Selenium Polysaccharide SPMP-2a from Pleurotus geesteranus Alleviates H2O2-Induced Oxidative Damage in HaCaT Cells

Selenium- (Se-) enriched polysaccharide SPMP-2a was extracted and purified from Pleurotus geesteranus. SPMP-2a is a white flocculent polysaccharide and soluble in water, with a molecular weight of 3.32 × 104 Da. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy spectral analysis indicated that it belongs to an acid Se polysaccharide with α-D-glucopyranoside bond. The effects of Se polysaccharide SPMP-2a in P. geesteranus against hydrogen peroxide- (H2O2-) induced oxidative damage in human keratinocytes (HaCaT) cells were evaluated further. Reduced cell viability and elevated apoptotic rates in H2O2-treated HaCaT cells were proven by MTT and flow cytometry assays. Hoechst 33342 staining revealed chromatin condensations in the nuclei of HaCaT cells. However, with the addition of SPMP-2a, cell viability improved, nuclear condensation declined, and cell apoptotic rates dropped significantly. Ultrastructural observation consistently revealed that treatments with SPMP-2a reduced the number of swollen and vacuolar mitochondria in the H2O2-treated cells compared with the controls. Furthermore, SPMP-2a increased the superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities and reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) content. Western blot analysis showed that SPMP-2a treatment effectively increased B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) protein expression. Therefore, SPMP-2a could improve cellular antioxidant enzyme activities, reduce ROS levels, and increase Bcl-2 protein expression levels, thereby reducing cell apoptosis and protecting HaCaT cells from H2O2-induced oxidative damage

Soyasaponin Ag inhibits triple-negative breast cancer progression via targeting the DUSP6/MAPK signaling

Introduction. Soyasaponins are triterpenoid glycosides discovered in soybean and have anti-cancer properties. Soyasaponin A was reported to repress estrogen-insensitive breast cancer cell proliferation. This study intends to explore the role of one isomer of soyasaponin A, i.e. soyasaponin Ag (Ssa Ag), in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) development. Material and methods. Bioinformatic databases were used to predict DUSP6 expression in breast cancer (BC) as well as the correlation between the expression of DUSP6 (or MAPK1, MAPK14) with the prognosis of patients with BC. The expression of DUSP6/MAPK signaling-related genes (DUSP6, MAPK1, and MAPK14) in TNBC cell lines was assessed via Western blot analysis and RT-qPCR. Levels of cell apoptosis proteins (Bax and Bcl-2) in TNBC cells were assessed via Western blot analysis. CCK-8 assay, colony formation assay, and flow cytometry analysis were conducted for the measurement of TNBC cell growth and apoptosis. In vivo xenograft assay was employed for investigating the biological influence of Ssa Ag on tumor growth. Results. The poor prognosis of BC patients was linked to the aberrant expression of DUSP6/MAPK pathwaygenes. Low expression of DUSP6 or high expression of MAPK1 (or MAPK14) was correlated to poor prognosis. DUSP6 was downregulated while MAPK1 and MAPK14 were upregulated in TNBC cells versus normal cells. Ssa Ag upregulated DUSP6 expression while downregulated MAPK1 and MAPK14 expression, inhibiting the MAPK signaling pathway. Additionally, Ssa Ag promoted in vitro TNBC cell apoptosis and restrained cell growth, and repressed in vivo tumor growth. Conclusions. Ssa Ag inhibited TNBC progression via upregulating DUSP6 and inactivating the MAPK signaling pathway

Mitigation of heat stress in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) via regulation of physiological attributes using sodium nitroprusside and gibberellic acid

Abstract Heat stress poses a threat to plants in arid and semiarid regions, leading to soil salinization and plant mortality. Researchers are exploring remedies to alleviate these effects, including using gibberellic acid (GA3) to regulate plant enzymes and antioxidants. Additionally, sodium nitroprusside (SNP) is gaining attention, but its combined effect with GA3 requires further research. To address this gap, we investigated the effects of GA3 and SNP on plants under heat stress conditions. For that, wheat plants were cultivated under 40 °C for 6 h per day (15 days). Sodium nitroprusside (donor of NO and SNP) and gibberellic acid (GA3), respectively, with 100 µM and 5 µg/ml concentrations, were applied as foliar sprays at 10 days after sowing (DAS). Results showed that SNP + GA3 treatment had the highest plant height (4.48% increase), plant fresh weight (29.7%), plant dry weight (87%), photosynthetic rate (39.76%) and stomatal conductance (38.10%), and Rubisco (54.2%) compared to the control. Our findings indicate a significant increase in NO, H2O2, TBARS, SOD, POD, APX, proline, GR, and GB that greatly scavenged reactive oxygen species (ROS) for decreasing the adverse effect of stress. Such findings confirmed the efficacy of the combined treatment of SNP + GA3 under high-temperature stress compared to the solitary application of GA3, SNP, and control. In conclusion, using SNP + GA3 is a better strategy for mitigating heat stress in wheat than individual applications. Further research is recommended to validate the effectiveness of SNP + GA3 in other cereal crops. Graphical Abstrac

Uncovering the impact of AM fungi on wheat nutrient uptake, ion homeostasis, oxidative stress, and antioxidant defense under salinity stress

Abstract The growth of wheat (Triticum aestivum) is constrained by soil salinity, although some fungal species have been shown to enhance production in saline environments. The yield of grain crops is affected by salt stress, and this study aimed to investigate how arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus (AMF) mitigates salt stress. An experiment was conducted to assess the impact of AMF on wheat growth and yield in conditions of 200 mM salt stress. Wheat seeds were coated with AMF at a rate of 0.1 g (108 spores) during sowing. The results of the experiment demonstrated that AMF inoculation led to a significant improvement in the growth attributes of wheat, including root and shoot length, fresh and dry weight of root and shoot. Furthermore, a significant increase in chlorophyll a, b, total, and carotenoids was observed in the S2 AMF treatment, validating the effectiveness of AMF in enhancing wheat growth under salt stress conditions. Additionally, AMF application reduced the negative effects of salinity stress by increasing the uptake of micronutrients such as Zn, Fe, Cu, and Mn while regulating the uptake of Na (decrease) and K (increase) under salinity stress. In conclusion, this study confirms that AMF is a successful strategy for reducing the negative effects of salt stress on wheat growth and yield. However, further investigations are recommended at the field level under different cereal crops to establish AMF as a more effective amendment for the alleviation of salinity stress in wheat

Alleviation of salinity stress by EDTA chelated-biochar and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on maize via modulation of antioxidants activity and biochemical attributes

Abstract Salinity stress adversely affects agricultural productivity by disrupting water uptake, causing nutrient imbalances, and leading to ion toxicity. Excessive salts in the soil hinder crops root growth and damage cellular functions, reducing photosynthetic capacity and inducing oxidative stress. Stomatal closure further limits carbon dioxide uptake that negatively impact plant growth. To ensure sustainable agriculture in salt-affected regions, it is essential to implement strategies like using biofertilizers (e.g. arbuscular mycorrhizae fungi = AMF) and activated carbon biochar. Both amendments can potentially mitigate the salinity stress by regulating antioxidants, gas exchange attributes and chlorophyll contents. The current study aims to explore the effect of EDTA-chelated biochar (ECB) with and without AMF on maize growth under salinity stress. Five levels of ECB (0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8%) were applied, with and without AMF. Results showed that 0.8ECB + AMF caused significant enhancement in shoot length (~ 22%), shoot fresh weight (~ 15%), shoot dry weight (~ 51%), root length (~ 46%), root fresh weight (~ 26%), root dry weight (~ 27%) over the control (NoAMF + 0ECB). A significant enhancement in chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and total chlorophyll content, photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate and stomatal conductance was also observed in the condition 0.8ECB + AMF relative to control (NoAMF + 0ECB), further supporting the efficacy of such a combined treatment. Our results suggest that adding 0.8% ECB in soil with AMF inoculation on maize seeds can enhance maize production in saline soils, possibly via improvement in antioxidant activity, chlorophyll contents, gas exchange and morphological attributes

Immunomodulation-based strategy for improving soft tissue and metal implant integration and its implications in the development of metal soft tissue materials

The difficulties associated with metal implants and soft tissue integration have significantly affected the applications of metal implants in soft-tissue-related areas. Prompted by the close association between soft tissue integration and the immune response, an immunomodulation-based strategy is proposed to manipulate the immune microenvironment and improve metal implant–soft tissue integration. Considering their vital roles in soft tissue responses to metal implants, macrophages are used and the cytokines fingerprints of M1 and M2 macrophage immune microenvironments are evaluated for their potential modulatory effects on metal implant–soft tissue integration. The modulatory effects of different immune microenvironments on model soft tissue cells (human gingival epithelium cells) cultured on model metal implants (titanium alloy disks) are then described, with the underlying possible mechanism FAK-AKT-mTOR signaling unveiled. As further proof of concept, IL-4/PDA (polydopamine)-coated titanium alloy implants, aiming at modulating M2 macrophage polarization, are prepared and found to improve the in vivo metal implant-soft tissue integration. It is the authors' ambition that this immunomodulation-based strategy will change the negative perception and encourage the active development of metal materials with favorable soft tissue integration properties, thus improving the success rates of perforating metal implants and broadening their application in soft-tissue-related areas.</p

A transcriptomic analysis reveals soybean seeds pre-harvest deterioration resistance pathways under high temperature and humidity stress

Pre-harvest soybean seeds in the field are susceptible to high temperature and humidity (HTH) stress, leading to pre-harvest seed deterioration, which will result in a reduction in grain quality, yield, and seed vigor. To understand the gene expression involved in seed deterioration response under HTH stress, in this study, we conducted an RNA-Seq analysis using two previously screened soybean cultivars with contrasting seed deterioration resistance. HTH stress induced 1081 and 357 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the sensitive cultivar Ningzhen No. 1 and resistant cultivar Xiangdou No. 3, respectively. The majority of DEGs in the resistant cultivar were up-regulated, while down-regulated DEGs were predominant in the sensitive cultivar. KEGG pathway analysis revealed that metabolic pathways, biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, and protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum were the predominant pathways in both cultivars during seed deterioration under HTH stress. The genes involved in photosynthesis, carbohydrate metabolism, lipid metabolism, and heat shock proteins pathways might contribute to the different response to seed deterioration under HTH treatment in the two soybean cultivars. Our study extends the knowledge of gene expression in soybean seed under HTH stress and further provides insight into the molecular mechanism of seed deterioration as well as new strategies for breeding soybean with improved seed deterioration resistance.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

Tumor budding of cervical squamous cell carcinoma: epithelial-mesenchymal transition-like cancer stem cells?

Recent evidence indicates that cancer stem cells (CSCs) are the origin of cancers. Scientists have identified CSCs in various tumors and have suggested the existence of a variety of states of CSCs. The existence of epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT)-like CSCs has been confirmed in vitro, but they have not been identified in vivo. Tumor budding was defined as single cell or clusters of ≤ 5 cells at the invasive front of cancers. Such tumor budding is hypothesized to be closely related to EMT and linked to CSCs, especially to those migrating at the invasive front. Therefore, tumor budding has been proposed to represent EMT-like stem cells. However, this hypothesis has not yet been proven. Thus, we studied the expression of EMT markers, certain CSC markers of tumor budding, and the tumor center of cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CxSCC). We performed tissue chip analyses of 95 primary CxSCCs from patients. Expression of EMT and CSC markers (E-cadherin, β-catenin, vimentin, Ki67, CD44, SOX2 , and ALDH1A1) in a set of tumor samples on tissue chips (87 cases of tumor budding/the main tumor body) were evaluated by immunohistochemistry. We found that the cell-membranous expression of β-catenin was stronger in the main tumor body than in tumor buds. Compared with the main tumor body, tumor buds had reduced proliferative activity as measured by Ki67. Moreover, vimentin expression was high and E-cadherin expression was low in tumor buds. Expression of EMT-related markers suggested that tumor buds were correlated with EMT. We noted that CxSCC tumor buds had a CD44negative/low/SOX2high/ALDH1A1high staining pattern, indicating that tumor buds of CxSCC present CSC-like immunophenotypic features. Taken together, our data indicate that tumor buds in CxSCC may represent EMT-like CSCs in vivo

Immunomodulation-based development engineering for advancing metal soft tissue implants

Metal materials have been widely applied clinically due to their superior mechanical properties. However, the integration of metallic implants with surrounding soft tissue remains challenging and may lead to severe infections and failure of treatments. Development of natural exemplar suggests that the establishment of the soft tissue integration around hard surfaces is a complex scenario associated with the coordination of epithelial tissue, connective tissue and immune cells. In addition, the influence of the peri-implant immune microenvironment on soft tissue integration reparative process has received increasing attention. Given that the properties of the metal implant could effectively modulate immune response, it is predictable to regulate the immune microenvironment around metal implants for optimized soft tissue integration. This review firstly compared the establishment of natural biological hard surface-soft tissue integration with metal implants, in which the important role of epithelial tissue, connective tissue and immune cells were emphasized. Furthermore, up-to-date research outcomes in the closely connections between the immune microenvironment and soft tissue integration were discussed and summarized. From the view of natural soft-hard tissue integration development and reparative process, the immunomodulation-based strategy is proposed to manipulate the immune microenvironment for the enhancement of soft tissue-metal implant integration

Effect of carboxymethyl cellulose and gibberellic acid-enriched biochar on osmotic stress tolerance in cotton

Abstract The deleterious impact of osmotic stress, induced by water deficit in arid and semi-arid regions, poses a formidable challenge to cotton production. To protect cotton farming in dry areas, it’s crucial to create strong plans to increase soil water and reduce stress on plants. The carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), gibberellic acid (GA3) and biochar (BC) are individually found effective in mitigating osmotic stress. However, combine effect of CMC and GA3 with biochar on drought mitigation is still not studied in depth. The present study was carried out using a combination of GA3 and CMC with BC as amendments on cotton plants subjected to osmotic stress levels of 70 (70 OS) and 40 (40 OS). There were five treatment groups, namely: control (0% CMC-BC and 0% GA3-BC), 0.4%CMC-BC, 0.4%GA3-BC, 0.8%CMC-BC, and 0.8%GA3-BC. Each treatment was replicated five times with a completely randomized design (CRD). The results revealed that 0.8 GA3-BC led to increase in cotton shoot fresh weight (99.95%), shoot dry weight (95.70%), root fresh weight (73.13%), and root dry weight (95.74%) compared to the control group under osmotic stress. There was a significant enhancement in cotton chlorophyll a (23.77%), chlorophyll b (70.44%), and total chlorophyll (35.44%), the photosynthetic rate (90.77%), transpiration rate (174.44%), and internal CO2 concentration (57.99%) compared to the control group under the 40 OS stress. Thus 0.8GA3-BC can be potential amendment for reducing osmotic stress in cotton cultivation, enhancing agricultural resilience and productivity