TNIP3 protects against pathological cardiac hypertrophy by stabilizing STAT1.

Pathological cardiac hypertrophy is one of the major risk factors of heart failure and other cardiovascular diseases. However, the mechanisms underlying pathological cardiac hypertrophy remain largely unknown. Here, we identified the first evidence that TNFAIP3 interacting protein 3 (TNIP3) was a negative regulator of pathological cardiac hypertrophy. We observed a significant upregulation of TNIP3 in mouse hearts subjected to transverse aortic constriction (TAC) surgery and in primary neonatal rat cardiomyocytes stimulated by phenylephrine (PE). In Tnip3-deficient mice, cardiac hypertrophy was aggravated after TAC surgery. Conversely, cardiac-specific Tnip3 transgenic (TG) mice showed a notable reversal of the same phenotype. Accordingly, TNIP3 alleviated PE-induced cardiomyocyte enlargement in vitro. Mechanistically, RNA-sequencing and interactome analysis were combined to identify the signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) as a potential target to clarify the molecular mechanism of TNIP3 in pathological cardiac hypertrophy. Via immunoprecipitation and Glutathione S-transferase assay, we found that TNIP3 could interact with STAT1 directly and suppress its degradation by suppressing K48-type ubiquitination in response to hypertrophic stimulation. Remarkably, preservation effect of TNIP3 on cardiac hypertrophy was blocked by STAT1 inhibitor Fludaradbine or STAT1 knockdown. Our study found that TNIP3 serves as a novel suppressor of pathological cardiac hypertrophy by promoting STAT1 stability, which suggests that TNIP3 could be a promising therapeutic target of pathological cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure.

Artificial Soil-Like Material Enhances CO2 Bio-Valorization into Chemicals in Gas Fermentation.

Gas fermentation offers a carbon-neutral route for producing industrial feedstocks using autotrophic microbes to convert carbon dioxide (CO2) in waste gases, such as industrial emissions and biogas, into valuable chemicals or biofuels. However, slow microbial metabolism owing to low gaseous solubility causes significant challenges in gas fermentation. Although chemical or genetic manipulations have been explored to improve gas fermentation, they are either nonsustainable or complex. Herein, an artificial soil-like material (SLM) inspired by natural soil was fabricated to improve the growth and metabolism ofCupriavidus necatorfor enhanced poly-ß-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) biosynthesis from CO2 and hydrogen (H2). Porous SLM comprises low-cost nanoclay, boehmite, and starch and serves as a biocarrier to facilitate the colonization of bacteria and delivery of CO2 to bacteria. With 3.0 g/L SLM addition, the solubility of CO2 in water increased by ∼4 times and biomass and PHB production boosted by 29 and 102%, respectively, in the 24 h culture. In addition, a positive modulation was observed in the metabolism of PHB biosynthesis. PHB biosynthesis-associated gene expression was found to be enhanced in response to the SLM addition. The concentrations of intermediates in the metabolic pathway of PHB biosynthesis, such as pyruvate and acetyl-CoA, as well as reducing energy (ATP and NADPH) significantly increased with SLM addition. SLM also demonstrated the merits of easy fabrication, high stability, recyclability, and plasticity, thereby indicating its considerable potential for large-scale application in gas fermentation.

Orientin regulates the proliferation and migration of hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

Orientin is a flavone isolated from medicinal plants used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) that suppresses the growth of cancer cells in vitro. The effects of orientin in hepatoma carcinoma cells remain unknown. The aim of this paper is to investigate the effects of orientin on the viability, proliferation, and migration of hepatocellular carcinoma cells in vitro. In this study, we found that orientin could inhibit the proliferation, migration, and the activation of NF-κB signaling pathway in hepatocellular carcinoma cells. An activator of NF-κB signaling pathway, PMA, could abolish the inhibitory effect of orientin on NF-κB signaling pathway and proliferation and migration of Huh7 cells. These findings raise the possibility that orientin can be used in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Identification of Oak-Barrel and Stainless Steel Tanks with Oak Chips Aged Wines in Ningxia Based on Three-Dimensional Fluorescence Spectroscopy Combined with Chemometrics.

With the increased incidence of wine fraud, a fast and reliable method for wine certification has become a necessary prerequisite for the vigorous development of the global wine industry. In this study, a classification strategy based on three-dimensional fluorescence spectroscopy combined with chemometrics was proposed for oak-barrel and stainless steel tanks with oak chips aged wines. Principal component analysis (PCA), partial least squares analysis (PLS-DA), and Fisher discriminant analysis (FDA) were used to distinguish and evaluate the data matrix of the three-dimensional fluorescence spectra of wines. The results showed that FDA was superior to PCA and PLS-DA in classifying oak-barrel and stainless steel tanks with oak chips aged wines. As a general conclusion, three-dimensional fluorescence spectroscopy can provide valuable fingerprint information for the identification of oak-barrel and stainless steel tanks with oak chips aged wines, while the study will provide some theoretical references and standards for the quality control and quality assessment of oak-barrel aged wines.

Carnosol inhibits cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury by promoting AMPK activation.

BACKGROUND: Carnosol is a phytopolyphenol (diterpene) found and extracted from plants of Mediterranean diet, which has anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. However, its role in ischemic stroke has not been elucidated. METHODS: Primary neurons subjected to oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) was used to investigate the effect of carnosol in vitro. A mouse MCAO model was used to evaluate the effect of carnosol on ischemic stroke in vivo. The mRNA level of inflammatory and apoptosis-related genes was determined by RT-PCR. The protein level of total and phosphorylated AMPK was determined by WB. H&E and Immunofluorescent assay was used to investigate the necrosis, inflammation and apoptosis in brain tissue. RESULTS: Carnosol protected the activity of primary neurons subjected to oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) in vitro, as well as inhibited inflammation and apoptosis. Furthermore, carnosol could significantly reduce the infarct and edema volume and protect against neurological deficit in vivo, and had a significant inhibitory effect on brain neuroinflammation and apoptosis. Mechanically, carnosol could activate AMPK, and the effect of carnosol on cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury cell model could be abolished by AMPK phosphorylation inhibitor. CONCLUSION: Carnosol has a protective effect on ischemic stroke, and this effect is achieved through AMPK activation. Our study demonstrates the protective effect of carnosol on cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury and provides a new perspective for the clinical treatment of ischemic stroke.

Six-Transmembrane Epithelial Antigen of Prostate 3 Promotes Hepatic Insulin Resistance and Steatosis.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a clinicopathological syndrome characterized by excessive deposition of fatty acids in the liver. Further deterioration leads to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma, creating a heavy burden on human health and the social economy. Currently, there are no effective and specific drugs for the treatment of NAFLD. Therefore, it is important to further investigate the pathogenesis of NAFLD and explore effective therapeutic targets for the prevention and treatment of the disease. Six-transmembrane epithelial antigen of prostate 3 (STEAP3), a STEAP family protein, is a metalloreductase. Studies have shown that it can participate in the regulation of liver ischemia-reperfusion injury, hepatocellular carcinoma, myocardial hypertrophy, and other diseases. In this study, we found that the expression of STEAP3 is upregulated in NAFLD. Deletion of STEAP3 inhibits the development of NAFLD in vivo and in vitro, whereas its overexpression promotes palmitic acid/oleic acid stimulation-induced lipid deposition in hepatocytes. Mechanistically, it interacts with transforming growth factor beta-activated kinase 1 (TAK1) to regulate the progression of NAFLD by promoting TAK1 phosphorylation and activating the TAK1-c-Jun N-terminal kinase/p38 signaling pathway. Taken together, our results provide further insight into the involvement of STEAP3 in liver pathology.

Pyrroloquinoline quinone ameliorates renal fibrosis in diabetic nephropathy by inhibiting the pyroptosis pathway in C57BL/6 mice and human kidney 2 cells.

Diabetic nephropathy (DN), which is characterized by renal fibrosis, is a major complication of diabetes, a disease that afflicted more than 460 million people worldwide in 2019. Pyroptosis is an essential signaling pathway in DN-related injuries, such as renal fibrosis. Pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) is a naturally occurring bioactive compound that protects human kidney 2 (HK-2) cells from oxidative stress-induced damage caused by high glucose concentrations. However, the nature and underlying mechanism of the effect of PQQ on DN-related renal fibrosis remains unclear. In this study, we evaluated whether PQQ has potential protective effects against renal fibrosis due to DN by establishing type 1 diabetes in mice via streptozotocin treatment and then inhibiting their pyroptosis signaling pathway. We found that compared to control mice, the area of renal fibrosis and injury were significantly increased in diabetic mice, and this was accompanied by increased levels of expression of collagen Ⅰ and transforming growth factor-ß1; increased concentrations of the inflammatory cytokines, interleukin (IL)-1ß, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α; and activation of the pyroptosis pathway components nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor family pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3), caspase-1, IL-1ß, and IL-18. All of these changes were reversed by PQQ treatment. Analogously, we treated cultured HK-2 cells with a high concentration of glucose (35 mmol/L), which caused these cells to exhibit significantly increased concentrations of reactive oxygen species (ROS), phosphorylated (p)-nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), p-IkappaB, NLRP3, caspase-1, IL-1ß, and IL-18, and the loss of mitochondrial transmembrane potential. However, PQQ treatment significantly blunted these effects. In conclusion, in this study we demonstrated that PQQ attenuates renal fibrosis by alleviating mitochondrial dysfunction, reducing ROS production, and inhibiting the activation of the NF-κB/pyroptosis pathway under conditions of DN and hyperglycemia.

A chemometric strategy to automatically screen selected ion monitoring ions for gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-based pseudotargeted metabolomics.

The pseudotargeted metabolomics based on gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) has the advantage of filtering out artifacts originating from sample treatment and accurately quantifying underlying compounds in the analyzed samples. However, this technique faces the problem of selecting high-quality selective ions for performing selected ion monitoring (SIM) on instruments. In this work, we proposed AntDAS-SIMOpt, an automatic untargeted strategy for SIM ion optimization that was accomplished on the basis of an experimental design combined with advanced chemometric algorithms. First, a group of diluted quality control samples was used to screen underlying compounds in samples automatically. Ions in each of the resolved mass spectrum were then evaluated by using the developed algorithms to identify the SIM ion. A Matlab graphical user interface (GUI) was designed to facilitate routine analysis, which can be obtained from http://www.pmdb.org.cn/antdassimopt. The performance of the developed strategy was comprehensively investigated by using standard and complex plant datasets. Results indicated that AntDAS-SIMOpt may be useful for GC-MS-based metabolomics.

Maillard reaction products and guaiacol as production process and raw material markers for the authentication of sesame oil.

BACKGROUND: Sesame oil has an excellent flavor and is widely appreciated. It has a higher price than other vegetable oils because of the high price of its raw materials, and different processing techniques also result in products of different quality levels, which can command different prices. In the market, there is a persistent problem of adulteration of sesame oil, driven by economic interests. The screening of volatile markers used to distinguish the authenticity of sesame oil raw materials and production processes is therefore very important. RESULTS: In this work, six markers related to the production processes and raw materials of sesame oil were screened by gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) combined with chemometric analysis. They were 3-methyl-2-butanone, 2-ethyl-5-methyl-pyrazine, guaiacol, 2,6-dimethyl-pyrazine, 5-methyl furfural, and ethyl-pyrazine. The concentration of these markers in sesame oil is between 10 and1000 times that found in other vegetable oils. However, only 3-methyl-2-butanone and 2-ethyl-5-methyl-pyrazine differed significantly as the result of the use of different production processes. Except for guaiacol, which was mainly derived from raw materials, the other five compounds mentioned above all result from the Maillard reaction during thermal processing. The six compounds mentioned above are sufficient to distinguish fraud involving sesame oil raw materials and production processes, and can identify accurately adulteration levels of 30% concentration. CONCLUSION: In this study, the classification markers can identify the adulteration of sesame oil accurately. These six compounds are therefore important for the authenticity of sesame oil and provide a theoretical basis for the rapid and accurate identification of the authenticity of sesame oil. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

Fluorescent sensor based on quantum dots and nano-porphyrin for highly sensitive and specific determination of ethyl carbamate in fermented food.

BACKGROUND: Ethyl carbamate (EC) is a potentially toxic carcinogen produced during fermentation and storage of fermented foods, and many countries have set thresholds for its content in food. Therefore, sensitive, rapid and accurate detection of EC is meaningful to ensure the quality of fermented food. RESULTS: This study introduces a CdTe quantum dots/nano-5,10,15,20-tetrakis (4-methoxyphenyl)-porphyrin (nano TPP-OCH3 ) fluorescence sensor system detection of EC. The specificity of this sensing mainly relies on a photo-induced electron transfer and electrostatic force interaction between EC and nano TPP-OCH3 . This sensor presented a linear range of 10 to 1000 µg L-1 (R2  = 0.9903) with a low detection limit of 7.14 µg L-1 . Meanwhile, the recovery (91.19-101.09%) and precision [relative standard deviation (RSD) = 0.64-3.05%] of the sensor for the analysis of fermented food (yellow rice wine, soy sauce, Chinese spirits, Pu-erh tea) samples were good and could meet the requirements of practical detection. Moreover, the detection results of fermented food (yellow rice wine, soy sauce, Chinese spirits, Pu-erh tea) samples by this sensor are basically consistent with those of high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detector (HPLC-FLD). CONCLUSION: This method was expected to provide a potential platform for sensitive and accurate detection of EC in food safety monitoring, which would provide knowledge of the flavor and quality related to fermented food. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

Mini-open anterior approach focal cleaning combined with posterior internal fixation for thoracolumbar tuberculosis: Follow-up of 149 cases.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical efficacy and safety of mini-open anterior approach focal cleaning combined with posterior internal fixation for thoracolumbar tuberculosis. METHODS: A total of 149 patients with thoracolumbar tuberculosis were reviewed retrospectively and divided into 3 groups: mini-open anterior approach (group A), conventional anterior extraperitoneal approach (group B), and posterior approach (group C). After the operation, drainage tubes were routinely placed and the draining fluid was collected on the 4th day for the PCR detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA test (MTD), and Roche culture. Patients' surgical information, Cobb's angles, and postoperative complications were also compared. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in operation time, blood loss, hospital stay, or preoperative Cobb's angle among three groups. There existed obvious differences in the postoperative Cobb's angle and incidence of postoperative complications between group A and group C, as well as group B and group C. There was no obvious difference in the positive rate of MTB among the three groups by rapid culture plus Roche culture test. However, statistically significant differences in the positive rate of MTB were found between group A and group C by PCR detection, and between group A and group B by MTD. CONCLUSION: Mini-open anterior approach focal cleaning combined with posterior internal fixation resulted in small Cobb's angles, low incidence of postoperative complications and low positive rates of MTB, without increasing operation time, blood loss and hospital stay, rendering it as a safe and effective method to treat patients with thoracolumbar tuberculosis.

A comprehensive automatic data analysis strategy for gas chromatography-mass spectrometry based untargeted metabolomics.

Automatic data analysis for gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is a challenging task in untargeted metabolomics. In this work, we provide a novel comprehensive data analysis strategy for GC-MS-based untargeted metabolomics (autoGCMSDataAnal) by developing a new automatic strategy for performing TIC peak detection and resolution and proposing a novel time-shift correction and component registration algorithm. autoGCMSDataAnal uses original acquired GC-MS datafiles as input to automatically perform TIC peak detection, component resolution, time-shift correction and component registration, statistical analysis, and compound identification. We utilize standards and complex plant samples to comprehensively investigate the performance of autoGCMSDataAnal. The results suggest that the developed strategy is comparable with several state-of-the-art methods that are widely used in GC-MS-based untargeted metabolomics. Based on the proposed strategy, we develop a user-friendly MATLAB GUI for users who are unfamiliar with programming languages to facilitate their routine analysis, which can be freely downloaded at: http://software.tobaccodb.org/software/autogcmsdataanal.

Automatic peak detection coupled with multivariate curve resolution-alternating least squares for peak resolution in gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS) has been extensively used in complex sample analysis for the high-throughput characterization of volatile and semivolatile compounds. However, the accurate extraction of compound information remains challenging. Here, we present a combined algorithm strategy for GCMS data analysis to accurately screen metabolites across groups. First, chromatographic peaks in a total ion chromatogram (TIC) are extracted by using a Gaussian smoothing strategy and aligned on the basis of their mass spectra by a dynamic programing algorithm. The aligned TIC peaks are then registered into a component list table by applying a nearest-neighbor clustering algorithm. Significantly expressed TIC peaks among groups are screened through statistical analysis, such as ANOVA. Second, a chemometric method of multivariate curve resolution-alternating least squares for the peak resolution of the screened TIC peaks is utilized to retrieve the chromatographic and mass spectral profiles of coeluted components. The developed strategy is employed for the analysis of standard and complex plant sample datasets. Results indicate that our methodology is comparable with several state-of-the-art methods that are widely used in GC-MS-based metabolomics.

Resveratrol Ameliorates Glucocorticoid-Induced Bone Damage in a Zebrafish Model.

Resveratrol (Res) is a multi-functional polyphenol compound that has protective functions in cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. This study aimed to determine the effect of Res on osteogenic differentiation and bone mineralization in zebrafish (Danio rerio) with dexamethasone (Dex)-induced bone damage. Our results showed that Dex exposure (15 µmol/l) decreased the green fluorescence areas and the integrated optic density (IOD) values in the skull bones of zebrafish larvae of the TG(SP7:EGFP) strain in a dose-dependent manner (p < 0.01). Furthermore, Dex exposure decreased the alizarin red S-stained areas (bone mineralization area) in the skeleton and spinal bones of zebrafish larvae of the AB strain in a dose-dependent manner (p < 0.01). By contrast, Res treatment (150 µmol/l) significantly increased both the green fluorescence and bone mineralization area in Dex-exposed zebrafish larvae. Thus, our data show that Res improves bone mineralization after glucocorticoid-induced bone damage in a zebrafish model. Res may be a candidate drug for the prevention of osteoporosis.

Treatment for lumbar spinal stenosis in elderly patients using percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy combined with postoperative three-dimensional traction.

BACKGROUND: There were few previous studies about the use of percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy (PELD) combined with postoperative three-dimensional traction in elderly patients with stenosis. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical efficacy of PELD combined with postoperative three-dimensional traction in the treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis in elderly patients. METHODS: A total of 180 elderly patients with lumbar spinal stenosis were randomly divided into three groups: the traditional surgery group, PELD group (transforaminal approach), and PELD combined with postoperative three-dimensional traction group. The operation duration, intraoperative blood loss, hospital stay, and the imaging data for pelvic incidence (PI), sacral slope (SS), pelvic tilt (PT), thoracic kyphosis (TK), and lumbar lordosis (LL) were obtained. Visual Analog Scale for Pain (VAS) and Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) Score were carried one year after the operation. RESULTS: The operation duration, intraoperative blood loss, and hospital stay in PELD combined with postoperative three-dimensional traction group were significantly lower than in the traditional group. There were better outcomes of the LL, SS, and PT changes before and after surgery, as well as the VAS and JOA scores after surgery, in the PELD combined with postoperative three-dimensional traction group than in the other two groups. CONCLUSION: PELD combined with postoperative three-dimensional traction reduced hospital stay, provided adequate decompression for the spine, and improved surgical outcomes.

Responses of paddy soil bacterial community assembly to different long-term fertilizations in southeast China.

Recent works have shown that long-term fertilization has a critical influence on soil microbial communities; however, the underlying ecological assemblage of microbial community as well as its linkage with soil fertility and crop yield are still poorly understood. In this study, using analysis of high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons, we investigate mean pairwise phylogenetic distance (MPD), nearest relative index (NRI), taxonomic compositions and network topological properties to evaluate the assembly of the soil microbial community developed in 30-year fertilized soils. The phylogenetic signal indicates that environmental filtering was a more important assembly process that structure the microbial community than the stochastic process. Increase of soil fertility indexes, such as cation exchange capacity (CEC), soil organic matter (SOM) and available P (AP), driven by balanced fertilizations and straw returning amendment, result in the decrease of environmental filtering on the bacterial community assembly. Network parameters show that the amendment of straw returning provides with more niches, which lead to more complex phylotype co-occurrence. Increase of crop yield under balanced fertilizations might due to the increase of soil microbial function traits, which is associated with decreasing influence of environmental filtering. The significantly increased bacterial genera, Candidatus Koribacter, Candidatus Solibacter, and Fimbriimonas, in straw returning treatments, might be the key species in the competition caused by long-term environmental filtering. These results are helpful for a unified understanding of the ecological processes for microbial communities in different fertilized agroecosystem and the development of sustainable agriculture.

Two new 18, 19-seco Triterpenoids from Ilex asprella (Hook. et Arn.) Champ. ex Benth.

Two novel 18,19-seco-ursane triterpenoid saponins, ilexasprellanosides J-K (1-2, resp.), 3-O-α-l-Rhamnopyranosyl-(1 → 2)-ß-d-xylopyrannosyl-19-O-ß-d-glucopyranosyl-16-ß-hydroxyl-18,19-seco-13(18)-urs-ene-21, 28-lactone (1), 3-O-ß-d-Xylopyrannosyl-19-O-α-l-rhamnopyran osyl-(1 → 2)-α-l-arabinopyranoside-16, 21-epoxy-18, 19-seco-13(18)-urs-ene-28-oic acid (2), five known compounds (3-7) were isolated from the leaves of Ilex asprella (Hook. et Arn.) Champ. ex Benth. (Gangmeiye). The chemical structures of these compounds were elucidated through UV, IR, ESI-MS, 1H NMR and 13C NMR analyses. In MTT and SRB assays, compounds 1-4 presented cytotoxic activities against several human cancer cell lines, namely, the HL-60 human acute promyelocytic leukaemia, Bel 7402 liver cancer, BGC-823 gastric cancer and KB human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell lines. Compound 1 exhibited weak cytotoxic activities against the human tumour cell lines HL-60, Bel 7402 and KB with inhibition rates of 27.97%, 21.00% and 25.60%, respectively. Compound 2 exhibited weak cytotoxic activities against the human tumour cell lines HL-60, Bel 7402 and BGC-823 with inhibition rates of 19.34%, 7.50% and 4.26%. Respectively, the compounds exerted no statistically different effects on mast cell degranulation in rats. This result indicates that the compounds do not affect mast cell degranulation.

Tanshinol alleviates impaired bone formation by inhibiting adipogenesis via KLF15/PPARγ2 signaling in GIO rats.

Glucocorticoid (GC)-induced osteoporosis (GIO) is characterized by impaired bone formation, which can be alleviated by tanshinol, an aqueous polyphenol isolated from Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge. In this study we investigated the molecular mechanisms underlying GC-induced modulation of osteogenesis as well as the possibility of using tanshinol to interfere with GIO. Female SD rats aged 4 months were orally administered distilled water (Con), prednisone (GC, 5 mg·kg-1·d-1), GC plus tanshinol (Tan, 16 mg·kg-1·d-1) or GC plus resveratrol (Res, 5 mg·kg-1·d-1) for 14 weeks. After the rats were sacrificed, samples of bone tissues were collected. The changes in bone formation were assessed using Micro-CT, histomorphometry, and biomechanical assays. Expression of Kruppel-like factor 15 (KLF15), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ 2 (PPARγ 2) and other signaling proteins in skeletal tissue was measured with Western blotting and quantitative RT-PCR. GC treatment markedly increased the expression of KLF15, PPARγ2, C/EBPα and aP2, which were related to adipogenesis, upregulated FoxO3a pathway proteins (FoxO3a and Gadd45a), and suppressed the canonical Wnt signaling (ß-catenin and Axin2), which was required for osteogenesis. Thus, GC significantly decreased bone mass and bone quality. Co-treatment with Tan or Res effectively counteracted GC-impaired bone formation, suppressed GC-induced adipogenesis, and restored abnormal expression of the signaling molecules in GIO rats. We conclude that tanshinol counteracts GC-decreased bone formation by inhibiting marrow adiposity via the KLF15/PPARγ2/FoxO3a/Wnt pathway.

A simple multi-scale Gaussian smoothing-based strategy for automatic chromatographic peak extraction.

Peak detection is a critical step in chromatographic data analysis. In the present work, we developed a multi-scale Gaussian smoothing-based strategy for accurate peak extraction. The strategy consisted of three stages: background drift correction, peak detection, and peak filtration. Background drift correction was implemented using a moving window strategy. The new peak detection method is a variant of the system used by the well-known MassSpecWavelet, i.e., chromatographic peaks are found at local maximum values under various smoothing window scales. Therefore, peaks can be detected through the ridge lines of maximum values under these window scales, and signals that are monotonously increased/decreased around the peak position could be treated as part of the peak. Instrumental noise was estimated after peak elimination, and a peak filtration strategy was performed to remove peaks with signal-to-noise ratios smaller than 3. The performance of our method was evaluated using two complex datasets. These datasets include essential oil samples for quality control obtained from gas chromatography and tobacco plant samples for metabolic profiling analysis obtained from gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. Results confirmed the reasonability of the developed method.

Determination of nitroalkanes in mainstream cigarette smoke by heart-cutting multidimensional gas chromatography system coupled with mass spectrometry detection.

In this paper, heart-cutting two-dimensional GC/MS (GC-GC/MS) method in combination with a simple sample collection procedure was developed for the determination of 6 nitroalkanes in mainstream cigarette smoke. The method could remove large amounts of impurities on-line in the first polar column by heart-cuts and separate from the left interferences in a second mid-polar column. And the target compounds could be focused at the inlet of the second column by cryo-concentration. Compared to conventional GC/MS, GC-GC/MS achieved a lower noise level and sensitivity at least an order of magnitude higher. Furthermore, the GC-GC/MS method could avoid the false negative and false positive results that appeared in the compared conventional GC/MS analysis. By trapping the vapor phase of 20 cigarettes smoke, the LODs and LOQs of the nitroalkanes were 1.3 to 9.8 and 4.3 to 32.6ng/cigarette, respectively, and all linear correlation efficiencies were larger than 0.999. The validation results also indicate that the method has high accuracy (spiked recoveries between 84% and 102%) and good repeatability (RSD between 7.2% and 9.4%). The developed method was applied to analyze 1 Kentucky reference cigarette (3R4F) and 10 Chinese commercial brands of cigarettes. The research results indicated that nitromethane, nitroethane, 2-nitropropane and 1-nitro-n-pentane were detected in mainstream cigarette smoke, but 1-nitro-n-butane and 2-nitropropane, which were reported by one previous study, were not detected in all cigarette samples.