Dietary zinc supplements: beneficial health effects and application in food, medicine and animals.

Zinc, a crucial trace element is vital for the growth and development of humans. It is frequently described as 'the flower of life' and 'the source of intelligence'. Zinc supplements play a pivotal role in addressing zinc deficiency by serving as a vital source of this essential micronutrients, effectively replenishing depleted zinc levels in the body. In this paper, we first described the biological behavior of zinc in the human body and briefly described the physiological phenomena associated with zinc levels. The benefits and drawbacks of various zinc supplement forms are then discussed, with emphasis on the most recent zinc supplement formulations. Finally, the application of zinc supplements in food, medicine, and animal husbandry is further summarized. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.

MnFe2O4/polyaniline/diatomite composite with multiple loss mechanisms towards broadband absorption.

The research and development of absorbing materials with high absorbing capacity, wide effective absorption bandwidth, and lightweight has always been interesting. In this research, a facile hydrothermal method was used to prepare MnFe2O4, and the grain size of MnFe2O4 decreased with increasing hydrothermal temperature. When the size of MnFe2O4 nanoparticles is less than 10 nm, its quantum size effect and surface effect make its electromagnetic microwave absorption performance greatly optimized. When the thickness of MnFe2O4-110 °C is 2.57 mm, the minimum reflection loss (RLmin) is -35.28 dB. Based on this, light porous diatomite and a three-dimensional polyaniline network are introduced. Diatomite is used as the base material to effectively reduce the agglomeration of MnFe2O4 quantum dots. The relatively high surface area introduced by a three-dimensional network of polyaniline promotes the orientation, interfacial polarization, multiple relaxation, and impedance matching, thereby generating further dielectric loss. Additionally, the magnetic properties of manganese ferrite and the strong electrical conductivity of polyaniline play an appropriate complementary role in electromagnetic wave absorption. The RLmin of MnFe2O4/PANI/diatomite is -56.70 dB at 11.12 GHz with an absorber layer thickness of 2.57 mm. The effective frequency bandwidth (RL < -10 dB) ranges from 9.21 to 18.00 GHz. The absorption mechanism indicates that the high absorption intensity is the result of the synergistic effect of impedance matching, conduction losses, polarization losses, and magnetic losses.

Dual targeting of wild-type p53 and gut microbiota by Magnolol represses key metabolic process and kills CRC cells.

Cancer cells consume considerable glucose quantities and majorly employ glycolysis for ATP generation. This metabolic signature (the Warburg effect) allows cancer cells to channel glucose to biosynthesis to support and maintain their dramatic growth along with proliferation. Currently, our understanding of the metabolic and mechanistic implications of the Warburg effect along with its relationship with biosynthesis remains unclear. Herein, we illustrate that the tumor repressor p53 mediate Magnolol (MAG) triggers colon cancer cell apoptosis. And MAG regulates the glycolytic and oxidative phosphorylation steps through transcriptional modulation of its downstream genes TP53-induced glycolysis modulator and biosynthesis of cytochrome c oxidase, attenuating cell proliferation and tumor growth in vivo and in vitro. Meanwhile, we show that MAG cooperates with its own intestinal microflora characteristic metabolites to repress tumors, especially remarkably declined kynurenine (Kyn)/tryptophan (Trp) ratio. Besides, strong relationships of MAG influenced genes, microbiota, as well as metabolites, were explored. Therefore, we established that p53-microbiota-metabolites function as a mechanism, which enable therapy approaches against metabolism-implicated colorectal cancer, in particular MAG as a prospective candidate for treating colorectal cancer.

Rosmarinic acid potentiates and detoxifies tacrine in combination for Alzheimer's disease.

BACKGROUND: There is no doubt that Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the greatest threats facing mankind today. Within the next few decades, Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs) will be the most widely used treatment for Alzheimer's disease. The withdrawal of the first generation AChEIs drug Tacrine (TAC)/ Cognex from the market as a result of hepatotoxicity has always been an interesting case study. Rosmarinic acid (RA) is a natural compound of phenolic acids that has pharmacological activity for inhibiting Alzheimer's disease, as well as liver protection. PURPOSE AND STUDY DESIGN: In this study, we determined that RA can reduce the hepatotoxicity of TAC, and both of them act synergistically to inhibit the progression of AD in mice. METHODS: In addition to the wild type mice (WT) group, the 6-month-old APP/PS1 (APPswe/PSEN1dE9) double-transgenic (Tg) mice were randomly divided into 6 groups: Tg group, TAC group, RA group, TAC+Silymarin (SIL) group, TAC+RA-L (Rosmarinic Acid Low Dose) goup and TAC+RA-H (Rosmarinic Acid High Dose) group. A series of experiments were carried out, including open field test, Morris water maze test, Hematoxylin - Eosin (HE) staining, Nissl staining, biochemical analysis, immunofluorescence analysis, western blotting analysis and so on. RESULTS: RA combined with TAC could enter the brain tissue of AD mice, and the combination of drugs could better improve the cognitive behavior and brain pathological damage of AD mice, reduce the expression of A ß oligomer, inhibit the deposition of A ß, inhibit the activity of AChE and enhance the level of Ach in hippocampus. Both in vivo and in vitro experiments showed that RA could alleviate the hepatotoxicity or liver injury induced by TAC. The Western blot analysis of the liver of AD mice showed that RA combined with TAC might inhibit the apoptosis of Bcl-2/Bax, reduce the programmed apoptosis mediated by caspase-3 and reduce the burden of liver induced by TAC, could inhibit the development of liver apoptosis by alleviating the hepatotoxicity of TAC and inhibiting the phosphorylation of JNK. CONCLUSION: The potential drug combination that combines rosmarinic acid with tacrine could reduce tacrine's hepatotoxicity as well as enhance its therapeutic effect on Alzheimer's disease.

Cerebralcare Granule® combined with nimodipine improves cognitive impairment in bilateral carotid artery occlusion rats by reducing lipocalin-2.

AIMS: Clinically, Cerebralcare Granule® (CG) has been widely utilized to treat various types of headache, chronic cerebral insufficiency and other diseases, and the effect is significant. Clinical studies have shown that CG can significantly relieve vascular dementia (VaD), however, the molecular mechanisms haven't been established. To clear the therapeutic mechanisms of CG against VaD, a hypothesis was proposed that CG could treat neurovascular injury by inhibiting the production of lipocalin-2 (LCN 2). MAIN METHODS: 90 dementia rats were selected by water maze test and randomly divided into 6 groups, including nimodipine (NM), CG L (low dose) (0.314 g kg-1), CG H (high dose) (0.628 g kg-1), and combined group (CG + NM). And in vitro neuronal cell OGD modeling to evaluate the effect of CG on JAK2/STAT3. KEY FINDINGS: CG could significantly shorten the escape latency of two-vessel occlusion (2-VO) rats, increase their exploratory behavior, alleviate the symptoms of VaD and improve the ultrastructural pathological damage of neurovascular unit and accelerate the recovery of cerebral blood perfusion. CG combined with NM is better than NM alone. It was further showed that CG could inhibit the pathogenicity of LCN 2 through JAK2/STAT3 pathway and suppress the production of inflammatory cytokines. It plays a role in the protection of cerebral microvasculature and BBB in 2-VO rats. SIGNIFICANCE: Taken together, there data has supported notion that CG can protect the integrity of cerebral blood vessels and BBB and improve cognitive impairment through mainly inhibiting LCN 2, which provides scientific evidence for clinical application.

Cerebralcare Granule® enhances memantine hydrochloride efficacy in APP/PS1 mice by ameliorating amyloid pathology and cognitive functions.

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by memory deficits and cognitive decline. Current drugs can only relieve symptoms, but cannot really cure AD. Cerebralcare Granule® (CG) is a Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) containing a variety of biologically active compounds. In our previous studies, CG has shown a beneficial effect against memory impairment in mice caused by D-galactose. However, whether CG can be used as a complementary medicine for the treatment of AD remains unexplored. Here, we use a combination of CG and memantine hydrochloride (Mm) to treat Alzheimer-like pathology and investigate the effects and mechanisms in vivo. METHODS: The histology of brain was examined with Hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, Golgi staining and Thioflavin S staining. ELISA was applied to assess the expression levels or activities of CAT, SOD, GSH-Px, MDA, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total bilirubin (TBIL) in serum, as well as the levels of IL-6, IL-1ß, and TNF-α in the mice brain. Western blotting was used to assess the expression of ß-secretase (BACE1), amyloid precursor protein (APP), APPß, APPα, synaptophysin (SYN), growth-associated protein 43 (GAP43), and postsynaptic density 95 (PSD95). RESULTS: In the present study, the combination group (CG + Mm) significantly attenuated Alzheimer-like behavior without adverse effects in APP/PS1 mice, indicating its high degree of safety and efficacy after long-term treatment. CG + Mm reduced AD pathological biomarker Aß plaque accumulation by inhibiting BACE1 and APP expression (P < 0.05 or P < 0.001). Besides, the combination group markedly inhibited the levels of IL-1ß, IL-6, and TNF-α in hippocampus (P < 0.001), as well as activities of SOD, CAT, and GSH-Px in serum (P < 0.001). By contrast, the combination group improved synaptic plasticity by enhancing SYN, PSD95, and GAP43 expression. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, these data supported the notion that CG combined with Mm might ameliorate the cognitive impairment through multiple pathways, suggesting that CG could play a role as complementary medicine to increase anti-AD effect of chemical drugs by reducing Aß deposition, neuroinflammation, oxidative damage, and improving synaptic plasticity.

Nanoparticle conjugation of ginsenoside Rb3 inhibits myocardial fibrosis by regulating PPARα pathway.

BACKGROUND: Cardiac fibrosis occurs in ischemic and non-ischemic heart failure, hereditary cardiomyopathy, diabetes and aging. Energy metabolism, which serves a crucial function in the course and treatment of cardiovascular diseases, might have therapeutic benefits for myocardial fibrosis. Ginsenoside Rb3 (G-Rb3) is one of the main components of Ginseng and exhibits poor oral bioavailability but still exerts regulate energy metabolism effects in some diseases. Therefore, the study investigated the effect of chitosan (CS) @ sodium tripolyphosphate (TPP) nanoparticles conjugation with ginsenoside Rb3 (NpRb3) on myocardial fibrosis and studied its possible mechanisms. The results showed that NpRb3 directly participates in the remodeling of myocardial energy metabolism and the regulation of perixisome proliferation-activated receptor alpha (PPARα), thereby improving the degree of myocardial fibrosis. The study also verifies the protective effect of NpRb3 on energy metabolism and mitochondrial function by targeting the PPARα pathway. Therefore, the prepared nanodrug carrier may be a potential solution for the delivery of G-Rb3, which is a promising platform for oral treatment of myocardial fibrosis.

Observation of the clinical effect of the combined therapy of zushima tablet and western medicine in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and MRI test results.

To evaluate the clinical efficacy of combined therapy of Zushima tablet and western medicine in treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and analyze the MRI test results. A total of 170 patients who had been treated for rheumatoid arthritis at our hospital from August 2016 and June 2018, were enrolled as research objects. They were randomly divided into control group and research group, with 85 patients in each group. The patients in the control group were treated with western medicine, while patients in the research group were treated with combined therapy of Zushima tablet and western medicine. The clinical efficacies of two groups were compared. results showed that the overall effective rate of the research group was higher than that of the control group (p<0.05). Various clinical symptoms including joint swelling, joint tenderness, duration of morning stiffness for both groups before and after treatment were recorded, and results showed that the improvement of the research group was significantly better than that of the control group (p<0.05). Application of combined therapy of Zushima tablet and western medicine in treatment of rheumatoid arthritis could lead to favorable effects and improvement of the patients' clinical symptoms.

[Modern research and application of Longgu].

Longgu is the fossil of ancient mammals which was used as a common kind of mineral medicine. Longgu is always used to treat neurological diseases. Currently, the quality standard of Longgu is incomplete. Moreover, because of the non-renewable nature of the resource and the increase of national protection of fossils, the clinical application of Longgu is facing a series of problems. As the discovery of the ingredient and the development of forging technology researchers launched to search the substitutes of Longgu. The article summarizes the usage and the study of Longgu, in order that we can discuss the modern usage and substitutability of Longgu.