Polydatin Attenuates Cisplatin-Induced Acute Kidney Injury by Inhibiting Ferroptosis.

Cisplatin is widely used in the treatment of solid tumors, but its application is greatly limited due to its nephrotoxicity; thus, there is still no effective medicine for the treatment of cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury (Cis-AKI). We previously identified that polydatin (PD) exerts nephroprotective effects by antioxidative stress in AKI models. Recent evidence suggests that oxidative stress-induced molecular events overlap with the process of ferroptosis and that there are common molecular targets, such as glutathione (GSH) depletion and lipid peroxidation. Nevertheless, whether the nephroprotective effect of PD is related to anti-ferroptosis remains unclear. In this study, the inhibitory effect of PD on ferroptosis was observed in both cisplatin-treated HK-2 cells (20 µM) in vitro and a Cis-AKI mouse model (20 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) in vivo, characterized by the reversion of excessive intracellular free iron accumulation and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, a decrease in malondialdehyde (MDA) content and GSH depletion, and an increase in glutathione peroxidase-4 (GPx4) activity. Remarkably, PD dose-dependently alleviated cell death induced by the system Xc- inhibitor erastin (10 µM), and the effect of the 40 µM dose of PD was more obvious than that of ferrostatin-1 (1 µM) and deferoxamine (DFO, 100 µM), classical ferroptosis inhibitors. Our results provide insight into nephroprotection with PD in Cis-AKI by inhibiting ferroptosis via maintenance of the system Xc--GSH-GPx4 axis and iron metabolism.

Retrospective analysis of epidemic thunderstorm asthma in children in Yulin, northwest China.

BACKGROUND: An epidemic of thunderstorm asthma in pediatric patients occurred in Yulin, a northwest city of China, on 11 September 2018. We described the epidemic and retrospectively analyzed the demographic and clinical aspects of the involved children. METHODS: The caseload data of patients were collected from the hospital information system in Yulin Pediatric Hospital. The detailed document of hospitalized children with thunderstorm asthma was sourced from the medical records. RESULTS: The mean number of daily visits to emergency/outpatient department and the daily admission to hospital were 2.7 and 16 times, respectively, than on the other days of September. A gender prominence of males was observed in both emergency/outpatient and inpatient department. Among the 51 hospitalized children with detailed medical records, 56% of them had never experienced or were diagnosed with asthma and 25% had confirmed diagnosis of asthma. Sixty-seven percent had a history of allergic rhinitis during August and September. Seventy-six percent of the hospitalized children presented as moderate asthma. Ninety-four percent of the pediatric patients had positive IgE against mugwort pollen and 78% were monosensitized to pollen. CONCLUSION: Thunderstorm asthma can affect children, especially who has allergic rhinitis or asthma without preventive management. Mugwort is also an aeroallergen in thunderstorm asthma attacks. IMPACT: Thunderstorm can induce asthma attacks in children with allergic rhinitis owing to mugwort and aggravate symptoms in children with confirmed diagnosis of asthma. Children with mugwort allergy are susceptible to thunderstorm asthma and a preponderance of boys was observed. Better identification of allergic children to mugwort, giving suitable protective measures during thunderstorm and standard therapy to existing allergic situation could be a benefit for children at risk of thunderstorm asthma.

Bioenergetic investigation of action of lithium to Tetrahymena thermophila bF5 by microcalorimetry.

Microcalorimetry was employed to investigate the action of Li(I) to aquatic ecosystem from the point view of bioenergetics. Tetrahymena thermophila BF5 was chosen as the model organism. The power-time curves of T. thermophila BF5 growth metabolism in the absence and presence of Li(I) were obtained. The corresponding thermokinetic parameters were derived. The generation time was calculated as 592.3 min, which was consistent with the biomass values. Low concentration of Li(I) (1-20 mmol l-1) stimulated the growth of T. thermophila BF5, whereas the inhibition effect was observed in high concentration (30-100 mmol l-1). The value of IC50 was 52.8 mmol l-1. In the concentration range of 30-100 mmol l-1, the growth rate constants (k) and the maximum heat out power (P max) decrease with the concentration of Li(I), whereas the heat output (Q) increases slightly compared to the control. Other than the classic mechanism of inositol-phosphate cycle, the involvement of mitochondria mechanism was discussed and suggested.