Liganded Vitamin D Receptor Through Its Interacting Repressor Inhibits the Expression of Type I Collagen α1.

Hepatic fibrosis is a reversible process involving plenty of transcription factors and pathways. Vitamin D receptor (VDR) as a member of ligand-induced transcription factors can interact with 9-cis retinoid X receptor (RXR) and VDR-interacting repressor (VDIR) to mediate transactivation or transrepression in the absence or in the presence of VDR ligand to regulate the expression of VDR target genes. The active form of vitamin D [1α,25(OH)2D3] can downregulate the expression of type I collagen both α1 and α2 (COLIα1 and COLIα2) in hepatic stellate cells (HSC-T6) in a time-dependent fashion, which provides a new direction for hepatic fibrosis therapy. As one of VDR target genes, rat COLIα1 gene contains 1αnVDRE (E-box1 and E-box2) in its promoter, and unliganded VDR/RXR may bind to 1αnVDRE through VDIR to mediate transactivation, whereas liganded VDR/RXR may bind to 1αnVDRE through VDIR for transrepression. The results suggested a sort of relying on each other relationship between VDR/RXR and VDIR in regulating the expression of COLIα1 gene in HSC-T6 cells, which established VDR as a potential target for blocking and even reversing hepatic fibrosis.

SP1 and UTE1 Decoy ODNs inhibit activation and proliferation of hepatic stellate cells by targeting tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase 1.

BACKGROUND: The excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix of hepatic fibrosis is positively correlated with tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase 1 (TIMP1). Here we aimed to investigate whether TIMP1 may be down-regulated by Decoy ODNs strategy to capture transcriptional factor upstream TIMP1 element 1 (UTE1) and specificity protein 1(SP1). RESULTS: By luciferase reporter assays, we confirmed that these Decoy ODNs could influence the promoter activation of TIMP-1, α-SMA and Collagen Iα2 (COLΙα2) genes as well as the enhancer activation of TRE in HSC-T6 cells, and the combination tended to be more effective than SP1 or UTE1 Decoy ODN alone. Western blot analysis also demonstrated down-regulation of the expression of those target genes except for TGF-ß. Furthermore, we observed that the viability of HSC-T6 cells at 72 h was significantly in decline in combination group. CONCLUSION: The combination of SP1 and UTE1 Decoy ODNs treatments inhibit the activation and proliferation of HSCs more effectively than one of the Decoy ODNs through co-regulation of TIMP1 and TGF-ß signal pathway but not the expression of TGF-ß itself.

[Adsorption of methylene blue from aqueous solution onto magnetic Fe3O4/ graphene oxide nanoparticles].

A simple ultrasound-assisted co-precipitation method was developed to prepare magnetic Fe3O4/graphene oxide (Fe3O4/ GO) nanoparticles. The characterization with transmission electron microscope (TEM) indicated that the products possessed small particle size. The hysteresis loop of the dried Fe3O4/GO nanoparticles demonstrated that the sample had typical features of superparamagnetic material. Batch adsorption studies were carried out to investigate the effects of the initial pH of the solution, the dosage of adsorbent, the contact time and temperature on the adsorption of methylene blue. The results indicated that the composites prepared could be used over a broad pH range (pH 6-9). The adsorption process was very fast within the first 25 min and the equilibrium was reached at 180 min. The adsorption equilibrium and kinetics data fitted well with the Langmuir isotherm model and the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The adsorption process was a spontaneous and endothermic process in nature. The composite exhibited fairly high adsorption capacity (196.5 mg.g-1) of methylene blue at 313 K. In addition, the magnetic composite could be effectively and simply separated by using an external magnetic field, and then regenerated by hydrogen peroxide and recycled for further use. The results indicated that the adsorbent had a potential in the application of the dye wastewater treatment.

[Efficient degradation of tetrabromobisphenol A in water by co-doped FiFeO3].

Co-doped BiFeO3 was synthesized by the sol-gel method and used as a catalyst of persulfate (PMS) for the degradation of tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA). The effects of the amount of oxidizing agent, catalyst dosage, and the content of doped Co on the degradation of TBBPA were investigated. Under the optimized conditions (doping level of Co to Fe 0.1, dosage 0.5 g x L(-1), PMS concentration 2.5 mmol x L(-1)), the degradation removal of TBBPA within 60 min achieved more than 95%. Catalyst activity showed only a little loss after 4 recycles, and atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) result showed that few Co ions were leached (0.27% of total Co). The catalyst can be recycled with magnet which shows a good application prospect in the wastewater treatment.

Diesel pollution biodegradation: synergetic effect of Mycobacterium and filamentous fungi.

OBJECTIVE: To biodegrade the diesel pollution in aqueous solution inoculated with Mycobacterium and filamentous fungi. METHODS: Bacteria sampled from petroleum hydrocarbons contaminated sites in Karamay Oilfield were isolated and identified as Mycobacterium hyalinum (MH) and cladosporium. Spectrophotometry and gas chromatography (GC) were used to analyze of the residual concentrations of diesel oil and its biodegradation products. RESULTS: From the GC data, the values of apparent biodegradation ratio of the bacterial strain MH to diesel oil were close to those obtained in the control experiments. Moreover, the number of MH did not increase with degradation time. However, by using n-octadecane instead of diesel oil, the real biotic degradation ratio increased to 20.9% over 5 days of degradation. Cladosporium strongly biodegraded diesel oil with a real degradation ratio of up to 34% after 5 days treatment. When the two strains were used simultaneously, a significant synergistic effect between them resulted in almost complete degradation of diesel oil, achieving a total diesel removal of 99% over 5 days of treatment, in which one part of about 80% and another part of about 19% were attributed to biotic and abiotic processes, respectively. CONCLUSION: The observed synergistic effect was closely related to the aromatics-degrading ability of Cladosporium, which favored the growth of MH and promoted the bioavailability of diesel oil.

[Effect of propofol on spinal cord apoptosis associated with aortic cross-clamping in rabbits].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect and mechanism of propofol on the spinal cord apoptosis associated with aortic cross-clamping in rabbits. METHODS: Twenty-four rabbits were randomly divided into sham operation group (A), ischemia/reperfusion group (B) and propofol group (C). In group B and C, the infrarenal aorta was clamped for 40 minutes followed by 7 days reperfusion. Ten minutes before clamping, group C was given propofol 5 mg/kg intravenously and continued at a rate of 20 mg x kg(-1)x h(-1) until unclamping. The aorta was not clamped in group A. The plasma concentrations of malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were determined at 10 minutes before clamping (C-10), before unclamping (C40), at 60 minutes (R60) and on the 7th day (R7 d) unclamping. Apoptotic spinal cord cells and expressions of Bax, Bcl-2 protein were measured by immunohistochemical technique. RESULTS: (1)The concentrations of MDA after ischemia and reperfusion in group B were increased significantly compared with C-10 and those in group A (P<0.05 or P<0.01), which in group C were significantly lower than those in group B (P<0.05), but not in group A. Changes in SOD activity were opposite to those in MDA contents in various groups. (2)The expressions of Bax protein in group B were significantly increased compared with those in group A (P<0.05), while the expression of Bcl-2 protein decreased. In group C, Bax protein expression was markedly lower than those in group B and higher than those in group A (P<0.01 and P<0.05), the expression of Bcl-2 was higher than those in groups B and A (both P<0.01). (3)The number of apoptosis cells in group B was much higher than that in group A, which in group C was much lower than that in group B, but higher than that in group A. (4)The ratio of paralysis in group C was significantly lower than that in group B with a high neurologic score (both P<0.01). CONCLUSION: Propofol can reduce the spinal cord apoptosis associated with aortic cross-clamping in rabbits. The possible mechanism is related to the effect of decreasing Bax expression, increasing Bcl-2 expression, and enhancing antioxidation.