An optimal medicinal and edible Chinese herbal formula attenuates particulate matter-induced lung injury through its anti-oxidative,anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptosis activities

Objective:Identifying novel strategies to prevent particulate matter(PM)-induced lung injury is crucial for the reduction of the morbidity of chronic respiratory diseases.The combined intervention represented by herbal formulae for simultaneously targeting multiple pathological processes can provide a more beneficial effect than the single intervention.The aim of this paper is therefore to design a safe and effective medicinal and edible Chinese herbs(MECHs)formula against PM-induced lung injury.Methods:PM-induced oxidative stress,inflammatory response and apoptosis A549 cell model were used to screen anti-oxidant,anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic MECHs,respectively.A network pharmacology method was utilized to rationally design a novel herbal formula.Ultra performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometer was utilized to assess the quality control of MECHs formula.The excretion of magnetic iron oxide nanospheres of the MECHs formula was estimated in zebrafish.The MECH formula against PM-induced lung injury was investigated with mice experiments.Results:Five selected herbs were rationally designed to form a new MECH formula,including Citri Exocarpium Rubrum(Juhong),Lablab Semen Album(Baibiandou),Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma(Baizhu),Mori Folium(Sangye)and Polygonati Odorati Rhizoma(Yuzhu).The formula effectively promoted the magnetic iron oxide nanospheres excretion in zebrafish.The mid/high dose formula significantly prevented PM-induced lung damage in mice by enhancing the activity of SOD and GSH-Px,reducing the MDA and ROS level and attenuating the upregulation of pro-inflammatory cytokine(IL-6,IL-8,IL-1βand TNFa),down regulating the protein expression of NF-κB,STAT3 and Caspase-3.Conclusion:Our findings suggest that the effective MECHs formula will become a novel strategy for preventing PM-induced lung injury and provide a paradigm for the development of functional foods using MECHs.

Establishment of Real-Time Quantitative PCR Method for the Determination of Transposon Copy Number in Cronobacter sakazakii

[Objective] This study aimed to establish a Real-Time quantitative PCR method for the determination of transposon copy number in C. sakazakii. [ Method ] With single-copy housekeeping gene atpD as the reference gene, recombinant plasmid containing both single-copy housekeeping gene atpD and EZ-TN5 transposon was constructed; based on the established standard curves for real-time quantitative detection of atpD gene and EZ-TN5 transposon, copy number of atpD gene and EZ-TN5 transpason in three C. sakazakii mutants was detected and the ratio was calculated. [ Result] Correlation coefficients of the standard curves for real-time quantitative detection of atpD gene and EZ-TN5 transposon were 0. 999 and 0.998, respectively ; the ratios of copy number of atpD gene and EZ-TN5 transposon in three C. sakazakii mutants were 0.98, 1.17 and 0.91, respectively, which indicates that EZ-TN5 transpeson in C. sakakii mutants is a single-copy. [ Conclusion] Real-time quantitative PCR method established in this study had high availability and could replace the Southern blot method to detect the copy num- ber of EZ-TN5 transposon in different bacteria.