Nuciferine reduces inflammation induced by cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury through the PI3K/Akt/NF-κB pathway.

BACKGROUND: Cerebral ischemia has the characteristics of high incidence, mortality, and disability, which seriously damages people's health. Cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury is the key pathological injury of this disease. However, there is a lack of drugs that can reduce cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury in clinical practice. At present, a few studies have provided some evidence that nuciferine can reduce cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury, but its specific mechanism of action is still unclear, and further research is still needed. OBJECTIVE: In this study, PC12 cells and SD rats were used to construct OGD/R and MCAO/R models, respectively. Combined with bioinformatics methods and experimental verification methods, the purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic and comprehensive study on the effect and mechanism of nuciferine on reducing inflammation induced by cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury. RESULTS: Nuciferine can improve the cell viability of PC12 cells induced by OGD/R, reduce apoptosis, and reduce the expression of inflammation-related proteins; it can also improve the cognitive and motor dysfunction of MCAO/R-induced rats by behavioral tests, reduce the area of cerebral infarction, reduce the release of inflammatory factors TNF-α and IL-6 in serum and the expression of inflammation-related proteins in brain tissue. CONCLUSION: Nuciferine can reduce the inflammatory level of cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury in vivo and in vitro models by acting on the PI3K/Akt/NF-κB signaling pathway, and has the potential to be developed as a drug for the treatment of cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Assessing the origins of the European Plagues following the Black Death: A synthesis of genomic, historical, and ecological information.

The second plague pandemic started in Europe with the Black Death in 1346 and lasted until the 19th century. Based on ancient DNA studies, there is a scientific disagreement over whether the bacterium, Yersinia pestis, came into Europe once (Hypothesis 1) or repeatedly over the following four centuries (Hypothesis 2). Here, we synthesize the most updated phylogeny together with historical, archeological, evolutionary, and ecological information. On the basis of this holistic view, we conclude that Hypothesis 2 is the most plausible. We also suggest that Y. pestis lineages might have developed attenuated virulence during transmission, which can explain the convergent evolutionary signals, including pla decay, that appeared at the end of the pandemics.

Asperfuranones A-C, 3(2H)-furanone derivatives from the fungus Aspergillus sp. and the configuration reassignment of their eighteen analogues.

Three undescribed 3(2H)-furanone derivatives, asperfuranones A-C (1-3), along with one known compound (4) were isolated from the Aspergillus sp. strain obtained from the intestines of centipede. Their structures were determined by NMR and MS spectroscopic analyses, and the absolute configurations were established by the Snatzke's sector rules, modified Mosher's method and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculation. Meanwhile, the application of the sector rules led to the reassignment of the absolute configurations of 4 and other seventeen previously reported analogues (5-21).