[Effect of Erjing Pills on alleviating neuroinflammation of AD rats based on TLR4/NF-κB/NLRP3 pathway and its mechanism].

This paper aimed to study the effect of Erjing Pills on the improvement of neuroinflammation of rats with Alzheimer's di-sease(AD) induced by the combination of D-galactose and Aß_(25-35) and its mechanism. SD rats were randomly divided into a sham group, a model control group, a positive drug group(donepezil, 1 mg·kg~(-1)), an Erjing Pills high-dose group(9.0 g·kg~(-1)), and an Erjing Pills low-dose group(4.5 g·kg~(-1)), with 14 rats each group. To establish the rat model of AD, Erjing Pills were intragastrically administrated to rats for 5 weeks after 2 weeks of D-galactose injection. D-galactose was intraperitoneally injected into rats for 3 weeks, and then Aß_(25-35) was injected into the bilateral hippocampus. The new object recognition test was used to evaluate the learning and memory ability of rats after 4 weeks of intragastric administration. Tissues were acquired 24 h after the last administration. The immunofluorescence method was used to detect the activation of microglia in the brain tissue of rats. The positive expressions of Aß_(1-42) and phosphory protein Tau~(404)(p-Tau~(404)) in the CA1 area of the hippocampus were detected by immunohistochemistry. The levels of inflammatory factors interleukin-1ß(IL-1ß), tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α), and interleukin-6(IL-6) in the brain tissue were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA). Toll-like receptor 4(TLR4)/nuclear factor kappa B(NF-κB)/nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptors 3(NLRP3) pathway-associated proteins in the brain tissue were determined by Western blot. The results showed that as compared with the sham group, the new object recognition index of rats in the model control group decreased significantly, the deposition of Aß_(1-42) and p-Tau~(404) positive protein in the hippocampus increased significantly, and the levels of microglia activation increased significantly in the dentate gyrus. The levels of IL-1ß, TNF-α, and IL-6 in the hippocampus of the model control group increased significantly, and the expression levels of TLR4, p-NF-κB p65/NF-κB p65, p-IκBα/IκBα, and NLRP3 proteins in the hippocampus increased significantly. Compared with the model control group, the Erjing Pill groups enhanced the new object recognition index of rats, decreased the deposition of Aß_(1-42) and the expression of p-Tau~(404) positive protein in the hippocampus, inhibited the activation of microglia in the dentate gyrus, reduced the levels of inflammatory factors IL-1ß, TNF-α, and IL-6 in the hippocampus, and down-regulated the expression levels of TLR4, p-NF-κB P65/NF-κB P65, p-IκBα/IκBα, and NLRP3 proteins in the hippocampus. In conclusion, Erjing Pills can improve the learning and memory ability of the rat model of AD presumably by improving the activation of microglia, reducing the expression levels of neuroinflammatory factors IL-1ß, TNF-α, and IL-6, inhibiting the TLR4/NF-κB/NLRP3 neuroinflammation pathway, and decreasing hippocampal deposition of Aß and expression of p-Tau, thereby restoring the hippocampal morphological structure.

Effects of Carbon Doping and DC Bias Voltage on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of AlCrCN Films Synthesized via HiPIMS.

This work compares the hardness and adhesion properties of AlCrN and AlCrCN hard coatings synthesized via HiPIMS using Al70Cr30 and Cr targets. The hardness and adhesion properties of AlCrCN films were optimized by performing deposition under various C2H2 flow rates (5, 8, 10, 13, 15, or 20 sccm) and DC bias voltages (-40, -60, -80, -100, or -120 V). EPMA results clearly indicated that the carbon content was increased from 1.9 to 12.2 at.% with increasing C2H2 flow rate from 5 to 20 sccm. XPS results confirmed a various content of chemical bonds (Cr-N, C-N, sp2, and sp3) with various C2H2 flow rate. Grain and columnar refinement in AlCrCN were derived from XRD, TEM, and SAED results. The higher hardness (28.6 GPa) and Young's modulus (358 GPa) were obtained using an C2H2 flow rate of 5 sccm and a bias voltage of -60 V. Both of which subsequently decreased to 13.5 GPa and 212 GPa, respectively. This can be attributed to the C-N bond inhibiting the development of metal-N bonds. Increasing the bias voltage to -120 V increased the hardness to 32.9 GPa and the Young's modulus to 372 GPa. Note that the application of bias voltage to enhance hardness should also be applicable to carbon-doped AlCrN films as well. All samples presented good adhesion characteristics (class 1; ISO26443:2008-06).

Microstructure and Antimicrobial Properties of Zr-Cu-Ti Thin-Film Metallic Glass Deposited Using High-Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering.

Zr-Cu based thin-film metallic glass (TFMG) has good glass-forming ability and the addition of a third element can create a chaotic system capable of inhibiting the nucleation and growth of crystals. This study focused on TFMGs made with Zr, Cu, and Ti in various compositions deposited via high-impulse magnetron sputtering on silicon and 304 stainless-steel substrates. Detailed analysis was performed on the microstructure and surface characteristics of the resulting coatings. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that the multilayer structure changed to a nanocrystalline structure similar to an amorphous coating. The excellent hydrophobicity of Zr-Cu-Ti TFMGs can be attributed to their ultra-smooth surface without any grain boundaries. The excellent antimicrobial effects can be attributed to a hydrophobic surface resisting cell adhesion and the presence of copper ions, which are lethal to microbes.

Polymeric Hole Transport Materials for Red CsPbI3 Perovskite Quantum-Dot Light-Emitting Diodes.

In this study, the performances of red CsPbI3-based all-inorganic perovskite quantum-dot light-emitting diodes (IPQLEDs) employing polymeric crystalline Poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT), poly(9-vinycarbazole) (PVK), Poly(N,N'-bis-4-butylphenyl-N,N'-bisphenyl)benzidine (Poly-TPD) and 9,9-Bis[4-[(4-ethenylphenyl)methoxy]phenyl]-N2,N7-di-1-naphthalenyl-N2,N7-diphenyl-9H-fluorene-2,7-diamine (VB-FNPD) as the hole transporting layers (HTLs) have been demonstrated. The purpose of this work is an attempt to promote the development of device structures and hole transporting materials for the CsPbI3-based IPQLEDs via a comparative study of different HTLs. A full-coverage quantum dot (QD) film without the aggregation can be obtained by coating it with VB-FNPD, and thus, the best external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 7.28% was achieved in the VB-FNPD device. We also reported a standing method to further improve the degree of VB-FNPD polymerization, resulting in the improved device performance, with the EQE of 8.64%.