[en] In a pilot study, we observed cadmium (Cd) immobilization with citric acid (CA) and suggested that mandarin by-products (MB), which contain CA at ca. 1.65%, can be used as soil amendments that reduce Cd bioavailability. In the present study, we (1) elucidated mechanisms of Cd immobilization by CA and (2) evaluated the use of MB as a soil amendment for Cd immobilization. In Experiment 1, CA was mixed with Cd contaminated soil at 0 and 3.5 mmol kg⁻¹. We then added MB to Cd-spiked soil at 10, 20, and 40 g kg⁻¹. Addition of CA decreased F2 (surface adsorbed Cd fraction) contents by 2.64 mg kg⁻¹ compared with the control but was associated with increases in Cd fractions F1 (bioavailable Cd fraction) and F5 (residual Cd fraction) of 1.04 and 1.49 mg kg⁻¹, respectively. Addition of CA enhanced the concentration of fraction F5, likely reflecting Cd precipitation from soil solutions with increased HCO₃⁻ concentrations. However, although this treatment immobilized Cd, it also led to increasing residual and bioavailable Cd fractions. Unlike CA treatments, MB increased non-bioavailable Cd fractions without increasing the bioavailable Cd fraction. Moreover, at 40 g kg⁻¹, MB decreased F1 contents by 8% compared with the control, but increased F2, F3, and F5 contents by 3.6%, 0.7%, and 4.5%, respectively. Cd may be immobilized by MB through H_xCO₃⁻ mediated precipitation as CdCO₃ following decomposition of CA and concomitant increases in the negative charge of soil due to the organic matter in MB. MB also improved the chemical properties of soils, with increased nutrient concentrations and cation exchange capacities.

[en] 

Background

In bone tissue engineering, the fabrication and biocompatibility of scaffold are crucial. Among many scaffold materials, nanohydroxyapatite (nHAP) and collagen (COL) are chosen as building materials of scaffold. At the same time, growth factors were also used to modify the scaffolds.

Methods

In this study, blending and freeze drying methods were adopted together in order to build basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF)-bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2)-nHAP/COL scaffolds. ELISA was applied to test the release of bFGF and BMP-2 on the scaffold. The flow cytometry was used to identify bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs). Scanning electron microscope was adopted to observe scaffolds and cells morphology. BMSCs were seeded on the scaffolds to test the biological compatibility in vitro. Cells were counted to detect early cell adhesion. Cell counting kit-8 assay was adopted to detect cell proliferation and alkalinephosphatase assay was applied to detect cell activity.

Results

The characterization of bFGF-BMP-2-nHAP/COL scaffolds meets the requirements of ideal bone tissue engineering scaffolds. BMSCs that were isolated, purified and passaged satisfied the needs of further experiments. The growth status of cells on bFGF-BMP-2-nHAP/COL scaffolds was satisfactory. Cell adhesion was the highest in the bFGF-BMP-2-nHAP/COL scaffolds group. The cell viability and ALP activity of bFGF-BMP-2-nHAP/COL scaffolds group were the highest.

Conclusion

Taken together, bFGF-BMP-2-nHAP/COL scaffolds have good biocompatibility in vitro and promote adhesion, proliferation, differentiation of BMSCs.

[en] Photo-aging is caused by cumulative oxidative stress from ultraviolet B irradiation with up-regulating intracellular reactive oxygen species, 4-hydroxynonenal, and matrix metalloproteinases. MMPs are the enzyme that degrades collagens so that impair the function of the dermis. Galangin was identified by ¹H-NMR and ¹³C-NMR spectroscopy and is a natural flavonol that recently known to have many pharmacological effects such as anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, anti-atopic dermatitis and anti-oxidative activities. In this study, the protective effect of galangin on UVB-induced photo-aging in human skin fibroblasts (CCD-986sk) was conducted by Western blot analysis and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Activator protein 1 and nuclear factor-kappa B are the main transcription factors from activated mitogen-activated protein kinases that up-regulates MMPs. Galangin showed down-regulation of intracellular ROS, 4-HNE, and MMPs through inhibition of phosphorylation of the MAPK pathway and showed a protective effect against skin fibroblasts under oxidative stress caused by UVB irradiation. This lead to up-regulation of fibroblast growth factor 2 and type 1 pro-collagen. These findings suggest that galangin can be developed as a potential agent for functional food and cosmetics of UVB-induced skin photo-aging.

[en] Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that causes erythema, scale, and invasion due to excessive proliferation of keratinocyte and vascular deformation of the upper part of the dermis. Recently, it has been reported that brazilin, an active compound of Caesalpinia sappan L., possesses anti-inflammatory activity in mouse macrophage. However, little is known about its effect or anti-inflammatory activity on psoriasis dermatitis. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine anti-inflammatory activity of brazilin in TNF-α-induced human keratinocyte (HaCaT) widely used as a model of psoriatic dermatitis. First, CCK-8 assay was performed to determine cytotoxicity of brazilin in HaCaT cells and cytotoxicity was not observed up to 7 μg/mL concentrations. Brazilin decreased mRNA expression levels of inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α in a concentration dependent manner. Brazilin also significantly reduced phosphorylation of I-κB, Akt, and MAPKs such as ERK, JNK, p38 and STAT3 in immortalized human keratinocytes (HaCaT) induced by TNF-α. In addition, inflammation causes the weakness of the skin barrier structure and increase cell permeability, stimulating serious problems in skin moisturizing. Thus, we observed changes of skin permeability in TNF-α induced inflammatory condition through transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) assay. While TNF-α induced inflammation caused reduction of TEER value (ohm (Ω) × cm²), it was recovered by treatment with brazilin in a concentration-dependent manner. These results strongly imply that brazilin can reinforce the skin barrier due to its anti-inflammatory activity. Therefore, brazilin could be a promising candidate for treating psoriasis dermatitis.

[en] Cancer is known to be a fierce disease that causes a large percentage of the deaths worldwide. The common cancer treatments; chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery are known for their severe side effects; therefore scientists are working on finding solutions to reduce these drawbacks. One of these treatment systems is the sustained released drugs formulations, these systems depend on the encapsulation of the chemotherapy within an emulsifying agent, in order to obtain a slow drug release of low doses over long time intervals. In this study, the anti-cancer effects of free and encapsulated sinapic acid was tested against lung (A549), and colon (CaCo2) cancer cell lines, along with normal fibroblast cells (HFB4) as a negative control. MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay was performed for IC₅₀ evaluation, also cell cycle assay was performed to detect cell cycle arrest status and related anti-apoptotic and pro-apoptotic; Blc-2, BAX, and P53 gene profile fold changes post cellular treatment. Data recorded revealed that encapsulated SA showed a lower toxicity than the free form to both cell lines and also to the normal cells. The cell cycle analysis showed a cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase post cell treatment with the free and encapsulated sinapic acid accompanied with up regulation of Bax and P53 and a down regulation of Blc-2 genes in both cell lines. The data suggest a promising anti-cancer and anti-proliferative potential of free and encapsulated sinapic acid. Also they show that the anti-cancer effect of free and encapsulated sinapic acid is quite close. .

[en] Cracking of concrete over time, is a natural phenomenon. Longer service life of concrete structures is desirable. Self-healing concrete using bacteria, which could form CaCO₃ crystals for crack sealing, has promised benefits to reduce cost for concrete maintenance, because cracks could be autonomously repaired without human intervention. However, because of harsh concrete internal environment render the effectiveness depending on the bacteria viability within concrete. In this study, expanded clay (EC) was used as a carrier, to protect bacteria (Lysinibacillus boronitolerans YS11) from the harsh environment during the process. Existence of bacteria inside EC was observed using electron microscopy. When exposed to bacterial solution of 1.0 × 10⁹ cells/mL, bacterial density within EC reached approximately 0.82 × 10⁷ cells/g of dry EC. Extent of bacterial viability within EC, submerged to solution containing 1.0 × 10⁸ cells/mL, was 53.6% of free bacteria solution containing 1.0 × 10⁷ cells/mL, as measured with fluorescein diacetate assay. When rate of calcium carbonate formation was measured with Ca²⁺ disappearance, rates were comparable between bacteria within EC (submerged to bacterial solution containing 1.0 × 10⁸ cells/mL) and free bacteria (1.0 × 10⁷ cells/mL). This finding indicates that bacteria with EC is very active for generation of CaCO₃ within EC. All experimental results suggest that EC may be an adequate bacteria carrier for self-healing concrete.

[en] The present work comprises a method to obtain full proton-to-carbon nuclear magnetic resonance chemical shift assignment of a C₃₀H₅₀ lup-20(29)-ene, for the first time obtained from the Mexican native mosses Pilotrichella flexilis, wherein said method consists in a combination of the following NMR schemes: 1D-¹³C (DEPT-135), 2D-{¹H–¹³C} HMBC with a spectral filter for promoting only weak-c.a. 2 Hz-long-range scalar couplings, 2D-{¹H–¹H} EXSY with long mixing times to favour only weak H–H dipolar correlations and ultra-high resolution one- and two-dimensional ¹H instant homodecoupling Psyche pure shift. Full set of assigned resonances were compared against the theoretical isotropic chemical shifts computed with a gauge invariant atomic orbital–density functional theory with self consistent reaction field calculation, retrieving accurate agreements, despite the intrinsic severe signal overlap that these C30 hydrocarbon triterpenes experimentally present. Therefore, a 3D-structure supported by experimental NMR data of this type of important metabolite precursor in plants can be proposed.

[en] Combretastatin A-4 is a highly potent natural stilbene that can inhibit cancer cell proliferation. Numerous analogues of combretastatin A-4 have been proposed for clinical applications. However, structural studies of combretastatin A-2, a methylenedioxy derivative of combretastain A-4, are not available. In this study, various analogues of combretastatin A-2 with polymethylenedioxy spacer were prepared and their antiproliferative activities to four human cancer cell lines (HeLa, SK-OV-3, A549, and HT-29) and two normal cells (HaCaT and MDCK) were evaluated. Binding characteristics were evaluated based on computational docking and previously reported experimental data. Results suggest that their binding conformations are highly dependent on steric volume and electrostatic properties of substituents.

[en] Nature-derived exosomes have been noted as emerging carriers for anticancer drugs. In this study, as a proof-of-concept, the anticancer drug doxorubicin (Dox) was loaded onto i-motif-modified exosomes (Exo-i-motif) to deliver Dox to cancer cells efficiently. The double-stranded biotin-i-motif/flare (ds-i-motif-bio)s efficiently released Dox in an acidic pH-responsive manner within 1 h. Based on gel electrophoresis, it was clearly confirmed that ds-i-motif-bio successfully interacts with biotin-conjugated exosomes and streptavidin (strep) via the biotin–streptavidin interaction. The particle sizes were below 150 nm without aggregation after strep-mediated modification of ds-i-motif-bio on the surfaces of the exosomes. In addition, released Dox had intact bioactivity for anti-proliferation after immobilization onto the exosomes. This study could serve as a new concept of pH-responsive delivery systems of anticancer drug using nature-derived exosomes with i-motifs.

[en] Our previous study we isolated novel bacterial stain, Epidermidibacterium keratini, called EPI-7^T from skin samples. Repeated column separation yielded one new pyrimidine compound, 1,1′-biuracil, from EPI-7^T culture solutions grown in R2A medium. Its chemical structure was determined based on spectroscopic data, IR, FAB/MS, and NMR. And 1,1′-biuracil and EPI-7^T culture solutions showed regulating effects of anti-aging associated mRNA expressions in UV-irradiated fibroblasts without toxicity in Hs68 cells. These results demonstrates the cosmetic potential of 1,1′-biuracil and EPI-7^T as anti-aging agents.