Development of Fish Immunity and the Role of β-Glucan in Immune Responses

Administration of β-glucans through various routes, including immersion, dietary inclusion, or injection, have been found to stimulate various facets of immune responses, such as resistance to infections and resistance to environmental stress. β-Glucans used as an immunomodulatory food supplement have been found beneficial in eliciting immunity in commercial aquaculture. Despite extensive research involving more than 3000 published studies, knowledge of the receptors involved in recognition of β-glucans, their downstream signaling, and overall mechanisms of action is still lacking. The aim of this review is to summarize and discuss what is currently known about of the use of β-glucans in fish.     

Enhancement of Mass and Charge Transfer during Carbon Dioxide Photoreduction by Enhanced Surface Hydrophobicity without a Barrier Layer

The CO₂ reduction reaction (CRR) represents a promising route for the clean utilization of renewable resources. But mass-transfer limitations seriously hinder the forward step. Enhancing the surface hydrophobicity by using polymers has been proved to be one of the most efficient strategies. However, as macromolecular organics, polymers on the surface hinder the transfer of charge carriers from catalysts to reactants. Herein, we describe an in-situ surface fluorination strategy to enhance the surface hydrophobicity of TiO₂ without a barrier layer of organics, thus facilitating the mass transfer of CO₂ to catalysts and charge transfer. With less obstruction to charge transfer, a higher CO_2, and lower H⁺ surface concentration, the photocatalytic CRR generation rate of methanol (CH₃OH) is greatly enhanced to up to 247.15 μmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹. Furthermore, we investigated the overall defects; enhancing the surface hydrophobicity of catalysts provides a general and reliable method to improve the competitiveness of CRR.     

An Overview of Wearable and Implantable Electrochemical Glucose Sensors

Electrochemical glucose sensors have garnered considerable attention because of their attractive prospect in point-of-care testing (POCT). In this review, we firstly introduce the principles and challenges of electrochemical glucose sensors. Subsequently, we present an overview of the application of electrochemical glucose sensors and discuss their advantages and drawbacks. Wearable and implantable devices based on diverse target biofluid and platforms provide a considerable prospect of accurate and continuous monitoring. Thus, we believe that the future development direction of electrochemical glucose sensors is non-invasive, wearable devices and implantable devices with minimally invasive for continuous glucose monitoring in real time.     

A comparison of the inclusion behavior of human serum albumin and holo transferrin with fluoxymesterone in the presence of three different cyclodextrins

This article describes the interaction of fluoxymesterone (Flu) with HSA and HTF in the absence and presence of cyclodextrins (CDs) (α, β and γ). According to fluorescence data, the binding of Flu to the proteins caused strong static quenching in the binary and ternary systems. The fluorescence quenching results demonstrated that HSA and HTF had two and one class of apparent binding sites with a distinct binding constant in the presence of the CDs, respectively. The effects of Flu on the structure of HSA and HTF were analyzed using synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy, which showed that the interaction of Flu with both proteins in the binary and ternary systems altered the microenvironment around the Trp and Tyr residues. The distance, r, between Flu and the proteins was obtained according to FRET which pointed at a successful formation of a drug-protein complex. Far-UV CD spectra indicated that the binding of the drug to both proteins induced changes in the secondary structure of HSA and HTF in the binary and ternary systems. Finally, molecular modeling provided possible binding sites of Flu within the proteins for the binary and ternary systems and also confirmed the experimental results. The obtained data can be useful for determining usage drug doses in drug delivery.     

基于扩散强化的Pickering界面生物催化系统构建及CO2矿化过程研究

CO₂的有效利用有助于解决环境和生态问题.碳酸酐酶(CA)等酶分子可精准活化CO₂分子以降低反应能垒,为CO₂的高效和高选择性转化提供了一种有前景的途径.然而,酶离开生物体后易失活,且难以重复利用.目前,包埋型固定化酶是常用且有效的提高酶稳定性与回用率的方法之一,但载体的存在会造成反应物CO₂内扩散阻力增加,降低反应活性.此外,CO₂酶促转化是一个气-液-固三相反应过程,反应体系中CO₂的外扩散性能也需要加强.金属有机骨架(MOFs),特别是咪唑酯骨架(ZIFs),常被用作酶固定化的载体.ZIFs的拓扑结构可被设计成不同形貌,进而通过ZIFs的结构工程来加强分子向其中的内扩散.Pickering乳液是指以固体颗粒代替常规表面活性剂而稳定的乳液.当固体颗粒具有催化活性时,催化剂颗粒会扩大液-液-固或气-液-固三相接触面积,从而有效协调反应物在不同相中的扩散时间.如果酶被用作这些颗粒的活性中心,所制备的Pickering乳液也可能具备类似的特性,可加强底物分子向酶的外扩散.本文选择两种具有不同结构的ZIFs(ZIF-L和ZIF-8),原位包埋CA后形成CA@ZIFs颗粒以稳定Pickeirng乳液.ZIF-L和CA@ZIF-L颗粒显示出独特的二维层状堆叠结构.ZIF-8和CA@ZIF-8颗粒呈棱角清晰的十二面体结构.与CA@ZIF-8颗粒相比,CA@ZIF-L颗粒显示出更大的孔径和更宽的孔径分布,这有助于CO₂从CA@ZIF-L颗粒表面扩散至酶活性中心.利用酶活测试来研究内扩散是否通过结构工程得到了加强,发现CA@ZIF-L颗粒的活性比CA@ZIF-8颗粒高22.3%,推测这是由于CA@ZIF-L颗粒特殊的十字花状结构会缩短CO₂从颗粒表面扩散至酶活性中心的距离.同时,十字花状结构可暴露更多的酶活性位点(CA@ZIF-L颗粒的暴露面积是CA@ZIF-8颗粒的~8倍),从而提升了反应物浓度并显示出更高的催化活性.本文还设计了吸附实验来进一步验证上述假设,发现BSA@ZIF-L颗粒对香豆素的吸附率远高于BSA@ZIF-8颗粒,说明与ZIF-8相比,酶包埋于ZIF-L具有更强的捕获小分子的能力,表明CO₂分子向CA@ZIF-L的扩散速度更快,即CA@ZIF-L的十字花状结构可强化系统的内扩散过程.进一步比较了PIBS和游离多酶体系的催化活性,将CO₂通入每个系统,在反应前20 min,PIBS的pH值下降速度比游离体系快得多,说明PIBS通过在气相和液相间构建更大的界面,缩短了CO₂向CA的扩散距离,从而提高了催化效率,促进了CO₂转化.上述假设也通过扩散动力学的计算得到了验证.为进一步研究PIBS的CO₂矿化能力,本文开展了CaCO₃矿化反应,发现PIBS的CaCO₃产量远高于游离多酶体系,表明构建的PIBS在强化内外扩散方面具有显著优势.最后,评估了PIBS在工业应用中的性能,由CA@ZIF-L和CA@ZIF-8颗粒构建的PIBS显示出较好的可回收性,在第8个循环后,PIBS仍可保持8.9 mg/5 min的CaCO₃产量.综上,PIBS可为CO₂的酶促转化和框架提供一个新方法和新平台.     

Silver,iron, and nickel immobilized on hydroxyapatite‐core‐shell γ‐Fe2O3 MNPs catalyzed one‐pot five‐component reactions for the synthesis of tetrahydropyridines by tandem condensation of amines,aldehydes, and methyl acetoacetate

In this study, Ag, Ni²⁺, and Fe²⁺ immobilized on hydroxyapatite‐core‐shell γ‐Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles (γ‐Fe₂O₃@HAp‐Ag, γ‐Fe₂O₃@HAp‐Ni²⁺, and γ‐Fe₂O₃@HAp‐Fe²⁺) as a new and reusable Lewis acid magnetic nanocatalyst was successfully synthesized and reported for an atom economic, extremely facile, and environmentally benign procedure for the synthesis of highly functionalized tetrahydropyridines derivatives 4a‐t is described by one‐pot five‐component reaction of 2 equiv of aldehydes 1 , 2 equiv of amines 2 , and 1 equiv of methyl acetoacetate 3 in EtOH at room temperature in good to high yields and short reaction time. The presented methodology offers several advantages such as easy work‐up procedure, reusability of the magnetic nanocatalyst, operational simplicity, green synthesis avoiding toxic reagents and solvent, mild reaction conditions, and no tedious column chromatographic separation.     

Sol–gel template synthesis of luminescent glass–ceramic rods

We report an original way to prepare luminescent glass–ceramic microrods containing Eu³⁺ doped BaF₂ nanocrystals by sol–gel chemistry within the pores of a polycarbonate template membrane. Structural characterization by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction has shown the formation of glass–ceramic microrods with 0.8-m diameter of and 10 μm length in which BaF₂ nanocrystals of about 30 nm size are embedded. Photoluminescence measurements have indicated the incorporation of Eu³⁺ ions inside the BaF₂ nanocrystals in a broad range of sites with low coordination symmetry. The comparison made with the bulk glass–ceramic indicated an influence of the dimensional constraints imposed by the membrane pores during xerogel formation and subsequent glass ceramization.     

Synthesis,purification, and characterization of “perfect” star polymers via “Click” coupling

The copper (I)‐catalyzed azide‐alkyne cycloaddition “click” reaction was successfully applied to prepare well‐defined 3, 6, and 12‐arms polystyrene and polyethylene glycol stars. This study focused particularly on making “perfect” star polymers with an exact number of arms, as well as developing techniques for their purification. Various methods of characterization confirmed the star polymers high purity, and the structural uniformity of the generated star polymers. In particular, matrix‐assisted laser desorption ionization‐time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry revealed the quantitative transformation of the end groups on the linear polymer precursors and confirmed their quantitative coupling to the dendritic cores to yield star polymers with an exact number of arms. In addition to preparing well‐defined polystyrene and poly(ethylene glycol)homopolymer stars, this technique was also successfully applied to amphiphilic, PCL‐b‐PEG star polymers. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012