Liver knockout YAP gene improved insulin resistance-induced hepatic fibrosis.

Yes-associated protein (YAP), as a co-activator of transcription factors, is a downstream protein in the Hippo signaling pathway with important functions in cell proliferation, apoptosis, invasion and migration. YAP also plays a key role in the development of CCl4-induced liver fibrosis. However, the mechanism of YAP during hepatic fibrosis progression and reversion is still unclear. Mild liver fibrosis was developed after 4 months of high-fat diet (HFD) stimulation, and we found that the YAP signaling pathway was activated. Here, we aim to reveal whether specific knockout of Yap gene in the liver can improve liver fibrosis induced by insulin resistance (IR) stimulated by HFD, and further explain its specific mechanism. We found that liver-specific Yap gene knockout improved IR-induced liver fibrosis and liver dysfunction, and this mechanism is related to the inhibition of the insulin signal pathway at the FoxO1 level. These findings provide a new insight, and Yap is expected to be a new target to reverse the early stage of liver fibrosis induced by IR.

Investigation of γ-(2,3-Epoxypropoxy)propyltrimethoxy Silane Surface Modified Layered Double Hydroxides Improving UV Ageing Resistance of Asphalt.

γ-(2,3-Epoxypropoxy)propyltrimethoxy silane surface modified layered double hydroxides (KH560-LDHs) were prepared and used to improve the ultraviolet ageing resistance of asphalt. The results of X-ray photoelectron spectrometry (XPS) indicated that KH560 has been successfully grafted onto the surface of LDHs. The agglomeration of LDHs particles notably reduced after KH560 surface modification according to scanning electron microscopy (SEM), which implied that the KH560 surface modification was helpful to promote the dispersibility of LDHs in asphalt. Then, the influence of KH560-LDHs and LDHs on the physical and rheological properties of asphalt before and after UV ageing was thoroughly investigated. The storage stability test showed that the difference in softening point (ΔS) of LDHs modified asphalt decreased from 0.6 °C to 0.2 °C at an LDHs content of 1% after KH560 surface modification, and the tendency became more pronounced with the increase of LDH content, indicating that KH560 surface modification could improve the stability of LDHs in asphalt. After UV ageing, the viscous modulus (G'') of asphalt significantly reduced, and correspondingly, the elastic modulus (G') and rutting factor (G*/sin δ) rapidly increased. Moreover, the asphaltene increased and the amount of "bee-like" structures of the asphalt decreased. Compared with LDHs, KH560-LDHs obviously restrained performance deterioration of the asphalt, and helped to relieve the variation of the chemical compositions and morphology of asphalt, which suggested that the improvement of KH560-LDHs on UV ageing resistance of asphalt was superior to LDHs.

Investigation of Molecular Structure and Thermal Properties of Thermo-Oxidative Aged SBS in Blends and Their Relations.

Tri-block copolymer styrene-butadiene (SBS) is extensively applied in bituminous highway construction due to its high elasticity and excellent weather resistance. With the extension of time, tri-block structural SBS automatically degrades into bi-block structural SB- with some terminal oxygen-containing groups under the comprehensive effects of light, heat, oxygen, etc. In this paper, the effects of aging temperature, aging time and oxygen concentration on the molecular structure of thermo-oxidative aged SBS were mainly investigated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and the correlation between oxygen-containing groups and thermal properties (TG-DTG) was further discussed. The FTIR and XPS results show that rapid decomposition of SBS will occur with increments of aging temperature, aging time and oxygen concentration, and a large number of oxygen-containing groups such as -OH, C=O, -COOH, etc. will be formed during thermo-oxidative aging. In short-term aging, changes in aging temperature and oxygen concentration have a significant impact on the structural damage of SBS. However, in long-term aging, it has no further effect on the molecular structure of SBS or on increasing oxygen concentration. The TG and DTG results indicate that the concentration of substances with low molecular weight gradually increases with the improvement of the degree of aging of the SBS, while the initial decomposition rate increases at the beginning of thermal weightlessness and the decomposition rate slows down in comparison with neat SBS. From the relation between the XPS and TG results, it can be seen that the initial thermal stability of SBS rapidly reduces as the relative concentration of the oxygen-containing groups accumulates around 3%, while the maximum decomposition temperature slowly decreases when the relative concentration of the oxygen-containing groups is more than 3%, due to the difficult damage to strong bonds on the molecular structure of aged SBS.