In vitro and some animal models have shown that quercetin, a polyphenol derived from plants, has a wide range of biological actions including anti-carcinogenic, anti-inflammatory and antiviral activities; as well as attenuating lipid peroxidation, platelet aggregation and capillary permeability. This review focuses on the physicochemical properties, dietary sources, absorption, bioavailability and metabolism of quercetin, especially main effects of quercetin on inflammation and immune function. According to the results obtained both in vitro and in vivo, good perspectives have been opened for quercetin. Nevertheless, further studies are needed to better characterize the mechanisms of action underlying the beneficial effects of quercetin on inflammation and immunity.

Efficient enantiomer discrimination with a convenient system remains a challenge in the fields of biochemistry, medical science, and pharmaceutics. Here we report a simple enantioselective sensing device based on a single artificial β-cyclodextrin-modified nanochannel system. This nanodevice shows highly selective recognition of histidine enantiomers through monitoring of ionic current signatures.

Cardiac injury in neonatal 1-day-old mice stimulates a regenerative response characterized by reactive cardiomyocyte proliferation, which is distinguished from the fibrotic repair process in adults. Acute inflammation occurs immediately after heart injury and has generally been believed to exert a negative effect on heart regeneration by promoting scar formation in adults; however, little is known about the role of acute inflammation in the cardiac regenerative response in neonatal mice. Here, we show that acute inflammation induced cardiomyocyte proliferation after apical intramyocardial microinjection of immunogenic zymosan A particles into the neonatal mouse heart. We also found that cardiac injury-induced regenerative response was suspended after immunosuppression in neonatal mice, and that cardiomyocytes could not be reactivated to proliferate after neonatal heart injury in the absence of interleukin-6 (IL-6). Furthermore, cardiomyocyte-specific deletion of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), the major downstream effector of IL-6 signaling, decreased reactive cardiomyocyte proliferation after apical resection. Our results indicate that acute inflammation stimulates the regenerative response in neonatal mouse heart, and suggest that modulation of inflammatory signals might have important implications in cardiac regenerative medicine.

Water‐soluble and stable semiconductor CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) are prepared by using β‐ and α‐cyclodextrin (CD) as surface‐coating agents by using a simple sonochemical method, which allows highly enantioselective fluorescent recognition of amino acids (see image). When CD‐QDs are treated with L‐amino acids (see image), a much greater fluorescence enhancement is observed than that with D‐amino acids.

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A simple, rapid sonochemical procedure for the preparation of highly fluorescent and water-soluble CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) using α-, β-, and γ-cyclodextrin (CD) as surface-coating agents is reported. The water-soluble QDs were characterized by luminescence spectroscopy, UV−vis spectroscopy, FT-IR spectroscopy, NMR spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The quantum yields (QYs) of α-CD-QDs, β-CD-QDs, and γ-CD-QDs in water were about 45, 39, and 27%, respectively. The n-CD-QDs allow highly sensitive determination of phenols by changing CD coating via fluorescence intensity quenching. The α-CD-QDs and β-CD-QDs are sensitive toward p-nitrophenol and 1-naphthol, respectively. Under optimal conditions, the relative fluorescence intensities of α-CD/CdSe/ZnS QDs and β-CD/CdSe/ZnS QDs both decreased linearly with increasing p-nitrophenol and 1-naphthol in the concentration range of 0.01−100 μM, with the corresponding detection limits (3σ) of 7.92 × 10−9 and 4.83 × 10−9 M, respectively. However, the sensitivity of n-CD-QDs toward other phenols, including o-nitrophenol, m-nitrophenol, 2-naphthol, o-cresol, m-cresol and p-cresol, are negligible. It is found that p-nitrophenol and 1-naphthol can quench the luminescence of α-CD-QDs and β-CD-QDs in a concentration-dependent manner that is best described by a Stern−Volmer-type equation. The possible underlying mechanism is discussed.

Triazole-ester modified silver nanoparticles were designed and synthesized through click chemistry, which provided a highly selective colorimetric sensor for Cd2+.