Dietary oregano essential oil supplementation alters meat quality, oxidative stability, and fatty acid profiles of beef cattle.

This study was conducted to elucidate the effects of oregano essential oil (OEO) supplementation on the meat quality, antioxidant capacity, and nutritional value of the longissimus thoracis muscle in steers. Steers were divided into three groups (n = 9) and fed either a basal diet, or a basal diet supplemented with 130 mg/d OEO, or 230 mg/d OEO for 390 days. The results demonstrated that dietary OEO supplementation increased the total antioxidant capacity and activity of catalase, glutathione peroxidase, and superoxide dismutase, and decreased pH30min, pH24h, cooking loss, and malondialdehyde content. OEO increased the concentrations of polyunsaturated fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid. In contrast, saturated fatty acids decreased, accompanied by increased essential amino acids, flavor amino acids, and total amino acids in the longissimus thoracis muscle. In summary, dietary OEO supplementation promotes the nutritional and meat quality of beef by maintaining its water-holding capacity and meat color, enhancing its antioxidative capacity, and preventing lipid oxidation.

Overview of Evidence-Based Chemotherapy for Oral Cancer: Focus on Drug Resistance Related to the Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition.

The increasing incidence of resistance to chemotherapeutic agents has become a major issue in the treatment of oral cancer (OC). Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years with regard to its relation to the mechanism of chemotherapy drug resistance. EMT-activating transcription factors (EMT-ATFs), such as Snail, TWIST, and ZEB, can activate several different molecular pathways, e.g., PI3K/AKT, NF-κB, and TGF-ß. In contrast, the activated oncological signal pathways provide reciprocal feedback that affects the expression of EMT-ATFs, resulting in a peritumoral extracellular environment conducive to cancer cell survival and evasion of the immune system, leading to resistance to multiple chemotherapeutic agents. We present an overview of evidence-based chemotherapy for OC treatment based on the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Chemotherapy Order Templates. We focus on the molecular pathways involved in drug resistance related to the EMT and highlight the signal pathways and transcription factors that may be important for EMT-regulated drug resistance. Rapid progress in antitumor regimens, together with the application of powerful techniques such as high-throughput screening and microRNA technology, will facilitate the development of therapeutic strategies to augment chemotherapy.

Metal-ion-assisted structural and anomeric analysis of Amadori compounds by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry.

RATIONALE: The Maillard reaction plays an important role in food, physiology and traditional Chinese medicine, and its primary reaction products are formed through Amadori rearrangement by reducing sugars and amino acids. The analysis of the characteristic fragmentation and of the glycosidic bond configuration of Amadori compounds will promote their fast discovery and identification by mass spectrometry. METHODS: Four Amadori compounds that reduce disaccharides and proline/tryptophan were used to investigate the fragmentation mechanisms via tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) with different alkali metal ion adducts. Cu2+ could be used to distinguish glycosidic bond configurations of the reducing disaccharides in the full-scan mass spectra. Quantum calculations were also conducted for a single Amadori compound with Cu2+ for analysis of the most optimized configurations and binding energies of metal complexes. RESULTS: MS/MS analysis of Amadori-alkali metal complexes revealed that the radius of the alkali metal ions had profound effects on the degree of fragmentation of such compounds, among which lithium-cationized ions produced the most extensive fragmentation. Amadori compounds with different glycosidic bonds formed differently proportioned metal complexes with Cu2+ , and the complexity of the copper complexes containing tryptophan moieties was higher than that of those containing proline moieties in the mass spectra. Quantum calculations showed that Amadori compounds with ß-configurations can form more binding sites with Cu2+ than those with α-configurations, thus making the metal complex with a single ligand more stable. In addition, the chelation of tryptophan with copper ions increased the coordination binding energy, which showed that α-configured Amadori compounds were readily able to form multi-ligand copper complexes. CONCLUSIONS: Metal-ion-assisted analysis provides crucial information for structural and anomeric analysis of Amadori compounds by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. Elucidation of binding sites and binding energies by quantum calculations has significantly improved the knowledge of metal complexes in the gas phase and provides background information for determining the glycosidic configuration of Amadori isomers.

Quercetin Relieves the Excised Great Saphenous Vein Oxidative Damage and Inflammatory Reaction.

OBJECTIVE: The patency and quality of transplanted great saphenous vein (GSV) can seriously influence the physical state and life quality of patients who accepted the coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Quercetin is known for antioxidant, antithrombotic, anti-inflammatory, and antitumor properties. In this study, we examined the protection of quercetin to the great saphenous vein from oxidative and inflammatory damage. METHODS: The GSVs were collected from 15 patients undergoing CABG and cultured. Treated the veins by H2O2 and detected the NO, SOD, and MDA content by the relevant kits to explore the quercetin protection against oxidative damage. Then, for another group of GSVs, sheared them and detected the inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-6, TNFα, CCL20, PCNA, and VEGF. Collect the veins for H&E staining and PCNA and VEGF immunofluorescent staining. RESULTS: Pretreatment by quercetin reduced the production of NO and MDA induced by H2O2, and increased SOD activity. Quercetin also supressed the mRNA expressions of IL-6, TNFα after mechanical damage and had no influence on CCL20 and VEGF. Consistent with the lower expression of PCNA treated by quercetin, the vein intima was thinner. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrated that quercetin protects GSVs by reducing the oxidative damage and inflammatory response and also suppresses the abnormal thickening of venous endothelium by inhibiting cell proliferation. It reminded that, to some extent, quercetin has the potential to release the great saphenous vein graft damage.

Tongue diagnosis and treatment in traditional Chinese medicine for severe COVID-19: a case report.

As one of the most urgent public health events, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has attracted worldwide attention. This case highlighted the importance of close coordination between Chinese medicine and western medicine in the diagnosis and treatment, as well as the need for rapid dissemination of clinical information related to patient care with this emerging infection. We reported a COVID-19 case confirmed in China and described the identification, diagnosis, clinical course, and management of the case. The patient had initial mild symptoms at presentation; it progressed to severe pneumonia on the 10th day of onset. This cured case supplied a time series analysis of tongue characteristics found in severe COVID-19. Chinese medicine formulae were tweaked by tongue characteristics, which include tongue color, fur thickness, and fur color. Tongue images were obtained every two days, and the changes were firmly related to the progression of COVID-19. These tongue characteristics could be used as effective, non-intrusive indices for the distinct stages of COVID-19 stages. Our study was the first time tongue diagnosis was applied in time series analysis of the progression of COVID-19 disease. We found that tongue color, fur thickness, and fur color were closely related to the progression of COVID-19 by analyzing various tongue images obtained regularly. Based on this success, we will further apply tongue diagnosis to tongue characteristics of COVID-19 patients to help limit the risk of COVID-19.

Various Multicharged Anions of Ginsenosides in Negative Electrospray Ionization with QTOF High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry.

When characterizing components from ginseng, we found a vast number of multicharged anions presented in the liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) chromatograms. The source of these anions is unclear yet, while ginsenosides, the major components of ginseng, are the main suspected type of molecules because of their sugar moiety. Our investigation using 14 pure ginsenosides affirmed that the multicharged anions were formed by ginsenosides rather than other types of ingredients in ginseng. Various anions could be observed for each ginsenoside. These anions contain ions ([M-2H]2-, [M+Adduct]2-), as well as those formed by polymerization of at least two ginsenosides, such as [nM-2H]2-, [nM-H+Adduct]2-, and [nM-3H]3-. The presence of so different types of ions from a ginsenoside explains the reason for the large number of anions in the LC-MS analysis of ginseng. We further found that formation of [nM-2H]2- ions was influenced by the number of sugar chains: ginsenosides containing two sugar chains produced all [nM-2H]2- ion types, whereas ginsenosides containing one sugar chain did not produce [2M-2H]2-. Thus, [2M-2H]2- and [3M-2H]2- can be utilized to rapidly identify monodesmosidic and/or bidesmosidic ginsenosides as joint diagnostic anions. The position of the glycosyl radical might be the key factor affecting the formation of multicharged multimer ions from monodesmosidic ginsenosides. Consequently, three groups of ginsenoside isomers were differentiated by characteristic [nM-2H]2- anions. Using concentration-dependent characteristics and collision-induced dissociation (CID), we confirmed that [nM-2H]2- ions are non-covalently bound multimers whose aggregation has marked distinction between monodesmosidic and bidesmosidic ginsenosides, accounting for the differentiated formation of [nM-2H]2- between them. Graphical Abstract.

A novel dihydroxylated derivative of artemisinin from microbial transformation.

Microbial transformation of artemisinin (1) by Cunninghamella elegans was investigated. Four isolated products were identified as 6ß-hydroxyartemisinin (2), 7α-hydroxyartemisinin (3), 7ß-hydroxyartemisinin (4), and 6ß,7α-dihydroxyartemisinin (5). The structures were elucidated by spectroscopic and X-ray crystallographic analysis. Product 5 is a novel compound and being reported here for the first time. It features two hydroxyl groups in its structure, and this is the first report on dihydroxylation of the artemisinin skeleton. Quantitative structure-activity relationship and molecular modeling studies indicate the modification of artemisinin skeleton will increase antimalarial activity and water solubility. The chemical syntheses of artemisinin derivatives at C6 or C7 position are impossible due to the lack of functional groups. 6ß,7α-Dihydroxyartemisinin is hydroxylated at both 6ß- and 7α-positions of artemisinin skeleton at the same time. Therefore, this new compound would be a good scaffold for further structural modification in the search for more potent antimalarial drugs.

Conversion of ginsenosides by Lactobacillus plantarum studied by liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole trap mass spectrometry.

Ginsenosides are the active components responsible for the pharmacological properties of ginseng, a commonly used medicinal plant and food ingredient. This study aimed to determine the changes of ginsenosides during fermentation of ginseng extract or reference ginsenosides with Lactobacillus plantarum. Chemically acidified ginseng extracts served as controls. High performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole-trap (Q-TRAP) mass spectrometry method was employed for analysis and quantification of ginsenosides, and for identification of metabolites. A total of 14 metabolites were identified; the quantification of metabolites was achieved by tandem mass spectrometry in MRM mode. Metabolism of L. plantarum removed glucosyl moieties from ginsenosides Rb1, Rd, and Re at the C-20 position to produce a racemic mixture of products. Remarkably, removal of glycosyl residues occurred not only by hydrolysis but also by dehydration to produce racemic mixtures of Δ20(21) or Δ20(22) products. Biotransformation occurred more rapidly with the di-substituted ginsenoside Rb1 when compared to the mono-substituted ginsenoside Rd. This study thus extends the knowledge of biotransformation of ginsenosides to produce bioactive derivatives.