Abstract The Geographical Origin of Chinese medicinal materials plays an important role in guaranteeing the authenticity of Chinese medicinal materials, ensuring the quality and efficacy of Chinese medicinal materials, maintaining the market order, and reducing the risk of medical accidents caused by counterfeit Chinese medicinal materials. In recent years, there have been more and more research papers on tracing Chinese medicinal materials by stable isotope and mineral element analysis combined with chemometrics. Using stable isotope and mineral element analysis to trace traditional Chinese medicinal materials has the advantages of high accuracy and strong reliability. Through chemometrics methods, medicinal materials from different origins can be classified, distinguished, and modeled, and finally the purpose of origin traceability can be achieved. Based on the introduction of the basic principles of stable isotopes and mineral elements, this article systematically analyzes the research and application of relevant stable isotope and mineral element analysis techniques in the origin traceability of Chinese medicinal materials in the past 10 years, and proposes the existing problems in origin traceability of Chinese medicinal materials. This article aims at providing reference for the origin traceability, confirmation and supervision of Chinese herbal medicines, and promoting the establishment and improvement of the traceability technical system of Chinese herbal medicines.

Abstract To provide a scientific basis for the comprehensive utilization of squid processing by-products, squid skin collagen was extracted by acid, enzyme and hot water, respectively, and the physicochemical characteristics of the collagens were compared. The results showed that the yield of acid soluble collagen (ASC), pepsin soluble collagen (PSC) and heat soluble collagen (HSC) was 7.41 ± 0.55%, 32.86 ± 0.67% and 42.23 ± 0.82% (dry weight basis), respectively. FTIR, UV and SDS-PAGE analysis suggested that ASC, PSC and HSC had the typical characteristics of type I collagen and retained the complete triple helix structure. The thermal stability of ASC was higher than that of PSC and HSC. ASC had a more uniform and compact porous network structure than PSC, while HSC was an irregular sheet structure. The solubility of HSC was obviously higher than that of ASC and PSC, and the effect of pH and NaCl on the solubility of HSC was inconspicuous in the experiment conditions. The extraction methods had significant effects on the structure and physicochemical properties of collagens. The solubility of HSC suggested that it was more suitable for liquid products. Moreover, the structural characteristics and high thermal stability of ASC made it suitable for biomedical materials and thermal processing products.

Abstract Background This study determined the regulatory effects of inducible T-cell co-stimulators (ICOS) in human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells using a RNA interference (RNAi) technique. Methods A RNAi technique was used to knockdown the expression of ICOS. ICOS expression after knockdown was detected as mRNA and protein levels by RT-PCR and Western blot, respectively. A MTT colorimetric assay was used to detect cell proliferation, and the Transwell assay was used to detect cell invasion. Western blot was carried out to detect the level of Bcl-2, AKT, and PI3K protein expression in different groups. Results The proliferation of HepG2 cells were significantly decreased after ICOS siRNA transfection (EG group). Similarly, the results of the Transwell experiment showed that invasion of HepG2 cells in the EG group was clearly reduced compared to the negative control (NC) and blank control groups (CON). Western blot analysis showed that knockdown of ICOS expression reduced the levels of Bcl-2 and AKT, and also significantly up-regulated the level of PI3K phosphorylation (P < 0.01). Conclusion Down-regulating ICOS expression in HepG2 cells suppressed cell proliferation and invasion. The underlying mechanism may be related to the expression of the downstream factor, PI3K/AKT.

In this work, the g-C3N4 nanoparticles decorated BiFeO3 microspheres composites (g-C3N4/BiFeO3) were successfully synthesized by hydrothermal treatment of g-C3N4 nanoparticles together with BiFeO3 microspheres. The SEM and HRTEM observation indicate that the C3N4 nanoparticles with size of 30-50 nm are well decorated on the surface of BiFeO3 microspheres. The photocatalytic activities of the samples are investigated by the degradation of methylene blue (MB) under the irradiation of simulated sunlight. The as-prepared g-C3N4/BiFeO3 composites exhibit remarkable enhanced photocatalytic activity compared with bare BiFeO3. More importantly, the photocataltic performance of the composites is further confirmed by the degradation of colorless phenol. Furthermore, the favorable catalytic stability of composites is demonstrated through the recycling photocatalytic experiment. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of g-C3N4/BiFeO3 composites is mainly attributed to the separation of the photogenerated electron-hole pairs, resulting from the migration of the photoinduced charge between g-C3N4 nanoparticles and BiFeO3. A possible photocatalytic mechanism for dye degradation over g-C3N4/BiFeO3 composite is proposed based on the active species trapping experiment, revealing that the photogenerated hole (h+) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) are regarded as the major active species for the decomposition of dye, while hydroxyl radicals (•OH) plays a minor role in the photocatalytic reaction.