Mesoporous silica-based nanocarriers with dual response to pH and ROS for enhanced anti-inflammation therapy of 5-demethylnobiletin against psoriasis-like lesions.

Psoriasis is an inflammatory skin disease accompanied with chronic papulosquamous lesions and multiple comorbidities that considerably affect patients' quality of life. In order to develop an enhanced therapeutic strategy for psoriasis, 5-demethylnobiletin (5-DN), a kind of polymethoxyflavones (PMFs) with high anti-inflammatory activity, was delivered in vitro and in vivo by the nanocarrier of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) both in the human keratinocytes HaCaT cell line and the mouse model with psoriasis-like lesions. The drug-loaded nanocarrier system (MSNs@5-DN) significantly improved the biocompatibility and bioavailability of 5-DN. Investigations at cell biological, histopathological, and molecular levels revealed the pharmacological mechanism of the drug delivery system, including the inhibition of inflammatory responses by downregulating the proinflammatory cytokine levels of tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6). The upregulation of anti­inflammatory cytokine of transforming growth factor-ß1 (TGF-ß1) and microRNA-17-5p, a critical regulator of the PTEN/AKT pathway, was also observed. The psoriasis-like lesions were markedly ameliorated in the mouse models treated with MSNs@5-DN. The designed drug-loading system shows an enhanced therapeutic outcome for psoriasis-like lesion compared with free 5-DN. This study revealed the synergistic effect of functionalized MSNs loaded with PMFs on the clinical treatment of human psoriasis.

Immunomodulatory effects and associated mechanisms of Momordica charantia and its phytochemicals.

Momordica charantia L. (M. charantia), which is a member of the Cucurbitaceae family and widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions, has been consumed as a vegetable and also used as herbal medicine for thousands of years worldwide. M. charantia has received great attention in biological and biomedical research due to its remarkable antidiabetic/hypoglycaemic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiviral and antitumour activities both in vivo and in vitro. Numerous studies have revealed that the typical health-promoting activities of M. charantia are mainly attributed to its phytochemicals including saponins, proteins/peptides, phenolic compounds, alkaloids, triterpenoids and polysaccharides. In particular, it has been attested that there is a strong relationship between the antidiabetic activity and the saponins and proteins of M. charantia. In recent years, studies on the immunoenhancing and immunostimulating effects of M. charantia have attracted much attention and made significant progress. Therefore, this review focuses on the immunomodulatory effects and associated mechanisms of M. charantia and its bioactive phytochemicals. The clinical applications of M. charantia in immune-related diseases are also discussed, aiming to broaden the exploration of M. charantia as a functional food.

Bioactives of Momordica charantia as Potential Anti-Diabetic/Hypoglycemic Agents.

Momordica charantia L., a member of the Curcubitaceae family, has traditionally been used as herbal medicine and as a vegetable. Functional ingredients of M. charantia play important roles in body health and human nutrition, which can be used directly or indirectly in treating or preventing hyperglycemia-related chronic diseases in humans. The hypoglycemic effects of M. charantia have been known for years. In this paper, the research progress of M. charantia phytobioactives and their hypoglycemic effects and related mechanisms, especially relating to diabetes mellitus, has been reviewed. Moreover, the clinical application of M. charantia in treating diabetes mellitus is also discussed, hoping to broaden the application of M. charantia as functional food.

Preparation and Antibacterial Activity of Thermo-Responsive Nanohydrogels from Qiai Essential Oil and Pluronic F108.

Essential oils (EOs) have been used in cosmetics and food due to their antimicrobial and antiviral effects. However, the applications of EOs are compromised because of their poor aqueous solubility and high volatility. Qiai (Artemisia argyi Levl. et Van. var. argyi cv. Qiai) is a traditional Chinese herb and possesses strong antibacterial activity. Herein, we report an innovative formulation of EO as nanohydrogels, which were prepared through co-assembly of Qiai EO (QEO) and Pluronic F108 (PEG-b-PPG-b-PEG, or PF108) in aqueous solution. QEO was efficiently loaded in the PF108 micelles and formed nanohydrogels by heating the QEO/PF108 mixture solution to 37 °C, by the innate thermo-responsive property of PF108. The encapsulation efficiency and loading capacity of QEO reached 80.2% and 6.8%, respectively. QEO nanohydrogels were more stable than the free QEO with respect to volatilization. Sustained QEO release was achieved at body temperature using the QEO nanohydrogels, with the cumulative release rate reaching 95% in 35 h. In vitro antibacterial test indicated that the QEO nanohydrogels showed stronger antimicrobial activity against S. aureus and E. coli than the free QEO due to the enhanced stability and sustained-release characteristics. It has been attested that thermo-responsive QEO nanohydrogels have good potential as antibacterial cosmetics.

Immunomodulatory Effects of Green Tea Polyphenols.

Green tea and its bioactive components, especially polyphenols, possess many health-promoting and disease-preventing benefits, especially anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer, and metabolic modulation effects with multi-target modes of action. However, the effect of tea polyphenols on immune function has not been well studied. Moreover, the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms mediating immunoregulation are not well understood. This review summarizes the recent studies on the immune-potentiating effects and corresponding mechanisms of tea polyphenols, especially the main components of (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) and (-)-epicatechin-3-gallate (ECG). In addition, the benefits towards immune-related diseases, such as autoimmune diseases, cutaneous-related immune diseases, and obesity-related immune diseases, have been discussed.

Influencing Factors on the Physicochemical Characteristics of Tea Polysaccharides.

Tea polysaccharides (TPSs) are one of the main bioactive constituents of tea with various biological activities such as hypoglycemic effect, antioxidant, antitumor, and immunomodulatory. The bioactivities of TPSs are directly associated with their structures such as chemical composition, molecular weight, glycosidic linkages, and conformation among others. To study the relationship between the structures of TPSs and their bioactivities, it is essential to elucidate the structure of TPSs, particularly the fine structures. Due to the vast variation nature of monosaccharide units and their connections, the structure of TPSs is extremely complex, which is also affected by several major factors including tea species, processing technologies of tea and isolation methods of TPSs. As a result of the complexity, there are few studies on their fine structures and chain conformation. In the present review, we aim to provide a detailed summary of the multiple factors influencing the characteristics of TPS chemical structures such as variations of tea species, degree of fermentation, and preparation methods among others as well as their applications. The main aspects of understanding the structural difference of TPSs and influencing factors are to assist the study of the structure and bioactivity relationship and ultimately, to control the production of the targeted TPSs with the most desired biological activity.

Efficient Preparation of Black Tea Extract (BTE) with the High Content of Theaflavin Mono- and Digallates and the Protective Effects of BTE on CCl4-Induced Rat Liver and Renal Injury.

Theaflavins (TFs), formed by the dimerization of green tea catechins during "fermentation" to prepare black tea, possess antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. Reported efficacious effects of black tea (∼2% of TFs) or related products come from catechins unless TFs are assayed. The present study aimed to target the preparation of black tea extract (BTE) enriched with theaflavin mono- and digallates majorly from dry tea leaves in aqueous media versus traditional fermentation of fresh leaves. We further investigated the protective function of the produced BTE on rat liver and kidney injury induced by CCl4 and its underlying molecular mechanisms. The results showed that BTE suppressed the activation level of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), and the secretion of collagen was induced by CCl4. The relative expression levels of TGF-ß, p-ERK1/ERK1, p-ERK2/ERK2, p-Smad1/Smad1, and p-Smad2/Smad2 were reduced to 56, 68, 56, 44, and 32%, respectively, compared with those of CCl4-treated rats. Therefore, BTE enriched with TFs prevented rat hepatic fibrosis through the TGF-ß/Smad/ERK signaling pathway and kidney injury by inhibiting the expression of TGF-ß and proinflammatory cytokines in rats. We predict the broad application of TFs and related products because of their strong antioxidant and inhibitory effects on chronic inflammation.

Development of a Robust Manufacturing Route for Molnupiravir, an Antiviral for the Treatment of COVID-19.

Herein is described the development of a large-scale manufacturing process for molnupiravir, an orally dosed antiviral that was recently demonstrated to be efficacious for the treatment of patients with COVID-19. The yield, robustness, and efficiency of each of the five steps were improved, ultimately culminating in a 1.6-fold improvement in overall yield and a dramatic increase in the overall throughput compared to the baseline process.

Optimization of Bioprocess Extraction of Poria cocos Polysaccharide (PCP) with Aspergillus niger ß-Glucanase and the Evaluation of PCP Antioxidant Property.

Poria cocos mushroom is widely used as a food and an herb in East Asian and other countries due to its high nutritional value. Research has demonstrated that Poria cocos polysaccharides (PCP) are the major bioactives and possess antioxidation, anti-inflammation, immunoregulation, and other health promoting properties. However, the efficient preparation of PCP has been a challenge, particularly in large scale for industry. Herein, we investigated the biotransformation of PCP from Poria cocos, catalyzed by ß-glucanase from Aspergillus niger and focused on optimizing the most four influencing parameters: Temperature, time, pH, and enzyme dosage in this study. After numerous optimizations with the assistance of response surface optimization methodology, we have established that the optimal conditions for the biotransformation PCP preparation were as following: Enzymolysis temperature 60 °C, time 120 min, pH 5.0 and enzyme dose 20 mL. Under these conditions, the extraction yield of PCP reached as high as 12.8%. In addition, the antioxidant activities of PCP were evaluated by reducing power assay and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl, superoxide anion, and hydroxyl radicals scavenging assays. Resulting data showed that PCP presented outstanding antioxidant capacity. Thus, these findings indicate that PCP could be produced as a natural antioxidant for further development.

miR-122/SIRT1 axis regulates chondrocyte extracellular matrix degradation in osteoarthritis.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis (OA). The present study aimed to investigate the potential function of miR-122 in the development of OA and its potential molecular mechanisms. METHODS: The expression of miR-122, silent information regulator 1 (SIRT1), collagen II, aggrecan, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) 13 (MMP13) and ADAMTS4 in OA cartilage was detected by RT-qPCR. Target gene prediction and screening, luciferase reporter assay were used to verify downstream target genes of miR-122. RESULTS: Compared with osteonecrosis, the expression of miR-122 was significantly increased in OA cartilage, while the expression of SIRT1 was significantly decreased. Overexpression of miR-122 increased the expression of extracellular matrix (ECM) catabolic factors, for example disintegrins, MMPs and metalloproteinases with platelet reaction protein motifs, and inhibited the expression of synthetic metabolic genes such as collagen II and aggregating proteoglycan. Inhibition of miR-122 expression had the opposite effect. Furthermore, SIRT1 was identified as a direct target of miR-122. SIRT1 was significantly inhibited by miR-122 overexpression. Knockdown of SIRT1 reversed the degradation of chondrocyte ECM by miR-122 inhibitors. CONCLUSION: The miR-122/SIRT1 axis can regulate the degradation of ECM in OA, thus providing new insights into the treatment of OA.

MS/MS Spectrum Prediction for Modified Peptides Using pDeep2 Trained by Transfer Learning.

In the past decade, tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS)-based bottom-up proteomics has become the method of choice for analyzing post-translational modifications (PTMs) in complex mixtures. The key to the identification of the PTM-containing peptides and localization of the PTM-modified residues is to measure the similarities between the theoretical spectra and the experimental ones. An accurate prediction of the theoretical MS/MS spectra of the modified peptides will improve the similarity measurement. Here, we proposed the deep-learning-based pDeep2 model for PTMs. We used the transfer learning technique to train pDeep2, facilitating the training with a limited scale of benchmark PTM data. Using the public synthetic PTM data sets, including the synthetic phosphopeptides and 21 synthetic PTMs from ProteomeTools, we showed that the model trained by transfer learning was accurate (>80% Pearson correlation coefficients were higher than 0.9), and was significantly better than the models trained without transfer learning. We also showed that accurate prediction of the fragment ion intensities of the PTM neutral loss, for example, the phosphoric acid loss (-98 Da) of the phosphopeptide, will improve the discriminating power to distinguish the true phosphorylated residue from its adjacent candidate sites. pDeep2 is available at https://github.com/pFindStudio/pDeep/tree/master/pDeep2 .

Simultaneous separation of six pure polymethoxyflavones from sweet orange peel extract by high performance counter current chromatography.

Successful isolation of polymethoxyflavones (PMFs) from citrus peels has led to numerous evaluations of PMFs in a broad spectrum of biological activities, such as inhibition of chronic inflammation, cancer prevention and anti-atherogenic properties. Recent reports associated with the health promoting properties of PMFs in citrus fruits have dramatically increased. However, the limiting factor in animal and human study of PMFs is still the supply of pure PMFs, such as tangeretin, nobiletin, sinensetin and 3,5,6,7,3',4'-hexamethoxyflavone. Herein, we introduce the newly developed efficient separation method using high-performance counter-current chromatography (HPCCC) in isolating multiple pure single PMFs simultaneously in one cycle process. With the smallest preparation loop on the semi-preparative HPCCC instrument, the optimized solvent system of hexanes/ethyl acetate/methanol/water resulted in the isolation of pure sinensetin, tangeretin, nobiletin, 3,5,6,7,3',4'-hexamethoxyflavone, 5,6,7,4'-tetramethoxyflavone and 3,5,6,7,8,3',4'-heptamethoxyflavone directly from crude sweet orange peel extract in one cycle of separation process by HPCCC in the mode of reverse phase. The purity of each of the six isolated PMFs is greater than 96.6% analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography and proton nuclear magnetic resonance. Scale-up and high purity of individual PMFs can be separated by using a large separation loop in preparative HPCCC model. The renovated HPCCC methodology can be practically used in natural product isolation and consequent biological property evaluation.

Inhibition of YAP with siRNA prevents cartilage degradation and ameliorates osteoarthritis development.

The Hippo/YAP signaling pathway is important for mediating organ size and tissue homeostasis, but its role in osteoarthritis (OA) remains unclear. We aimed to investigate the role of Hippo/YAP signaling pathway in OA development. YAP expression in OA cartilage was assessed by immunohistochemistry, RT-qPCR, and Western blotting. The effects of YAP overexpression or knockdown on gene expression related to chondrocyte hypertrophy induced by IL-1ß were examined. The in vivo effects of YAP inhibition were studied. Subchondral bone was analyzed by micro-CT. YAP was increased in mice and human OA articular cartilage and chondrocytes. YAP mRNA expression level was also increased in IL-1ß-induced chondrocytes. YAP overexpression resulted in increased expression of catabolic genes in response to IL-1ß. Suppression of YAP by siRNA inhibited IL-1ß stimulated catabolic genes expression and chondrocytes apoptosis. Intra-articular injection of YAP siRNA ameliorated OA development in mice. Micro-CT results showed the aberrant subchondral bone formation was also reduced. We provided evidence that YAP was upregulated in OA cartilage. Inhibition of YAP using YAP siRNA is a promising way to prevent cartilage degradation in OA. KEY MESSAGES: YAP was upregulated in human and mice osteoarthritis cartilage and chondrocytes. YAP siRNA decreased IL-1ß-induced catabolic gene expression. Intra-articular injection of YAP siRNA ameliorated OA development. Intra-articular injection of YAP siRNA reduced aberrant subchondral bone formation.

[Experimental study on ectopic osteogenesis induced by bone morphogenetic protein 2-derived peptide P24 loaded chitosan-4-thio-butylamidine hydrogel].

Objective: To study the ectopic osteogenesis and biocompatibility of bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2)-derived peptide P24 loaded chitosan-4-thio-butylamidine (CS-TBA) hydrogel. Methods: First, the CS-TBA/hydroxyapatite (HA) solution was prepared by using chitosan, 2-iminothiolane hydrochloride, and HA. Then, the different amount of P24 peptides were added to the CS-TBA/HA to prepare the CS-TBA/5%P24/HA and CS-TBA/10%P24/HA solutions. Finally, ß-glycerophosphate disodium (ß-GP) was added to the CS-TBA/HA, CS-TBA/5%P24/HA, and CS-TBA/10%P24/HA to prepare the CS-TBA/HA/ß-GP, CS-TBA/5%P24/HA/ß-GP, and CS-TBA/10%P24/HA/ß-GP hydrogels, respectively. Eighteen Sprague Dawley female rats were randomly divided into 3 groups ( n=6), which were injected into the back muscle pouches with equal volume CS-TBA/HA/ß-GP hydrogel (group A), CS-TBA/5%P24/HA/ß-GP hydrogel (group B), and CS-TBA/10%P24/HA/ß-GP hydrogel (group C). The animals were sacrificed at 4 and 8 weeks and conducted micro-CT. The ability of biodegradation and osteogenesis of hydrogl was detected by trabecular thickness (Tb.Th), trabecular number (Tb.N), bone mineral density (BMD), and histological staining (HE and Masson). Results: All the rats in 3 groups survived to the time point of the harvest. Micro-CT results showed that the new bones gradually increased in each group after operation. At the same time, the new bone formation was more obvious in groups B and C than in group A, and with the increase of P24 concentration, new bone formation in group C was much more than that in group B. The Tb.Th, Tb.N, and BMD increased gradually in 3 groups, and the differences between 4 and 8 weeks were significant ( P<0.05) except the Tb.Th in group A. At different time points, the Tb.Th, Tb.N, and BMD were significantly higher in groups B and C than in group A ( P<0.05), and in group C was higher than in group B ( P<0.05), showing significant differences between groups. Histological staining showed that the materials of groups B and C were biodegradable, and the osteogenic effect was increased with the increase of P24 concentration. Conclusion: P24 peptide can improve the ectopic osteogenesis of CS-TBA hydrogel, and the 10% concentration is more effective.

pDeep: Predicting MS/MS Spectra of Peptides with Deep Learning.

In tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS)-based proteomics, search engines rely on comparison between an experimental MS/MS spectrum and the theoretical spectra of the candidate peptides. Hence, accurate prediction of the theoretical spectra of peptides appears to be particularly important. Here, we present pDeep, a deep neural network-based model for the spectrum prediction of peptides. Using the bidirectional long short-term memory (BiLSTM), pDeep can predict higher-energy collisional dissociation, electron-transfer dissociation, and electron-transfer and higher-energy collision dissociation MS/MS spectra of peptides with >0.9 median Pearson correlation coefficients. Further, we showed that intermediate layer of the neural network could reveal physicochemical properties of amino acids, for example the similarities of fragmentation behaviors between amino acids. We also showed the potential of pDeep to distinguish extremely similar peptides (peptides that contain isobaric amino acids, for example, GG = N, AG = Q, or even I = L), which were very difficult to distinguish using traditional search engines.

Parallel streamline placement for 2D flow fields.

Parallel streamline placement is still an open problem in flow visualization. In this paper, we propose an innovative method to place streamlines in parallel for 2D flow fields. This method is based on our proposed concept of local tracing areas (LTAs). An LTA is defined as a subdomain enclosed by streamlines and/or field borders, where the tracing of streamlines are localized. Given a flow field, it is initialized as an LTA, which is later recursively partitioned into hierarchical LTAs. Streamlines are placed within different LTAs simultaneously and independently. At the same time, to control the density of streamlines, each streamline is associated with an isolation zone and a saturation zone, both of which are center aligned with the streamline but have different widths. None of streamlines can trace into isolation zones of others. And new streamlines are only seeded within valid seeding areas (VSAs) that are enclosed by saturation zones and/or field borders. To implement the parallel strategy and the density control, a cell-based modeling is devised to describe isolation zones and LTAs as well as saturation zones and VSAs. With the help of these cell-based models, a heuristic seeding strategy is proposed to seed streamlines within irregular LTAs, and a cell-marking technique is used to control the seeding and tracing of streamlines. Test results show that the placement method can achieve highly parallel performance on shared memory systems without losing the quality of placements.