Gut microbiota and diabetic kidney diseases: Pathogenesis and therapeutic perspectives.

Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is one of the major chronic complications of diabetes mellitus (DM), as well as a main cause of end-stage renal disease. Over the last few years, substantial research studies have revealed a contributory role of gut microbiota in the process of DM and DKD. Metabolites of gut microbiota like lipopolysaccharide, short-chain fatty acids, and trimethylamine N-oxide are key mediators of microbial-host crosstalk. However, the underlying mechanisms of how gut microbiota influences the onset and progression of DKD are relatively unknown. Besides, strategies to remodel the composition of gut microbiota or to reduce the metabolites of microbiota have been found recently, representing a new potential remedial target for DKD. In this mini-review, we will address the possible contribution of the gut microbiota in the pathogenesis of DKD and its role as a therapeutic target.

Doxorubicin derivative loaded acetal-PEG-PCCL micelles for overcoming multidrug resistance in MCF-7/ADR cells.

Objective: This study was aimed to develop DOX-TPP loaded acetal-PEG-PCCL micelles to improve the clinical efficacy of drug resistance tumor. Significance: Chemotherapy is one of the main treatments for breast cancer but is plagued by multidrug resistance (MDR). DOX-TPP-loaded micelles can enhance the specific concentration of drugs in the tumor and improve the efficacy and overcome MDR. Methods: In this study, DOX-TPP-loaded micelles based on acetal-PEG-PCCL were prepared and their physicochemical properties were characterized. The cellular uptake and ability to induce apoptosis of the micelles was confirmed by flow cytometry in MCF-7/ADR cells. In addition, cytotoxicity of the micelles was studied in MCF-7 cells and MCF-7/ADR cells. Confocal is used to study the subcellular distribution of DOX. Free DOX-TPP or DOX-TPP-loaded acetal-PEG-PCCL micelles were administered via intravenous injection in the tail vain for the biodistribution study in vivo. Results: The diameter of micelles was about 102.4 nm and their drug-loading efficiency is 61.8%. The structural characterization was confirmed by 1H NMR. The micelles exhibited better antitumor efficacy compared to free doxorubicin in MCF-7/ADR cells by MTT assay. The apoptotic rate and the cellular uptake of micelles were significantly higher than free DOX and DOX-TPP. Micelles can efficiently deliver mitochondria-targeting DOX-TPP to tumor cells. The result of bio-distribution showed that the micelles had stronger tumor infiltration ability than free drugs. Conclusions: In this study, mitochondriotropic DOX-TPP was conjugated to the nanocarrier acetal-PEG-PCCL via ionic interaction to form a polymer, which spontaneously formed spherical micelles. The cytotoxicity and cellular uptake of the micelles are superior to free DOX and exhibit mitochondrial targeting and passive tumor targeting, indicating that they have potential prospects.

Paenibacillus catalpae sp. nov., isolated from the rhizosphere soil of Catalpa speciosa.

A bacterial strain, designated D75(T), was isolated from the rhizosphere soil of Catalpa speciosa. Phylogenetic analysis based on the complete 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed that strain D75(T) was a member of the genus Paenibacillus. High levels of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity were found between strain D75(T) and Paenibacillus glycanilyticus DS-1(T) (99.2 %), Paenibacillus xinjiangensis B538(T) (97.5 %) and Paenibacillus castaneae Ch-32(T) (97.2 %). The chemotaxonomic properties of strain D75(T) were consistent with those of the genus Paenibacillus: the cell-wall peptidoglycan type was based on meso-diaminopimelic acid (A1γ), the predominant menaquinone was MK-7, and the major fatty acids were anteiso-C15 : 0, iso-C16 : 0 and C16 : 0. However, levels of DNA-DNA relatedness between strain D75(T) and P. glycanilyticus NBRC 16618(T), P. xinjiangensis DSM 16970(T) and P. castaneae DSM 19417(T) were 35, 20 and 18 %, respectively. On the basis of phenotypic and chemotaxonomic analyses, phylogenetic data and DNA-DNA relatedness values, strain D75(T) is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Paenibacillus, for which the name Paenibacillus catalpae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is D75(T) ( = DSM 24714(T) = CGMCC 1.10784(T)).