Ribes fasciculatum Ameliorates High-Fat-Diet-Induced Obesity by Elevating Peripheral Thermogenic Signaling

Ribes fasciculatum has been consumed as a food and as a traditional medicine for treating autoimmune diseases and aging in diverse countries. A previous study showed that a mixture of Ribes fasciculatum and Cornus officinalis prohibited adipocyte differentiation and lipid accumulation in preadipocytes and suppressed diet-induced obesity. Nevertheless, the mechanism of R. fasciculatum to regulate energy homeostasis solely through thermogenic signaling remains unclear. Thus, we investigated its effects on energy homeostasis using R. fasciculatum fed to C57BL/6 mice with a 45% high-fat diet. Chronic consumption of R. fasciculatum decreased the body weight of obese mice with increasing food intakes and improved metabolic-syndrome-related phenotypes. Therefore, we further tested its thermogenic effects. Cold chamber experiments and qPCR studies indicated that R. fasciculatum elevated thermogenic signaling pathways, demonstrated by increased body temperature and uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) signaling in the white and brown adipose tissues. Afzelin is one major known compound derived from R. fasciculatum. Hence, the isolated compound afzelin was treated with preadipocytes and brown adipocytes for cell viability and luciferase assay, respectively, to further examine its thermogenic effect. The studies showed that the response of afzelin was responsible for cell viability and the increased UCP1. In conclusion, our data indicated that R. fasciculatum elevated peripheral thermogenic signaling through increased UCP1 via afzelin activation and ameliorated diet-induced obesity.     

Exploring the Volatiles Released from Roots of Wild and Domesticated Tomato Plants under Insect Attack

Plants produce volatile organic compounds that are important in communication and defense. While studies have largely focused on volatiles emitted from aboveground plant parts upon exposure to biotic or abiotic stresses, volatile emissions from roots upon aboveground stress are less studied. Here, we investigated if tomato plants under insect herbivore attack exhibited a different root volatilome than non-stressed plants, and whether this was influenced by the plant’s genetic background. To this end, we analyzed one domesticated and one wild tomato species, i.e., Solanum lycopersicum cv Moneymaker and Solanum pimpinellifolium, respectively, exposed to leaf herbivory by the insect Spodoptera exigua. Root volatiles were trapped with two sorbent materials, HiSorb and PDMS, at 24 h after exposure to insect stress. Our results revealed that differences in root volatilome were species-, stress-, and material-dependent. Upon leaf herbivory, the domesticated and wild tomato species showed different root volatile profiles. The wild species presented the largest change in root volatile compounds with an overall reduction in monoterpene emission under stress. Similarly, the domesticated species presented a slight reduction in monoterpene emission and an increased production of fatty-acid-derived volatiles under stress. Volatile profiles differed between the two sorbent materials, and both were required to obtain a more comprehensive characterization of the root volatilome. Collectively, these results provide a strong basis to further unravel the impact of herbivory stress on systemic volatile emissions.     

Secondary Metabolites with Anti-Inflammatory from the Roots of Cimicifuga taiwanensis

The genus Cimicifuga is one of the smallest genera in the family Ranunculaceae. Cimicifugae Rhizoma originated from rhizomes of Cimicifuga simplex, and C. dahurica, C. racemosa, C. foetida, and C. heracleifolia have been used as anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antipyretic remedies in Chinese traditional medicine. Inflammation is related to many diseases. Cimicifuga taiwanensis was often used in folk therapy in Taiwan for inflammation. Phytochemical investigation and chromatographic separation of extracts from the roots of Cimicifuga taiwanensis has led to the isolation of six new compounds: cimicitaiwanins A–F (1–6, respectively). The structures of the new compounds were unambiguously elucidated on the basis of extensive spectroscopic data analysis (1D- and 2D-NMR, MS, and UV) and comparison with the literature data. The effect of some isolates on the inhibition of NO production in lipopolysaccharide-activated RAW 264.7 murine macrophages was evaluated. Of the isolates, 3–6 exhibited potent anti-NO production activity, with IC₅₀ values ranging from 6.54 to 24.58 μM, respectively, compared with that of quercetin, an iNOS inhibitor with an IC₅₀ value of 34.58 μM. This is the first report on metabolite from the endemic Taiwanese plant-C. taiwanensis.     

Biological and Cheminformatics Studies of Newly Designed Triazole Based Derivatives as Potent Inhibitors against Mushroom Tyrosinase

A series of nine novel 1,2,4-triazole based compounds were synthesized through a multistep reaction pathway and their structures were scrutinized by using spectral methods such as FTIR, LC-MS, 1H NMR, and 13C NMR. The synthesized derivatives were screened for inhibitory activity against the mushroom tyrosinase and we found that all the synthesized compounds demonstrated decent inhibitory activity against tyrosinase. However, among the series of compounds, N-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-(5-(2-fluorophenyl)-4-(4-fluorophenyl)-4H-1,2,4-triazol-3-ylthio) acetamide exhibited more prominent activity when accompanied with the standard drug kojic acid. Furthermore, the molecular docking studies identified the interaction profile of all synthesized derivatives at the active site of tyrosinase. Based on these results, N-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-(5-(2-fluorophenyl)-4-(4-fluorophenyl)-4H-1,2,4-triazol-3-ylthio) acetamide could be used as a novel scaffold to design some new drugs against melanogenesis.     

Co-crystallisation as a modular approach to the discovery of spin-crossover materials

Herein we present co-crystallisation as a strategy for materials discovery in the field of switchable spin crossover (SCO) systems. Using [Fe(3-bpp)₂]·2A (where 3-bpp = 2,6-bis(pyrazol-3-yl)pyridine, A = BF₄⁻/PF₆⁻) as a starting point, a total of 11 new cocrystals have been synthesised with five different dipyridyl coformers. Eight of these systems show spin crossover behaviour, and all show dramatically different switching properties from the parent complex. The cocrystals have been studied by variable temperature single-crystal X-ray diffraction and SQUID magnetometry to develop structure–property relationships. The supramolecular architecture of the cocrystals depends on the properties of the coformer. With linear, rigid coformer molecules leading to 1D supramolecular hydrogen-bonded chains, while flexible coformers form 2D sheets and bent coformers yield 3D network structures. The SCO behaviour of the cocrystals can be modified through changing the coformer and thus co-crystallisation presents a rapid, facile and highly modular tool for the discovery of new switchable materials. The wider applicability of this strategy to the design of hybrid multifunctional materials is also discussed.

The switching behaviour of spin crossover cocrystals can be modified through changing the coformer and thus co-crystallisation presents a rapid, facile and highly modular tool for the discovery of new switchable materials.     

Using Taguchi Method to Determine the Optimum Conditions for Synthesizing Parapyruvate

The synthesis of parapyruvate is important for the analysis of the content in the pyruvate supplements and the study of aging-related neurodegenerative diseases. However, the pure parapyruvate crystal is not, as yet, commercially available. In this study, we applied the Taguchi’s L9 orthogonal array to investigate the optimal conditions for the preparation of the pure parapyruvate by the alkaline treatment of the pyruvic acid and then followed it with the solvent crystallization steps. We were also interested in revealing the major factors that affect the yield for the synthesized pure parapyruvate crystals. In addition, the parapyruvate-inhibited enzyme kinetic of α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complex (KGDHC) was also investigated. We found that the pure parapyruvate could be obtained in combination with an alkaline treatment and two solvent crystallization steps. The main factors affecting the yield of the pure parapyruvate were the concentration of the pyruvic acid (the reactant), the pH of the alkali treatment, the type of solvent used for the crystallization and the volume ratio of solvent used for crystallization. Finally, the optimal conditions could prepare parapyruvate crystals with a high purity of 99.8% and a high yield of 72.8%. In addition, the results demonstrate that parapyruvate is a reversibly competitive inhibitor for KGDHC.     

Design and analysis of a new silicon-on-insulator waveguide Michelson interferometer sensor

A new designed and analyzed silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguide Michelson interferometer (SMI) sensor is proposed in this paper. The authors compare an optical SMI sensor, a silicon-on-insulator Bragg waveguide grating (SBG) sensor, and a fiber Bragg grating sensor (FBG) for temperature sensing in medicine applications. The SMI sensor has 20 times sensing more accuracy than the FBG sensor. Moreovr, the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the pass-band frequency responses of our proposed SMI can be designed much narrower than FBG and SBG sensors for sensing resolution enhancement. Further, the improved characteristics of the SMI demonstrated in this paper could pave the way for future high density temperature monitoring medicine applications.     

Influence of ligands on the photoluminescent properties of Eu in europium β-diketonate/PMMA-doped systems

Three kinds of europium β-diketonates Eu(DBM)₃, Eu(BA)₃ and Eu(TTA)₃ (DBM: Dibenzoylmethane; BA: 1-Benzoylacetone; TTA: Thenoyltrifluoroacetone) were doped in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) matrix. The doped systems were studied by using photoluminescent (PL) spectroscopy, emission decay experiments and X-ray diffractometry. Eu(III) ions in the doped Eu(DBM)₃/PMMA systems have two distinct symmetric sites and the emission band changes greatly with the compositions. Eu(III) in the Eu(BA)₃/PMMA systems gives only one symmetric site in the doped systems and the emission band changes slightly with the compositions. Although two distinct symmetric sites of Eu(III) can be distinguished in the doped systems of Eu(TTA)₃/PMMA, the two sites have similar ⁵D₀ lifetimes and the luminescent spectra almost do not change with the compositions. XRD reveals that crystallites were formed in the doped Eu(DBM)₃/PMMA systems that have different crystalline structure from that of the chelate, and Eu(BA)₃ and Eu(TTA)₃ exist in amorphous state in the doped systems. The difference between the PL properties and structures of the doped systems for the three kinds of chelates should be attributed to different interactions between the chelate molecules and between the chelate and PMMA.     

Topological analysis of charge density in heptasulfur imide (S7NH) from isolated molecule to solid

Intra and intermolecular interactions of heptasulfur imide (S₇NH) are investigated in terms of topological properties analyses, such analyses are applied to both experimental (multipole model) and theoretically calculated (DFT and PDFT calculations) charge densities of the isolated molecule and of the crystal. The same analyses are also applied to a multipole model density obtained from theoretically (PDFT) derived structural amplitudes. The covalent bond character of S-N, N-H and S-S bonds are well described in terms of density, ρ_b, and total energy density, H_b, at the bond critical point r_c, though it is clear that the S-S bonds are weaker shared interactions than those of N-H and S-N bonds. Lone pair electron regions of sulfur and nitrogen atoms are revealed as the local charge concentration site from the Laplacian of charge density. The even weaker intermolecular interactions are well characterized; these include the N-H?S hydrogen bonding, N?S binding interactions and S?S binding interactions. All these intermolecular binding interactions are closed-shell interactions. The Laplacian of charge density demonstrates a directional intermolecular binding interaction. The corresponding intermolecular binding energies are derived by MP2/6-311+G(d,p) calculations. Atomic graph of each atom of the molecule is described in detail by the vertices, edges and faces of the polyhedron around the nucleus to illustrate such directional interactions.