Isoflurane Attenuates Cerebral Ischaemia-Reperfusion Injury via the TLR4-NLRP3 Signalling Pathway in Diabetic Mice.

Ischaemic stroke is a severe disease worldwide. Restoration of blood flow after ischaemic stroke leads to cerebral ischaemia-reperfusion injury (CIRI). Various operations, such as cardiac surgery with deep hypothermic circulatory arrest, predictably cause cerebral ischaemia. Diabetes is related to the occurrence of perioperative stroke and exacerbates neurological impairment after stroke. Therefore, the choice of anaesthetic drugs has certain clinical significance for patients with diabetes. Isoflurane (ISO) exerts neuroprotective and anti-neuroinflammatory effects in patients without diabetes. However, the role of ISO in cerebral ischaemia in the context of diabetes is still unknown. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and NOD-like receptor pyrin domain-containing protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome activation play important roles in microglia-mediated neuroinflammatory injury. In this study, we treated a diabetic middle cerebral artery occlusion mouse model with ISO. We found that diabetes exacerbated cerebral ischaemia damage and that ISO exerted neuroprotective effects in diabetic mice. Then, we found that ISO decreased TLR4-NLRP3 inflammasome activation in microglia and the excessive autophagy induced by CIRI in diabetic mice. The TLR4-specific agonist CRX-527 reversed the neuroprotective effects of ISO. In summary, our study indicated that ISO exerts neuroprotective effects against the neuroinflammation and autophagy observed during diabetic stroke via the TLR4-NLRP3 signalling pathway.

Coupling Magnetic Single-Crystal Co2 Mo3 O8 with Ultrathin Nitrogen-Rich Carbon Layer for Oxygen Evolution Reaction.

Transition-metal oxides as electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) provide a promising route to face the energy and environmental crisis issues. Although palmeirite oxide A2 Mo3 O8 as OER catalyst has been explored, the correlation between its active sites (tetrahedral or octahedral) and OER performance has been elusive. Now, magnetic Co2 Mo3 O8 @NC-800 composed of highly crystallized Co2 Mo3 O8 nanosheets and ultrathin N-rich carbon layer is shown to be an efficient OER catalyst. The catalyst exhibits favorable performance with an overpotential of 331 mV@10 mA cm-2 and 422 mV@40 mA cm-2 , and a full water-splitting electrolyzer with it as anode catalyst shows a cell voltage of 1.67 V@10 mA cm-2 in alkaline. Combined HAADFSTEM, magnetic, and computational results show that factors influencing the OER performance can be attributed to the tetrahedral Co sites (high spin, t2 3 e4 ), which improve the OER kinetics of rate-determining step to form *OOH.