The health of mammary gland is essential for lactation. Epidermal growth factor (EGF) is reported to play an important role in lactation initiation and miR-223 is a conserved microRNA in anti-inflammation. In this study, EGF was found to induce a higher expression of miR-223 in goat mammary epithelial cell (gMEC). The downstream genes of miR-223 were screened by RNA sequencing, including Interferon-stimulated gene product 15 ( ISG15 ), a pivotal immune responder, which was detected to be downregulated by EGF and miR-223. Due to the correlation between inflammation and apoptosis, the gMEC apoptosis modulated by EGF, miR-223, and ISG15 was investigated, and the protein expressions of Bcl-2/Bax, Caspase 3 and p53 were examined to evaluate the apoptosis of gMEC. The protein expressions of p-STAT3/STAT3, PR, FOXC1, and HOXA10, which had been shown to be related to inflammation, were detected to assess the inflammation of gMEC. This study provided a regulation axis, EGF/miR-223/ ISG15 , and illustrated its regulation to gMEC apoptosis and inflammation.
In the title compound, C(16)H(13)IN(2), the benzene ring of the tetra-hydro-isoquinoline moiety makes a dihedral angle of 45.02 (9)° with the benzene ring of the 4-iodo-phenyl fragment. The N atom and the adjacent unsubstituted C atom of the tetra-hydro-isoquinoline unit are displaced by 0.294 (2) and 0.441 (3) Å, respectively, from the plane through the remaining eight C atoms. In the crystal, pairs of adjacent mol-ecules are linked into dimers by weak inter-molecular C-H⋯π inter-actions.
The forest musk deer (Moschus berezovskii) is an endangered artiodactyl species. Males have a musk gland that secretes musk. Musk is the raw material for many medicines and has high economic value. In recent years, because of the impacts of illegal trade and habitat fragmentation, the wild forest musk deer has nearly been driven to extinction, and it has been listed as a key protected animal by many countries. Since 2002, the Chinese government has listed wild forest musk deer populations as first-class nationally protected animals and has conducted many artificial breeding studies. In this article, we review and summarise the biological characteristics and protective measures of wild forest musk deer, the musk synthesis mechanisms and the factors influencing musk yield. We also discuss the problems facing forest musk deer conservation and the development of musk-related medicines.
In order to understand the antifungal activity of some derivatives of sanguinarine (S) and chelerythrine (C) and their structure-activity relationships, sixteen derivatives of S and C were prepared and evaluated for in vitro antifungal activity against seven phytopathogenic fungi by the mycelial growth rate method. The results showed that S, C and their 6-alkoxy dihydro derivatives S1–S4, C1–C4 and 6-cyanodihydro derivatives S5, C5 showed significant antifungal activity at 100 µg/mL against all the tested fungi. For most tested fungi, the median effective concentrations of S, S1, C and C1 were in a range of 14–50 µg/mL. The structure-activity relationship showed that the C=N+ moiety was the determinant for the antifungal activity of S and C. S1–S5 and C1–C5 could be considered as the precursors of S and C, respectively. Thus, the present results strongly suggested that S and C or their derivatives S1–S5 and C1–C5 should be considered as good lead compounds or model molecules to develop new anti-phytopathogenic fungal agents.
A universal and robust strategy using polyurethane sponge as a precursor was developed to synthesize highly-soluble nitrogen-doped carbon quantum dots via a solvothermal method.
Abstract There is an ever‐increasing demand for rechargeable batteries with fast charging, long cycling, high safety, and low cost in new energy storage systems. Herein, a heterogeneous architecture composed of MoS 2 ‐coupled carbon nanosheets encapsulated on sodium titanate nanowires is developed and demonstrated as an advanced anode for sodium‐ion batteries (SIBs). Owing to the synergistic effects of ultrastable substrate of 1D sodium titanate (NTO) nanowires, high‐capacity promoter of 2D MoS 2 nanosheets as well as the 2D conductive carbon matrix, the resulting 1D/2D–2D hybrid demonstrates excellent high‐rate capacity and super‐durable cyclability, delivering a stable capacity of up to 425.5 mAh g −1 at 200 mA g −1 . Even at an ultrafast charging/discharging process within 80 s, the capacity can be maintained at 201 mAh g −1 after 16 000 cycles with only 0.0012% capacity loss per cycle, one of the best high‐rate capacities and cyclabilities for NTO‐based hybrid composites. The present work highlights the designing protocol of hierarchical nanoarchitectures with stable substrate and high‐capacity electrodes for next‐generation energy storage applications.
There are two independent mol-ecules in the asymmetric unit of the title compound, C(15)H(13)NO(2), in both the six-membered dihydro-pyridine rings adopt a half-chair conformation. The two benzene rings make dihedral angles of 43.66 (10) and 62.22 (10)° in the two mol-ecules. In the crystal, the two independent mol-ecules are linked alternately by inter-molecular O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming a zigzag chain along the c axis. Furthermore, inter-molecular C-H⋯π inter-actions link the chains into a three-dimensional network.
Milk casein and triglyceride content are important production traits in goat. Study on mechanisms in milk casein secretion and mammary gland development is essential for milk goat breeding. miRNAs play an important role in goat lactation. While novel-miR-3880 is highly expressed at goat peak lactation stage, its molecular mechanism has not been studied. The purpose of the present study was to explore the relationship between novel-miR-3880 and lactation, as well as to construct a network among novel-miR-3880, ciRNA13761 and ELF2, thus further explore their potential roles in milk components and mammary gland development. ELF2 is previously proved to be important in cell survival and proliferation, and 3'-UTR of ELF2 was predicted to have binding sites of novel-miR-3880. Our study found that the overexpression of novel-miR-3880 exerted anti-apoptotic and proliferative roles in GMEC, induced a boost in triglyceride synthesis and caused a decrease in αs1-, αs2- and β-casein, but an increase in κ-casein secretion. Furthermore, treatment in mice indicated that novel-miR-3880 could promote mammary gland development and extend lactation period, while novel-miR-3880 expression was found to be suppressed by ciRNA13761 as a miRNA sponge. The present study explores a mechanism of triglyceride synthesis and casein secretion, and reveals a crosstalk between ciRNA13761/novel-miR-3880/ELF2 axis and PI3K/AKT/mTOR/S6K1 pathway, to gain a better understanding of lactation traits in dairy goats.
Background: Inspired by natural anti-inflammatory quaternary benzo[C]phenanthridine alkaloids, novel 2-phenylphthalazin-2-ium bromides were previously designed and synthesized. Objective: The anti-inflammatory effect of 2-phenylphthalazin-2-ium bromides was evaluated based on inflammatory cytokines, and their possible mechanism was explored through the NF-κB, TLR4 and MAPK signaling pathways. Methods: The tested concentrations of two compounds were assessed using MTT assay in vitro. Griess assay was used to determine the changes in nitric oxide (NO) in the cell culture supernatant. qRT‒PCR was used to detect the mRNA levels of inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-6, IL-1ß, IL-10, TNF-α, TLR4 and iNOS. The secretion levels of TNF-α and IL-1β were detected by ELISA. Western blot test was used to detect the protein expression of IL-6, IL-10, TLR4, iNOS, NF-κB, p-P38/P38, p- ERK/ERK and p-JNK/JNK. Results: 2-(3,5-Dichlorophenyl)phthalazin-2-ium bromide (2) with a concentration below 1 μg/mL showed no significant effect on the growth inhibition of RAW264.7 cells, so the concentrations of compound 2 used for experiments were set to 0, 0.25, 0.5 and 1 μg/mL. Compared with the blank control group, the model group showed increased release of NO, transcription levels of IL-6, IL-1ß, IL-10, TNF-α, TLR4 and iNOS (p<0.05), and ratios of p-P38/P38, p-ERK/ERK, p-JNK/JNK (p<0.05). Compared with the model group, the sample groups displayed decreased NO release and reduced transcriptional levels of IL-6, IL-1ß, IL-10, TNF-α, TLR4, and iNOS and reduced protein expression ratios of IL-6, IL-1ß, IL-10, TNF-α, NF-κB, TLR4, iNOS, p-P38/P38, p-ERK/ERK and p- JNK/JNK (p<0.05). Conclusion: This study showed that 2-phenylphthalazin-2-ium bromides partially protected macrophages from the LPS-induced inflammatory response by suppressing TLR4-NF-κB/MAPK signaling and reducing NO production.
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