Hydrogen sulfide serves as a biomarker in the anterior segment of patients with diabetic retinopathy

Rational design and syntheses of naphthalimide-based fluorescent probes for targeted detection of diabetes biomarkers

Diabetes poses serious health risks, leading to complications such as liver damage, renal issues, and heart inflammation. Diagnosis typically relies on blood sugar level testing, but qualitative markers like obesity and fatigue often manifest only after prolonged illness. To address the delay in diagnosis, the development of fluorescent probes has drawn the key attention. This review examines the recent advancements especially on Naphthalimide (NM) based fluorescent construct for detecting biomolecular changes related to diabetes and its complications. For the first time this review discusses the synthetic methods and design principles for these probes, providing valuable insights for researchers focused on diabetes treatment and probe development, and laying the groundwork for future clinical applications of these probes in early diabetes diagnosis and intervention.

Pharmacology of Hydrogen Sulfide and Its Donors in Cardiometabolic Diseases

Cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs) are major contributors to global mortality, emphasizing the critical need for novel therapeutic interventions. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has garnered enormous attention as a significant gasotransmitter with various physiological, pathophysiological, and pharmacological impacts within mammalian cardiometabolic systems. In addition to its roles in attenuating oxidative stress and inflammatory response, burgeoning research emphasizes the significance of H2S in regulating proteins via persulfidation, a well known modification intricately associated with the pathogenesis of CMDs. This review seeks to investigate recent updates on the physiological actions of endogenous H2S and the pharmacological roles of various H2S donors in addressing diverse aspects of CMDs across cellular, animal, and clinical studies. Of note, advanced methodologies, including multiomics, intestinal microflora analysis, organoid, and single-cell sequencing techniques, are gaining traction due to their ability to offer comprehensive insights into biomedical research. These emerging approaches hold promise in characterizing the pharmacological roles of H2S in health and diseases. We will critically assess the current literature to clarify the roles of H2S in diseases while also delineating the opportunities and challenges they present in H2S-based pharmacotherapy for CMDs. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: This comprehensive review covers recent developments in H2S biology and pharmacology in cardiometabolic diseases CMDs. Endogenous H2S and its donors show great promise for the management of CMDs by regulating numerous proteins and signaling pathways. The emergence of new technologies will considerably advance the pharmacological research and clinical translation of H2S.

Postbiotics: emerging therapeutic approach in diabetic retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a prevalent microvascular complication in diabetic patients that poses a serious risk as it can cause substantial visual impairment and even vision loss. Due to the prolonged onset of DR, lengthy treatment duration, and limited therapeutic effectiveness, it is extremely important to find a new strategy for the treatment of DR. Postbiotic is an emerging dietary supplement which consists of the inactivate microbiota and its metabolites. Numerous animal experiments have demonstrated that intervention with postbiotics reduces hyperglycemia, attenuates retinal peripapillary and endothelial cell damage, improves retinal microcirculatory dysfunction, and consequently delays the progression of DR. More strikingly, unlike conventional probiotics and prebiotics, postbiotics with small molecules can directly colonize the intestinal epithelial cells, and exert heat-resistant, acid-resistant, and durable for storage. Despite few clinical significance, oral administration with postbiotics might become the effective management for the prevention and treatment of DR. In this review, we summarized the basic conception, classification, molecular mechanisms, and the advances in the therapeutic implications of postbiotics in the pathogenesis of DR. Postbiotics present great potential as a viable adjunctive therapy for DR.

Lab-on-a-chip technologies for minimally invasive molecular sensing of diabetic retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the most common diabetic eye disease and the worldwide leading cause of vision loss in working-age adults. It progresses from mild to severe non-proliferative or proliferative DR based on several pathological features including the magnitude of blood-retinal barrier breakdown and neovascularization. Available pharmacological and retinal laser photocoagulation interventions are mostly applied in the advanced stages of DR and are inefficient in halting disease progression in a significantly high percentage of patients. Yet, recent evidence has shown that some therapies could potentially limit DR progression if applied at early stages, highlighting the importance of early disease diagnostics. In the past few decades, different imaging modalities have proved their utility for examining retinal and optic nerve changes in patients with retinal diseases. However, imaging based-methodologies solely rely on morphological examination of the retinal vascularization and are not suitable for recurrent and personalized patient evaluation. This raises the need for new technologies to enable accurate and early diagnosis of DR. In this review, we critically discuss the potential clinical benefit of minimally-invasive molecular biomarker identification and profiling of diabetic patients who are at risk of developing DR. We provide a comparative overview of conventional and recently developed lab-on-a-chip technologies for quantitative assessment of potential DR molecular biomarkers and discuss their advantages, current limitations and challenges for future practical implementation and continuous patient monitoring at the point-of-care.

Hydrogen Sulfide in Inflammation: A Novel Mediator and Therapeutic Target

Significance: Inflammation is a normal response to injury, but uncontrolled inflammation can lead to several diseases. In recent years, research has shown endogenously synthesized hydrogen sulfide (H2S) to be a novel mediator of inflammation. This review summarizes the current understanding and recent advances of H2S role with respect to inflammation in different diseases. Recent Advances: Promising early results from clinical studies suggest an important role of H2S in human inflammatory disease. Critical Issues: Defining the precise mechanism by which H2S contributes to inflammation is a complex challenge, and there is active ongoing research that is focused on addressing this question. Most of this work has been conducted on animal models of human disease and isolated/cultured cells, and its translation to the clinic is another challenge in the area of H2S research. Future Directions: Defining the mechanism by which H2S acts as an inflammatory mediator will help us better understand different inflammatory diseases and help develop novel therapeutic approaches for these diseases.

Hydrogen Sulfide Protects Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells from Oxidative Stress-Induced Apoptosis and Affects Autophagy

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a major cause of visual impairment and blindness among the elderly. AMD is characterized by retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cell dysfunction. However, the pathogenesis of AMD is still unclear, and there is currently no effective treatment. Accumulated evidence indicates that oxidative stress and autophagy play a crucial role in the development of AMD. H2S is an antioxidant that can directly remove intracellular superoxide anions and hydrogen peroxide. The purpose of this study is to investigate the antioxidative effect of H2S in RPE cells and its role in autophagy. The results show that exogenous H2S (NaHS) pretreatment effectively reduces H2O2-induced oxidative stress, oxidative damage, apoptosis, and inflammation in ARPE-19 cells. NaHS pretreatment also decreased autophagy levels raised by H2O2, increased cell viability, and ameliorated cell morphological damage. Interestingly, the suppression of autophagy by its inhibitor 3-MA showed an increase of cell viability, amelioration of morphology, and a decrease of apoptosis. In summary, oxidative stress causes ARPE-19 cell injury by inducing cell autophagy. However exogenous H2S is shown to attenuate ARPE-19 cell injury, decrease apoptosis, and reduce the occurrence of autophagy-mediated by oxidative stress. These findings suggest that autophagy might play a crucial role in the development of AMD, and exogenous H2S has a potential value in the treatment of AMD.