ObjectiveNon-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common prelude to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The genetic rs641738 C>T variant in the lysophosphatidylinositol acyltransferase 1 (LPIAT1)/membrane bound O-acyltransferase domain-containing 7, which incorporates arachidonic acid into phosphatidylinositol (PI), is associated with the entire spectrum of NAFLD. In this study, we investigated the mechanism underlying this association in mice and cultured human hepatocytes.DesignWe generated the hepatocyte-specific Lpiat1 knockout mice to investigate the function of Lpiat1 in vivo. We also depleted LPIAT1 in cultured human hepatic cells using CRISPR-Cas9 systems or siRNA. The effect of LPIAT1-depletion on liver fibrosis was examined in mice fed high fat diet and in liver spheroids. Lipid species were measured using liquid chromatography-electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry. Lipid metabolism was analysed using radiolabeled glycerol or fatty acids.ResultsThe hepatocyte-specific Lpiat1 knockout mice developed hepatic steatosis spontaneously, and hepatic fibrosis on high fat diet feeding. Depletion of LPIAT1 in cultured hepatic cells and in spheroids caused triglyceride accumulation and collagen deposition. The increase in hepatocyte fat content was due to a higher triglyceride synthesis fueled by a non-canonical pathway. Indeed, reduction in the PI acyl chain remodelling caused a high PI turnover, by stimulating at the same time PI synthesis and breakdown. The degradation of PI was mediated by a phospholipase C, which produces diacylglycerol, a precursor of triglyceride.ConclusionWe found a novel pathway fueling triglyceride synthesis in hepatocytes, by a direct metabolic flow of PI into triglycerides. Our findings provide an insight into the pathogenesis and therapeutics of NAFLD.

Binodal data for the ethanol + K 3 PO 4 /K 3 C 6 H 5 O 7 /Na 3 C 6 H 5 O 7 + water systems were experimentally determined at (298.15 and 313.13) K. On the basis of the binodal data fitting equation with the highest accuracy and the Lever rule, the liquid-liquid equilibrium data for the investigated systems at 298.15 K were directly calculated by MATLAB. The Othmer-Tobias equation and Bancroft equation were used to correlate tie-line data and evaluate the reliability of the calculation method and the corresponding tie-line data. The salting-out strength of salt ions was compared by the parameter of effective excluded volume and the binodal curves plotted in molality, while the salting-out strength of salts was compared by the parameter of salting-out coefficient and the binodal curves plotted in mass fraction. The salting-out strength of the investigated salts is in the order K 3 PO 4 > Na 3 C 6 H 5 O 7 > K 3 C 6 H 5 O 7 . As for salt ions, the salting-out strength of anions is in the order PO 43-< C 6 H 5 O 7 3-, while the salting-out strength of Na + is similar to K + . The effects of salt, hydrophilic alcohol, and temperature on liquid-liquid equilibria were also discussed. The shapes and locations of binodal curves are not sensitive to the investigated temperature range. The additions of salt and ethanol both increase the tie-line length and the absolute value of the tie-line slope.

A photocatalyst with Z-scheme heterostructure is synthesized through anchoring mesoporous γ-Fe2O3 nanospheres on a g-C3N4 nanosheet surface. The fabricated Z-scheme γ-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 heterojunction exhibits a mesoporous feature and possesses improved specific surface area, which can provide a mass of reaction active sites for pollutant molecules to improve photocatalytic activity. More importantly, the Z-scheme heterostructure constructed between γ-Fe2O3 and g-C3N4 efficiently extends the response range at the visible region and speeds up the transfer and separation of photoinduced charge carriers, which is beneficial to boosting photocatalytic activity. Compared to the original g-C3N4 sample, the Z-scheme γ-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 heterojunction exhibits remarkably improved photocatalytic degradation activity for mineralizing tetracycline hydrochloride (TC-HCl) under the visible-light irradiation. Moreover, the photocatalytic degradation mechanism of TC-HCl is put forward and investigated in depth, the results of which identify that •OH, •O2 –, and photogenerated h+ all play a vital function and have the order •OH > •O2 – > h+ during the TC-HCl degradation reaction.

How to improve the accessibility of immobilized cellulase to insoluble cellulose and recover immobilized enzyme from remaining insoluble substrate is a challenge to the efficient hydrolysis of cellulose into glucose. The objective of this work is to solve the problems mentioned above by the immobilization of cellulase onto poly(methacrylamide-coacrylic acid) (PMAAc), developing a reversibly soluble− insoluble biocatalyst with upper critical solution temperature (UCST) of 16 °C. The as-prepared PMAAc−cellulase with a new UCST of 19 °C exhibited significantly improved pH, temperature, storage, and operation stabilities compared with that of free catalyst, and about 82.4% of its original activity was retained even after ten cycles. Cellulase systems containing endo-β-1,4-glucanase (EG), cellobiohydrolase (CBH), and βglucosidase (β-G) are coimmobilized at an optimum ratio on PMAAc by adjusting the additive amount of β-G, which can obtain higher hydrolysis efficiency. It was found that the coimmobilization of cellulase and β-glucosidase at the optimum ratio of 2.5:1 (w/w) showed excellent performance for the hydrolysis of cellulose, and the yield of glucose was up to 89.1% at 50 °C (>UCST) after 24 h, which was 58.4% and 15.4% higher than that of PMAAc−cellulase and free cellulase and β-glucosidase, respectively. The coimmobilized PMAAc−cellulase and β-glucosidase still retained 61.48% of its original productivity after eight cycles of hydrolysis. This novel UCST-type polymer−enzyme catalytic system displays great potential in cellulose biorefining.