Flavonoids have been reported to have therapeutic potential for spinal cord injury.Hawthorn leaves have abundant content and species of total flavonoids,and studies of the effects of the total flavonoids of hawthorn l...Flavonoids have been reported to have therapeutic potential for spinal cord injury.Hawthorn leaves have abundant content and species of total flavonoids,and studies of the effects of the total flavonoids of hawthorn leaves on spinal cord injury have not been published in or outside China.Therefore,Sprague-Dawley rats were used to establish a spinal cord injury model by Allen's method.Rats were intraperitoneally injected with 0.2 m L of different concentrations of total flavonoids of hawthorn leaves(5,10,and 20 mg/kg)after spinal cord injury.Injections were administered once every 6 hours,three times a day,for 14 days.After treatment with various concentrations of total flavonoids of hawthorn leaves,the Basso,Beattie,and Bresnahan scores and histological staining indicated decreases in the lesion cavity and number of apoptotic cells of the injured spinal cord tissue;the morphological arrangement of the myelin sheath and nerve cells tended to be regular;and the Nissl bodies in neurons increased.The Basso,Beattie,and Bresnahan scores of treated spinal cord injury rats were increased.Western blot assays showed that the expression levels of pro-apoptotic Bax and cleaved caspase-3 were decreased,but the expression level of the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 protein was increased.The improvement of the above physiological indicators showed a dose-dependent relationship with the concentration of total flavonoids of hawthorn leaves.The above findings confirm that total flavonoids of hawthorn leaves can reduce apoptosis and exert neuroprotective effects to promote the recovery of the motor function of rats with spinal cord injury.This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Guangxi Medical University of China(approval No.201810042)in October 2018.展开更多
Spinal cord injury(SCI)causes motor,sensory,and autonomic dysfunctions.The gut microbiome has an important role in SCI,while short-chain fatty acids(SCFAs)are one of the main bioactive mediators of microbiota.In the p...Spinal cord injury(SCI)causes motor,sensory,and autonomic dysfunctions.The gut microbiome has an important role in SCI,while short-chain fatty acids(SCFAs)are one of the main bioactive mediators of microbiota.In the present study,we explored the effects of oral administration of exogenous SCFAs on the recovery of locomotor function and tissue repair in SCI.Allen’s method was utilized to establish an SCI model in Sprague-Dawley(SD)rats.The animals received water containing a mixture of 150 mmol/L SCFAs after SCI.After 21 d of treatment,the Basso,Beattie,and Bresnahan(BBB)score increased,the regularity index improved,and the base of support(BOS)value declined.Spinal cord tissue inflammatory infiltration was alleviated,the spinal cord necrosis cavity was reduced,and the numbers of motor neurons and Nissl bodies were elevated.Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA),real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction(qPCR),and immunohistochemistry assay revealed that the expression of interleukin(IL)-10 increased and that of IL-17 decreased in the spinal cord.SCFAs promoted gut homeostasis,induced intestinal T cells to shift toward an anti-inflammatory phenotype,and promoted regulatory T(Treg)cells to secrete IL-10,affecting Treg cells and IL-17^(+)γδT cells in the spinal cord.Furthermore,we observed that Treg cells migrated from the gut to the spinal cord region after SCI.The above findings confirm that SCFAs can regulate Treg cells in the gut and affect the balance of Treg and IL-17^(+)γδT cells in the spinal cord,which inhibits the inflammatory response and promotes the motor function in SCI rats.Our findings suggest that there is a relationship among gut,spinal cord,and immune cells,and the“gut-spinal cord-immune”axis may be one of the mechanisms regulating neural repair after SCI.展开更多
Background:Osteoporosis(OP)has become a major public health issue,threatening the bone health of middle-aged and elderly people from all around the world.Changes in the gut microbiota(GM)are correlated with the mainte...Background:Osteoporosis(OP)has become a major public health issue,threatening the bone health of middle-aged and elderly people from all around the world.Changes in the gut microbiota(GM)are correlated with the maintenance of bone mass and bone quality.However,research results in this field remain highly controversial,and no systematic review or meta-analysis of the relationship between GM and OP has been conducted.This paper addresses this shortcoming,focusing on the difference in the GM abundance between OP patients and healthy controls based on previous 16S ribosomal RNA(rRNA)gene sequencing results,in order to provide new clinical reference information for future customized prevention and treatment options of OP.Methods:According to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses(PRISMA),we comprehensively searched the databases of Pub Med,Web of Science,Embase,Cochrane Library,and China National Knowledge Infrastructure(CNKI).In addition,we applied the R programming language version 4.0.3 and Stata 15.1 software for data analysis.We also implemented the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale(NOS),funnel plot analysis,sensitivity analysis,Egger’s test,and Begg’s test to assess the risk of bias.Results:This research ultimately considered 12 studies,which included the fecal GM data of 2033 people(604 with OP and 1429 healthy controls).In the included research papers,it was observed that the relative abundance of Lactobacillus and Ruminococcus increased in the OP group,while the relative abundance for Bacteroides of Bacteroidetes increased(except for Ireland).Meanwhile,Firmicutes,Blautia,Alistipes,Megamonas,and Anaerostipes showed reduced relative abundance in Chinese studies.In the linear discriminant analysis Effect Size(LEfSe)analysis,certain bacteria showed statistically significant results consistently across different studies.Conclusions:This observational meta-analysis revealed that changes in the GM were correlated with OP,and variations in some advantageous GM might involve regional differences.展开更多
Drug delivery via intra-articular(IA)injection has proved to be effective in osteoarthritis(OA)therapy,limited by the drug efficiency and short retention time of the drug delivery systems(DDSs).Herein,a series of modi...Drug delivery via intra-articular(IA)injection has proved to be effective in osteoarthritis(OA)therapy,limited by the drug efficiency and short retention time of the drug delivery systems(DDSs).Herein,a series of modified cross-linked dextran(Sephadex,S0)was fabricated by respectively grafting with linear alkyl chains,branched alkyl chains or aromatic chain,and acted as DDSs after ibuprofen(Ibu)loading for OA therapy.This DDSs expressed sustained drug release,excellent anti-inflammatory and chondroprotective effects both in IL-1βinduced chondrocytes and OA joints.Specifically,the introduction of a longer hydrophobic chain,particularly an aromatic chain,distinctly improved the hydrophobicity of S0,increased Ibu loading efficiency,and further led to significantly improving OA therapeutic effects.Therefore,hydrophobic microspheres with greatly improved drug loading ratio and prolonged degradation rates show great potential to act as DDSs for OA therapy.展开更多
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China,No.81860391(to GFZ)the Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China,No.2018GXNSFAA281144(to GFZ)the Key Research and Development Project of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China,No.guike AB18221021(to SHZ)。
文摘Flavonoids have been reported to have therapeutic potential for spinal cord injury.Hawthorn leaves have abundant content and species of total flavonoids,and studies of the effects of the total flavonoids of hawthorn leaves on spinal cord injury have not been published in or outside China.Therefore,Sprague-Dawley rats were used to establish a spinal cord injury model by Allen's method.Rats were intraperitoneally injected with 0.2 m L of different concentrations of total flavonoids of hawthorn leaves(5,10,and 20 mg/kg)after spinal cord injury.Injections were administered once every 6 hours,three times a day,for 14 days.After treatment with various concentrations of total flavonoids of hawthorn leaves,the Basso,Beattie,and Bresnahan scores and histological staining indicated decreases in the lesion cavity and number of apoptotic cells of the injured spinal cord tissue;the morphological arrangement of the myelin sheath and nerve cells tended to be regular;and the Nissl bodies in neurons increased.The Basso,Beattie,and Bresnahan scores of treated spinal cord injury rats were increased.Western blot assays showed that the expression levels of pro-apoptotic Bax and cleaved caspase-3 were decreased,but the expression level of the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 protein was increased.The improvement of the above physiological indicators showed a dose-dependent relationship with the concentration of total flavonoids of hawthorn leaves.The above findings confirm that total flavonoids of hawthorn leaves can reduce apoptosis and exert neuroprotective effects to promote the recovery of the motor function of rats with spinal cord injury.This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Guangxi Medical University of China(approval No.201810042)in October 2018.
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.82060399)Guangxi Medical High-level Key Talents Training“139”Program Training Project(No.[2020]15),China.
文摘Spinal cord injury(SCI)causes motor,sensory,and autonomic dysfunctions.The gut microbiome has an important role in SCI,while short-chain fatty acids(SCFAs)are one of the main bioactive mediators of microbiota.In the present study,we explored the effects of oral administration of exogenous SCFAs on the recovery of locomotor function and tissue repair in SCI.Allen’s method was utilized to establish an SCI model in Sprague-Dawley(SD)rats.The animals received water containing a mixture of 150 mmol/L SCFAs after SCI.After 21 d of treatment,the Basso,Beattie,and Bresnahan(BBB)score increased,the regularity index improved,and the base of support(BOS)value declined.Spinal cord tissue inflammatory infiltration was alleviated,the spinal cord necrosis cavity was reduced,and the numbers of motor neurons and Nissl bodies were elevated.Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA),real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction(qPCR),and immunohistochemistry assay revealed that the expression of interleukin(IL)-10 increased and that of IL-17 decreased in the spinal cord.SCFAs promoted gut homeostasis,induced intestinal T cells to shift toward an anti-inflammatory phenotype,and promoted regulatory T(Treg)cells to secrete IL-10,affecting Treg cells and IL-17^(+)γδT cells in the spinal cord.Furthermore,we observed that Treg cells migrated from the gut to the spinal cord region after SCI.The above findings confirm that SCFAs can regulate Treg cells in the gut and affect the balance of Treg and IL-17^(+)γδT cells in the spinal cord,which inhibits the inflammatory response and promotes the motor function in SCI rats.Our findings suggest that there is a relationship among gut,spinal cord,and immune cells,and the“gut-spinal cord-immune”axis may be one of the mechanisms regulating neural repair after SCI.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.81860391)the Guangxi Medical High-level Backbone Talents Training“139”Program Training Project(No.[2020]15)the Guangxi Hundred Thousand Talents Project(No.[2019]32),China.
文摘Background:Osteoporosis(OP)has become a major public health issue,threatening the bone health of middle-aged and elderly people from all around the world.Changes in the gut microbiota(GM)are correlated with the maintenance of bone mass and bone quality.However,research results in this field remain highly controversial,and no systematic review or meta-analysis of the relationship between GM and OP has been conducted.This paper addresses this shortcoming,focusing on the difference in the GM abundance between OP patients and healthy controls based on previous 16S ribosomal RNA(rRNA)gene sequencing results,in order to provide new clinical reference information for future customized prevention and treatment options of OP.Methods:According to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses(PRISMA),we comprehensively searched the databases of Pub Med,Web of Science,Embase,Cochrane Library,and China National Knowledge Infrastructure(CNKI).In addition,we applied the R programming language version 4.0.3 and Stata 15.1 software for data analysis.We also implemented the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale(NOS),funnel plot analysis,sensitivity analysis,Egger’s test,and Begg’s test to assess the risk of bias.Results:This research ultimately considered 12 studies,which included the fecal GM data of 2033 people(604 with OP and 1429 healthy controls).In the included research papers,it was observed that the relative abundance of Lactobacillus and Ruminococcus increased in the OP group,while the relative abundance for Bacteroides of Bacteroidetes increased(except for Ireland).Meanwhile,Firmicutes,Blautia,Alistipes,Megamonas,and Anaerostipes showed reduced relative abundance in Chinese studies.In the linear discriminant analysis Effect Size(LEfSe)analysis,certain bacteria showed statistically significant results consistently across different studies.Conclusions:This observational meta-analysis revealed that changes in the GM were correlated with OP,and variations in some advantageous GM might involve regional differences.
基金supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.82160430)Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi(Grant No.2020GXNSFAA159134 and 2019GXNSFAA185060)+1 种基金Guangxi Science and Technology Base and Talent Special Project(Grant No.GuikeAD19254003 and GuikeAD21075002)Nanning Qingxiu District Science and Technology Major Special Project(Grant No.2020013).
文摘Drug delivery via intra-articular(IA)injection has proved to be effective in osteoarthritis(OA)therapy,limited by the drug efficiency and short retention time of the drug delivery systems(DDSs).Herein,a series of modified cross-linked dextran(Sephadex,S0)was fabricated by respectively grafting with linear alkyl chains,branched alkyl chains or aromatic chain,and acted as DDSs after ibuprofen(Ibu)loading for OA therapy.This DDSs expressed sustained drug release,excellent anti-inflammatory and chondroprotective effects both in IL-1βinduced chondrocytes and OA joints.Specifically,the introduction of a longer hydrophobic chain,particularly an aromatic chain,distinctly improved the hydrophobicity of S0,increased Ibu loading efficiency,and further led to significantly improving OA therapeutic effects.Therefore,hydrophobic microspheres with greatly improved drug loading ratio and prolonged degradation rates show great potential to act as DDSs for OA therapy.
