Abstract Objective: To analyze the value of serum miRNA-122 expression in the diagnosis, severity, and prognosis of Acute Cerebral Infarction (ACI) and the correlation mechanism of serum miRNA-122 on the proliferation and apoptosis of vascular endothelial cells in ACI. Method: A total of 60 patients with ACI who were admitted to the emergency department of the Taizhou People’s Hospital from January 1, 2019, to December 30, 2019, and 30 healthy controls during the same period were selected. General clinical data of all patients at admission were collected. Including age, sex, medical history, and inflammatory factors (C-Reactive Protein [CRP], Interleukin-6 [IL-6], Procalcitonin [PCT], Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipid carrier protein [NGAL]). The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score at admission and short-term prognosis (the Modified Rankin Score [mRS]) score at 3 months after onset were recorded. The expression level of miRNA-122 in the serum of patients with ACI and normal controls was detected by reverse-transcription quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-QPCR), and the correlation between the expression level of miRNA-122 in the serum of patients with ACI and the level of inflammatory factors, NIHSS and mRS scores were analyzed. The expression levels of miRNA-122 in the serum of patients with ACI, normal people, and Human Umbilical cord Endothelial Cells (HUVECs) cultured in a blank control group were detected by RT-QPCR and statistically analyzed. MTT and flow cytometry was used to compare the proliferation and apoptosis of vascular endothelial cells in the miRNA-122 mimics and inhibitors transfection groups and the corresponding negative control group. The mRNA and protein levels of apoptosis-related factors Bax, Bcl-2, Caspase-3, and angiogenesis-related proteins Hes1, Notch1, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors (VEGF), and CCNG1 were detected by RT-QPCR and Western blot. Bioinformatics methods predicted CCNG1 to be the target of miRNA-122, and the direct targeting relationship between CCNG1 and miRNA-122 was verified by a dual-luciferase reporting assay. Result: Serum miRNA-122 expression in patients with ACI was significantly higher than that in healthy controls, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.929, 95% Confidence Interval of 0.875‒0.983, and an optimal cut-off value of 1.397. The expression levels of CRP, IL-6, and NGAL in patients with ACI were higher than those in healthy control groups, p < 0.05; miRNA-122 was positively correlated with CPR, IL-6, NIHSS score, and mRS score. At 48h and 72h, the proliferation rate of HUVECs cells in the miRNA-122 mimics group decreased and the apoptosis rate increased. Cell proliferation rate increased, and apoptosis rate decreased significantly in the groups transfected with miRNA-122 inhibitors. The mRNA and protein levels of pro-apoptotic factors Bax and caspase-3 were significantly increased in the miRNA-122 mimics transfection group, while those of anti-apoptotic factor Bcl-2 were significantly decreased compared to those of the control group. The expression of Bax and Caspase-3 decreased, and the expression of anti-apoptotic factor Bcl-2 increased in the transfected miRNA-122 inhibitors group. mRNA expression levels of Hes1, Notch1, VEGF, and CCNG1 in the miRNA-122 mimic transfected group were significantly decreased, while mRNA expression levels in the miRNA-122 inhibitors transfected group were significantly increased. Bioinformatics showed that there was a miRNA-122 binding site in the 3′UTR region of CCNG1, and dual luciferase assay confirmed that CCNG1 was the target of miRNA-122.

Abstract The phenolic compounds in dried Lycium barbarum (LB) and L. barbarum meal (LBM) were extracted using ultrasonic method, reflux method and enzymatic method, and the composition, content of polyphenols and antioxidant abilities of the extracts were analyzed. 40 phenolic compounds were identified with HPLC-MS/MS, with 35 compounds detected from LB and 33 from LBM. 40 compounds were classified into phenolic acids and their derivatives, flavonoids, and their derivatives, lignanamides and other phenolic substances. Differences existed in samples extracted from different materials or under different extraction methods. It was explicitly observed that LB was higher than LBM in phenolic content. The phenolics in LB and LBM had significant antioxidant effects, with LBM extracts showing the higher antioxidant effect. This study compared the differences in polyphenols of L. barbarum and its meal, meanwhile explored the effects of different extraction methods, which could contribute to the exploitation of L. barbarum and its meal.

In this paper, 2-hydrazino-6-methoxy-1,3-benzothiazole was introduced into diethylenetriamine pentaacetic (DTPA) by acylation reaction. The corresponding non-ion Gd(III) complex holding promise of a single molecule magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent was obtained by treating this ligand with GdCl3·6H2 O. The efficacy of the contrast agent was assessed by measuring the longitudinal relaxivity (r1), the r1 of Gd(III)-DTPA-bisbenzothiazole hydrazide was up to 6.44 mM-1,s-1, which was 1.8 times higher than that of the analogous MRI contrast agent Gd(III)-DTPA (r1 = 3.64 mM-1s-1) in commercial use. In addition, in vitro MR images on a 0.5 T magnetic field exhibited a remarkable enhancement of signal contrast for Gd(III)-DTPA-bisbenzothiazole hydrazide than Gd(III)-DTPA. These results demonstrate that this non-ion Gd(III) complex acts as a potentially MRI contrast agent.