Resveratrol attenuates inflammation and oxidative stress in epididymal white adipose tissue: implications for its involvement in improving steroidogenesis in diet-induced obese mice.

Chronic, low-grade systemic inflammation has been shown to play an important role in the development of obesity-related complications. Epididymal white adipose tissue (WAT) can influence testicular function through its endocrine function. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of resveratrol on the epididymal WAT inflammatory response and on testicular steroidogenesis in obese individuals. Seven-week-old male C57BL/6J mice were fed a high-calorie and high-cholesterol diet (HCD group) or HCD supplemented with resveratrol (HCD+Res group) for 18 weeks. As we previously showed that resveratrol protects against Leydig cell steroidogenesis in HCD-induced obese mice, this study assessed macrophage infiltration in fat depots by measuring crown-like structure (CLS) density. Histological analysis showed that adipocyte size was significantly smaller and CLSs were less numerous in the HCD+Res group than the HCD group (P < 0.01). Additionally, resveratrol supplementation decreased Nfkb1 expression (P < 0.01) and increased the IκB-α protein abundance (P < 0.01) in epididymal WAT. Consistent with this alteration in NF-κB signaling, the expression of two classic proinflammatory cytokines, TNF-α (Tnfa) and IL-1ß (Il1b), were significantly decreased in the HCD+Res group compared with the HCD group (P < 0.01). Significant differences were also found in the expression of sirtuin1 (Sirt1) (P < 0.01) and manganese superoxide dismutase (Sod2) (P < 0.01) between the HCD and HCD+Res groups. Our data suggest that resveratrol can attenuate obesity-induced inflammation and oxidative stress in epididymal WAT, which partly accounts for its beneficial effects in testicular steroidogenesis.

Identification of novel acyl-ACP thioesterase gene ClFATB1 from Cinnamomum longepaniculatum.

A putative fatty acyl-acyl carrier protein (acyl-ACP) thioesterase (thioesterase) full-length cDNA sequence named as ClFATB1 was obtained from the seed cDNA library of Cinnamomum longepaniculatum by the SMART-RACE method. The novel gene encodes a protein of 382 amino acid residues with close homology to fatty acid thioesterase type B (FATB) enzymes of other plants, with two essential residues (His285 and Cys320) for thioesterase catalytic activity. The gene was transcribed in all tissues of C. longepaniculatum, the highest being in seeds. Recombinant ClFATB1 in Escherichia coli had higher specific activities against saturated 16:0- and 18:0-ACPs than on unsaturated 18:1-ACP. Overexpression of ClFATB1 in transgenic tobaccos upregulated thioesterase activities of crude proteins against 16:0-ACP and 18:0-ACP by 20.3 and 5.7%, respectively, and resulted in an increase in the contents of palmitic and stearic acids by 15.4 and 10.5%, respectively. However, ectopic expression of this gene decreased the substrate specificities of crude proteins to unsaturated 18:1-ACP by 12.7% in transgenic tobacco and lowered the contents of oleic, linoleic, and linolenic acids in transgenic leaves. So ClFATB1 would potentially upregulate the synthesis of saturated fatty acids and downregulate unsaturated ones in the fatty acid synthesis pathway of plants.

MicroRNA profiles and their control of male gametophyte development in rice.

Plant microRNAs (miRNAs) act as negative regulators of gene expression by slicing target transcripts or inhibiting translation. A number of miRNAs play important roles in development. In order to investigate the potential function of miRNAs during male gametogenesis in rice, we obtained both gene and small RNA expression profiles by combining microarray and high-throughput sequencing technologies. From the microarray datasets, 2,925 male gametophyte-specific genes were identified, including 107 transcription factors and three significant Argonaute genes (AGO12, AGO13, and AGO17). From the sRNA-Seq datasets, 104 unique miRNAs (miRus) were identified, including 47 known miRus and 57 novel miRus; interestingly, most of the new miRus are pollen-specific and not conserved among species. Furthermore, an interactive network of miRNA-target was constructed based on the two datasets. By employing enrichment analysis, the miRNA-regulated targets were found to be involved in both the up and down pathways, but predominantly in the down pathways, including 37 GO biological processes and 32 KEGG pathways. These findings indicate that miRNAs play a broad regulatory role during male gametophyte development in rice.

[Design, optimization and quality evaluation of curcumin self-emulsifying drug delivery system (SEDDS)].

OBJECTIVE: To develop the self-emulsifying drug delivery system (SEDDS) of curcumin, and evaluate its quality in vitro. METHODS: The excipients of curcumin SEDDS were selected via its solubility study in various oils, surfactants and co-surfactants and the formulation was optimized using ternary phase diagram study and central composite design-response surface methodology (oil, surfactant and co-surfactant percentages as factors; solubility, droplet size, polydispersity index and emulsifying time as responses). The appearance, droplet size and polydispersity index after emulsifying and the emulsifying time of optimized curcumin SEDDS were studied. The solubility of curcumin in the solution of SEDDS was determined. RESULTS: Castor oil-(tween-80) -ethanol = 28: 55: 20 (w/ w/w) was selected for optimum curcumin SEDDS. The droplet size was 222. 2 nm, polydispersity index was 0. 171. The time of self-emulsifying was 10 s and the solubility of curcumin in SEDDS was 1.93 mg/mL. CONCLUSION: Curcumin SEDDS formulation is selected and optimized successfully, and the preparation of curcumin SEDDS is simple, the quality is stable.

[Clinical effect and mechanismn of xuefu zhuyu capsule in treating unstable angina pectoris].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the clinical effect of Xuefu Zhuyu Capsule (XFZYC) in treating unstable angina pectoris (UAP) and to investigate its mechanism of protection on vascular endothelia. METHODS: Sixty UAP patients were randomly assigned to two groups, the 30 in the treated group were treated by conventional therapy plus XFZYC, and the 30 in the control group treated by conventional therapy alone. The frequency and persistent time of angina pectois, dosage of nitroglycerin used, changes of electrocardiogram (ECG) were observed, and the plasma levels of endothelin (ET), nitric oxide (NO), von Willebrand factor (vWF), soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1) and soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) were tested before and after the two-month therapeutic course. RESULTS: (1) The clinical symptoms as frequency and persistent time of angina pectoris in the treated group were bettered significantly after treatment and the dosage of nitroglycerin used decreased (all P < 0.01), showing significant difference when compared with those in the control group (P < 0.05). (2) The effective rates on UAP symptoms and ECG in the treated group were 86.7% and 76.7% respectively, which were significantly higher than those in the control group (70.0% and 63.3%, P < 0.05). (3) Laboratory examination showed in the control group, changes only displayed in the decrease of vWF and ET and increase of NO (all P < 0.05), while in the treated group, plasma levels of vWF, ET, sVCAM-1 and sICAM-1 after treatment significantly decreased and were lower than those in the control group (P < 0.01), but NO elevated significantly and was higher than that in the control group (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: XFZYC is an effective Chinese patent medicine for treatment of UAP. It displays its effect on protecting vascular endothelia and anti-angina pectoris partially by decreasing the plasma levels of ET, vWF, sVCAM-1 and sICAM-1 and elevating the level of NO.

[Analysis on tongue manifestations of 488 cases of Warm disease in Qing Dynasty].

488 cases of warm disease with tongue diagnosis picked up from 29 monographs providing materials of tongue diagnosis are sorted out of 51 monographs of medical records in the Qing Dynasty. Statistics and analysis were made on these 488 cases of tongue diagnoses, according to the classification of tongue manifestations in the Textbook of Diagnostics of Chinese Medicine for TCM schools of higher education. Results showed that, among all the cases, the recording rate of tongue fur was 65. 16% and was the highest one of the recording materials. The frequencies of different fur recorded from high to low were yellow, white and black. From 1850 to 1911 in the Qing Dynasty, occurrence rate of tongue coating had changed. Those of white, yellow and compound fur were increased. On the contrary, that of black fur was decreased. The recording rate of the color of tongue proper was 23. 16%, among which the proportions of red and crimson tongue were the highest. The recording rate of fur quality of fur was 37. 7%. From 1850 to 1911 in the Qing Dynasty, the recording rate of greasy fur reached the first place in fur quality. Tongue diagnosis was applied in warm- heat and damp-heat types of Warm Disease and pestilence.