Additive manufacturing of silica aerogels.

Owing to their ultralow thermal conductivity and open pore structure1-3, silica aerogels are widely used in thermal insulation4,5, catalysis6, physics7,8, environmental remediation6,9, optical devices10 and hypervelocity particle capture11. Thermal insulation is by far the largest market for silica aerogels, which are ideal materials when space is limited. One drawback of silica aerogels is their brittleness. Fibre reinforcement and binders can be used to overcome this for large-volume applications in building and industrial insulation5,12, but their poor machinability, combined with the difficulty of precisely casting small objects, limits the miniaturization potential of silica aerogels. Additive manufacturing provides an alternative route to miniaturization, but was "considered not feasible for silica aerogel"13. Here we present a direct ink writing protocol to create miniaturized silica aerogel objects from a slurry of silica aerogel powder in a dilute silica nanoparticle suspension (sol). The inks exhibit shear-thinning behaviour, owing to the high volume fraction of gel particles. As a result, they flow easily through the nozzle during printing, but their viscosity increases rapidly after printing, ensuring that the printed objects retain their shape. After printing, the silica sol is gelled in an ammonia atmosphere to enable subsequent processing into aerogels. The printed aerogel objects are pure silica and retain the high specific surface area (751 square metres per gram) and ultralow thermal conductivity (15.9 milliwatts per metre per kelvin) typical of silica aerogels. Furthermore, we demonstrate the ease with which functional nanoparticles can be incorporated. The printed silica aerogel objects can be used for thermal management, as miniaturized gas pumps and to degrade volatile organic compounds, illustrating the potential of our protocol.

Sustainable-Macromolecule-Assisted Preparation of Cross-linked, Ultralight, Flexible Graphene Aerogel Sensors toward Low-Frequency Strain/Pressure to High-Frequency Vibration Sensing.

Ultralight and highly flexible aerogel sensors, composed of reduced graphene oxide cross-linked by sustainable-macromolecule-derived carbon, are prepared via facile freeze-drying and thermal annealing. The synergistic combination of cross-linked graphene nanosheets and micrometer-sized honeycomb pores gives rise to the exceptional properties of the aerogels, including superior compressibility and resilience, good mechanical strength and durability, satisfactory fire-resistance, and outstanding electromechanical sensing performances. The corresponding aerogel sensors, operated at an ultralow voltage of 0.2 V, can efficiently respond to a wide range of strains (0.1-80%) and pressures (13-2750 Pa) even at temperatures beyond 300 °C. Moreover, the ultrahigh-pressure sensitivity of 10 kPa-1 and excellent sensing stability and durability are accomplished. Strikingly, the aerogel sensors can also sense the vibration signals with ultrahigh frequencies of up to 4000 Hz for >1 000 000 cycles, significantly outperforming those of other sensors. These enable successful demonstration of the exceptional performance of the cross-linked graphene-based biomimetic aerogels for sensitive monitoring of mechanical signals, e.g., acting as wearable devices for monitoring human motions, and for nondestructive monitoring of cracks on engineering structures, showing the great potential of the aerogel sensors as next-generation electronics.

Targeted lipidomics analysis of lysine 179 acetylation of ACSF2 in rat hepatic stellate cells.

Activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) is generally recognized as a central driver of liver fibrosis. Metabolism of fatty acids (FA) plays a critical role in the activation of HSCs. Proteomics analysis on lysine acetylation of proteins in activated HSCs in our previous study indicated that acetylation of the lysine residues on ACSF2 is one of the most significantly upregulated sites in activated-HSCs and K179 is its important acetylation site. However, the role of acetylation at K179 of ACSF2 on activation of HSCs and free fatty acids (FFA) metabolism remains largely unknown. The reported study demonstrates that acetylation at K179 of ACSF2 promoted HSCs activation. The targeted lipidomic analysis indicated K179 acetylation of ACSF2 mainly affected long chain fatty acids (LCFA) metabolism, especially oleic acid, elaidic acid and palmitoleic acid. And the liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis further demonstrated the formation of many long-chain acyl-CoAs were catalyzed by acetylation at K179 of ACSF2 including oleic acid, elaidic acid and palmitoleic acid. In conclusion, this study indicated that ACSF2 may be a potential therapeutic targets by regulating the metabolism of LCFA for liver fibrosis.

Printed aerogels: chemistry, processing, and applications.

As an extraordinarily lightweight and porous functional nanomaterial family, aerogels have attracted considerable interest in academia and industry in recent decades. Despite the application scopes, the modest mechanical durability of aerogels makes their processing and operation challenging, in particular, for situations demanding intricate physical structures. "Bottom-up" additive manufacturing technology has the potential to address this drawback. Indeed, since the first report of 3D printed aerogels in 2015, a new interdisciplinary research area combining aerogel and printing technology has emerged to push the boundaries of structure and performance, further broadening their application scope. This review summarizes the state-of-the-art of printed aerogels and presents a comprehensive view of their developments in the past 5 years, and highlights the key near- and mid-term challenges.

Chemistry of Chitosan Aerogels: Three-Dimensional Pore Control for Tailored Applications.

Chitosan is an abundant biopolymer derived from food waste with attractive properties, particularly its high biocompatibility and easy chemical processability. Here, we review the rapidly expanding literature on chitosan-based porous materials with a focus on the gelation mechanisms, the three-dimensional multiscale structural control, and the diverse chemical functionality not accessible by other biopolymers. The properties vary widely: from supercritically dried, mesoporous chitosan aerogels to very light, freeze-dried macroporous scaffolds. Porous chitosan displays impressive performance at the laboratory scale, but the highly (meso)porous nature amplifies not only the beneficial functionality of chitosan, but also its drawbacks, resulting in serious barriers to industrialization. In order to facilitate technology transfer, we critically discuss the practical feasibility of chitosan aerogels in potential applications compared to conventional and other biopolymer-based porous or nonporous materials.

Biopolymer Aerogels and Foams: Chemistry, Properties, and Applications.

Biopolymer aerogels were among the first aerogels produced, but only in the last decade has research on biopolymer and biopolymer-composite aerogels become popular, motivated by sustainability arguments, their unique and tunable properties, and ease of functionalization. Biopolymer aerogels and open-cell foams have great potential for classical aerogel applications such as thermal insulation, as well as emerging applications in filtration, oil-water separation, CO2 capture, catalysis, and medicine. The biopolymer aerogel field today is driven forward by empirical materials discovery at the laboratory scale, but requires a firmer theoretical basis and pilot studies to close the gap to market. This Review includes a database with over 3800 biopolymer aerogel properties, evaluates the state of the biopolymer aerogel field, and critically discusses the scientific, technological, and commercial barriers to the commercialization of these exciting materials.

Fast and Minimal-Solvent Production of Superinsulating Silica Aerogel Granulate.

With their low thermal conductivity (λ), silica aerogels can reduce carbon emissions from heating and cooling demands, but their widespread adoption is limited by the high production cost. A one-pot synthesis for silica aerogel granulate is presented that drastically reduces solvent use, production time, and global warming potential. The inclusion of the hydrophobization agent prior to gelation with a post-gelation activation step, enables a complete production cycle of less than four hours at the lab scale for a solvent use close to the theoretical minimum, and limits the global warming potential. Importantly, the one-pot aerogel granulate retains the exceptional properties associated with silica aerogel, mostly λ=14.4±1.0 mW m-1 ⋅K-1 for the pilot scale materials, about half that of standing air (26 mW m-1 ⋅K-1 ). The resource-, time-, and cost-effective production will allow silica aerogels to break out of its niche into the mainstream building and industrial insulation markets.

Strong, Thermally Superinsulating Biopolymer-Silica Aerogel Hybrids by Cogelation of Silicic Acid with Pectin.

Silica aerogels are excellent thermal insulators, but their brittle nature has prevented widespread application. To overcome these mechanical limitations, silica-biopolymer hybrids are a promising alternative. A one-pot process to monolithic, superinsulating pectin-silica hybrid aerogels is presented. Their structural and physical properties can be tuned by adjusting the gelation pH and pectin concentration. Hybrid aerogels made at pH 1.5 exhibit minimal dust release and vastly improved mechanical properties while remaining excellent thermal insulators. The change in the mechanical properties is directly linked to the observed "neck-free" nanoscale network structure with thicker struts. Such a design is superior to "neck-limited", classical inorganic aerogels. This new class of materials opens up new perspectives for novel silica-biopolymer nanocomposite aerogels.

[Effect of maternal lipopolysaccharides exposure during pregnancy on vascular structure in neonatal offspring rats].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the role of prenatal exposure to lipopolysaccharides (LPS) on aortic morphology in the neonatal offspring rats. METHODS: Twelve pregnant rats were randomly divided into three groups: control group, LPS group, and PDTC (pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate, LPS+PDTC) group. The rats were intraperitoneally administered vehicle, LPS (0.79 mg/kg) , or LPS plus PDTC (100 mg/kg) , respectively. LPS was given on the 8th, 10th and 12th days, whereas vehicle and PDTC were given daily from the 8th to the 14th day during gestation. Histopathological alteration of the thoracic aorta was observed by hematoxylin-eosin staining and transmission electron microscopy, thoracic aortic mRNA and protein expression of connexin (Cx) molecules including Cx37, Cx40, Cx43 and Cx45 in offspring was detected by Real Time PCR and confocal laser-scanning microscope, respectively, offspring body weight was measure at day 1 and week 1. RESULTS: Body weight at 1 day and 1 week-old offspring was significantly lower in LPS group than in control group (P < 0.01), which were significantly higher in PDTC group compared to LPS group (P < 0.01): [1 day: control group (7.425 ± 0.146) g, LPS group (6.742 ± 0.128) g, PDTC group (7.137 ± 0.141) g; 1 week: control group (20.173 ± 3.982) g, LPS group (13.264 ± 2.581) g, PDTC group (17.863 ± 3.412) g]. In 1 week-old offspring of LPS group, the thoracic aortas exhibited lesions, including impaired endothelial cells, thickening and fibrous changes of intimae, and migration and proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells; the number of gap junction was decreased versus control group and pathological changes were similar between PDTC group and LPS group. Cx43 protein expression in LPS group was obviously lower than in control group and which could be partly reversed in PDTC group. Expression of Cx43 mRNA was significantly lower in 1 day and 1 week offspring of LPS group compared to control group (P < 0.05), which could be reversed in PDTC group (P < 0.05) (1 day: control group 1.530 ± 0.296, LPS group 1.226 ± 0.209, PDTC group 1.619 ± 0.324; 1 week: control group 9.357 ± 1.917, LPS group 7.204 ± 1.165, PDTC group 9.271 ± 1.514). CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that maternal LPS exposure during pregnancy leads to vascular changes in neonatal offspring which might increase the susceptibility to adult hypertension.

The poor reliability of thermal conductivity data in the aerogel literature: a call to action!

Aerogels are an exciting class of materials with record-breaking properties including, in some cases, ultra-low thermal conductivities. The last decade has seen a veritable explosion in aerogel research and industry R&D, leading to the synthesis of aerogels from a variety of materials for a rapidly expanding range of applications. However, both from the research side, and certainly from a market perspective, thermal insulation remains the dominant application. Unfortunately, continued progress in this area suffers from the proliferation of incorrect thermal conductivity data, with values that often are far outside of what is possible within the physical limitations. This loss of credibility in reported thermal conductivity data poses difficulties in comparing the thermal performance of different types of aerogels and other thermal superinsulators, may set back further scientific progress, and hinder technology transfer to industry and society. Here, we have compiled 519 thermal conductivity results from 87 research papers, encompassing silica, other inorganic, biopolymer and synthetic polymer aerogels, to highlight the extent of the problem. Thermal conductivity data outside of what is physically possible are common, even in high profile journals and from the world's best universities and institutes. Both steady-state and transient methods can provide accurate thermal conductivity data with proper instrumentation, suitable sample materials and experienced users, but nearly all implausible data derive from transient methods, and hot disk measurements in particular, indicating that under unfavorable circumstances, and in the context of aerogel research, transient methods are more prone to return unreliable data. Guidelines on how to acquire reliable thermal conductivity data are provided. This paper is a call to authors, reviewers, editors and readers to exercise caution and skepticism when they report, publish or interpret thermal conductivity data.

Enhancing Interface Connectivity for Multifunctional Magnetic Carbon Aerogels: An In Situ Growth Strategy of Metal-Organic Frameworks on Cellulose Nanofibrils.

Improving interface connectivity of magnetic nanoparticles in carbon aerogels is crucial, yet challenging for assembling lightweight, elastic, high-performance, and multifunctional carbon architectures. Here, an in situ growth strategy to achieve high dispersion of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)-anchored cellulose nanofibrils to enhance the interface connection quality is proposed. Followed by a facile freeze-casting and carbonization treatment, sustainable biomimetic porous carbon aerogels with highly dispersed and closely connected MOF-derived magnetic nano-capsules are fabricated. Thanks to the tight interface bonding of nano-capsule microstructure, these aerogels showcase remarkable mechanical robustness and flexibility, tunable electrical conductivity and magnetization intensity, and excellent electromagnetic wave absorption performance. Achieving a reflection loss of -70.8 dB and a broadened effective absorption bandwidth of 6.0 GHz at a filling fraction of merely 2.2 wt.%, leading to a specific reflection loss of -1450 dB mm-1, surpassing all carbon-based aerogel absorbers so far reported. Meanwhile, the aerogel manifests high magnetic sensing sensibility and excellent thermal insulation. This work provides an extendable in situ growth strategy for synthesizing MOF-modified cellulose nanofibril structures, thereby promoting the development of high-value-added multifunctional magnetic carbon aerogels for applications in electromagnetic compatibility and protection, thermal management, diversified sensing, Internet of Things devices, and aerospace.

Biosustainable Multiscale Transparent Nanocomposite Films for Sensitive Pressure and Humidity Sensors.

Light weight, thinness, transparency, flexibility, and insulation are the key indicators for flexible electronic device substrates. The common flexible substrates are usually polymer materials, but their recycling is an overwhelming challenge. Meanwhile, paper substrates are limited in practical applications because of their poor mechanical and thermal stability. However, natural biomaterials have excellent mechanical properties and versatility thanks to their organic-inorganic multiscale structures, which inspired us to design an organic-inorganic nanocomposite film. For this purpose, a bio-inspired multiscale film was developed using cellulose nanofibers with abundant hydrophilic functional groups to assist in dispersing hydroxyapatite nanowires. The thickness of the biosustainable film is only 40 µm, and it incorporates distinctive mechanical properties (strength: 52.8 MPa; toughness: 0.88 MJ m-3) and excellent optical properties (transmittance: 80.0%; haze: 71.2%). Consequently, this film is optimal as a substrate employed for flexible sensors, which can transmit capacitance and resistance signals through wireless Bluetooth, showing an ultrasensitive response to pressure and humidity (for example, responding to finger pressing with 5000% signal change and exhaled water vapor with 4000% signal change). Therefore, the comprehensive performance of the biomimetic multiscale organic-inorganic composite film confers a prominent prospect in flexible electronics devices, food packaging, and plastic substitution.

Rational designed Fe-ZIFs@CoP nanoplatforms for photothermal-enhanced ROS-mediated tumor therapy.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), with biocompatible and bio-friendly properties, exhibit intriguing potential for the drug delivery system and imaging-guided synergistic cancer theranostics. Even though tremendous attention has been attracted on MOFs-based therapeutics, which play a crucial role in therapeutic drugs, gene, and biomedical agents delivery of cancer therapy, they are often explored as simple nanocarriers without further "intelligent" functions. Herein, Fe-doped MOFs with CoP nanoparticles loading were rationally designed and synthesized for photothermal enhanced reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated treatment. Fe-ZIFs@CoP could generate efficient ROS through the Fenton reaction while depleting glutathione for amplifying oxidative stress. Particularly, due to the photothermal effect of Fe-ZIFs@CoP, the hyperthermia generated by as-synthesized Fe-ZIFs@CoP facilitated the advanced performance of the Fenton effect for a high amount of ROS generation. The promising "all-in-one" synergistic MOFs platform herein reported provides some prospects for future directions in this area.

Study of Electrical and Dielectric Behaviors of Copper-Doped Zinc Oxide Ceramic Prepared by Spark Plasma Sintering for Electronic Device Applications.

In this study, Cu-doped ZnO aerogel nanoparticles with a 4% copper concentration (Cu4ZO) were synthesized using a sol-gel method, followed by supercritical drying and heat treatment. The subsequent fabrication of Cu4ZO ceramics through Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field-emission gun scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) equipped with EDS, and impedance spectroscopy (IS) across a frequency range of 100 Hz to 1 MHz and temperatures from 270 K to 370 K. The SPS-Cu4ZO sample exhibited a hexagonal wurtzite structure with an average crystallite size of approximately 229 ± 10 nm, showcasing a compact structure with discernible pores. The EDS spectrum indicates the presence of the base elements zinc and oxygen with copper like the dopant element. Remarkably, the material displayed distinct electrical properties, featuring high activation energy values of about 0.269 ± 0.021 eV. Complex impedance spectroscopy revealed the impact of temperature on electrical relaxation phenomena, with the Nyquist plot indicating semicircular arc patterns associated with grain boundaries. As temperature increased, a noticeable reduction in the radius of these arcs occurred, coupled with a shift in their center points toward the axis center, suggesting a non-Debye-type relaxation mechanism. Dielectric analyses revealed a temperature-driven evolution of losses, emphasizing the material's conductivity impact. Non-Debye-type behavior, linked to ion diffusion, sheds light on charge storage dynamics. These insights advance potential applications in electronic devices and energy storage.

Metal-organic frameworks with fine-tuned interlayer spacing for microwave absorption.

Designing a functional, conductive metal-organic framework (cMOF) is highly desired. Substantial efforts have been dedicated to increasing the intralayer conjugation of the cMOFs, while less dedication has been made to tuning the interlayer charge transport of the metal-organic nanosheets for the controllable dielectric property. Here, we construct a series of conductive bimetallic organic frameworks of (ZnxCu3-x) (hexahydroxytriphenylene)2 (ZnCu-HHTP) to allow for fine-tuned interlayer spacing of two-dimensional frameworks, by adjusting the ratios of Zn and Cu metal ions. This approach for atomistic interlayer design allows for the finely control of the charge transport, band structure, and dielectric properties of the cMOF. As a result, Zn3Cu1-HHTP, with an optimal dielectric property, exhibits high-efficiency absorption in the gigahertz microwave range, achieving an ultra-strong reflection loss of -81.62 decibels. This study not only advances the understanding of the microstructure-function relationships in cMOFs but also offers a generic nanotechnology-based approach to achieving controllable interlayer spacing in MOFs for the targeted applications.

Additive Manufacturing of Nanocellulose Aerogels with Structure-Oriented Thermal, Mechanical, and Biological Properties.

Additive manufacturing (AM) is widely recognized as a versatile tool for achieving complex geometries and customized functionalities in designed materials. However, the challenge lies in selecting an appropriate AM method that simultaneously realizes desired microstructures and macroscopic geometrical designs in a single sample. This study presents a direct ink writing method for 3D printing intricate, high-fidelity macroscopic cellulose aerogel forms. The resulting aerogels exhibit tunable anisotropic mechanical and thermal characteristics by incorporating fibers of different length scales into the hydrogel inks. The alignment of nanofibers significantly enhances mechanical strength and thermal resistance, leading to higher thermal conductivities in the longitudinal direction (65 mW m-1 K-1) compared to the transverse direction (24 mW m-1 K-1). Moreover, the rehydration of printed cellulose aerogels for biomedical applications preserves their high surface area (≈300 m2 g-1) while significantly improving mechanical properties in the transverse direction. These printed cellulose aerogels demonstrate excellent cellular viability (>90% for NIH/3T3 fibroblasts) and exhibit robust antibacterial activity through in situ-grown silver nanoparticles.

Metformin induces mitochondrial fission and reduces energy metabolism by targeting respiratory chain complex I in hepatic stellate cells to reverse liver fibrosis.

The activation and proliferation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are critical processes for the treatment of liver fibrosis. It is necessary to identify effective drugs for the treatment of liver fibrosis and elucidate their mechanisms of action. Metformin can inhibit HSCs; however, no systematic studies demonstrating the effects of metformin on mitochondria in HSCs have been reported. This study demonstrated that metformin induces mitochondrial fission by phosphorylating AMPK/DRP1 (S616) in HSCs to decrease the expression of α-SMA and collagen. Additionally, metformin repressed the total ATP production rate, especially the production rate of ATP produced through mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, by inhibiting the enzymatic activity of complex I. Further analysis revealed that metformin strongly constrained the transcription of mitochondrial genes (ND1-ND6 and ND4L) that encode the core subunits of respiratory chain I. Upregulation of the mRNA expression of HK2 and GLUT1 slightly enhanced glycolysis. Additionally, metformin increased mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number to suppress the proliferation and activation of HSCs, indicating that mtDNA copy number can alter the fate of HSCs. In conclusion, metformin can induce mitochondrial fragmentation and low-level energy metabolism in HSCs, thereby suppressing HSCs activation and proliferation to reverse liver fibrosis.

Large-scale assembly of isotropic nanofiber aerogels based on columnar-equiaxed crystal transition.

Ice-templating technology holds great potential to construct industrial porous materials from nanometers to the macroscopic scale for tailoring thermal, electronic, or acoustic transport. Herein, we describe a general ice-templating technology through freezing the material on a rotating cryogenic drum surface, crushing it, and then re-casting the nanofiber slurry. Through decoupling the ice nucleation and growth processes, we achieved the columnar-equiaxed crystal transition in the freezing procedure. The highly random stacking and integrating of equiaxed ice crystals can organize nanofibers into thousands of repeating microscale units with a tortuous channel topology. Owing to the spatially well-defined isotropic structure, the obtained Al2O3·SiO2 nanofiber aerogels exhibit ultralow thermal conductivity, superelasticity, good damage tolerance, and fatigue resistance. These features, together with their natural stability up to 1200 °C, make them highly robust for thermal insulation under extreme thermomechanical environments. Cascading thermal runaway propagation in a high-capacity lithium-ion battery module consisting of LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 cathode, with ultrahigh thermal shock power of 215 kW, can be completely prevented by a thin nanofiber aerogel layer. These findings not only establish a general production route for nanomaterial assemblies that is conventionally challenging, but also demonstrate a high-energy-density battery module configuration with a high safety standard that is critical for practical applications.

Conductive Metal-Organic Frameworks with Tunable Dielectric Properties for Boosting Electromagnetic Wave Absorption.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) manifest enormous potential in promoting electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorption thanks to the tailored components, topological structure, and high porosity. Herein, rodlike conductive MOFs (cMOFs) composed of adjustable metal ions of Zn, Cu, Co, or Ni and ligands of hexahydroxytriphenylene (HHTP) are prepared to attain tunable dielectric properties for a tailored EMW absorption. Specifically, the influences of the cMOFs' composition, charge transport characteristic, topological crystalline structure, and anisotropy microstructure on dielectric and EMW absorption performance are ascertained, advancing the understanding of EMW attenuation mechanisms of MOFs. The boosted conductive and polarization losses derived from the conjugation effects and terminal groups, as well as shape anisotropy, lead to a prominent EMW absorption of the cMOFs. The Cu-HHTP confers a minimum reflection loss (RLmin) of -63.55 dB at the thickness of 2.9 mm and a maximum effective absorption bandwidth of 5.2 GHz. Moreover, Zn-HHTP showcases the absorption superiority in the S-band (2-4 GHz) with an RLmin of -62.8 dB at a thickness of 1.9 mm. This work not only hoists the mechanistic understanding of the structure-function relationships for the cMOFs but also offers guidelines for preparing functional MOF materials.

SPOCK1 silencing decreases 5-FU resistance through PRRX1 in colorectal cancer.

SPOCK1 is an extracellular proteoglycan and involved in tumor growth and metastasis in various cancers. 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is commonly used for the treatment of colorectal cancer (CRC) in patients who receive concurrent chemoradiotherapy. However, the relationship between development of resistance to 5-FU and SPOCK1 remain unclear. In this study, we established two 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)-resistant CRC cell lines, HCT116/FU and LOVO/FU, and found that SPOCK1 is upregulated in 5-FU-resistance CRC cells compared with its parental cell line. knockdown of SPOCK1 in 5-FU-resistant CRC cells increases their sensitivity to 5-FU. In contrast, transient transfection of SPOCK1 enhanced HCT116 and LOVO cell resistance to 5-FU and reduced cell apoptosis. Mechanistically, SPOCK1 promoted 5-FU resistance by regulating PRRX1 expression and the downstream apoptosis signaling pathway. Taken together, our results revealed for the first time that SPOCK1 plays a crucial role in the resistance of CRC cells to 5-FU and indicated that targeting SPOCK1 may be a promising therapeutic strategy to overcome 5-FU resistance in CRC.