Saturated fatty acids activate the inflammatory signalling pathway in Schwann cells: Implication in sciatic nerve injury.

Sciatic nerve injury affects quality of life. Many immune cells and inflammatory cytokines have been reported to be involved in sciatic nerve injury, but little is known about the ligands and receptors that trigger inflammatory responses. By using a modified sciatic nerve clamp injury method, we found that the recruitment of Schwann cells and the inflammatory response were enhanced after sciatic nerve injury. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), one of the major members of the TLR family, is highly expressed in Schwann cells. Under certain conditions, myeloid differentiation protein 2 (MD2) binds to TLR4 on the membrane and plays important roles in the inflammatory response. The reductions in the recruitment of Schwann cells and the inflammatory response induced by the blockade of TLR4 or MD2 suggest that TLR4 and MD2 are involved in sciatic nerve injury. What are the endogenous signals that activate the inflammatory response? A large number of free saturated fatty acids (SFAs) are released from Schwann cells, adipocytes and the blood after sciatic nerve injury. Liang et al reported that Schwann cells can be stimulated by palmitic acid (PA). Here, we found that the expression and secretion of TNF-α and IL-6 were enhanced by PA treatment. Moreover, PA activated TLR4 signalling pathway-related proteins and stimulated a strong association between TLR4 and MD2. Blocking TLR4 or MD2 reversed the PA-induced inflammatory response and TLR4 downstream signalling pathway. Thus, we speculated that SFAs act as endogenous ligands that activate TLR4/MD2, thus triggering Schwann cell inflammation during sciatic nerve injury.

Effect of setting temperature on glucono-δ-lactone-induced gelation of silver carp surimi.

BACKGROUND: Setting temperature is important for heat-induced surimi gel formation. However, there is little information concerning setting temperature on the properties of glucono-δ-lactone (GDL)-induced surimi gel, which is considered a new preparation technique. RESULTS: The pH of surimi gel induced by 2% GDL was about 4.6, while the breaking force of GDL-induced surimi gel preheated at a temperature range of 35-50 °C was higher than that of heat-induced surimi gel. The breaking force, deformation and whiteness of GDL-induced surimi gel were increased with increasing setting temperature from 30 to 45 °C, but water-holding capacity was decreased. When setting temperature was further increased to 50 °C, the textural properties were decreased, and myosin heavy chain (MHC) was degraded slightly. The data of protein subunits solubilized in various solvents revealed that MHC participated in the formation of GDL-induced surimi gel mainly through hydrophobic interactions. Furthermore, when GDL-induced surimi gel was preheated at 45 °C, a compact and fine fiber microstructure was observed by scanning electron microscopy. CONCLUSION: Setting treatment at the appropriate temperature could promote the formation of a fine, compact GDL-induced surimi gel network, resulting in improved textural properties.

Naked-Eye Visual Thermometer Based on Glycerol─Nonclose-Packed Photonic Crystals for Real-Time Temperature Sensing and Monitoring.

Real-time sensing and monitoring of temperature are of great significance for assessing human health. The sensitivity and stability are inevitable issues for thermometers. In this study, a thermometer with the cylindrical thermochromic hydrogel was prepared for real-time visual monitoring of temperature, which had excellent temperature sensitivity, angle-independence axially, and environmental stability. The customization of their initial optical properties depended on the PMMA concentrations and the content of the hydrogel monomer. The glycerol introduced with solvent displacement formed hydrogen bonds with the hydrogel network, which stabilized their mechanical properties, and the reflection peak blue-shifted from 653 to 499 nm when tensile strain was 57.85%. At the same time, the environmental stability originated from the moisturizing properties of the glycerol, which enabled the hydrogel to reliably transmit the information on temperature into the air without losing moisture. The reflection peak of the cylindrical thermochromic hydrogel shifted from 657 to 455 nm when the temperature increased from 22 to 45 °C, which realized temperature visual monitoring in the full-color range. The temperature sensitivity of the glycerol─nonclose-packed photonic crystals remained stable for 1 month, which provided an optimal option for continuous visual temperature monitoring.

A PDMS-encapsulated cylindrical non-closed-packed photonic crystals composite with Bragg-enhanced Fresnel reflectance for optical gain and spectral selection.

According to the Fresnel theory, the reflectivity intensity of spherical and cylindrical convex surfaces decreases from their edge to center, and it is noteworthy and interesting for optical gain to study the enhancement of center reflectance. In this paper, a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) - encapsulated cylindrical non-closed-packed photonic crystals (NPCs) composite with Bragg-enhanced Fresnel reflectance was designed for spectral selectivity and optical gain. Theoretically and experimentally, the periodically ordered structure of NPCs achieved high-reflection of light in photonic bandgap and high-transmission in other bands, which enhanced Fresnel reflectivity of the convex center to specific bands. Furtherly, the cylindrical NPCs hydrogel with stretchability was applied for the dynamic tuning of optical signals. The reflection peak of the PDMS-encapsulated cylindrical NPCs composite blue-shifted from 608 nm to 413 nm with 50 % tensile strain and achieved a rapid transition of structural color from orange to blue-violet in 60 cycles. The new kind of photonic crystals composite for optical gain and spectral selection broke through the limitations of traditional Fresnel curved mirrors with the lowest central reflectivity and inability to perform spectral selectivity, and have great significance and application prospects in fields of signal transmission, optical measurement, and instrument design.

Specific Alcohol-Responsive Photonic Crystal Sensors Based on Host-Guest Recognition.

A photonic crystal material based on ß-cyclodextrin (ß-CD) with adsorption capacity is reported. The materials ((A-ß-CD)-AM PC) consist of 3D poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) colloidal microsphere arrays and hydrogels supplemented with ß-cyclodextrin modified by acryloyl chloride. The prepared materials are then utilized for VOCs gas sensing. The 3D O-(A-ß-CD)-AM PC was used to detect toluene, xylene, and acetone and the response was seen as the red-shift of the reflection peak. The 3D I-(A-ß-CD)-AM PC was used to detect toluene, xylene, and acetone which occurred redshifted, while methanol, ethanol, and propanol and the peaks' red-shifting was observed. However, among these, methanol gave the largest red-shift response The sensor has broad prospects in the detection of alcohol and the detection of alcohol-loaded drug releases in the future.

TIPE2 sensitizes breast cancer cells to paclitaxel by suppressing drug-induced autophagy and cancer stem cell properties.

Drug resistance is a great obstacle to the clinical application of paclitaxel (PTX) in breast cancer treatment. Chemoresistance can be either primary or acquired. Multifarious factors are related to drug resistance. Among these factors, drug-induced autophagy has been shown to contribute to acquired chemoresistance in cancer cells. Additionally, cancer stem cells (CSCs) drive primary chemoresistance. Recent advances regarding TIPE2 demonstrate that TIPE2 enhances osteosarcoma and non-small cell lung cancer cell sensitivity to cisplatin. However, the role of TIPE2 in PTX resistance in breast cancer cells has not been elucidated. Here, the in vitro and in vivo study demonstrated that TIPE2 sensitized breast cancer cells to PTX by suppressing drug-induced autophagy and CSC properties. Mechanistically, we found that TIPE2 activated the AKT/mTOR signalling pathway and inhibited the TAK1/MAPK signalling pathway to suppress drug-induced autophagy. Moreover, TIPE2 inhibited TAK1/NF-κB activation to reduce breast CSC properties. Collectively, our results first elucidated the inhibitory role of TIPE2 in breast cancer chemoresistance. Thus, TIPE2 may be a new target for breast cancer chemotherapy.

Crack Damage Propagation and Morphology Distribution of Hydraulic Electric Pulse Fractured Coal.

This work discusses the damage and failure effect of a hydraulic electric pulse and the law of crack growth on coal. The impact and failure effect of a water shock wave and the mechanism of crack initiation, propagation, and arrest were studied by numerical simulation and the fracturing test of coal, combined with CT scanning, PCAS software, and Mimics 3D reconstruction technology. The results show that a high voltage electric pulse that increases permeability is an effective artificial crack making technology. The crack spreads radially along the borehole, and the damage degree, number, and complexity were positively correlated with the discharge voltage and discharge times. The crack area, volume, damage factor, and other parameters increased steadily. The cracks in the coal first start from two symmetrical angles, and finally distribute in a 360 deg circumferential direction, forming a multiangle crack spatial network structure. The fractal dimension of the crack group increases, the number of microcracks and the roughness of the crack group increases, the overall fractal dimension of the specimen decreases, and the roughness between cracks weakens. The cracks then form a smooth coal-bed methane migration channel. The research results can provide some theoretical guidance for the evaluation of crack damage propagation and the effect of electric pulse fracturing in water.

Dual-Responsive Photonic Crystal Sensors Based on Physical Crossing-Linking SF-PNIPAM Dual-Crosslinked Hydrogel.

Flexible wearable materials have frequently been used in drug delivery, healthcare monitoring, and wearable sensors for decades. As a novel type of artificially designed functional material, photonic crystals (PCs) are sensitive to the changes in the external environment and stimuli signals. However, the rigidity of the PCs limits their application in the field of biometric and optical sensors. This study selects silk fibroin (SF) and poly-N-isopropylacrylamide (PNIPAM) as principal components to prepare the hydrogel with the physical crosslinking agent lithium silicate (LMSH) and is then integrated with PCs to obtain the SF-PNIPAM dual-crosslinked nanocomposite for temperature and strain sensing. The structural colors of the PCs change from blue to orange-red by the variation in temperature or strain. The visual temperature-sensing and adhesion properties enable the SF-PNIPAM dual-crosslinked nanocomposite to be directly attached to the skin in order to monitor the real-time dynamic of human temperature. Based on its excellent optical properties and biocompatibility, the SF-PNIPAM dual-crosslinked nanocomposite can be applied to the field of visual biosensing, wearable display devices, and wound dressing materials.

Flory-Huggins VOC Photonics Sensor Made of Cellulose Derivatives.

As a widespread air pollutant, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are harmful to the human body's skin, nervous system, and respiratory system. Low-cost, extensive, and continuous detection of VOCs is of great significance to human health. We infiltrated and coated cellulose acetate on the inverse opal photonic crystal skeleton of methylcellulose-polyvinyl alcohol-graphene oxide to construct a degradable, high-toughness cellulose VOC sensor. Cellulose acetate enhances the response to VOCs and achieves a highly selective response to acetone vapor due to the smaller Flory-Huggins parameter with acetone. This work proposes a general, simple, easy-to-use, and highly selective photonic crystal VOC sensor development strategy. Calculated from the Flory-Huggins solution theory, a suitable polymer was selected to modify the inverse opal photonic crystal framework and achieve high selectivity detection.

Role of endoplasmic reticulum stress in hepatic glucose and lipid metabolism and therapeutic strategies for metabolic liver disease.

The endoplasmic reticulum is the most abundant membrane organelle in eukaryotic cells. It is an important site of membrane and secretory protein folding and glycolipid synthesis and transport, and it is responsible for regulating intracellular calcium homeostasis. When the load of protein synthesis and folding exceeds the processing capacity of the endoplasmic reticulum, the excessive accumulation of misfolded proteins leads to endoplasmic reticulum stress and activates the cellular unfolded protein response. Hepatocytes contain an abundance of smooth and rough endoplasmic reticulum, which can sense changes in various nutritional metabolic and external stimuli and mediate the regulation of glucose and lipid metabolism by activating the unfolded protein response signaling pathways. Endoplasmic reticulum stress plays a very important role in metabolic regulation and in the occurrence and development of liver diseases. This review summarizes the recent research progress on the unfolded protein response and hepatic glucose and lipid metabolism and discusses the mechanism linking endoplasmic reticulum stress with glucose and lipid metabolism disorders and related metabolic liver diseases to improve the understanding of the molecular pathological basis of major chronic diseases such as obesity, type II diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Quantitative Analysis of Structure Color of Photonic Crystal Sensors Based on HSB Color Space.

The photonic crystals (PhCs) have a bright structural color, but their angular dependence and naked-eye observation subjectivity only apply for qualitative analysis. The HSB color space is a three-channel color analysis technology based on hue (H)-saturation (S)-brightness (B). We use the HSB color space to analyze the structural color of the AM/NIPAM PhCs hydrogel sensor in response to temperature and organic solvents. We proved that the structural color analysis based on the hue value (H) could achieve an analysis accuracy close to the spectrum analysis. In addition, we have obtained stimulus-responsive PhCs structure color images from references and quantitatively analyzed them through the HSB color space. The results show that the H of the structural color can establish a high correlation with the specified target. In some cases, its best fitness exceeds traditional spectroscopy methods. This analysis method will provide a general and quantitative analysis technology for the structural color of PhCs by consumer-grade computers and smartphones.

Isatin inhibits the invasion and metastasis of SH­SY5Y neuroblastoma cells in vitro and in vivo.

Indoline­2,3­dione or indole­1H­2,3­dione, commonly known as isatin, is found in plants of genus Isatin and in Couropita guianancis aubl, and inhibits tumor cell proliferation through its antioxidant effects. The present study analyzed the effect of isatin on the malignant phenotype of neuroblastoma cells, and reported that isatin significantly inhibited neuroblastoma cell proliferation, invasion and migration in vitro in a dose­dependent manner, and distant metastasis in tumor­bearing mice. Mechanistically, isatin inhibited lysine­specific histone demethylase (LSD)1 and reversed the blockade on p53, thereby activating the apoptotic pathway. The inhibitory effect of isatin on LSD1 may be mediated via direct binding and molecular docking or indirectly through the TGFß/ERK/NF­κB signaling pathway. Isatin also alleviated the renal and hepatic toxicity of cyclophosphamide in the tumor­bearing mice, indicating its potential as a candidate drug as well as an adjuvant for treating metastatic neuroblastoma.