Dietary Selenium Insufficiency Induces Cardiac Inflammatory Injury in Chicks.

BACKGROUND: Laying hens undergo intensive metabolism and are vulnerable to cardiac insults. Previous research demonstrated overt heart disorders of broiler chickens induced by dietary Se deficiency. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to reveal effects and mechanism of dietary Se insufficiency on cardiac injuries of egg-type chicks in their early life. METHODS: White Leghorn chicks (0-d-old, female) were fed a corn-soy, Se-insufficient basal diet (BD, 0.05 mg Se/kg; n = 11) or the BD supplemented with 0.3 mg Se/kg (as sodium selenite; n = 8) for 35 d. Cardiac tissues were collected at the end of study for histology and to determine its relationship with heart Se contents, selenoprotein expression profiles, antioxidant and inflammatory status, and the Toll-like receptor 4/extracellular signal-regulated kinases/p38 map kinase/c-Jun N-terminal kinase (TLR4/ERK/P38/JNK) pathway. RESULTS: Compared with those fed 0.35 mg Se/kg, chicks fed BD had significantly lower body weights and average daily gain, and 28% lower heart Se, and developed cardiac mononuclear inflammatory cell infiltration, along with elevated (P < 0.05) serum concentrations of creatine kinase, aldolase, and interleukin-1 (IL-1). The BD decreased (P < 0.05) body weight and heart glutathione contents and expression of selenoproteins but increased (P < 0.05) heart concentrations of malondialdehyde and reactive oxygen species. These changes were associated with increased (P < 0.05) mRNA and/or protein concentrations of cyclooxygenases, lipoxygenase-12, cytokines (IL-1ß), nuclear factor (NF) κB subunit, chemokines, and receptors (CCL20, CXCR1, and CXCLI2) and increased (P < 0.1) TLR4/ERK /P38/JNK in the heart of Se-insufficient chicks. CONCLUSIONS: Dietary Se insufficiency induces infiltration of mononuclear inflammatory cells in the heart of egg-type chicks. This cardiac injury was mediated by decreased functional expressions of selenoproteins, which resulted in apparent elevated oxidative stress and subsequent activations of the TLR4 pathway and NF κB.

Anti-inflammatory therapeutic biomarkers identified of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell therapy on aging mice by serum proteomics and peptidomics study.

Aging is accompanied by deterioration in physical condition, and creates high risks of diseases. Stem cell therapy exhibited promising potential in delaying aging. However, the unelucidated therapeutic mechanism limits future clinical application. Herein, to systematically understand the response to stem cell transfusion at the molecular level, we performed quantitative serum proteomic and peptidomics analyses in the 24-month-old aging mice model with or without mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) treatment. As a result, a total of 560 proteins and 2131 endogenous peptides were identified, among which, 6 proteins and 9 endogenous peptides derived from 6 precursor proteins were finally identified as therapeutic biomarkers after MSC transfusion on aging mice both by untargeted label-free quantification and targeted parallel reaction monitoring (PRM) quantification. Amazingly, the biological function of these differential proteins was mainly related to inflammation, which is not only the important hallmark of aging, but also the main cause of inducing aging. The reduction of these inflammatory protein content after MSC treatment further suggests the anti-inflammatory effect of MSC therapy reported elsewhere. Therefore, our study provides new evidence for the anti-inflammatory effect of MSC therapy for anti-aging and offers abundant data to support deeper investigations of the therapeutic mechanism of MSC in delaying aging.

A flexible surface wetness sensor using a RFID technique.

This paper presents a flexible wetness sensor whose detection signal, converted to a binary code, is transmitted through radio-frequency (RF) waves from a radio-frequency identification integrated circuit (RFID IC) to a remote reader. The flexible sensor, with a fixed operating frequency of 13.56 MHz, contains a RFID IC and a sensor circuit that is fabricated on a flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) using a Micro-Electro-Mechanical-System (MEMS) process. The sensor circuit contains a comb-shaped sensing area surrounded by an octagonal antenna with a width of 2.7 cm. The binary code transmitted from the RFIC to the reader changes if the surface conditions of the detector surface changes from dry to wet. This variation in the binary code can be observed on a digital oscilloscope connected to the reader.