxy)tyrosine (DNPTYR). Taking advantage of its high fluorescence quantum yield, biocompatibility, photostability, and ease to be uptaken by cells, the GQD-based fluorescence probe was further employed for real-time monitoring of the triggered dynamic change of the intracellular H2S level in live cells.MOE (Min. of Education, S’pore)Accepted versio

Rapid Detection and Analysis of Raman Spectra of Bacteria in Multiple Fields of View Based on Image Stitching Technique

Background: Due to antibiotic abuse, the problem of bacterial resistance is becoming increasingly serious, and rapid detection of bacterial resistance has become an urgent issue. Because under the action of antibiotics, different active bacteria have different metabolism of heavy water, antibiotic resistance of bacteria can be identified according to the existence of a C-D peak in the 2030–2400 cm-1 range in the Raman spectrum. Methods: To ensure data veracity, a large number of bacteria need to be detected, however, due to the limitation of the field of view of the high magnification objective, the number of single cells in a single field of view is very small. By combining an image stitching algorithm, image recognition algorithm, and processing of Raman spectrum and peak-seeking algorithm, can identify and locate single cells in multiple fields of view at one time and can discriminate whether they are Antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. Results: In experiments 1 and 2, 2706 bacteria in 9 × 11 fields of view and 2048 bacteria in 11 × 11 fields of view were detected. Results showed that in experiment 1, there are 1137 antibiotic-resistant bacteria, accounting for 42%, and 1569 sensitive bacteria, accounting for 58%. In experiment 2, there are 1087 antibiotic-resistant bacteria, accounting for 53%, and 961 sensitive bacteria, accounting for 47%. It showed excellent performance in terms of speed and recognition accuracy as compared to traditional manual detection approaches. And solves the problems of low accuracy of data, a large number of manual experiments, and low efficiency due to the small number of single cells in the high magnification field of view and different peak-seeking parameters of different Raman spectra. Conclusions: The detection and analysis method of bacterial Raman spectra based on image stitching can be used for unattended, automatic, rapid and accurate detection of single cells at high magnification with multiple fields of view. With the characteristics of automatic, high-throughput, rapid, and accurate identification, it can be used as an unattended, universal and non-invasive means to measure antibiotic-resistant bacteria to screen for effective antibiotics, which is of great importance for studying the persistence and spread of antibiotics in bacterial pathogens

Myokine interleukin-15 expression profile is different in suckling and weaning piglets

Interleukin-15 (IL-15) is a cytokine highly expressed in skeletal muscle. The objective of the present study was to investigate the development of muscle IL-15 expression in suckling piglets and in early weaning piglets (day 14) at each level, that is, mRNA, protein, and secretion. Eight litters (eight piglets per litter) of newborn healthy piglets (Large × White × Landrace) with a similar initial weight (1618.0 ± 140.1 g) were chosen and divided into two groups. Group one used suckling piglets that were killed, respectively, at days 1, 7, 14, 21, and group two used early (day 14) weaning piglets that were killed respectively, at days 15, 17, 19, 21. In group one, IL-15 gene expression levels increased significantly (P  0.05) among piglets at other ages. These findings indicated that increased IL-15 mRNA expression did not result in a corresponding increase of its protein expression. In group two, which used early weaning piglets from days 15–19, IL-15 mRNA and protein expression levels increased constantly (P  0.05) compared with suckling piglets at day 14 of age. However, IL-15 protein expression levels in early weaning piglets at day 21 of age dropped significantly (P < 0.05) to the levels as suckling piglets at day 21 of age, while body weight increased (P < 0.05) markedly to the levels as suckling piglets at day 21 of age. In both groups, the serum IL-15 levels of piglets decreased significantly (P < 0.01) over time. Taken together, our results indicate that IL-15 expression differs in suckling piglets and in weaning piglets. It is speculated that IL-15 may play an important role in counteracting the effects of early weaning stress. Keywords: Interleukin-15, Piglets, Weaning stress, Inflammatio

Characterization and Regulation of the Amino Acid Transporter SNAT2 in the Small Intestine of Piglets.

The sodium-dependent neutral amino acid transporter 2 (SNAT2), which has dual transport/receptor functions, is well documented in eukaryotes and some mammalian systems, but has not yet been verified in piglets. The objective of this study was to investigate the characteristics and regulation of SNAT2 in the small intestine of piglets. The 1,521-bp porcine full cDNA sequence of SNAT2 (KC769999) from the small intestine of piglets was cloned. The open reading frame of cDNA encodes 506 deduced amino acid residues with a calculated molecular mass of 56.08 kDa and an isoelectric point (pI) of 7.16. Sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis revealed that SNAT2 is highly evolutionarily conserved in mammals. SNAT2 mRNA can be detected in the duodenum, jejunum and ileum by real-time quantitative PCR. During the suckling period from days 1 to 21, the duodenum had the highest abundance of SNAT2 mRNA among the three segments of the small intestine. There was a significant decrease in the expression of SNAT2 mRNA in the duodenal and jejunal mucosa and in the expression of SNAT2 protein in the jejunal and ileal mucosa on day 1 after weaning (P < 0.05). Studies with enterocytes in vitro showed that amino acid starvation and supplementation with glutamate, arginine or leucine enhanced, while supplementation with glutamine reduced, SNAT2 mRNA expression (P < 0.05). These results regarding the characteristics and regulation of SNAT2 should help to provide some information to further clarify its roles in the absorption of amino acids and signal transduction in the porcine small intestine