The development of chemotherapy resistance significantly impairs the efficiency of chemotherapy, but the underlying mechanisms of chemotherapy resistance in gastric cancer (GC) are complicated and still need to be further explored. Here, we aimed to reveal the effects of miR-4290/PDK1 (pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 1) axis on chemotherapy resistance of GC in vitro. The expression patterns of miR-4290 in GC tissues and cell lines were determined by real-time quantitative PCR. Kaplan-Meier was used to assess the relationship between miR-4290 expression levels and patients' overall survival. CCK-8 and flow cytometry technologies were applied to detect cell proliferation and apoptosis. The luciferase gene reporter assay was used to evaluate the interaction between miR-4290 and PDK1. miR-4290 was lowly expressed in GC tissues and cell lines, which was closely associated with the shorter overall survival of GC patients. miR-4290 mimics significantly inhibited cell proliferation and induced cell apoptosis, as well as induced a significant reduction in the expression of PDK1. Moreover, miR-4290 significantly inhibited glycolysis and decreased the IC50 value to cisplatin in SGC7901 cells, whereas these effects were abolished and cell apoptosis was promoted when PDK1 was overexpressed. In conclusion, this study revealed that miR-4290 suppressed PDK1-mediated glycolysis to enhance the sensitivity of GC cells to cisplatin.

Abstract The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact and mechanism of co-blocking of costimulatory signals CD28-B7-CD40-CD40L during immune allograft rejection. Forty-eight recipient rabbits were prepared as a high-risk corneal allograft model. After surgery, the animals were randomly divided into: control group, MR1 group, anti-B7 group, and co-blocking group (n=12, each group). Subconjunctival injection was first performed on the allograft surgery day until post-surgery day five. Four weeks later, or when immune rejection occurred, the cornea was sampled to detect and analyze the gene spectrum. The survival time in the co-blocking group was significantly longer than that in the other three groups (p < 0.05). Gene expression analysis revealed that the expression of genes associated with immune rejection, interleukin (IL)-1α, IL-1β, intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1, and IL-2 was down-regulated in the co-blocking group, while IL-10 was up-regulated, but the changes in nuclear factor-κB and interferon-γ were not significant. In conclusion, the co-blocking of costimulatory signals can significantly reduce genes that promote corneal allograft rejection. The inhibition of corneal allograft rejection gene expression was significantly enhanced. These gene expression results can explain the conclusion of previous work at the genetic level.

Obesity and its consequent type 2 diabetes are significant threats to global health. Emerging evidence indicates that ginsenosides from ginseng (Panax ginseng) have anti-diabetic activity. We hypothesized that ginsenosides Rg1 could suppress dietary-induced obesity and improve obesity-related glucose metabolic disorders. Our results showed that ginsenoside Rg1 attenuated dietary-induced body weight gain and fat accumulation in white adipocyte tissue of mice fed a high-fat diet. Furthermore, we found that ginsenosides Rg1 not only decreased fasting glucose concentration and the 2-h postprandial glucose concentration, but also improved insulin resistance and glucose intolerance in those mice. Ginsenoside Rg1 also activated the AMPK pathway in vitro and in vivo and increased plasma membrane translocation of GLUT4 in C2C12 skeletal muscle cells. In conclusion, our observations suggested that ginsenoside Rg1 inhibited dietary-induced obesity and improved obesity-related insulin resistance and glucose intolerance by activation of the AMPK pathway.

Abstract Purpose: To evaluate the effect of hyperin in cisplatin-induced liver injury in mice. Methods: Mice were pretreated with hyperin at doses of 25 mg/kg and 50 mg/kg, respectively, for six days, and intraperitoneal injection of cisplatin (40 mg/kg) was administrated one hour after the final intragastrication of hyperin. Twenty-four hours later, blood and liver were collected for further research. Results: A single injection of cisplatin (40 mg/kg) for 24 h significantly increased serum alanine and aspartate aminotransferases (ALT/AST) and gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT) activities, whileas hyperin reversed cisplatin-induced such increases. Liver histopathological examination further demonstrated the protection of hyperin against cisplatin-induced liver injury. Further results showed hyperin reversed cisplatin-induced the increase in content of malondialdehyde (MDA) and the decrease in level of total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) in liver. Moreover, hyperin increased the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione-s transferase (GST) in cisplatin-induced liver. Conclusion: Hyperin inhibits cisplatin-induced hepatic oxidative stress, which contributes greatly to the amelioration of cisplatin-induced liver injury in mice.

Crop growth in a saline environment depends on its tolerance to salt stress and capacity to recover after salt stress relief. To evalúate recovery mechanisms in cotton after salt stress relief, the changes of plants growth, root vigor, lipid peroxidation, antioxidant enzymes activity, organic solutes in root after salt stress relief were studied for two cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) cultivars (Lumianyan 37 and Sumian 22) grown under control (salt content of soil grown cotton was maintained at 0.2%), salt stressed (salt content of soil grown cotton was maintained at 0.5%) and salt recovered (salt content of soil grown cotton was reduced from 0.5% to 0.2% level at the 57 d after seeding) conditions. The results showed that root and shoot growth rate and root vigor significantly increased after salt stress relief, and the increase in growth rate and root vigor was more pronounced in ’Lumianyan 37’. In salt-recovered root, malondialdehyde (MDA) content decrease, the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) decreased, but catalase (CAT) activity increased compared with those in the salt-stressed root. For salt-recovered root, MDA content and POD activity of ’Lumianyan 37’ was lower, while the SOD and CAT activities were higher. Salt-recovered cotton root showed a decrease in soluble sugar and free amino acid content compared with the salt-stressed root, especially in ’Lumianyan 37’. The results indicated that growth and root metabolism of cotton plants gradually recovered after salt stress relief, and the high capacity of cotton plants to recover after salt stress relief may be related to the high capacity of antioxidative system and the high utilization capacity of organic solutes as important nutritional components in root.

A composição e atividade antimicrobiana dos óleos essenciais obtidos de madeira de ágar originária de Aquilaria sinensis (Lour.) Gilg induzido por agente biológico da madeira de ágar, Lasiodiplodia theobromae (F), foram caracterizadas e comparadas com madeira de ágar selvagem (W) e árvores saudáveis não inoculadas (H) como controles positivo e negativo, respectivamente. A composição química de F foi investigada usando cromatografia gasosa-espectrometria de massas (GC-MS). O óleo essencial de F mostrou uma composição similar de W, sendo rico em sesquiterpenos e constituintes aromáticos. No entanto, o óleo essencial de H era abundante em alcanos. Os óleos essenciais de F e W mostraram ser inibidores mais potentes de L. theobromae, Fusariumoxysporum, e Candida albicans do que o óleo essencial de H. Nossas descobertas demonstram pela primeira vez que o óleo essencial obtido da madeira de ágar originado de A. sinensis induzido por L. theobromae teve uma alta similaridade com o óleo essencial da madeira de ágar selvagem, tanto em composição química como em atividade antimicrobiana. Além disso, a estratégia de madeira de ágar induzida por fungos pode ser potencialmente aplicada em madeira de ágar e produção de óleo essencial em árvores do gênero Aquilaria.

The composition and antimicrobial activity of essential oils obtained from agarwood originating from Aquilaria sinensis (Lour.) Gilg induced by a biological agent of agarwood, Lasiodiplodia theobromae (F), were characterized and compared to those from wild agarwood (W) and uninoculated healthy trees (H) as positive and negative control, respectively. The chemical composition of F was investigated using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The essential oil of F showed a similar composition to that of W, being rich in sesquiterpenes and aromatic constituents. However, the essential oil of H was abundant in alkanes. Essential oils of F and W were more potent inhibitors of L. theobromae, Fusarium oxysporum, and Candida albicans than the essential oil of H. Our findings demonstrate for the first time that the essential oil obtained from the agarwood originating from A. sinensis induced by L. theobromae had a high similarity to that of the essential oil of wild agarwood, both in chemical composition and in antimicrobial activity. Furthermore, the strategy of agarwood induced by fungi could be potentially applied in agarwood and essential oil production in Aquilaria trees.