Changes in bacterial community and expression of genes involved in intestinal innate immunity in the jejunum of newborn lambs during the first 24 hours of life.

The newborn gut undergoes rapid colonization by commensal microorganisms and possible exposure to pathogens. The contribution of colostrum intake to host protection is well known; however, limited research exists on the intestinal innate immunity corresponding to colostrum intake during the passive immune transfer period in newborn ruminants. The aim of this study was to investigate the changes in bacterial community and expression of genes encoding toll-like receptors (TLR), mucins (MUC), antimicrobial peptides, and tight junctions in the jejunum of lambs that were fed colostrum during the first 24 h of life. Twenty-seven newborn lambs were used in this study, of which 18 lambs were bottle-fed pooled bovine colostrum within the first 2 h after birth to obtain an intake of approximately 8% of body weight. Lambs were slaughtered at 12 (n = 9) and 24 h (n = 9) after birth. The remaining 9 lambs without any feeding were slaughtered at 30 min after birth (0 h). Tissue and ligated segment samples from the jejunum were collected immediately after the lambs were slaughtered. The bacterial profile in the ligated jejunum segment was assessed using amplicon sequencing. The gene expression in the jejunum tissue was determined using quantitative real-time PCR. The relative abundances of Escherichia-Shigella, Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, and Streptococcus increased, whereas those of Sphingomonas, Phyllobacterium, Bradyrhizobium, and Rudaea decreased during the first 24 h of life. Expression of TLR2 and ß-defensin 109-like was upregulated at 12 h after birth, but a recovery was detected at 24 h; TLR3, TLR5, LYZ, MUC1, MUC13, MUC20, and CLDN7 showed a higher expression level in samples taken at 24 h than in those taken at 0 h. In addition, expression level of CLDN1, CLDN4, and the junctional adhesion molecule-1 tended to be higher at 24 h than at 0 h after birth. Correlation analysis indicated that TLR2 expression was negatively correlated with the relative abundance of Lactobacillus and Bradyrhizobium, whereas TLR5 expression was positively correlated with the relative abundance of Escherichia-Shigella and Pelagibacterium. These results suggest that TLR, MUC, antimicrobial peptides, and CLDN act together and play an important role in intestinal defense during the passive immune transfer period. They are potentially associated with microbial colonization. The findings from this study provide novel information to elucidate the role of colostrum components in regulating the development of the intestinal mucosal immune barrier in newborn lambs during the passive immune transfer period.

An investigation into the mechanism of nobiletin's inhibition of papillary thyroid cancer using network pharmacology analysis and experimental pharmacology.

OBJECTIVE: Surgery and radioactive iodine therapy are the main treatments for papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), and effective drugs are lacking. As a promising natural product, nobiletin (NOB) has a wealth of pharmacological activities like anti-tumor, antivirus, and other effects. In this research, bioinformatics methods and cellular assays were combined to explore how NOB inhibited PTC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Our NOB targets were derived from three databases, including the SwissTargetPrediction database, Traditional Chinese Medicine System Pharmacology Database, and the TargetNet server. Four databases were used to identify disease-related targets: GeneCards, PharmGkb, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man, and DisGeNET. Finally, cross-targets of disease and drug were deemed as pharmacological targets, and they were used for GO and KEGG enrichment analysis. STRING and Cytoscape were applied for PPI Network and core Targets Ranking. Molecular docking analysis validated binding affinity values for NOB and core targets. By using cell proliferation and migration assays, NOB was assessed for its effects on PTC proliferation and migration phenotype. Western blot validated the downregulation of the PI3K/Akt pathway. RESULTS: (1) Preliminarily, 85 NOB targets were predicted for NOB intervention in PTC. (2) Our core target screening identified TNF, TP53, and EGFR, and our molecular docking results confirmed good binding between NOB and protein receptors. (3) NOB inhibited proliferation and migration of PTC cells. PI3K/AKT pathway target proteins were downregulated. CONCLUSIONS: (1) Bioinformatics analyses revealed that NOB may inhibit PTC by regulating TNF, TP53, EGFR and PI3K/AKT signalling pathway. (2) As evidenced by cell experiments, there was an inhibition of proliferating and migrating PTCs by NOB via the PI3K/AKT signalling pathway.

Author Correction: An investigation into the mechanism of nobiletin's inhibition of papillary thyroid cancer using network pharmacology analysis and experimental pharmacology.

Correction to: European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences 2023; 27 (4): 1553-1564. DOI: 10.26355/eurrev_202302_31398-PMID: 36876711-published online on February 15, 2023. After publication, the authors applied some corrections to the galley proof: -       The order of Table I and II has been inverted. -       The scale bar of Figure 9A has been inserted in the Legend. There are amendments to this paper. The Publisher apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause. https://www.europeanreview.org/article/31398.

The therapeutic effect of rosuvastatin on cardiac remodelling from hypertrophy to fibrosis during the end-stage hypertension in rats.

End-stage hypertensive heart disease is an increasing cause of cardiac mortality. Therefore, the current study focused on the cardiac remodelling from hypertrophy to fibrosis in old-aged spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs), and explored the therapeutic effects of Rosuvastatin and its possible mechanism(s) of action. Spontaneously hypertensive rats at age 52 weeks were randomly divided into three groups, the first two to receive Rosuvastatin at a dose of 20 mg/kg/day and 40 mg/kg/day, respectively, and the third to receive placebo, which was to be compared with Wistar-Kyoto as controls. After 2-month treatment, SBP, heart to body weight ratio (HW/BW%) and echocardiographic features were evaluated, followed by haematoxylin and eosin and Masson trichrome staining in conjunction with qPCR of foetal gene expressions. Transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labelling assay and immunofluorescent labelling for active caspase-3 were used to detect the apoptotic cardiomyocytes. Signaling pathways involved were examined by using western blot. Old-aged SHR developed end-stage hypertensive heart disease characterized by significant enhancement of HW/BW%, LVAWd and LVPWd, and decreased LVEF and LVFS, accompanied by cardiomyocytes enlargement and fibrosis along with activation of foetal gene programme. Cardiac apoptosis increased significantly during the transition process. Rosuvastatin reduced hypertrophy significantly via AT(1) Receptor-PKCß2/α-ERK-c-fos pathway; protected myocardium against apoptosis via Akt-FOXO1, Bcl-2 family and survivin pathways and consequently suppressed the caspase-3 activity. The present study revealed that old-aged SHRs developed cardiac remodelling from hypertrophy to fibrosis via cardiac apoptosis during the end stage of hypertensive heart disease. These pathological changes might be the consequence of activation of AT(1) Receptor-PKCß2/α-ERK-c-fos and AKT-FOXO1/Bcl-2/survivin/Caspase3 signaling. Rosuvastatin effectively attenuated the structural changes by reversing the signaling transductions involved.

[Study of logistic curve fitting for primary liver cancer death rate in Chengdu].

Logistic curve was used for fitting primary liver cancer (PLC) age-specific death rate in Chengdu. The results showed that the age-specific death rate from 1981 to 1986 in Chengdu (population about 4,000,000) was satisfactorily fitted by logistic curve in male, female and total (P less than 0.01). The R2s were 0.9885, 0.9912 and 0.9974, respectively. Velocity analysis of death rate showed that the increasing peak was in the group of age 40-60 for male and 50-65 for female. Male's velocity and slope of death rate were higher and steeper than female's. These results are consistent with the feature of logistic curve and parameters obtained from logistic curve fitting in this study. The age-specific death rate by sex for every year from 1981 to 1986 was fitted very well (P less than 0.01). R2s for male and female were 0.9415 +/- 0.044 and 0.9056 +/- 0.048, respectively.