Curcumin is a well-known component of traditional turmeric (Curcuma longa), which has been reported to prevent obesity and diabetes. However, the effect of curcumin on hepatic lipid metabolism remains unclear. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of curcumin on hepatic steatosis in high-fat/cholesterol diet (HFD)-induced obese mice. Male C57BL/6J mice were fed a normal diet (ND), HFD or HFD with 0.15% curcumin (HFD+C) for 11 weeks. We found that curcumin significantly lowered the body-weight and adipose tissue weight of mice in the HFD+C group compared with the findings for the HFD group (p < 0.05). The levels of total cholesterol, fasting glucose and insulin in serum were decreased, and HFD-induced impairment of insulin sensitivity was improved by curcumin supplementation (p < 0.05). Curcumin protected against the development of hepatic steatosis by reducing hepatic fat accumulation. Moreover, curcumin activated AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and elevated the gene expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha. By contrast, curcumin suppressed the HFDmediated increases in sterol regulatory element-binding protein-1, acetyl-CoA carboxylase 1, fatty acid synthase and cluster of differentiation 36 expression. Taken together, these findings indicate that curcumin attenuates HFD-induced hepatic steatosis by regulating hepatic lipid metabolism via AMPK activation, suggesting its use as a therapeutic for hepatic steatosis.

A two-stage sequential electro-Fenton (E-Fenton) oxidation followed by electrochemical chlorination (EC) was demonstrated to concomitantly treat high concentrations of organic carbon and ammonium nitrogen (NH-N) in real anaerobically digested food wastewater (ADFW). The anodic Fenton process caused the rapid mineralization of phenol as a model substrate through the production of hydroxyl radical as the main oxidant. The electrochemical oxidation of NH by a dimensionally stable anode (DSA) resulted in temporal concentration profiles of combined and free chlorine species that were analogous to those during the conventional breakpoint chlorination of NH. Together with the minimal production of nitrate, this confirmed that the conversion of NH to nitrogen gas was electrochemically achievable. The monitoring of treatment performance with varying key parameters (e.g., current density, HO feeding rate, pH, NaCl loading, and DSA type) led to the optimization of two component systems. The comparative evaluation of two sequentially combined systems (i.e., the E-Fenton-EC system versus the EC-E-Fenton system) using the mixture of phenol and NH under the predetermined optimal conditions suggested the superiority of the E-Fenton-EC system in terms of treatment efficiency and energy consumption. Finally, the sequential E-Fenton-EC process effectively mineralized organic carbon and decomposed NH-N in the real ADFW without external supply of NaCl.

No abstract

No abstract