Effectiveness of oral phloroglucinol as a premedication for unsedated esophagogastroduodenoscopy: A prospective, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, randomized trial

Hyaluronan-based nano-formulation with mesoporous silica enhances the anticancer efficacy of phloroglucinol against gastrointestinal cancers

Gastrointestinal cancers are one among the most frequently reported cancers where colorectal and gastric cancers ranks third leading cause of cancer related death worldwide. Phloroglucinol, a well-known therapeutic agent for cancer, where its usage has been limited due to its poor water solubility and bioavailability. Hence, our study aims to synthesize and characterize Hyaluronan grafted phloroglucinol loaded Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN-PG-HA). Our nano-formulation hasn't shown any teratogenic effect on Zebrafish embryos, no hemolysis and toxic effect with normal fibroblast cells with a maximum concentration of 300 μg/mL. The cumulative drug release profile of MSN-PG-HA showed a maximum drug release of 96.9 % with 5 mM GSH under redox responsive drug release, which is crucial for targeting cancer cells. In addition, the MSN-PG-HA nanoparticles showed significant a cytotoxic effect against HCT-116, AGS and SW-620 with IC50 values of 86.5 μg/mL, 80.65 μg/mL and 109.255 μg/mL respectively. Also, the cellular uptake assay has shown an increased uptake of FITC-labeled-MSN-PG-HA by HA-receptor mediated endocytosis than FITC-labeled-MSN-PG without HA modification in CD44+ gastrointestinal cancer cell lines. The ability of MSN-PG-HA to target CD44+ cells was further exploited for its application in cancer stem cell research utilizing in silico analysis with various stem cell pathway related targets, in which PG showed higher binding affinity with Gli 1 and the simulation studies proving its effectiveness in disrupting the protein structure. Thus, the findings of our study with nano-formulation are safe and non-toxic to recommend for targeted drug delivery against gastrointestinal cancers as well as its affinity towards cancer stem cell pathway related proteins proving to be a significant formulation for cancer stem cell research.

Construction of prokaryotic nanocompartment in Yarrowia lipolytica to assist phloroglucinol production

Phloroglucinol is an important chemical intermediate which has been tentatively produced by engineered bacteria. However, its biosynthesis in industry is limited due to its natural antibacterial activity. Our study firstly selected Yarrowia lipolytica as the chassis strain, which was verified to be tolerable to phloroglucinol. Then the gene of type III polyketone synthase PhlD (the key biosynthetic gene) was overexpressed to facilitate phloroglucinol production with a concentration of 107.4 mg/L. Furthermore, we introduced the prokaryotic nanocompartment to assist the intracellular catalytic activity. The results showed that the concentration of phloroglucinol was increased by about 2.5 times, indicating this multifunctional nanocompartment is orthogonal to the physiological activities of Y. lipolytica. Additionally, fermentations with xylose and lignocellulosic hydrolysates as the carbon source were performed with the engineered Y. lipolytica, resulting in a total concentration of 580.2 mg/L and 328.9 mg/L, respectively. These findings revealed the potential of Y. lipolytica in phloroglucinol production and provided an effective nanocompartment strategy to improve the catalytic activity of the enzyme for boosting phloroglucinol production. KEY POINTS: • The first time to select and use Y. lipolytica to produce phloroglucinol. • Successful construction of prokaryotic nanocompartment in Y. lipolytica to increase production of phloroglucinol. • Lignocellulose hydrolysate is used as a substrate in fermentation.

Epidemiology, clinical characteristics, and treatment of children with acute intussusception: a case series

BACKGROUND

To summarize the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of acute intussusception.

METHODS

This retrospective study included pediatric patients with acute intussusception admitted to the Department of Pediatric Surgery, Qilu Hospital (Qingdao), Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, from January 2014 to December 2019.

RESULTS

A total of 402 infants/children were included (301 males and 101 females) with a mean age of 2.4 ± 1.5 years (2 months to 9 years). Thirty patients (7.5%) had a history of cold food intake, diarrhea, and upper respiratory infection before disease onset. Paroxysmal abdominal pain and crying occurred in 338 patients (84.1%). Eight patients (2.0%) had the typical triad, 167 (41.5%) had vomiting, 24 (6.0%) had bloody stools, and 273 (67.9%) had palpable abdominal mass. The average intussusception depth was 4.0 ± 1.4 cm. Air enema reduction was performed in 344 cases: 335 (97.3%) were successful. Fifty-eight patients were treated with intravenous phloroglucinol (2 mg/kg), and 53 (91.4%) were successful. Sixty-five patients suffered relapses, with a relapse rate of 16.8%.

CONCLUSIONS

Pediatric acute intussusception is common. There was no obvious etiology. The clinical manifestations are mostly atypical. Abdominal pain is the most common complaint. Air enema reduction is an effective treatment. The recurrence rate is high.

Polyphenol and Tannin Nutraceuticals and Their Metabolites: How the Human Gut Microbiota Influences Their Properties

Nutraceuticals have been receiving increasing attention in the last few years due to their potential role as adjuvants against non-communicable chronic diseases (cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, etc.). However, a limited number of studies have been performed to evaluate the bioavailability of such compounds, and it is generally reported that a substantial elevation of their plasma concentration can only be achieved when they are consumed at pharmacological levels. Even so, positive effects have been reported associated with an average dietary consumption of several nutraceutical classes, meaning that the primary compound might not be solely responsible for all the biological effects. The in vivo activities of such biomolecules might be carried out by metabolites derived from gut microbiota fermentative transformation. This review discusses the structure and properties of phenolic nutraceuticals (i.e., polyphenols and tannins) and the putative role of the human gut microbiota in influencing the beneficial effects of such compounds.