Oleanolic acid-loaded nanoparticles attenuate activation of hepatic stellate cells via suppressing TGF-ß1 and oxidative stress in PM2.5-exposed hepatocytes.

Liver fibrosis has the potential to progress into liver cirrhosis, liver failure, and even death. Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) activation play a central role in liver fibrosis, and persistently damaged hepatocytes secrete soluble factors that activate transdifferentiation of HSCs into myofibroblasts. Our previous studies indicated that fine particulate matter (PM2.5) can activate HSCs by stimulating hepatocytes to secrete TGF-ß1. However, whether PM2.5 activates HSCs by regulating oxidative stress in hepatocytes remains uncertain. Oleanolic acid (OA) has been widely used in the clinic for hepatoprotection in Chinese medicine. In the present study, OA-loaded nanoparticles (OA-NP) with high solubility were used to attenuate the activation of HSCs induced by PM2.5-treated hepatocytes, and further studies were performed to explore the mechanism in which OA-NP plays a vital part. Our results showed that consistently PM2.5 treatment induced oxidative stress in hepatocytes. Moreover, the activation of HSCs induced by PM2.5-treated hepatocytes was reversed by antioxidant N-acetylcysteine treatment. Hence, PM2.5 may participate in the activation of HSCs by regulating oxidative stress in hepatocytes. Using a co-cultivation system, our results proved pretreatment with OA-NP significantly attenuates the activation of HSCs induced by PM2.5-exposed hepatocytes. In addition, the TGF-ß1 expression and oxidative stress in hepatocytes with PM2.5 treated were reduced by the incubation with OA-NP. These observations demonstrated that OA-NP protects against the activation of HSCs by decreasing the TGF-ß1 level and oxidative stress in PM2.5-exposed hepatocytes.

PM2.5-exposed hepatocytes induce hepatic stellate cells activation by releasing TGF-ß1.

The interaction between various types of hepatic cells is related to liver fibrosis. Recent studies demonstrated that fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure is an important risk factor for the occurrence of liver fibrosis, but its molecular mechanism is still obscure. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether transforming growth factor- ß1 (TGF- ß1) secreted from PM2.5-treated hepatocytes (L-O2) are shuttled to hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) and to establish their effects on HSCs. We have observed that the conditioned medium from L-O2 cells stimulated with PM2.5 induced the activation of LX-2 cells, and at the same time, the same results were obtained when we co-cultured LX-2 in PM2.5-exposed L-O2 cells. In addition, analysis of L-O2 cells stimulated with PM2.5 revealed significant increases in TGF-ß1 expression. Moreover, we found that the TGF-ß1 receptor inhibitor, SB-525334, decreases the proliferation and migration of LX-2 cells in the co-culture system. In addition, the expression of α-smooth muscle actin and type I collagen in LX-2 cells induced by PM2.5-treated L-O2 cells were also blocked by pretreated with SB-525334. These observations imply that PM2.5 induces TGF- ß1expression in hepatocytes, which leads to HSCs activation.

[Metabolic syndrome increases Framingham risk score of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus].

OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of metabolic syndrome(MS) on Framingham risk score(FRS) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). METHODS: The anthropometric and biochemical data of 1708 patients with T2DM admitted in hospital from May 2008 to April 2013 were retrospectively analyzed, including 902 males and 806 females with a mean age of 57.1±11.8 years (20-79 years). Diagnosis of MS was made according to the criteria of the Adult Treatment Panel Ⅲ Criteria modified for Asians. RESULTS: Compared to non-MS/T2DM patients, MS/T2DM patients had higher waist circumference, body weight, body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting C peptide, total cholesterol, triglyceride, and LDL-C (P<0.05), while lower HDL-C (P<0.01). Both FRS [13.0(10.0, 15.0) vs 11.0(9.0, 13.0) in male,15.0(12.0, 18.0) vs 12.0(6.0, 14.8) in female,P<0.01)] and 10-year cardiovascular risk [12.0%(6.0%, 20.0%) vs 8.0%(5.0%,12.0%) in male,3.0%(1.0%, 6.0%) vs 1.0%(0.0%, 2.8%) in female,P<0.01] were higher in MS/T2DM patients than those in non-MS/T2DM patients.Both FRS and 10-year cardiovascular risk were increased with the components of MS. CONCLUSION: T2DM patients with MS have more cardiovascular risk factors, higher FRS and 10-year cardiovascular risk.

The Bufei Nashen pill inhibits the PI3K/AKT/HIF-1 signaling pathway to regulate extracellular matrix deposition and improve COPD progression.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: According to the theory and practice of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can be classified as "cough," "dyspnea," or "lung distention disease." Bufei Nashen pill (BFNSP) is a classic Chinese herbal formula with certain activity against the above syndromes. FNSP has previously been shown to improve clinical symptoms (cough, lumbar and knee weakness, tinnitus) in patients with occupationally related interstitial lung disease. AIM OF THE STUDY: There is a lack of convincing evidence supporting the use of BFNSP for the treatment of COPD. This study aimed to investigate the effect of BFNSP on COPD and explore its underlying mechanisms. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS) was used to analyze the main components of BFNSP and BFNSP-containing serum. A COPD rat model was generated, and the rats were treated with different doses of BFNSP. Lung function indices were analyzed by a pulmonary function testing system, and lung histopathology was assessed by HE staining and scanning electron microscopy. The levels of TGF-ß1, IL-6, IL-8, IL-1ß, MMP3, MMP-9, and TIMP1 in BALF and the levels of MMP3, MMP-9, TIMP1, and HA in serum were detected by ELISA. Immunohistochemical staining was performed to determine the expression of Col-I, Col-III, and LN in lung tissues. RT‒qPCR was performed to detect the mRNA expression of PI3K, Akt, HIF-1α, MMP-9, TGF-ß1, TIMP1, and ERK1/2 in lung tissue, and Western blotting was performed to detect the protein expression of PI3K, p-PI3K, Akt, p-Akt, HIF-1α, MMP-9, TGF-ß1, TIMP1, and p-ERK1/2 in lung tissue. In addition, in vitro cellular assays were performed for validation. RESULTS: The results showed that BFNSP effectively improved the functional status of pulmonary ventilation, attenuated pathological damage in lung tissue, inhibited the release of inflammatory factors, reduced extracellular matrix deposition, and inhibited the activation of the PI3K/AKT/HIF-1 signaling pathway in lung tissue in COPD rats (P<0.05) and may alleviate COPD progression by inhibiting the PI3K/AKT/HIF-1 signaling pathway. CONCLUSION: BFNSP inhibits the PI3K/AKT/HIF-1 signaling pathway to regulate extracellular matrix deposition and improve COPD progression.

High removal of thiophene from model gasoline by porous MIL-101(Cr)/SA hybrid membrane.

Membrane separation technologies have great promising potential for applications in several industries. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), for their large surface areas, low framework densities, transition-metal ions in the skeleton and high pore volumes relative to other porous matrices, have great potential for the removal of sulfur from gasoline with high efficiency. In the present study, a novel porous membrane adsorbent MIL-101(Cr)/SA was prepared by immobilizing MIL-101(Cr) onto sodium alginate (SA) matrix, which can combine the size/shape selectivity of MIL-101(Cr) with the processability and mechanical stability of SA polymer. The physico-chemical properties of MIL-101(Cr)/SA were investigated by FT-IR, SEM, BET, XRD and EDX methods. To investigate the effects of some important factors on the adsorption behavior for thiophene, a batch of experiments were performed by changing the concentration of porogen polyethylene glycol in the MIL-101(Cr)/SA, solution temperature, initial thiophene concentration and contact time. Meanwhile, benzothiophene, thiophene and 3-methyl thiophene were used to test the selectivity of MIL-101(Cr)/SA. The MIL-101(Cr)/SA showed an excellent uptake capacity of 671 mg g-1 under the optimal adsorption conditions. Selectivity testing indicated that the uptake capacity of MIL-101(Cr)/SA follows the order of benzothiophene > thiophene > 3-methyl thiophene. Kinetics experiments indicated the pseudo-second-order model displayed good correlation with adsorption kinetics data. The Crank model showed that the intraparticle solute diffusion is the rate-controlling adsorption step. Regeneration experiment result shows that the prepared MIL-101(Cr)/SA has excellent adsorption and desorption efficiencies.

An UPLC-MS/MS method for the analysis of glimepiride and fluoxetine in human plasma.

A sensitive and rapid ultra performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method was developed to determine glimepiride (GPD) and fluoxetine (FLU) in human plasma using diazepam as the internal standard (IS) simultaneously. The presented method used an Acquity UPLC BEH C18 column for chromatographic separation with tandem mass spectrometric detection on a QTrap5500 mass spectrometer operated in positive ESI mode. The mobile phase is a mixture of acetonitrile and 1% formic acid in water with gradient elution at a flow rate of 0.40mL/min. The GPD, FLU and IS were eluted at 1.46, 1.27 and 1.39min, respectively. The MRM transitions of m/z 491.3→126.3 and m/z 310.5→148.1 were used to quantify for GPD and FLU, respectively. The linearity of this method was found to be within the concentration range of 2.5-300ng/mL and 0.1-20ng/mL for GPD and FLU in human plasma, respectively. The intra- and inter-day precision (RSD%) were less than 10.3% and accuracy (RE%) was within ±7.3%. The matrix effect were 95.3-100.7% for GPD and FLU. GPD and FLU were sufficiently stable under all relevant analytical conditions. The method was also successfully applied to the clinical samples after a single oral dose of 2mg GLP and 40mg FLU in patients.