Establishment of a new acute-on-chronic liver failure model

To establish an animal model of acute-on-chronic liver failure(ACLF) that would replicate the pathological process of ACLF in humans, rats were administered porcine serum(PS) for 11 weeks. Liver fibrosis was determined by pathological and biochemical assessments. The animals then were injected with D-galactosamine(D-gal) and lipopolysaccharide(LPS). The survival times of animals with cirrhosis and ACLF were determined over 48 h. Other animals were killed at 0, 4, 8 and 12 h after administration of D-gal/LPS. Liver injury was assessed by histopathological analysis and biochemical indices, and apoptosis was detected by Western blot and TUNEL analysis. After PS administration for 11 weeks the serum levels of hyaluronic acid and N-procollagen type III peptide increased significantly, and serious fibrosis and cirrhosis was observed at weeks 10 and 11. Cirrhotic rats were injected with D-gal/LPS to induced ACLF; the rate of mortality over 48 h was 80%. ALT and AST levels increased markedly at 4 h, but decreased significantly at8 and 12 h post-treatment. The total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, and total bile acids levels increased markedly at 8 and 12 h. Clotting times, TNF-α and IL-6 levels increased significantly, except for 12 h post-treatment.Apoptosis, inflammation and necrosis were elevated as determined by hematoxylin-eosin staining and TUNEL assays. BCL-2 levels decreased significantly, While BAX levels increased significantly.Cytochrome c expression peaked at 8 h postD-gal/LPS treatment. In conclusion, an ACLF model induced by PS and D-gal/LPS was established and the underlying mechanisms of ACLF development were explored.

Biomimetic synthesis of all-inclusive organic-inorganic nanospheres for enhanced electrochemical immunoassay

A friendly biomimetic process was adopted for the mild preparation of"all-inclusive"organic-inorganic nanospheres,which effectively integrate biorecognition function and signal amplification function.The resulted Ca3(PO4)2-Ab2-BSA nanospheres were employed as signal labels for enhancing detection of nuclear matrix protein 22(NMP 22).The fabricated electrochemical immunosensor exhibited a linear range(0.08-77.00 U/mL)and an ultralow limit of detection(0.01 U/mL)towards NMP 22,which can be taken as a promising tool for clinical diagnosis of bladder cancer.

pH Readout enhanced ELISA for point-of-care testing of cardiac troponin I

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay（ELISA） as a conventional method for protein quantification has its characteristic properties,however,it is challenging to implement excellent portability and sensitivity at the same time.In this study,we described a pH ELISA using synthetic melanin nanoparticles（SMNPs） for the co-immobilization of glucose oxidase（GOx） and second antibody（Ab_2） as signal labels,portable pH meter as signal readout device for point-of-care testing（POCT） of cardiac troponin I（cTnI）.In accordance with the varying amount of cTnI,following sandwich type immunoassay,proportional SMNPs-GOx-Ab_2 were immobilized specifically resulting in corresponding decrease of pH values owing to GOx loaded on SMNPs can high-efficiency convert glucose into gluconic acid.This assay is easy-to-use,portable,sensitive and able to realize POCT,affording a linear range from 0.5 pg/m L to 10 ng/m L and low limit of detection（LOD） of 0.15 pg/m L towards cTnI,which was demonstrated the significant promising in the early diagnosis and screening of acute myocardial infarction.