Vitamin D3 improved hypoxia-induced lung injury by inhibiting the complement and coagulation cascade and autophagy pathway.

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary metabolic dysfunction can cause lung tissue injury. There is still no ideal drug to protect against hypoxia-induced lung injury, therefore, the development of new drugs to prevent and treat hypoxia-induced lung injury is urgently needed. We aimed to explore the ameliorative effects and molecular mechanisms of vitamin D3 (VD3) on hypoxia-induced lung tissue injury. METHODS: Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into three groups: normoxia, hypoxia, and hypoxia + VD3. The rat model of hypoxia was established by placing the rats in a hypobaric chamber. The degree of lung injury was determined using hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining, lung water content, and lung permeability index. Transcriptome data were subjected to differential gene expression and pathway analyses. In vitro, type II alveolar epithelial cells were co-cultured with hepatocytes and then exposed to hypoxic conditions for 24 h. For VD3 treatment, the cells were treated with low and high concentrations of VD3. RESULTS: Transcriptome and KEGG analyses revealed that VD3 affects the complement and coagulation cascade pathways in hypoxia-induced rats, and the genes enriched in this pathway were Fgb/Fga/LOC100910418. Hypoxia can cause increases in lung edema, inflammation, and lung permeability disruption, which are attenuated by VD3 treatment. VD3 weakened the complement and coagulation cascade in the lung and liver of hypoxia-induced rats, characterized by lower expression of fibrinogen alpha chain (Fga), fibrinogen beta chain (Fgb), protease-activated receptor 1 (PAR1), protease-activated receptor 3 (PAR3), protease-activated receptor 4 (PAR4), complement (C) 3, C3a, and C5. In addition, VD3 improved hypoxic-induced type II alveolar epithelial cell damage and inflammation by inhibiting the complement and coagulation cascades. Furthermore, VD3 inhibited hypoxia-induced autophagy in vivo and in vitro, which was abolished by the mitophagy inducer, carbonyl cyanide-m-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP). CONCLUSION: VD3 alleviated hypoxia-induced pulmonary edema by inhibiting the complement and coagulation cascades and autophagy pathways.

Fast co-pyrolysis behaviors and synergistic effects of corn stover and polyethylene via rapid infrared heating.

Rapid infrared heating with fast heating rates and the capacity to load materials on the gram scale help investigate the co-pyrolysis behaviors, minimizing the gap of materials' pyrolysis temperature and volatile release during the co-pyrolysis. This work explored the effects of temperature and heating rate on the co-pyrolysis product s behaviors and synergistic interactions of corn stove and polyethylene. Initial increases in oil yield were followed by decreases when the heating rate rose, and when the temperature increased from 500 °C to 600 °C, the oil yield rose from 17.91 wt% to 20.58 wt% before falling to 14.75 wt% at 800 °C. High heating rate promoted the oil generation, and the maximum oil yield was at 25 °C/s with varying heating rates from 15 °C/s to 35 °C/s. The pyrolysis gas produced at 25 °C/s exhibited the highest LHV (Low heating value) and lowest CO2 yield, which were 17.23 MJ/nm3 and 39.29 vol%, respectively. The suitability of heating rate and temperature may improve the interaction between H-radicals of PE and oxygenated groups of CS to generate stable macromolecular compound and enhance oil production. GC-MS studies of the oil products demonstrated that oxygenated compounds such as furans, phenols and acids from lignocellulosic depolymerization had been converted to high molecular weight long chain alcohols (mostly C26, C20 and C14 alcohols) via stronger interactions during fast infrared-heated co-pyrolysis. The alcohols increased from 32.29 % to 65.06 % as temperatures rose from 500 °C to 800 °C. Few furan heterocycles, acids and phenols were detected, suggesting that the oil presented higher quality and stronger synergistic effects. Rapid infrared heating accelerated the synergistic effects between volatile-volatile interactions during co-pyrolysis of corn stover and polyethylene, and the increases in temperature and heating rates further enhanced the release of many volatile substances and the formation of fine pores. Raman results showed char of 600 °C deposited more pure aromatic structures, the influence of temperature on aromatization was stronger than that of heating rate.

Preliminary screening of biomarkers in HAPE based on quasi-targeted metabolomics.

High altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) is a serious threat to the physical and mental health of people who quickly enter high plateaus, deserves more attention and in-depth research. In our study, through the detection of various physiological indexes and other phenotypes in a HAPE rat model, the HAPE group showed a significant decrease in oxygen partial pressure and oxygen saturation, and a significant increase in pulmonary artery pressure and lung tissue water content. The lung histomorphology showed characteristics such as pulmonary interstitial thickening and inflammatory cell infiltration. We applied quasi-targeted metabolomics to compare and analyze the components of metabolites in arterial-veinous blood in control rats and HAPE rats. Using kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis and two machine algorithms, we speculate that after hypoxic stress and comparing arterial blood and venous blood products in rats, the metabolites were richer, indicating that normal physiological activities, such as metabolism and pulmonary circulationhad a greater impact after hypoxic stress; D-mannoseDOWN, oxidized glutathioneDOWN, glutathione disulfideDOWN, and dehydrocholic acidDOWN in arterial blood play key roles in predicting the occurrence of HAPE; in venous blood, L-leucineDOWN, L-thyroxineDOWN, and cis-4-hydroxy- D-prolineDOWN may have key roles, which can be considered biomarkers of HAPE. This result provides a new perspective for the further diagnosis and treatment of plateau disease and lays a strong foundation for further research.

Fast pyrolysis characteristics and its mechanism of corn stover over iron oxide via quick infrared heating.

The harm done to the environment by fossil fuels was serious, and it is urgent to find effective methods and adopt carbon-neutral feedstock to prevent further environmental damage. An innovative infrared heating reactor was developed for the generation of high-yield bio-oil and cleaner pyrolysis gases. This work was devoted to exploring the fast pyrolysis characteristics and its mechanism of corn stover over the iron oxide in a novel infrared heating (IH) reactor and a traditional electric heating (EH) reactor. In the IH reactor, the bio-oil yield increased initially and then decreased with increasing pyrolysis temperature, reaching a maximum yield of 29 wt% at 600 °C. The yield of pyrolysis bio-oil and water decreased as the reusability number rose, whereas the char yield increased. Bio-oil yields decreased less from R0 to R3 and the catalyst was more effective in IH. IH produced more char and gas but considerably less water than EH, and its bio-oil had fewer phenols. Raman spectroscopy demonstrated that the aromatic structure of biochar increased as the pyrolysis temperature increased. Cellulose and hemicellulose can be completely cleaved at lower temperatures in IH. In addition, Fe2O3 catalysts have shown the advantages of low cost, efficient cycling, and long action time. Infrared heating coupled with iron oxide catalyst shows the potential to increase bio-oil yield and is more promising for industrial production than EH.

Pyrolysis behaviors of anaerobic digestion residues in a fixed-bed reactor with rapid infrared heating.

Fast pyrolysis via rapid infrared heating may significantly enhance the heat transfer and suppress the secondary reaction of the volatiles. The effects of various pyrolysis temperatures on pyrolysis behaviors of anaerobic digestion residues (ADR) were studied in this research utilizing a fixed-bed reactor equipped with rapid infrared heating (IH), as well as to compare the pyrolysis products produced by rapid infrared heating (IH) to those produced by conventional electric heating (EH). Thermogravimetric (TG) analysis revealed that pyrolysis of ADR occurred in three decomposition stages. The results of pyrolysis experiments showed that increasing temperature first raised the bio-oil yield for IH and EH, peaking at 500-600 °C, but thereafter decreased the yield. In contrast to the findings achieved with EH, infrared heating (IH) presented a greater overall bio-oil yield but a lower gas yield. The bio-oil produced by IH increased from 8.35 wt.% at 400 °C to 12.56 wt.% at 500 °C before dropping to 11.22 wt.% at 700 °C. Gaseous products produced by IH have a higher heating value than those generated by EH. Nitrogenous compounds, ketones, and phenols make up the majority of the bio-oil. In the IH bio-oil, nitrogen compounds rose with increasing temperature, while those varied slightly in the EH bio-oil. The phenols content in IH bio-oil was much more than that of EH, exhibiting values of 8.63% and 2.95%, respectively. The findings of the FTIR spectra of biochar indicated that as the temperature increased, the chains of aliphatic side professedly reduced and the structure of biochar became considerably ordered for both heating techniques. The Raman spectra of IH biochar showed that the ratio of AG/AD rose progressively from 0.17 to 0.20 as pyrolysis temperature rose from 500 to 700 °C.