Steam explosion-assisted grinding improves the functional properties and antioxidant activity of Java tea-leaf powders (Clerodendranthus spicatus).

BACKGROUND: Java tea is widely consumed and has multiple health effects. This study established a steam explosion (SE) pretreatment method to prepare Java tea-leaf powders. The physicochemical, functional properties, phenolic extraction, and antioxidant activity of Java tea-leaf powders produced by simple and SE-assisted milling methods were investigated. RESULTS: In comparison with simple milling, SE pretreatment broke the cell wall effectively and reduced the particle size of Java tea-leaf powders. Steam explosion-treated powders showed higher values for sensory signals, bulk and tap density, and for the water solubility index. After SE treatment, the adsorption capacities to glucose, soybean oil, and cholesterol of leaf powders were increased by up to 55, 95, and 80% respectively. The extracts from SE-treated powders also showed higher total polyphenol content and antioxidant activity. CONCLUSION: Steam explosion treatment is helpful for the improvement of functional properties and antioxidant activity, which can benefit the development and application of Java tea-leaf powders. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.

PPIH acts as a potential predictive biomarker for patients with common solid tumors.

BACKGROUND: Our previous studies have indicated that mRNA and protein levels of PPIH are significantly upregulated in Hepatocellular Carcinoma (LIHC) and could act as predictive biomarkers for patients with LIHC. Nonetheless, the expression and implications of PPIH in the etiology and progression of common solid tumors have yet to be explored, including its potential as a serum tumor marker. METHODS: We employed bioinformatics analyses, augmented with clinical sample evaluations, to investigate the mRNA and protein expression and gene regulation networks of PPIH in various solid tumors. We also assessed the association between PPIH expression and overall survival (OS) in cancer patients using Kaplan-Meier analysis with TCGA database information. Furthermore, we evaluated the feasibility and diagnostic efficacy of PPIH as a serum marker by integrating serological studies with established clinical tumor markers. RESULTS: Through pan-cancer analysis, we found that the expression levels of PPIH mRNA in multiple tumors were significantly different from those in normal tissues. This study is the first to report that PPIH mRNA and protein levels are markedly elevated in LIHC, Colon adenocarcinoma (COAD), and Breast cancer (BC), and are associated with a worse prognosis in these cancer patients. Conversely, serum PPIH levels are decreased in patients with these tumors (LIHC, COAD, BC, gastric cancer), and when combined with traditional tumor markers, offer enhanced sensitivity and specificity for diagnosis. CONCLUSION: Our findings propose that PPIH may serve as a valuable predictive biomarker in tumor patients, and its secreted protein could be a potential serum marker, providing insights into the role of PPIH in cancer development and progression.

Effects of esketamine and fluoxetine on depression-like behaviors in chronic variable stress: a role of plasma inflammatory factors.

Mounting evidence has identified the rapid and sustained antidepressive and anxiolytic-like effects of esketamine. However, the underlying mechanism of this no-monoamine target rapid-onset antidepressant is still underexplored. Immune-inflammatory pathways and cell-mediated immune activation, mainly including inflammatory cytokines in plasma, play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of major depressive disorder and are also a potential therapeutic target for MDD. The current study was designed to clarify the role of esketamine on the expression of plasma cytokines in a depressive-like model introduced by chronic variable stress (CVS). In this study, a 21-day consecutive CVS protocol was applied to produce depressive- and anxiety-like behaviors. After the single dose or 7-day repeated administration of esketamine or fluoxetine, the depressive- and anxiety-like behaviors and the expression of inflammatory cytokines in plasma were examined. Both a single dose of esketamine and 7-days repeated fluoxetine administration elicited anti-depressive and anxiolytic effects in mice exposed to CVS. Additionally, CVS produced significant changes in the plasma inflammatory factors, notably increasing the expression of IL-1ß, IL-6, IL-8, IL-17A, TNFα, IL-4, IL-9, IL-24, IL-37, IFN-ß, and CXCL12, while reducing IL-10 and IL-33. With the administration of esketamine and fluoxetine, CVS-produced inflammatory disturbances were partially normalized. Together, our findings provide a novel insight that acute esketamine treatment could rescue CVS-produced depressive-like and anxiety-like behaviors in mice by normalizing the expression of inflammatory cytokines; this effect was similar to the repeated administration of fluoxetine. These results contributed to the understating of rapid anti-depressant effects elicited by esketamine.

A preliminary metabolomics study of the database for biological samples of schizophrenia among Chinese ethnic minorities.

BACKGROUND: Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a profound mental disorder with a multifactorial etiology, including genetics, environmental factors, and demographic influences such as ethnicity and geography. Among these, the studies of SCZ also shows racial and regional differences. METHODS: We first established a database of biological samples for SCZ in China's ethnic minorities, followed by a serum metabolomic analysis of SCZ patients from various ethnic groups within the same region using the LC-HRMS platform. RESULTS: Analysis identified 47 metabolites associated with SCZ, with 46 showing significant differences between Miao and Han SCZ patients. These metabolites, primarily fatty acids, amino acids, benzene, and derivatives, are involved in fatty acid metabolism pathways. Notably, L-Carnitine, L-Cystine, Aspartylphenylalanine, and Methionine sulfoxide demonstrated greater diagnostic efficacy in Miao SCZ patients compared to Han SCZ patients. CONCLUSION: Preliminary findings suggest that there are differences in metabolic levels among SCZ patients of different ethnicities in the same region, offering insights for developing objective diagnostic or therapeutic monitoring strategies that incorporate ethnic considerations of SCZ.

Updated Progress on Polysaccharides with Anti-Diabetic Effects through the Regulation of Gut Microbiota: Sources, Mechanisms, and Structure-Activity Relationships.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common chronic metabolic disease worldwide. The disturbance of the gut microbiota has a complex influence on the development of DM. Polysaccharides are one type of the most important natural components with anti-diabetic effects. Gut microbiota can participate in the fermentation of polysaccharides, and through this, polysaccharides regulate the gut microbiota and improve DM. This review begins by a summary of the sources, anti-diabetic effects and the gut microbiota regulation functions of natural polysaccharides. Then, the mechanisms of polysaccharides in regulating the gut microbiota to exert anti-diabetic effects and the structure-activity relationship are summarized. It is found that polysaccharides from plants, fungi, and marine organisms show great hypoglycemic activities and the gut microbiota regulation functions. The mechanisms mainly include repairing the gut burrier, reshaping gut microbiota composition, changing the metabolites, regulating anti-inflammatory activity and immune function, and regulating the signal pathways. Structural characteristics of polysaccharides, such as monosaccharide composition, molecular weight, and type of glycosidic linkage, show great influence on the anti-diabetic activity of polysaccharides. This review provides a reference for the exploration and development of the anti-diabetic effects of polysaccharides.

Chromosome-level Alstonia scholaris genome unveils evolutionary insights into biosynthesis of monoterpenoid indole alkaloids.

Alstonia scholaris of the Apocynaceae family is a medicinal plant with a rich source of bioactive monoterpenoid indole alkaloids (MIAs), which possess anti-cancer activity like vinca alkaloids. To gain genomic insights into MIA biosynthesis, we assembled a high-quality chromosome-level genome for A. scholaris using nanopore and Hi-C data. The 444.95 Mb genome contained 35,488 protein-coding genes. A total of 20 chromosomes were assembled with a scaffold N50 of 21.75 Mb. The genome contained a cluster of strictosidine synthases and tryptophan decarboxylases with synteny to other species and a saccharide-terpene cluster involved in the monoterpenoid biosynthesis pathway of the MIA upstream pathway. The multi-omics data of A. scholaris provide a valuable resource for understanding the evolutionary origins of MIAs and for discovering biosynthetic pathways and synthetic biology efforts for producing pharmaceutically useful alkaloids.

Investigation of the miRNA-mRNA Regulatory Circuits and Immune Signatures Associated with Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia.

Background: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) has become a major cause of morbidity and mortality in preterm infants worldwide, yet its pathogenesis and underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. The present study sought to explore microRNA-mRNA regulatory networks and immune cells involvement in BPD through a combination of bioinformatic analysis and experimental validation. Methods: MicroRNA and mRNA microarray datasets were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Differentially expressed microRNAs (DEMs) were identified in BPD patients compared to control subjects, and their target genes were predicted using miRWalk, miRNet, miRDB, and TargetScan databases. Subsequently, protein-protein interaction (PPI) and functional enrichment analyses were conducted on the target genes. 30 hub genes were screened using the Cytohubba plugin of the Cytoscape software. Additionally, mRNA microarray data was utilized to validate the expression of hub genes and to perform immune infiltration analysis. Finally, real-time PCR (RT-PCR), immunohistochemistry (IHC), and flow cytometry were conducted using a mouse model of BPD to confirm the bioinformatics findings. Results: Two DEMs (miR-15b-5p and miR-20a-5p) targeting genes primarily involved in the regulation of cell cycle phase transition, ubiquitin ligase complex, protein serine/threonine kinase activity, and MAPK signaling pathway were identified. APP and four autophagy-related genes (DLC1, PARP1, NLRC4, and NRG1) were differentially expressed in the mRNA microarray dataset. Analysis of immune infiltration revealed significant differences in levels of neutrophils and naive B cells between BPD patients and control subjects. RT-PCR and IHC confirmed reduced expression of APP in a mouse model of BPD. Although the proportion of total neutrophils did not change appreciably, the activation of neutrophils, marked by loss of CD62L, was significantly increased in BPD mice. Conclusion: Downregulation of APP mediated by miR-15b-5p and miR-20a-5p may be associated with the development of BPD. Additionally, increased CD62L- neutrophil subset might be important for the immune-mediated injury in BPD.

Mulberry leaf and its effects against obesity: A systematic review of phytochemistry, molecular mechanisms and applications.

BACKGROUND: Obesity and hyperlipidemia can induce a variety of diseases, and have become major health problems worldwide. How to effectively prevent and control obesity has become one of the hot-spots of contemporary research. Mulberry leaf is the dried leaf of Morus alba L., which is approved by the Ministry of Health as a "homology of medicine and food", rich in diverse active constituents and with a variety of health effects including anti-obesity and anti-hyperlipidemia activities. PURPOSE: The review attempts to summarize and provide the molecular basis, mechanism, safety and products for further exploration and application of mulberry leaf on the treatment on the control of weight gain and obesity. METHODS: This review is conducted by using ScienceDirect, PubMed, CNKI and Web of Science databases following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). RESULTS: Based on the research progress of domestic and foreign scholars, the effective phytochemicals, molecular mechanisms and product applications of mulberry leaf in the prevention and treatment of obesity and related metabolic diseases were summarized. CONCLUSION: Mulberry leaf has excellent medicinal and health care value in obesity treatment. However, its pharmacodynamic substance basis and molecular mechanisms need to be further studied.

The role of HDAC6 in enhancing macrophage autophagy via the autophagolysosomal pathway to alleviate legionella pneumophila-induced pneumonia.

Legionella pneumophila (L. pneumophila) is a prevalent pathogenic bacterium responsible for significant global health concerns. Nonetheless, the precise pathogenic mechanisms of L. pneumophila have still remained elusive. Autophagy, a direct cellular response to L. pneumophila infection and other pathogens, involves the recognition and degradation of these invaders in lysosomes. Histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6), a distinctive member of the histone deacetylase family, plays a multifaceted role in autophagy regulation. This study aimed to investigate the role of HDAC6 in macrophage autophagy via the autophagolysosomal pathway, leading to alleviate L. pneumophila-induced pneumonia. The results revealed a substantial upregulation of HDAC6 expression level in murine lung tissues infected by L. pneumophila. Notably, mice lacking HDAC6 exhibited a protective response against L. pneumophila-induced pulmonary tissue inflammation, which was characterized by the reduced bacterial load and diminished release of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Transcriptomic analysis has shed light on the regulatory role of HDAC6 in L. pneumophila infection in mice, particularly through the autophagy pathway of macrophages. Validation using L. pneumophila-induced macrophages from mice with HDAC6 gene knockout demonstrated a decrease in cellular bacterial load, activation of the autophagolysosomal pathway, and enhancement of cellular autophagic flux. In summary, the findings indicated that HDAC6 knockout could lead to the upregulation of p-ULK1 expression level, promoting the autophagy-lysosomal pathway, increasing autophagic flux, and ultimately strengthening the bactericidal capacity of macrophages. This contributes to the alleviation of L. pneumophila-induced pneumonia.

Rehmannioside A inhibits the activity of CYP3A4, 2C9 and 2D6 in vitro.

To assess the effect of Rehmannioside A on CYP450s activity and to estimate its inhibitory properties.The effect of Rehmannioside A on the activity of major CYP450s in human liver microsomes (HLMs) was assessed with the corresponding substrates and marker reactions, and compared with a blank control and the respective inhibitors. Suppression of CYP3A4, 2C9 and 2D6 was assessed by the dose-dependent assay and fitted with non-competitive or competitive inhibition models. The inhibition of CYP3A4 was determined in a time-dependent manner.Rehmannioside A suppressed the activity of CYP3A4, 2C9, and 2D6 with IC50 values of 10.08, 12.62, and 16.43 µM, respectively. Suppression of CYP3A4 was fitted to a non-competitive model with Ki value of 5.08 µM, whereas CYP2C9 and 2D6 were fitted to a competitive model with Ki values of 6.25 and 8.14 µM. Additionally, the inhibitory effect on CYP3A4 was time-dependent with KI value of 8.47 µM-1 and a Kinact of 0.048 min-1.In vitro suppression of CYP3A, 2C9 and 2D6 by Rehmannioside A indicated that Rehmannioside A or its source herbs may interact with drugs metabolised by these CYP450s, which could guide the clinical application.

Efficacy of functional magnetic resonance imaging-guided personalized repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (fMRI-rTMS) in depressive patients with emotional blunting: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Emotional blunting is a symptom that has always been present in depressed patients. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a safe and effective supplementary therapy for treating depression. However, the effectiveness and brain imaging processes of functional magnetic resonance imaging-guided personalized rTMS (fMRI-rTMS) in the treatment of depression with emotional blunting have not been observed in randomized controlled trials. METHODS: This study is a randomized, controlled, double-blind, and single-center clinical trial in which 80 eligible depressed patients with emotional blunting will be randomly assigned to two groups: a functional magnetic resonance imaging-guided personalized rTMS (fMRI-rTMS) group and a control group. Individuals in the fMRI-rTMS group (n = 40) will receive high-frequency rTMS (10 Hz, 120% MT). The main target of stimulation will be the area most relevant to the functional connectivity of the right medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and amygdala. The control group (n = 40) will receive sham stimulation, with a coil flipped to 90 degrees relative to the vertical scalp. All patients will receive 15 consecutive days of treatment, with each session lasting half an hour per day, followed by 8 weeks of follow-up. The primary outcome is the comparison of Oxford Depression Questionnaire (ODQ) scores between these two groups at different time points. The secondary outcomes include evaluating other clinical scales and assessing the differences in brain imaging changes between the two groups before and after treatment. DISCUSSION: This trial aims to examine the effects of functional magnetic resonance imaging-guided personalized rTMS (fMRI-rTMS) intervention on depressed patients experiencing emotional blunting and to elucidate the potential mechanism behind it. The results will provide new evidence for using fMRI-rTMS in treating depression with emotional blunting in the future. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov INCT05555940. Registered on 13 September 2022 at http://clinicaltrials.gov .

Association between intestinal microflora and renal function in patients with chronic renal failure: A case-control analysis.

Objective: To identify the association between the changes in intestinal microflora and renal function in patients with chronic renal failure (CRF). Methods: This retrospective case-control study included 50 patients with CRF (study group), admitted to the Clinical Laboratory Department of Shenzhen People's Hospital from March 2021 to May 2022, and 50 healthy individuals (control group). The association between the distribution of intestinal microflora and the glomerular filtration rate (GFR), levels of serum creatinine (SCr), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and serum cystatin C (CysC) were analyzed. Results: Intestinal microflora of CRF patients had significantly higher levels of Enterococci compared to the control group (p-Value <0.05), while the levels of Bifidobacterium spp. and Escherichia coli were lower in the study group (p-Value <0.05). GFR was lower, and the levels of BUN, SCr, and CysC were higher in the study group compared to the control group (all p-Value <0.05). GFR, BUN, SCr and CysC levels in the study group negatively correlated with the levels of Bifidobacterium spp. and Lactobacillus spp. (r<0, P<0.05), and positively correlated with the abundance of Enterococcus spp. and Escherichia coli (r>0, P<0.05) in the intestinal microflora. Conclusions: Changes in intestinal microbiota are associated with a significant decrease in GFR and a marked increase in serum levels of renal function indicators, and alterations in the balance of intestinal microbiota may lead to further aggravation of the renal function damage in patients with CRF.

Intra-ovarian inflammatory states and their associations with embryo quality in normal-BMI PCOS patients undergoing IVF treatment.

BACKGROUND: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the main cause of anovulatory infertility in women of reproductive age, and low-grade chronic inflammation plays a key role in the occurrence and development of PCOS. However, obesity, as a likely confounding factor, can affect the inflammatory state of PCOS patients. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to comprehensively investigate intra-ovarian inflammatory states and their impact on embryo quality in PCOS patients with a normal BMI undergoing IVF treatment. METHODS: DIA-mass spectrometry-based proteomics and bioinformatic analysis were combined to comprehensively profile the protein expression of granulosa cells (GCs) from 5 normal-BMI PCOS patients and 5 controls. Thirty-four cytokines were further systematically detected in follicular fluid (FF) from 32 age- and BMI-matched normal-BMI patients using Luminex liquid chip suspension technology. Next, the differentially expressed cytokines were evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 24 newly recruited subjects, and the relationship between these cytokines and embryo quality in PCOS patients was analysed. Finally, these cytokine levels were compared and evaluated in PCOS patients with different androgen levels. RESULTS: Proteomic analysis showed that the suppression of substance metabolism and steroid biosynthesis, more interestingly, resulted in an enhanced immune and inflammatory response in the GCs of normal-BMI PCOS patients and prompted the involvement of cytokines in this process. Luminex analysis further showed that FF macrophage inflammatory protein-1 beta (MIP-1ß) and stromal cell-derived factor-1 alpha (SDF-1α) levels were significantly increased in normal-BMI PCOS patients compared to controls (P = 0.005; P = 0.035, respectively), and the ELISA results were consistent with these findings. Besides, FF MIP-1ß showed an inverse correlation with the number of D3 good-quality embryos and the good-quality blastocyst rate in patients with PCOS (P = 0.006; P = 0.003, respectively), which remained significant after correction for multiple comparisons. Moreover, SDF-1α levels had no relationship with embryo development in PCOS patients. Additionally, SDF-1α levels were significantly lower in PCOS patients with high androgen levels than in controls (P = 0.031). CONCLUSIONS: Local ovarian inflammation was present in normal-BMI PCOS patients, affecting follicular development, and FF MIP-1ß may be a potential biomarker associated with embryo quality in normal-BMI PCOS patients.

Updated Progress on Mass Spectrometry Imaging and its Application in Cancer Treatment and Drug Discovery.

BACKGROUND: Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is an imaging method based on mass spectrometry technology that can simultaneously visualize the spatial distribution of various biological molecules. The use of MSI in cancer detection and drug discovery has been extensively investigated in recent years. OBJECTIVE: This review aims to summarize the latest advances of MSI and its specific applications in cancer detection and drug discovery, providing a basic understanding of the development and application of MSI in the past five years and offering references for the further application of MSI in cancer detection and drug discovery. METHODS: In the database, "mass spectrometry imaging", "cancer treatment", and "drug discovery" were used as keywords for literature retrieval, and the time range was limited to "2018- 2023". After organizing and analyzing the literature and patents, a review was conducted. RESULTS: Based on the literature, it was found that the updated progress of MSI in the past five years mostly focused on concrete methods, operation procedures, facilities, and composite applications. The patents of MSI were mainly correlated with the mass spectrometry imaging system and its application in cancer treatment. MSI is conducive to investigating the therapeutic schedule of cancer and searching for new drugs. CONCLUSION: MSI is a convenient, fast and powerful technology that has made great progress in sample preparation, instrumentation, quantitation, and multimodal imaging. MSI has emerged as a powerful technique in various biomedical applications, which has strong potential in cancer detection, treatment, formation mechanism research, discovery of biomarkers, and drug discovery process.

Functional analysis of a lily SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE ortholog in flowering transition and floral development.

Lilium is a commercially important genus of bulbous flowers, investigating the flowering molecular mechanisms is important for flowering regulation of lily. MADS-box SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE (SVP) orthologs are involved in the flowering transition and floral organ differentiation in many plants. In this study, we identified an SVP ortholog from L. × formolongi (LfSVP), which was closely related to Arabidopsis SVP according to phylogenetic analysis. Tissue-specific expression patterns indicated that LfSVP expression levels peaked in the leaves and showed low expression levels in flowering tepals. Stage-dependent expression patterns of LfSVP showed high transcription level in the flowering induction stage under different photoperiods and exhibited transcription peak in the floral budding development stage under long days. Overexpressed LfSVP led to delayed flowering and floral organ defects in Arabidopsis independent of photoperiod. Tobacco rattle virus -induced gene silencing of LfSVP caused a strongly earlier flowering time and floral organ defects of L. × formolongi. Moreover, LfSVP can interact with L. × formolongi APETALA1 (AP1) in both yeast and tobacco cells, and the two may interact to regulate floral organ differentiation. In conclusion, LfSVP is a flowering repressor and may be involved in the regulation of floral organ differentiation. This study will be helpful for the molecular breeding of short-life-period and rich floral patterns lily varieties.

Physical properties, phenolic profile and antioxidant capacity of Java tea (Clerodendranthus spicatus) stems as affected by steam explosion treatment.

Java tea (Clerodendranthus spicatus) has been favored for its various health benefits and abundance of phenolic substances. Steam explosion (SE) treatment was performed in the pretreatment of Java tea stems and the physical properties, phenolic profile and antioxidant capacity were investigated. Extraction kinetics study showed that the phenolics yields of Java tea stems treated at 2.4 MPa for 10 min reached the maximum in 40 min, which was approximately 3 times the yields of raw stems in 180 min. The antioxidant activities of the extracts of Java tea stems were also significantly increased after SE treatment (P < 0.05). In addition, 19 phenolics were detected in Java tea stems by HPLC/QTOF-MS/MS, and rosmarinic acid was found to be hydrolyzed to danshensu during the SE process. SE could be an efficient pretreatment technology to improve the extraction rates of phenolics and conversions of their high-value hydrolyzed products, which could facilitate further research of Java tea products.

Assessing habitat quality at Poyang Lake based on InVEST and Geodetector modeling.

Poyang Lake is an essential natural wetland in the Yangtze River basin and plays a vital role in maintaining the ecosystem function and ecological security in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. However, the relative importance and spatial heterogeneity of the impacts of human activities and land use changes on ecological security needs to be further explored. Here, we analyzed the habitat quality level around Poyang Lake in 2022 and explored the factors of habitat quality change from a geographical perspective. The land use structure changes around the Poyang Lake basin from 2000 to 2022 were quantitatively analyzed, and then the relative importance and spatial heterogeneity of each factor on ecological security changes were investigated using geographic probes. The results show that (1) The worst quality habitat (0-0.1) consists mainly of construction land (1624.9 km2) with an area of 1634.64 km2; (2) Construction land continues to increase with the most significant change, and the dynamic land use attitude is 0.47. Grassland and mudflats have the greatest decrease. The increase in cultivated land in different periods is mainly due to the shift of water surface and forest land; (3) The drivers of habitat quality in Poyang Lake were significantly influenced by the interaction of socioeconomic factors. The explanatory power of population density interacting with the total year-end population and population density interacting with administrative area exceeded 0.84. These values were higher than the explanatory power of each individual factor, indicating that habitat quality was primarily associated with population density, total year-end population, and administrative area. These results suggest that human activities contribute to the degradation of wetlands around Poyang Lake. This study has significant reference value for coordinating human-land relationships in Poyang Lake, optimizing land management policy, and improving the sustainable development of cities.

Phenylboronic Acid and Amino Bifunctional Modified Adsorbent for Quickly Separating Phenolic Acids from Crude Extract of Clerodendranthus spicatus and Evaluation of Their Antioxidant and Hypoglycemic Activities.

A novel phenylboronic acid and amino bifunctional modified silica gel (SiO2-NH2-FPBA) was prepared, which was 30-80 µm, had a pore size of 8.69 nm, a specific surface area of 206.89 m2/g, was stable at low temperature, and contained 0.4793 mmol/g of the phenylboronic acid group and 1.6377 mmol/g of the amino group. It was used to develop a rapid separation method for phenolic acids. The results showed that it could adsorb 93.64 mg/g caffeic acid, 89.35 mg/g protocatechuic acid and 79.66 mg/g gallic acid. The adsorption process was consistent with the pseudo-second-order model (R2 > 0.99), and fitted the Langmuir isotherm model well (R2 > 0.99). CH3COOH could effectively desorb phenolic acids (>90%) and did not destroy their structures. When SiO2-NH2-FPBA was added to crude extract of Clerodendranthus spicatus, 93.24% of the phenolic acids could be captured, and twenty-two kinds of phenolic acids were identified by Q Exactive HF LC-MS. Furthermore, the isolated phenolic acids from Clerodendranthus spicatus possessed great DPPH, ABTS, and hydroxyl radicals scavenging activities and ferric reducing power. They also demonstrated effective inhibition of α-amylase and α-glucosidase activities (IC50 = 110.63 ± 3.67 µg/mL and 64.76 ± 0.30 µg/mL, respectively). The findings indicate that SiO2-NH2-FPBA has significant potential in practical applications of separating active constituents from natural resources.

Fabrication and characterization of a novel zein/pectin/pumpkin seed oil Pickering emulsion and the effects of myricetin on oxidation stability.

In this study, zein/pectin/pumpkin seed oil (PSO) Pickering emulsions (ZPPEs) were fabricated loading with myricetin (MYT), and the quality control methods of oxidation stability were innovatively investigated. The microstructure and particle properties of zein-pectin particles were determined. The zein to pectin ratio of 5:3 and oil phase fraction (φ = 50 %) turned out as the most optimal conditions for the stabilization of myricetin-loaded ZPPEs. The expected oil-in-water emulsion-type structure was confirmed by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). The internal 3D structure of Pickering emulsions (Lugol's solution improved the water-phase contrast) was imaged by micro-computed tomography (Micro-CT) for the first time. Results showed a sponge like structure of water phase in emulsion with 42 µm as mean droplet size. Light-induced oxidation was evaluated with the PetroOxy method and malondialdehyde (MDA) assays. Encapsuling ZPPEs with MYT could prevent the light induced oxidation, especially, loading of MYT at the core of the emulsion. The analysis of Electronic nose (E-nose) was used to analyze the odor before and after UV-induced oxidation, and showed a good discrimination. This study provided a new approach to prepare ZPPEs with high oxidation stability. Micro-CT, PetroOxy and E-nose could be new methods for characterization and quality assessment of Pickering emulsions.