Current Chinese Science - Volume 4, Issue 1, 2024

Designing innovative one-pot reactions using eco-friendly methodologies has attracted a lot of attention in drug development, organic synthesis, and material sciences due to the impressive art of mitigating the possibility of side reactions, particularly for the synthesis of Ncontaining heterocycles, which are crucial for the manufacturing and development of new drugs. These moieties have demonstrated a diversity of biological applications, such as anti-tumor, antimicrobial, antibiofilm, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory. Due to the wide range of medicinal applications, several techniques have been reported in the literature for the synthesis of these physiologically important scaffolds, employing different homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts. One such highly efficient catalyst is tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBAB), which has gained significant attention as an efficient metal-free homogeneous phase-transfer catalyst to facilitate a reaction when the reactants are in different phases. It is also used as a zwitterionic solvent in many organic transformations and as an effective co-catalyst for a variety of coupling reactions. In the current study, we highlighted recent developments in one-pot reactions involving TBAB as a phase-transfer catalyst or zwitterionic solvent for the efficient synthesis of various biologically promising monocyclic and bicyclic N-heterocycle scaffolds.

The top taxonomic position among non-chordate invertebrates, which make up the evolutionary connection between invertebrates and vertebrates, is held by echinoderms. Their immune responses rely on coelomocyte activity functioning concurrently with a range of humoral components that directly interact with invasive pathogens. However, markedly lower numbers of systematic reviews of the classification and immune function of coelomocytes have been performed compared with those of vertebrates. Studying echinoderm coelomocytes continues to be an important evolutionary vantage point for determining the origins of bilaterian immunity as well as the principles behind the adaptive immune system of vertebrates. This article reviews the classifications and immune functions of coelomocytes (sea urchin, sea cucumber and sea star). It summarizes the research progress on immune-related genes/proteins, signal transduction pathways and effector molecules in echinoderms according to the recent literature. This summary provides a theoretical basis for studying coelomocytes and disease control in echinoderms. In the future, a variety of methods and techniques should be used and combined with the surface receptors of cells to study the classification and function of coelomocytes of echinoderms

Background: A thin membrane capsule covers the eye lens and links the lens and the applied forces by the ciliary muscles. The capsule converts the tension of the concentrated zonules to distributed surface tractions over the cortex surface during the lens accommodation. The gradual changes of the capsule geometry and material properties with age and its important role in the design of intraocular lens implants were the motivation of extensive researches on describing the capsule biomechanical behavior. Aim: The present work aimed to study the lens accommodation response to different capsule thicknesses and material properties at different ages. Material and Method: A material and geometry parametric study was performed, drawing some guidelines on the choice of lens capsule thickness and biaxial/uniaxial material parameters and exploring the response sensitivity of the finite element model at different age groups Result: TThe 16-, 35- and 48-year-old lenses were considered for lens accommodation simulation. The sensitivity of lens accommodation was studied at each age group by considering constant thickness (cnst-t) and variable thickness (var-t) capsules and biaxial (Biax) and uniaxial (Uniax) material characteristics tests. The lens was stretched through zonules, and corresponding absolute changes in central optical power (COP) were measured. Conclusion: After the stretch, the lens anterior and posterior curvatures increased, producing a change in COP. The Biax models underestimated the ΔCOP compared to the Uniax models. The 16-year lens model was more sensitive to material properties than thickness variation, while thickness variation was more relevant to the ΔCOP of the 35-year lens model. The 48-year model had the least sensitivity to capsule thickness and material property variations.

Objective: The study aimed to discuss the possible mechanisms of Houpu Wenzhong Decoction in the treatment of chronic gastritis and depression based on network pharmacology and molecular docking. Methods: The chemical components and corresponding targets of seven crude drugs in Houpu Wenzhong Decoction were retrieved from the database TCMSP. The targets for treating chronic gastritis and depression were obtained from the database GeneCards. STRING 11.5 was used to establish the protein-protein interaction network of common targets among “chemical components- chronic gastritis-depression”, and then Cytoscape was employed for visual analysis. The targets with the top ten degrees were selected as key targets, which were then imported to BioGPS to obtain the distribution in organs and tissues. The common targets were analyzed via Go and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses using Metascape. The top ten degrees of active components were verified by molecular docking of key targets. Results: Under the conditions of OB ≥ 30% and DL ≥ 0.18, a total of 144 chemical components and related 251 targets of Houpu Wenzhong Decoction were retrieved. 1192 and 12902 targets were retrieved for chronic gastritis and depression from the GeneCards database, respectively. 104 common targets were obtained by intersection among the two diseases and drug targets. The key common targets have been found to be mainly distributed in organs and tissues, such as the adrenal cortex, amygdala, appendix, adrenal gland, colorectal, liver, and prostates, as observed through BioGPS analysis. 5141 biological processes, 354 cell components, and 615 molecular functions were obtained by GO functional enrichment analysis, and 302 signal pathways were obtained by KEGG enrichment analysis. Among these, IL-17, TNF, PI3K-Akt, and toll-like receptor signaling pathway have been found to be involved. Molecular docking results showed the key active components, naringenin and hesperidin, to have good binding activities with targets STAT3 and Jun. Conclusion: 104 common targets between chronic gastritis and depression have been obtained as the basis for Houpu Wenzhong Decoction to treat the two diseases. The ten key active ingredients have been found to act on 15 key signal pathways through 104 common key targets to treat the two diseases.

Background: Clear cell renal carcinoma (ccRCC) is one of the most common urological tumors worldwide and metabolic reprogramming is its distinguishing feature. A systematic study on the role of the metabolism-related genes in ccRCC cancer stem cells (CSCs) is still lacking. Moreover, an effective metabolism-related prediction signature is urgently needed to assess the prognosis of ccRCC patients. Methods: Gene expression profiles of GSE48550 and GSE84546 were analyzed for the role of metabolism-related gene in ccRCC-CSCs. The GSE22541 dataset were used to construct and validate an effective metabolism-related prediction signature to assess the prognosis of ccRCC patients. Results: For glycolytic metabolism, we found that HKDC1, PFKM and LDHB were significantly upregulated in ccRCC-CSCs in GSE84546. For TCA cycle, ACO1, SDHA and MDH1 were significantly downregulated in ccRCC-CSCs in both GSE48550 and GSE84546. For fatty acid metabolism, CPT1A and ACACB were significantly upregulated in ccRCC-CSCs in GSE84546. It is worth noting that SCD was significantly downregulated in both GSE48550 and GSE84546. For glutamine metabolism, SLC1A5, GLS and GOT1 were significantly upregulated in GSE84546. An eight-gene CSCs metabolism-related risk signature including HKDC1, PFKM, LDHB, IDH1, OGDH, SDHA, GLS and GLUL were constructed to predict the overall survival (OS) of ccRCC patients. Patients could be separated into two groups, and the patients with lower risk scores had longer survival time. Conclusion: Our study indicated that metabolic reprogramming, including glycolytic metabolism, TCA cycle, fatty acid metabolism and glutamine metabolism, is more obvious in CD105+ renal cells (GSE84546) than CD133+ renal cells (GSE48550). An eight-gene metabolismrelated risk signature including HKDC1, PFKM, LDHB, IDH1, OGDH, SDHA, GLS and GLUL can effectively predict OS in ccRCC.