Ruthenium single-atom doping-driven modulation of Co3O4 spinel tetrahedral site 3d-orbital occupancy in lithium-oxygen batteries.

Metal single-atom catalysts have attracted widespread attention in the field of lithium-oxygen batteries due to their unique active sites, high catalytic selectivity, and near total atomic utilization efficiency. Isolated metal atoms not only serve as the active sites themselves, but also function as modulators, reversely regulating the surface electronic structure of the support to enhance its inherent electrocatalytic activities. Despite the potential of isolated metal atom-driven active sites, understanding the structure-activity relationship remains a challenge. In this study, we present a ruthenium single-atom doping-driven cost-effective and durable tricobalt tetroxide electrocatalyst with excellent oxygen electrode electrocatalytic activity. The lithium-oxygen battery with this catalyst as the oxygen electrode demonstrates high performance, achieving a capacity of up to 25 000 mA h g-1 and maintaining good stability over 400 cycles at a current density of 100 mA g-1. This improvement is attributed to the exquisite control of the morphology and structure of the discharge product, lithium peroxide. The aresults of physical characterization and theoretical calculations reveal that isolated ruthenium atoms bond with the tetrahedral cobalt site, resulting in spin polarization enhancement and rearrangement of d orbital energy levels in cobalt. This rearrangement reduces the dz2 orbital occupancy and promotes their transfer to the octahedral cobalt site, thereby enhancing its adsorption capacity for the oxygen-containing intermediates, and ultimately increasing the electrocatalytic activity of the oxygen evolution reaction. This work presents an innovative strategy to regulate the catalytic activity of metal oxides by introducing another metal single atom.

Engineering dual-crystal configurations in perovskite oxides boosts electrocatalysis of lithium-oxygen batteries.

Sculpting crystal configurations can vastly affect the charge and orbital states of electrocatalysts, fundamentally determining the catalytic activity of lithium-oxygen (Li-O2) batteries. However, the crucial role of crystal configurations in determining the electronic states has usually been neglected and needs to be further examined. Herein, we introduce orthorhombic and trigonal system into 0.5La0.6Sr0.4MnO3-0.5LaMn0.6Co0.4O3 (LSMCO) by selectively incorporating Sr and Co cations into the LaMnO3 framework during the sol-gel process, which is used to explore the relationship among crystal structure, electronic states and catalytic performance. Based on both experimental and theoretical calculations, the dual-crystal configurations induce strong lattice distortion, which promotes MnO6 octahedra vibration and shortened MnO bonds. Furthermore, the suppressed Jahn-Teller distortion weakens the orbital arrangement and accelerates the charge delocalization, leading to the conversion of Mn3+ to Mn4+ and optimized electronic states. Ultimately, this resulted in optimized Mn 3d and O 2p orbital hybridization and activated lattice oxygen function, leading to a significant improvement in electrocatalytic activity. The LSMCO catalyzed Li-O2 battery achieves enhanced discharge capacity of 14498.7 mAh/g and cycling stability of 258 cycles. This work highlights the significance of inner structure and presents a feasible strategy for engineering crystal configurations to boost electrocatalysis of Li-O2 batteries.

Rare Spiroplasma Bloodstream Infection in Patient after Surgery, China, 2022.

We report a case of Spiroplasma bloodstream infection in a patient in China who developed pulmonary infection, acute respiratory distress syndrome, sepsis, and septic shock after emergency surgery for type A aortic dissection. One organism closely related to Spiroplasma eriocheiris was isolated from blood culture and identified by whole-genome sequencing.

Nonflammable Polyfluorides-Anchored Quasi-Solid Electrolytes for Ultra-Safe Anode-Free Lithium Pouch Cells without Thermal Runaway.

The safe operation of rechargeable batteries is crucial because of numerous instances of fire and explosion mishaps. However, battery chemistry involving metallic lithium (Li) as the anode is prone to thermal runaway in flammable organic electrolytes under abusive conditions. Herein, an in situ encapsulation strategy is proposed to construct nonflammable quasi-solid electrolytes through the radical polymerization of a hexafluorobutyl acrylate (HFBA) monomer and a pentaerythritol tetraacrylate (PETEA) crosslinker. The quasi-solid system eliminates the inherent flammability of ether electrolytes with zero self-extinguishing time owing to the gas-phase radical capturing ability of HFBA. Additionally, the graphitized carbon layer generated during the decomposition of PETEA at high temperatures obstructs the heat and oxygen required for combustion. When coupled with Au-modified reduced graphene oxide anodic current collectors and lithium sulfide cathodes, the assembled anode-free Li-metal cell based on the quasi-solid electrolyte exhibits no signs of cell expansion or gas generation during cycling, and thermal runaway is eliminated under multiple mechanical, electrical, and thermal abuse scenarios and even rigorous strikes. This nonflammable quasi-solid configuration with gas- and condensed-phase flame-retardant mechanisms can drive a technological leap in anode-free Li-metal pouch cells and secure the practical applications necessary to power this society in a safe manner.

Scalable fabrication of ultra-fine lithiophilic nanoparticles encapsulated in soft buffered hosts for long-life anode-free Li2S-based cells.

Minimizing the amount of metallic lithium (Li) to zero excess to achieve an anode-free configuration can help achieve safer, higher energy density, and more economical Li metal batteries. Nevertheless, removal of excess Li creates challenges for long-term cycling performance in Li metal batteries due to the lithiophobic copper foils as anodic current collectors. Here, we improve the long-term cycling performance of anode-free Li metal batteries by modifying the anode-free configuration. Specifically, a lithiophilic Au nanoparticle-anchored reduced graphene oxide (Au/rGO) film is used as an anodic modifier to reduce the Li nucleation overpotential and inhibit dendrite growth by forming a lithiophilic LixAu alloy and solid solution, which is convincingly evidenced by density functional theory calculations and experimentally. Meanwhile, the flexible rGO film can also act as a buffer layer to endure the volume expansion during repeated Li plating/stripping processes. In addition, the Au/rGO film promotes a homogeneous distribution of the electric field over the entire anodic surface, thus ensuring a uniform deposition of Li during the electrodeposition process, which is convincingly evidenced by finite element simulations. As expected, the Li||Au/rGO-Li half-cell shows a highly stable long-term cycling performance for at least 500 cycles at 0.5 mA cm-2 and 0.5 mA h cm-2. A Li2S-based anode-free full cell allows achieving a stable operation life of up to 200 cycles with a capacity retention of 63.3%. This work provides a simple and scalable fabrication method to achieve anode-free Li2S-based cells with high anodic interface stability and a long lifetime.

Artificial bi-functional layers promoting Zn2+ desolvation and homogeneous deposition for reversible zinc metal anodes.

Rechargeable aqueous zinc-ion hybrid supercapacitors (ZHSs) are drawing extensive attention because of their cost-effectiveness and diminished safety hazards. Nevertheless, large-scale application of ZHSs has been hindered by the severe side reactions and rampant dendrites growth on the surface of Zn metal anodes. Herein, we propose a three-dimensional organic-inorganic composite frame material as an artificial bi-functional layer coated on the zinc foil, featuring nitrogenous functional groups with zincophilicity (abbreviated as NCFM@Zn). The nitrogen (N) site's strong adsorption capacity and synergistic effect of the sub-nanopore size promote rapid desolvation of zinc ions and reduce side reactions, while also prolonging galvanized nucleation's Sand's time and allowing for even nucleation. Moreover, the uniform distribution of N on the layer results in homogeneous zinc ions flux and supports consistent zinc plating while inhibiting dendrites generation. As a result of this unique artificial bi-functional layer, symmetric Zn cells can survive 2500 h at 2.5 mA cm-2. High-areal-capacity zinc||activated carbon hybrid supercapacitors also demonstrate 20,000 cycles at high Coulombic efficiency, thus highlighting the utter convenience and potential of this strategy for modifying rechargeable metal hybrid supercapacitor surfaces.

Manipulating hydrogen and coordination bond chemistry for reversible zinc metal anodes.

Aqueous zinc ion hybrid capacitors (ZHCs) are promising as electrochemical energy storage devices due to their safety and cost-effectiveness. However, the practical application of aqueous ZHCs is impeded by zinc dendrite growth and side reactions induced by H2O during long-term cycling. Herein, an organic small molecule, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), is elaborately introduced into 2 M ZnSO4 electrolyte to simultaneously overcome these challenges. As convincingly evidenced by experimental and theoretical results, the DMSO reconstructs the Zn[(H2O)6]2+ structure and original hydrogen bond networks at the molecular level. By forming coordination bonds with Zn2+ and hydrogen bonds with H2O due to the stronger electron donating ability of oxygen in molecule, DMSO establishes a Zn2+ solvation shell structure that inhibits H2O decomposition and dendrite growth. As a proof of concept, the implementation of this hybrid electrolyte in a Zn||Cu asymmetrical cell results in a high Coulombic efficiency (CE) of over 99.8% for 568 cycles at a current density of 2 mA cm-2. Furthermore, the full cells using this hybrid electrolyte coupled with activated carbon (AC) cathode can operate for over 30,000 cycles. These results suggest that reconstructing the solvation structure and hydrogen bond networks guide the design of electrolytes for the development of high-performance aqueous ZHCs.

N, F-enriched inorganic/organic composite interphases to stabilize lithium metal anodes for long-life anode-free cells.

The practical application of lithium metal batteries is considered to be one of the most promising successors for lithium-ion batteries due to their ability to meet the high-energy storage demands of modern society. However, their application is still hindered by the unstable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) and uncontrollable dendrite growth. In this study, we propose a robust composite SEI (C-SEI) that consists of a fluorine doped boron nitride (F-BN) inner layer and an organic polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) outer layer. Both theoretical calculations and experimental results demonstrate that the F-BN inner layer induces the formation of favourable components (LiF and Li3N) at the interface, promoting rapid ionic transport and inhibiting electrolyte decomposition. The PVA outer layer acts as a flexible buffer in the C-SEI, ensuring the structural integrity of the inorganic inner layer during lithium plating and stripping. The C-SEI modified lithium anode shows a dendrite-free performance and stable cycle over 1200 h, with an ultralow overpotential (15 mV) at 1 mA cm-2 in this study. This novel approach also enhances the stability of capacity retention rate by 62.3% after 100 cycles even in anode-free full cells (C-SEI@Cu||LFP). Our findings suggest a feasible strategy for addressing the instability inherent in SEI, showing great prospects for the practical application of lithium metal batteries.

Identifying the Role of Lewis-base Sites for the Chemistry in Lithium-Oxygen Batteries.

Lewis-base sites have been widely applied to regulate the properties of Lewis-acid sites in electrocatalysts for achieving a drastic technological leap of lithium-oxygen batteries (LOBs). Whereas, the direct role and underlying mechanism of Lewis-base in the chemistry for LOBs are still rarely elucidated. Herein, we comprehensively shed light on the pivotal mechanism of Lewis-base sites in promoting the electrocatalytic reaction processes of LOBs by constructing the metal-organic framework containing Lewis-base sites (named as UIO-66-NH2 ). The density functional theory (DFT) calculations demonstrate the Lewis-base sites can act as electron donors that boost the activation of O2 /Li2 O2 during the discharged-charged process, resulting in the accelerated reaction kinetics of LOBs. More importantly, the in situ Fourier transform infrared spectra and DFT calculations firstly demonstrate the Lewis-base sites can convert Li2 O2 growth mechanism from surface-adsorption growth to solvation-mediated growth due to the capture of Li+ by Lewis-base sites upon discharged process, which weakens the adsorption energy of UIO-66-NH2 towards LiO2 . As a proof of concept, LOB based on UIO-66-NH2 can achieve a high discharge specific capacity (12 661 mAh g-1 ), low discharged-charged overpotential (0.87 V) and long cycling life (169 cycles). This work reveals the direct role of Lewis-base sites, which can guide the design of electrocatalysts featuring Lewis-acid/base dual centers for LOBs.

Chromium-doped inverse spinel electrocatalysts with optimal orbital occupancy for facilitating reaction kinetics of lithium-oxygen batteries.

Tailored electrocatalysts that can modulate their electronic structure are highly desirable to facilitate the reaction kinetics of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxidation reduction reaction (ORR) in lithium-oxygen batteries (LOB). Although octahedron predominant inverse spinels (e.g., CoFe2O4) have been proposed as promising candidates for catalytic reactions, their performance has remained unsatisfactory. Herein, the chromium (Cr) doped CoFe2O4 nanoflowers (Cr-CoFe2O4) are elaborately constructed on nickel foam as a bifunctional electrocatalyst that drastically improves the performance of LOB. The results show that the partially oxidized Cr6+ stabilizes the cobalt (Co) sites at high-valence and regulates the electronic structure of Co sites, facilitating the oxygen redox kinetics of LOB due to their strong electron-withdrawing capability. Moreover, DFT calculations and ultraviolet photoelectron spectrometer (UPS) results consistently demonstrate that Cr doping optimizes the eg electron filling state of the active octahedral Co sites, significantly improves the covalency of Co-O bonds, and enhances the degree of Co 3d-O 2p hybrids. As a result, Cr-CoFe2O4 catalyzed LOB can achieve low overpotential (0.48 V), high discharge capacity (22030 mA h g-1) and long-term cycling durability (over 500 cycles at 300 mA g-1). This work promotes the oxygen redox reaction and accelerates the electron transfer between Co ions and oxygen-containing intermediates, highlighting the potential of Cr-CoFe2O4 nanoflowers as bifunctional electrocatalysts for LOB.

Air-Stable Protective Layers for Lithium Anode Achieving Safe Lithium Metal Batteries.

With markedly expansive demand in energy storage devices, rechargeable batteries will concentrate on achieving the high energy density and adequate security, especially under harsh operating conditions. Considering the high capacity (3860 mA h g-1 ) and low electrochemical potential (-3.04 V vs the standard hydrogen electrode), lithium metal is identified as one of the most promising anode materials, which has sparked a research boom. However, the intrinsically high reactivity triggers a repeating fracture/reconstruction process of the solid electrolyte interphase, side reactions with electrolyte and lithium dendrites, detrimental to the electrochemical performance of lithium metal batteries (LMBs). Even worse, when exposed to air, lithium metal will suffer severe atmospheric corrosion, especially the reaction with moisture, leading to grievous safety hazards. To settle these troubles, constructing air-stable protective layers (ASPLs) is an effective solution. In this review, besides the necessity of ASPLs is highlighted, the modified design criteria, focusing on enhancing chemical/mechanical stability and controlling ion flux, are proposed. Correspondingly, current research progress is comprehensively summarized and discussed. Finally, the perspectives of developing applicable lithium metal anodes (LMAs) are put forward. This review guides the direction for the practical use of LMAs, further pushing the evolution of safe and stable LMBs.

Band engineering in heterostructure catalysts to achieve High-Performance Lithium-Oxygen batteries.

The electronic structure of cathode catalysts dominates the electrochemistry reaction kinetics in lithium-oxygen batteries. However, conventional catalysts perform inferior intrinsic activity due to the low d-band level of the active sites makes it difficult to bond with the reaction intermediates, which results in poor electrochemical performance of lithium-oxygen batteries. Herein, NiFe2O4/MoS2 heterostructures are elaborately constructed to reach an electronic state balance for the active sites, which realizes the upper shift of the d-band level and enhanced adsorption of intermediates. Density functional theory calculation suggests that the d-band center of Fe active sites on the heterostructure moves toward the Fermi level, demonstrating the heterointerface engineering endows Fe active sites with high d-band level by the transfer and balance of electron. As a proof of concept, lithium-oxygen battery catalyzed by NiFe2O4/MoS2 exhibits a large specific capacity of 21526 mA h g-1 and an extended cycle performance for 268 cycles. Moreover, NiFe2O4/MoS2 with strong adsorption to intermediates promotes the uniform growth of discharge products, which is favor of the reversible decomposition during cycling. This work presents the energy band regulation of the active sites in heterostructure catalysts has great feasibility for enhancing catalytic activities.

Lactate-driven macrophage polarization in the inflammatory microenvironment alleviates intestinal inflammation.

Background: Lactate has long been considered an intermediate by-product of glucose metabolism. However, in recent years, accumulating evidence reveals that lactate has unique biological activities. In previous studies, lactate signaling was shown to inhibit inflammation. Furthermore, in vitro experiments have shown that lactate can promote the transformation of pro-inflammatory macrophages into anti-inflammatory macrophages. However, no in vivo studies have shown whether lactate can alleviate inflammation. Methods: RAW 264.7 macrophages were stimulated by LPS to induce an M1 phenotype, and cultured with low and high concentrations of lactate. The cells were then observed for phenotypic transformations and expression of inflammatory mediators and surface markers. The expression of inflammatory factors was also analyzed in the cell-free supernatant fraction. Further, a mouse model of DSS-induced colitis was established and treated with lactate. Colonic tissue injury was monitored by histopathological examinations. Results: The in vitro experiments showed that lactate promoted the transformation of activated macrophages to M2 phenotype and decreased the expression of TLR4-mediated NF-κB signaling proteins and inflammatory factors. In the DSS-induced colitis mouse model, lactate promoted the phenotypic transformation of macrophages in colonic tissue, reduced inflammation and organ damage, inhibited the activation of TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway, decreased the serum levels of pro-inflammatory factors, increased the expression of anti-inflammatory factors, promoted the repair of the intestinal mucosal barrier and reduced the severity of colitis. Conclusions: Lactate inhibits the TLR/NF-κB signaling pathway and the production of pro-inflammatory factors by promoting polarization of macrophages. In addition, lactate promotesthe repair of the intestinal mucosal barrier and protects intestinal tissue in inflammation. Furthermore, lactate is relatively safe. Therefore, lactate is a promising and effective drug for treating inflammation through immunometabolism regulation.

Airflow Synergistic Needleless Electrospinning of Instant Noodle-like Curly Nanofibrous Membranes for High-Efficiency Air Filtration.

Particulate matter (PM) pollution has become a serious environmental concern. Nanofibrous filters are widely reported to remove PM from polluted air. Herein, efficient and lightweight PM air filters are presented using airflow synergistic needleless electrospinning composed of auxiliary fields such as an airflow field and a secondary inductive electric field. Compared to needleless electrospinning with other spinnerets, it significantly improves productivity, fiber diameter, and porosity of fibrous air filters. The instant noodle-like nanofiber structure can also be controlled by adjusting the airflow velocity. These air filters exhibit high (2.5 µm particulate matter) PM2.5 removal efficiency (99.9%) and high (0.3 µm particulate matter) PM0.3 removal efficiency (99.1%), low pressure drop (56 Pa for PM2.5 and 78 Pa for PM0.3 ), and large dust holding capacitance (the maximum value is 168 g m-2 for PM2.5 , while 102 g m-2 for PM0.3 ). Meanwhile, the proposed PM filters are also tested suitable and stable to other polluted air filtrations such as cigarette smoke and sawdust. The large-scale synthesis of such an attractive nanofiber structure presents the great potential of high-performance filtration/separation materials.

A multifunctional protective layer with biomimetic ionic channel suppressing dendrite and side reactions on zinc metal anodes.

A multifunctional graphitic carbon nitride (GCN) protective layer with bionic ion channels and high stability is prepared to inhibit dendrite growth and side reactions on zinc (Zn) metal anodes. The high electronegativity of the nitrogen-containing organic groups (NOGs) in the GCN layer can effectively promote the dissociation of solvated Zn2+ and its rapid transportation in bionic ion channels via a hopping mechanism. In addition, this GCN layer exhibits excellent mechanical strength to suppress the growth of Zn dendrites and the volume expansion of Zn metal anodes during the plating process. Consequently, the electrodeposited Zn presents a uniform and densely packed morphology with negligible side-product accumulation. As a result, the half-cell composed of the Cu-GCN anode can deliver a remarkable long-term cycling performance of 1000 h at 0.5 mA cm-2 and 0.25 mAh cm-2. A full cell assembled with MnO2 cathode also displays improved long-term cycling performance (150 cycles at 200 mA g-1) when the Cu-GCN@Zn composite anode is applied. This work deepens our understanding of the kinetics of ion migration in the interface layer and paves the way for next-generation high energy-density Zn-metal batteries (ZMBs).

Synergy of cobalt vacancies and iron doping in cobalt selenide to promote oxygen electrode reactions in lithium-oxygen batteries.

Electronic structural engineering plays a key role in the design of high-efficiency catalysts. Here, to achieve optimal electronic states, introduction of exotic Fe dopant and Co vacancy into CoSe2 nanosheet (denoted as Fe-CoSe2-VCo) is presented. The obtained Fe-CoSe2-VCo demonstrates excellent catalytic activity as compared to CoSe2. Experimental results and density functional theory (DFT) calculations confirm that Fe dopant and Co defects cause significant electron delocalization, which reduces the adsorption energy of LiO2 intermediate on the catalyst surface, thereby obviously improving the electrocatalytic activity of Fe-CoSe2-VCo towards oxygen redox reactions. Moreover, the synergistic effect between Co vacancy and Fe dopant is able to optimize the microscopic electronic structure of Co ion, further reducing the energy barrier of oxygen electrode reactions on Fe-CoSe2-VCo. And the lithium-oxygen batteries (LOBs) based on Fe-CoSe2-VCo electrodes demonstrate a high Coulombic efficiency (CE) of about 72.66%, a large discharge capacity of about 13723 mA h g-1, and an excellent cycling life of about 1338 h. In general, the electronic structure modulation strategy with the reasonable introduction of vacancy and dopant is expected to inspire the design of highly efficient catalysts for various electrochemical systems.

Adjusting the d-band center of metallic sites in NiFe-based Bimetal-organic frameworks via tensile strain to achieve High-performance oxygen electrode catalysts for Lithium-oxygen batteries.

Developing effective electrocatalyst and fundamentally understanding the corresponding working mechanism are both urgently desired to overcome the current challenges facing lithium-oxygen batteries (LOBs). Herein, a series of NiFe-based bimetal-organic frameworks (NiFe-MOFs) with certain internal tensile strain are fabricated via a simple organic linker scission strategy, and served as cathode catalysts for LOBs. The introduced tensile strain broadens the inherent interatomic distances, leading to an upshifted d-band center of metallic sites and thus the enhancement of the adsorption strength of catalysts surface towards intermediates, which is contributed to rationally regulate the crystallinity of discharge product Li2O2. As a result, the uniformly distributed amorphous film-like Li2O2 tightly deposits on the surface of strain-regulated MOF, resulting in excellent electrochemical performance of LOBs, including a large discharge capacity of 12317.4 mAh g-1 at 100 mA g-1 and extended long-term cyclability of 357 cycles. This work presents a novel insight in adjusting the adsorption strength of cathode catalysts towards intermediates via introducing tensile strain in catalysts, which is a pragmatic strategy for improving the performance of LOBs.

Metformin and survival of women with breast cancer: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVE: Metformin has been suggested to confer anticancer efficacy. However, it remains uncertain whether additional use of metformin could improve survival of women with breast cancer. We performed a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate the influence of metformin on survival outcome in women with breast cancer. METHODS: Relevant RCTs were obtained by search of PubMed, Embase and Cochrane's Library databases from inception to 15 May 2021. A random-effects model incorporating the potential publication bias was used to pool the results. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Five phase II RCTs including 396 non-diabetic women with breast cancer were included in the meta-analysis. Pooled results showed that additional use of metformin was not associated with improved progression-free survival (PFS, hazard ratio [HR]: 1.00, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.70 to 1.43, p = 0.98; I2  = 32%) or overall survival (OS, HR: 1.00, 95% CI: 0.71 to 1.39, p = 0.98; I2  = 0%). Sensitivity analysis by excluding one study at a time showed consistent results (HR for PFS: 0.91 to 1.14, p all >0.05; HR for OS: 0.88 to 1.21, P all >0.05). WHAT IS NEW AND CONCLUSION: Current evidence from phase II clinical trials does not support that additional use of metformin could improve the survival outcome in women with breast cancer.

Lactic acid in macrophage polarization: The significant role in inflammation and cancer.

Metabolite lactic acid has always been regarded as a metabolic by-product rather than a bioactive molecule. Recently, this view has changed since it was discovered that lactic acid can be used as a signal molecule and has novel signal transduction functions both intracellular and extracellular, which can regulate key functions in the immune system. In recent years, more and more evidence has shown that lactic acid is closely related to the metabolism and polarization of macrophages. During inflammation, lactic acid is a regulator of macrophage metabolism, and it can prevent excessive inflammatory responses; In malignant tumors, lactic acid produced by tumor tissues promotes the polarization of tumor-associated macrophages, which in turn promotes tumor progression. In this review, we examined the relationship between lactic acid and macrophage metabolism. We further discussed how lactic acid plays a role in maintaining the homeostasis of macrophages, as well as the biology of macrophage polarization and the M1/M2 imbalance in human diseases. Potential methods to target lactic acid in the treatment of inflammation and cancer will also be discussed so as to provide new strategies for the treatment of diseases.

Zizyphus jujuba cv. Muzao polysaccharides enhance intestinal barrier function and improve the survival of septic mice.

This study aimed to examine the role of Zizyphus jujuba cv. Muzao polysaccharides (ZJPs) in protecting intestinal barrier function and the survival of septic mice. The sepsis mouse model was generated through cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) to observe the effect of ZJPs on the function of the intestinal barrier in the context of sepsis. We observed the clinical symptoms and survival time of the mice and evaluated serum inflammatory cytokines, intestinal pathological changes and intestinal permeability. Moreover, tight junction (TJ) proteins and apoptosis-associated proteins in intestinal tissue were examined. Finally, TLR4/NF-κB pathway-related proteins were measured in all groups. The results showed that pretreatment with ZJPs improved clinical and histological scores and reduced intestinal barrier permeability, and the levels of proinflammatory factors were decreased. Pretreatment with ZJPs also upregulated the levels of TJ proteins and downregulated the expression of proapoptotic proteins. Moreover, the activation of TLR4/NF-κB signaling was partly inhibited in septic mice by ZJPs pretreatment. The current study provides evidence that ZJPs have the potential to protect intestinal barrier function and improve the survival of septic mice via the attenuation of TLR4/NF-κB inflammatory signaling. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: This study reports the potential protective effect of ZJPs against cecal ligation and puncture (CLP)-induced sepsis. Our data reveal that CLP induced damage to the gut mucosal barrier, inflammation, and apoptosis in intestinal tissues. However, pretreatment with ZJPs improved clinical and histological scores, reduced intestinal barrier permeability, and decreased the levels of proinflammatory factors in mice. Pretreatment with ZJPs also upregulated the levels of TJ proteins and downregulated the expression of proapoptotic proteins. Moreover, the activation of TLR4/NF-κB signaling was partly inhibited in septic mice after ZJPs pretreatment. These findings provide evidence that pretreatment with ZJPs has the potential to attenuate CLP-induced gut damage in mice by restraining inflammation and apoptosis via the attenuation of NF-κB signaling. It provides a basis for further study of ZJPs in sepsis.