[Characteristics of Cadmium Concentration and Transport of Pueraria thornsonii in Farmland with Different Cadmium Pollution Degrees].

This study aimed to elucidate the cadmium (Cd) concentration and transport characteristics of Pueraria thornsonii in farmland with different Cd pollution degrees, so as to provide a reference basis for phytoremediation of Cd-contaminated farmland. The multi-point experiments in farmland with different Cd pollution degrees[ω(Cd) 0.32-38.08 mg·kg-1] were conducted, and the biomass (dry weight), Cd content, accumulation, concentration, and transport of Cd in P. thornsonii tissues under the main growing period were assessed. According to the results, for P. thornsonii, the tuber dry weight ranged from 5.04 to 11.98 t·hm-2, biomass ranged from 13.21 to 29.07 t·hm-2, and Cd accumulation ranged from 15.74 to 106.03 g·hm-2in the study area. The pattern of Cd uptake by P. thornsonii showed that the main vine>leaf>lateral branches>basal part of sti>tuber. The Cd content in P. thornsonii tissues considerably increased with soil Cd content (P<0.05), whereas the biomass decreased significantly (P<0.05). The Cd concentration and transport factor of aboveground parts in P. thornsonii showed a trend of initially falling, then increasing and decreasing again, whereas the Cd enrichment and transport coefficient of tubers gradually decreased. Correlation analysis revealed that the amount of Cd in the soil was a major predictor of Cd accumulation in P. thornsonii. Under light to moderate Cd contamination, the commercial portion of P. thornsonii (arrowroot)[ω(Cd) 0.03-0.22 mg·kg-1] was less than the standard limit for medicinal plants (≤ 0.30 mg·kg-1). In P. thornsonii from moderately contaminated areas, the Cd concentration and transport factor of aboveground parts were 2.43-7.97 and 3.02-9.81, respectively. This indicates that P. thornsonii is a prospective plant ideal for remediating Cd-contaminated soil because of its high capacity to transfer and enrich Cd.

The potent analgesia of intrathecal 2R, 6R-HNK via TRPA1 inhibition in LF-PENS-induced chronic primary pain model.

BACKGROUND: Chronic primary pain (CPP) is an intractable pain of unknown cause with significant emotional distress and/or dysfunction that is a leading factor of disability globally. The lack of a suitable animal model that mimic CPP in humans has frustrated efforts to curb disease progression. 2R, 6R-hydroxynorketamine (2R, 6R-HNK) is the major antidepressant metabolite of ketamine and also exerts antinociceptive action. However, the analgesic mechanism and whether it is effective for CPP are still unknown. METHODS: Based on nociplastic pain is evoked by long-term potentiation (LTP)-inducible high- or low-frequency electrical stimulation (HFS/LFS), we wanted to develop a novel CPP mouse model with mood and cognitive comorbidities by noninvasive low-frequency percutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (LF-PENS). Single/repeated 2R, 6R-HNK or other drug was intraperitoneally (i.p.) or intrathecally (i.t.) injected into naïve or CPP mice to investigate their analgesic effect in CPP model. A variety of behavioral tests were used to detect the changes in pain, mood and memory. Immunofluorescent staining, western blot, reverse transcription-quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and calcium imaging of in cultured dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons by Fluo-8-AM were used to elucidate the role and mechanisms of 2R, 6R-HNK in vivo or in vitro. RESULTS: Intrathecal 2R, 6R-HNK, rather than intraperitoneal 2R, 6R-HNK or intrathecal S-Ketamine, successfully mitigated HFS-induced pain. Importantly, intrathecal 2R, 6R-HNK displayed effective relief of bilateral pain hypersensitivity and depressive and cognitive comorbidities in a dose-dependent manner in LF-PENS-induced CPP model. Mechanically, 2R, 6R-HNK markedly attenuated neuronal hyperexcitability and the upregulation of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) or vanilloid-1 (TRPV1), and vesicular glutamate transporter-2 (VGLUT2) in peripheral nociceptive pathway. In addition, 2R, 6R-HNK suppressed calcium responses and CGRP overexpression in cultured DRG neurons elicited by the agonists of TRPA1 or/and TRPV1. Strikingly, the inhibitory effects of 2R, 6R-HNK on these pain-related molecules and mechanical allodynia were substantially occluded by TRPA1 antagonist menthol. CONCLUSIONS: In the newly designed CPP model, our findings highlighted the potential utility of intrathecal 2R, 6R-HNK for preventing and therapeutic modality of CPP. TRPA1-mediated uprgulation of CGRP and neuronal hyperexcitability in nociceptive pathways may undertake both unique characteristics and solving process of CPP.

Atractylenolide III from Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz promotes the activation of brown and white adipose tissue through SIRT1/PGC-1α signaling pathway.

BACKGROUND: Hypothermia is a complex pathophysiological response that can be life-threatening in low-temperature environment because of impaired thermoregulation. However, there is currently no clinically effective drugs that can prevent or treat this disease. Brown adipose tissue (BAT) activation or browning of white adipose tissue (WAT) is a promising therapeutic strategy to prevent or treat hypothermia. Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz extract (AE) and its active compound Atractylenolide III (AIII) has been reported to regulate glycolipid metabolism, which might be relevant to BAT activation. However, the thermogenic effect and mechanism of AE and AIII on adipose tissues have not been explored yet. Therefore, this study firstly investigated the role of AE and AIII on hypothermia by promoting heat production of BAT and WAT. PURPOSE: To explore the anti-cold effect of AE and AIII in cold exposure model and explore their biological function and mechanism underlying thermogenesis. METHODS: The effect of thermogenesis and anti-hypothermia of AE and AIII on C57BL/6J mice were evaluated with several experiment in cold environment, such as toxicity test, cold exposure test, metabolism estimation, histology and immunohistochemistry, and protein expression. Additionally, BAT, inguinal WAT (iWAT) and brown adipocytes were utilized to explore the mechanism of AE and AIII on thermogenesis in vivo and in vitro. Finally, SIRT1 agonist and inhibitor in brown adipocytes to verify that AIII activated BAT through SIRT1/PGC-1α pathway. RESULTS: Both AE and AⅢ could significantly maintain the core body temperature and body surface temperature of mice during cold exposure. Besides, AE and AⅢ could significantly improve the capacity of total antioxidant and glucose, lipid metabolism of mice. In addition, AE and AIII reduced mitochondrial membrane potential and ATP content both in BAT and brown adipocytes, and decreased the size of lipid droplets. Moreover, AE and AⅢ promoted the expression of proteins related to heat production in BAT and iWAT. And AIII might activate BAT via SIRT1/PGC-1α pathway. CONCLUSION: AE and AⅢ were potential candidate drugs that treated hypothermia by improving the heat production capacity of the mice. Mechanistically, they may activate SIRT1/PGC-1α pathway, thus enhancing the function of BAT, and promoting the browning of iWAT, to act as anti-hypothermia candidate medicine.

Psychophysiological Effects of Bamboo Plants on Adults / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

The present study was conducted to clarify the psychophysiological relaxation effects of viewing bamboo on university students. Forty healthy Chinese participants enrolled in this study to clarify the psychophysiological relaxation effects of viewing bamboo. The effects of visual stimulation using a pot both with and without a bamboo were recorded by measuring the student's blood pressure, EEG and STAI. We observed that viewing bamboo plants resulted in significantly lower systolic (female, P < 0.001; male, P < 0.001; P < 0.05) and diastolic (female, P < 0.001; male, P < 0.001; P < 0.05) blood pressures, but no changes in the pulse rate (female, P = 0.09; male, P = 0.07; P > 0.05) were observed. The results of the EEG analysis indicated brainwave variation (all P < 0.05) and lower anxiety scores (P < 0.01) after 3 min of viewing bamboo compared with the control. These findings indicate that visual stimulation with bamboo plants induced psychophysiological relaxation effects on adults.

Insecticidal Activity of Melaleuca alternifolia Essential Oil and RNA-Seq Analysis of Sitophilus zeamais Transcriptome in Response to Oil Fumigation.

BACKGROUND: The cereal weevil, Sitophilus zeamais is one of the most destructive pests of stored cereals worldwide. Frequent use of fumigants for managing stored-product insects has led to the development of resistance in insects. Essential oils from aromatic plants including the tea oil plant, Melaleuca alternifolia may provide environmentally friendly alternatives to currently used pest control agents. However, little is known about molecular events involved in stored-product insects in response to plant essential oil fumigation. RESULTS: M. alternifolia essential oil was shown to possess the fumigant toxicity against S. zeamais. The constituent, terpinen-4-ol was the most effective compound for fumigant toxicity. M. alternifolia essential oil significantly inhibited the activity of three enzymes in S. zeamais, including two detoxifying enzymes, glutathione S-transferase (GST), and carboxylesterase (CarE), as well as a nerve conduction enzyme, acetylcholinesterase (AChE). Comparative transcriptome analysis of S. zeamais through RNA-Seq identified a total of 3,562 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), of which 2,836 and 726 were up-regulated and down-regulated in response to M. alternifolia essential oil fumigation, respectively. Based on gene ontology (GO) analysis, the majority of DEGs were involved in insecticide detoxification and mitochondrial function. Furthermore, an abundance of DEGs mapped into the metabolism pathway in the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway database were associated with respiration and metabolism of xenobiotics, including cytochrome P450s, CarEs, GSTs, and ATP-binding cassette transporters (ABC transporters). Some DEGs mapped into the proteasome and phagosome pathway were found to be significantly enriched. These results led us to propose a model of insecticide action that M. alternifolia essential oil likely directly affects the hydrogen carrier to block the electron flow and interfere energy synthesis in mitochondrial respiratory chain. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to perform a comparative transcriptome analysis of S. zeamais in response to M. alternifolia essential oil fumigation. Our results provide new insights into the insecticidal mechanism of M. alternifolia essential oil fumigation against S. zeamais and eventually contribute to the management of this important agricultural pest.

Multi-Residue Analysis of Pesticide Residues in Crude Pollens by UPLC-MS/MS.

A multi-residue method for the determination of 54 pesticide residues in pollens has been developed and validated. The proposed method was applied to the analysis of 48 crude pollen samples collected from eight provinces of China. The recovery of analytes ranged from 60% to 136% with relative standard deviations (RSDs) below 30%. Of the 54 targeted compounds, 19 pesticides were detected. The major detection rates of each compound were 77.1% for carbendazim, 58.3% for fenpropathrin, 56.3% for chlorpyrifos, 50.0% for fluvalinate, 31.3% for chlorbenzuron, and 29.2% for triadimefon in crude pollen samples. The maximum values of each pesticide were 4516 ng/g for carbendazim, 162.8 ng/g for fenpropathrin, 176.6 ng/g for chlorpyrifos, 316.2 ng/g for fluvalinate, 437.2 ng/g for chlorbenzuron, 79.00 ng/g for triadimefon, and so on. This study provides basis for the research on the risks to honeybee health.

Antifungal Activity of Eucalyptus Oil against Rice Blast Fungi and the Possible Mechanism of Gene Expression Pattern.

Eucalyptus oil possesses a wide spectrum of biological activity, including anti-microbial, fungicidal, herbicidal, acaricidal and nematicidal properties. We studied anti-fungal activities of the leaf oil extracted from Eucalyptus. grandis × E. urophylla. Eleven plant pathogenic fungi were tested based on the mycelium growth rates with negative control. The results showed that Eucalyptus oil has broad-spectrum inhibitory effects toward these fungi. Remarkable morphological and structural alterations of hypha have been observed for Magnaporthe grisea after the treatment. The mRNA genome array of M. grisea was used to detect genes that were differentially expressed in the test strains treated by the Eucalyptus oil than the normal strains. The results showed 1919 genes were significantly affected, among which 1109 were down-regulated and 810 were up-regulated (p < 0.05, absolute fold change >2). According to gene ontology annotation analysis, these differentially expressed genes may cause abnormal structures and physiological function disorders, which may reduce the fungus growth. These results show the oil has potential for use in the biological control of plant disease as a green biopesticide.

Simultaneous removal of inorganic and organic compounds in wastewater by freshwater green microalgae.

Batch experiments were carried out for 7 days to investigate the simultaneous removal of various organic and inorganic contaminants including total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), metals, pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), and estrogenic activity in wastewater by four freshwater green microalgae species, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, Scenedesmus obliquus, Chlorella pyrenoidosa and Chlorella vulgaris. After treatment for 7 days, 76.7-92.3% of TN, and 67.5-82.2% of TP were removed by these four algae species. The removal of metals from wastewater by the four algae species varied among the metal species. These four algae species could remove most of the metals efficiently (>40% removal), but showed low efficiencies in removing Pb, Ni and Co. The four algae species were also found to be efficient in removing most of the selected organic compounds with >50% removal, and the estrogenic activity with removal efficiencies ranging from 46.2 to 81.1% from the wastewater. Therefore, algae could be harnessed to simultaneously remove various contaminants in wastewater.

[Study on preparation process and stability of beta-cyclodextrin inclusion compound in volatile oil of Cinnamomum longepaniculatum leaves].

To study the optimum preparation process and stability of beta-cyclodextrin inclusion compound in volatile oil of Cinnamomum longepaniculatum leaves. The saturated aqueous solution method was adopted to prepare inclusion compounds for an orthogonal test. The inclusion compound productivity and the inclusion rate were taken as indexes for screening the inclusion processes. The inclusion effect was evaluated with the infrared spectrophotometry and TLC, and the stability under conditions of high temperature, high humidity and strong light was detected. Under optimum preparation conditions for inclusion, the ratio between volatile oil and beta-cyclodextrin was 1: 8 (mL: g), that between beta-cyclodextrin and water was 1: 15, the inclusion temperature was 40 degrees C, and the inclusion time was 3 h. The results of spectrophotometry and TLC showed that the optimum conditions can generate beta-cyclodextrin inclusion compound in volatile oil of C. longepaniculatum leaves with certain light resistance, thermo-stability and hygro-stability. Therefore the optimum inclusion process features simple operation and stable inclusion compounds.

Chronic alcohol intake-induced oxidative stress and apoptosis: role of CYP2E1 and calpain-1 in alcoholic cardiomyopathy.

Cytochrome P-450 2E1 CYP2E1 induction has been linked to oxidative stress in a number of experimental models. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between CYP2E1 activity and markers of oxidative stress and cardiac cell apoptosis during the development of alcoholic cardiomyopathy (ACM). Changes in left ventricular morphology were evaluated in 4 groups of chronically instrumented dogs (control; alcohol-receiving; and alcohol-receiving plus treatment with either valsartan or carnitine) after 6 months of treatment. CYP2E1 and calpain-1 protein expression were determined by Western blotting, and apoptosis evaluated by TUNEL and immunohistochemistry. Malonyl dialdehyde levels were assessed as a marker of oxidative stress, while superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase levels were evaluated as markers of antioxidant defense mechanisms. Expression of CYP2E1 was increased in the alcohol-receiving group compared with controls (P<0.05) and was associated with oxidative stress. Similarly, expression of Bad and calpain-1 protein was increased after chronic alcohol exposure, while Bcl-xL protein expression remained at a low level. Bad and calpain-1 protein expressions were significantly inhibited by treatment with valsartan or carnitine, while expression of Bcl-xL protein was increased (P<0.05). Collectively, our results indicate a possibly significant role for CYP2E1 in the oxidative stress associated with chronic alcoholism. The resulting increase in oxidative stress is accompanied by cellular apoptosis and may ultimately contribute to tissue remodeling and ACM. Importantly, these alcohol-induced effects may be abrogated by means such as angiotensin 1 receptor blockade or carnitine supplementation.