Fructose vs. glucose: modulating stem cell growth and function through sugar supplementation.

In multicellular organisms, stem cells are impacted by microenvironmental resources such as nutrient availability and oxygen tension for their survival, growth, and differentiation. However, the accessibility of these resources in the pericellular environment greatly varies from organ to organ. This divergence in resource availability leads to variations in the potency and differentiation potential of stem cells. This study aimed to explore the distinct effects of glucose and fructose, as well as different oxygen tensions, on the growth dynamics, cytokine production, and differentiation of stem cells. We showed that replacing glucose with fructose subjected stem cells to stress, resulting in increased Hif1α expression and stability, which in turn led to a reduction in cell proliferation, and alterations in cytokine production. However, fructose failed to induce differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) as well as mouse fibroblasts into mature adipocytes compared to glucose, despite the upregulation of key markers of adipogenesis, including C/EBPß, and PPARγ. Conversely, we showed that fructose induced undifferentiated mouse fibroblasts to release cytokines associated with senescence, including IL1α1, IL6, IL8, MCP1, and TNF1α, suggesting that these cells were undergoing lipolysis. Taken together, our results suggest that altering the culture conditions through changes in hexose levels and oxygen tension places considerable stress on stem cells. Additional research is required to further characterize the mechanisms governing stem cell response to their microenvironments.

Pesticidal Activity of Nanostructured Metal Oxides for Generation of Alternative Pesticide Formulations.

Herein, nanostructured metal oxides of essential soil nutrient elements (i.e., CuO and CaO) with definite shape and size were simply synthesized, and their pesticidal activities against cotton leafworm ( Spodoptera littoralis) were explored for the first time. These metal oxide nanostructures represented novel economic and ecofriendly nanopesticides for sustainable plant protection and might boost the nutrient content of soil. The results showed that CuO nanoparticles (NPs) and CaO NPs exhibited potential entomotoxic effects against S. littoralis. Interestingly, CuO NPs exhibited fast entomotoxic effect with LC50 = 232.75 mg/L after 3 days, while CaO NPs showed a slow entomotoxic effect with LC50 = 129.03 mg/L after 11 days of post-treatments. The difference in the pesticidal activity of the metal oxides is related to their physical characteristics and interfacial surfaces upon insect midgut and cuticle layer of insect body wall. Thus, nanoengineered metal oxides might be utilized to generate an alternative and cost-effective pesticide formulation in the near future.