[Effect of diosgenin on mTOR/FASN/HIF-1α/VEGFA expression in rats with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease].

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of diosgenin on mammalian target of rapamycin(mTOR), fatty acid synthase(FASN), hypoxia inducible factor-1α(HIF-1α), and vascular endothelial growth factor A(VEGFA) expression in liver tissues of rats with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD) and explore the mechanism of diosgenin on lipogenesis and inflammation in NAFLD. Forty male SD rats were divided into a normal group(n=8) fed on the normal diet and an experimental group(n=32) fed on the high-fat diet(HFD) for the induction of the NAFLD model. After modeling, the rats in the experimental group were randomly divided into an HFD group, a low-dose diosgenin group(150 mg·kg~(-1)·d~(-1)), a high-dose diosgenin group(300 mg·kg~(-1)·d~(-1)), and a simvastatin group(4 mg·kg~(-1)·d~(-1)), with eight rats in each group. The drugs were continuously given by gavage for eight weeks. The levels of triglyceride(TG), total cholesterol(TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C), alanine transaminase(ALT), and aspartate transaminase(AST) in the serum were detected by the biochemical method. The content of TG and TC in the liver was detected by the enzyme method. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) was used to measure interleukin 1ß(IL-1ß) and tumor necrosis factor α(TNF-α) in the serum. Lipid accumulation in the liver was detected by oil red O staining. Pathological changes of liver tissues were detected by hematoxylin-eosin(HE) staining. The mRNA and protein expression levels of mTOR, FASN, HIF-1α, and VEGFA in the liver of rats were detected by real-time fluorescence-based quantitative polymerase chain reaction(PCR) and Western blot, respectively. Compared with the normal group, the HFD group showed elevated body weight and levels of TG, TC, LDL-C, ALT, AST, IL-1ß, and TNF-α(P<0.01), increased lipid accumulation in the liver(P<0.01), obvious liver steatosis, up-regulated mRNA expression levels of mTOR, FASN, HIF-1α, and VEGFA(P<0.01), and increased protein expression levels of p-mTOR, FASN, HIF-1α, and VEGFA(P<0.01). Compared with the HFD group, the groups with drug treatment showed lowered body weight and levels of TG, TC, LDL-C, ALT, AST, IL-1ß, and TNF-α(P<0.05, P<0.01), reduced lipid accumulation in the liver(P<0.01), improved liver steatosis, decreased mRNA expression levels of mTOR, FASN, HIF-1α, and VEGFA(P<0.05, P<0.01), and declining protein expression levels of p-mTOR, FASN, HIF-1α, and VEGFA(P<0.01). The therapeutic effect of the high-dose diosgenin group was superior to that of the low-dose diosgenin group and the simvastatin group. Diosgenin may reduce liver lipid synthesis and inflammation and potentiate by down-regulating the mTOR, FASN, HIF-1α, and VEGFA expression, playing an active role in preventing and treating NAFLD.

[Monitoring models of the plant nitrogen content based on cotton canopy hyperspectral reflectance].

Cotton production for accurate non-destructive, rapid monitoring of plant nitrogen content there is an urgent demand. Canopy spectral characteristics of the cotton plant and its quantitative relationship between nitrogen content, can achieve non-destructive monitoring of cotton nitrogen. Two consecutive years by different nitrogen test, cotton canopy hyperspectral data collection and simultaneous determination of canopy nitrogen content, analysis of different fertilizer treatments of cotton canopy spectral characteristics and the relationship between nitrogen content of cotton, the results show that: nitrogen content of cotton plant in different periods and spectral reflectance in the visible band (400-700 nm) was negatively related to the near-infrared 700-1300 nm band was a significant positive correlation, and in the short-wave infrared 1300-1800 nm band correlation is more complicated. Canopy scale, the whole growth stage of cotton, the visible band are sensitive to nitrogen content in cotton band, and near-infrared only is the cotton boll nitrogen content of the sensitive band; short-wave infrared band only in the budding period Cotton nitrogen sensitive band. Using nitrogen-sensitive bands in different periods can be constructed Cotton Cotton Nitrogen monitoring indicators.

[Study on hyperspectral estimation of pigment contents in leaves of cotton under disease stress].

The spectrum reflectance and pigment contents of cotton leaves infected with Verticillium wilt were measured in cotton disease nursery and field in different growth phases, and severity level of Verticillium wilt was investigated. The correlation between pigment contents of cotton leaves with Verticillium wilt and spectra reflectance, the first derivative of reflectance and spectral characteristic parameters were analyzed respectively. The estimation models about leaves pigment contents of disease cotton were established and tested. The results indicated that the correlations were best significant between chlorophyll a, b and a+b contents of leaves and spectral reflectance in visible wave bands, the first derivative spectrum at the wavelength regions of blue edge, yellow edge and red edge, and all spectral characteristic parameters (excluding red edge swing Dr). The models of transformed chlorophyll absorption in reflectance index (TCAR) and the new model of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI [702,758]) had best estimated precision, and the relative errors were in average within 1.3%. Given that the model of NDVI [702,758] is very simple and practical, it was commended as a best model to estimate chlorophyll a, b and a+b contents of disease cotton. This study shows that leaves hyperspectra data can be used to estimate the pigment contents of cotton leaves quantitatively. This conclusion has also great practice and application value for monitoring the growth state and disease influence evaluation on cotton by using hyperspectral remote sensing.