Functionalized selenium nanoparticles ameliorated acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity through synergistically triggering PKCδ/Nrf2 signaling pathway and inhibiting CYP 2E1

Selenium nanoparticles(SeNPs)have been demonstrated potential for use in diseases associated with oxidative stress.Functionalized SeNPs with lower toxicity and higher biocompatibility could bring better therapeutic activity and clinical application value.Herein,this work was conducted to investigate the protective effect of Pleurotus tuber-regium polysaccharide-protein complex funtionnalized SeNPs(PTR-SeNPs)against acetaminophen(APAP)-induced oxidative injure in HepG2 cells and C57BL/6J mouse liver.Further elucidation of the underlying molecular mechanism,in particular their modulation of Nrf2 signaling pathway was also performed.The results showed that PTR-SeNPs could significantly ameliorate APAP-induced oxidative injury as evidenced by a range of biochemical analysis,histopathological examination and immunoblotting study.PTR-SeNPs could hosphorylate and activate PKCδ,depress Keap1,and increase nuclear accumulation of Nrf2,resulting in upregulation of GCLC,GCLM,HO-1 and NQO-1 expression.Besides,PTR-SeNPs suppressed the biotransformation of APAP to generate intracellular ROS through CYP 2E1 inhibition,restoring the mitochondrial morphology.Furthermore,the protective effect of PTR-SeNPs against APAP induced hepatotoxicity was weakened as Nrf2 was depleted in vivo,indicating the pivotal role of Nrf2 signaling pathway in PTR-SeNPs mediated hepatoprotective efficacy.Being a potential hepatic protectant,PTR-SeNPs could serve as a new source of selenium supplement for health-promoting and biomedical applications.

Ecology and risks of the global plastisphere as a newly expanding microbial habitat

Plastic offers a new niche for microorganisms,the plastisphere.The everincreasing emission of plastic waste makes it critical to understand the microbial ecology of the plastisphere and associated effects.Here,we present a global fingerprint of the plastisphere,analyzing samples collected from freshwater,seawater,and terrestrial ecosystems.The plastisphere assembles a distinct microbial community that has a clearly higher heterogeneity and a more deterministically dominated assembly compared to natural habitats.New coexistence patterns—loose and fragile networks with mostly specialist linkages among microorganisms that are rarely found in natural habitats—are seen in the plastisphere.Plastisphere microbiomes generally have a great potential to metabolize organic compounds,which could accelerate carbon turnover.Microorganisms involved in the nitrogen cycle are also altered in the plastisphere,especially in freshwater plastispheres,where a high abundance of denitrifiers may increase the release of nitrite(aquatic toxicant)and nitrous oxide(greenhouse gas).Enrichment of animal,plant,and human pathogens means that the plastisphere could become an increasingly mobile reservoir of harmful microorganisms.Our findings highlight that if the trajectory of plastic emissions is not reversed,the expanding plastisphere could pose critical planetary health challenges.

Wood waste biochar promoted anaerobic digestion of food waste:focusing on the characteristics of biochar and microbial community analysis

Anaerobic digestion(AD)has been considered as a promising technique for food waste(FW)recycling.However,the accumulation of volatile fatty acids(VFAs)restricts the stability of anaerobic reactors.The present study investigated the use of biochar produced at different conditions(750℃-30 min,750℃-60 min,750℃-120 min,550℃-60 min,650℃-60 min,850℃-60 min,950℃-60 min)for enhancing the AD of FW.Batch experiments showed that all the biochar increased the methane production rates and biochar obtained at 750℃-60 min resulted in the highest enhance-ment by 21.5%.It was further showed surface oxygen-containing functional groups and graphitization degree of biochar were the critical factors for improving methane production.Microbial analysis showed that biochar addi-tion formed different microbial communities,and Methanosaeta,Romboutsia,and norank_f_Anaerolineaceae were enriched,which might be correlated with direct interspecies electron transfer(DIET).This research showed biochar could enhance the AD of FW and also revealed the main characteristics of biochar relating with the enhancement of AD.

The onset of surface-enhanced Raman scattering for single-particle detection of submicroplastics

Microplastics represent an emerging environmental problem worldwide, raising ecological and food safety concerns. Compared to microplastics, there is growing evidence of an even higher abundance of submicro-and nanoplastics in the environment, but a reliable monitoring method for detecting these smaller-sized plastics is lacking. Herein we presented the application of surface-enhanced Raman scattering(SERS) for this purpose. Particles of polystyrene(PS;600 nm) were used as the probe analyte. Gold nanourchins(Au NU;50 nm),i.e. urchin-shaped nanoparticles with irregular spikes around the core, were used as the SERS-active substrate. The effectiveness of SERS on PS was evaluated at a single-particle level with different numbers of Au NU in order to determine the minimum conditions required for the onset of the SERS effect. Our findings suggest that SERS of a single particle of PS can be induced by as few as 1–5 particles of Au NU, and that the use of excitation wavelength at 785 nm is appropriate to meet the red-shifted surface plasmon resonance of Au NU upon aggregation. These specifications provide additional information for the development of SERS-based tools for detecting plastic particles < 1 μm in food and environmental samples.