Senolytic Treatment Improve Small Intestine Regeneration in Aging.

Aging induces a series of alterations, specifically a decline in the stature and number of villi and crypts in the small intestine, thus compromising the absorbent capability of the villi. This investigation employed a senolytic combination of dasatinib and quercetin (D+Q) to examine its impact on the intestinal tract of elderly mice. Our findings demonstrate that D+Q treatment leads to a decrease in the expression of p21, p16, and Ki67, while concurrently triggering removal of apoptotic cells within the villi. Additionally, D+Q treatment exhibits the ability to promote growth in both the height and quantity of villi and crypts, along with stimulating nitric oxide (NO) production in aged mice. The study presented a model to assess strategies to alleviate age-related senescence in the intestinal tract of elderly mice. Importantly, D+Q showcases promising potential in enhancing intestinal functionality within the aging.

Diagnostic Performance of Transient Elastography Versus Two-Dimensional Shear Wave Elastography for Liver Fibrosis in Chronic Viral Hepatitis: Direct Comparison and a Meta-Analysis.

Objective: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to compare the diagnostic performance of transient elastography (TE) and two-dimensional shear wave elastography (2D-SWE) for staging liver fibrosis in patients with chronic viral hepatitis (CVH). Methods: Pubmed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library were searched (-01/08/2021) for studies comparing TE with 2D-SWE in patients with CVH. Other etiologies of chronic liver disease (CLD) and articles not published in SCI journals were excluded. The bivariate random-effects model was used to pool the performance of the TE and 2D-SWE. Results: Eight articles with a total of 1301 CVH patients were included. The prevalence of significant fibrosis (fibrosis stage ≥ 2), advanced fibrosis (fibrosis stage ≥ 3), and cirrhosis was 50.8%, 44.8%, and 34.7%, respectively. 2D-SWE expressed higher overall accuracy than TE in detecting significant fibrosis (0.93 vs. 0.85, P = 0.04). No significant difference among the overall diagnostic accuracy of TE and 2D-SWE in staging advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis was found. Conclusion: TE and 2D-SWE express good to excellent diagnostic accuracies to stage fibrosis in CVH patients. 2D-SWE compares favorably with TE especially for predicting significant fibrosis.

Carvacrol presynaptically enhances spontaneous excitatory transmission and produces outward current in adult rat spinal substantia gelatinosa neurons.

Carvacrol, which is abundantly contained in oregano essential oils, has various pharmacological actions including antinociception. Although the oral administration of carvacrol results in antinociception, cellular mechanisms for this action have not been examined yet. We investigated the action of carvacrol on glutamatergic spontaneous excitatory transmission in substantia gelatinosa neurons which play a pivotal role in regulating nociceptive transmission from the periphery by using the patch-clamp technique in adult rat spinal cord slices. Carvacrol superfused for 2 min produced either spontaneous excitatory postsynaptic current frequency increase or outward current at −70 mV, or both of them in many of the neurons tested. The frequency increase and outward current had the EC(50) values of 0.69 mM and 0.55 mM, respectively. The former action was inhibited by a selective TRPA1 antagonist HC-030031 but not a selective TRPV1 antagonist capsazepine, while the latter action was unaffected by their antagonists. The current­voltage relationship for the outward current indicated an involvement in the current of a change in the membrane permeability of K(+) and its outward rectification. The outward current was inhibited in 10 mM-K((+) 0but not K(+)-channel blockers [tetraethylammonium and Ba(2+)]-containing and 11.0 mM-Cl- Krebs solution. These results indicate that carvacrol increases the spontaneous release of l-glutamate from nerve terminals by activating TRPA1 but not TRPV1 channels and produces membrane hyperpolarization, which is possibly mediated by tetraethylammonium- and Ba(2+)-insensitive K(+) channels, in substantia gelatinosa neurons. It is suggested that the hyperpolarizing effect of carvacrol could contribute to its antinociceptive action.