Combinations of Tibetan tea and medicine food homology herbs: A new strategy for obesity prevention.

Obesity has become a significant global public health problem. Functional drinks have been an essential direction for obesity prevention research. The present study investigated the preventive effect and safety of winter melon and lotus leaf Tibetan tea (WLTT, a compound tea drink based on Ya'an Tibetan Tea and medicine food homology herbs) on obesity. The rats' hypercaloric high-fat diet (HFD) obesity model was established to evaluate obesity prevention and explored the mechanism through intestinal flora regulation. The results showed that in obese rats with the intervention of WLTT (400, 800, and 1600 mg/kg BW), the body weight, fat accumulation, adipocyte cell size, serum lipid levels, and antioxidant enzyme activity (SOD, GSH-Px, and MDA) were progressively improved. 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing showed that WLTT could improve intestinal flora disorders due to HFD, which significantly reversed the relative abundance of Firmicutes and the F/B ratio associated with an HFD, and significantly upregulated the relative abundance of Verrucomicrobia. At the genus level, the downregulation of the relative abundance of Akkermansia and unclassified_Lachnospiraceae groups, and the upregulation of the relative abundance of Romboutsia, Ruminococcus, Corynebacteriume, and Saccharibacteria_genera_incertae_sedis groups brought about by the HFD were significantly reversed. The results of the above experiments were compared favorably with those of a parallel experiment with Bi -Sheng -Yuan slimming tea (BSY, a functional drink based on green tea and medicine food homology herbs). Overall, the findings have provided that WLTT can prevent obesity owing to an HFD by regulating intestinal flora and has a good safety profile, and combinations of Tibetan tea and medicine food homology herbs could be a new option for obesity prevention.

Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals that targeting HSP90 suppresses PDAC progression by restraining mitochondrial bioenergetics.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the deadliest cancers, which lacks effective treatment strategies. There is an urgent need for the development of new strategies for PDAC therapy. The genetic and phenotypic heterogeneity of PDAC cancer cell populations poses further challenges in the clinical management of PDAC. In this study, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing to characterize PDAC tumors from KPC mice. Functional studies and clinical analysis showed that PDAC cluster 2 cells with highly Hsp90 expression is much more aggressive than the other clusters. Genetic and pharmacologic inhibition of Hsp90 impaired tumor cell growth both in vitro and in vivo. Further mechanistic study revealed that HSP90 inhibition disrupted the interaction between HSP90 and OPA1, leading to a reduction in mitochondrial cristae amount and mitochondrial energy production. Collectively, our study reveals that HSP90 might be a potential therapeutic target for PDAC.

[Analysis of growth dynamics of Curcuma wenyujin].

OBJECTIVE: To study the accumulation of matter and dynamic of chemical compositions in rhizoma of Curcuma wenyujin for its cultivation. METHODS: The weight of various parts and chemical composition content of rhizoma were determined at regular time. RESULTS: The growth of Curcuma wenyujin could be divided into the seedling period, the rhizoma growing period and dry matter accumulating period. In seedling period, the aerial parts were the center of organism, the matter accumulated mainly in leaves; In rhizoma growing period, the organic center were gradually transformed from the aerial parts to the underground parts. The tendency of total chemical composition quantity in rhizome presented rises at first but gradually dropped at last. CONCLUSIONS: The growth of Curcuma wenyujin has two organic centers, the seedling period and the rhizoma vegetal and weighted period. The total chemical composition quantity in Curcuma wenyujin rhizome reaches the maximum value from the last third part of October to mid-November.

[ISSR-PCR analysis in different species and populations of Rhizoma Curcumae].

OBJECTIVE: To study the genetic diversity and genetic relationship in different species and populations of Curcuma by ISSR-PCR marker technique. METHOD: Eighty populations and 37 samples of Curcuma including C. phaeocaulis, C. kwangsiensis and C. wenyujin were studied by ISSR-PCR markers. The systematic diagram of Similar coefficient and genetic distance were set up by POPGEN32 software and clustered by UPGMA method. RESULT: A total of 65 loci were scored by 5 primers, among which 34 were polymorphic loci. The percentage of polymorphic loci was 52.3%. Genetic similarity coefficient changed from 0.6864 to 0.9997. Nei's gene diversity index (H), and Shannon information index (I) were 0.1521 and 0.2338. The inner genetic diversity of Curcuma species was lower than the outer. CONCLUSION: The genetic variation of different populations Curcuma was big. The inherited differentiation of inner populations was low. Different populations of Curcuma were related to character of species and geological distribution.