Fullerene nanoparticles for the treatment of ulcerative colitis

Effects of Dietary Supplementation of Zinc Oxide Quantum Dots on Growth Performance and Gut Health in Broilers

This study aims to investigate the effect of different levels of zinc oxide quantum dots (ZnO-QDs) on the growth performance and gut health in broilers. A total of 1125 1-day-old Ross 308 broilers were randomly divided into five groups with 15 replicates of 15 chicks each. The broilers were fed basal diets supplemented with 0, 40, 80, 120, or 160 mg Zn/kg as ZnO-QDs for 6 weeks. The results showed that dietary 80 and 120 mg Zn/kg ZnO-QD supplementation increased (P < 0.05) average daily gain (1.4-1.7%) and reduced feed conversion ratio (1.3%) compared to the basal diet group during various experimental periods. Meanwhile, 80 mg Zn/kg ZnO-QD supplementation increased (P < 0.05) trypsin activity (25.4%), villus height, and the ratio of villus height to crypt depth in the jejunum. Moreover, 80 mg Zn/kg ZnO-QD supplementation increased (P < 0.05) the activities of glutathione reductase (47.7%) and superoxide dismutase (30.9%), while 120 mg Zn/kg ZnO-QD supplementation decreased (P < 0.05) glutathione peroxidase activity (27.1%) in the jejunum. Furthermore, 40 mg Zn/kg ZnO-QD supplementation down-regulated (P < 0.05) the expression of genes; interleukin-2, transforming growth factor β (TGF-β), Cathelicidin-1, Cathelicidin-2, Cathelicidin-3, and Occludin, while 80-160 mg Zn/kg ZnO-QD supplementation up-regulated (P < 0.05) Claudin-2 expression in the jejunum. In conclusion, dietary ZnO-QD supplementation improved growth performance of broilers potentially by enhancing their intestinal health status. Based on nonlinear regression analysis, the appropriate level of ZnO-QD supplementation would be from 98.2 to 102.5 mg Zn/kg.

A Comprehensive Review of Nanoparticles: From Classification to Application and Toxicity

Nanoparticles are structures that possess unique properties with high surface area-to-volume ratio. Their small size, up to 100 nm, and potential for surface modifications have enabled their use in a wide range of applications. Various factors influence the properties and applications of NPs, including the synthesis method and physical attributes such as size and shape. Additionally, the materials used in the synthesis of NPs are primary determinants of their application. Based on the chosen material, NPs are generally classified into three categories: organic, inorganic, and carbon-based. These categories include a variety of materials, such as proteins, polymers, metal ions, lipids and derivatives, magnetic minerals, and so on. Each material possesses unique attributes that influence the activity and application of the NPs. Consequently, certain NPs are typically used in particular areas because they possess higher efficiency along with tenable toxicity. Therefore, the classification and the base material in the NP synthesis hold significant importance in both NP research and application. In this paper, we discuss these classifications, exemplify most of the major materials, and categorize them according to their preferred area of application. This review provides an overall review of the materials, including their application, and toxicity.

A novel fullerene composite material for directional oil control and antioxidant

BACKGROUND

There are very few cosmetic ingredients that can target oil control and extend the wear time. Fullerenes have been reported to have excellent antioxidant capacity and a variety of biological activities, such as quenching free radicals, inhibiting lipid peroxidation, and promoting lipid flocculation.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of applying foundation makeup on the face is to make the skin color even, but the secretion and oxidation of skin oil will make the makeup mottled and dull. In order to solve this problem, a fullerene composite material that can directionally absorb oil and resist oil oxidation has been developed.

METHODS

Fullerenes and hydroxyapatite composite was prepared by high pressure homogenization under alkaline condition. The indicated morphology and structure were characterized by SEM, UV-Vis, Raman, and XRD. The oil absorption capacity was determined by adding the C60 -hydroxyapatite composite to a mixed solution of hexane and oil, shaking for 1 h, filtering, analyzed by GC-MS, and calculating the oil absorption by external standard method. Artificial sebum was prepared by adding different mass of water and oleic acid to screen the optimum ratio. C60 -hydroxyapatite mixture and C60 -hydroxyapatite composite were added to the artificial sebum to test the oil-absorbing capacity of the materials. The hydroxyl radical scavenging ability of C60 -hydroxyapatite composite containing different fullerene contents was measured by X-band ESR spectroscopy, and the long-term radical scavenging ability of the composites was tested in comparison with VC. Antioxidant experiment is adding C60 -hydroxyapatite composite material, and hydroxyapatite to oleic acid, then the UV light irradiation is aimed to accelerate the oxidation of oleic acid. Oleic acid act as a control group, and make the detection of oleic acid peroxide value after 7 days. The safety of the materials was tested by using culture media to soak the C60 -hydroxyapatite composite for 24 h and then used to culture cells.

RESULTS

The characterization of SEM, UV-Vis, Raman, and XRD showed that fullerene clusters were dispersed on the surface of hydroxyapatite stably, and they formed a stable composite. The adsorption rates of C60 -hydroxyapatite composites for oleic acid, phenyl trimethicone, caprylic capric glyceride, isooctyl palmitate, mineral oil, olive oil, and dimethicone were 60.5%, 9.3%, 9.15%, 5.24%, 2.94%, 1.01%, and 0%, respectively. The flocculation amount of artificial sebum was 5.9 g per gram of C60 -hydroxyapatite mixture and 24.2 g per gram of C60 -hydroxyapatite composite. C60 -hydroxyapatite composites have excellent quenching ability for hydroxyl radicals. When the fullerene content is 1, 2, 3, and 4 mg/kg, the quenching rates are 25.02%, 39.57%, 49.75%, and 62.24%, respectively. The quenching effect was enhanced with the increase of fullerene content, and it had strong long-term antioxidant properties. It can also be proved that C60 -hydroxyapatite composites have strong antioxidant capacity through antioxidant experiments. The peroxide value of oleic acid on Day 0 was 2.8, and after 7 days of UV irradiation, the peroxide values of blank control, hydroxyapatite group, C60 -hydroxyapatite composite containing 0.5% and 1% fullerenes four groups of materials were 8.02 meq O2 /kg, 7.98 meq O2 /kg, 7.11 meq O2 /kg, and 6.87 meq O2 /kg, respectively. The cell activity was 20.94% and 99.2% after the cells were cultured for 24 h using C60 -hydroxyapatite composite and hydroxyapatite extracts, respectively, and the addition of fullerene was able to significantly increase the cell activity.

CONCLUSION

Fullerene hydroxyapatite complex has excellent directional oil absorption characteristics, which can effectively remove free radicals and reduce skin oil oxidation.

Curdlan-Decorated Fullerenes Mitigate Immune-Mediated Hepatic Injury for Autoimmune Hepatitis Therapeutics via Reducing Macrophage Infiltration

Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a severe immune-mediated inflammatory liver disease whose standard of care is immunosuppressive treatment with inevitable undesired outcomes. Macrophage is acknowledged to aggravate liver damage, providing a promising AIH therapeutic target. Accordingly, in this study, a kind of curdlan-decorated fullerene nanoparticle (Cur-F) is fabricated to alleviate immune-mediated hepatic injury for treating AIH via reducing macrophage infiltration in a concanavalin A (Con A)-induced AIH mouse model. After intravenous administration, Cur-F primarily distributes in liver tissues, efficiently eliminates the excessive reactive oxygen species, significantly attenuates oxidative stress, and subsequently suppresses the nuclear factor kappa-B-gene binding (NF-κB) signal pathway, resulting in the lowered production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and the balancing of the immune homeostasis with the prevention of macrophage infiltration in the liver. The regulation of hepatic inflammation contributes to inhibiting inflammatory cytokines-induced hepatocyte apoptosis, decreasing the serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) contents and thus ameliorating immune-mediated hepatic injury. Notably, there is no detectable toxicity to the body. Our findings may open up novel avenues for AIH based on curdlan and fullerene materials.

Oral nano-antioxidants improve sleep by restoring intestinal barrier integrity and preventing systemic inflammation

Sleep deprivation (SD) is a severe public health threat that can cause systemic inflammation and nerve damage. Few effective and side-effect-free drugs are available to address SD. However, the bidirectional communications between the brain and gut provide new strategies for anti-SD therapeutics. Here we explored oral delivery of fullerene nano-antioxidants (FNAO) in the SD model to improve sleep by regulating abnormal intestinal barrier and systemic inflammation via the brain-gut axis. SD caused excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and hyperactive inflammatory responses in the intestines of zebrafish and mouse models, leading to disturbed sleep patterns and reduced brain nerve activity. Of note, based on the property of the conjugated π bond of the C60 structure to absorb unpaired electrons, oral FNAO efficiently reduced the excessive ROS in the intestines, maintained redox homeostasis and intestinal barrier integrity, and ameliorated intestinal and systemic inflammation, resulting in superior sleep improvement. Our findings suggest that maintaining intestinal homeostasis may be a promising avenue for SD-related nerve injury therapy.

Efficiently Inhibiting Systemic Inflammatory Cascades by Fullerenes for Retarding HFD-Fueled Atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis accounts for major mortality of cardiac-cerebral vascular diseases worldwide. Pathologically, persistent inflammation dominates the progression of atherosclerosis, which can be accelerated by a high-fat diet (HFD), possibly through triggering local intestinal oxidative stress and ensuing gut barrier dysfunction. Current pharmacotherapy has been disappointing, ascribed to limited therapeutic efficacy and undesirable side effects. Hence it is compelling to explore novel efficient anti-atherosclerotic drugs with minimal toxicity. Herein, two fullerene-based therapies with exceptional antioxidant capacity, in the form of water-soluble injectable fullerene nanoparticles (IFNPs) and oral fullerene tablets (OFTs), are demonstrated to retard HFD-fueled atherosclerosis in ApoE-/- mice with favorable biosafety. Especially, OFTs afford robust anti-atherosclerotic therapeutic even against advanced plaques, besides stabilizing plaques with less lipid deposition and improved collagen expression. Specifically, it is identified that OFTs can ameliorate HFD-induced dysregulated intestinal redox homeostasis and restore gut barrier integrity, thereby restraining the translocation of luminal lipopolysaccharide (LPS) into the bloodstream. Furthermore, significantly reduced circulating LPS after OFTs treatment contributes to down-regulated LPS/TLR4/NF-κB signaling in aortic focal, which further mitigates local inflammation and disease development. Overall, this study confirms the universal anti-atherosclerotic effect of fullerenes and provides a novel therapeutic mechanism via modulating intestinal barrier to attenuate atherosclerosis.

Poly-β-hydroxybutyrate alleviated diarrhea and colitis via Lactobacillus johnsonii biofilm-mediated maturation of sulfomucin

Maintainance of sulfomucin is a key end point in the treatment of diarrhea and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, the mechanisms underlying the microbial sense to sulfomucin are poorly understood, and to date, there are no therapies targeting the secretion and maturation of sulfomucin in IBD. Herein, we biosynthesized poly-β-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) and found that PHB could alleviate inflammation caused by diarrhea and colitis by enhancing the differentiation of sulfomucin. Microbiota transplantation and clearance together demonstrate that PHB promoting sulfomucin is mediated by Lactobacillus johnsonii (L. johnsonii). Further studies revealed that PHB provides a favorable niche for L. johnsonii biofilm formation to resist disturbance and support its growth. L. johnsonii-biofilm alleviates colitis by regulating fucose residues to promote goblet cell differentiation and subsequent sulfomucin maturation. Importantly, PHB alleviates colitis by enhancing sulfomucin secretion and maturation in a L. johnsonii-dependent manner. PHB represents a class of guardians, acting as a safe probiotic-biofilm delivery system that significantly promotes probiotic proliferation. Altogether, this study adds weight to the possible role of probiotics and functional materials in the treatment of intestinal inflammation. The application of PHB and biofilm self-coating L. johnsonii carries high translational potential and may be of clinical relevance.

Oral fullerene tablets for colorectal cancer therapy based on modulation of tumor inflammatory microenvironments

The development and progression of colorectal cancer (CRC) are highly dependent on the long-term inflammatory microenvironment with immune dysregulation in the colorectum. However, effective therapeutics are limited to targeting CRC. Here, we developed oral fullerene tablets (OFTs) that can act directly on the colorectal site by oral administration and reduce the inflammatory state at the tumor site for effective CRC therapy. In detail, OFTs scavenged reactive oxygen species (ROS), restrained the mutation of the wild-type P53, inhibited the activation of the inflammatory pathway nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) and the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) in the colorectum of CRC mice. Subsequently, OFTs could greatly reduce the infiltration of pro-inflammatory M1 macrophages and neutrophils at the tumor site, restoring the inflammatory microenvironment and immune homeostasis in the colorectal region, and ultimately achieving the inhibition of CRC. In addition, there were no significant toxic side effects of the long-term administration of OFTs. Our work provides an effective oral therapeutic strategy for CRC therapy by modulating the colorectal tumor inflammatory microenvironment and sheds light on the route for oral nano-materials in the clinical treatment of CRC.

Cleavage of the selective autophagy receptor SQSTM1/p62 by the SARS-CoV-2 main protease NSP5 prevents the autophagic degradation of viral membrane proteins

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic. Omicron, a new variant of SARS-CoV-2, has the characteristics of strong transmission and pathogenicity, short incubation period, and rapid onset progression, and has spread rapidly around the world. The high replication rate and intracellular accumulation of SARS-CoV-2 are remarkable, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. Autophagy acts as a conservative cellular defence mechanism against invading pathogens. Here, we provide evidence that the main protease of SARS-CoV-2, NSP5, effectively cleaves the selective autophagy receptor p62. NSP5 targets p62 for cleavage at glutamic acid 354 and thus abolishes the capacity of p62 to mediate selective autophagy. It was further shown that p62 specifically interacted with ubiquitinated SARS-CoV-2 M, the viral membrane protein, to promote its autophagic degradation. In the presence of NSP5, p62-mediated autophagic degradation of the M protein was inhibited. The cleaved products of p62 also cannot facilitate the degradation of the M protein. Collectively, our findings reveal that p62 is a novel host target of SARS-CoV-2 NSP5 and suggest that selective autophagy targets viruses and potential strategies by which the virus evades autophagic clearance. Our results may provide new ideas for the development of anti-COVID-19 drugs based on autophagy and NSP5.

Endophytic bacterial and fungal community compositions in different organs of ginseng (Panax ginseng)

Panax ginseng (Panax ginseng C. A. Mey.) is a perennial herb of the genus ginseng, which is used as medicine with dried roots and rhizomes. With the deepening of research on ginseng, the chemical components and pharmacological effects of ginseng have gradually been discovered. Endophytes are beneficial to host plants. However, the composition of endophytes in different organs from ginseng is poorly elucidated. The report of ginsenoside production by endophytic microbes isolated from Panax sp., motivated us to explore the endophytic microbial diversity related to the roots, stems, and leaves. In this study, the V5-V7 variable region of endophytic bacteria 16S rRNA gene and V1 variable region of endophytic fungi ITS gene in different organs were analyzed by high-throughput sequencing. The diversity and abundance of endophytic microbes in the three organs are different and are affected by the organs. For example, the most abundant endophytic bacterial genus in roots was Mycobacterium, while, the stems and leaves were Ochrobactrum. Similarly, the fungal endophytes, Coniothyrium and Cladosporium, were also found in high abundance in stems, in comparison to roots and leaves. The Shannon index shows that the diversity of endophytic bacteria in roots is the highest, and the richness of endophytic bacterial was root > stem (p < 0.05). Principal coordinate analysis showed that there were obvious microbial differences among the three groups, and the endophytic bacterial composition of the leaves was closer to that of the roots. This study provides an important reference for the study of endophytic microorganisms in ginseng.

Structural and functional insights into the spike protein mutations of emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants

Since the emergence of the first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), the viral genome has constantly undergone rapid mutations for better adaptation in the host system. These newer mutations have given rise to several lineages/ variants of the virus that have resulted in high transmission and virulence rates compared to the previously circulating variants. Owing to this, the overall caseload and related mortality have tremendously increased globally to > 233 million infections and > 4.7 million deaths as of Sept. 28th, 2021. SARS-CoV-2, Spike (S) protein binds to host cells by recognizing human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2) receptor. The viral S protein contains S1 and S2 domains that constitute the binding and fusion machinery, respectively. Structural analysis of viral S protein reveals that the virus undergoes conformational flexibility and dynamicity to interact with the hACE2 receptor. The SARS-CoV-2 variants and mutations might be associated with affecting the conformational plasticity of S protein, potentially linked to its altered affinity, infectivity, and immunogenicity. This review focuses on the current circulating variants of SARS-CoV-2 and the structure-function analysis of key S protein mutations linked with increased affinity, higher infectivity, enhanced transmission rates, and immune escape against this infection.