Maize Purple Plant Pigment Protects Against Fluoride-Induced Oxidative Damage of Liver and Kidney in Rats

Anthocyanins are polyphenols and well known for their biological antioxidative benefits. Maize purple plant pigment (MPPP) extracted and separated from maize purple plant is rich in anthocyanins. In the present study, MPPP was used to alleviate the adverse effects generated by fluoride on liver and kidney in rats. The results showed that the ultrastructure of the liver and kidney in fluoride treated rats displayed shrinkage of nuclear and cell volume, swollen mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum and vacuols formation in the liver and kidney cells. MPPP significantly attenuated these fluoride-induced pathological changes. The MDA levels in serum and liver tissue of fluoride alone treated group were significantly higher than those of the control group (p < 0.05). The presence of 5 g/kg MPPP in the diet reduced the elevation of MDA levels in blood and liver, and increased the SOD and GSH-Px activities in kidney and GSH level in liver and kidney compared with the fluoride alone treated group (p < 0.05). In addition, MPPP alleviated the decrease of Bcl-2 protein expression and the increase of Bax protein expression induced by fluoride. This study demonstrated the protective role of MPPP against fluoride-induced oxidative stress in liver and kidney of rats

Maize Purple Plant Pigment Protects Against Fluoride-Induced Oxidative Damage of Liver and Kidney in Rats

Anthocyanins are polyphenols and well known for their biological antioxidative benefits. Maize purple plant pigment (MPPP) extracted and separated from maize purple plant is rich in anthocyanins. In the present study, MPPP was used to alleviate the adverse effects generated by fluoride on liver and kidney in rats. The results showed that the ultrastructure of the liver and kidney in fluoride treated rats displayed shrinkage of nuclear and cell volume, swollen mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum and vacuols formation in the liver and kidney cells. MPPP significantly attenuated these fluoride-induced pathological changes. The MDA levels in serum and liver tissue of fluoride alone treated group were significantly higher than those of the control group (p < 0.05). The presence of 5 g/kg MPPP in the diet reduced the elevation of MDA levels in blood and liver, and increased the SOD and GSH-Px activities in kidney and GSH level in liver and kidney compared with the fluoride alone treated group (p < 0.05). In addition, MPPP alleviated the decrease of Bcl-2 protein expression and the increase of Bax protein expression induced by fluoride. This study demonstrated the protective role of MPPP against fluoride-induced oxidative stress in liver and kidney of rats

A Comparative Characterization and Expression Profiling Analysis of Fructokinase and Fructokinase-like Genes: Exploring Their Roles in Cucumber Development and Chlorophyll Biosynthesis

Fructokinase (FRK) and fructokinase-like (FLN), belonging to the phosphofructokinase B type subfamily, share substantial sequence similarity, and are crucial in various plant physiological processes. However, there is limited information regarding what functionally differentiates plant FRKs from FLNs. Here, a total of three CsFRKs and two CsFLNs were identified from the cucumber genome. Their significant difference lay in the structure of their G/AXGD motif, which existed as GAGD in CsFRKs, but as G/ASGD in CsFLNs. Comparative phylogenetic analysis classified CsFRKs and CsFLNs into five sub-branches consistent with their quite different exon/intron organizations. Both transcriptome data and RT-qPCR analyses revealed that CsFRK3 was the most active gene, with the highest expression in the majority of tissues tested. Moreover, the expression levels of two putative plastidic genes, CsFRK1 and CsFLN2, were significantly positively associated with chlorophyll accumulation in the chlorophyll-reduced cucumber mutant. Briefly, both CsFRK and CsFLN genes were involved in the development of sink tissues, especially CsFRK3. CsFRK1 and CsFLN2 were recognized as candidates in the chlorophyll biosynthesis pathway of cucumber. These results would greatly assist in further investigation on functional characterization of FRKs and FLNs, especially in the development and chlorophyll biosynthesis of cucumber

Use of bacteria for improving the lignocellulose biorefinery process: importance of pre-erosion

Abstract Background Biological pretreatment is an important alternative strategy for biorefining lignocellulose and has attracted increasing attention in recent years. However, current designs for this pretreatment mainly focus on using various white rot fungi, overlooking the bacteria. To the best of our knowledge, for the first time, we evaluated the potential contribution of bacteria to lignocellulose pretreatment, with and without a physicochemical process, based on the bacterial strain Pandoraea sp. B-6 (hereafter B-6) that was isolated from erosive bamboo slips. Moreover, the mechanism of the improvement of reducing sugar yield by bacteria was elucidated via analyses of the physicochemical changes of corn stover (CS) before and after pretreatment. Results The digestibility of CS pretreated with B-6 was equivalent to that of untreated CS. The recalcitrant CS surface provided fewer mediators for contact with the extracellular enzymes of B-6. A pre-erosion strategy using a tetrahydrofuran–water co-solvent system was shown to destroy the recalcitrant CS surface. The optimal condition for pre-erosion showed a 6.5-fold increase in enzymatic digestibility compared with untreated CS. The pre-erosion of CS can expose more phenolic compounds that were chelated to oxidized Mn3+ and also provided mediators for combination with laccase, which was attributable to B-6 pretreatment. B-6 pretreatment following pre-erosion exhibited a sugar yield that was 91.2 mg/g greater than that of pre-erosion alone and 7.5-fold higher than that of untreated CS. This pre-erosion application was able to destroy the recalcitrant CS surface, thus leading to a rough and porous architecture that better facilitated the diffusion and transport of lignin derivatives. This enhanced the ability of laccase and manganese peroxidase secreted by B-6 to improve the efficiency of this biological pretreatment. Conclusion Bacteria were not found useful alone as a biological pretreatment, but they significantly improved enzymatic digestion after lignocellulose breakdown via other physicochemical methods. Nonetheless, phenyl or phenoxy radicals were used by laccase and manganese peroxidase in B-6 for lignin attack or lignin depolymerization. These particular mediators released from the recalcitrance network of lignocellulose openings are important for the efficacy of this bacterial pretreatment. Our findings thus offer a novel perspective on the effective design of biological pretreatment methods for lignocellulose

Bioinspired, biocompatible and peptide-decorated silk fibroin coatings for enhanced osteogenesis of bioinert implant

In this study, we develop an osteopromotive polyetheretherketone (PEEK) implant decorated with silk fibroin and bone forming peptide, in which the surface of bioinert PEEK implant is firstly sulfonated to form a three-dimensional, porous topography and then is functionalized with silk fibroin via spin-coating process and peptide decoration. The bio-test results show that cells on the functional bioinert implants exhibit better cell adhesion, proliferation and spreading, when compared with the uncoated ones. Moreover, the peptide-decorated silk fibroin coatings have ability to hasten the osteogenic differentiation and maturation of osteoblast-like cells. Our findings show the potential of the functional PEEK implants with superior bioactivity and osteoinductive property in orthopedics and dentistry. Besides, the facile, bioinspired, osteopromotive modification strategy can be used in other orthopedic and dental implants, such as titanium, zirconium dioxide

Association between methotrexate-induced Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis and furosemide: a real-world disproportionality analysis

Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) are rare and life-threatening skin adverse reactions that are usually induced by drugs. This study aimed to assess the association between methotrexate and SJS/TEN when combined with furosemide. Data on suspicious, interactions (PS, SS, I) from the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System database for 2016–2021 were analyzed using the reporting odds ratio (ROR), information component (IC), proportional reporting ratio (PRR) and the Medications and Health Care Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). We identified 28 case reports of TEN associated with the combination of furosemide and methotrexate and 10 reports of SJS associated with furosemide and methotrexate. The association of methotrexate with SJS/TEN was more significant in the entire data set when combined with furosemide than when methotrexate was not combined with furosemide. The association of methotrexate with SJS/TEN remained significant when furosemide was combined with methotrexate in a tumor-based disease context. After sensitivity analysis of the entire dataset as well as all antineoplastic drug datasets, consistent results were observed for TEN. Our study confirmed a significant association between methotrexate and SJS/TEN when combined with furosemide, with an increased risk of SJS/TEN.</p

Responses of soil extracellular enzyme activities and microbial community properties to interaction between nitrogen addition and increased precipitation in a semi-arid grassland ecosystem

Both atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition and precipitation can strongly impact below-ground biogeochemical processes. Soil extracellular enzymes activities (EEAs) and microorganisms are considered as the key agents in ecosystem nutrient cycling. However, how the interaction between increasing N deposition and precipitation may affect soil EEAs and microbes remain poorly understood. In a 5-year field experiment in a meadow steppe in northern China, we tested the effects of N addition (N0, 0; N1, 5; N2, 10 g N m−2 yr−1) and increased precipitation (W0, ambient precipitation; W1, increase of 15% ambient precipitation; W2, increase of 30% ambient precipitation) on soil EEAs, microbial and chemical properties. Results showed that their interaction significantly affected all hydrolase activities, except for β-1,4-xylosidase (βX). Furthermore, increased precipitation and N addition interactively affected bacterial gene copies (P ≤ 0.05), and increased precipitation comparatively had a stronger effects. The results on the combination of N addition and increased precipitation showed that increased precipitation alleviated the positive effects of N addition on soil EEAs. This implies that the effects of either treatment alone on grassland biogeochemical processes may be alleviated by their simultaneous occurrence. Our results suggested that soil EEAs were mainly controlled by the content of N and phosphorus (P), and the ratio of C: N and C: P. Therefore, soil element content and stoichiometry could better explain the responses of EEAs to global changes. Moreover, soil microbial communities were mainly controlled by soil P content. Overall, our study highlights that the interaction between N deposition and precipitation may play a vital role in predicting the responses of soil enzyme activities to global changes in grassland ecosystems

Multiple charge separation pathways in photosystem II: modeling of transient absorption kinetics.

Additional file 1: Figure S1. The effects of pretreatment conditions on the enzymatic hydrolysis of the untreated (dashed line) and pretreated RS. The experimental groups were A: 0.04 M FeCl3/0.04 M FeCl2/3 M H2O2; B: 0.03 M FeCl3/0.03 M FeCl2/2.25 M H2O2; C: 0.02 M FeCl3/0.02 M FeCl2/1.5 M H2O2; D: 0.01 M FeCl3/0.01 M FeCl2/0.75 M H2O2