Abstract Present study aims to establish a reliable infant digestion model using pH-STAT method and the model is also applied to static in-vitro digestion of different infant formulas. Model-3 which consisted of NaCl, KCl and CaCl2 as gastrointestinal digestive fluids demonstrated better repeatability than model-1 was selected for the evaluation of static in-vitro digestion of different infant formulas (different fatty acids, protein composition and with/without milk fat globule membrane) using pH-STAT method. Three infant formulas (IF) with different fatty acids composition were evaluated and IF2 which contained the highest amounts of medium-chain saturated fatty acids (8.02 ± 0.47%) demonstrated the highest in-vitro gastrointestinal lipolysis rate (65.88 ± 0.24%). Infant formulas containing peptides and amino acids were more easily hydrolyzed by protease, which probably enhanced the release of FFA (IF1, 50.60 ± 0.87%; IF4, 60.17 ± 2.97%; IF5, 62.21 ± 2.27%; IF6, 66.51 ± 2.38%). In addition, the presence of milk fat globule membrane (MFGM, IF7) was found to accelerate in-vitro gastrointestinal lipolysis (IF1, 50.60 ± 0.87%; IF7, 58.05 ± 1.77%). In summary, the new developed model is suitable for investigating in-vitro digestion of different infant formulas.

OBJECTIVES: Here, we aimed to compare the clinical effects of mycophenolate mofetil combined with either tacrolimus or with cyclophosphamide on lupus nephritis (LN) and to analyze their influence on the expression of cystatin C and on transforming growth factor-1 (TGF-β1). METHODS: A total of 234 patients were randomly divided into two groups: group A, for mycophenolate mofetil combined with tacrolimus (n=117) and group B, for mycophenolate mofetil combined with cyclophosphamide (n=117). The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was adopted to detect the expression levels of serum TGF-β1 and cystatin C before and after treatment. RESULTS: The total effectiveness rate in group A was much higher than that in group B. The times of effectiveness and effect validity in group A were much lower than those in group B. The expression levels of serum TGF-β1 and cystatin C decreased slightly after treatment in the two groups, and those of group A were much lower than those of group B. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of mycophenolate mofetil and tacrolimus showed better clinical efficacy on LN and was safer than that of mycophenolate mofetil and cyclophosphamide. Moreover, the drug combination of mycophenolate mofetil and tacrolimus greatly reduced the expression levels of serum TGF-β1 and cystatin C.