Methylglyoxal, a reactive dicarbonyl compound, is mainly formed from glycolysis. Methylglyoxal can lead to the dysfunction of mitochondria, the depletion of cellular anti-oxidation enzymes and the formation of advanced glycation ends. Previous studies showed that the accumulation of methylglyoxal and advanced glycation ends can impair the oocyte maturation and reduce the oocyte quality in aged and diabetic females. In this study, we showed that resveratrol, a kind of phytoalexin found in the skin of grapes, red wine and other botanical extracts, can alleviate the adverse effects caused by methylglyoxal, such as inhibition of oocyte maturation and disruption of spindle assembly. Besides, methylglyoxal-treated oocytes displayed more DNA double strands breaks and this can also be decreased by treatment of resveratrol. Further investigation of these processes revealed that methylglyoxal may affect the oocyte quality by resulting in excessive reactive oxygen species production, aberrant mitochondrial distribution and high level lipid peroxidation, and resveratrol can block these cytotoxic changes. Collectively, our results showed that resveratrol can protect the oocytes from methylglyoxal-induced cytotoxicity and this was mainly through the correction of the abnormity of cellular reactive oxygen species metabolism.

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Steam explosion (SE) is an efficient technology to disrupt materials for improving their quality.

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Fatty liver disease (FLD), including nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and alcoholic fatty liver disease (AFLD), is a serious chronic metabolic disease that affects a wide range of people. Lipid accumulation accompanied by oxidative stress and inflammation in the liver is the most important pathogenesis of FLD. The plant-based, high-fiber, and low-fat diet has been recommended to manage FLD for a long time. This review discusses the current state of the art into the effects, mechanisms, and clinical application of plant-based foods in NAFLD and AFLD, with highlighting related molecular mechanisms. Epidemiological evidence revealed that the consumption of several plant-based foods was beneficial to alleviating FLD. Further experimental studies found out that fruits, spices, teas, coffee, and other plants, as well as their bioactive compounds, such as resveratrol, anthocyanin, curcumin, and tea polyphenols, could alleviate FLD by ameliorating hepatic steatosis, oxidative stress, inflammation, gut dysbiosis, and apoptosis, as well as regulating autophagy and ethanol metabolism. More importantly, clinical trials confirmed the beneficial effects of plant-based foods on patients with fatty liver. However, several issues need to be further studied especially the safety and effective doses of plant-based foods and their bioactive compounds. Overall, certain plant-based foods are promising natural sources of bioactive compounds to prevent and alleviate fatty liver disease.

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WASP homolog associated with actin, membranes and microtubules (WHAMM) is a newly discovered nucleation-promoting factor that links actin and microtubule cytoskeleton and regulates transport from the endoplasmic reticulum to the Golgi apparatus. However, knowledge of WHAMM is limited to interphase somatic cells. In this study, we examined its localization and function in mouse oocytes during meiosis. Immunostaining showed that in the germinal vesicle (GV) stage, there was no WHAMM signal; after meiosis resumption, WHAMM was associated with the spindle at prometaphase I (Pro MI), metaphase I (MI), telophase I (TI) and metaphase II (MII) stages. Nocodazole and taxol treatments showed that WHAMM was localized around the MI spindle. Depletion of WHAMM by microinjection of specific short interfering (si)RNA into the oocyte cytoplasm resulted in failure of spindle migration, disruption of asymmetric cytokinesis and a decrease in the first polar body extrusion rate during meiotic maturation. Moreover, actin cap formation was also disrupted after WHAMM depletion, confirming the failure of spindle migration. Taken together, our data suggest that WHAMM is required for peripheral spindle migration and asymmetric cytokinesis during mouse oocyte maturation.

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