DietSee: An on-hand, portable, strip-type biosensor for lipolysis monitoring via real-time amperometric determination of glycerol in blood

Metabolomic analysis reveals the metabolic disturbance in aortic dissection: Subtype difference and accurate diagnosis

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Aortic dissection (AD), a severe clinical emergency with high mortality, is easily misdiagnosed as are other cardiovascular diseases. This study aimed at discovering plasma metabolic markers with the potential to diagnose AD and clarifying the metabolic differences between two subtypes of AD.

METHODS AND RESULTS

To facilitate the diagnosis of AD, we investigated the plasma metabolic profile by metabolomic approach. A total 482 human subjects were enrolled in the study: 80 patients with AD (50 with Stanford type A and 30 with Stanford type B), 198 coronary artery disease (CAD) patients, and 204 healthy individuals. Plasma samples were submitted to targeted metabolomic analysis. The partial least-squares discriminant analysis models were constructed to illustrate clear discrimination of AD patients with CAD patients and healthy control. Subsequently, the metabolites that were clinically relevant to the disturbances in AD were identified. Twenty metabolites induced the separation of AD patients and healthy control, 9 of which caused the separation of CAD patients and healthy control. There are 11 metabolites specifically down-regulated in AD group. Subgroup analysis showed that the levels of glycerol and uridine were dramatically lower in the plasma of patients with Stanford type A AD than those in the healthy control or Stanford type B AD groups.

CONCLUSION

This study characterized metabolomic profiles specifically associated with the pathogenesis and development of AD. The findings of this research may potentially lead to earlier diagnosis and treatment of AD.

Abnormal lipid metabolism in cancer-associated cachexia and potential therapy strategy

Cancer-associated cachexia (CAC) is a major characteristic of advanced cancer, associates with almost all types of cancer. Recent studies have found that lipopenia is an important feature of CAC, and it even occurs earlier than sarcopenia. Different types of adipose tissue are all important in the process of CAC. In CAC patients, the catabolism of white adipose tissue (WAT) is increased, leading to an increase in circulating free fatty acids (FFAs), resulting in " lipotoxic". At the same time, WAT also is induced by a variety of mechanisms, browning into brown adipose tissue (BAT). BAT is activated in CAC and greatly increases energy expenditure in patients. In addition, the production of lipid is reduced in CAC, and the cross-talk between adipose tissue and other systems, such as muscle tissue and immune system, also aggravates the progression of CAC. The treatment of CAC is still a vital clinical problem, and the abnormal lipid metabolism in CAC provides a new way for the treatment of CAC. In this article, we will review the mechanism of metabolic abnormalities of adipose tissue in CAC and its role in treatment.

BSA-stabilized manganese phosphate nanoflower with enhanced nanozyme activity for highly sensitive and rapid detection of glutathione

The development of an efficient protein-inorganic nanohybrid with superior nanozyme activity for highly sensitive detection of glutathione (GSH) is essential for early diagnosis of human diseases. Herein, a rapid and highly sensitive colorimetric assay using self-assembled bovine serum albumin-hydrated manganese phosphate nanoflowers (MnPNF) as a biomimic oxidase is developed for GSH detection in human serum. The BSA can complex with Mn²⁺ to serve the nucleation center to produce MnPNF in the presence of phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). The morphology and surface characterization results show that the MnPNF is assembled with hierarchical nanoplates to form 500 nm nanoflowers. The oxidase-like activity of MnPNF is based on the redox reaction with 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine. However, the addition of GSH can reduce MnPNF to Mn²⁺, and subsequently supresses the oxidase-like activity and a yellow color at 450 nm is observed in the presence of H₂SO₄. The MnPNF-based nanozyme exhibits excellent sensing ability toward GSH detection, and a good linear relationship between the change in absorbance at 450 nm and the added amounts of GSH at 50 nM-10 μM with low limits of detection of 20 and 26.6 nM in the PBS and diluted human serum, respectively, is observed. Moreover, the sensing probe shows a superior selectivity over the other 16 interferences, which drive the determination of GSH feasible in real human serum. Since the MnPNF can be simply prepared at room temperature and no functionalization is required, this assay can be used to design the highly efficient biomimic oxidase for effective sensing of GSH and other disease-related biomolecules in biological fluid samples.