MiRNA-seq and mRNA-seq revealed the mechanism of fluoride-induced cauda epididymal injury.

The widespread presence of fluoride in water, food, and the environment continues to exacerbate the impact of fluoride on the male reproductive health. However, as a critical component of the male reproductive system, the intrinsic mechanism of fluoride-induced cauda epididymis damage and the role of miRNAs in this process are still unclear. This study established a mouse fluorosis model and employed miRNA and mRNA sequencing; Evans blue staining, Oil Red O staining, TEM, immunofluorescence, western blotting, and other technologies to investigate the mechanism of miRNA in fluoride-induced cauda epididymal damage. The results showed that fluoride exposure increased the fluoride concentration in the hard tissue and cauda epididymis, altered the morphology and ultrastructure of the cauda epididymis, and reduced the motility rate, normal morphology rate, and hypo-osmotic swelling index of the sperm in the cauda epididymis. Furthermore, sequencing results revealed that fluoride exposure resulted in differential expression of 17 miRNAs and 4725 mRNAs, which were primarily enriched in the biological processes of tight junctions, inflammatory response, and lipid metabolism, with miR-742-3p, miR-141-5p, miR-878-3p, and miR-143-5p serving as key regulators. Further verification found that fluoride damaged tight junctions, raised oxidative stress, induced an inflammatory response, increased lipid synthesis, and reduced lipid decomposition and transport in the cauda epididymis. This study provided a theoretical basis for developing miRNA as potential diagnostic markers and therapeutic target drugs for this injury.

Amphiphilicity-Controlled Polychromatic Emissive Supramolecular Self-Assemblies for Highly Sensitive and Efficient Artificial Light-Harvesting Systems.

Dynamic sequential control of photoluminescence by supramolecular approaches has become a great issue in supramolecular chemistry. However, developing a systematic strategy to construct polychromatic photoluminescent supramolecular self-assemblies for improving the efficiency and sensitivity of artificial light-harvesting systems still remains a challenge. Here, a series of amphiphilicity-controlled supramolecular self-assemblies with polychromatic fluorescence based on lower-rim hexyl-modified sulfonatocalix[4]arene (SC4A6) and N-alkyl-modified p-phenylene divinylpyridiniums (PVPn, n = 2-7) as efficient light-harvesting platforms is reported. PVPn shows wide ranges of polychromatic fluorescence by co-assembling with SC4A6, whose emission trends significantly depend on the modified alkyl-chains of PVPn. The formed PVPn-SC4A6 co-assemblies as light-harvesting platforms are extremely sensitive for transferring the energy to two near-infrared emissive acceptors, Nile blue (NiB) and Rhodamine 800. After optimizing the amphiphilicity of PVPn-SC4A6 systems, the PVPn-SC4A6-NiB light-harvesting systems achieve an ultrasensitive working concentration for NiB (2 nm) and an ultrahigh antenna effect up to 91.0. Furthermore, the two different kinds of light-harvesting nanoparticles exhibit good performance on near-infrared imaging in the Golgi apparatus and mitochondria, respectively.

Effect of the structural characterization of the fungal polysaccharides on their immunomodulatory activity.

The immunomodulatory effects of the four extracellular polysaccharides, namely WPA, WPB, AP2A, and TP1A, which were isolated from the fermented broth of Aspergillus aculeatus, A. terreus and Trichoderma sp. KK19L1, were investigated in vitro. WPA, WPB, AP2A, and TP1A were not toxic to RAW264.7 cells. These polysaccharides enhanced cell viability. WPA, WPB, AP2A, and TP1A showed increased immunomodulatory effect by strengthening the phagocytic activity and enhancing the release of NO, TNF-α and IL-6 from RAW264.7 cells. WPA, WPB, AP2A, and TP1A exhibited different immunomodulatory activity in vitro due to their different structural characterizations, and their immunoregulatory effects decreased successively in the following order: WPA, WPB, AP2A, and TP1A. The extracellular polysaccharides WPA, WPB, AP2A, and TP1A had potent immunomodulatory effects and could be used as potential immunomodulatory agents in the fields of functional food and medicine.

Reaction Specificity of Phospholipase D Prepared from Acinetobacter radioresistens a2 in Transphosphatidylation.

Phospholipase D (PLD) can react with phospholipids as substrates, generally phosphatidylcholine (PtdCho), and the PLD-substrate intermediate can be cleaved by another alcohol, resulting in transphosphatidylation of the substrate, which can be used in the production of special lipids. In this study, the reaction conditions affecting the transphosphatidylation of PtdCho with serine were optimized and the reaction specificity of a novel PLD prepared from Acinetobacter radioresistens a2 was evaluated for transphosphatidylation with a variety of phospholipid substrates and head group donors. Based on the yield of phosphatidylserine, experimental kinetic data, maximum transphosphatidylation rate, and kinetic constant, the specificity of PLD in transphosphatidylation was found to be affected by unsaturated fatty-acid phospholipid substrates. The catalytic efficiency of PLD prepared from A. radioresistens a2 on the synthesis of natural phospholipids is on the order of l-serine > ethanolamine and glycerol ≫ inositol. Moreover, it was found that the transphosphatidylation of PtdCho with saccharides was related to the length of the carbon chain and the number of saccharide units.

Structure characterization and antitumor activity of the extracellular polysaccharide from the marine fungus Hansfordia sinuosae.

A neutral water soluble polysaccharide (HPA) was isolated from the marine fungus Hansfordia sinuosae. Monosaccharide composition analysis indicated that HPA was mainly composed of mannose with minor amounts of galactose and glucose. The molecular weight of HPA was approximately 22.5 kDa as analyzed by HPGPC. Structure analysis of HPA with methylation and 1D, 2D NMR indicated that HPA was composed of [α-d-Manp(1→], [→2)-α-d-Manp(1→], [→3)-α-d-Manp(1→] and [→2,6)-α-d-Manp(1→] with [α-d-Manp(1→] linked to C-6 position of [→2,6)-α-d-Manp(1→]. The antitumor effect of HPA was evaluated in vitro. HPA showed remarkable inhibitory effect on human cervical carcinoma HeLa cells and human breast carcinoma MCF-7 cells. When cells were incubated with HPA at 400 µg/mL for 48 h, the inhibition rate on HeLa and MCF-7 cells was 79.5% and 73.8%, respectively. Furthermore, for HeLa cells, HPA could increase intracellular ROS levels, induce cells apoptosis, decrease mitochondrial membrane potential, and elevate the expression of caspase-3. The results suggested that HPA could be explored as a potential antitumor agent.