Sinensetin protects against periodontitis through binding to Bach1 enhancing its ubiquitination degradation and improving oxidative stress.

Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory and immune reactive disease induced by the subgingival biofilm. The therapeutic effect for susceptible patients is often unsatisfactory due to excessive inflammatory response and oxidative stress. Sinensetin (Sin) is a nature polymethoxylated flavonoid with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. Our study aimed to explore the beneficial effect of Sin on periodontitis and the specific molecular mechanisms. We found that Sin attenuated oxidative stress and inflammatory levels of periodontal ligament cells (PDLCs) under inflammatory conditions. Administered Sin to rats with ligation-induced periodontitis models exhibited a protective effect against periodontitis in vivo. By molecular docking, we identified Bach1 as a strong binding target of Sin, and this binding was further verified by cellular thermal displacement assay and immunofluorescence assays. Chromatin immunoprecipitation-quantitative polymerase chain reaction results also revealed that Sin obstructed the binding of Bach1 to the HMOX1 promoter, subsequently upregulating the expression of the key antioxidant factor HO-1. Further functional experiments with Bach1 knocked down and overexpressed verified Bach1 as a key target for Sin to exert its antioxidant effects. Additionally, we demonstrated that Sin prompted the reduction of Bach1 by potentiating the ubiquitination degradation of Bach1, thereby inducing HO-1 expression and inhibiting oxidative stress. Overall, Sin could be a promising drug candidate for the treatment of periodontitis by targeting binding to Bach1.

A Hydrogel Electrolyte with High Adaptability over a Wide Temperature Range and Mechanical Stress for Long-Life Flexible Zinc-Ion Batteries.

Flexible zinc-ion batteries have garnered significant attention in the realm of wearable technology. However, the instability of hydrogel electrolytes in a wide-temperature range and uncontrollable side reactions of the Zn electrode have become the main problems for practical applications. Herein, N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) to design a binary solvent (H2 O-DMF) is introduced and combined it with polyacrylamide (PAM) and ZnSO4 to synthesize a hydrogel electrolyte (denoted as PZD). The synergistic effect of DMF and PAM not only guides Zn2+ deposition on Zn(002) crystal plane and isolates H2 O from the Zn anode, but also breaks the hydrogen bonding network between water to improve the wide-temperature range stability of hydrogel electrolytes. Consequently, the symmetric cell utilizing PZD can stably cycle over 5600 h at 0.5 mA cm- 2 @0.5 mAh cm-2 . Furthermore, the Zn//PZD//MnO2 full cell exhibits favorable wide-temperature range adaptability (for 16000 cycles at 3 A g-1 under 25 °C, 750 cycles with 98 mAh g-1 at 0.1 A g-1 under -20 °C) and outstanding mechanical properties (for lighting up the LEDs under conditions of pressure, bending, cutting, and puncture). This work proposes a useful modification for designing a high-performance hydrogel electrolyte, which provides a reference for investigating the practical flexible aqueous batteries.

Adaptive Ionization-Induced Tunable Electric Double Layer for Practical Zn Metal Batteries over Wide pH and Temperature Ranges.

The violent side reactions of Zn metal in aqueous electrolyte lead to sharp local-pH fluctuations at the interface, which accelerate Zn anode breakdown; thus, the development of an optimization strategy to accommodate a wide pH range is particularly critical for improving aqueous Zn metal batteries. Herein, we report a pH-adaptive electric double layer (EDL) tuned by glycine (Gly) additive with pH-dependent ionization, which exhibits excellent capability to stabilize Zn anodes in wide-pH aqueous electrolytes. It is discovered that a Gly-ionic EDL facilitates the directed migration of charge carriers in both mildly acidic and alkaline electrolytes, leading to the successful suppression of local saturation. It is worth mentioning that the regulation effect of the additive concentration on the inner Helmholtz plane (IHP) structure of Zn electrodes is clarified in depth. It is revealed that the Gly additives without dimerization can develop orderly and dense vertical adsorption within the IHP to effectively reduce the EDL repulsive force of Zn2+ and isolate H2O from the anode surface. Consequently, they Zn anode with tunable EDL exhibits superior electrochemical performance in a wide range of pH and temperature, involving the prodigious cycle reversibility of 7000 h at Zn symmetric cells with ZnSO4-Gly electrolytes and an extended lifespan of 50 times in Zn symmetric cells with KOH-Gly electrolytes. Moreover, acidic Zn powder||MnO2 pouch cells, and alkaline high-voltage Zn||Ni0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 cells, and Zn||NiCo-LDH cells also deliver excellent cycling reversibility. The tunable EDL enables the ultrahigh depth of discharge (DOD) of 93%. This work elucidates the design of electrolyte additives compatible in a wide range of pH and temperature, which might cause inspiration in the fields of practical multiapplication scenarios for Zn anodes.

Progressive activation of porous vanadium nitride microspheres with intercalation-conversion reactions toward high performance over a wide temperature range for zinc-ion batteries.

Rechargeable aqueous zinc-ion batteries have great promise for becoming next-generation storage systems, although the irreversible intercalation of Zn2+ and sluggish reaction kinetics impede their wide application. Therefore, it is urgent to develop highly reversible zinc-ion batteries. In this work, we modulate the morphology of vanadium nitride (VN) with different molar amounts of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). The optimal electrode has porous architecture and excellent electrical conductivity, which can alleviate volume expansion/contraction and allow for fast ion transmission during the Zn2+ storage process. Furthermore, the CTAB-modified VN cathode undergoes a phase transition that provides a better framework for vanadium oxide (VOx). With the same mass of VN and VOx, VN provides more active material after phase conversion due to the molar mass of the N atom being less than that of the O atom, thus increasing the capacity. As expected, the cathode displays an excellent electrochemical performance of 272 mAh g-1 at 5 A g-1, high cycling stability up to 7000 cycles, and excellent performance over a wide temperature range. This discovery creates new possibilities for the development of high-performance multivalent ion aqueous cathodes with rapid reaction mechanisms.