Metabolic regulation of gene expression by histone lactylation.

The Warburg effect, which originally described increased production of lactate in cancer, is associated with diverse cellular processes such as angiogenesis, hypoxia, polarization of macrophages and activation of T cells. This phenomenon is intimately linked to several diseases including neoplasia, sepsis and autoimmune diseases1,2. Lactate, which is converted from pyruvate in tumour cells, is widely known as an energy source and metabolic by-product. However, its non-metabolic functions in physiology and disease remain unknown. Here we show that lactate-derived lactylation of histone lysine residues serves as an epigenetic modification that directly stimulates gene transcription from chromatin. We identify 28 lactylation sites on core histones in human and mouse cells. Hypoxia and bacterial challenges induce the production of lactate by glycolysis, and this acts as a precursor that stimulates histone lactylation. Using M1 macrophages that have been exposed to bacteria as a model system, we show that histone lactylation has different temporal dynamics from acetylation. In the late phase of M1 macrophage polarization, increased histone lactylation induces homeostatic genes that are involved in wound healing, including Arg1. Collectively, our results suggest that an endogenous 'lactate clock' in bacterially challenged M1 macrophages turns on gene expression to promote homeostasis. Histone lactylation thus represents an opportunity to improve our understanding of the functions of lactate and its role in diverse pathophysiological conditions, including infection and cancer.

In Vitro Detection of S100B and Severity Evaluation of Traumatic Brain Injury Based on Biomimetic Peptide-Modified Nanochannels.

The diagnosis and evaluation of traumatic brain injury (TBI) are crucial steps toward the treatment and prognosis of patients. A common question remains as to whether it is possible to introduce an ideal device for signal detection and evaluation that can directly connect digital signals with TBI, thereby enabling prompt response of the evaluation signal and sensitive and specific functioning of the detection process. Herein, a method is presented utilizing polymetric porous membranes with TRTK-12 peptide-modified nanochannels for the detection of S100B (a TBI biomarker) and assessment of TBI severity. The method leverages the specific bonding force between TRTK-12 peptide and S100B protein, along with the nanoconfinement effect of nanochannels, to achieve high sensitivity (LOD: 0.002 ng mL-1) and specificity (∆I/I0: 44.7%), utilizing ionic current change as an indicator. The proposed method, which is both sensitive and specific, offers a simple yet responsive approach for real-time evaluation of TBI severity. This innovative technique provides valuable scientific insights into the advancement of future diagnostic and therapeutic integration devices.

Discovery of P450-Modified Sesquiterpenoids Levinoids A-D through Global Genome Mining.

Cytochrome P450-modified bacterial terpenoids remain in a vast chemical space to be explored. In the present study, we conducted global genome mining of 223,829 bacterial genomes and identified 2892 bacterial terpenoid biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) with cytochrome P450 genes. Among these, we selected 562 with multiple P450 enzymes, which were further clustered as 355 gene cluster families by sequence similarity analysis. We then chose lev, a BGC from Streptomyces levis MCCC1A01616, for heterologous expression and discovered four new α-amorphene-type sesquiterpenoids, levinoids A-D (1-4). The structures and absolute configurations of these four new compounds were determined by employing extensive NMR analysis, NMR chemical shift calculations with DP4+, and ECD calculations. Furthermore, levinoid C (3) exhibited a moderate level of neuroprotective activity (EC50 = 21 µM) in the glutamate-induced excitotoxicity cell model. Our findings highlight the untapped chemical diversity of P450-modified bacterial terpenoids, opening new avenues for further exploration and discovery.

NEK2 promotes TP53 ubiquitination to enhance the proliferation and migration of TP53 wild-type glioblastoma cells.

The most common primary malignant tumor in the adult brain is glioblastoma multiforme (GBM); however, its underlying pathogenic mechanism remains elusive. The never in mitosis (NIMA)-related kinase 2 (NEK2) has been closely associated with the prognosis of various malignancies. Nevertheless, the complete elucidation of NEK2's potential clinical value, particularly in glioma prognosis and development, remains lacking. U87MG and A172 glioblastoma cells were infected with sh-NEK2 lentivirus or oe-NEK2 plasmid to investigate the effect of NEK2 on cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Cell viability was measured using CCK-8 and colony formation assays, while Transwell assay was utilized to assess cell migration and invasion. Protein expression levels were determined through western blot analysis. Additionally, CGGA and TCGA databases were used for bioinformatics analysis in order to examine the NEK2 expression. Through comprehensive bioinformatics analysis, we identified elevated mRNA expression levels of NEK2 in gliomas compared to normal tissues, which correlated with poor prognosis among glioma patients. Moreover, functional experiments revealed that silencing NEK2 suppressed glioma cell proliferation while overexpression of NEK2 promoted migration and invasion capabilities. Finally, our study uncovered that NEK2 regulates the malignant progression of TP53 wild-type glioblastoma by facilitating TP53 ubiquitination.

Bioactive nanoparticles derived from marine brown seaweeds and their biological applications: a review.

The biosynthesis of novel nanoparticles with varied morphologies, which has good implications for their biological capabilities, has attracted increasing attention in the field of nanotechnology. Bioactive compounds present in the extract of fungi, bacteria, plants and algae are responsible for nanoparticle synthesis. In comparison to other biological resources, brown seaweeds can also be useful to convert metal ions to metal nanoparticles because of the presence of richer bioactive chemicals. Carbohydrates, proteins, polysaccharides, vitamins, enzymes, pigments, and secondary metabolites in brown seaweeds act as natural reducing, capping, and stabilizing agents in the nanoparticle's synthesis. There are around 2000 species of seaweed that dominate marine resources, but only a few have been reported for nanoparticle synthesis. The presence of bioactive chemicals in the biosynthesized metal nanoparticles confers biological activity. The biosynthesized metal and non-metal nanoparticles from brown seaweeds possess different biological activities because of their different physiochemical properties. Compared with terrestrial resources, marine resources are not much explored for nanoparticle synthesis. To confirm their morphology, characterization methods are used, such as absorption spectrophotometer, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope, and transmission electron microscopy. This review attempts to include the vital role of brown seaweed in the synthesis of metal and non-metal nanoparticles, as well as the method of synthesis and biological applications such as anticancer, antibacterial, antioxidant, anti-diabetic, and other functions.

Three-dimensional simulation of green soybean infrared-assisted spouted bed drying.

BACKGROUND: The current study introduces a novel infrared-assisted spouted bed drying technique for the dehydration of green soybeans, which aims to enhance the drying quality and efficiency. The investigation involves an examination of the flow pattern in the spouted bed to obtain relevant data, followed by an optimization of the entire drying process. The drying process of green soybeans was simulated using SolidWorks and ANSYS Fluent software, based on the principles of computational fluid dynamics. RESULTS: The simulation test results showed that the simulation outcomes were consistent with the experimental data. The optimal conditions for the process of green soybean infrared-assisted spouted bed drying were found to be an inlet speed of 8 m/s and a temperature of 50 °C with the wavelength and power settings of the infrared board at 10 µm and 500 W, respectively. CONCLUSION: The simulation method selected in this article, based on gas-solid two-phase flow dynamics, is feasible for green soybean infrared-assisted spouted bed drying process. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.

Innovative hybrid strategy for quality improvement of Goji tea: ultrasonic-ethyl oleate pretreatment combined with heat pump drying.

BACKGROUND: Goji berries, renowned for their nutritional benefits, are traditionally dried to extend shelf life and preserve quality. However, conventional drying methods often result in uneven drying, color loss and reduced rehydration capacity. This study investigates an innovative hybrid strategy combining ultrasonic-ethyl oleate (US+AEEO) pretreatment with heat pump drying (HPD) to enhance the drying process of Goji berries. RESULTS: Fresh Goji berries underwent US+AEEO pretreatment, which significantly disrupted the waxy layer, enhancing drying efficiency and water infiltration during rehydration. Compared to freeze drying (FD), HPD combined with US+AEEO pretreatment resulted in higher retention of total polyphenol content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) in the Goji soaking soup. Specifically, the HPD-US+AEEO samples exhibited the highest TPC and TFC levels, significantly outperforming FD samples. Additionally, the DPPH and ABTS antioxidant assays demonstrated higher scavenging activities in HPD-US+AEEO samples. The rehydration kinetics revealed that HPD samples had a superior rehydration rate and final moisture content compared to FD samples. Low-field nuclear magnetic resonance and magnetic resonance imaging analyses confirmed enhanced water distribution and higher mobility in HPD-US+AEEO samples. Scanning electron microscopy indicated a more porous structure in US+AEEO-treated samples, facilitating better water absorption and functional component retention. CONCLUSION: The combination of US+AEEO pretreatment with HPD significantly improves the drying process of Goji berries, enhancing nutrient retention, color preservation and rehydration properties. This innovative drying method offers a promising solution for producing high-quality dried Goji berries, benefiting both the food industry and health-conscious consumers. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.

Bio-inspired Two-dimensional Nanofluidic Ionic Transistor for Neuromorphic Signal Processing.

Voltage-gated ion channels prevalent in neurons play important roles in generating action potential and information transmission by responding to transmembrane potential. Fabricating bio-inspired ionic transistors with ions as charge carriers will be crucial for realizing neuro-inspired devices and brain-liking computing. Here, we reported a two-dimensional nanofluidic ionic transistor based on a MXene membrane with sub-1 nm interlayer channels. By applying a gating voltage on the MXene nanofluidic, a transmembrane potential will be generated to active the ionic transistor, which is similar to the transmembrane potential of neuron cells and can be effectively regulated by changing membrane parameters, e.g., thickness, composition, and interlayer spacing. For the symmetric MXene nanofluidic, a high on/off ratio of ~2000 can be achieved by forming an ionic depletion or accumulation zone, contingent on the sign of the gating potential. An asymmetric PET/MXene-composited nanofluidic transitioned the ionic transistor from ambipolar to unipolar, resulting in a more sensitive gate voltage characteristic with a low subthreshold swing of 560 mV/decade. Furthermore, ionic logic gate circuits, including the "NOT", "NAND", and "NOR" gate, were implemented for neuromorphic signal processing successfully, which provides a promising pathway towards highly parallel, low energy consumption, and ion-based brain-like computing.

Selective Activation of Lattice Oxygen Site Through Coordination Engineering to Boost the Activity and Stability of Oxygen Evolution Reaction.

Although Ru-based materials are among the outstanding catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), the instability issue still haunts them and impedes the widespread application. The instability of Ru-based OER catalysts is generally ascribed to the formation of soluble species through the over-oxidation of Ru and structural decomposition caused by involvement of lattice oxygen. Herein, an effective strategy of selectively activating the lattice oxygen around Ru site is proposed to improve the OER activity and stability. Our synthesized spinel-type electrocatalyst of Ru and Zn co-doped Co3O4 showed an ultralow overpotential of 172 mV at 10 mA cm-2 and a long-term stability reaching to 100 hours at 10 mA cm-2 for alkaline OER. The experimental results and theoretical simulations demonstrated that the lattice oxygen site jointly connected with the octahedral Ru and tetrahedral Zn atoms became more active than other oxygen sites near Ru atom, which further lowered the reaction energy barriers and avoided generating excessive oxygen vacancies to enhance the structural stability of Ru sites. The findings hope to provide a new perspective to improve the catalytic activity of Ru-incorporated OER catalysts and the stability of lattice-oxygen-mediated mechanism.

Constructing a Myxobacterial Natural Product Database to Facilitate NMR-Based Metabolomics Bioprospecting of Myxobacteria.

Myxobacteria are fascinating prokaryotes featuring a potent capacity for producing a wealth of bioactive molecules with intricate chemical topology as well as intriguing enzymology, and thus it is critical to developing an efficient pipeline for bioprospecting. Herein, we construct the database MyxoDB, the first public compendium solely dedicated to myxobacteria, which enabled us to provide an overview of the structural diversity and taxonomic distribution of known myxobacterial natural products. Moreover, we demonstrated that the cutting-edge NMR-based metabolomics was effective to differentiate the biosynthetic priority of myxobacteria, whereby MyxoDB could greatly streamline the dereplication of multifarious known compounds and accordingly speed up the discovery of new compounds. This led to the rapid identification of a class of linear di-lipopeptides (archangimins) and a rare rearranged sterol (corasterol) that were endowed with unique chemical architectures and/or biosynthetic enzymology. We also showcased that NMR-based metabolomics, MyxoDB, and genomics can also work concertedly to accelerate the targeted discovery of a polyketidic compound pyxipyrrolone C. All in all, this study sets the stage for the discovery of many more novel natural products from underexplored myxobacterial resources.

Low-intensity transcranial ultrasound stimulation modulates neural activities in mice under propofol anaesthesia.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have reported that transcranial focused ultrasound stimulation can significantly decrease the time to emergence from intraperitoneal ketamine-xylazine anaesthesia in rats. However, how transcranial focused ultrasound stimulation modulates neural activity in anaesthetized rats is unclear. METHODS: In this study, to answer this question, we used low-intensity transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) to stimulate the brain tissue of propofol-anaesthetized mice, recorded local field potentials (LFPs) in the mouse motor cortex and electromyography (EMG) signals from the mouse neck, and analysed the emergence and recovery time, mean absolute power, relative power and entropy of local field potentials. RESULTS: We found that the time to emergence from anaesthesia in the TUS group (20.3 ± 1.7 min) was significantly less than that in the Sham group (32 ± 2.6 min). We also found that compared with the Sham group, 20 min after low-intensity TUS during recovery from anaesthesia, (1) the absolute power of local field potentials in mice was significantly reduced in the [1-4 Hz] and [13-30 Hz] frequency bands and significantly increased in the [55-100 Hz], [100-140 Hz] and [140-200 Hz] frequency bands; (2) the relative power of local field potentials in mice was enhanced at [30-45 Hz], [100-140 Hz] and [140-200 Hz] frequency bands; (3) the entropy of local field potentials ([1-200 Hz]) was increased. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate that low-intensity TUS can effectively modulate neural activities in both awake and anaesthetized mice and has a positive effect on recovery from propofol anaesthesia in mice.

Role of dehydration technologies in processing for advanced ready-to-eat foods: A comprehensive review.

Advanced ready-to-eat foods, which can be consumed directly or only need simple processed before consumption, refer to the products that processing with cutting-edge food science and technology and have better quality attribute. Cold chain and chemical addition are commonly used options to ensure microbial safety of high moisture advanced ready-to-eat foods. However, this requires freezing/thawing processing at high cost or has undesirable residue. Dehydration treatment has the potential to compensate those shortcomings. This article reviewed the positive effects of dehydration on advanced ready-to-eat foods, current application status of dehydration technologies, novel dehydration related technologies and the pathogenic bacteria control of products. It is observed that dehydration treatment is receiving increasing attention for ready-to-eat foods including space foods, 3 D-printed personalized foods and formula foods for special medical purposes. Recently developed drying technologies such as pulsed spouted microwave freeze-drying and infrared freeze-drying have attracted much interest due to their excellent drying characteristics. Finally, intelligent drying, dehydration-nano-hybridization and dehydration-induced multi-dimensional modification technology are some of the emerging R and D areas in this field.

An Automatic Calibration Method for the Field of View Aberration in a Risley-Prism-Based Image Sensor.

Risley-prism-based image sensors can expand the imaging field of view through beam control. The larger the top angle of the prism, the higher the magnification of the field of view, but at the same time, it aggravates the problem of imaging aberrations, which also puts higher requirements on the aberration correction method for the Risley-prism-based image sensor. To improve the speed, accuracy, and stability of the aberration correction process, an automatic calibration method for the Risley-prism-based image sensor is proposed based on a two-axis turntable. The image datasets of the calibration plate with different prism rotation angles and object distances are acquired using a two-axis turntable. Then, the images of the calibration plate are pre-processed using the bicubic interpolation algorithm. The calibration parameters are finally calculated, and parameter optimization is performed. The experimental results verify the feasibility of this automated calibration method. The reprojection error of the calibration is within 0.26 pixels when the distance of the imaging sensor is 3.6 m from the object, and the fine aberration correction results are observed.

Current Status and Prospects of Research on Sensor Fault Diagnosis of Agricultural Internet of Things.

Sensors have been used in various agricultural production scenarios due to significant advances in the Agricultural Internet of Things (Ag-IoT), leading to smart agriculture. Intelligent control or monitoring systems rely heavily on trustworthy sensor systems. Nonetheless, sensor failures are likely due to various factors, including key equipment malfunction or human error. A faulty sensor can produce corrupted measurements, resulting in incorrect decisions. Early detection of potential faults is crucial, and fault diagnosis techniques have been proposed. The purpose of sensor fault diagnosis is to detect faulty data in the sensor and recover or isolate the faulty sensors so that the sensor can finally provide correct data to the user. Current fault diagnosis technologies are based mainly on statistical models, artificial intelligence, deep learning, etc. The further development of fault diagnosis technology is also conducive to reducing the loss caused by sensor failures.

Effects of Transglutaminase Concentration and Drying Method on Encapsulation of Lactobacillus plantarum in Gelatin-Based Hydrogel.

Lactobacillus plantarum is a kind of probiotic that benefits the host by regulating the gut microbiota, but it is easily damaged when passing through the gastrointestinal tract, hindering its ability to reach the destination and reducing its utilization value. Encapsulation is a promising strategy for solving this problem. In this study, transglutaminase (TGase)-crosslinked gelatin (GE)/sodium hexametaphosphate (SHMP) hydrogels were used to encapsulate L. plantarum. The effects of TGase concentration and drying method on the physiochemical properties of the hydrogels were determined. The results showed that at a TGase concentration of 9 U/gGE, the hardness, chewiness, energy storage modulus, and apparent viscosity of the hydrogel encapsulation system were maximized. This concentration produced more high-energy isopeptide bonds, strengthening the interactions between molecules, forming a more stable three-dimensional network structure. The survival rate under the simulated gastrointestinal conditions and storage stability of L. plantarum were improved at this concentration. The thermal stability of the encapsulation system dried via microwave vacuum freeze drying (MFD) was slightly higher than that when dried via freeze drying (FD). The gel structure was more stable, and the activity of L. plantarum decreased more slowly during the storage period when dried using MFD. This research provides a theoretical basis for the development of encapsulation technology of probiotics.

Infrared-assisted spouted bed drying of Chinese yam cubes: effect of constant and variable temperature drying processes on drying behavior, uniformity, and quality attributes.

BACKGROUND: Infrared-assisted spouted bed drying (IRSBD) is an innovative hybrid drying technology based on infrared drying and spouted bed drying, which has the advantages of higher drying efficiency and better uniformity. Temperature is an important process parameter that affects drying characteristics and product quality. Considering the overall quality of the product, drying at a constant temperature may not be the best solution. However, there is a lack of research on dynamically varying drying schemes. In this study, the effects of constant and variable temperature drying processes on the drying characteristics, uniformity, energy consumption, and quality of Chinese yams were evaluated. RESULTS: The shortest drying time and lowest energy consumption were obtained by IRSBD at 70 °C, followed by staged rising temperature drying (SRTD). However, SRTD achieved the best drying uniformity. The Peleg model could describe the dehydration kinetics of dried yams well (R2 > 0.99). A high drying temperature (70 °C) favored the preservation of bioactive compounds (polyphenols and flavonoids) and gave the best antioxidant activity and equilibrium rehydration ratio of dried yams but resulted in poor color. Samples dried with SRTD showed comparable good antioxidant activity and better color than those dried at 70 °C. CONCLUSION: A reasonable variable temperature drying scheme using IRSBD is considered to be better when considering the drying performance and overall quality of the products. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

PSC subtyping based on TTF-1 and p40 expression reveals distinct molecular characteristics and therapeutic strategies.

Pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinoma (PSC) is a unique form of poorly differentiated nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and is notorious for its highly malignant nature and dismal prognosis. To introduce effective treatment for PSC patients, precise subtyping of PSC is demanding. In our study, TTF-1 and P40 immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining were applied to 56 PSC patients with multiomics data. According to IHC results, we categorized these patients into three subgroups and profiled their molecular contexture using bioinformatic skills. IHC results classified these patients into three subgroups: TTF-1 positive subgroup (n = 27), P40 positive subgroup (n = 15) and double-negative subgroup (n = 14). Spindle cell samples accounted for 35.71% (5/14) of double-negative patients, higher than others (P = .034). The three subgroups were heterogeneous in the genomic alteration spectrum, showing significant differences in the RTK/RAS pathway (P = .004) and the cell cycle pathway (P = .030). The methylation profile of the double-negative subgroup was between the other two subgroups. In similarity analysis, the TTF-1 and p40 subgroups were closely related to LUAD and LUSC, respectively. The TTF-1 positive subgroup had the highest leukocyte fraction (LF) among several cancer types, and the tumor mutation burden (TMB) of the p40 positive subgroup ranked third in the TMB list, suggesting the applicability of immunotherapy for PSC. The study established a new subtyping method of PSC based on IHC results and reveals three subgroups with distinct molecular features, providing evidence for refined stratification in the treatment of PSC.

Cardio-protective effects of terminalia catappa leaves and terminalia chebula fruit extract in doxorubicin-induced cardiomyopathy in rats.

BACKGROUND: The cardio-protective effects of Terminalia catappa and Terminalia chebula are well-recognized in Ayurveda for its antimicrobial, antidiabetic and antioxidant potentials. The present study evaluates the effects of T. catappa leaves (Tct.LE) and T. chebula fruits (Tce.FE) against doxorubicin (DOX)-induced rats through analysis of the cardiac biomarkers, tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle enzymes and respiratory chain enzymes for their cardio-protective properties. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study includes 42 adult male Albino Wistar rats randomized into seven groups for 21-days. Groups were categorized as control; DOX (1.5 mg/kg) induced negative control; basal diet with 300 mg/kg of Tct.LE, with 300 mg/kg Tce.FE; DOX with 300 mg/kg of Tct.LE, Tce.FE, and propranolol (25 mg/kg). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The doses of 300 mg/kg of both plants have a significant effect on the TCA cycle, respiratory and lysosomal enzymes activity. The troponin levels are significantly reduced in plant treated group than the DOX-treated rats when compared with the control and propranolol treated group. Likewise, the increased level of creatine kinase-muscle/MB, creatine kinase and lipid profile in the DOX-treated animals were significantly reduced upon being treated with extracts. CONCLUSION: The cardio-protective activity of Tct.LE leaves and Tce.FE indicate its potential use in the management of cardiovascular diseases.

Sargassum myriocystum-mediated TiO2-nanoparticles and their antimicrobial, larvicidal activities and enhanced photocatalytic degradation of various dyes.

Recently, the phyco-synthesis of nanoparticles has been applied as a reliable approach to modern research field, and it has yielded a wide spectrum of diverse uses in fields such as biological science and environmental science. This study used marine natural resource seaweed Sargassum myriocystum due to their unique phytochemicals and their significant attributes in giving effective response on various biomedical applications. The response is created by their stress-tolerant environmental adaptations. This inspired us to make an attempt using the above-mentioned charactersitics. Therfore, the current study performed phycosynthesis of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2-NPs) utilising aqueous extracts of S. myriocystum. The TiO2-NPs formation was confirmed in earlier UV-visible spectroscopy analysis. The crystalline structure, functional groups (phycomolecules), particle morphology (cubic, square, and spherical), size (∼50-90 nm), and surface charge (negative) of the TiO2-NPs were analysed and confirmed by various characterisation analyses. In addition, the seaweed-mediated TiO2-NPs was investigated, which showed potential impacts on antibacterial activity and anti-biofilm actions against pathogens (Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermidis, Escherichia coli, Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Klebsiella pneumoniae). Additionally, some evaluations were performed on larvicidal activities of TiO2-NPs in oppose to Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitos and the environmental effects of photocatalytic activities against methylene blue and crystal violet under sunlight irradiation. The highest percent of methylene blue degradation was observed at 92.92% within 45 min. Overall, our findings suggested that S. myriocystum mediates TiO2-NPs to be a potent disruptive material for bacterial pathogens and mosquito larvae and also to enhance the photocatalytic dye degradation.

Seaweed-Derived Polysaccharides Attenuate Heat Stress-Induced Splenic Oxidative Stress and Inflammatory Response via Regulating Nrf2 and NF-κB Signaling Pathways.

With global warming, heat stress (HS) has become a worldwide concern in both humans and animals. The ameliorative effect of seaweed (Enteromorpha prolifera) derived polysaccharides (SDP) on HS-induced oxidative stress and the inflammatory response of an immune organ (spleen) was evaluated using an animal model (Gallus gallus domesticus). In total, 144 animals were used in this 4-week trial and randomly assigned to the following three groups: thermoneutral zone, HS, and HS group supplemented with 1000 mg/kg SDP. Dietary SDP improved the antioxidant capacity and reduced the malondialdehyde (MDA) of the spleen when exposed to HS, regulated via enhancing nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor-2 (Nrf2) signaling. Furthermore, the inclusion of SDP reduced the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and alleviated HS-induced splenic inflammatory response by suppressing the nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) p65 signaling. These findings suggest that the SDP from E. prolifera can be used as a functional food and/or feed supplement to attenuate HS-induced oxidative stress and inflammatory responses of the immune organs. Moreover, the results could contribute to the development of high-value marine products from seaweed for potential use in humans and animals, owing to their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.