Fabrication of polyethyleneimine functionalized magnetite nanoparticles for recyclable recovery of fucoidan from aqueous solution.

Fucoidan is a kind of natural water-soluble fucose-rich sulfated polysaccharide with promising applications in the food and pharmaceutical industry. However, the traditional methods for fucoidan recovery from aqueous solution are expensive, time-consuming, and environmentally unfriendly. In this work, polyethyleneimine functionalized magnetite nanoparticles (PEI-MNPs) with well-defined core-shell structures were prepared by a Layer-by-Layer (LbL) approach using sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP) as a cross-linker. The as-prepared PEI-MNPs showed improved adsorption capability towards fucoidan at pH 4-8 due to the high density of cationic groups on the surfaces and the absence of internal pores. It was found that the adsorption process of fucoidan onto PEI-MNPs can reach to equilibrium in 50 min at room temperature. The maximum qe derived from the Langmuir isotherm at room temperature was 169.1 mg per g at a pH of 7. A selective fucoidan capture over a model protein BSA can be realized by adjusting pH (6-8) and salt concentration (0.5-2.5 M). The PEI-MNPs loading with fucoidan can be isolated from the final products by a neodymium magnet and regenerated by 4 M NaCl solution as stripping reagent. Therefore, this novel kind of PEI-MNP could be a promising candidate for highly efficient and recyclable recovery of fucoidan from an aqueous solution.

Chinese Traditional Medicine NiuBeiXiaoHe (NBXH) Extracts Have the Function of Antituberculosis and Immune Recovery in BALB/c Mice.

BACKGROUND: The Traditional Chinese Medicine NiuBeiXiaoHe (NBXH) is a valid antituberculosis (TB) prescription from the experience of clinical practice. However, the mechanism of NBXH extracts' immunotherapy has been poorly understood. Herein, the immunotherapeutic efficacy and the differentially expressed (DE) genes of NBXH extracts were evaluated and identified in BALB/c mice. METHODS: The total RNA was extracted from peripheral blood mononuclear cells, and the DE genes were identified by gene chip. The enrichment and signaling pathway analyses were performed using Gene Ontology (GO) and KEGG database. RESULTS: It was shown that the treatment of NBXH extracts (high dose) significantly reduced mycobacteria loads and histopathological lesions in mice infected by Mycobacterium tuberculosis and resulted in 3,454 DE upregulated genes and 3,594 downregulated DE genes. Furthermore, NBXH extracts killed mycobacteria by inhibiting the supply of necessary ingredients for their growth and proliferation. They restored the disordered immune microenvironments by up- or downregulating immune and inflammation-related pathways. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, NBXH extracts not only efficiently decreased the mycobacteria loads but also balanced the immune disorders in mice. These new findings provide a fresh perspective for elucidating the immunotherapeutic mechanism of NBXH extracts and pointed out the direction for improving the treatment efficacy of NBXH extracts.

Effect of Thermal Extraction on Coal-Based Activated Carbon for Methane Decomposition to Hydrogen.

After coal is treated by thermal solution of solvent, a certain amount of thermal solution oil and residue can be obtained, and the macromolecular network structure in coal can also be relaxed. These will inevitably affect the emission of harmful gases and distribution of the pore structure when the residue is made into activated carbon (AC). In this paper, the effects of thermal solution pretreatment on the microcrystalline structure, surface properties, pore structure of resultant ACs at different temperatures, and their catalytic performances in methane decomposition to hydrogen were investigated. The results show that the surface oxygen-containing functional groups of the residue-based ACs are changed, and the specific area of ACs increases from 1730 to 2652 m2/g with the increase in activated temperature. The pore diameter distribution of ACs also is changed. In the process of methane decomposition to hydrogen, the residue-based ACs show higher catalytic activity than coal-based ACs. AC-1123-1 and AC-1123 show the best stability, while AC-823-1 has the highest initial activity. With the increase in activated temperature, residue-based ACs show higher activity and stability, and partial fibrous carbon is deposited on the surface of ACs after the reaction. It is thought that increased mesoporosity is beneficial to the catalytic activity and stability of AC in methane decomposition to hydrogen, and the reduction of surface oxygen-containing functional groups contribute to the formation of fibrous carbon on the surface of AC after the reaction.

Therapeutic effects of traditional Chinese medicine Niubeixiaohe in mouse tuberculosis models.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: The traditional Chinese medicine Niubeixiaohe (NBXH) is an effective anti-tuberculosis prescription, which is made up of Bulbus Fritillariae Cirrhosae, Rhizoma Bletillae, Radix Platycodonis, Fructus Arctii, Herba Houttuyniae and Glutinous rice. In this study, NBXH powder (I) and three kinds of NBXH extracts (II, III, and IV) were prepared. The water decoction of NBXH had been used to treat TB in clinic sixteen years suggested that it was effective to treat TB. AIM OF THE STUDY: This study evaluated the effects of different processing products of NBXH on mouse TB model in vivo and provide a new Chinese medicine for the clinical treatment of TB. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, 120 female BALB/c mice infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv, were treated with distilled water, M. vaccae vaccine, the low, middle and high doses of NBXH I, the low, middle and high doses of NBXH II, the low, middle and high doses of NBXH III, the low, middle and high doses of NBXH IV for 12 weeks, respectively. RESULTS: The body weights of mice in all NBXH groups were higher than that in the water group. The weight indexes of the spleens in M. vaccae group, the middle dose of NBXH II group, the low dose of NBXH IV group and in the high dose of NBXH IV group were significantly lower than that in the water group(P<0.05). Compared with the water group, the spleen colony counts in the low dose of NBXH I group, the high dose of NBXH II group, the low dose of NBXH III group and the high dose of NBXH IV group reduced by 0.43, 0.46, 0.73, 0.58 logs (P<0.05), respectively. But the lung colony counts had no significant difference between each group. Pulmonary general pathology and histopathology displayed that the lung lesions in treatment groups were improved at certain degree, especially in the low dose of NBXH IIIand IV groups, in which their areas of the lesions were less than 50%, and the half normal lung structure in half of the mice could be observed. CONCLUSION: Powder and three extracts of traditional Chinese medicine NBXH all had anti-tuberculosis therapeutic effects on mouse tuberculosis model, and this study provided a base for the further development of Chinese patent medicine NBXH. Also, this is the first report on comprehensive experimental research of NBXH extracts coming from six kinds of traditional Chinese medicine.

Two new chalcone glycosides from the stems of Entada phaseoloides.

Two new chalcone glycosides 4'-O-(6″-O-galloyl-ß-d-glucopyranosyl)-2',4-dihydroxychalcone (1) and 4'-O-(6″-O-galloyl-ß-d-glucopyranosyl)-2'-hydroxy-4-methoxychalcone (2) together with one known chalcone glycoside 4'-O-ß-d-glucopyranosyl-2'-hydroxy-4-methoxychalcone (3) were isolated from the stems of Entada phaseoloides. The structures of the new compounds were elucidated on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analysis, including HSQC, HMBC, (1)H-(1)H COSY, and chemical evidences. This is the first report of chalcone-type compounds isolated from the genus Entada.