The mechanism of Renshen-Fuzi herb pair for treating heart failure—Integrating a cardiovascular pharmacological assessment with serum metabolomics

Background: Renshen-Fuzi herb pair (RS-FZ) is often used in the clinical treatment of heart failure (HF) and has a remarkable therapeutic effect. However, the mechanism of RS-FZ for treating HF remains unclear. In our study, we explored the mechanism of RS-FZ for treating HF.Methods: Evaluation of RS-FZ efficacy by cardiovascular pharmacology. Moreover, Global metabolomics profiling of the serum was detected by UPLC-QTOF/MS. Multivariate statistics analyzed the specific serum metabolites and corresponding metabolic pathways. Combining serum metabolomics with network pharmacology, animal experiments screened and validated the critical targets of RS-FZ intervention in HF.Results: RS-FZ significantly ameliorated myocardial fibrosis, enhanced cardiac function, and reduced the serum HF marker (brain natriuretic peptide) level in rats with HF. Through topological analysis of the “Metabolite-Target-Component” interaction network, we found that 79 compounds of RS-FZ directly regulated the downstream specific serum metabolites by acting on four critical target proteins (CYP2D6, EPHX2, MAOB, and ENPP2). The immunohistochemistry results showed that RS-FZ observably improved the expression of CYP2D6 and ENPP2 proteins while decreasing the expression of EPHX2 and MAOB proteins dramatically.Conclusion: The integrated cardiovascular pharmacological assessment with serum metabolomics revealed that RS-FZ plays a crucial role in the treatment of HF by intervening in CYP2D6, EPHX2, MAOB, and ENPP2 target proteins. It provides a theoretical basis for RS-FZ for treating HF

Form-Stable Phase Change Material with Wood-Based Materials as Support

Building shape-stable phase change materials (PCMs) are crucial for their practical applications. Particularly, it is vital to utilize renewable/recyclable biomass media as the support material of form-stable PCMs. In this review article, we summarized the recent developments for building form-stable PCMs consisting of wood as a supporting material, either carbonized wood or wood composites. Moreover, the electrothermal conversion and photothermal conversion of form-stable PCMs based on carbonized wood are also demonstrated. In addition, the current technical problems and future research developments of wood-based PCMs are discussed, especially the leakage problem of PCMs during the phase change transition process. All of this information will be helpful for the in-depth understanding and development of new PCMs suitable for wide application perspectives

Genetic relationships of 34 grapevine varieties and construction of molecular fingerprints by SSR markers

In order to protect and promote the effective differentiation and rational utilization of grape germplasm resources, 34 grapevine varieties were selected from the National Germplasm Resources, Taigu Grape Nursery in China: 12 wine grapes (Group I), 14 table grapes (Group II) and 12 seedless grapes (Group III), 4 of which were in Group II, too. For the purpose of genetic characterization, 15 pairs of SSR (simple sequence repeat) primers were used. Sixty-six alleles were generated among Group I, including 64 polymorphic bands, with 1–8 alleles per locus. In Group II, a total of 54 alleles, from 1 to 8 (3.6 on average) alleles per locus, were identified. In Group III, 54 alleles with an average of 3.6 alleles per locus were identified and the percentage of polymorphic alleles was 94%. The 34 varieties clustered into two major clades in the dendrogram: V. vinifera with hybrid of V. vinifera and V. labrusca or hybrid of V. amurensisi and V. vinifera were clearly differentiated. After processing and filtering the raw data, we produced the molecular fingerprint code of each variety. These results showed that the SSR markers are useful for discrimination and analysis of genetic diversity of grapevine varieties. The SSR markers could be used to examine and distinguish the genetic resources among closely related varieties. This is also an effective tool for construction of a grapevine molecular fingerprinting system. The obtained data will be useful in grape breeding in the future

Hierarchical yolk-shell layered potassium niobate for tuned pH-dependent photocatalytic H2 evolution

Photocatalysts and the reaction environments in which they act are crucial for improving the photocatalytic efficiency. But the pH-dependent evolution of H2 photocatalysed using nanoscale potassium niobate particles with high surface areas has not received attention. In this study, a straightforward Ostwald ripening method was developed to synthesize KNb3O8 with a thin nanosheet assembled hierarchical yolk–shell structure and large surface area of 60.6 m2 g−1. The H2 evolution from a water–methanol solution in an alkaline to neutral environment was studied. The photocatalytic H2 evolution rates over fabricated hierarchical yolk–shell KNb3O8 increased when OH− concentrations were decreased. Such behaviour implied that the concentration of H+ dominated the H2 evolution over hierarchical yolk–shell KNb3O8 rather than the reduction ability from the conduction band, differing from the corresponding bulk material. This study demonstrated an efficient method to achieve a high H2 evolution rate in a neutral environment through the use of photocatalysts with hierarchical structures and large surface areas

The mechanism of trans-δ-viniferin inhibiting the proliferation of lung cancer cells A549 by targeting the mitochondria

Trans-δ-viniferin (TVN), as a natural extract, is a resveratrol dimer with attractive biological activities, particularly its anti-tumor character. However, the mechanism of TVN interfering with cancerous proliferation has not been fully understood. Herein in this study, we found that TVN could trigger cancerous mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) reduction, with intracellular reactive oxidative species (ROS) level increasing, leading to apoptosis, which makes TVN a promising candidate for lung cancer cells A549 treatment. Therefore, this study provides TVN as an option to meet the demand for higher antitumor availability with lower biotoxicity and other clinical applications