Hepatic polypeptide nutrient solution improves high-cholesterol diet-induced rats with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease by activating AMP-activated protein kinase signaling pathway.

Hepatic polypeptide nutrient solution (HP) is a mixture of hepatoprotective peptides derived from fresh porcine liver with various effects. However, the role and mechanisms of HP in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are still not well understood. We investigated the effects of HP NAFLD rats induced by high-cholesterol diet (HCD) and its underlying mechanisms. Rats were provided with HCD for 4 weeks and then received HP or metformin after 2 weeks of HCD feeding. The study found that HP reduced cholesterol and triglyceride levels in rats with NAFLD (all p < .05). Histopathological examination also showed that HP improved the liver lesions induced by the HCD diet. Furthermore, the oxidative stress and inflammatory responses of NAFLD rats treated with HP were also improved. In addition, it was discovered that HP triggered the activation of AMPK and decreased the expression of SREBP-1c and FAS while enhancing the expression of PPAR α and CPT-1 in liver. These findings indicated that HP might have therapeutic potential for NAFLD, possibly via activating AMPK signaling pathway.

Mussel-inspired tissue adhesive composite hydrogel with photothermal and antioxidant properties prepared from pectin for burn wound healing.

Biodegradable self-healing hydrogels with antibacterial property attracted growing attentions in biomedication as wound dressings since they can prevent bacterial infection and promote wound healing process. In this research, a biodegradable self-healing hydrogel with ROS scavenging performance and enhanced tissue adhesion was fabricated from dopamine grafted oxidized pectin (OPD) and naphthoate hydrazide terminated PEO (PEO NH). At the same time, Fe3+ ions were incorporated to endow the hydrogel with near-infrared (NIR) triggered photothermal property to obtain antibacterial activity. The composite hydrogel showed good hemostasis performance based on mussel inspired tissue adhesion with biocompatibility well preserved. As expected, the composition of FeCl3 improved conductivity and endowed photothermal property to the hydrogel. The in vivo wound repairing experiment revealed the 808 nm NIR light triggered photothermal behavior of the hydrogel reduced the inflammation response and promoted wound repairing rate. As a result, this composite FeCl3/hydrogel shows great potential to be an excellent wound dressing for the treatment of infection prong wounds with NIR triggers.