Sodium butyrate alleviates right ventricular hypertrophy in pulmonary arterial hypertension by inhibiting H19 and affecting the activation of let-7g-5p/IGF1 receptor/ERK.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a complex and fatal cardio-pulmonary vascular disease. Decompensated right ventricular hypertrophy (RVH) caused by cardiomyocyte hypertrophy often leads to fatal heart failure, the leading cause of mortality among patients. Sodium butyrate (SB), a compound known to reduce cardiac hypertrophy, was examined for its potential effect and the underlying mechanism of SB on PAH-RVH. The in vivo study showed that SB alleviated RVH and cardiac dysfunction, as well as improved life span and survival rate in MCT-PAH rats. The in vivo and in vitro experiments showed that SB could attenuate cardiomyocyte hypertrophy by reversing the expressions of H19, let-7g-5p, insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1 receptor), and pERK. H19 inhibition restored the level of let-7g-5p and prevented the overexpression of IGF1 receptor and pERK in hypertrophic cardiomyocytes. In addition, dual luciferase assay revealed that H19 demonstrated significant binding with let-7g-5p, acting as its endogenous RNA. Briefly, SB attenuated PAH-RVH by inhibiting the H19 overexpression, restoring the level of let-7g-5p, and hindering IGF1 receptor/ERK activation.

Chemical characterization and sensory properties of apple brandies aged with different toasted oak chips and ultra-high-pressure treatments.

Aging is an important processing step of producing high quality apple brandy. In this study, apple brandies aged by traditional method and using three different toasted oak chips combined with or without ultra-high-pressure (UHP) treatment were prepared to compare their differences in chemical characterization and sensory properties. The results indicated that the brandies aged with toasted oak chip increased the levels of total acidity, volatile acidity and phenolic compounds. It also had the desirable color and taste. The brandy aged with toasted oak chip combined with UHP reached the highest levels of total acidity (1.06 g/L), total phenolic content (284.92 mg/L) and aromatic esters (49.37 %). Therefore, the aging with high toasted oak chip combined with UHP treatment could cut the traditional aging time to meet the same quality as traditional aging method. The results are very useful to develop a fast and efficient aging technique for brandy production.

The mechanisms of minocycline in alleviating ischemic stroke damage and cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Stroke is a group of diseases resulting from cerebral vascular rupture or obstruction and subsequent brain blood circulation disorder, leading to rapid neurological deficits. Ischemic stroke accounts for the majority of all stroke cases. The current treatments for ischemic stroke mainly include t-PA thrombolytic therapy and surgical thrombectomy. However, these interventions aimed at recanalizing cerebral vessels can paradoxically lead to ischemia-reperfusion injury, which exacerbates the severity of brain damage. Minocycline, a semi-synthetic tetracycline antibiotic, has been shown to possess a wide range of neuroprotective effects independent of its antibacterial activity. Here we summarize the mechanisms underlying the protective effects of minocycline against cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury based on the pathogenesis of cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury, including its modulation of oxidative stress, inflammatory response, excitotoxicity, programmed cell death and blood-brain barrier injury, and also introduce the role of minocycline in alleviating stroke-related complications, in order to provide a theoretical basis for the clinical application of minocycline in cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Biocatalytic oxidation of flavone analogues mediated by general biocatalysts: horseradish peroxidase and laccase.

Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and laccase are well known oxidases, which have been widely applied for the biosynthesis of organic compounds. In the present work, flavone analogues as an important type of bioactive natural product could be oxidized by HRP or laccase, which afforded dimeric and oxidative flavones. All of the flavone analogues usually possessing phenolic groups could be transformed using HRP. However, only flavonols, isoflavones and chalcones with phenolic groups and dihydroxylflavones were effective substrates of laccase. The radical reaction mechanism with the B-ring of flavone analogues as the radical reaction trigger was proposed for the oxidation of flavones. In silico molecular docking analyses for assaying the interaction between flavone analogues and oxidases indicated that the phenolic groups at the B rings of flavones docked into the HEME active pocket of HRP well. Kinetic behaviors of the oxidation for various flavone analogues mediated by HRP or laccase displayed Hill and substrate inhibition kinetic models. Therefore, in the present work, the oxidation of various flavone analogues mediated by HRP or laccase has been successfully characterized, which would be helpful for the preparation of flavone derivatives.

[Chemical Constituents of the Aerial Parts from Plumbago zeylanica].

Objective: To study the anti-oxidative constituents of the aerial parts of Plumbago zeylanica. Methods: The ethanol extract of Plumbago zeylanica was separated and purified by various chromatographic techniques. On the basis of various spectroscopic data, the structures of isolated compounds were elucidated. ABTS+radical scavenging were carried out in antioxidant activity evaluation of the isolated compounds. Results: Eleven compounds were isolated and identified as cis-isoshinanolone-4-O-ß-D-glucopyranoside( 1),tachioside( 2),2,6-dimethoxy-p-hydroquinone-1-O-ß-D-glucopyranoside( 3),3-( ß-D-glucopyranosyloxy)-4-methoxybenzoic acid( 4),3'-O-ß-D-glucopyranosyloxy-plumbagic acid( 5),3'-O-ß-D-glucopyranosyloxy-plumbagic acid methyl ester( 6),plumbagic acid( 7),plumbagine A( 8),plumbagine C( 9),syringate-4-O-ß-D-glucopyranoside( 10) and 2-methyl-5-hydroxychromone( 11). Compounds 2,3,and5 displayed significant scavenging effect on ABTS+. Conclusion: Compounds 1 ~ 4,10,11 are obtained from this plant for the first time. Compounds 2,3,and 5 show significant anti-oxidative effects.

A second monoclinic polymorph of 4-(2-hydr-oxy-4-methoxy-benzyl-ideneamino)-1,5-dimethyl-2-phenyl-1H-pyrazol-3(2H)-one.

The title compound, C(19)H(19)N(3)O(3), prepared by condensing 4-amino-anti-pyrine and 4-meth-oxy-2-hydroxy-benzaldehyde in methanol, is the second monoclinic polymorph of this compound which crystallizes in the space group C2/c. The structure was previously reported [Wang, Zhang, Yan, Zheng & Yang (2007 ▶). Acta Cryst. E63, o1245-o1246] in the space group P2(1)/c. The hydroxyl group is disordered over two positions with occupancies of 0.787 (4) and 0.213 (4). The triply substituted benzene ring and the phenyl ring form dihedral angles of 12.2 (2) and 53.7 (2)°, respectively, with the pyrazolone ring; the corresponding values in the P2(1)/c polymorph are 7.5 (2) and 42.6 (2)°. Intra-molecular O-H⋯N and C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds are observed in the major disorder component. Adjacent molecules are linked through intermolecular O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming dimers.