Inhibition of Fatty Acid β-Oxidation by Fatty Acid Binding Protein 4 Induces Ferroptosis in HK2 Cells Under High Glucose Conditions

Zhihua Zheng,Jiasi Chen,Keping Wu,Yan Lei,Mingcheng Huang,Lokyu Cheng,Hui Guan,Jiawen Lin,Ming Zhong,Xiaohua Wang 대한내분비학회 2023 Endocrinology and metabolism Vol.38 No.2

Background: Ferroptosis, which is caused by an iron-dependent accumulation of lipid hydroperoxides, is a type of cell death linked todiabetic kidney disease (DKD). Previous research has shown that fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4) is involved in the regulation of ferroptosis in diabetic retinopathy. The present study was constructed to explore the role of FABP4 in the regulation of ferroptosis in DKD. Methods: We first detected the expression of FABP4 and proteins related to ferroptosis in renal biopsies of patients with DKD. Then, we used a FABP4 inhibitor and small interfering RNA to investigate the role of FABP4 in ferroptosis induced by high glucosein human renal proximal tubular epithelial (HG-HK2) cells. Results: In kidney biopsies of DKD patients, the expression of FABP4 was elevated, whereas carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1A (CPT1A), glutathione peroxidase 4, ferritin heavy chain, and ferritin light chain showed reduced expression. In HG-HK2 cells, the induction of ferroptosis was accompanied by an increase in FABP4. Inhibition of FABP4 in HG-HK2 cells changed the redox state, suppressing the production of reactive oxygen species, ferrous iron (Fe2+), and malondialdehyde, increasing superoxide dismutase, and reversing ferroptosis-associated mitochondrial damage. The inhibition of FABP4 also increased the expression of CPT1A, reversed lipiddeposition, and restored impaired fatty acid β-oxidation. In addition, the inhibition of CPT1A could induce ferroptosis in HK2 cells. Conclusion: Our results suggest that FABP4 mediates ferroptosis in HG-HK2 cells by inhibiting fatty acid β-oxidation.

Molecular Cloning and Characterization of the Yew Gene Encoding Squalene Synthase from Taxus cuspidata

Huang, Zhuoshi,Jiang, Keji,Pi, Yan,Hou, Rong,Liao, Zhihua,Cao, Ying,Han, Xu,Wang, Qian,Sun, Xiaofen,Tang, Kexuan Korean Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biol 2007 Journal of biochemistry and molecular biology Vol.40 No.5

The enzyme squalene synthase (EC 2.5.1.21) catalyzes a reductive dimerization of two farnesyl diphosphate (FPP) molecules into squalene, a key precursor for the sterol and triterpene biosynthesis. A full-length cDNA encoding squalene synthase (designated as TcSqS) was isolated from Taxus cuspidata, a kind of important medicinal plants producing potent anti-cancer drug, taxol. The full-length cDNA of TcSqS was 1765 bp and contained a 1230 bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding a polypeptide of 409 amino acids. Bioinformatic analysis revealed that the deduced TcSqS protein had high similarity with other plant squalene synthases and a predicted crystal structure similar to other class I isoprenoid biosynthetic enzymes. Southern blot analysis revealed that there was one copy of TcSqS gene in the genome of T. cuspidata. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis and northern blotting analysis showed that TcSqS expressed constitutively in all tested tissues, with the highest expression in roots. The promoter region of TcSqS was also isolated by genomic walking and analysis showed that several cis-acting elements were present in the promoter region. The results of treatment experiments by different signaling components including methyl-jasmonate, salicylic acid and gibberellin revealed that the TcSqS expression level of treated cells had a prominent diversity to that of control, which was consistent with the prediction results of TcSqS promoter region in the PlantCARE database.

Status of serum vitamin B₁₂ and folate in patients with inflammatory bowel disease in China

( Shaozhong Huang ),( Jiayi Ma ),( Mingming Zhu ),( Zhihua Ran ) 대한장연구학회 2017 Intestinal Research Vol.15 No.1

Background/Aims: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) primarily involves the intestinal tract and can affect vitamin absorption. This study was designed to assess the prevalence of vitamin B₁₂ and folate deficiencies in patients with IBD, and to identify the risk factors associated with abnormal serum vitamin B₁₂ and folate levels. Methods: We evaluated the medical records of 195 patients with Crohn`s disease (CD) and 62 patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), and selected 118 healthy subjects for the control group. Results: There were more CD patients with vitamin B₁₂ deficiency than UC patients (14.9% vs. 3.2%, P =0.014) and controls (14.9% vs. 4.2%, P =0.003). The prevalence of folate deficiency was higher in CD patients than in controls (13.3% vs. 3.4%, P =0.004). There were no significant differences in the serum vitamin B₁₂ and folate statuses of the UC and control groups. Patients with prior ileal or ileocolic resection showed a higher prevalence of abnormal vitamin B₁₂ levels than those without prior resection (n=6/16, n=23/179; P =0.018). A disease duration within 5 years was a risk factor of abnormal folate levels in CD patients. Conclusions: This study showed that vitamin B₁₂ and folate deficiencies were more common in patients with CD than in UC patients and controls. Prior ileal or ileocolonic resection was a risk factor of serum vitamin B₁₂ abnormalities, and a disease duration within 5 years was a risk factor of low serum folate levels in CD patients. (Intest Res 2017;15:103-108)

Investigations on the influence of control devices to the separation characteristics of a missile from the internal weapons bay

Shiquan Zhu,Zhihua Chen,Hui Zhang,Zhen-gui Huang,Huanhao Zhang 대한기계학회 2018 JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.32 No.5

To ensure the safe separation process of a missile from internal weapons bay, the control device is mounted in front of the internal weapons bay to control the separation process. Based on the coupling of Navier-Stokes (N-S) equations and six-degrees-of-freedom (6DOF) rigid-body motion equations, the separation process of missile under four different conditions (free separation, and rectangle, prism and wedge control) was numerically simulated. The separation process and flow fields were obtained, the aerodynamic parameters and trajectory parameters of four cases compared. Our results show that, the control device can improve the aerodynamic characteristics of the flow field, enhancing the safety of the missile separation. The wedge control device has the best control effect and makes the missile stable, the rectangular and prism control devices have strong bow shock wave and make the pitch angle of the missile large.

Global seismic damage assessment of high-rise hybrid structures

Xilin Lu,Zhihua Huang,Ying Zhou 사단법인 한국계산역학회 2011 Computers and Concrete, An International Journal Vol.8 No.3

Nowadays, many engineers believe that hybrid structures with reinforced concrete central core walls and perimeter steel frames offer an economical method to develop the strength and stiffness required for seismic design. As a result, a variety of such structures have recently been applied in actual construction. However, the performance-based seismic design of such structures has not been investigated systematically. In the performance-based seismic design, quantifying the seismic damage of complete structures by damage indices is one of the fundamental issues. Four damage states and the final softening index at each state for high-rise hybrid structures are suggested firstly in this paper. Based on nonlinear dynamic analysis, the relation of the maximum inter-story drift, the main structural characteristics, and the final softening index is obtained. At the same time, the relation between the maximum inter-story drift and the maximum roof displacement over the height is also acquired. A double-variable index accounting for maximum deformation and cumulative energy is put forward based on the pushover analysis. Finally, a case study is conducted on a high-rise hybrid structure model tested on shaking table before to verify the suggested quantities of damage indices.

Effect of gum arabic edible coating incorporated with African baobab pulp extract on postharvest quality of cold stored blueberries

Haroon Elrasheid Tahir,Li Zhihua,Gustav Komla Mahunu,Zou Xiaobo,Muhammad Arslan,Huang Xiaowei,Zhikun Yang,Abdalbasit Adam Mariod 한국식품과학회 2020 Food Science and Biotechnology Vol.29 No.2

The marketability of blueberries over long distances has been limited because of their highly perishability. To prolong the postharvest shelf life and conserve quality properties of blueberry, various alternatives have been evaluated. We studied the influence of gum arabic (GA) alone or GA enhanced with African baobab (AB) fruit extract on blueberry during cold storage (4 C) for 21 days. Physico-chemical properties (e.g. pH, color, firmness, and weight loss), microbial decay, antioxidant properties, polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and peroxidase (POD) activity were investigated. The fruit treated with GA combined AB indicated a significant delay in microbial decay, firmness loss, weight loss, and color change. The treatments on blueberries resulted in better preservation of total phenols and total anthocyanins delayed the increase in total soluble solids as compared to the control. The coatings lowered the activities of PPO and POD enzymes and delayed microbial decay in coated blueberry during 21 days of storage.

Flow separation control of two kinds of microvortex generators for a supersonic spinning projectile

Jie Ma,Zhen-gui Huang,Zhihua Chen,Da-wen Xue,Jun-li Han 대한기계학회 2017 JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.31 No.1

Previous studies have shown that Microvortex generators (MVGs) can effectively control the flow separation of supersonic boundary layer. To improve the flight stability of a spinning projectile, two kinds of MVGs, micro ramps and vanes, are applied to control the flow separation of an original standard 155 mm projectile, respectively. Numerical simulations were performed with the use of Detached eddy simulation (DES) method, and the flow fields of the projectile with and without micro MVGs were simulated, the characteristics of the boundary layer and aerodynamic data of three cases were compared and discussed. The numerical results reveal that the effect of the MVGs control is obvious, but their mechanisms are different, and the vanes are more effective than the ramp in the boundary layer control. However, they can both improve the lift and pitching moment of the projectile, and eliminate their oscillations; as a result, its flight stability and firing dispersion can be enhanced. Our results can provide important guidance for improving the flight quality of supersonic projectiles.

Reacting flow field simulation of Hg<SUP>0</SUP> oxidation in flue gas by ozone injection

Zhengcheng Wen,Zheyu Shi,Zhihua Wang,Qunxin Huang 대한환경공학회 2023 Environmental Engineering Research Vol.28 No.6

IMPROVED HYBRID A-STAR ALGORITHM FOR PATH PLANNING IN AUTONOMOUS PARKING SYSTEM BASED ON MULTI-STAGE DYNAMIC OPTIMIZATION

Meng Tianchuang,Yang Tianhong,Huang Jin,Jin Wenrui,Zhang Wei,Jia Yifan,Wan Keqian,Xiao Gang,Yang Diange,Zhong Zhihua 한국자동차공학회 2023 International journal of automotive technology Vol.24 No.2

The recent proliferation of intelligent technologies has promoted autonomous driving. The autonomous parking system has become a popular feature in autonomous driving. Hybrid A-star algorithm is a commonly used path planning algorithm for its simplicity to deploy and the good characteristics of the generated paths in the practical engineering. To further enhance the path safety and efficiency of path planning in the autonomous parking system, this paper proposes an improved hybrid A-star algorithm through the safety-enhanced design and the efficiency-enhanced design. The safety-enhanced design integrates the Voronoi field potential into the path searching stage to take more account of path safety. The efficiency-enhanced design proposes a multi-stage dynamic optimization strategy which divides the path planning into multiple stages and performs dynamic optimization in each stage. Through simulation experiments, it is verified that the proposed improved algorithm not only generates a much safer path which stays farther from the obstacles but also significantly improves the searching efficiency in terms of time and space, merely at a finite cost of pre-processing work which can also be repeatedly utilized. We hope this paper will promote relative research on path planning in autonomous parking and serve as a reference for the practical engineering.

Diphenyl derivatives from coastal saline soil fungus Aspergillus iizukae

Desheng Liu,Ling Yan,Liying Ma,Yuling Huang,Xiaohong Pan,Weizhong Liu,Zhihua Lv 대한약학회 2015 Archives of Pharmacal Research Vol.38 No.6

Two new diphenyl derivatives, named iizukinesA (1) and B (2), along with nine known compounds wereisolated from coastal saline soil derived fungus Aspergillusiizukae. The structures were determined by extensivespectroscopic analysis. Their cytotoxicities were preliminarilyevaluated on HL-60, BEL-7402 and A-549 cell linesby the MTT assay.