Hizikia fusiforme functional oil (HFFO) prevents neuroinflammation and memory deficits evoked by lipopolysaccharide/aluminum trichloride in zebrafish.

Background: Oxidative stress, cholinergic deficiency, and neuroinflammation are hallmarks of most neurodegenerative disorders (NDs). Lipids play an important role in brain development and proper functioning. Marine-derived lipids have shown good memory-improving potentials, especially those from fish and microalgae. The cultivated macroalga Hizikia fusiforme is healthy food and shows benefits to memory, but the study is rare on the brain healthy value of its oil. Previously, we had reported that the Hizikia fusiforme functional oil (HFFO) contains arachidonic acid, 11,14,17-eicosatrienoic acid, phytol, and other molecules displaying in vitro acetylcholinesterase inhibitory and nitroxide scavenging activity; however, the in vivo effect remains unclear. In this study, we further investigated its potential effects against lipopolysaccharides (LPS)- or aluminum trichloride (AlCl3)-induced memory deficiency in zebrafish and its drug-related properties in silica. Methods: We established memory deficit models in zebrafish by intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of lipopolysaccharides (LPS) (75 ng) or aluminum trichloride (AlCl3) (21 µg), and assessed their behaviors in the T-maze test. The interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), acetylcholine (ACh), and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels were measured 24 h after the LPS/AlCl3 injection as markers of inflammation, cholinergic activity, and oxidative stress. Furthermore, the interaction of two main components, 11,14,17-eicosatrienoic acid and phytol, was investigated by molecular docking, with the important anti-inflammatory targets nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) and cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2). Specifically, the absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET) and drug-likeness properties of HFFO were studied by ADMETlab. Results: The results showed that HFFO reduced cognitive deficits in zebrafish T-maze induced by LPS/AlCl3. While the LPS/AlCl3 treatment increased MDA content, lowered ACh levels in the zebrafish brain, and elevated levels of central and peripheral proinflammatory cytokines, these effects were reversed by 100 mg/kg HFFO except for MDA. Moreover, 11,14,17-eicosatrienoic acid and phytol showed a good affinity with NF-κB, COX-2, and HFFO exhibited acceptable drug-likeness and ADMET profiles in general. Conclusion: Collectively, this study's findings suggest HFFO as a potent neuroprotectant, potentially valuable for the prevention of memory impairment caused by cholinergic deficiency and neuroinflammation.

A Novel Peptide from Abalone (Haliotis discus hannai) to Suppress Metastasis and Vasculogenic Mimicry of Tumor Cells and Enhance Anti-Tumor Effect In Vitro.

Vasculogenic mimicry (VM) formed by tumor cells plays a vital role in the progress of tumor, because it provides nutrition for tumor cells and takes away the metabolites. Therefore, the inhibition of VM is crucial to the clinical treatment of tumors. In this study, we investigated the anti-tumor effect of a novel peptide, KVEPQDPSEW (AATP), isolated from abalone (Haliotis discus hannai) on HT1080 cells by migration, invasion analysis and the mode of action. The results showed that AATP effectively inhibited MMPs by blocking MAPKs and NF-κB pathways, leading to the downregulation of metastasis of tumor cells. Moreover, AATP significantly inhibited VM and pro-angiogenic factors, including VEGF and MMPs by suppression of AKT/mTOR signaling. In addition, molecular docking was used to study the interaction of AATP and HIF-1α, and the results showed that AATP was combined with an active site of HIF-1α by a hydrogen bond. The effect of AATP on anti-metastatic and anti-vascular in HT1080 cells revealed that AATP may be a potential lead compound for treatment of tumors in the future.

Superhydrophobic foam prepared from high internal phase emulsion templates stabilised by oyster shell powder for oil-water separation.

In this paper, poly(styrene-divinylbenzene) foams were synthesized using a high internal phase emulsion (HIPE) technique with Span 80 and with 900 °C calcined oyster shell powder as a co-emulsifier, 2,2'-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as an initiator and deionized water as the dispersing phase. SEM images revealed that the materials possess a hierarchical porous structure of nano/micro size, which resulted in saturated oil adsorption in only half a minute. The dispersing phase amount was investigated for its effect on adsorption. The optimized foams have 24.8-58.3 g g-1 adsorbencies for several organic solvents, and they demonstrated superhydrophobicity and excellent oleophilicity with the water contact angle (WCA) even close to 149° and oil contact angle approaching 0°. Moreover, the foams displayed high oil retention under pressure. The adsorption-centrifugation cycling results indicated high repeatability of the recovered foams. All of these features predicted the potential applications of superhydrophobic foams in oil-water separation.

Depsidone Derivatives and a Cyclopeptide Produced by Marine Fungus Aspergillus unguis under Chemical Induction and by Its Plasma Induced Mutant.

A new depsidone derivative (1), aspergillusidone G, was isolated from a marine fungus Aspergillus unguis, together with eight known depsidones (2‒9) and a cyclic peptide (10): agonodepside A (2), nornidulin (3), nidulin (4), aspergillusidone F (5), unguinol (6), aspergillusidone C (7), 2-chlorounguinol (8), aspergillusidone A (9), and unguisin A (10). Compounds 1‒4 and 7‒9 were obtained from the plasma induced mutant of this fungus, while 5, 6, and 10 were isolated from the original strain under chemical induction. Their structures were identified using spectroscopic analysis, as well as by comparison with literature data. The HPLC fingerprint analysis indicates that chemical induction and plasma mutagenesis effectively influenced the secondary metabolism, which may be due to their regulation in the key steps in depsidone biosynthesis. In bioassays, compound 9 inhibited acetylcholinesterase (AChE) with IC50 in 56.75 µM. Compounds 1, 5, 7, 8, and 9 showed moderate to strong activity towards different microbes. Compounds 3, 4, and 5 exhibited potent larvicidality against brine shrimp. In docking studies, higher negative CDOCKER interaction energy and richer strong interactions between AChE and 9 explained the greater activity of 9 compared to 1. Chemical induction and plasma mutagenesis can be used as tools to expand the chemodiversity of fungi and obtain useful natural products.

A redetermination of bis-(5,5'-diethyl-barbiturato)bis-(imidazole)cobalt(II).

The title complex, [Co(C(8)H(12)N(2)O(3))(2)(C(3)H(4)N(2))(2)], whose structure was first determined by Wang & Craven [(1971). J. Chem. Soc. D, pp. 290-291], has been redetermined with improved precision. A crystallographic twofold rotation axis passes through the Co atom, which is tetrahedrally coordinated by two N atoms from two barbital ligands and two N atoms from two imidazole ligands. The mol-ecules are self-assembled via inter-molecular N-H⋯O hydrogen-bonding inter-actions into a supra-molecular network.

catena-Poly[[hexa-kis(µ-4-methyl-benzoato)-κO,O';κO,O':O-trieuropium(III)]-tris-(µ-4-methyl-benzoato)-κO,O';κO,O':O].

The title europium(III) carboxyl-ate, [Eu(3)(C(8)H(7)O(2))(9)](n), has three independent Eu atoms, two of which are eight-coordinate in a square-anti-prismatic coordination geometry, whereas the third is nine-coordinate in a tricapped trigonal-prismatic coordination geometry. The metal atoms are linked by two bidentate and seven tridentate methyl-benzoate groups into a linear chain running along the b-axis direction.

Erratum: Poly[[tetra-µ(2)-aqua-diaqua-µ(6)-oxalato-barium(II)] 2,4,6-trinitro-phenolate monohydrate]. Corrigendum.

In the paper by Hong, Song & Wu [Acta Cryst. (2007), E63, o2296], the scheme shows the wrong structure. The correct scheme is shown below and the compound name is corrected to "poly[[di-µ(2)-aqua-diaqua-hemi-µ(6)-oxalato-barium(II)] 2,4,6-trinitro-phenolate monohydrate", {[Ba(C(2)O(4))(0.5)(H(2)O)(4)]C(6)H(2)N(3)O(7)·H(2)O}(n).[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1107/S1600536807038159.].

Diaqua-bis(4-methyl-benzoato-κO,O')cadmium(II).

In the title mononuclear complex, [Cd(C(8)H(7)O(2))(2)(H(2)O)(2)], the Cd(II) atom possesses crystallographically imposed C(2) site symmetry, and is coordinated by four O atoms from two 4-methyl-benzoate ligands and two water mol-ecules, displaying a distorted octa-hedral geometry. The molecules are assembled via inter-molecular O-H⋯O hydrogen-bond inter-actions into a supra-molecular architecture.

Poly[[tetra-aqua-bis[µ(3)-1-ethyl-6-fluoro-4-oxo-7-(piperazinium-1-yl)-1H-quinoline-3-carboxyl-ato]dinickel(II)] hydroxide nitrate].

In the title compound, [Ni(2)(C(16)H(18)FN(3)O(3))(2)(H(2)O)(4)](OH)(NO(3)), the cationic [Ni(2)(C(16)H(18)FN(3)O(3))(2)(H(2)O)(4)](2+) building units are linked through Ni-O(carboxyl-ate) and Ni-N(amino) bridges into a layer structure. The two independent nickel atoms lie on inversion centres: one adopts an NiO(6) octa-hedral geometry, the other a trans-NiN(2)O(4) octahedral arrangement. The charge-balancing hydroxide and nitrate ions are of half site occupancy each. A network of O-H⋯O and N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds helps to establish the packing.