The effect of Jiangan Xiaozhi Formula on oxidative stress and inflammatory factors in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Objective:To investigate the effects of Jiangan Xiaozhi Formula(JGXZ)on oxidative stress and inflammatory factors in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD).Methods:Between September 2022 and December 2023,our hospital admitted a total of 58 patients with NAFLD.These patients were split into two groups at random:one for experimentation and the other for control.There were 27 patients in the experimental group at the end,compared to 26 in the control group,reasonable exercise,weight management,lipid regulation,and oral polyene phosphatidylcholine capsules(PPC).The experimental group received JGXZ in addition to the above treatments for 12 consecutive weeks.Changes in Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM)syndrome scores,blood lipids,liver function indicators,the levels of oxidative stress markers,such as malondialdehyde(MDA),glutathione peroxidase(GSH-Px),and superoxide dismutase(SOD),as well as serum inflammatory factors,such as interleukin-6(IL-6),interleukin-8(IL-8),and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α),were measured both before and after treatment.Results:After treatment,both groups showed significant reductions in TCM syndrome scores(P<0.05)and improvements in blood lipids,liver function indicators,inflammatory factors,and oxidative stress markers(P<0.05).Improvements were noticeably better in the experimental group than in the control group.(P<0.05).Conclusion:JGXZ can significantly improve clinical symptoms,regulate blood lipids,and protect liver function in patients with NAFLD.Its mechanism may be related to inhibiting inflammatory responses and regulating the balance of the oxidation-antioxidation system.

Reproductive toxicity of enrofloxacin in Caenorhabditis elegans involves oxidative stress-induced cell apoptosis

Fluoroquinolone antibiotics(FQs)that persist and bioaccumulate in the environment have aroused people’s great concern.Here,we studied the adverse effects of FQs in soil animals of Caenorhabditis elegans via food-chronically exposure.The result shows C.elegans exposed to FQs exhibited reproductive toxicity with small-brood size and low-egg hatchability.To study the underlying mechanism,we conduct a deep investigation of enrofloxacin(ENR),one of the most frequently detected FQs,on nematodes which is one of commonly used animal indicator of soil sustainability.The concentration-effect curves simulated by the Hill model showed that the half effect concentrations(EC50)of ENR were(494.3±272.9)μmol/kg and(107.4±30.9)μmol/kg for the brood size and the hatchability,respectively.Differential gene expression between the control and the ENR-exposure group enriched with the oxidative stress and cell apoptosis pathways.The results together with the enzyme activity in oxidative stress and the cell corpses suggested that ENR-induced reproductive toxicity was related to germ cell apoptosis under oxidative stress.The risk quotients of some soil and livestock samples were calculated based on the threshold value of EC10 for the egg hatchability(2.65μmol/kg).The results indicated that there was possible reproductive toxicity on the nematodes in certain agricultural soils for the FQs.This study suggested that chronic exposure to FQs at certain levels in environment would induce reproductive toxicity to the nematodes and might reduce the soil sustainability,alarming the environment risks of antibiotics abuse.

Surviving the odds: From perception to survival of fungal phytopathogens under host-generated oxidative burst

Fungal phytopathogens pose a serious threat to global crop production.Only a handful of strategies are available to combat these fungal infections,and the increasing incidence of fungicide resistance is making the situation worse.Hence,the molecular understanding of plant–fungus interactions remains a primary focus of plant pathology.One of the hallmarks of host–pathogen interactions is the overproduction of reactive oxygen species(ROS)as a plant defense mechanism,collectively termed the oxidative burst.In general,high accumulation of ROS restricts the growth of pathogenic organisms by causing localized cell death around the site of infection.To survive the oxidative burst and achieve successful host colonization,fungal phytopathogens employ intricate mechanisms for ROS perception,ROS neutralization,and protection from ROS-mediated damage.Together,these countermeasures maintain the physiological redox homeostasis that is essential for cell viability.In addition to intracellular antioxidant systems,phytopathogenic fungi also deploy interesting effector-mediated mechanisms for extracellular ROS modulation.This aspect of plant–pathogen interactions is significantly under-studied and provides enormous scope for future research.These adaptive responses,broadly categorized into“escape”and“exploitation”mechanisms,are poorly understood.In this review,we discuss the oxidative stress response of filamentous fungi,their perception signaling,and recent insights that provide a comprehensive understanding of the distinct survival mechanisms of fungal pathogens in response to the host-generated oxidative burst.

Bio-assembled smart nanocapsules for targeted delivery of KRAS shRNA and cancer cell bioimage

The five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is less than 5%. However, the current clinical multimodal therapy combined with first-line chemotherapy drugs only increases the patient’s median survival from 5.0 months to 7.2 months. Consequently, a new strategy of cancer treatments is urgently needed to overcome this high-fatality disease. Through a series of biometric analyses, we found that KRAS is highly expressed in the tumor of pancreatic cancer patients, and this high expression is closely related to the poor prognosis of patients. It shows that inhibiting the expression of KRAS has great potential in gene therapy for pancreatic cancer. Given those above, we have exploited the possibility of targeted delivery of KRAS shRNA with the intelligent and bio-responsive nanomedicine to detect the special oxidative stress microenvironment of cancer cells and realize efficient cancer theranostics. Our observations demonstrate that by designing the smart self-assembled nanocapsules of melanin with fluorescent nanoclusters we can readily achieve the bio-recognition and bioimaging of cancer cells in biological solution or serum.The self-assembled nanocapsules can make a significant bio-response to the oxidative stress microenvironment of cancer cells and generate fluorescent zinc oxide Nanoclusters in situ for targeted cell bioimaging. Moreover, it can also readily facilitate cancer cell suppression through the targeted delivery of KRAS shRNA and low-temperature hyperthermia. This raises the possibility to provide a promising theranostics platform and self-assembled nanomedicine for targeted cancer diagnostics and treatments through special oxidative stress-responsive effects of cancer cells.

Pregnane X receptor in drug-induced liver injury: Friend or foe?

The pregnane X receptor(PXR)is a ligand activated nuclear receptor that is highly expressed in the liver and regulates many cellular functions including drug metabolism,endobiotic metabolism,oxidative stress response,apoptosis,inflammation,cell proliferation and regeneration.PXR activation promotes drug-induced liver injury(DILI)through its ability to increase the expression of phaseⅠand phaseⅡdrug metabolizing enzymes.The PXR also increases lipid synthesis and fatty acid uptake into the liver,leading to lipid accumulation and steatosis.In recent years,PXR has been explored as an important target in DILI and liver diseases.This review will highlight the roles of PXR in modulating DILI.PXR polymorphisms that have been associated with DILI will also be discussed.