Microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR): recent development and future perspectives.

After conventional oil recovery operations, more than half of the crude oil still remains in a form, which is difficult to extract. Therefore, exploring and developing new enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technologies have always been priority research in oilfield development. Microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) is a promising tertiary oil recovery technology that has received widespread attention from the global oil industry in recent years due to its environmental friendliness, simplicity of operation, and cost-effectiveness. This review presents the: principle, characteristics, classification, recent development, and applications of MEOR technology. Based on hundreds of field trials conducted worldwide, the microbial strains, nutrient systems, and actual effects used in these technologies are summarized, with an emphasis on the achievements made in the development and application of MEOR in China in recent years. These technical classifications involve: microbial huff and puff recovery (MHPR), microbial flooding recovery (MFR), microbial selective plugging recovery (MSPR), and microbial wax removal and control (MWRC). Most of them have achieved good results, with a success rate of approximately 80%. These successful cases have accumulated into rich experiential indications for the popularization and application of MEOR technology, but there are still important yet uncertain factors that hinder the industrialization of this technology. Finally, based on the extensive research and development of MEOR by the authors, especially in both laboratory and industrial large scales, the main challenges and future perspectives of the industrial application for MEOR are presented.

Ethyl ferulate protects against lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury by activating AMPK/Nrf2 signaling pathway.

Ethyl ferulate (EF) is abundant in Rhizoma Chuanxiong and grains (e.g., rice and maize) and possesses antioxidative, antiapoptotic, antirheumatic, and anti-inflammatory properties. However, its effect on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute lung injury (ALI) is still unknown. In the present study, we found that EF significantly alleviated LPS-induced pathological damage and neutrophil infiltration and inhibited the gene expression of proinflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1ß, and IL-6) in murine lung tissues. Moreover, EF reduced the gene expression of TNF-α, IL-1ß, IL-6, and iNOS and decreased the production of NO in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells and BMDMs. Mechanistic experiments revealed that EF prominently activated the AMPK/Nrf2 pathway and promoted Nrf2 nuclear translocation. AMPK inhibition (Compound C) and Nrf2 inhibition (ML385) abolished the beneficial effect of EF on the inflammatory response. Furthermore, the protective effect of EF on LPS-induced ALI was not observed in Nrf2 knockout mice. Taken together, the results of our study suggest that EF ameliorates LPS-induced ALI in an AMPK/Nrf2-dependent manner. These findings provide a foundation for developing EF as a new anti-inflammatory agent for LPS-induced ALI/ARDS therapy.

[Effect of brucine on secretion function and proliferation capability of T lymphocytes in patients with aplastic anemia].

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of brucine on secretion of TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-4 and proliferation of T lymphocytes in patients with aplastic anemia (AA), and to explore its mechanism. Peripheral blood T lymphocytes from 10 patients with AA and 10 healthy volunteers were isolated, purified and cultured. T lymphocytes from the patients were divided into 0, 100, 200 and 400 µg/ml brucine-treated groups. T lymphocytes from healthy volunteers were used as control group. After being cultured for 72 hours, the levels of TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-4 in the supernatant of cultured T lymphocytes from AA patients were detected by ELISA, and the proliferation of T lymphocytes from AA patients was detected by MTT. The results showed that compared with the normal control group, the levels of TNF-α and IFN-γ in the culture supernatant significantly increased, and IL-4 was significantly decreased. The levels of TNF-α and IFN-γ in the culture supernatant of brucine treated groups were lower, and were dependent on the concentration of brucine. However, the levels of IL-4 were found to be not obviously changed. The inhibition rate of T lymphocytes in 100, 200 and 400µg/ml brucine-treated groups were (13.61 ± 4.31)%, (14.28 ± 4.31)% and (15.12 ± 4.56)% respectively, among which the differences were not statistically significant. It is concluded that the brucine can reduce the levels of TNF-α and IFN-γ through inhibiting the proliferation of T lymphocytes in AA patients, which provides experimental basis for therapy of AA patients.