Jianwei Xiaoyan granule ameliorates chronic atrophic gastritis by regulating HIF-1α-VEGF pathway.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Jianwei Xiaoyan Granule (JWXYG) is the traditional Chinese medicine preparation in Jiangyin Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, which has been widely used in clinical treatment of chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG). However, the material basis and potential mechanism of JWXYG in the treatment of CAG are not clear. PURPOSE: To explore the material basis and potential mechanism of JWXYG in the treatment of CAG. METHODS: In this study, the components of JWXYG were analyzed by HPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS. Then, the CAG model in rats established by a composite modeling method and MC cell model induced by MNNG were used to explore the improvement effect of JWXYG on CAG. Finally, the potential mechanism of JWXYG in the treatment of CAG was preliminarily predicted based on network pharmacology and validated experimentally. RESULTS: Thirty-one components of JWXYG were analyzed through HPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS, such as albiflorin, paeoniflorin, lobetyolin firstly. Research results in vivo showed that the gastric mucosa became thinner, intestinal metaplasia appeared, the number of glands was reduced, the serum levels of PG I and PG II increased and the contents of G17 and IL-6 reduced in CAG model rats. After 4 weeks of JWXYG (2.70 g/kg) administration, these conditions were significantly improved. In addition, cell viability, migration, and invasion of MNNG-induced MC cells was inhibited by JWXYG treatment (800 µg/mL). Furthermore, the results of network pharmacology indicated that HIF-1 and VEGF signaling pathways might play important roles in the therapeutic process. Then the results of Western blot, immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence confirmed that with JWXYG treatment, the increased expression of HIF-1α, VEGF and VEGFR2 in gastric issue of CAG rats were restrained. Eventually, potential components of JWXYG in the treatment of CAG were predicted through molecular docking to elucidate the material basis. CONCLUSION: JWXYG could inhibit angiogenesis by regulating HIF-1α-VEGF pathway to exert therapeutic effects on CAG. Our study explored the potential mechanisms and material basis of JWXYG in the treatment of CAG and provides experimental data for the clinical rational application of JWXYG.

Oral sericin ameliorates type 2 diabetes through passive intestinal and bypass transport into the systemic circulation.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Boiled silkworm cocoons have been used to treat 'Xiaoke disease' (diabetes mellitus) recorded in Chinese medicine for over 800 years. In recent years, it has been found that the active substance silk sericin (SS) has therapeutic benefits in treating type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). SS promotes pancreatic islet signalling, the proliferation of pancreatic islet cells, and insulin secretion. It is inferred that SS enters the bloodstream after oral administration and plays a role in the body's circulation. As a natural protein, SS needs to resist digestion by proteases in the gastrointestinal tract and cross the gastrointestinal barrier after oral administration. It is currently unclear how SS crosses the gastrointestinal barrier and whether it exerts therapeutic effects on T2DM by entering the circulation. AIM OF THE STUDY: To study how SS crosses the gastrointestinal barrier and whether it enters the body circulation to exert a therapeutic effect on T2DM. MATERIALS AND METHODS: SS was extracted from silkworm cocoons using an alkaline method with sodium carbonate. The antidigestive capacity of SS was detected using SDS-PAGE gel electrophoresis experiments. The mode of uptake and translocation of orally consumed SS in vivo was analysed using the AP-side to BL-side and BL-side-AP-side translocations, apparent Permeability coefficient (Papp), and Exocytosis rates (ER). The study compared the differences between the adSS group and the adSS + EDTA group by using Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) to separate the tight junctions between Caco-2 cells. The aim was to analyze whether the transport mode of oral filaggrin proteins in vivo could be absorbed by bypass transport. By administering SS through oral and intraperitoneal injection to type 2 diabetic mice, we measured its concentration in the blood, as well as blood glucose and insulin levels, to determine its effectiveness in treating diabetes and its ability to enter the body's circulation for treatment. RESULTS: The molecular weight of SS decreased from 10k∼25 kDa to 10k∼15 kDa after in vitro simulated gastrointestinal fluid digestion, indicating its good antidigestive properties. The apparent Papp was greater than 1 × 10-6 cm·s-1, and the ER was between 0.5 and 1.5, indicating that adSS was well-absorbed and mainly passively transported. The Caco-2 cell model showed that the addition of EDTA promoted the transport of adSS, resulting in significantly larger Papp and ER values, indicating that adSS was absorbed by bypass transport. After oral administration of SS, the concentration of SS in the blood was lower than after intraperitoneal injection, which is 60% of intraperitoneal administration. Mice with a T2DM model who were administered SS for 5 weeks showed significant improvement in insulin resistance and glucose tolerance. Additionally, the pancreatic tissue appeared more regular. In the treatment of T2DM, injections of SS have been shown to be more effective than oral administration. Both oral and intraperitoneal injections have been partially involved in the circulation. CONCLUSIONS: SS is enzymatically cleaved by proteolytic enzymes in the gastrointestinal tract. The smaller molecules are partially absorbed into the body's circulation through passive and paracrine transport, exerting a therapeutic effect on T2DM.

Regulatory effects of stress release from decellularized periosteum on proliferation, migration, and osteogenic differentiation of periosteum-derived cells.

Bone injury is often associated with tears in the periosteum and changes in the internal stress microenvironment of the periosteum. In this study, we investigated the biological effects of periosteal prestress release on periosteum-derived cells (PDCs) and the potential mechanisms of endogenous stem cell recruitment. Decellularized periosteum with natural extracellular matrix (ECM) components was obtained by a combination of physical, chemical, and enzymatic decellularization. The decellularized periosteum removed immunogenicity while retaining the natural network structure and composition of the ECM. The Young's modulus has no significant difference between the periosteum before and after decellularization. The extracted PDCs were further composited with the decellularized periosteum and subjected to 20% stress release. It was found that the proliferative capacity of PDCs seeded on decellularized periosteum was significantly enhanced 6 h after stress release of the periosteum. The cell culture supernatant obtained after periosteal prestress release was able to significantly promote the migration ability of PDCs within 24 h. Enzyme-linked immunosorbnent assay (ELISA) experiments showed that the expression of stroma-derived factor-1α (SDF-1α) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the supernatant increased significantly after 3 h and 12 h of stress release, respectively. Furthermore, periosteal stress release promoted the high expression of osteogenic markers osteocalcin (OCN), osteopontin (OPN), and collagen type I of PDCs. The change in stress environment caused by the release of periosteal prestress was sensed by integrin ß1, a mechanoreceptor on the membrane of PDCs, which further stimulated the expression of YAP in the nucleus. These investigations provided a novel method to evaluate the importance of mechanical stimulation in periosteum, which is also of great significance for the design and fabrication of artificial periosteum with mechanical regulation function.

Hydroxyl silicone oil grafting onto a rough thermoplastic polyurethane surface created durable super-hydrophobicity.

Indwelling medical catheters are frequently utilized in medical procedures, but they are highly susceptible to infection, posing a vital challenge for both health workers and patients. In this study, the superhydrophobic micro-nanostructure surface was constructed on the surface of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) membrane using heavy calcium carbonate (CaCO3) template. To decrease the surface free energy, hydroxyl silicone oil was grafted onto the surface, forming a super-hydrophobic surface. The water contact angle (WCA) increased from 91.1° to 143 ± 3° when the concentration of heavy calcium CaCO3 was 20% (weight-to-volume (w/v)). However, the increased WCA was unstable and tended to decrease over time. After grafting hydroxyl silicone oil, the WCA rose to 152.05 ± 1.62° and remained consistently high for a period of 30 min. Attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) analysis revealed a chemical crosslinking between silicone oil and the surface of TPU. Furthermore, Scanning electron microscope (SEM) image showed the presence of numerous nanoparticles on the micro surface. Atomic force microscope (AFM) testing indicated a significant improvement in surface roughness. This method of creating a hydrophobic surface demonstrated several advantages, including resistance to cell, bacterial, protein, and platelet adhesion and good biosecurity. Therefore, it holds promising potential for application in the development of TPU-based medical catheters with antibacterial properties.

Molecular mechanism analysis of apoptosis induced by silk fibroin peptides.

Silk fibroin derived from silkworm cocoons exhibits excellent mechanical properties, good biocompatibility, and low immunogenicity. Previous studies showed that silk fibroin had an inhibitory effect on cells, suppressing proliferation and inducing apoptosis. However, the source of the toxicity and the mechanism of apoptosis induction are still unclear. In this study, we hypothesized that the toxicity of silk fibroin might originate from the crystalline region of the heavy chain of silk fibroin. We then verified the hypothesis and the specific induction mechanism. A target peptide segment was obtained from α-chymotrypsin. The potentially toxic mixture of silk fibroin peptides (SFPs) was separated by ion exchange, and the toxicity was tested by an MTT assay. The results showed that SFPs obtained after 4 h of enzymatic hydrolysis had significant cytotoxicity, and SFPs with isoelectric points of 4.0-6.8 (SFPα II) had a significant inhibitory effect on cell growth. LC-MS/MS analysis showed that SFPα II contained a large number of glycine-rich and alanine-rich repetitive sequence polypeptides from the heavy-chain crystallization region. A series of experiments showed that SFPα II mediated cell death through the apoptotic pathway by decreasing the expression of Bcl-2 protein and increasing the expression of Bax protein. SFPα II mainly affected the p53 pathway and the AMPK signaling pathway in HepG2 cells. SFPα II may indirectly increase the expression of Cers2 by inhibiting the phosphorylation of EGFR, which activated apoptotic signaling in the cellular mitochondrial pathway and inhibited the Akt/NF-κB pathway by increasing the expression of PPP2R2A.

A diagnostic model based on 18F-FDG PET/CT parameters in improving the differential diagnosis of invasive thymic epithelial tumors and anterior mediastinal lymphomas.

BACKGROUND: Accurately distinguishing between invasive thymic epithelial tumors (TETs) and anterior mediastinal lymphoma before surgery is crucial for subsequent treatment choices. But currently, the diagnosis of invasive TET is sometimes difficult to distinguish from anterior mediastinal lymphoma. OBJECTIVE: To assess the application of fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography/computer tomography (PET/CT) in the differential diagnosis of TETs and anterior mediastinal lymphomas. METHODS: 18F-FDG PET/CT images of 133 invasive TETs and anterior mediastinal lymphomas patients were retrospectively analyzed. In particular, the tumor's longest diameter and maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) were evaluated. The SUVmax and longest diameter values of the two groups were analyzed by using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve to determine the optimal threshold and diagnostic efficiency. RESULTS: Age, myasthenia gravis, SUVmax and tumor longest diameter differed significantly between invasive TETs and anterior mediastinal lymphomas patients. The tumor location, calcification, relationship with adjacent vessels and distant metastasis differed significantly between the groups. The ROC analysis showed an AUC for SUVmax and tumor longest diameter of 0.841 and 0.737. Respectively, the cutoff values with the best diagnostic performance were 9.65 (sensitivity: 77.78%, specificity: 81.97%) and 6.65 (sensitivity: 80.56%, specificity: 62.30%) for SUVmax and tumor longest diameter. The diagnostic model of SUVmax, calcification, relationship with surrounding blood vessels, lymph node metastasis and lung metastasis in the highest AUC of 0.935 (sensitivity: 90.16%, specificity: 88.89%). In addition, we incorporated splenic involvement and metastatic sub-diaphragmatic lymph node into Model 2 as a new predictive model 3 for differential diagnosis and found a significant improvement in the diagnostic performance of Model 3. CONCLUSION: The diagnostic model composed of 18F-FDG PET parameters is improving the differential diagnosis of invasive TETs and anterior mediastinal lymphomas.

Preparation and performance of electrically conductive decellularized nerve matrix hydrogel conduits.

Peripheral nerve injury (PNI) is one of the major clinical treatment challenges following an impact on the body. When PNI manifests as nerve gaps, surgical connections and exogenous grafts are required. Recently, electrically conductive polymers (CPs) based nerve guidance conduits have yielded promising results for treating PNI. Polypyrrole (PPy) has become one of the most commonly used CPs in PNI repair due to its advantages of high conductivity and excellent biocompatibility. In this study, we combined different PPy concentrations with a chitosan (CS) temperature-sensitive hydrogel system containing decellularized nerve matrix (DNM) to construct the electrically conductive nerve conduits. We evaluated the physical and biological properties of four groups of nerve conduits. It was found that the PPy concentrations were proportional to the electrical conductivity of the nerve conduits. The mechanical properties of the nerve conduits increased with higher PPy concentrations but decreased when the PPy concentration was as high as 8%. Meanwhile, the co-blending of PPy and DNM gave the nerve conduit suitable degradation properties. Furthermore, in vitro cytotoxicity assay and live/dead assay demonstrated these conduits could support the adhesion and growth of cells. In summary, the electrically conductive nerve conduits with high conductivity, mechanical properties, biodegradation characteristics, and cytocompatibility had potential applications in the field of peripheral nerve regeneration.

Preparation of a modified silk-based gel/microsphere composite as a potential hepatic arterial embolization agent.

Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) is an effective method for treating hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In this study, chitosan (CS), sodium glycerophosphate (GP), and sodium alginate (SA) were used as the main raw materials to develop clinically non-degradable embolization microspheres (Ms). Chitosan/sodium alginate embolization Ms. were generated using an emulsification cross-linking method. The Ms. were then uniformly dispersed in CS/GP temperature-sensitive gels to produce Gel/Ms. composite embolic agents. The results showed that Gel/Ms. had good morphology and a neatly arranged three-dimensional structure, and the Ms. dispersed in the Gel as evidenced by SEM. Furthermore, Gel/Ms. has good blood compatibility, with a hemolysis rate of ≤5 %. The cytotoxicity experiments have also proven its excellent cell compatibility. The degradation rate of Gel/Ms. was 58.869 ± 1.754 % within 4 weeks, indicating that Gel/Ms. had good degradation performance matching its drug release purpose. The Gel/Ms. adheres better at the target site than Ms. alone and releases the drug steadily over a long period, and the maximum release rate of Gel/Ms. within 8 h was 38.33 ± 1.528 %, and within 168 h was 81.266 ± 1.193 %. Overall, Gel/Ms. demonstrate better slow drug release, reduced sudden drug release, prolonged drug action time at the target site, and reduced toxic side effects on the body compared to Gel alone.

Surface grafting of sericin onto thermoplastic polyurethanes to improve cell adhesion and function.

Thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) membrane has super physical-mechanical properties and biocompatibility, but the surface is inert and lack of active groups which limit its application in cell culture. Silk sericin (SS) can improve cell adhesion, proliferation, growth and metabolism. In this paper, SS was grafted onto the surface of TPU membrane by -NH2 bridge to build a high efficiency cell culture membrane. The FT-IR spectrum results indicated SS was grafted by chemical bond. According to the SEM and AFM results, we found that the grafting of SS reduced the water contact angle by 43.31% and increased the surface roughness by about four times. When TPU-SS was used for HepG2 cell culture, the cell adhesion rate of TPU-SS was significantly higher than that of the general TCPS cell culture plate, and the cell proliferation rate was close to that of TCPS. FDA/EB staining showed that HepG2 cells remained a better cellular growth behavior. HepG2 cells had higher cell vitality including the albumin secretion and the intracellular total protein synthesis. Grafting SS maintained the stability of cell and significantly decreased the cytotoxicity by decreased LDH release. In conclusion, SS grafting is beneficial to cell culture in vitro, and provides a key material for bioartificial liver culture system.

Advances in polymer-based cell encapsulation and its applications in tissue repair.

Cell microencapsulation is a more widely accepted area of biological encapsulation. In most cases, it involves fixing cells in polymer scaffolds or semi-permeable hydrogel capsules, providing the environment for protecting cells, allowing the exchange of nutrients and oxygen, and protecting cells against the attack of the host immune system by preventing the entry of antibodies and cytotoxic immune cells. Hydrogel encapsulation provides a three-dimensional (3D) environment similar to that experienced in vivo, so it can maintain normal cellular functions to produce tissues similar to those in vivo. Embedded cells can be genetically modified to release specific therapeutic products directly at the target site, thereby eliminating the side effects of systemic treatments. Cellular microcarriers need to meet many extremely high standards regarding their biocompatibility, cytocompatibility, immunoseparation capacity, transport, mechanical, and chemical properties. In this article, we discuss the biopolymer gels used in tissue engineering applications and the brief introduction of cell encapsulation for therapeutic protein production. Also, we review polymer biomaterials and methods for preparing cell microcarriers for biomedical applications. At the same time, in order to improve the application performance of cell microcarriers in vivo, we also summarize the main limitations and improvement strategies of cell encapsulation. Finally, the main applications of polymer cell microcarriers in regenerative medicine are summarized.

In Situ Regulation and Mechanisms of 3D Matrix Stiffness on the Activation and Reversion of Hepatic Stellate Cells.

Activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) is a key event in the progression of liver fibrosis. HSCs transdifferentiate into myofibroblasts and secrete large amounts of extracellular matrix, resulting in increased liver stiffness. It is difficult for platforms constructed in vitro to simulate the structure, composition, and stiffness of the 3D microenvironment of HSCs in vivo. Here, 3D scaffolds with different stiffness are constructed by decellularizing rat livers at different stages of fibrosis. The effects of matrix stiffness on the proliferation, activation, and reversion of HSCs are studied. The results demonstrate these scaffolds have good cytocompatibility. It is also found that the high stiffness can significantly promote the activation of HSCs, and this process is accompanied by the activation of integrin ß1 as well as the nucleation and activation of Yes-associated protein (YAP). Moreover, the low stiffness of the scaffold can promote the reversion of activated HSCs, which is associated with cell apoptosis and accompanied by the inactivation of integrin ß1 and YAP. These results suggest that YAP may be a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of liver fibrosis and the theoretical feasibility of inducing activated HSCs reversion to the resting state by regulating matrix stiffness of liver.

Sericin-reinforced dual-crosslinked hydrogel for cartilage defect repair.

Articular cartilage is essential for normal daily joint function activities. However, it is difficult for articular cartilage to repair itself after injury due to the lack of nerves and blood vessels, so an effective cartilage repair method is necessary. As a three-dimensional polymer network structure with high water content, hydrogel is a good candidate material for cartilage repair, and it is also a research hotspot in the treatment of cartilage injury. Here, a porous dual-crosslinked hydrogel containing sodium alginate (SA) and silk sericin (SS) was designed for in situ repair of cartilage damage. The degradation rate of the hydrogel was regulated by changing the content of SS to match the rate of cartilage regeneration. The hydrogel had excellent mechanical properties (compressive strength≈245 kPa, compressibility≈60%), high water content (85%-88%) and porosity(>20%), and when the content of SS is 1%, the scaffold has the best comprehensive performance. Existing excellent cytocompatibility, the scaffold can promote the adhesion and proliferation of chondrocytes while reducing inflammatory cell infiltration. The cartilage defect repair experiments in vivo showed that artificial cartilage was formed at 4 weeks with molecular structure similar to natural cartilage. It is expected to be applied to clinical cartilage repair through the dual-crosslinked three-dimensional cartilage scaffold.

Deciphering the chemical composition of Ganoderma lucidum from different geographical origins by mass spectrometry molecular networking coupled with multivariate analysis.

Ganoderma lucidum is a medicinal fungus that has been widely used in China and many Asian countries for thousands of years. This once rare macrofungus has now been artificially cultivated in a number of regions in China. However, detailed knowledge of its composition across different geographical origins is still lacking, as are analytical methods for comprehensive profiling of the diverse phytochemicals contained in G. lucidum. In this work, an on-demand strategy based on high-resolution MS and molecular networking is applied for natural product characterization, which led to the identification of 84 constituents in G. lucidum. Moreover, multivariate analysis, including hierarchical cluster analysis and orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis, was used to analyze the (dis)similarity of the G. lucidum samples collected from the three main production areas (i.e., Jilin, Henan and Shandong Province). The results revealed a significant variation in the chemical composition of samples from different provinces. Marker constituents corresponding to the differentiation were then screened in terms of the variable importance in projection value, P-value and fold change. A total of 24 constituents were identified as geoherbalism markers, such as ganoderenic acid A for Henan, ganolucidic acid B for Jilin and ganodernoid D for Shandong. This proof-of-concept application demonstrates that combining MS molecular networking with meticulous multivariate analysis can provide a sensitive and comprehensive analytical approach for the quality assessment of traditional Chinese medicine ingredients. This study also suggests that the bioactivity and efficacy from different origins should be further evaluated considering the large difference in chemical compositions.

Current strategies in biomaterial-based periosteum scaffolds to promote bone regeneration: A review.

The role of periosteum rich in a variety of bone cells and growth factors in the treatment of bone defects has gradually been discovered. However, due to the limited number of healthy transplantable periosteum, there are still major challenges in the clinical treatment of critical-size bone defects. Various techniques for preparing biomimetic periosteal scaffolds that are similar in composition and structure to natural periosteal scaffold have gradually emerged. This article reviews the current preparation methods of biomimetic periosteal scaffolds based on various biomaterials, which are mainly divided into natural periosteal materials and various polymer biomaterials. Several preparation methods of biomimetic periosteal scaffolds with different principles are listed, their strengths and weaknesses are also discussed. It aims to provide a more systematic perspective for the preparation of biomimetic periosteal scaffolds in the future.

Research progress of natural tissue-derived hydrogels for tissue repair and reconstruction.

There are many different grafts to repair damaged tissue. Various types of biological scaffolds, including films, fibers, microspheres, and hydrogels, can be used for tissue repair. A hydrogel, which is composed a natural or synthetic polymer network with high water absorption capacity, can provide a microenvironment closely resembling the extracellular matrix (ECM) of natural tissues to stimulate cell adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation. It has been shown to have great application potential in the field of tissue repair and regeneration. Hydrogels derived from natural tissues retain a variety of proteins and growth factors in optimal proportions, which is beneficial for the regeneration of specific tissues. This article reviews the latest research advances in the field of hydrogels from a variety of natural tissue sources, including bone tissue, blood vessels, nerve tissue, adipose tissue, skin tissue, and muscle tissue, including preparation methods, advantages, and applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Finally, it summarizes and discusses the challenges faced by natural tissue-derived hydrogels used in tissue repair, as well as future research and application directions.

Stem Cell-based Therapy Strategy for Hepatic Fibrosis by Targeting Intrahepatic Cells.

The whole liver transplantation is the most effective treatment for end-stage fibrosis. However, the lack of available donors, immune rejection and total cost of surgery remain as the key challenges in advancing liver fibrosis therapeutics. Due to the multi-differentiation and low immunogenicity of stem cells, treatment of liver fibrosis with stem cells has been considered as a valuable new therapeutic modality. The pathological progression of liver fibrosis is closely related to the changes in the activities of intrahepatic cells. Damaged hepatocytes, activated Kupffer cells and other inflammatory cells lead to hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) activation, further promoting apoptosis of damaged hepatocytes, while stem cells can work on fibrosis-related intrahepatic cells through relevant transduction pathways. Herein, this article elucidates the phenomena and the mechanisms of the crosstalk between various types of stem cells and intrahepatic cells including HSCs and hepatocytes in the treatment of liver fibrosis. Then, the important influences of chemical compositions, mechanical properties and blood flow on liver fibrosis models with stem cell treatment are emphasized. Clinical trials on stem cell-based therapy for liver fibrosis are also briefly summarized. Finally, continuing challenges and future directions of stem cell-based therapy for hepatic fibrosis are discussed. In short, stem cells play an important advantage and have a great potential in treating liver fibrosis by interacting with intrahepatic cells. Clarifying how stem cells interact with intrahepatic cells to change the progression of liver fibrosis is of great significance for a deeper understanding of liver fibrosis mechanisms and targeted therapy.

Demineralized and decellularized bone extracellular matrix-incorporated electrospun nanofibrous scaffold for bone regeneration.

Extracellular matrix (ECM)-based materials have been employed as scaffolds for bone tissue engineering, providing a suitable microenvironment with biophysical and biochemical cues for cell attachment, proliferation and differentiation. In this study, bone-derived ECM (bECM)-incorporated electrospun poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) (bECM/PCL) nanofibrous scaffolds were prepared and their effects on osteogenesis were evaluated in vitro and in vivo. The results showed that the bECM/PCL scaffolds promoted the attachment, spreading, proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of rat mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), mitigated the foreign-body reaction, and facilitated bone regeneration in a rat calvarial critical size defect model. Thus, this study suggests that bECM can provide a promising option for bone regeneration.

Correlation of 18F-FDG PET/CT SUVmax with clinical features, D-dimer and LDH in patients with primary intestinal lymphoma.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the characteristics of fluorine-18-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT) maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) in primary intestinal lymphoma (PIL) and its correlation with D-dimer and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). METHODS: Fifty-two patients diagnosed with PIL from June 2016 to December 2019 were analyzed. All patients underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT. The relationships between SUVmax and different pathological subtypes, clinical stages and risk grades were analyzed. The correlations between SUVmax and Ki-67, LDH and D-dimer were determined. Additionally, PET/CT imaging results were collected from 35 patients with primary intestinal cancer (PIC) and compared with the imaging features of PIL. RESULTS: SUVmax was significantly different between PIL and PIC groups and various PIL pathological subgroups. Patients in the high-risk PIL group had markedly higher SUVmax values than the intermediate-risk and low-risk groups. A significant positive correlation was observed between SUVmax and Ki-67 in patients with PIL. SUVmax was significantly different between the elevated and normal D-dimer groups. D-dimer showed a positive correlation with SUVmax. CONCLUSION: 18F-FDG PET/CT SUVmax reflects the aggressiveness of lymphoma to a certain degree, is correlated with Ki-67 and determines the risk grades of PIL. Moreover, it facilitates differential diagnosis, clinical staging and treatment based on D-dimer levels.

Pro-angiogenic decellularized vessel matrix gel modified by silk fibroin for rapid vascularization of tissue engineering scaffold.

Current pro-angiogenic methods in the fields of tissue engineering always aim to enrich the vascular network but neglect to provide an appropriate environment for cells, which may lead to incomplete endothelium or thrombosis. Decellularized matrix gels derived from specific tissue are expected to be suitable for targeted tissue regeneration because they preserve the biochemical properties of the native tissue. Decellularized vascular matrix gel (DVMG) has shown promise for rapid vascularization. However, DVMG is difficult to directly apply due to its weak mechanical properties and rapid degradation. In this work, silk fibroin (SF) was introduced to the DVMG to improve the physical properties of the hybrid scaffolds. The performances of the SF/DVMG scaffolds were characterized, and the results showed that SF effectively improved the overall mechanical properties of the scaffold and decreased the degradation rate. SF/DVMG scaffolds also showed good cell growth promotion effects in vitro. After the scaffolds were subcutaneously implanted in the dorsa of rats, more CD34-positive endothelial cells were expressed in the DVMG-containing scaffolds, and the number of vascular loops significantly increased compared to that of the pure SF scaffold control. The development of DVMG creates more possibilities for the rapid vascular network generation of clinically engineered scaffolds.

Acoustic study on the outbreak of Creseise acicula nearby the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant Base during the summer of 2020.

From the mid-June to mid-July 2020, there was a massive bloom of Creseise acicula nearby the waters of Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant Base (DNPP base). In order to find out the spatiotemporal dynamic characteristics of C. acicula and the main factors related to its outbreak and extinction, acoustic surveys and in-situ observations were performed. The results showed that the average abundance of C. acicula at the in-situ observation site fluctuated with the tidal rhythm. Furthermore, a horizontal migration pattern during ebb tide and a vertical subsidence trend of C. acicula was found. The outbreak of C. acicula bloom nearby the waters of DNPP base was the result of the joint action of water temperature, salinity and food availability etc. The extinction of C. acicula was mainly related to the adhesion of Licmophora, predation pressure from phytoplanktivorous fishes (such as Sardinella lemuru and Dussumieria elopsoides) and human intervention.