Deep eutectic solvent (DES)-assisted extraction of pectin from Ficus carica Linn. peel: optimization, partial structure characterization, functional and antioxidant activities

BACKGROUND

The pectin from Ficus carica Linn. (fig) peels is a valuable and recyclable constituent that may bring huge economic benefits. To maximize the utilization of this resource, deep eutectic solvent (DES)-assisted extraction was applied to extract pectin from fig peels, and the extraction process was optimized with response surface methodology.

RESULTS

When DES (choline chloride/oxalic acid = 1:1) content was 168.1 g kg-1 , extraction temperature was 79.8 °C, liquid-solid ratio was 23.3 mL g-1 , and extraction time was 120 min, the maximum yield of 239.6 g kg-1 was obtained, which was almost twice the extraction of hot water. DES-extracted fig peel pectin (D-FP) exhibited better nature than hot water-extracted fig peel pectin (W-FP) in terms of uronic acid content, particle size distribution, and solubility, but lower molecular weight and esterification degree. D-FP and W-FP had similar infrared spectra and thermodynamic peaks but differed in monosaccharide compositions. D-FP also showed good antioxidant capacities and exhibited better functional activities than W-FP.

CONCLUSION

These results indicated that D-FP was of promising quality being utilized in food or medical industries and the optimal DES-assisted extraction method might be applied as a sustainable process for the effective extraction of bioactive pectin from fig peels with the excellence of low equipment requirements and simple operation. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.

Plan quality and treatment efficiency assurance of two VMAT optimization for cervical cancer radiotherapy

To investigate the difference of the fluence map optimization (FMO) and Stochastic platform optimization (SPO) algorithm in a newly-introduced treatment planning system (TPS).

METHODS

34 cervical cancer patients with definitive radiation were retrospectively analyzed. Each patient has four plans: FMO with fixed jaw plans (FMO-FJ) and no fixed jaw plans (FMO-NFJ); SPO with fixed jaw plans (SPO-FJ) and no fixed jaw plans (SPO-NFJ). Dosimetric parameters, Modulation Complexity Score (MCS), Gamma Pass Rate (GPR) and delivery time were analyzed among the four plans.

RESULTS

For target coverage, SPO-FJ plans are the best ones (P ≤ 0.00). FMO plans are better than SPO-NFJ plans (P ≤ 0.00). For OARs sparing, SPO-FJ plans are better than FMO plans for mostly OARs (P ≤ 0.04). Additionally, SPO-FJ plans are better than SPO-NFJ plans (P ≤ 0.02), except for rectum V45Gy. Compared to SPO-NFJ plans, the FMO plans delivered less dose to bladder, rectum, colon V40Gy and pelvic bone V40Gy (P ≤ 0.04). Meanwhile, the SPO-NFJ plans showed superiority in MU, delivery time, MCS and GPR in all plans. In terms of delivery time and MCS, the SPO-FJ plans are better than FMO plans. FMO-FJ plans are better than FMO-NFJ plans in delivery efficiency. MCSs are strongly correlated with PCTV length, which are negatively with PCTV length (P ≤ 0.03). The delivery time and MUs of the four plans are strongly correlated (P ≤ 0.02). Comparing plans with fixed or no fixed jaw in two algorithms, no difference was found in FMO plans in target coverage and minor difference in Kidney_L Dmean, Mu and delivery time between PCTV width≤15.5 cm group and >15.5 cm group. For SPO plans, SPO-FJ plans showed more superiority in target coverage and OARs sparing than the SPO-NFJ plans in the two groups.

CONCLUSIONS

SPO-FJ plans showed superiority in target coverage and OARs sparing, as well as higher delivery efficiency in the four plans.

Diosgenin Targets CaMKK2 to Alleviate Type II Diabetic Nephropathy through Improving Autophagy, Mitophagy and Mitochondrial Dynamics

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a worldwide health problem with increasing incidence. Diosgenin (DIO) is a natural active ingredient extracted from Chinese yams (Rhizoma dioscoreae) with potential antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antidiabetic effects. However, the protective effect of DIO on DN is still unclear. The present study explored the mitigating effects and underlying mechanisms of DIO on DN in vivo and in vitro. In the current study, the DN rats were induced by a high-fat diet and streptozotocin and then treated with DIO and metformin (Mef, a positive control) for 8 weeks. The high-glucose (HG)-induced HK-2 cells were treated with DIO for 24 h. The results showed that DIO decreased blood glucose, biomarkers of renal damage, and renal pathological changes with an effect comparable to that of Mef, indicating that DIO is potential active substance to relieve DN. Thus, the protective mechanism of DIO on DN was further explored. Mechanistically, DIO improved autophagy and mitophagy via the regulation of the AMPK-mTOR and PINK1-MFN2-Parkin pathways, respectively. Knockdown of CaMKK2 abolished AMPK-mTOR and PINK1-MFN2-Parkin pathways-mediated autophagy and mitophagy. Mitophagy and mitochondrial dynamics are closely linked physiological processes. DIO also improved mitochondrial dynamics through inhibiting fission-associated proteins (DRP1 and p-DRP1) and increasing fusion proteins (MFN1/2 and OPA1). The effects were abolished by CaMKK2 and PINK1 knockdown. In conclusion, DIO ameliorated DN by enhancing autophagy and mitophagy and by improving mitochondrial dynamics in a CaMKK2-dependent manner. PINK1 and MFN2 are proteins that concurrently regulated mitophagy and mitochondrial dynamics.

Diosgenin Inhibits ROS Generation by Modulating NOX4 and Mitochondrial Respiratory Chain and Suppresses Apoptosis in Diabetic Nephropathy

Diosgenin (DIO) is a dietary steroid sapogenin possessing multiple biological functions, such as the amelioration of diabetes. However, the remission effect of DIO on diabetic nephropathy (DN) underlying oxidative stress and cell apoptosis remains unclear. Here, the effect of DIO on ROS generation and its induced cell apoptosis was studied in vitro and in vivo. Renal proximal tubular epithelial (HK-2) cells were treated with DIO (1, 2, 4 µM) under high glucose (HG, 30 mM) conditions. DN rats were induced by a high-fat diet combined with streptozotocin, followed by administration of DIO for 8 weeks. Our data suggested that DIO relieved the decline of HK-2 cell viability and renal pathological damage in DN rats. DIO also relieved ROS (O2- and H2O2) production. Mechanistically, DIO inhibited the expression of NOX4 and restored mitochondrial respiratory chain (MRC) complex I-V expressions. Further, DIO inhibited mitochondrial apoptosis by ameliorating mitochondrial membrane potential (MtMP) and down-regulating the expressions of CytC, Apaf-1, caspase 3, and caspase 9, while up-regulating Bcl2 expression. Moreover, the ER stress and its associated cell apoptosis were inhibited through decreasing PERK, p-PERK, ATF4, IRE1, p-CHOP, and caspase 12 expressions. Collectively, DIO inhibited ROS production by modulating NOX4 and MRC complexes, which then suppressed apoptosis regulated by mitochondria and ER stress, thereby attenuating DN.

Integrated radiomics, dose-volume histogram criteria and clinical features for early prediction of saliva amount reduction after radiotherapy in nasopharyngeal cancer patients

PURPOSE

Previously, the evaluation of xerostomia depended on subjective grading systems, rather than the accurate saliva amount reduction. Our aim was to quantify acute xerostomia with reduced saliva amount, and apply radiomics, dose-volume histogram (DVH) criteria and clinical features to predict saliva amount reduction by machine learning techniques.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Computed tomography (CT) of parotid glands, DVH, and clinical data of 52 patients were collected to extract radiomics, DVH criteria and clinical features, respectively. Firstly, radiomics, DVH criteria and clinical features were divided into 3 groups for feature selection, in order to alleviate the masking effect of the number of features in different groups. Secondly, the top features in the 3 groups composed integrated features, and features selection was performed again for integrated features. In this study, feature selection was used as a combination of eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) and SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) to alleviate multicollinearity. Finally, 6 machine learning techniques were used for predicting saliva amount reduction. Meanwhile, top radiomics features were modeled using the same machine learning techniques for comparison.

RESULT

17 integrated features (10 radiomics, 4 clinical, 3 DVH criteria) were selected to predict saliva amount reduction, with a mean square error (MSE) of 0.6994 and a R² score of 0.9815. Top 17 and 10 selected radiomics features predicted saliva amount reduction, with MSE of 0.7376, 0.7519, and R² score of 0.9805, 0.9801, respectively.

CONCLUSION

With the same number of features, integrated features (radiomics + DVH criteria + clinical) performed better than radiomics features alone. The important DVH criteria and clinical features mainly included, white blood cells (WBC), parotid_glands_Dmax, Age, parotid_glands_V15, hemoglobin (Hb), BMI and parotid_glands_V45.

Comparative transcriptome analyses reveal genes related to pigmentation in the petals of red and white Primula vulgaris cultivars

Primula vulgaris is an important ornamental plant species with various flower color. To explore the molecular mechanism of its color formation, comparative transcriptome analyses of the petals in red and white cultivars was performed. A total of 4451 differentially expressed genes were identified and annotated into 128 metabolic pathways. Candidate genes FLS, F3'H, DFR, ANS and AOMT in the anthocyanin pathway were expressed significantly higher in the red cultivar than the white and may be responsible for the red coloration. In the red petals, a putative transcription factors bHLH (c52273.graph_c0) was up-regulated about 14-fold, while a R2R3-MYB unigene (c36140.graph_c0) was identified as a repressor involved in anthocyanin regulation and was significantly down-regulated. In addition, the anatomy analyses and pigments composition in the red and white petals were also analyzed. The papillae on the adaxial epidermis of the red petals of P. vulgaris display a triangle-shapes, in contrast with a spherical shape for the white petals. Although flavonoids were detected in both cultivars, anthocyanins could only be identified in the red cultivar. Gossypetin and peonidin/rosinin were the most abundant pigments in red petals. This study shed light on the genetic and biochemistry mechanisms underlying the flower coloration in Primula.

Nanostructured carbon black for simultaneous electrochemical determination of trace lead and cadmium by differential pulse stripping voltammetry

Nanostructured carbon black (CB) was first employed directly in this paper for the simultaneous electrochemical determination of trace Pb(II) and Cd(II) using differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry. The morphology and surface properties of conductive CB were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Special pore structures, as well as surface chemical functional groups, endow CB with excellent catalytic and adsorption properties. Some parameters affecting electrical analysis performance were investigated systematically including deposition time and potential, pH value of solution, volume of suspension, amount of Bi(III) and Nafion solution. CB-Nafion-glassy carbon electrode sensor linear response ranges from 6 to 1000 nM for selective and simultaneous determination. The detection limits were calculated to be 8 nM (0.9 µg l^-1) for Cd(II) and 5 nM (1.0 µg l^-1) for Pb(II) (S/N = 3) for the electrocatalytic determination under optimized conditions. The method was successfully used to the determination of actual samples and good recovery was achieved from different spiked samples. Low detection limits and good stability of the modified electrode demonstrated a promising perspective for the detection of trace metal ions in practical application.

A method for labeling proteins with tags at the native genomic loci in budding yeast

Fluorescent proteins and epitope tags are often used as protein fusion tags to study target proteins. One prevailing technique in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is to fuse these tags to a target gene at the precise chromosomal location via homologous recombination. However, several limitations hamper the application of this technique, such as the selectable markers not being reusable, tagging of only the C-terminal being possible, and a "scar" sequence being left in the genome. Here, we describe a strategy to solve these problems by tagging target genes based on a pop-in/pop-out and counter-selection system. Three fluorescent protein tag (mCherry, sfGFP, and mKikGR) and two epitope tag (HA and 3×FLAG) constructs were developed and utilized to tag HHT1, UBC13 or RAD5 at the chromosomal locus as proof-of-concept.