PFAS-induced lipidomic dysregulations and their associations with developmental toxicity in zebrafish embryos.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are persistent environmental contaminants, posing developmental toxicity to fish and human. PFAS-induced lipid metabolism disorders were demonstrated using the zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryo model, but the detailed changes of lipid compositions and the influence of these changes on the biological development are still unclear. Herein, lipidomics analysis was performed to reveal the dysregulations of lipid metabolism in zebrafish embryos exposed to perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) or perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) through microinjection. Various abnormal phenotypes were observed, including heart bleeding, pericardium edema, spinal curvature and increased heart rate at 72 h after fertilization, especially in the PFOS exposure groups. Lipidomic profiling found downregulated phosphatidylethanolamines in the PFAS-exposed embryos, especially those containing a docosahexaenoyl (DHA) chain, indicating an excessive oxidative damage to the embryos. Glycerolipids were mainly upregulated in the PFOA groups but downregulated in the PFOS groups. These aberrations may reflect oxidative stress, energy metabolism malfunction and proinflammatory signals induced by PFASs. However, supplement of DHA may not be effective in recovering the lipidomic dysregulations and protecting from the developmental toxicity induced by PFASs, showing the complexity of the toxicological mechanisms. This work has revealed the associations between the abnormal phenotypes and dysregulations of lipid metabolism in zebrafish embryos induced by PFASs from the aspect of lipidomics, and discovered the underlying molecular mechanisms of the developmental toxicity of PFASs.

Effect of traditional Chinese medicine injections on severe pneumonia: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Traditional Chinese medicine injections (TCMJ) used in the treatment of severe pneumonia have been widely implemented in clinical practice, but their overall efficacy and safety remain unclear. This paper aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of TCMJ in the treatment of severe pneumonia. METHODS: PubMed, EMbase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, WanFang, and the Chongqing VIP Chinese Science and Technology Periodical Database were all searched for randomized controlled trials focusing on the administration of TCMJ for severe pneumonia. Two researchers independently screened titles, abstracts, full texts, and extracted relevant data. The RevMan 5.3 software (The Cochrane Collaboration, Software Update, Oxford, UK) and Stata 14 software (STATA Corporation, College Station, TX) were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: This study summarizes the related randomized controlled trials to assess the effect and safety of TCMJ in the treatment of severe pneumonia. CONCLUSION: This article provides theoretical support for the clinical application of TCMJ in the treatment of severe pneumonia. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42020185072.