No abstract

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a chronic endocrine and metabolic disease. Gut microbiota is closely related to many chronic diseases. In this study, we conducted a cross-sectional study and recruited 30 obese (OG) and 30 non-obese (NG) women with PCOS, 30 healthy women (NC) and 11 healthy but obese women (OC) as controls to investigate the characteristic gut microbiota and its metabolic functions in obese and non-obese patients with PCOS. The blood and non-menstrual faecal samples of all the participants were collected and analysed. As a result, the Hirsutism score, LH/FSH and serum T level in NG and OG both increased significantly compared with their controls (P < 0.05). High-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed that the abundance and diversity of the gut microbiota changed in patients with PCOS. The linear discriminant analysis (LDA) indicated that Lactococcus was the characteristic gut microbiota in NG, while Coprococcus_2 in OG. Correlation heatmap analysis revealed that the sex hormones and insulin levels in human serum were closely related to the changes in the gut microbiota of NG and OG. Functional prediction analysis demonstrated that the citrate cycle pathway enriched both in NG and OG, and other 12 gut bacterial metabolic pathways enriched in NG. This study highlighted significant differences in the gut microbiota and predictive functions of obese and non-obese women with PCOS, thereby providing insights into the role and function of the gut microbiota that may contribute to the occurrence and development of PCOS in obese and non-obese women.

The present study investigated the anti-obesity and anti-diabetic effects of kaempferol glycoside (KG) fractions which were composed of four kaempferol glycosides and purified from unripe Jindai-soybean (Edamame) leaves in C57BL/6J mice. High fat-fed mice treated with 0.15% dietary KG for 92 days had reduced body weight, adipose tissue and TG levels compared to the high fat-fed control group. KG-treatment also decreased fasting blood glucose, serum HbA1c (hemoglobin A(1c)) levels and improved insulin resistance. Gene expression analysis of the liver showed that KG decreased peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR-γ) and sterol regulatory element-binding protein (SREBP-1c) expression. These results suggest that KG reduced the accumulation of adipose tissue, improving hyperlipidemia as well as diabetes in obese mice by increasing lipid metabolism through the downregulation of PPAR-γ and SREBP-1c. Thus, KG may have an anti-obesity and anti-diabetic potential.

MicroRNA-26a (miR-26a) is a tumor suppressor that is reduced in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Increasing evidence indicates that the liver is a hormone-responsive organ like the breast. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether miR-26a, regulated by a human α-fetoprotein (hAFP) and human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) dual promoter, could be specifically expressed in liver tumor cells to suppress their growth and to clarify whether estrogen receptor-α (ERα) is regulated by miR-26a and involved in the HCC process. Our data show that miR-26a expression driven by a hAFP-TERT dual promoter was tumor-specific and decreased the viability of tumor cells by regulating ERα, progesterone receptor (PR) and P53 except for cyclin D2 or cyclin E2 in vitro and in vivo. Our data also show that estradiol (E2) promotes the growth of liver cancer cells similar to breast cancer cells partly via the E2-ERα pathway and that miR-26a significantly down regulates ERα and prevents the stimulation of hepatoma cell growth by E2. These data suggest that ERα, which is regulated by miR-26a, is important for liver tumor cell growth. Moreover, hAFP-TERT dual promoter-mediated miR-26a expression could specifically exert potential antitumor activity and provide a novel targeting approach for cancer therapy.

Epstein-Barr virus-induced gene 3 (EBI3) encoded protein can form heterodimers with IL-27P28 and IL-12P35 to form IL-27 and IL-35. IL-27 and IL-35 may influence autoimmunity through inhibiting Th17 differentiation, and facilitating the inhibitory roles of Foxp3+ Treg cells, respectively. In this study we have evaluated the development of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in EBI3-deficient mice that lack both IL-27 and IL-35. We found that MOG peptide immunization resulted in marginally enhanced EAE development in EBI3-deficient C57BL6 and 2D2 TCR transgenic mice. EBI3-deficiency resulted in significantly increased Th17 and Th1 responses in the central nervous system (CNS) and increased T cell production of IL-2 and IL-17 in the peripheral lymphoid organs. EBI3-deficient and -sufficient 2D2 T cells had equal ability in inducing EAE in Rag1−/− mice, however more severe disease was induced in EBI3−/−Rag1−/− mice than in Rag1−/− mice by 2D2 T cells. EBI3-deficient mice had increased numbers of CD4+FoxP3+ Treg cells in peripheral lymphoid organs. More strikingly, EBI3-deficient Treg cells had more potent suppressive functions in vitro and in vivo. Thus, our data support an inhibitory role for EBI3 in Th17, Th1, IL-2 and Treg responses. While these observations are consistent with the known functions of IL-27, the IL-35 contribution to the suppressive functions of Treg cells is not evident in this model. Enhanced Treg responses in EBI3−/− mice may explain why the EAE development is only modestly enhanced compared to WT mice.

Insulin resistance (IR) is a clinical feature of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Quercetin, derived from Chinese medicinal herbs such as hawthorn, has been proven practical in the management of IR in diabetes. However, whether quercetin could decrease IR in PCOS is unknown. This study aims to observe the therapeutic effect of quercetin on IR in a PCOS rat model and explore the underlying mechanism. An IR PCOS rat model was established by subcutaneous injection with dehydroepiandrosterone. The body weight, estrous cycle, and ovary morphology of the quercetin-treated rats were observed. Serum inflammatory cytokines were analyzed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In ovarian tissues, the expression of key genes involved in the inflammatory signaling pathway was detected through Western blot, real-time polymerase chain reaction, or immunohistochemistry. The nuclear translocation of nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) was also observed by immunofluorescence. The estrous cycle recovery rate of the insulin-resistant PCOS model after quercetin treatment was 58.33%. Quercetin significantly reduced the levels of blood insulin, interleukin 1β, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor α. Quercetin also significantly decreased the granulosa cell nuclear translocation of NF-κB in the insulin-resistant PCOS rat model. The treatment inhibited the expression of inflammation-related genes, including the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase subunit p22phox, oxidized low-density lipoprotein, and Toll-like receptor 4, in ovarian tissue. Quercetin improved IR and demonstrated a favorable therapeutic effect on the PCOS rats. The underlying mechanism of quercetin potentially involves the inhibition of the Toll-like receptor/NF-κB signaling pathway and the improvement in the inflammatory microenvironment of the ovarian tissue of the PCOS rat model.

No abstract

A green, simple, non-toxic, and sensitive sample pretreatment procedure coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was developed for the analysis of chloramphenicol (CAP) that exploits an aqueous two-phase system based on imidazolium ionic liquid (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate, [Bmim]BF(4)) and organic salt (Na(3)C(6)H(5)O(7)) using a liquid-liquid extraction technique. The influence factors on partition behaviors of CAP were studied, including the type and amount of salts, the pH value, the volume of [Bmim]BF(4), and the extraction temperature. Extraction efficiency of the CAP was found to increase with increasing temperature and the volume of [Bmim]BF(4). Thermodynamic studies indicated that hydrophobic interactions were the main driving force, although electrostatic interactions and salting-out effects were also important for the transfer of the CAP. Under the optimal conditions, 90.1% of the CAP could be extracted into the ionic liquid-rich phase in a single-step extraction. This method was practical when applied to the analysis of CAP in feed water, milk, and honey samples with a linear range of 2~1,000 ng mL(-1). The method yielded a limit of detection of 0.3 ng mL(-1) and a limit of quantification of 1.0 ng mL(-1). The recovery of CAP was 90.4-102.7% from aqueous samples of real feed water, milk, and honey samples by the proposed method. This novel process is much simpler and more environmentally friendly and is suggested to have important applications for the separation of antibiotics.