Esketamine accelerates emergence from isoflurane general anaesthesia by activating the paraventricular thalamus glutamatergic neurones in mice.

BACKGROUND: Delayed emergence from general anaesthesia poses a significant perioperative safety hazard. Subanaesthetic doses of ketamine not only deepen anaesthesia but also accelerate recovery from isoflurane anaesthesia; however, the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon remain elusive. Esketamine exhibits a more potent receptor affinity and fewer adverse effects than ketamine and exhibits shorter recovery times after brief periods of anaesthesia. As the paraventricular thalamus (PVT) plays a pivotal role in regulating wakefulness, we studied its role in the emergence process during combined esketamine and isoflurane anaesthesia. METHODS: The righting reflex and cortical electroencephalography were used as measures of consciousness in mice during isoflurane anaesthesia with coadministration of esketamine. The expression of c-Fos was used to determine neuronal activity changes in PVT neurones after esketamine administration. The effect of esketamine combined with isoflurane anaesthesia on PVT glutamatergic (PVTGlu) neuronal activity was monitored by fibre photometry, and chemogenetic technology was used to manipulate PVTGlu neuronal activity. RESULTS: A low dose of esketamine (5 mg kg-1) accelerated emergence from isoflurane general anaesthesia (474 [30] s vs 544 [39] s, P=0.001). Esketamine (5 mg kg-1) increased PVT c-Fos expression (508 [198] vs 258 [87], P=0.009) and enhanced the population activity of PVTGlu neurones (0.03 [1.7]% vs 6.9 [3.4]%, P=0.002) during isoflurane anaesthesia (1.9 [5.7]% vs -5.1 [5.3]%, P=0.016) and emergence (6.1 [6.2]% vs -1.1 [5.0]%, P=0.022). Chemogenetic suppression of PVTGlu neurones abolished the arousal-promoting effects of esketamine (459 [33] s vs 596 [33] s, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that esketamine promotes recovery from isoflurane anaesthesia by activating PVTGlu neurones. This mechanism could explain the rapid arousability exhibited upon treatment with a low dose of esketamine.

Wheat peptides inhibit the activation of MAPK and NF-κB inflammatory pathways and maintain epithelial barrier integrity in NSAID-induced intestinal epithelial injury.

The use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) has negative effects on the gastrointestinal tract, but the proton pump inhibitors currently in use only protect against gastrointestinal disease and may even make NSAID-induced enteropathy worse. Therefore, new approaches to treating enteropathy are required. This study aimed to investigate the protective effect of wheat peptides (WPs) against NSAID-induced intestinal damage in mice and their mechanism. Here, an in vivo mouse model was built to investigate the protective and reparative effects of different concentrations of WPs on NSAID-induced intestinal injury. WPs ameliorated NSAID-induced weight loss and small intestinal tissue damage in mice. WP treatment inhibited NSAID-induced injury leading to increased levels of oxidative stress and expression levels of inflammatory factors. WPs protected and repaired the integrity and permeability injury of the intestinal tight junction induced by NSAIDs. An in vitro Caco-2 cell model was built with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). WP pretreatment inhibited LPS-induced changes in the Caco-2 cell permeability and elevated the levels of oxidative stress. WPs inhibited LPS-induced phosphorylation of NF-κB p65 and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathways and reduced the expression of inflammatory factors. In addition, WPs increased tight junction protein expression, which contributed to improved intestinal epithelial dysfunction. Our results suggest that WPs can ameliorate NSAID-induced impairment of intestinal barrier functional integrity by improving intestinal oxidative stress levels and reducing inflammatory factor expression through inhibition of NF-κB p65 and MAPK signaling pathway activation. WPs can therefore be used as potential dietary supplements to reduce NSAID-induced injury of the intestine.

Extraction of honokiol from Artemisia argyi and in vitro and in vivo investigation of its antifungal activity.

Extracts from plants used in Chinese medicine can be good sources of fungicides for agricultural applications. In this study, we separated and identified antifungal compounds from four traditional Chinese medicine extracts and evaluated their antifungal activities in vitro and in vivo. In vitro, honokiol extracted from Artemisia argyi showed broad-spectrum antimicrobial and mycelial inhibitory activity with EC50 in the range 3.56 - 33.85 µg/mL against eight plant pathogens. q-PCR indicated that honokiol might induce cell cancerisation and inhibit cellular respiration, which provided significant insights into honokiol function in tobacco resistance to molecular mechanisms of the phytopathogenic fungus Phytophthora nicotianae. In vivo, honokiol significantly decreased the rate of fungal infection in eggplants, potatoes, grapes, cherry tomatoes, and cucumbers, and enhanced disease resistance in tobacco. Overall, our results indicate that honokiol has the potential to control a variety of fungal and oomycete diseases, and A. argyi could be a source of honokiol.

[Effect of andrographolide on QS regulating virulence factors production in Pseudomonas aeruginosa].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of andrographolide on virulence factors production in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. METHOD: Growth rate, pyocyanin, proteolytic activity and elastase activity were measured with or without the presence of andrographolide. The effect of andrographolide on pyocyanin production, proteolytic activity and elastase activity in PAO-JP2 was investigated simultaneously. RESULT: The andrographolide did not affect the growth of PAO1 in planktonic culture. The production of pyocyanin, proteolytic activity and elastase activity were significanthy suppressed in P. aeruginosa cultures grown in the presence of andrographolide. However, these effects were not observed in PAO-JP2. CONCLUSION: The inhibiting effect of andrographolide on virulence factors production in P. aeruginosa may play a role in its anti-infection activity.

Nutritional support treatment for severe chronic hepatitis and posthepatitic cirrhosis.

The therapeutic effectiveness of nutritional support in the treatment of severe chronic hepatitis and posthepatitic cirrhosis was evaluated. 143 patients with severe chronic hepatitis and 83 with posthepatitic cirrhosis were evaluated with SGA for assessing the nutritional status before the treatment. Patients with severe chronic hepatitis were divided into three groups: group A subject to enteral nutrition (EN) and parenteral nutrition (PN), group B subject to comprehensive treatment (CT)+PN; group C subject to CT+EN. The patients with posthepatitic cirrhosis were divided into two groups: group D receiving CT and group E receiving CT+PN+EN. The function of liver and kidney and nutritional status were monitored to assess the therapy in 6 weeks. The results showed before treatment, over 90 % patients had moderate to severe malnutrition. After nutritional support, the liver function (ALT, T-bil) and nutritional status (TP, TC) in group A was improved significantly as compared with that in groups B and C (P<0.05). Compared with group D, the values of TP and Alb were increased significantly in group E (P<0.05), but the levels of ALT, AST and T-bil had no obvious change. It was suggested that most patients with severe chronic hepatitis or posthepatitic cirrhosis had malnutrition to varying degrees. The nutritional support treatment could obviously improve the nutritional status of these patients, and was helpful to ameliorate the liver function of the patients with severe chronic hepatitis. Among the methods of nutritional support treatment, PN combined with EN had the best effectiveness.