Polyphyllin I Effects Candida albicans via Inhibition of Virulence Factors.

Paris polyphylla is often used in Chinese medicine to treat conditions such as carbuncles, trauma, snake bites, and mosquito bites. In the present study, we investigated the effect and mechanism of the morphological transition and extracellular phospholipase activity of Candida albicans treated with polyphyllin I (PPI). First, the minimum inhibitory concentration and antifungal activity of PPI were evaluated using the multiple microdilution method and time-killing assays. Then, the effect of PPI on the morphological transition of Candida albicans in Spider liquid medium and Sabouraud-dextrose liquid medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum was observed under an inverted microscope and by scanning electron microscopy. Finally, egg yolk agar plates were used to evaluate extracellular phospholipase activity. Gene expression was detected by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis. Our results suggest that PPI inhibited the transition from the yeast to the hyphal stage and decreased secreted aspartyl proteinase activity. We further confirmed that PPI significantly downregulated the expression of extracellular phospholipase genes and cAMP-PKA signaling pathway-related genes. Taken together, our results suggest that PPI exerts anti-Candida albicans activity by inhibiting virulence characteristics, including the yeast-to-hyphal transition and the secretion of aspartyl proteases and phospholipases. The study results also indicated that PPI could be a promising therapeutic strategy for Candida albicans.

Plate-on-plate structured MoS2/Cd0.6Zn0.4S Z-scheme heterostructure with enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen production activity via hole sacrificial agent synchronously strengthen half-reactions.

The practicable technology for producing hydrogen energy was mainly photocatalytic water splitting. Recently, heterostructural photocatalysts have attracted much attention due to its unique band structures and interfacial interactions. Herein, plate-on-plate MoS2/Cd0.6Zn0.4S heterostructure was rationally designed and fabricated by a simple strategy. It was revealed that Zn-doping content in the Cd0.6Zn0.4S solid solution as well as the mass ratio of MoS2 in the MoS2/Cd0.6Zn0.4S heterostructure can significantly affect the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity. Especially, when Zn doping content is 40 % and the mass ratio of MoS2 is approximately 0.8 % (0.8 % MoS2/Cd0.6Zn0.4S), it exhibits the highest hydrogen production (47.68 µmol·g-1 at 2.5 h) without sacrificial agents. When Na2S/Na2SO3 is employed as sacrificial agent, its HER activity reaches 13466.50 µmol·g-1·h-1, 1.3 folds higher than Cd0.6Zn0.4S. The boosted HER activity of the Z-scheme MoS2/Cd0.6Zn0.4S heterostructure was ascribed to the greatly improved separation efficiency of photogenerated carriers. Most importantly, studies have revealed that the existence of sacrificial agents (Na2S/Na2SO3) can not only accelerate the kinetics of oxidation half reaction, but also synchronously strengthen HER half-reactions. The present work reveals a facile strategy for construction of Z-scheme heterostructures for efficient hydrogen evolution via hole sacrificial agent synchronously strengthen half-reactions.

Long-chain noncoding RNA-GAS5/hsa-miR-138-5p attenuates high glucose-induced cardiomyocyte damage by targeting CYP11B2.

OBJECTIVE: Diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) is one of the complications experienced by patients with diabetes. In recent years, long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been investigated because of their role in the progression of various diseases, including DCM. The purpose of the present study was to explore the role of lncRNA GAS5 in high glucose (HG)-induced cardiomyocyte injury and apoptosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We constructed HG-induced AC16 cardiomyocytes and a streptozotocin (STZ)-induced rat diabetes model. GAS5 was overexpressed and knocked out at the cellular level, and GAS5 was knocked down by lentiviruses at the animal level to observe its effect on myocardial injury. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to detect the expression of GAS5. Cell proliferation and apoptosis after GAS5 knockout were detected by CCK-8, TUNEL, and flow cytometry assays. ELISA was used to detect the changes in myocardial enzyme content in cells and animal myocardial tissues during the action of GAS5 on myocardial injury. RESULTS: GAS5 expression was up-regulated in HG-treated AC16 cardiomyocytes and the rat diabetic myocardial injury model. The down-regulation of GAS5 could inhibit HG-induced myocardial damage. This work proved that the down-regulation of GAS5 could reverse cardiomyocyte injury and apoptosis by targeting miR-138 to down-regulate CYP11B2. CONCLUSION: We confirmed for the first time that the down-regulation of GAS5 could reverse CYP11B2 via the miR-138 axis to reverse HG-induced cardiomyocyte injury. This research might provide a new direction for explaining the developmental mechanism of DCM and potential targets for the treatment of myocardial injury.

Activity of Compound Agrimony Enteritis Capsules against invasive candidiasis: Exploring the differences between traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions and its main components in the treatment of diseases.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Compound Agrimony Enteritis Capsules (FFXHC) is an ethnomedicine derived from Yi Nationality Herbal Medicine for the treatment of enteritis. We found that compared to berberine hydrochloride (BBR), a component of this medicine, FFXHC was more efficacious in the mouse model of IC mice in significantly alleviating lung and intestinal lesions. " Our study provides a novel perspective into the pharmacological mechanism of action of the ethnic compound FFXHC. AIM OF THE STUDY: To determine the underlying mechanism of the superiority of FFXHC over BBR in IC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The susceptibility of Candida albicans to FFXHC was evaluated in vitro. The mouse model of IC was established and the survival rate, weight change, the number of organ colonies, and immune organ coefficient of the mice were determined, the effect of FFXHC on the immune function of mice, including changes in the number of immune cells, levels of the related inflammatory cytokines (INF-γ, TNF-α, MCP-1, IL-6, and IL-17A), and the antimicrobial peptide, LL-37 (CRAMP in mice), were determined. Mice feces were collected and changes in the intestinal microecology were studied. RESULTS: Our findings indicated that FFXHC was not active against Candida albicans and did not restore the sensitivity of the resistant strain in vitro; however, it had a therapeutic effect that improve survival rate on mice with IC. The number of lymphocytes and neutrophils of mice with IC treated with FFXHC increased significantly. The intestinal microecology of mice was restored and the abundance of the probiotic Bacteroides was increased, which further stimulated the production of the antimicrobial peptide, LL-37, which is required for acquired immunity. Furthermore, the levels of Th cell-related cytokines, including INF-γ, TNF-α, and IL-17A were significantly increased, whereas those of the proinflammatory cytokines, IL-6 and MCP-1, decreased. With the activation of acquired immunity, the immune function of mice was restored, the body weight and survival rate of mice improved considerably, the coefficients of the thymus and spleen increased, and the number of fungal colonies in the lung and kidney decreased. CONCLUSIONS: FFXHC could eliminate fungi by increasing the relative abundance of probiotics in Bacteroides and the number of neutrophils, thereby promoting the production of CRAMP and resulting in a fungicidal effect, leading to acquired immunity. Although BBR has an antifungal effect, we found that it was not as effective as FFXHC.