[Critical Review on Heavy Metal Contamination in Urban Soil and Surface Dust].

With the rapid urbanization and industrialization, heavy metal contamination in urban soil and surface dust has received particular attention due to its negative effects on the eco-environment and human health. Contamination and spatio-temporal characteristics, contamination sources, and source apportionment methods, as well as the ecological and health risks of heavy metals in urban soil and surface dust were reviewed. The knowledge gaps in current research and prospects of future works were proposed. Four key points were presented, including improving the research on the interaction mechanism of heavy metals in urban soil and surface dust under complex conditions, enriching verification methods to improve the source apportionment reliability of anthropogenic metals by receptor models, strengthening the research on chemical forms of heavy metals from different sources and their short-term accumulation processes in surface dust, and raising the credibility of ecological and health risk forecast of heavy metals by integrating the improved exposure parameters and chemical forms.

The serum lipidomics reveal the action mechanism of Danggui-Yimucao herbal pair in abortion mice.

Medical abortion is a common medical procedure that women choose to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, but it often brings post-abortion complications. Danggui (Angelica sinensis Radix)-Yimucao (Leonuri Herba), as a herbal pair (DY) in clinical prescriptions of traditional Chinese medicine, is often used in the treatment of gynecological diseases and has the traditional functions of tonifying the blood, promoting blood circulation, removing blood stasis and regulating menstruation. In this study, serum lipidomics were adopted to dissect the mechanism of DY in promoting recovery after medical abortion. A total of 152 differential metabolites were screened by lipidomics. All metabolites were imported into MetaboAnalyst for analysis, and finally key metabolic pathways such as glycerophospholipid metabolism, linoleic acid metabolism and pentose and glucuronate interconversions were enriched. Our results indicated that metabolic disorders in abortion mice were alleviated by DY through glycerophospholipid metabolism, while prostaglandin and leukotriene metabolites might be the key targets of DY to promote post-abortion recovery.

A chemometric study on the identification of 5-methylfurfural and 2-acetylfuran as particular volatile compounds of oxidized fish oil based on SHS-GC-IMS.

Fish oil develops particular off-odors, mainly fishy odor, from the oxidation of its characteristic fatty acids, docosahexaenoic (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic (EPA). Anchovy oil (AO) was taken as representative of fish oils. This was compared to three vegetable oils with different fatty acid compositions, i.e. camellia, sunflower and linseed oil, and differential volatile compounds were identified by static-headspace gas-chromatography ion-mobility-spectrometry (SHS-GC-IMS) and orthogonal partial-least-squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) during oxidation at 60 °C. Three groups of differential volatile compounds detected at higher concentrations in the AO were screened out and two compounds, identified as 5-methylfurfural and 2-acetylfuran, were characteristic to the AO and not found in the vegetable oils. They were formed from both EPA and DHA, only present in the AO, and their formation mechanisms were proposed. The contents of 5-methylfurfural and 2-acetylfuran increased linearly with the oxidation time and consequently they could be used as oxidative markers of fish oils.

Concomitant oxidation of fatty acids other than DHA and EPA plays a role in the characteristic off-odor of fish oil.

The aim of the present research was to explore the development of off-odors in fish oil from the perspective of fatty acid oxidation. It was found that the off-odors elicited by the two major ω-3 PUFAs in fish oil, i.e. DHA and EPA, were different from those by fish oil. Results showed that simultaneous oxidation of fatty acids other than DHA and EPA can be involved. The off-odors of fish oil was successfully simulated by combining oxidized samples of DHA, EPA and sunflower oil. Therefore, oxidation of oleic and linoleic acids also contributed to the off-odors in fish oil. A novel analytical approach that consisted in the combination of gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS) and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) was applied to identify differences in the volatile components between the recombinant oil and the fish oil.

Network pharmacology-based study on immunomodulatory mechanism of danggui-yimucao herb pair for the treatment of RU486-induced abortion.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: The Danggui-Yimucao herb pair (DY) is a classic combination in Chinese herbal formulas, consisting of the root of Angelica sinensis (Oliv.) Diels and the aerial parts of Leonurus japonicus Houtt. DY first appeared in "Zhulinsi fuke mifang" in the Jin Dynasty, and it has a long history as a drug for the treatment of abortion. However, its underlying immunomodulatory mechanisms involved are still unclear. AIM OF THE STUDY: In this study, network pharmacology and pharmacological experiments were used to explore the role and mechanism of DY in the treatment of medical abortion. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Network pharmacology was used to establish the relationship between the components of DY and abortion-related targets, and to enrich important pathways and biological process for verification. ELISA was used to assess progesterone levels. Flow cytometry was used to detect the degree of differentiation of Th1/Th2 cells. Immunohistochemical methods and qPCR were used to measure the expression levels of T-bet, GATA-3 and IL-4. RESULTS: Through the prediction analysis of network pharmacology, we found that key pathway for DY treatment of abortion, such as anemia, pelvic infection, immune disorders, and coagulation disorders, was Th1/Th2 cell differentiation pathway. The pharmacological results revealed that DY greatly corrected the imbalance of Th cell subsets in abortion mice, significantly inhibited the differentiation of Th2 cells, and resulted in an increase in the Th1/Th2 ratio. In addition, the concentration of progesterone in the serum of mice after abortion was significantly reduced. We also found that DY upregulated spleen T-bet and downregulated IL-4 gene expression in mice. Besides, immunohistochemical results showed that DYE could up-regulate T-bet but inhibit GATA-3 expression. CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed that after RU486-induced abortion, progesterone and Th1/Th2 paradigm were disordered in mice, but DY could make mice recover more quickly, which indicated that DY had great development value in immunoregulation.

Danggui-Yimucao Herb Pair Can Protect Mice From the Immune Imbalance Caused by Medical Abortion and Stabilize the Level of Serum Metabolites.

Unintended pregnancy is a situation that every woman may encounter, and medical abortion is the first choice for women, but abortion often brings many sequelae. Angelica sinensis Radix (Danggui) and Leonuri Herba (Yimucao) are widely used in the treatment of gynecological diseases, which can regulate menstrual disorders, amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea, and promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis, but the mechanism for the treatment of abortion is not clear. We determined the ability of Danggui and Yimucao herb pair (DY) to regulate the Th1/Th2 paradigm by detecting the level of progesterone in the serum and the expression of T-bet and GATA-3 in the spleen and uterus. Then, we detected the level of metabolites in the serum and enriched multiple metabolic pathways. The arachidonic acid pathway can directly regulate the differentiation of Th1/Th2 cells. This may be one of the potential mechanisms of DY in the treatment of abortion.

Application of Plackett-Burman Design in Screening of Natural Antioxidants Suitable for Anchovy Oil.

Considering the safety of synthetic antioxidants, more and more natural antioxidants have been developed and utilized in foods. This study aimed to screen out a natural antioxidant combination from many antioxidants, which could significantly affect the oxidation stability of anchovy oil, while Plackett-Burman design (PBD) methodology was employed in this screening. According to the statistical results of this design, sesamol, dihydromyricetin, teapolyphenol, and rosemary acid were four significant parameters on the oxidation stability of anchovy oil. Moreover, dihydromyricetin presented the best antioxidant effect among nine kinds of selected antioxidants when they were used alone in anchovy oil. Meanwhile, a combination including sesamol (0.02%), teapolyphenol (0.02%). and rosemary acid (0.02%) was adopted, and its antioxidant ability was similar to that of tert-butylhydroquinone (TBHQ). Additionally, phytic acid as a synergist was used and combined with sesamol, and the antioxidant ability of this combination was better than that of TBHQ. This study presented a reference for the industrial applications of natural antioxidants and synergists in anchovy oil.

ERK/CANP rapid signaling mediates 17ß-estradiol-induced proliferation of human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 cells.

OBJECTIVE: 17ß-estradiol (E2) exerts its functions through both genomic and non-genomic signaling pathways. Because E2 is important in breast cancer development, we investigated whether its actions in promoting breast cancer cell proliferation occur through the non-genomic signaling pathway via extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2)/calcium-activated neutral protease (CANP). METHODS: MCF-7 breast cancer cells were treated with ERKl/2 inhibitor (PD98059) or CANP inhibitor (calpeptin) before exposure to 1×10(-8) M E2. MTT colorimetry and flow cytometry were used to analyze effects on cell proliferation and cell cycle progression, respectively. Expression of phosphorylated-ERK (p-ERK), total ERK, and Capn4 proteins were assessed by Western blotting. RESULTS: Cell proliferation increased in cells treated with E2 for 24 h (P<0.05), and the proportion of cells in G0/G1 was decreased, accompanied by accelerated G1/S. Calpeptin pre-treatment significantly inhibited the E2-induced proliferation of MCF-7 cells (P<0.05), while also ameliorating the effects of E2 on cell cycle progression. Further, expression of p-ERK was rapidly up-regulated (after 10 min) by E2 (P<0.05), an effect that persisted 16 h after E2 exposure but which was significantly inhibited by PD98059 (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Finally, expression of Capn4 protein was rapidly up-regulated in E2-exposed cells (P<0.05), but this change was significantly inhibited by PD98059 or calpeptin (P<0.05) pre-treatment. Thus, the rapid, non-genomic ERK/CANP signaling pathway mediates E2-induced proliferation of human breast cancer cells.

Pathological features and prognosis of different molecular subtypes of breast cancer.

To examine the pathological features and prognosis of different molecular subtypes of breast cancer, the clinical data of 892 breast cancer patients were retrospectively analyzed and divided into four subtypes according to hormone receptor expression in breast cancer tissue: Her-2 overexpression, luminal A, luminal B and basal-like subtypes. The pathological data and prognosis of these subtypes were compared. Of the 892 breast cancer patients, there were 46 cases (5.2%) with Her-2 overexpression-type, 698 cases (78.3%) with luminal A-type, 38 cases (4.3%) with luminal B-type and 110 patients (12.2%) with basal-like-type. Immunohistochemistry was used to identify the progesterone and estrogen receptors in the tumor tissues. The χ2 test was used to verify the measurement data. The Cox proportional hazard regression model was used for the univariate and multivariate analyses. Results showed there was no statistical difference for lymphatic metastasis among the various molecular subtypes of breast cancer (P>0.05). The distant metastatic rate of patients with Her-2-type breast cancer was significantly higher compared to patients with the other three subtypes (P<0.05). The difference in local recurrence among molecular subtypes was not significantly significant (P>0.05). Lymph node metastasis, age and different molecular subtypes were found to have an impact on patient overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). Her-2 overexpression-type breast cancer patients had the lowest 9-year DFS and 7-year OS compared to the other subtypes (P<0.05). Thus, Her-2-type was associated with the worst prognosis. In conlusion, the molecular typing of breast cancer has important clinical value in prognosis estimation and is expected to affect breast cancer treatment approaches.