No abstract

The intestinal epithelial layer forms a barrier through cell–cell tight junctions and breaking or even slightly disrupting this barrier can lead to serious pathological consequences, including infection and inflammation.

1,2-Dioxetane was found as a mechanoluminescent probe when it was covalently linked into a polymer backbone. To bring about a further leap in sensitivity without sacrificing thermal stability of this mechanophore is highly desirable while a great challenge. Herein, we presented a new strategy to improve the mechanoluminescent sensitivity of 1,2-dioxetane-containing polyurethanes (PUs) by incorporating fluorescent dyes as the repeating units into the main chains of PUs. This approach provides simplified procedures to obtain mechanoluminescent films with high quality and increased amount of acceptor units. Compared to the same mechanophore-containing polymer with physically incorporated fluorophores, the two kinds of PUs not only exhibited enhanced light intensity and tunable emission colors but also displayed much lower force threshold upon deformation due to the efficient energy transfer. By virtue of these advantages, the current work will promise an invaluable tool to study failure mechanisms of thermoplastic elastomers at molecular level with unprecedented resolution.

This study investigated the possibility of converting the insoluble rapeseed meal protein into functionally active ingredients for food applications. The rapeseed ( Brassica napus ) meal protein isolates were first digested by Alcalase and Flavourzyme, and the resultant rapeseed crude hydrolysate (RSCH) exhibited a dose-dependent reducing antioxidant power and hydroxyl radical scavenging ability. RSCH could also inhibit the malonyldialdehyde (MDA) generation by 50% in blood serum at 150 mg/mL. RSCH was further separated into three fractions (RSP1, RSP2, and RSP3) by Sephadex gel filtration according to their different molecular weights. The amino acid compositions and antioxidant potentials were assessed for RSP1-3 fractions. All three fractions showed inhibiting effects on superoxide anion generation to various extents. They could also inhibit the autohemolysis of rat red blood cells and MDA formation in rat liver tissue homogenate. The results suggested that rapeseed peptide hydrolysate may be useful as a human food addition as a source of bioactive peptides with antioxidant properties.