[Perinatal antibiotics exposure causes increase in serum 5-hydroxytryptamine level as well as changes in behavior and gastrointestinal motility in the male offspring in mice].

The current study was aimed to investigate the potential effects of perinatal exposure to therapeutic dose of penicillin and cefixime on the cognitive behaviors, gastrointestinal (GI) motility and serum 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) level in the offspring. Pregnant rats were continuously treated with cefixime or penicillin in the period between 1 week before and 1 week after labor. Behavior tests, including social preference, self-grooming and elevated plus maze tests, and intestinal motility tests were carried out on the offspring at age of 4 to 10 weeks. Serum 5-HT levels were detected with ELISA, and potassium/sodium hyperpolarization activated cyclic nucleotide-gated channel 2 (HCN2) and tryptophan hydroxylase 1 (TPH1) expression levels in colon epithelium of offspring were detected by Western blot and RT-qPCR. The results showed that, compared with the naive group, cefixime increased social behavior in the female offspring, but did not affect the male offspring. Compared with the naive group, cefixime significantly decreased colonic and intestinal transits, and increased cecum net weight and standardized cecum net weight in the male offspring, but did not affect the female offspring. The serum 5-HT levels in the male offspring, rather than the female offspring, in cefixime and penicillin groups were significantly increased compared with that in the naive group. The protein expression level of HCN2 in colon epithelium of the offspring in cefixime group was significantly down-regulated, and the TPH1 expression level was not significantly changed, compared with that in the naive group. These results suggest that perinatal antibiotics exposure may affect neural development and GI functions of the offspring, and the mechanism may involve peripheral 5-HT and gender-dependent factor.

Dual-mode sensing of hydrogen peroxide on self-assembled Ag nanoparticles anchored on polydopamine wrapping 2D Cu-MOFs.

In this study, we have fabricated a dual-signal sensor for H2O2 determination based on 2D Cu-MOFs decorated with Ag NPs. A novel polydopamine (PDA) reduction method was utilized to reduce [Ag(NH3)2]+ to highly dispersed Ag NPs in situ without other reductive agents, and Cu-MOF@PDA-Ag was obtained. For the electrochemical sensor, the Cu-MOF@PDA-Ag modified electrode exhibits outstanding electrocatalytic properties toward H2O2 reduction with a high sensitivity of 103.7 µA mM-1 cm-2, a wide linear range from 1 µM to 35 mM and a low detection limit of 2.3 µM (S/N = 3). Moreover, the proposed sensor shows good feasibility in an orange juice sample. For the colorimetric sensor, colorless 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) can be oxidized by the Cu-MOF@PDA-Ag composite in the presence of H2O2. A Cu-MOF@PDA-Ag catalysis-based colorimetric platform is further established for the quantitative analysis of H2O2 ranging from 0 to 1 mM with a lower detection limit of 0.5 nM. Importantly, such a dual-signal method for the detection of H2O2 could potentially have wide practical applications.

Fecal short chain fatty acids modify therapeutic effects of sleeve gastrectomy.

Aims: We aimed to investigate changes of fecal short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and their association with metabolic benefits after sleeve gastrectomy (SG). Specifically, whether pre-surgery SCFAs modify surgical therapeutic effects was determined. Methods: 62 participants with measurements of fecal SCFAs and metabolic indices before and 1, 3, 6 months after SG were included. Changes of fecal SCFAs and their association with post-surgery metabolic benefits were calculated. Then, participants were stratified by medians of pre-surgery fecal SCFAs and modification effects of pre-surgery fecal SCFAs on surgical therapeutic effects were investigated, through calculating interaction of group by surgery. Results: Fecal SCFAs were markedly changed by SG. Changes of propionate and acetate were positively correlated with serum triglycerides and total cholesterol, respectively. Notably, high pre-surgery fecal hexanoate group showed a better effect of SG treatment on lowering body weight (P=0.01), BMI (P=0.041) and serum triglycerides (P=0.031), and low pre-surgery fecal butyrate had a better effect of SG on lowering ALT (P=0.003) and AST (P=0.019). Conclusion: Fecal SCFAs were changed and correlated with lipid profiles improvement after SG. Pre-surgery fecal hexanoate and butyrate were potential modifiers impacting metabolic benefits of SG.