Towards elevated perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) enrichment in water: Sequential liquid-liquid extraction pretreatment for ion chromatography detection.

The widespread detection of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in the environment has raised significant concerns. The standard PFOA analytical method relies on expensive solid-phase extraction (SPE) and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) instruments, making routine use prohibitive. We herein proposed a cost-effective yet novel enrichment method for determining PFOA at ng L-1 level. This method entailed a two-step sample preparation process: firstly, PFOA was extracted and enriched using a forward-extraction under acidic conditions, followed by a backward-extraction and enrichment step utilizing alkaline water. The enriched samples were subsequently subjected to a common ion chromatography (IC). Results reveal that maintaining a forward-extraction pH below its pKa value (2.8) is essential, as protonated PFOA proves effective in enhancing the enrichment factor (EF). The challenge lied in driving PFOA from forward-extractant to aqueous backward-extractant due to the decreased hydrophobicity of deprotonated PFOA (log Kow2 = 1.0). In addition, we found that evaporating forward-extractant with alkaline backward-extractant (containing 5% methanol) reduced potential analytical uncertainties associated with PFOA evaporation and sorption. Under optimal conditions, the method achieved a detection limit of 9.2 ng L-1 and an impressive EF value of 719. Comparison with SPE-LC-MS/MS confirmed the proposed method as a promising alternative for PFOA determination. Although initially targeted for PFOA, the novel methodology is likely applicable to preconcentration of other poly-fluoroalkyl substances.

Insights into adsorbable organic halogen analysis: Two overlooked factors impacting water quality assessment.

Adsorbable organic halogen (AOX) represents the total amount of halogenated organics that can be adsorbed on activated carbon (AC) from samples. Measuring AOX is crucial for assessing water quality, and any erroneous estimation of AOX risks misleading decision-makers. This study demonstrated two overlooked factors that may introduce biases to AOX measurement. The first one relates to impurities in the gas transfer tubes of AOX combustion system and in the pressurized gas of AOX separation system, which resulted in significant fluctuations and high blank values (8.5-118.0 µg-Cl/L). The solutions of above issues are to warming up the combustor for several runs and replacing the pressurized air with argon gas in the separator, which could drop the blank AOX values to 9.1-10.0 µg-Cl/L. The second one involves coexisting chloride ion (Cl-) during AOX analysis, which interfered with AOX measurements (T. test, p < 0.05) even at low concentration levels (e.g., 10 mg/L Cl- in samples with 100 µg-Cl/L p-chlorophenol). Results show that AC captured 0.02-0.11 % of Cl-, resulting in 17.7-24.5 µg-Cl/L AOX responses in control samples containing 15-130 mg/L Cl- only. Furthermore, a significant mass imbalance of Cl- (3.58-8.39 %) during analysis process suggests a potential impact of residual Cl- on subsequent samples. By comparing synthetic and actual waters, samples with low dissolved organic carbon (DOC) were more susceptible to interference from Cl- on AOX measurement than those with high DOC. These findings underscore the pressing need to optimize existing AOX methods or develop alternative analytical methods to ensure accurate water quality assessment.

Enhanced detection of monoiodoacetic acid at ng/L level by ion chromatography with novel derivatization-free pretreatment.

Concerns have recently arisen regarding the formation of carcinogenic and genotoxic iodinated haloacetic acids (HAAs), such as monoiodoacetic acid (MIAA), during the disinfection of iodine-containing water with chloramine. Existing detection methods for MIAA rely on either labor-intensive derivatization operations or expensive instruments, making analysis challenging. To bypass these issues, this study proposed a novel two-step liquid-liquid extraction strategy to enrich MIAA and then pioneered the integration of common ion chromatography (IC) with an ultraviolet detector to measure trace MIAA precisely. This novel approach achieved a remarkable 155.6-fold enrichment of MIAA and significantly reduced the need for water and chemicals, hence enhancing its efficiency and environmental friendliness. Besides, this method effectively removed coexisting anions and separated MIAA from other interferents by adjusting IC column and eluent conditions. The method detection limit of MIAA is an impressive 21.44 ng/L, and the recoveries in synthetic and real water samples ranged from 85 to 113%, with maximum deviations of 7.59%. We validated the reliability of our approach by comparing it with the USEPA 552.3 method. In conclusion, this IC-based method proves to be a robust and environment-benign solution for detecting trace MIAA in complex water components.

How I- alters UV and UV/VUV processes' redox capacities: Evidences from iodine species evolution, hydrogen peroxide formation, and oxyhalides degradation?

Although UV and/or VUV tandem I- are often proposed as advanced reduction processes (ARPs) to eliminate micropollutants by generating eaq-, the fate of I- and its byproducts formation remain to be explored. Therefore, this study investigated the iodine species evolution during UV/I- and UV/VUV/I- processes under different influencing factors. Results show that UV/VUV oxidized most of I- to IO3- whereas UV only oxidized a portion of I- to intermediate reactive iodine species (RISs, including I2, HOI, and I3-); meanwhile, substantial H2O2 was generated only in UV/VUV/I- process but not in UV/I- process, proving that UV/VUV owns stronger oxidation ability than UV alone. Spiking I- into water exerted triple-sided effects by consuming •OH, generating eaq-, and shielding light, thus complicating the systems. Holistically, increasing pH or decreasing dissolved oxygen converted oxidizing environment into reducing condition and caused less RISs formation, especially for UV/VUV/I-. For oxyhalides, neither UV/I- nor UV/VUV/I- degraded ClO4-. While UV/I- cannot remove ClO3-, UV/VUV/I- reduced ClO3- to Cl-. Expectedly, both UV/I- and UV/VUV/I- reduced BrO3- to Br- more efficiently than UV and UV/VUV, confirming that I- can enhance the reduction capacities of UV/VUV and UV technologies.

A review of factors affecting the formation and roles of primary and secondary reactive species in UV254-based advanced treatment processes.

The presence of organic micropollutants (OMPs) in water has been threatening human health and aquatic ecosystems worldwide. Ultraviolet-based advanced treatment processes (UV-ATPs) are one of the most effective and promising technologies to transform OMPs in water; therefore, an increasing number of emerging UV-ATPs are proposed. However, appropriate selection of UV-ATPs for practical applications is challenging because each UV-ATP generates different types and concentrations of reactive species (RSs) that may not be sufficient to degrade specific types of OMPs. Furthermore, the concentrations and types of RSs are highly influenced by anions and dissolved organic matter (DOM) coexisting in real waters, making systematic understandings of their interfering mechanisms difficult. To identify and address the knowledge gaps, this review provides a comparison of the generations and variations of various types of RSs in different UV-ATPs. These analyses not only prove the importance of water matrices on formation and consumption of primary and secondary RSs under different conditions, but also highlight the non-negligible roles of optical properties and reactivities of DOM and anions. For example, different UV-ATPs may be applicable to different target OMPs under different conditions; and the concentrations and roles of secondary RSs may outperform those of primary RSs in OMP degradation for real applications. With continuous progress and outstanding achievements in the UV-ATPs, it is hoped that the findings and conclusions of this review could facilitate further research and application of UV-ATPs.

Iodine revisited: If and how inorganic iodine species can be measured reliably and what cause their conversions in water?

This study revisited a list of inorganic iodine species on their detections and conversions under different water conditions. Several surprising results were found, e.g., UV-vis spectrophotometry is the only reliable method for I3- and I2 determinations with coexisting I-/IO3-/IO4-, while alkaline eluent of IC and LC columns can convert them into I- completely; IO4- can be converted into IO3- completely in IC columns and partly in LC columns; a small portion of IO3- was reduced to I- in LC columns. To avoid errors, a method for detecting multiple coexisting iodine species is suggested as follows: firstly, detecting I3- and I2 via UV-vis spectrophotometry; then, analyzing IO4- (> 0.2 mg/L) through LC; and lastly, obtaining I- and IO3- concentrations by deducting I- and IO3- measured by IC from the signals derived from I3-/I2/IO4-. As for stability, I- or IO3- alone is stable, but mixing them up generates I2 or H2OI+ under acidic conditions. Although IO4- is stable within pH 4.0-8.0, it becomes H5IO6/H3IO62- in strongly acidic/alkaline solutions. Increasing pH accelerates the conversions of I3- and I2 into I- under basic conditions, whereas dissolved oxygen and dosage exert little effect. Additionally, spiking ICl into water produces I2 and IO3- rather than HIO.

Digital synthetic polymers for information storage.

Digital synthetic polymers with uniform chain lengths and defined monomer sequences have recently become intriguing alternatives to traditional silicon-based information devices or natural biomacromolecules for data storage. The structural diversity of information-containing macromolecules endows the digital synthetic polymers with higher stability and storage density but less occupied space. Through subtly designing each unit of coded structure, the information can be readily encoded into digital synthetic polymers in a more economical scheme and more decodable, opening up new avenues for molecular digital data storage with high-level security. This tutorial review summarizes recent advances in salient features of digital synthetic polymers for data storage, including encoding, decoding, editing, erasing, encrypting, and repairing. The current challenges and outlook are finally discussed to offer potential solution guidance and new perspectives for the creation of next-generation digital synthetic polymers and broaden the scope of their applicability.

Simultaneous determination of dissolved organic nitrogen, nitrite, nitrate and ammonia using size exclusion chromatography coupled with nitrogen detector.

Accurate quantification of dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) has been a challenge due to the cumulative analytical errors in the conventional method via subtracting dissolved inorganic nitrogen species (DIN) from total dissolved nitrogen (TDN). Size exclusion chromatography coupled with an organic nitrogen detector (SEC-OND) has been developed as a direct method for quantification and characterization of DON. However, the applications of SEC-OND method still subject to poor separations between DON and DIN species and unsatisfied N recoveries of macromolecules. In this study, we packed a series of SEC columns with different lengths and resin materials for separation of different N species and designed an independent vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) oxidation device for complete oxidation converting N species to nitrate. To guarantee sufficient N recoveries, the operation conditions were optimized as oxidation time ≥ 30 min, injection mass (sample concentration × injection volume) < 1000 µL × mg-N/L for macromolecular proteins, and neutral pH mobile eluent. The dissolved O2 concentration in SEC mobile phase determined the upper limit of VUV oxidation at a specific oxidation time. Compared to conventional HW50S column (20 × 250 mm), HW40S column (20 × 350 mm) with mobile phase comprising of 1.5 g/L Na2HPO4·2H2O + 2.5 g/L KH2PO4 (pH = 6.85) could achieve a better separation of DON, nitrite, nitrate, and ammonia. When applied to river water, lake water, wastewater effluent, groundwater, and landfill leachate, the SEC-OND method could quantify DON as well as DIN species accurately and conveniently even the DIN/TDN ratio reached 0.98.

Microstructure and Properties of Densified Gd2O3 Bulk.

In this work, Gd2O3 bulks were sintered at temperatures ranging from 1400 °C to 1600 °C for times from 6 h to 24 h, and their microstructure and properties were studied for a wider application of materials in thermal barrier coatings. The densification of the Gd2O3 bulk reached 96.16% when it was sintered at 1600 °C for 24 h. The elastic modulus, hardness, fracture toughness and thermal conductivity of the bulks all increased with the rise in sintering temperature and extension of sintering time, while the coefficient of thermal expansion decreased. When the Gd2O3 bulk was sintered at 1600 °C for 24 h, it had the greatest elastic modulus, hardness, fracture toughness and thermal conductivity of 201.15 GPa, 9.13 GPa, 15.03 MPa·m0.5 and 2.75 W/(m·k) (at 1100 °C), respectively, as well as the smallest thermal expansion coefficients of 6.69 × 10-6/°C (at 1100 °C).

Detecting trace dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) in freshwater by converting DON rapidly into nitrate with VUV/H2O2 pretreatment.

Dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) plays a key role in many biogeochemistry and engineering processes such as forming nitrogenous disinfection byproducts. However, detecting aqueous DON at trace levels is challenging currently because conventional DON conversion methods have very high method detection limits (MDL). In addition, DON is measured indirectly by subtracting dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) from total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), which can propagate analytical errors of each analyte. In order to solve these issues, we isolated DON from DIN with electrodialysis before and herein tested vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) in tandem with several oxidants to convert DON completely into nitrate for subsequent N analysis. Results showed that H2O2 was more suitable than chlorine and persulfate because VUV/chlorine or VUV/persulfate is either inefficient to convert DON or subjected to nonnegligible N loss. To verify the efficiency, we evaluated the effects of typical water and operating variables on the conversions of four model DON compounds and their yields of nitrate. Under optimal conditions (pH 10.3 and 500 mg/L H2O2), the process converted DON completely into nitrate within just 60 min. Compared to conventional TDN analytical methods, the VUV/H2O2 method features not only better analytical precision but also lower MDL because the formed nitrate can be analyzed at very low MDL by ion chromatography (IC). So, this approach moves one step further to achieve a conceptually new DON analytical method by coupling electrodialysis, VUV/H2O2, and IC.

Photo-assisted reductive cleavage and catalytic hydrolysis-mediated persulfate activation by mixed redox-couple-involved CuFeS2 for efficient trichloroethylene oxidation in groundwater.

Persulfate (PS, S2O82-) activation through transition metal sulfides (TMS) has gained increasing attention since it can decompose a wide variety of refractory halogenated organic compounds in groundwater and wastewater. However, the processes of PS activation by TMS and particularly the formation of •OH radical under anoxic and acidic conditions (pH ∼2.8) remain elusive. Herein, by employing mixed redox-couple-involved chalcopyrite (CuFeS2) (150 mg/L) nanoparticles for PS (3.0 mM) activation, 96% of trichloroethylene was degraded within 120 min at pH 6.8 under visible light irradiation. The combination of experimental studies and theoretical calculations suggested that the Cu(I)/Fe(III) mixed redox-couple in CuFeS2 plays a crucial role to activate PS. Cu(I) acted as an electron donor to transfer electron to Fe(III), then Fe(III) served as an electron transfer bridge as well as a catalytic center to further donate this received electron to the O-O bond of PS, thus yielding SO4•- for trichloroethylene oxidation. Moreover, for the first time, •OH radicals were found to form from the catalytic hydrolysis of PS onto CuFeS2 surface, where S2O82- anion was hydrolyzed to yield H2O2 and these ensuing H2O2 were further transformed into •OH radicals via photoelectron-assisted O-O bond cleavage step. Our findings offer valuable insights for understanding the mechanisms of PS activation by redox-couple- involved TMS, which could promote the design of effective activators toward PS decomposition for environmental remediation.

Up-Regulation of RACGAP1 Promotes Progressions of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Regulated by GABPA via PI3K/AKT Pathway.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the dominating tumors causing death due to lack of timely discovery and valid treatment. Abnormal increase of Rac GTPase activating protein 1 (RACGAP1) has been verified to be an oncogene in plenty tumors. The profound mechanism of RACGAP1 was rarely reported in HCC. In this study, we explored the function and mechanism of RACGAP1 in HCC through multiple analysis and experiments. RACGAP1 expression was up-regulated in HCC samples and the high expression of RACGAP1 was an independent prognostic risk factor for HCC patients. Meanwhile, RACGAP1 promoted developments of HCC both in vitro and in vivo. We verified that RACGAP1 promoted proliferation of HCC via PI3K/AKT/CDK2 and PI3K/AKT/GSK3ß/Cyclin D1 signaling pathway. RACGAP1 accelerated the invasion and metastasis of HCC via phosphorylation of GSK3ß and nuclear translocation of ß-catenin. Furthermore, by luciferase reporter assay and Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay, we confirmed Recombinant GA Binding Protein Transcription Factor Alpha (GABPA) regulated the transcription of RACGAP1. All these findings revealed that RACGAP1 promotes the progression of HCC through a novel mechanism, which might be a new therapeutic target for HCC patients.

Derivatization-free multi-step extraction for trace haloacetic acids analysis with ion chromatography: Performance and mechanisms.

Haloacetic acids (HAAs) are a type of disinfection byproducts commonly found in drinking water with carcinogenic, mutagenic, or teratogenic risks to humans. Currently, the analytical methods of trace HAAs are either labor-intensive or very expensive. We herein propose a facile multiple-step extraction strategy for HAAs analysis with common ion chromatography (IC). This study is based on a fundamental water chemistry principle that HAAs become protonated featuring positive logKow values (> 0.34) under pH < pKa but deprotonated featuring negative logKow values (< -2.37) under pH > pKa. By taking advantage of the species and property switches, HAAs can be extracted and enriched into methyl tert-butyl ether first at pH < 0.5 and then back-extracted into neutral water and enriched again. Equally important, interfering anions in IC chromatogram are eliminated because they have negative logKow values. Verification results show that HAAs were enriched by 11.4 times in average while interfering anions were almost eliminated (> 99%). Although similar to USEPA Method 552.3 in method detection limits (0.033-0.246 µg/L), recoveries (70%~110%), and relative standard deviations (< 9.91%), this method took ≤ 70 min to run a batch of samples without derivatization, which takes over 2 h. The methodology may be applicable to other pollutants that also have contrasting Kow values at different pH.

Replacing liquid chromatography with tailored ion chromatography: A green method for detecting furfuryl alcohol and understanding its properties.

Furfuryl alcohol (FFA) is a furan derivative potentially hazardous to human health, and it is now ubiquitously found in foods and used for identifying singlet oxygen (1O2) in environmental studies. However, current analytical methods for FFA in water are mostly based on gas chromatography and liquid chromatography (LC), which inevitably employ organic solvents as extractants or eluents that can result in harmful wastes production and extra treatment costs. To solve this issue, we herein developed a green analytical method to measure FFA without using organic solvents by a tailored ion chromatography (IC) equipped with ultraviolet (UV) detector. The method demonstrated a calibration curve fitting well (R2 > 0.99) for a wide FFA concentration range (i.e., 0.1 ∼ 10.0 mg/L) and a method detection limit (0.031 mg/L) comparable to LC method. The recoveries of FFA dosed into real samples exceeded 86.4% with the relative standard deviations below 2.5%. Next, we examined the property and reactivity of FFA through the method. It was found that FFA's acid-dissociation coefficient (i.e., pKa) was not 9.55, which disagrees with an earlier report. FFA was resistant to 254 nm UV or hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) but vulnerable to H2O2-assisted 254 nm UV or 185 nm vacuum UV, confirming that FFA was sensitive to hydroxyl radicals. Interestingly, FFA was degraded to less extent in water dosed with both sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) and H2O2 than that dosed with NaOCl only, suggesting that the reaction between NaOCl and H2O2 does not produce 1O2. Given that this IC method can analyze FFA, NaOCl, and H2O2 simultaneously in one run, the evidences presented here may have helped clear a controversy about the 1O2 formation possibility by NaOCl and H2O2.

Long noncoding RNA Linc01612 represses hepatocellular carcinoma progression by regulating miR-494/ATF3/p53 axis and promoting ubiquitination of YBX1.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play an important role in the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Linc01612 is a novel lncRNA that function remains unknown in the progression of cancers, including HCC. In this study, we discovered that Linc01612 is significantly down-regulated in HCC tissues than in non-tumor tissues and correlated with poor prognosis. Linc01612 mainly localizes in the cytoplasm and functions as a tumor suppressor by repressing the growth and metastasis of hepatoma cells in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, in p53-expressing hepatoma cells, Linc01612 acts as a competitive endogenous RNA and promotes the expression of activation transcription factor 3 (ATF3) by sponging microRNA-494 (miR-494), which in turn inhibits MDM2-mediated ubiquitination of p53 and activates the p53 pathway. Furthermore, in p53-null hepatoma cells, Linc01612 exerts its biological functions by physically interacting with Y-box binding protein 1 protein (YBX1) and promoting the ubiquitin-mediated degradation of YBX1. Interestingly, the Linc01612-YBX1 signaling pathway is also present in p53-expressing hepatoma cells. In conclusion, our study indicated that Linc01612 is a functional lncRNA in HCC and Linc01612 may serve as a potential diagnostic biomarker and therapeutic target for HCC.

Borealin Promotes Tumor Growth and Metastasis by Activating the Wnt/ß-Catenin Signaling Pathway in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Background and Aims: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common malignant disease with high morbidity and mortality throughout the world. While Borealin is a putative oncogene that is dysregulated in multiple tumors, its exact role in HCC remains less investigated. Methods: Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) assays were employed to examine the relative amount of Borealin. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and other bioinformatic analyses were implemented to probe into the potential functions of Borealin. The biological roles and mechanisms of Borealin in the tumorigenesis and development of HCC were further evaluated using a battery of functional assays in vivo and in vitro. Results: Borealin was enhanced in the HCC tissue samples and hepatoma cells when compared with the nontumor tissues and normal liver cells. Higher Borealin expression was positively linked with advanced pathological phenotypes and inferior overall survival. The overexpression of Borealin promoted the cells' abilities on proliferation, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in vitro, facilitated tumor growth and lung metastasis in vivo, whereas the silencing of Borealin inhibited these capabilities in vitro. Furthermore, Borealin interacted with ß-catenin and further activated the Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway, which endowed HCC cells with highly aggressive and metastatic capabilities. Conclusion: Borealin was identified as an oncogene that could promote HCC growth and metastasis by activating the WNT/ß-catenin signaling pathway. These findings extended the understanding of Borealin in HCC tumorigenesis and development and highlighted the significance of Borealin in HCC diagnosis and treatment.

Total organic fluorine (TOF) analysis by completely converting TOF into fluoride with vacuum ultraviolet.

Quantifying total organic fluorine (TOF) in water is vital in monitoring the occurrence and persistence of all fluorine-containing organic compounds in the environment, while currently most studies focus on analyzing individual fluorine-containing organic compounds. To fill the technology gap, we herein proposed to convert TOF completely into fluoride with vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photolysis, followed by analysis of fluoride with ion chromatography. Results showed that the tailored VUV photoreactor achieved satisfying recoveries of fluorine from ten model TOF compounds not only in ultrapure water (83.9 ± 2.0% to 109.4 ± 0.8%) but also in real water samples (92.1 ± 1.0%-106.2 ± 15.7%). Unlike other ultraviolet-based processes that favor alkaline conditions, this VUV process preferred either neutral or acidic conditions to defluorinate selected compounds. While the mechanisms remain to be explored in the future, it has been evidenced that the photo-degradation and photo-defluorination rates of these TOF compounds varied significantly among compounds and operation conditions. The method obtained a method detection limit (MDL) of 0.15 µg-F/L, which is lower than the MDLs of many other TOF analytical methods, along with excellent calibration curves for concentrations ranging from 0.01 to 10.0 mg-F/L. Notably, minimizing fluoride in sample prior to photoconversion was necessary to avoid subtraction-induced errors for TOF measurement, especially when the fluoride/TOF ratio was high. The robust VUV is also green for sample pretreatment due to its unreliance of chemicals or additives.

Overlooked Formation of H2O2 during the Hydroxyl Radical-Scavenging Process When Using Alcohols as Scavengers.

Hydroxyl radical (•OH) is an active species widely reported in studies across many scientific fields, and hence, its reliable analysis is vitally important. Currently, alcohols are commonly used as scavengers for •OH determination. However, the impacts of alcohols on the reliability of •OH detection remain unknown. In this study, we found that adding different types and different amounts of alcohols in water samples treated with ultraviolet irradiation undesirably produced substantial amounts of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), which is a known •OH precursor. This means that the conventional •OH determination method using alcohols is likely unreliable or even misleading. Through careful investigation, we revealed an overlooked reaction pathway during H2O2 and •OH transformations. Varying oxygen concentrations, pHs, alcohol dosages, and types altered H2O2 formation, which can affect •OH determination accuracy. Among alcohols, n-butanol is the best scavenger because it quenches •OH rapidly but re-forms little H2O2.

Platelet-neutrophil hybrid membrane-coated gelatin nanoparticles for enhanced targeting ability and intelligent release in the treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.

Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is the major form of chronic liver disease in adults; however, there are no approved drugs for NASH. In this study, we designed the PNM-G-PV method, in which gelatin nanoparticles (G) are loaded with pioglitazone and vitamin E (G-PV) and then encapsulated by the surfaces of platelet-neutrophil hybrid membranes (PNM). Inherited from the natural source cells, the PNM show immune evading ability due to the surface marker comprising a number of "do not eat me" signals and has dual inflammatory enrichment capabilities due to specific surface adhesion molecules. By functionalizing the gelatin nanoparticle biomimetic surfaces, PNM-G can enhance the targeting to inflammatory sites and enrich liver tissue. The high expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) at the NASH site enables the gelatin nanoparticles to intelligently respond to degradation and then release vitamin E and pioglitazone for drug treatment. We performed an in vivo analysis of these nanoparticles to monitor changes in triacylglycerol metabolism in liver tissues and assessed the therapeutic efficacy of PNM-G-PV in a NASH rat model. The results showed that PNM-G-PV exhibited better therapeutic efficacy than therapies using G-PV or PV alone. This work explores a new biomedical use of PNM-G-PV and a promising NASH treatment protocol based on a new drug delivery system.