Kahweol inhibits adipogenesis of 3T3-L1 adipocytes through downregulation of PPARγ

<p>Kahweol, a compound from <i>Coffea arabica,</i> possesses antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antitumour properties. However, an anti-adipogenic effect has not yet been reported. In this study, we have shown that kahweol has an anti-adipogenic effect on 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Kahweol significantly inhibited the differentiation of intracellular lipid accumulation in 3T3-L1 adipocytes, without being cytotoxic. It also downregulated the expression of adipogenesis-related gene, including an adipocytokine, adiponectin. This anti-adipogenic effect stems from an ability to inhibit key adipogenic regulators, including PPARγ and C/EBPα. These results demonstrate that kahweol significantly inhibits the differentiation of 3T3-L1 cells, and suggest that it has potential as a novel anti-obesity treatment.</p

Photopolymerization of Reactive Amphiphiles: Automatic and Robust Vertical Alignment Layers of Liquid Crystals with a Strong Surface Anchoring Energy

A photopolymerizable itaconic acid-based amphiphile (abbreviated as Ita3C₁₂) consisting of a hydrophilic carboxylic acid, three alkyl tails, and a reactive vinyl function was newly designed and synthesized for the formation of automatic and robust vertical alignment (VA) layer of nematic liquid crystals (NLC). Since a hydrophilic carboxylic acid was chemically attached to the end of Ita3C₁₂, the Ita3C₁₂ amphiphiles initially dissolved in the host NLC medium were migrated toward the substrates for the construction of VA layer of NLC. The alkyl tails of Ita3C₁₂ in the VA layer directly interacted with host NLC molecules and made them to automatically align vertically. Because of the reactive vinyl functions of Ita3C₁₂ amphiphiles, it was possible to stabilize the automatic VA layer by the photopolymerization with methacryl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (MAPOSS) cross-linkers. The polymer-stabilized robust Ita3C₁₂ VA layer exhibited a strong surface anchoring energy without generating any light scatterings. The automatic fabrication of robust LC alignment layers can allow us to reduce the manufacturing cost and to open new doors for electro-optical applications

Interfacial Engineering for the Synergistic Enhancement of Thermal Conductivity of Discotic Liquid Crystal Composites

To develop an advanced heat transfer composite, a deeper understanding of the interfacial correlation between matrix and filler is of paramount importance. To verify the effect of interfacial correlations on the thermal conductivity, the conductive fillers such as expanded graphite (EG) and boron nitride (BN) are introduced in the discotic liquid crystal (DLC)-based polymeric matrix. The DLC matrix exhibits better interfacial affinity with EG compared to BN because of the strong π–π interactions between EG and DLC. Thanks to its excellent interfacial affinity, the EG-DLC composites show a synergistic increment in thermal conducting performance

Temperature-Dependent Resonance Energy Transfer from Semiconductor Quantum Wells to Graphene

Resonance energy transfer (RET) has been employed for interpreting the energy interaction of graphene combined with semiconductor materials such as nanoparticles and quantum-well (QW) heterostructures. Especially, for the application of graphene as a transparent electrode for semiconductor light emitting diodes, the mechanism of exciton recombination processes such as RET in graphene-semiconductor QW heterojunctions should be understood clearly. Here, we characterized the temperature-dependent RET behaviors in graphene/semiconductor QW heterostructures. We then observed the tuning of the RET efficiency from 5% to 30% in graphene/QW heterostructures with ∼60 nm dipole–dipole coupled distance at temperatures of 300 to 10 K. This survey allows us to identify the roles of localized and free excitons in the RET process from the QWs to graphene as a function of temperature