Experimental determination of solubilities and＇supersolubilities of 2,2＇,4,4＇,6,6＇-hexanitrostilbene in different organic solvents

The laser monitor technique was used to determine solubilities and supersolubilities of HNS in N,N-dimethylformamide, dimethyl sulfoxide, acetonitrile, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone and 1,4-butyrolactone. The experimental solubility values were correlated with λh equation, modified Apelblat equation and NRTL model. Furthermore, the dissolution enthalpy, dissolution entropy and the Gibbs energy of HNS were calculated by the experimental data. The results show that the solubilities of HNS in the above solvents increase with the increasing temperature. Besides, at the same temperature, the order of solubility is N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone > dimethyl sulfoxide > N,N-dimethylformamide > 1,4-butyrolactone > acetonitrile. The temperature dependence of predicted solubility is in agreement with the experimental data.

Lactobacillus reuteri-derived extracellular vesicles maintain intestinal immune homeostasis against lipopolysaccharideinduced inflammatory responses in broilers

Background:Lactobacillus reuteri strains are widely used as probiotics to prevent and treat inflammatory bowel disease by modulating the host’s immune system.However,the underlying mechanisms by which they communicate with the host have not been clearly understood.Bacterial extracellular vesicles(EVs)have been considered as important mediators of host-pathogen interactions,but their potential role in commensals-host crosstalk has not been widely studied.Here,we investigated the regulatory actions of EVs produced by L.reuteri BBC3,a gut-associated commensal bacterium of Black-Bone chicken,in the development of lipopolysaccharide(LPS)-induced intestinal inflammation in a chicken model using both in vivo and in vitro experiments.Results:L.reuteri BBC3 produced nano-scale membrane vesicles with the size range of 60-250 nm.Biochemical and proteomic analyses showed that L.reuteri BBC3-derived EVs(LrEVs)carried DNA,RNA and several bioactive proteins previously described as mediators of other probiotics’beneficial effects such as glucosyltransferase,serine protease and elongation factor Tu.In vivo broiler experiments showed that administration of LrEVs exerted similar effects as L.reuteri BBC3 in attenuating LPS-induced inflammation by improving growth performance,reducing mortality and decreasing intestinal injury.LrEVs suppressed the LPS-induced expression of pro-inflammatory genes(TNF-α,IL-1β,IL-6,IL-17 and IL-8),and improved the expression of anti-inflammatory genes(IL-10 and TGF-β)in the jejunum.LrEVs could be internalized by chicken macrophages.In vitro pretreatment with LrEVs reduced the gene expression of TNF-α,IL-1βand IL-6 by suppressing the NF-κB activity,and enhanced the gene expression of IL-10 and TGF-βin LPS-activated chicken macrophages.Additionally,LrEVs could inhibit Th1-and Th17-mediated inflammatory responses and enhance the immunoregulatory cells-mediated immunosuppression in splenic lymphocytes of LPS-challenged chickens through the activation of macrophages.Finally,we revealed that the reduced content of both vesicular proteins and nucleic acids attenuated the suppression of LrEVs on LPS-induced inflammatory responses in ex vivo experiments,suggesting that they are essential for the LrEVs-mediated immunoregulation.Conclusions:We revealed that LrEVs participated in maintaining intestinal immune homeostasis against LPSinduced inflammatory responses in a chicken model.Our findings provide mechanistic insight into how commensal and probiotic Lactobacillus species modulate the host’s immune system in pathogens-induced inflammation.

Electrochemical performance of Ti_(3)C_(2)supercapacitors in KOH electrolyte

Two-dimensional(2D)carbide Ti_(3)C_(2)was synthesized by exfoliating Ti_(3)AlC_(2)in HF solution and used for supercapacitive performance investigation in 3 M KOH electrolyte.The specific surface area(SSA)of as-synthesized Ti_(3)C_(2)was 22.35 m^(2)/g.Ti_(3)C_(2)-based supercapacitor electrodes exhibited good energy storage ability and had a volumetric capacitance 119.8 F/cm^(3)at the current density of 2.5 A/g.Moreover,the addition of carbon black into Ti_(3)C_(2)powders greatly improved the performance of Ti_(3)C_(2)-based capacitors because carbon black restrained the preferred orientation of 2D Ti_(3)C_(2),providing fast ion transport channels,and in turn,decreasing electrical resistance from 16.7Ωto 3.5Ω.