[Yeast extract improves the inflammatory response of HepG2 cells induced by ethyl alcohol and lipopolysaccharide].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the ameliorative effect of yeast extract(YE) on the inflammatory response of human hepatoma cells(HepG2) induced by ethyl alcohol(EtOH) and lipopolysaccharide(LPS), and further explore the potential molecular mechanism based on Toll-like receptor 4(TLR4)/nuclear factor kappa B(NF-κB) signaling pathway. METHODS: HepG2 cells were induced by 50 mmol/L EtOH and 1 µg/mL LPS combined with YE intervention. The expression level of inflammatory cytokines was detected by ELISA. The expression level of TLR4 and the nuclear translocation of NF-κB were detected by immunofluorescence staining. The expression levels of TLR4, NF-κB, phospho-NF-κB-P65(P-NF-κB-p65), nucleus-phospho-NF-κB-p65(N-P-NF-κB-p65), tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α), interleukin-6(IL-6), and interleukin-1ß(IL-1ß) were detected by Western blot. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the cells in EtOH+LPS group produced a large number of inflammatory factors and had a significant inflammatory response. YE intervention significantly alleviated EtOH+LPS induced hepatocyte inflammatory response. Further molecular mechanism studies showed that YE significantly reduced TLR4 expression level and inhibited NF-κB nuclear translocation in hepatocytes. CONCLUSION: YE can effectively inhibit the inflammatory response of HepG2 cells induced by EtOH and LPS, and its molecular mechanism may be related to the down-regulation of TLR4/NF-κB pathway.

A comparison study on effects of polyglycerols on physical properties of alginate films.

The water solubility and brittleness of unplasticized sodium alginate (SA) films hinder their widely application. Glycerol (GLY), the most commonly used plasticizer, is compatible with alginate due to the formation of hydrogen bonding owing to the hydroxyl functional groups. However, GLY is a small water-soluble molecule, and the resulting leaching problem may lead to decline in mechanical properties of SA films. Aimed at better plasticizers for alginate (ALG) films, this work focuses on the effects of polymerization degree of polyglycerol on physical properties of ALG films. The cross-sectional morphology, crystallinity, mechanical and thermal properties, water solubility, water content and barrier property of ALG films plasticized with GLY, triglycerol (TG) and decaglycerol (DG) were characterized and discussed. Results illustrated that owing to the long molecular chains of TG and DG and their strong interactions with ALG matrix, the plasticized films possessed better mechanical properties, higher water content and lower water solubility. Moreover, it was worth mentioning that even after water treatment, the mechanical properties of ALG-TG and ALG-DG films were superior than that plasticized with GLY. The results of this study were believed to provide particular insights into the plasticization mechanism and the improvement in performance of SA films in packaging applications.

Alginate composite films incorporated with Zn-based inorganic antimicrobials for food packaging: Effects of morphology.

Biopolymers-based food packaging materials have drawn attention as potential candidates for substitution of petroleum-based materials. In this study, composite alginate films were developed by incorporating Zn-based antimicrobials to overcome the intrinsic disadvantages of alginates that hinder their wide applications. Antimicrobials with different morphologies (nanoplatelets, nanorods, and nanospheres) were employed to investigate the effects of antimicrobials' morphology on antibacterial, thermal, mechanical, and barrier performance of composite alginate films. Meanwhile, morphological and structural characterizations were carried out to explore the interactions between antimicrobials and alginate matrix. Results indicated that films with nanospheres exhibited superior antibacterial property, while those with one-dimensional nanorods possessed better mechanical and barrier performance. Besides, preliminary test on fresh-cut potatoes and chicken breasts indicated that the composite films showed potential in extending shelf life of foods. By incorporating antimicrobials with three different morphologies, this study provides particular insights into improving properties of composite packaging materials.

Inorganic hollow mesoporous spheres-based delivery for antimicrobial agents.

Microorganisms coexist with human beings and have formed a complex relationship with us. However, the abnormal spread of pathogens can cause infectious diseases thus demands antibacterial agents. Currently available antimicrobials, such as silver ions, antimicrobial peptides and antibiotics, have diverse concerns in chemical stability, biocompatibility, or triggering drug resistance. The "encapsulate-and-deliver" strategy can protect antimicrobials against decomposing, so to avoid large dose release induced resistance and achieve the controlled release. Considering loading capacity, engineering feasibility, and economic viability, inorganic hollow mesoporous spheres (iHMSs) represent one kind of promising and suitable candidates for real-life antimicrobial applications. Here we reviewed the recent research progress of iHMSs-based antimicrobial delivery. We summarized the synthesis of iHMSs and the drug loading method of various antimicrobials, and discussed the future applications. To prevent and mitigate the spread of an infective disease, multilateral coordination at the national level is required. Moreover, developing effective and practicable antimicrobials is the key to enhancing our capability to eliminate pathogenic microbes. We believe that our conclusion will be beneficial for researches on the antimicrobial delivery in both lab and mass production phases.

Interfacial Coupling Effect on Electron Transport in Hierarchical TaON/Au/ZnCo-LDH Photoanode with Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation.

Rational design and construction of interface heterostructures, which can simultaneously accelerate the photoinduced carrier separation and enhance the surface water oxidation kinetics, is of great necessity for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water oxidation. Herein, we report a new strategy for boosting the PEC water oxidation by introducing Schottky junction and semiconductor/water oxidation cocatalysts (SC/WOCs) junction into the TaON photocatalyst. Compared with pristine TaON photoanode, the hierarchical TaON/Au/ZnCo-LDH (LDH = layered double hydroxide) photoanode reveals a cathodic shift of 156 mV for the onset potential and 17.3-fold photocurrent density enhancement at 1.23 V vs RHE, as well as improved long-term stability. Diagnostic efficiencies of the TaON/Au/ZnCo-LDH photoanode demonstrate that the enhanced PEC performance is not dominated by surface electrochemical water oxidation kinetics but largely contributed by the improved charge separation and transfer, indicative of synergistic effects of Au and ZnCo-LDH. Theoretical calculations further reveal that the midgap states introduced by Au and ZnCo-LDH in TaON electronic structures bring about photoexcited electrons concentrated on TaON, while holes accumulated on ZnCo-LDH to achieve efficiently spatial charge separation, which is responsible for the boosted PEC water oxidation performance. The present work highlights the importance and elucidates the mechanism of interface heterojunction in PEC water oxidation, which can provide an efficient approach to design and fabricate a new structural photoanode.

High-Performance Nano-Photoinitiators with Improved Safety for 3D Printing.

In this work, we report the first hybrid nanosized photoinitiators with low cytotoxicity and migration by coupling of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) to benzophenone derivatives. This new series of photoinitiators were fully characterized and showed many favorable properties such as uniform sizes, extremely low tendency to migrate, less effect on resin viscosity, enhanced thermal stability and mechanical strength, increased photoactivity, and significantly lower cell toxicity compared to their corresponding benzophenone molecules. The utility of these hybrid nanosized photoinitiators in 3D printing was demonstrated in printing of various 3D structures with high resolution and accuracy.