Necrostatin-1 protects against glutamate-induced glutathione depletion and caspase-independent cell death in HT-22 cells

Glutamate, a major excitatory neurotransmitter in the CNS, plays a critical role in neurological disorders such as stroke and Parkinson's disease. Recent studies have suggested that glutamate excess can result in a form of cell death called glutamate-induced oxytosis. In this study, we explore the protective effects of necrostatin-1 (Nec-1), an inhibitor of necroptosis, on glutamate-induced oxytosis. We show that Nec-1 inhibits glutamate-induced oxytosis in HT-22 cells through a mechanism that involves an increase in cellular glutathione (GSH) levels as well as a reduction in reactive oxygen species production. However, Nec-1 had no protective effect on free radical-induced cell death caused by hydrogen peroxide or menadione, which suggests that Nec-1 has no antioxidant effects. Interestingly, the protective effect of Nec-1 was still observed when cellular GSH was depleted by buthionine sulfoximine, a specific and irreversible inhibitor of glutamylcysteine synthetase. Our study further demonstrates that Nec-1 significantly blocks the nuclear translocation of apoptosis-inducing factor (a marker of caspase-independent programmed cell death ) and inhibits the integration of Bcl-2/adenovirus E1B 19 kDa-interacting protein 3 (a pro-death member of the Bcl-2 family) into the mitochondrial membrane. Taken together, these results demonstrate for the first time that Nec-1 prevents glutamate-induced oxytosis in HT-22 cells through GSH related as well as apoptosis-inducing factor and Bcl-2/adenovirus E1B 19 kDa-interacting protein 3-related pathways.     

尼古丁调节大鼠冠状动脉平滑肌细胞大电导钙激活钾通道

目的:研究尼古丁对Wistar大鼠冠状动脉平滑肌大电导钙激活钾通道(BKca)活性的抑制作用及其细胞信号转导机制。方法:8周雄性Wistar大鼠随机分为两组:生理盐水组和尼古丁组;分别予以生理盐水和尼古丁2mg/(kg.d)注射21 d,蛋白酶法分离冠状动脉血管平滑肌细胞,将两组平滑肌细胞分别以对氯苯硫基环腺苷酸(CPT-cAMP,100μmol/L)和佛司可林(forskolin,10μmol/L)干预,单通道膜片钳记录干预前后平滑肌细胞单通道电流的平均开放时间(To)、平均关闭时间(Tc)、平均开放概率(Po)。结果:CPT-cAMP和Forskolin均能显著延长生理盐水组大鼠BKca的平均开放时间,缩短平均关闭时间,增加通道开放概率(P均<0.01)。对尼古丁组BKca的To、Tc、Po均无明显影响。结论:尼古丁促使冠状动脉血管收缩的生理机制是通过抑制cAMP/PKA途径诱导的大电导钙激活钾通道活性增加实现的。     

Conductive and Catalytic Triple‐Phase Interfaces Enabling Uniform Nucleation in High‐Rate Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

Rechargeable lithium–sulfur batteries have attracted tremendous scientific attention owing to their superior energy density. However, the sulfur electrochemistry involves multielectron redox reactions and complicated phase transformations, while the final morphology of solid‐phase Li₂S precipitates largely dominate the battery's performance. Herein, a triple‐phase interface among electrolyte/CoSe₂/G is proposed to afford strong chemisorption, high electrical conductivity, and superb electrocatalysis of polysulfide redox reactions in a working lithium–sulfur battery. The triple‐phase interface effectively enhances the kinetic behaviors of soluble lithium polysulfides and regulates the uniform nucleation and controllable growth of solid Li₂S precipitates at large current density. Therefore, the cell with the CoSe₂/G functional separator delivers an ultrahigh rate cycle at 6.0 C with an initial capacity of 916 mAh g^?1 and a capacity retention of 459 mAh g^?1 after 500 cycles, and a stable operation of high sulfur loading electrode (2.69–4.35 mg cm^?2). This work opens up a new insight into the energy chemistry at interfaces to rationally regulate the electrochemical redox reactions, and also inspires the exploration of related energy storage and conversion systems based on multielectron redox reactions.     

β‐arrestin 2 negatively regulates NOD2 signalling pathway through association with TRAF6 in microglia after cerebral ischaemia/reperfusion injury

We previously reported that nucleotide‐binding oligomerization domain‐containing protein (NOD) 2 was involved in the inflammatory responses to cerebral ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) insult. However, the mechanism by which NOD2 participates in brain ischaemic injury and the regulation of NOD2 in the process are still obscure. Increased β‐arrestin 2 (ARRB2) expression was observed in microglia following cerebral I/R in wild‐type mice besides the up‐regulation of NOD2 and TRAF6. Stimulation of NOD2 by muramyl dipeptide (MDP) in BV2 cells induced the activation of NF‐κB by the phosphorylation of p65 subunit and the degradation of IκBα. Meanwhile, the protein level of Cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2), the protein expression and activity of MMP‐9 were significantly increased in BV2 cells after administration of MDP. Furthermore, overexpression of ARRB2 significantly suppressed the inflammation induced by MDP, silence of ARRB2 significantly enhanced the inflammation induced by MDP in BV2 cells. In addition, we observed endogenous interaction of TRAF6 and ARRB2 after stimulation of MDP or cerebral I/R insult, indicating ARRB2 negatively regulates NOD2‐triggered inflammatory signalling pathway by associating with TRAF6 in microglia after cerebral I/R injury. Finally, the in vivo study clearly confirmed that ARRB2 negatively regulated NOD2‐induced inflammatory response, as ARRB2 deficiency exacerbated stroke outcomes and aggravated the NF‐κB signalling pathway induced by NOD2 stimulation after cerebral I/R injury. These findings revealed ARRB2 negatively regulated NOD2 signalling pathway through the association with TRAF6 in cerebral I/R injury.     

Liquid–Solid Interfacial Assemblies of Soft Materials for Functional Freestanding Layered Membrane–Based Devices toward Electrochemical Energy Systems

Freestanding layered membrane–based devices have broad applications in highly efficient energy‐storage/conversion systems. The liquid–solid interface is considered as a unique yet versatile interface for constructing such layered membrane–based devices. In this review, the authors outline recent developments in the fabrication of soft materials to functionalize layered devices from the aspect of liquid–solid interfacial assembly and engineering arts. Seven liquid–solid interfacial assembly strategies, including flow‐directed, superlattice, solvent‐casting, evaporation‐induced, dip‐coating, spinning, and electrospinning assemblies, are comprehensively highlighted with a focus on their synthetic pathways, formation mechanisms, and interface engineering strategies. Meanwhile, recent representative works on layered membrane–based devices for electrochemical energy applications are presented. Finally, challenges and opportunities of this research area are highlighted in order to stimulate future developments. This review not only offers comprehensive and practical approaches to assemble liquid–solid interfaces with soft materials for various important layered electrochemical energy devices but also sheds lights on fundamental insights by thoughtful discussions on performance enhancement mechanisms of these electrochemical energy systems.     

Lnc-PFAR facilitates autophagy and exacerbates pancreatic fibrosis by reducing pre-miR-141 maturation in chronic pancreatitis

Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is described as progressive inflammatory fibrosis of pancreas, accompanied with irreversible impaired endocrine and exocrine insufficiency. Pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs) are widely distributed in the stroma of the pancreas and PSCs activation has been shown as one of the leading causes for pancreatic fibrosis. Our previous study has revealed that autophagy is dramatically activated in CP tissues, which facilitates PSCs activation and pancreatic fibrosis. Long non-coding RNAs (LncRNAs) have been recognized as crucial regulators for fibrosis-related diseases. LncRNAs interact with RNA binding protein or construct competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) hypothesis which elicited the fibrotic processes. Until now, the effects of lncRNAs on PSCs activation and pancreatic fibrosis have not been clearly explored. In this study, a novel lncRNA named Lnc-PFAR was found highly expressed in mouse and human CP tissues. Our data revealed that Lnc-PFAR facilitates PSCs activation and pancreatic fibrosis via RB1CC1-induced autophagy. Lnc-PFAR reduces miR-141 expression by suppressing pre-miR-141 maturation, which eventually upregulates the RB1CC1 and fibrosis-related indicators expression. Meanwhile, Lnc-PFAR enhanced PSCs activation and pancreatic fibrosis through trigging autophagy. Our study interrogates a novel lncRNA-induced mechanism in promoting the development of pancreatic fibrosis, and Lnc-PFAR is suggested to be a prospective therapeutic target in clinical scenarios.Subject terms: RNAi, Diagnostic markers, Chronic pancreatitis     

FLZ Alleviates the Memory Deficits in Transgenic Mouse Model of Alzheimer’s Disease via Decreasing Beta-Amyloid Production and Tau Hyperphosphorylation

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia worldwide and mainly characterized by the aggregated β-amyloid (Aβ) and hyperphosphorylated tau. FLZ is a novel synthetic derivative of natural squamosamide and has been proved to improve memory deficits in dementia animal models. In this study, we aimed to investigate the mechanisms of FLZ’s neuroprotective effect in APP/PS1 double transgenic mice and SH-SY5Y (APPwt/swe) cells. The results showed that treatment with FLZ significantly improved the memory deficits of APP/PS1 transgenic mice and decreased apoptosis of SH-SY5Y (APPwt/swe) cells. FLZ markedly attenuated Aβ accumulation and tau phosphorylation both in vivo and in vitro. Mechanistic study showed that FLZ interfered APP processing, i.e., FLZ decreased β-amyloid precursor protein (APP) phosphorylation, APP-carboxy-terminal fragment (APP-CTF) production and β-amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1) expression. These results indicated that FLZ reduced Aβ production through inhibiting amyloidogenic pathway. The mechanistic study about FLZ’s inhibitory effect on tau phosphorylation revealed t the involvement of Akt/glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β) pathway. FLZ treatment increased Akt activity and inhibited GSK3β activity both in vivo and in vitro. The inhibitory effect of FLZ on GSK3β activity and tau phosphorylation was suppressed by inhibiting Akt activity, indicating that Akt/GSK3β pathway might be the possible mechanism involved in the inhibitory effect of FLZ on tau hyperphosphorylation. These results suggested FLZ might be a potential anti-AD drug as it not only reduced Aβ production via inhibition amyloidogenic APP processing pathway, but also attenuated tau hyperphosphoylation mediated by Akt/GSK3β.     

Marker-assisted selection for two rust resistance genes in sunflower

In this study we report on the identification of molecular markers, OX20₆₀₀ and OO04₉₅₀, linked to the geneR _Adv in the proprietary inbred line P2. This gene confers resistance to most of the pathotypes of Puccinia helianthi identified in Australia. Analysis indicates these RAPD markers are linked to the resistance locus at 0.0 cM and 11 cM respectively. SCAR markers SCX20₆₀₀ and SCO04₉₅₀ derived from these two RAPD markers, and SCT06₉₅₀ derived from a previously reported RAPD marker linked at 4.5 cM from the R ₁ rust resistance gene were developed. SCX20₆₀₀ and SCO04₉₅₀ were linked at similar distances from their resistance locus as the RAPD markers. SCTO6₉₅₀ co-segregated completely with rust resistance. The robustness of the R ₁ SCAR marker was demonstrated through the amplification of the marker in a diverse range of sunflower germplasm considered to possess the R ₁ gene. The SCAR markers forR _Adv were not amplified in the sunflower rust differential set thereby supporting the contention that this is a novel resistance gene. They did amplify in a number of proprietary lines closely related to the line P2. This locus is under further investigation as it will be useful in our attempts to use molecular-assisted breeding to produce durable resistance in sunflower to P. helianthi.