Cardioprotective Potential of Cymbopogon citratus Essential Oil against Isoproterenol-induced Cardiomyocyte Hypertrophy:Possible Involvement of NLRP3 Inflammasome and Oxidative Phosphorylation Complex Subunits

Objective:Cymbopogon citratus(DC.)Stapf is a medicinal and edible herb that is widely used for the treatment of gastric,nervous and hypertensive disorders.In this study,we investigated the cardioprotective effects and mechanisms of the essential oil,the main active ingredient of Cymbopogon citratus,on isoproterenol(ISO)-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy.Methods:The compositions of Cymbopogon citratus essential oil(CCEO)were determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.Cardiomyocytes were pretreated with 16.9µg/L CCEO for 1 h followed by 10µmol/L ISO for 24 h.Cardiac hypertrophy-related indicators and NLRP3 inflammasome expression were evaluated.Subsequently,transcriptome sequencing(RNA-seq)and target verification were used to further explore the underlying mechanism.Results:Our results showed that the CCEO mainly included citronellal(45.66%),geraniol(23.32%),and citronellol(10.37%).CCEO inhibited ISO-induced increases in cell surface area and protein content,as well as the upregulation of fetal gene expression.Moreover,CCEO inhibited ISO-induced NLRP3 inflammasome expression,as evidenced by decreased lactate dehydrogenase content and downregulated mRNA levels of NLRP3,ASC,CASP1,GSDMD,and IL-1β,as well as reduced protein levels of NLRP3,ASC,pro-caspase-1,caspase-1(p20),GSDMD-FL,GSDMD-N,and pro-IL-1β.The RNA-seq results showed that CCEO inhibited the increase in the mRNA levels of 26 oxidative phosphorylation complex subunits in ISO-treated cardiomyocytes.Our further experiments confirmed that CCEO suppressed ISO-induced upregulation of mt-Nd1,Sdhd,mt-Cytb,Uqcrq,and mt-Atp6 but had no obvious effects on mt-Col expression.Conclusion:CCEO inhibits ISO-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy through the suppression of NLRP3 inflammasome expression and the regulation of several oxidative phosphorylation complex subunits.

RuCo alloy nanoparticles embedded within N-doped porous two-dimensional carbon nanosheets:a high-performance hydrogen evolution reaction catalyst

Developing cost-effective electrocatalysts with high activity and stability especially at high current density is of great significance for the large-scale commercial application of electrochemical water splitting to hydrogen production but still remains challenging.Herein,we report an effective confinement pyrolysis strategy to fabricate embedded ruthenium-cobalt nanoclusters supported on N-doped porous two-dimensional carbon nanosheets(RuCo@CN).Markedly,the embedded structure can effectively prevent the migration,agglomeration,and leaching of nanoparticles,thus endowing the RuCo@CN catalyst with high stability.To be exact,high stability with up to 650 h can be achieved at high current density(-500 and-1000 mA·cm^(-2)).Besides,the RuCo@CN catalysts also exhibit highly reactive with low overpotentials of only 11mV at-10 mA·cm^(-2).Density functional theory calculations reveal that the introduction of cobalt reduces the decomposition barrier of H_(2)O for RuCo@CN alloy,thus promoting hydrogen evolution reaction.