No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

This study aimed to investigate the preventive effects of lactoferrin (Lf) on chronic alcoholic liver injury (ALI) in female mice. Female C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into four groups: control group (CON), ethanol administration group (EtOH), low-dose Lf treatment group (LLf), and high-dose Lf group (HLf). In the last three groups, chronic ALI was induced by administering 20% ethanol ad libitum for 12 weeks. Mice in the CON and EtOH groups were fed with AIN-93G diet. Meanwhile, 0.4% and 4% casein in the AIN-93G diet were replaced by Lf as the diets of LLf and HLf groups, respectively. HLf significantly reduced hepatic triglyceride content and improved pathological morphology. HLf could inhibit cytochrome P450 2E1 overexpression and promote alcohol dehydrogenase-1 expression. HLf activated protein kinase B and AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), as well as upregulating nuclear-factor-erythroid-2-related factor-2 expression to elevate hepatic antioxidative enzyme activities. AMPK activation also benefited hepatic lipid metabolism. Meanwhile, HLf had no obvious beneficial effects on gut microbiota. In summary, Lf could alleviate chronic ALI in female mice, which was associated with redox balance and lipid metabolism regulation.

Conductive hydrogels without adhesiveness and durability characteristics face great challenges in practical applications, such as inconvenient use, unstable contact voltage, and difficult to store. Herein, we present sodium polyacrylate (PAANa) hydrogels with binary solvent systems composed of water and an alcohol [ethylene glycol (EG), glycerol (GLY), or poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)] as solvent instead of traditional water to research their self-adhesiveness, durability, conductivity, and mechanical properties. PAANa hydrogels exhibited higher self-adhesive properties and durability after alcohol content increased, and GLY/water hydrogels showed the best self-adhesive and stable properties. With more alcohols added, the weaker conductivity became, and EG/water hydrogels showed the highest conductivity. It was observed the long carbon chain length of alcohol could help improve the rheological properties of hydrogels. Thus, PEG/water hydrogels had the highest storage modulus, loss modulus, and consistency. The results demonstrated that the GLY/water binary solvent could provide good self-adhesiveness and durability, but EG/water and PEG/water showed better conductivity and mechanical properties, respectively. Therefore, our work may provide novel physical insights into the long-term usage of self-adhesive conductive hydrogels to practical requirements.