Transcranial photobiomodulation for brain diseases: review of animal and human studies including mechanisms and emerging trends.

The brain diseases account for 30% of all known diseases. Pharmacological treatment is hampered by the blood-brain barrier, limiting drug delivery to the central nervous system (CNS). Transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM) is a promising technology for treating brain diseases, due to its effectiveness, non-invasiveness, and affordability. tPBM has been widely used in pre-clinical experiments and clinical trials for treating brain diseases, such as stroke and Alzheimer's disease. This review provides a comprehensive overview of tPBM. We summarize emerging trends and new discoveries in tPBM based on over one hundred references published in the past 20 years. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of tPBM and highlight successful experimental and clinical protocols for treating various brain diseases. A better understanding of tPBM mechanisms, the development of guidelines for clinical practice, and the study of dose-dependent and personal effects hold great promise for progress in treating brain diseases.

Transcranial photobiomodulation improves insulin therapy in diabetic microglial reactivity and the brain drainage system.

The dysfunction of microglia in the development of diabetes is associated with various diabetic complications, while traditional insulin therapy is insufficient to rapidly restore the function of microglia. Therefore, the search for new alternative methods of treating diabetes-related dysfunction of microglia is urgently needed. Here, we evaluate the effects of transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM) on microglial function in diabetic mice and investigate its mechanism. We find tPBM treatment effectively improves insulin therapy on microglial morphology and reactivity. We also show that tPBM stimulates brain drainage system through activation of meningeal lymphatics, which contributes to the removal of inflammatory factor, and increase of microglial purinergic receptor P2RY12. Besides, the energy expenditure and locomotor activity of diabetic mice are also improved by tPBM. Our results demonstrate that tPBM can be an efficient, non-invasive method for the treatment of microglial dysfunction caused by diabetes, and also has the potential to prevent diabetic physiological disorders.

Photostimulation of brain lymphatics in male newborn and adult rodents for therapy of intraventricular hemorrhage.

Intraventricular hemorrhage is one of the most fatal forms of brain injury that is a common complication of premature infants. However, the therapy of this type of hemorrhage is limited, and new strategies are needed to reduce hematoma expansion. Here we show that the meningeal lymphatics is a pathway to remove red blood cells from the brain's ventricular system of male human, adult and newborn rodents and is a target for non-invasive transcranial near infrared photobiomodulation. Our results uncover the clinical significance of phototherapy of intraventricular hemorrhage in 4-day old male rat pups that have the brain similar to a preterm human brain. The course of phototherapy in newborn rats provides fast recovery after intraventricular hemorrhage due to photo-improvements of lymphatic drainage and clearing functions. These findings shed light on the mechanisms of phototherapy of intraventricular hemorrhage that can be a clinically relevant technology for treatment of neonatal intracerebral bleedings.

Technical-economic and environmental protection performance evaluation of a novel hybrid solar-nuclear thermally coupled power and desalination plant.

Clean energy complementary system can reduce environmental pollution effectively and is considered as a future energy development direction. In this paper, an innovative solar-nuclear thermally coupled power and desalination plant for electricity and freshwater productions is proposed. As solar power and nuclear power are combined, this multi-energy system is a clean energy system and basically has no emissions of soot, sulfur oxides, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen oxides. The operating behavior assessment results of the multi-energy system show that the power generation and freshwater production systems can operate synergistically. The electric power and corresponding efficiency of the multi-energy system are 290.7 MW and 38.2%, in which the solar proportion is about 38.1%. The daily freshwater production of the multi-energy system is 3761.3 t. The economic assessment results reveal that the levelized costs of electricity and freshwater of the multi-energy system are 0.361 yuan/(kWh) and 1.645 yuan/t. The environmental protection analysis results show that in contrast with a coal-fired system, the annual emission reductions of soot, sulfur oxides, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen oxides of the multi-energy system are 7350.94 t, 12,634.42 t, 513,034.14 t, and 11,945.28 t, revealing a significant environmental protection performance.

In vivo skin optical clearing for improving imaging and light-induced therapy: a review.

Significance: Skin is the largest organ and also the first barrier of body. Skin diseases are common, and cutaneous microcirculation is relative to various diseases. Researchers attempt to develop novel imaging techniques to obtain the complex structure, components, and functions of skin. Modern optical techniques provide a powerful tool with non-invasiveness, but the imaging performance suffers from the turbid character of skin. In vivo skin optical clearing technique has been proposed to reduce tissue scattering and enhance penetration depth of light and became a hot topic of research. Aim: The aim of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview of recent development of in vivo skin optical clearing methods, how in vivo skin optical clearing enhances imaging performance, and its applications in study and light therapy of various diseases. Approach: Based on the references published over the last decade, the important milestones on the mechanism, methods, and its fundamental and clinical applications of in vivo skin optical clearing technique are provided. Results: With the deepening understanding of skin optical clearing mechanisms, efficient in vivo skin optical clearing methods were constantly screened out. These methods have been combined with various optical imaging techniques to improve imaging performances and acquire deeper and finer skin-related information. In addition, in vivo skin optical clearing technique has been widely applied in assisting study of diseases as well as achieving safe, high-efficiency light-induced therapy. Conclusions: In the last decade, in vivo skin optical clearing technique has developed rapidly and played an important role in skin-related studies.

Aldehyde oxidases mediate plant toxicant susceptibility and fecundity in the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum.

Aldehyde oxidases (AOXs) are a group of metabolic enzymes that play critical roles in the degradation of xenobiotics and chemicals. However, the physiological function of this enzyme in insects remains poorly understood. In this study, three TcAOX genes (TcAOX1, TcAOX2, TcAOX3) were identified and characterized from Tribolium castaneum genome. Spatiotemporal expression profiling showed that TcAOX1 expression was most highly expressed at the early pupal stage and was predominantly expressed in the antennae of adults, indicating that TcAOX1 was involved in the degradation of chemical signals; TcAOX2 expression was most highly expressed at the late pupal stage and was mainly expressed in the fat body, epidermis of larvae and adults, respectively; and TcAOX3 expression was in all stages and was primarily expressed in the head of adults. Moreover, the transcripts of TcAOX2 and TcAOX3 were significantly induced after exposure to plant oil, and RNA interference (RNAi) targeting of each of them enhanced the susceptibility of beetles to this plant toxicant, suggesting that these two genes are associated with plant toxicant detoxification. Intriguingly, knockdown of the TcAOX1 led to reductions in female egg-laying but unchanged the hatchability and the development of genital organs, suggesting that this gene may mediate fecundity by effecting the inactivation of chemical signals in T. castaneum. Overall, these results shed new light on the function of AOX genes in insects, and could facilitate the development of research on pest control management.

Anti-inflammatory effect of the six compounds isolated from Nauclea officinalis Pierrc ex Pitard, and molecular mechanism of strictosamide via suppressing the NF-κB and MAPK signaling pathway in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Nauclea officinalis Pierrc ex Pitard. is a Chinese medicinal herb that contains high level of alkaloids which is the most abundant and active constituent. Strictosamide isolated from Nauclea officinalis Pierrc ex Pitard. showed significant effects on inflammatory response, compared with pumiloside, 3-epi-pumiloside, vincosamide, 3α,5α-tetrahydrodeoxycordifoline lactam and naucleamide A-10-O-ß-D-glucopyranoside of this plant. AIM OF STUDY: we investigated the biological activities of the six compounds mentioned-above, and the underlying molecular mechanism exerted by the most potent one, strictosamide. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The effects of strictosamide and other five compounds on the inhibitory activity of nitric oxide (NO) were screened by Griess test. The contents of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß) in media were detected by using Enzyme-linked immunosorbent (ELISA) kits. The effects on the mRNA expression of nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), TNF-α and IL-1ß of strictosamide were further investigated by RT-qPCR. Western blot assay was conducted to illustrate the effects of strictosamide on iNOS and phosphorylation of p65, inhibitor of NF-κB (IκB)-α, IκB-kinase (IKK)-α as well as p-extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), p-c-jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and p-p38 in the protein levels. RESULTS: Strictosamide potently suppressed the productions of NO, TNF-α and IL-1ß in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages, and it dose-dependently alleviated the LPS-simulated protein level of iNOS as well as the mRNA expressions of iNOS, TNF-α and IL-1ß. In addition, molecular data revealed that strictosamide markedly decreased the expressions of p-p65, p-IκBα and p-IKKα. Furthermore, strictosamide significantly attenuated LPS-induced the phosphorylation of p38, ERK and JNK. CONCLUSIONS: At present study, the results indicated that the anti-inflammatory activity of strictosamide was associated with the restraint of NO, TNF-α and IL-1ß via negative regulation of both NF-κB and mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 cells.

Corydalis bungeana Turcz. attenuates LPS-induced inflammatory responses via the suppression of NF-κB signaling pathway in vitro and in vivo.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Corydalis bungeana Turcz. (C. bungeana) is one of traditionally used medicines in China and possesses various biological effects, such as anti-inflammatory, antibacterial activity and inhibition of the immune function of the host. AIM OF THE STUDY: we studied the anti-inflammatory effect and molecular mechanism involved of C. bungeana both in vitro and in vivo model system in which the inflammatory response was induced by LPS treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Anti-inflammatory activity of C. bungeana was investigated by LPS-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages and BALB/c mice. The production and expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines were evaluated by Griess reagent, ELISA kits and RT-qPCR, respectively. Phosphorylation status of IκBα and p65 was illustrated by western blot assay. RESULTS: C. bungeana reduced the secretion of NO, TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1ß through inhibiting the protein expression of iNOS, TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1ß in vitro and in vivo. Western blot analysis suggested that C. bungeana supressed NF-κB activation via regulating the phosphorylation of IκBα and p65. Immunohistochemical assay also demostrated the histological inflammatory change in liver tissue. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that C. bungeana supresses the activation of NF-κB signaling pathway through inhibiting phosphorylation of IκBα and p65, which results in good anti-inflammatory effect. In addition, C. bungeana attenuates inflammatory reaction by supressing the expression of various inflammatory cytokines both in vivo and in vitro.

[Aging Process of Puer Black Tea Studied by FTIR Spectroscopy Combined with Curve-Fitting Analysis].

For better determination of the chemical components in the Puer black tea, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used for obtaining vibrational spectra of Puer black tea at different aging time. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra indicated that the chemical components had change in Puer black tea at different aging time. The leaf of Puer black tea was a complex system, its Fourier transform infrared spectrum showed a total overlap of each absorption spectrum of various components. Each band represented an overall overlap of some characteristic absorption peaks of functional groups in the Puer black tea. In order to explore the change of characteristic absorption peaks of functional groups with aging time, the prediction positions and the number of second peaks in the range of 1900-900 cm(-1) were determined by Fourier self-deconvolution at first, and later the curve fitting analysis was performed in this overlap band. At different aging time of Puer black tea, the wave number of second peaks of amide II, tea polyphenol, pectin and polysaccharides at overlap band were assigned by curve fitting analysis. The second peak at 1520 cm(-1) was characteristic absorption band of amide II, the second peaks of tea polyphenol and pectin appeared at 1278 and 1103 cm(-1) respectively. Two second peaks at 1063 and 1037 cm(-1), corresponds mainly to glucomannan and arabinan. The relative area of these second peaks could be indicated the content of protein, tea polyphenol, pectin and polysaccharides in the Puer black tea. The results of curve fitting analysis showed that the relative area of amide II was increasing first and then decreasing, it indicated the change of protein in Puer black tea. At the same time, the content of tea polyphenol and pectin were decreased with the increase of aging time, but the glucomannan and arabinan were increased in reverse. It explained that the bitter taste was become weak and a sweet taste appeared in the tea with the increase of aging time. The present study suggested that Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy combined with curve-fitting analysis could reveal the biochemical changed of Puer black tea with the increase of aging time, and it was evidence for evaluation the quality of Puer black tea.