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Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has high morbidity and mortality rates. The mechanisms underlying TBI are unclear and may include the change in biological material in exosomes. Circular ribonucleic acids (circRNAs) are enriched and stable in exosomes, which can function as microRNA (miRNA) sponges to regulate gene expression levels. Therefore, we speculated that circRNAs in exosomes might play an important role in regulating gene expression after TBI and then regulate specific signaling pathways, which may protect the brain. We first isolated exosomes from the brain extracellular space in mice with TBI by digestion. We then investigated the alterations in circRNA expression in exosomes by high-throughput whole transcriptome sequencing, analyzed the data by gene ontology (GO) and pathway analysis, and constructed the circRNA-miRNA network. In this study, we identified 231 significantly and differentially expressed circRNAs, including 155 that were upregulated and 76 that were downregulated. GO analysis showed that these differentially expressed circRNAs might be related to the growth and repair of neurons, the development of the nervous system, and the transmission of nerve signals. The most highly correlated pathways that we identified were involved primarily with glutamatergic synapse and the cyclic guanosine monophosphate-protein kinase G signaling pathway. The circRNA-miRNA network predicted the potential roles of these differentially expressed circRNAs and the interaction of circRNAs with miRNAs. Our study broadens the horizon of research on gene regulation in exosomes from the brain extracellular space after TBI and provides novel targets for further research on both the molecular mechanisms of TBI and the potential intervention therapy targets.

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We simulated the discharge process of Li-O batteries and the growth of LiO thin films at the mesoscale with a novel kinetic Monte Carlo model, which combined a stochastic description of mass transport and detailed elementary reaction kinetics. The simulation results show that the ordering of the LiO thin film is determined by the interplay between diffusion and reaction kinetics. Due to the fast reaction kinetics on the catalyst, the LiO formed in the presence of catalyst (cat-CNF) shows a low degree of ordering and is more likely to be amorphous. Moreover, the mobility of the LiO ion pair, which depends largely on the nature of the electrolyte, also impacts the homogeneity of the compactness of the LiO thin film. These results are of high importance for understanding the role of the catalyst and reaction kinetics in Li-O batteries.

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