Electric-Field-Enhanced Electroluminescence Color Tuning of Colloidal Type-II Tetrapods.

Color-tunable electroluminescence (EL) from a single emitting material can be used to develop single-pixel multicolor displays. However, finding materials capable of broad EL color tuning remains challenging. Herein, we report the observation of broad voltage-tunable EL in colloidal type-II InP/ZnS quantum-dot-seeded CdS tetrapod (TP) LEDs. The EL color can be tuned from red to bluish white by varying the red and blue emission intensities from type-II interfaces and arms, respectively. The capacitor device proves that an external electric field can enhance the color tuning in type-II TPs. COMSOL simulations, numerical calculations, and transient absorption measurements are performed to understand the underlying photophysical mechanism. Our results indicate that the reduced hole relaxation rate from the arm to the quantum dot core can enhance the emission from the CdS arms, which is favorable for EL color tuning. This study provides a novel method to realize voltage-tunable EL colors with potential in display and micro-optoelectronic applications.

Nanobowls-assisted broadband absorber for unbiased Si-based infrared photodetection.

Hot electrons from the nonradiative decay of surface plasmons have drawn extensive attention due to the outstanding performance in realizing below-bandgap photodetection. However, the widely employed metallic nanostructures are normally complex and delicate with a great challenge in large-area fabrication, and there is a great limitation to achieve substantial photoresponse at relatively long wavelengths (e.g., 2000nm) with polarization- and incident-angle independence. In this study, we theoretically and experimentally demonstrate a broadband, omnidirectional, and polarization-insensitive absorber based on wafer-scale silicon honeycomb nanobowls with 20-nm-thick gold overlayer. The average absorption across the long wave near infrared band (LW-NIR, i.e., 1100-2500 nm) is higher than 82%, which is contributed from the random nature and multimode localized plasmonic resonances excited on the side walls of nanobowls. Benefitted from the well-connected thin Au film and relatively low Schottky barrier, the generated hot electrons have a high transport probability to reach Schottky interface and participate in the interfacial charge transfer process. As a result, the hot-electron photodetector under no bias realizes a broadband photodetection up to 2000nm wavelength with a responsivity of 0.145 mA/W, and its cutoff wavelength is predicted up to 3300 nm by fitting the experimental result with Fowler theory. Our proposed Au/Si nanobowls photodetector could open a pathway to further extend the detection wavelength of Si-based photodetectors with a large-area and low-cost fabrication process, which promotes practical hot-electron applications.

Curcumol simultaneously induces both apoptosis and autophagy in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells.

Autophagy is usually considered as a protective mechanism against cell death, and in the meantime, leads to cell injury even apoptosis. Apoptosis and autophagy are very closely connected and may cooperate, coexist, or antagonize each other on progressive occurrence of cell death triggered by natural compounds. Therefore, the interplay between the two modes of death is essential for the overall fate of cancer cells. Our previous study revealed that curcumol induced apoptosis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) cells. Recently, curcumol was found to induce autophagy in cancer cells. However, whether curcumol can induce NPC cells autophagy and the effects of autophagy on apoptosis remain elusive. In this study, we found that curcumol induced autophagy through AMPK/mTOR pathway in CNE-2 cells. Moreover, inhibiting autophagy by autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine (3-MA) or apoptosis inhibitor z-VAD-fmk significantly increased proliferation while attenuated apoptosis and autophagy compared with the curcumol 212 µM group. In contrast, combining curcumol with autophagy agonist rapamycin and apoptosis inducer MG132 synergized the apoptotic and autophagic effect of curcumol. Taken together, our study demonstrates that curcumol promotes autophagy in NPC via AMPK/mTOR pathway, induces autophagy enhances the activity of curcumol in NPC cells; the combination of autophagy inducer and curcumol can be a new therapeutic strategy for NPC.

Tunable infrared hot-electron photodetection by exciting gap-mode plasmons with wafer-scale gold nanohole arrays.

Due to the strongly concentrated electromagnetic field and the ability to detect the below-bandgap photon energies, surface-plasmon-based photodetections have attracted considerable attention. However, the manipulation of plasmonic resonance is complicated with a high cost in fabrication; moreover, the performance of hot-electron photodetectors is generally unsatisfactorily low. Here, we demonstrated that a tunable absorption can be realized by using the nanohole patterned metal-spacer-metal (MSM) structure, which can be wafer-scale fabricated by the nanosphere lithography technology. The angle- and polarization-insensitive absorption is realized under the excitation of the gap-mode plasmons, which can be facilely manipulated in the near-infrared band by varying the thicknesses and material of the spacer as well as the diameter and period of the nanohole arrays. An asymmetrically bended electrical system is proposed to efficiently convert the highly absorbed photon energies into the photocurrent. Results show that the responsivity of the prepared MSM structure can be up to ∼2.82 mA/W at the wavelength of 1150 nm.

[Rapid assessment of critical quality attributes of Chinese materia medica (II): strategy of NIR assignment].

The present paper firstly reviewed the research progress and main methods of NIR spectral assignment coupled with our research results. Principal component analysis was focused on characteristic signal extraction to reflect spectral differences. Partial least squares method was concerned with variable selection to discover characteristic absorption band. Two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy was mainly adopted for spectral assignment. Autocorrelation peaks were obtained from spectral changes, which were disturbed by external factors, such as concentration, temperature and pressure. Density functional theory was used to calculate energy from substance structure to establish the relationship between molecular energy and spectra change. Based on the above reviewed method, taking a NIR spectral assignment of chlorogenic acid as example, a reliable spectral assignment for critical quality attributes of Chinese materia medica (CMM) was established using deuterium technology and spectral variable selection. The result demonstrated the assignment consistency according to spectral features of different concentrations of chlorogenic acid and variable selection region of online NIR model in extract process. Although spectral assignment was initial using an active pharmaceutical ingredient, it is meaningful to look forward to the futurity of the complex components in CMM. Therefore, it provided methodology for NIR spectral assignment of critical quality attributes in CMM.

[Research on NIR-CI parameters optimization of chlorpheniramine maleate tablets based on binary image and statistical measurement].

The optimization method was established to investigate the effect of near infrared chemical imaging (NIR-CI) detection parameters on hyperspectral data quality. In order to optimize the detection parameters, chlorpheniramine maleate (CPM) tablets were chosen as examples and the L9(3(4)) orthogonal-test design was adopted to research the effects of spectral resolution, spatial resolution, scan times and scan height. Binary image coupled with statistical measurement was proposed to quantitatively analyze hyperspectral data and determine the content of CPM on the tablet surface. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used as reference method for accurate CPM determination. The absolute value of the difference between CPM con- tents obtained from NIR-CI and HPLC was chosen as index. The result demonstrated that the optimum parameters for acquiring hyperspectral data were: 25 µm x 25 µm (spatial resolution), 5340 (scan height, the value of Z, precise focus), 16 cm(-1) (spectral resolution) and 16 (scan times). The influence of scan height on hyperspectral data was firstly investigated. The optimized parameters could be applied to CPM tablets and other drugs for NIR-CI data acquisition and methodology establishment.

Mogroside V alleviates inflammation response by modulating miR-21-5P/SPRY1 axis.

Mogroside V (MV) is a natural sweetener extracted from the edible plant Siraitia grosvenorii that possesses anti-inflammatory bioactivity. It has been reported that microRNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in the inflammation response suppression by natural agents. However, whether the anti-inflammation effect of mogroside V is related to miRNAs and the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Our study aimed to identify the key miRNAs important for the anti-inflammation effect of MV and reveal its underlying mechanisms. Our results showed that MV effectively alleviated lung inflammation in ovalbumin-induced (OVA-induced) asthmatic mice. miRNA-seq and mRNA-seq combined analysis identified miR-21-5p as an important miRNA for the inflammation inhibition effect of MV and it predicted SPRY1 to be a target gene of miR-21-5p. We found that MV significantly inhibited the production of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß), interleukin-2 (IL-2), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and nitric oxide (NO), as well as the protein expression of p-P65/P65, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in OVA-induced asthmatic mice and LPS-treated RAW 264.7 cells. Moreover, the release of ROS increased in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells but was mitigated by MV pretreatment. In the meantime, the expression of miR-21-5p was decreased by MV, leading to an increase in the expression of SPRY1 in RAW 264.7 cells. Furthermore, miR-21-5p overexpression or SPRY1 knockdown reversed MV's protective effect on inflammatory responses. Conversely, miR-21-5p inhibition or SPRY1 overexpression enhanced MV's effect on inflammatory responses in LPS-exposed RAW 264.7 cells. Therefore, the significant protective effect of mogroside V on inflammation response is related to the downregulation of miR-21-5p and upregulation of SPRY1 in vitro and in vivo, MiR-21-5p/SPRY1 may be novel therapeutic targets of MV for anti-inflammation treatment.

[Multivariate detection limits of baicalin in qingkailing injection based on four NIR spectrometer types].

Multivariate detection limits (MDLs) of different types of near-infrared instruments were investigated to guide the selection of device type for TCM NIR analysis. In this paper, near-infrared spectroscopy of Qingkailing injection was performed in transmission mode on four near-infrared spectrometers named a, b, c and d, respectively. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used as the reference method to determine the content of baicalin in Qingkailing injection. Partial least squares (PLS) and interval partial least squares (iPLS) quantitative models of baicalin in Qingkailing injection were established and MDLs of quantitative models based on different types of instruments were calculated. The determination coefficient of prediction (R2(pre))and the root mean square errors of prediction (SEP) of PLS models of four different near-infrared spectrometers are 0.9762 and 230.4 microg x mL(-1) (a), 0.9561 and 246.4 microg x mL(-1) (b), 0.9662 and 264.4 microg x mL*-1) (c), 0.9985 and 71.5 microg x mL(-1) (d). And the model of instrument d shows a better prediction performance than the other three types. There are no remarkable superiorities in predictability in iPLS models of instruments a and b after variable selection, since the R2(pre) and SEP values for instruments a and b are 0.9771 and 218.4 microg x mL(-1), and 0.9754 and 219.4 microg x mL(-1), respectively. Models c and d show no results of variable selection. MDLs (delta(0.05, 0.05) of different instruments are all less than 250 microg x mL(-1), and the MDLs of instruments c and d reach to 58 and 2.9 microg x mL(-1) respectively. The results reveal that the predictability of models and corresponding MDLs are different for different detection equipments. This paper innovatively used the theory of MDL to investigate the detection performance of different types of NIR instruments. The results demonstrated the feasibility of the approach. And it is expected that in actual applications, choosing the right type of instrument should be based on the characteristics of the study carrier to ensure quantitative accuracy.

ANP32A Knockdown Attenuates the Malignant Biological Behavior of Colorectal Cancer Cells by Suppressing Epithelial-mesenchymal Transition and ERK Activation.

Acidic leucine rich nuclear phosphoprotein-32A (ANP32A) protein has a variety of functions, such as regulating cell differentiation, influencing cell apoptosis and cell cycle progression. Our previous study demonstrated that high expression of ANP32A was found in the tumor tissues of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients and was positively associated with tumor grading. However, the function and underlying mechanisms of ANP32A in CRC metastasis have not been fully explored. In this study, we found that ANP32A knockdown significantly attenuated the migration and invasion, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in cells. Further mechanistic studies revealed that ANP32A knockdown inhibited the expression of ß-catenin and phosphorylated-ERK. The immunofluorescent staining experiment has revealed that ANP32A was expressed in the cell membrane, cytosol and nucleus, and its expression was positively associated with ß-catenin expression levels. Moreover, the ability of cell migration and invasion was inhibited, the expression of E-cadherin was enhanced following ANP32A knockdown, and these affects were abolished by an ERK activator PMA, enhanced by an ERK inhibitor PD98059. Moreover, our animal experiment also demonstrated that silenced ANP32A inhibited CRC cell growth, multi-organ metastasis, ERK activation and EMT progression in vivo. Collectively, these findings demonstrated that ANP32A promotes CRC progression and that may be a promising target for the anti-metastasis treatment of CRC.

Circular polarization-resolved ultraviolet photonic artificial synapse based on chiral perovskite.

Circularly polarized light (CPL) adds a unique dimension to optical information processing and communication. Integrating CPL sensitivity with light learning and memory in a photonic artificial synapse (PAS) device holds significant value for advanced neuromorphic vision systems. However, the development of such systems has been impeded by the scarcity of suitable CPL active optoelectronic materials. In this work, we employ a helical chiral perovskite hybrid combined with single-wall carbon nanotubes to achieve circularly polarized ultraviolet neuromorphic vision sensing and imaging. The heterostructure demonstrates long-term charge storage as evidenced by multiple-pulsed transient absorption measurements and highly sensitive circular polarization-dependent photodetection, thereby enabling efficient CPL-resolved synaptic and neuromorphic behaviors. Significantly, our PAS sensor arrays adeptly visualize, discriminate, and memorize distinct circularly polarized images with up to 93% recognition accuracy in spiking neural network simulations. These findings underscore the pivotal role of chiral perovskites in advancing PAS technology and circular polarization-enhanced ultraviolet neuromorphic vision systems.

RNA-binding domain 2 of nucleolin is important for the autophagy induction of curcumol in nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Excessive autophagy induces cell death and is regarded as the treatment of cancer therapy. We have confirmed that the anti-cancer mechanism of curcumol is related to autophagy induction. As the main target protein of curcumol, RNA binding protein nucleolin (NCL) interacted with many tumor promoters accelerating tumor progression. However, the role of NCL in cancer autophagy and in curcumol's anti-tumor effects haven't elucidated. The purpose of the study is to identify the role of NCL in nasopharyngeal carcinoma autophagy and reveal the immanent mechanisms of NCL played in cell autophagy. METHODS & RESULTS: In the current study, we have found that NCL was markedly upregulated in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) cells. NCL overexpression effectively attenuated the level of autophagy in NPC cells, and NCL silence or curcumol treatment obviously aggravated the autophagy of NPC cells. Moreover, the attenuation of NCL by curcumol lead a significant suppression on PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway in NPC cells. Mechanistically, NCL was found to be directly interact with AKT and accelerate AKT phosphorylation, which caused the activation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway. Meanwhile, the RNA Binding Domain (RBD) 2 of NCL interacts with Akt, which was also influenced by curcumol. Notably, the RBDs of NCL delivered AKT expression was related with cell autophagy in the NPC. CONCLUSION: The results demonstrated that NCL regulated cell autophagy was related with interaction of NCL and Akt in NPC cells. The expression of NCL play an important role in autophagy induction and further found that was associated with its effect on NCL RNA-binding domain 2. This study may provide a new perspective on the target protein studies for natural medicines and confirm the effect of curcumol not only regulating the expression of its target protein, but also influencing the function domain of its target protein.

A Combined Transcriptomic and Proteomic Approach to Reveal the Effect of Mogroside V on OVA-Induced Pulmonary Inflammation in Mice.

Mogroside V is a bioactive ingredient extracted from the natural food Siraitia grosvenorii which possesses functions that stimulate lung humidification and cough relief activities, but its underlying mechanisms were rarely studied. To estimate its potential protective effect on ovalbumin (OVA)-induced pulmonary inflammation and understand its system-wide mechanism, integrated omics was applied in this study. Mogroside V effectively reduced the levels of IgE, TNF-α, and IL-5 in OVA-induced mice. The results of RNA-seq and data-independent acquisition proteomics approach revealed that 944 genes and 341 proteins were differentially expressed in the normal control group (NC) and ovalbumin-induced control group (OC) and 449 genes and 259 proteins were differentially expressed between the OC and the group treated with 50 mg/kg mogroside V (MV). After a combined analysis of the transcriptome and the proteome, 93 major pathways were screened, and we discovered that mogroside V exerts an anti-inflammation effect in the lung via NF-κB and JAK-STAT, both of which are among the signaling pathways mentioned above. In addition, we found that the key regulatory molecules (Igha, Ighg1, NF-κB, Jak1, and Stat1) in the two pathways were activated in inflammation and inhibited by mogroside V. Thus, mogroside V may be the main bioactivity component in S. grosvenorii that exerts lung humidification and cough relief effects.

The liver metabolic features of Mogroside V compared to Siraitia grosvenorii fruit extract in allergic pneumonia mice.

BACKGROUND: For a long time, Siraitia grosvenorii fruit extract (SGFE) and its dominant compounds, mogroside V(MV) were both reported to have therapeutic effects on allergic pneumonia, while previous studies only stay on phenotype and mechanism of the two active ingredients, hardly have any studies compared the two ingredients on the effect of liver metabolic, and revealed the relationship between mechanism and liver metabolism. OBJECTIVE: Here we elucidated and compared the curative mechanisms of SGFE and MV on allergic pneumonia through liver metabolomics. METHODS: We established allergic pneumonia mice using ovalbumin, then treated the mice with SGFE, MV and positive drug of Suhuang Zhike Jiaonang. The effects of the drugs were evaluated by detecting inflammatory cytokines, pathological examination and liver oxidative stress biomarkers. We explored the metabolic features between SGFE and MV through liver metabolomics consequently. RESULTS: At phenotype, we confirmed that MV and SGFE both inhibited the expression of inflammatory cytokines including interleukins-5 (IL-5), IL-13, IL-17 and OVA-induced immunoglobulin E, which can also relieve inflammatory cells infiltration and mesenchymal thickening in lung tissue compared with positive drug. In addition, both of them can alleviate oxidative stress damage in liver, while MV showed a superior effect than SGFE. In metabolomic analysis, the two ingredients were found to ameliorate inflammatory and oxidative reaction mainly in controlling pathways of Riboflavin metabolism and Glutathione metabolism. While SGFE were found to control other metabolic pathways such as Phenylalanine metabolism, Sphingolipid metabolism, Glycerollipid metabolism, Glycine, serine and threonine metabolism and Arginine and proline metabolism. CONCLUSION: From the results we can infer that the minor ingredients except MV in SGFE contribute poor function to the treatment of allergic pneumonia and MV may be the main functional constituent that relieve allergic pneumonia in SGFE. This study will be beneficial to figuring out a systematic theory of Siraitia grosvenorii active ingredients and proposing a guidance for pharmacology development.

Osthole Induces Apoptosis and Caspase-3/GSDME-Dependent Pyroptosis via NQO1-Mediated ROS Generation in HeLa Cells.

Osthole is a natural coumarin which has been proved to inhibit growth of cancer cells by inducing cell death, while its mechanism was considered to be just caused by apoptosis. In our study, we found that osthole activated not just apoptosis, but also pyroptosis which is a form of regulated cell death accompanied by loss of cell membrane integrity and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release. Caspase-3 is a key protein of apoptosis as well as pyroptosis. The apoptosis and pyroptosis induced by osthole were all inhibited by irreversible caspase-3 inhibitor Z-DEVD-FMK. Meanwhile, knockdown of gasdermin E (GSDME) only reduced the osthole-induced pyroptosis but did not affect the occurrence of apoptosis. Our proteomic analysis revealed that the expression of NAD(P)H: quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) was decreased in osthole-treated cells. Moreover, NQO1 inhibition by osthole induced the overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS), as well as apoptosis and pyroptosis. ROS inhibitor N-Acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) not only reduced osthole-induced apoptosis but also reversed its effect on the pyroptosis. Meanwhile, knockdown of NQO1 by si-NQO1 or its inhibitor dicoumarol (DIC) not only enhanced ROS generation but also strengthened the GSDME-mediated pyroptosis. Finally, we demonstrated that osthole inhibited tumor growth and the expression of NQO1 in a HeLa xenograft mode. Similar to the results in vitro, osthole stimulated the activation of caspase-3, PARP, and GSDME in vivo. Taken together, all these data suggested that osthole induced apoptosis and caspase-3/GSDME-mediated pyroptosis via NQO1-mediated ROS accumulation.

Exceptional enhancement of localization effect in a one-dimensional multilayer system with destructive weak disorder strength.

We report an exceptional enhancement of photon localization effect in a certain one-dimensional random multilayer system. Our simulation with the transfer matrix method predicts and demonstrates that the photon localization effect in a system with weak disorder strength but in a destructive interference resonance region is stronger than that in a completely disordered system. The only reason for this peculiar phenomenon is that the certain weak disorder system confines the resonances between the wave and layers in the destructive interference resonance region.

Nonuniform ensembles of diverse resonances in one-dimensional layered media.

The transmission spectra perform huge fluctuations even in the mostly suitable one-dimensional localized multilayer system. Fluctuations of layer thicknesses will cause random resonances between light waves and layers. We reveal that the nonuniform ensembles of the resonances are the key for the fluctuations of transmission spectra. The transmission spectra of each stack of layers are numerically calculated through the transfer-matrix method.

Curcumol inhibits EBV-positive Nasopharyngeal carcinoma migration and invasion by targeting nucleolin.

Metastasis is a major cause of recurrence and death in patients with EBV-positive Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Previous reports documented that curcumol has both anti-cancer and anti-viral effects, but there is little literature systematically addressing the mechanism of curcumol in EBV-positive tumors. Previously we found that nucelolin (NCL) is a target protein of curcumol in CNE2 cells, an EBV-negative NPC, and in this experiment, we reported a critical role for NCL in promoting migration and invasion of C666-1 cells, an EBV-positive NPC, and found that the expression of NCL determined the level of curcumol's efficacy. Mechanistically, NCL interacted with Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Antigen 1 (EBNA1) to activate VEGFA/VEGFR1/PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, which in turn promoted NPC cell invasion and metastasis. Moreover, further study showed that the differential expression of NCL and curcumol intervention only had a regulatory effect on the nuclear accumulation of VEGFR1, which strengthened the anti-cancer effect of curcumol mediated through NCL. Our findings indicated that curcumol exerted anti EBV-positive NPC invasion and metastasis by downregulating EBNA1 and inhibiting VEGFA/VEGFR1/PI3K/AKT signaling by targeting NCL, which provides a novel pharmacological basis for curcumol's clinical use in treating patients with EBV-positive NPC.

Mogroside V reduce OVA-induced pulmonary inflammation based on lung and serum metabolomics.

BACKGROUND: Mogroside V, the main ingredient of Siraitia grosvenorii, has been proved to have therapeutic effects on pulmonary diseases. The specific mechanism still remains to be clarified, which hinders the potence of its medicinal value. PURPOSE: Serum and lung metabolomics based on LC-MS analysis were applied to explore the mechanism of mogroside V against lung inflammation. METHOD: In this study, balb/c mice were divided into control, model, mogeoside V and SH groups. We evaluated the protective effects of mogroside V on lung inflammation in asthmatic mice. Suhuang Zhike Jiaonang was used as positive drug. Metabolic profiles of serum and lung samples of mice in control, model and mogroside V groups were analyzed by LC-MS. RESULTS: Administration of mogroside V effectively relieved the expression of biochemical cytokines and lung inflammatory infiltration of asthmatic mice caused by ovalbumin (OVA). And visceral index of mice treated with mogroside V was close to control group. These results indicated that mogroside V ameliorated OVA-induced lung inflammation. LC-MS based metabolomics analysis demonstrated 6 main pathways in asthmatic mice including Vitamin B6 metabolism, Taurine and hypotaurine metabolism, Ascorbate and aldarate metabolism, Histidine metabolism, Pentose and glucuronate interconversions, Citrate cycle (TCA cycle) were regulated after using mogroside V. CONCLUSION: The study firstly elucidates the metabolic pathways regulated by mogroside V on lung inflammation through metabolomics, providing a theoretical basis for more sufficient utilization and compatibility of mogroside V.

Curcumol inhibits the viability and invasion of colorectal cancer cells via miR-30a-5p and Hippo signaling pathway.

MicroRNA-30a-5p (miR-30a-5p), which functions as a tumor suppressor, has been reported to be downregulated in colorectal cancer (CRC) tissues and to be associated with cancer invasion. However, the detailed regulatory mechanism of curcumol in the malignant progression of CRC remains unknown. MTT, Transwell, scratch, western blotting and reverse transcription-quantitative PCR assays were performed to examine how curcumol inhibited CRC cell viability, invasion and migration, and to detect the role of miR-30a-5p and curcumol in the invasion and Hippo signaling pathways of CRC cells. The present study revealed that miR-30a-5p expression was downregulated in human CRC tissues and cells. The results demonstrated that miR-30a-5p downregulation was accompanied by the inactivation of the Hippo signaling pathway, which was demonstrated to promote CRC cell viability, invasion and migration. Curcumol treatment was identified to increase miR-30a-5p expression and to activate the Hippo signaling pathway, which in turn inhibited the invasion and migration of CRC cells. Overexpression of miR-30a-5p enhanced the effects of curcumol on cell invasion and migration, and the Hippo signaling pathway in CRC cells. Furthermore, downregulation of miR-30a-5p reversed the effects of curcumol on cell invasion and migration, and the Hippo signaling pathway in CRC cells. These findings identified novel signaling pathways associated with miR-30a-5p and revealed the effects of curcumol on miR-30a-5p expression. Therefore, curcumol may serve as a potential therapeutic strategy to delay CRC progression.

Mitochondrial signaling for histamine releases in laser-irradiated RBL-2H3 mast cells.

BACKGROUND: The low power laser irradiation (LPLI) can promote the wound healing, but the mechanism is still not fully understood. We have found in our previous work that the LPLI induces mast cells to release the histamine and thus suggested that the increased histamine release is probably one of the causes for promoting the wound healing since mast cells have been found to play positive roles in the process of wound healing. This study aims to explore the mechanism of histamine release in RBL-2H3 mast cells under laser irradiations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The wavelength effect of laser irradiations, the permeability function of mitochondrial membrane, the Bcl-2 effect, the cytosolic alkalinization and the increment of intracellular Ca(2+) ([Ca(2+)](i)), on histamine release in RBL-2H3 cells were studied, respectively, with the corresponding fluorescence probes. RESULTS: The action bands of laser irradiations were consistent with the absorption bands of cytochrome c oxidase, suggesting that cytochrome c oxidase is the photoacceptor. After laser irradiation, (1) the cytochrome c releases from mitochondrial to cytosol reflecting an increased permeability of mitochondrial membrane, (2) the cytosolic alkalinization appears, (3) [Ca(2+)](i) increases, and (4) finally the enhancement of histamine release occurs. When Bcl-2 was used to inhibit the permeability of mitochondrial membrane these cellular signaling from (1) to (4) were all suppressed obviously. CONCLUSION: As a photoacceptor, cytochrome c oxidase absorbs incident photons and initiates the mitochondrial signaling. When the signals are transferred from the mitochondrial to the cytosol, the cytosolic alkalinization appears leading to the opening of a Ca(2+) channel on the membrane, the transient receptor potential vanilloid (TRPV), and an increment of [Ca(2+)](i). The increased [Ca(2+)](i) consequently mediates an enhanced histamine release. Such a responding chain is a suggested mechanism to understand the histamine release in RBL-2H3 cells under laser irradiations.