Surface charge controlled nucleoli selective staining with nanoscale carbon dots.

Organelle selective imaging can reveal structural and functional characters of cells undergoing external stimuli, and is considered critical in revealing biological fundamentals, designing targeted delivery system, and screening potential drugs and therapeutics. This paper describes the nucleoli targeting ability of nanoscale carbon dots (including nanodiamond) that are hydrothermally made with controlled surface charges. The surface charges of carbon dots are controlled in the range of -17.9 to -2.84 mV by changing the molar ratio of two precursors, citric acid (CA) and ethylenediamine (EDA). All carbon dots samples show strong fluorescence under wide excitation wavelength, and samples with both negative and positve charges show strong fluorescent contrast from stained nucleoli. The nucleoli selective imaging of live cell has been confirmed with Hoechst staining and nucleoli specific staining (SYTO RNA-select green), and is explained as surface charge heterogeneity on carbon dots. Carbon dots with both negative and positive charges have better ability to penetrate cell and nucleus membranes, and the charge heterogeneity helps carbon dots to bind preferentially to nucleoli, where the electrostatic environment is favored

Complex extraction of sulfonate dyes from wastewater and the effect of dye structure on extraction performance

In this study, the influences of sulfonate dye structure on the extraction rate, the reaction mechanism, and the complex ratio were studied. The parent structure and the number of sulfonic acid groups of sulfonate dyes have a great effect on extraction performance, whilst the molecular weight has a small effect on extraction performance. The results indicate that the extraction rate of azo dyes remains above 80% at the aqueous-organic phase ratio of 7:1, but the extraction rate of two anthraquinone dyes decreases to 54.9% and 34.9%, respectively; and the fewer the number of sulfonic acid groups of the dye, the better the extraction performance under the condition of insufficient extractant, the extraction rate of Direct Grey D and Acid Red M is over 82%. A complete set of methods for determining the ratio of the extractant and the dye was determined using the distribution coefficient method. The interaction between Telon Yellow 4 R and trioctylamine is ionic association and hydrogen bonding association, and the complex ratio between the dye and the extractant is about 2:1. In summary, dye structure has a big impact on the extraction performance, which should be taken into account in actual application.</p

Ginsenoside Compound K Attenuates Metastatic Growth of Hepatocellular Carcinoma, which Is Associated with the Translocation of Nuclear Factor-kappa B p65 and Reduction of Matrix Metalloproteinase-2/9

National Natural Science Foundation of China [31071187]; Research Institutes of the Fujian Province; Xiamen Municipal Science and Technology Innovation Fund [3502Z20062008]The intestinal metabolite of ginseng saponin, compound K (CK), has various chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic activities, including antitumor activity. However, the functional mechanisms through which CK attenuates metastatic growth in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain unclear. Here, using multiple in vitro and in vivo models, we reported that CK strongly attenuated colony formation, adhesion, and invasion of HCC cells in vitro and dramatically inhibited spontaneous HCC metastatic growth in vivo. At the molecular level, immunofluorescence and Western blotting analysis confirmed that inhibition of metastatic growth of HCC induced by CK treatment caused a time-dependent decrease in nuclear NF-kappa B p65 and a concomitant increase in cytosolic NF-kappa B p65, indicating that CK suppressed the activation of the NF-kappa B pathway. Meanwhile, our study showed that the inhibition of matrix metalloproteinase2/9 (MMP2/9) expression caused by CK treatment was associated with NF-kappa B p65 nuclear export. Taken together, our results not only revealed that NF-kappa B p65 nuclear export and the reduction of MMP2/9 expression were associated with the metastatic inhibition induced by CK, but also suggested that CK may become a potential cytotoxic drug in the prevention and treatment of HCC

The Fluoro-Thiazolylhydrazone Compound TSC-3C Inhibits Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) Cell Line Activity by Promoting Apoptosis, Regulating the MAPK Pathway and Inducing Mitochondrial Dysfunction

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive cancer in women, and despite improved treatments, it remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality. We and others have demonstrated that different hybrid compounds targeting PARP/MAPK or other pathways to inhibit cancer progression may lead to promising therapeutic results. We introduced fluorine to alter the physical properties of the compounds. TSC-3C was one of the generated compounds. Upon treatment with TSC-3C, MDA-MB-231 cell proliferation, invasion, and migration were inhibited. TSC-3C induced MDA-MB-231 cell mitochondrial dysfunction and apoptosis, which may be caused by reducing the level of phosphorylated p44/42 MAPK (ERK1/2) and increasing the level of p-JNK. The present study may help to elucidate the role of the MAPK pathway in the development of breast cancer and may promote further research on halogenated heterocyclic compounds for the treatment of breast cancer

Design and synthesis of the novel oleanolic acid-cinnamic acid ester derivatives and glycyrrhetinic acid-cinnamic acid ester derivatives with cytotoxic properties

Oleanolic acid (OA) and glycyrrhetinic acid (GA) are natural products with anticancer effects. Cinnamic acid (CA) and its derivatives also exhibited certain anticancer activity. In order to improve the anticancer activity of OA and GA, we designed and synthesized a series of novel OA-CA ester derivatives and GA-CA ester derivatives by using molecular hybridization approach. The 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay was used to assess their in vitro cytotoxicity on three cell lines (HeLa (cervical cancer), MCF-7 (breast cancer) and L-O2 (a normal hepatic cell)). Among the evaluated compounds, 3o presented the strongest selective cytotoxicity on HeLa cells (IC50 = 1.35 μM) and showed no inhibitory activity against MCF-7 cells (IC50 > 100 μM) and L-O2 cells (IC50 > 100 μM), and 3e presented the strongest selective inhibition of the MCF-7 cells (IC50 = 1.79 μM). What's more, compound 2d also showed very strong selective inhibitory activity against HeLa cells (IC50 = 1.55 μM). The further research using Hoechst 33342, AO/EB dual-staining, flow cytometric analysis and DCFH-DA fluorescent dye staining assay presented that 2d and 3o could induce HeLa cells apoptosis and autophagy.status: publishe

Corrigendum: Role of aerobic exercise in ameliorating NASH: Insights into the hepatic thyroid hormone signaling and circulating thyroid hormones.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2022.1075986.]

Role of aerobic exercise in ameliorating NASH: Insights into the hepatic thyroid hormone signaling and circulating thyroid hormones.

AIM: Triiodothyronine (T3) administration significantly eliminates hepatic steatosis and also has a therapeutic effect on non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). However, the potential mechanism by which T3-mediated exercise improves NASH is unknow. This study aimed to explore the effect of aerobic exercise on liver injury in NASH. METHODS: Aerobic exercise was conducted to explore the effects of exercise on liver injury in NASH model induced by Atherosclerotic (Ath) diet. Biochemical evaluations, histological staining and real-time PCR were first applied to confirm the amelioration effects of exercise on NASH. RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis for livers of each group were further used to identify the underlying mechanisms of aerobic exercise. Bioinformatics methods were used to explore the key functional pathways involved in the improvement of liver tissue in NASH mice by aerobic exercise. RESULTS: Aerobic exercise improved hepatic steatosis, lobular inflammation and fibrosis in NASH mice. multiple inflammation-related pathways were significantly enriched in the liver of NASH group and improved by aerobic exercise. The results of gene set variation analysis (GSVA) showed a higher enrichment score of T3 response signature in NASH mice with exercise. Increased Dio1 expression in the liver of NASH with exercise mice and increased circulating FT3 and FT4 levels upon aerobic exercise were confirmed. CONCLUSIONS: We found that aerobic exercise could significantly reduce hepatic lipid accumulation, inflammatory infiltration and fibrosis progression in the liver of NASH mice. Hepatic thyroid hormone signaling activation and circulating thyroid hormones is potentially involved in the amelioration effect of aerobatic exercise on NASH progression