Tri(t-butoxycarbonylethoxymethyl) ethanol

Ethnopharmacological relevance:Rhodiola crenulata is clinically used to combat hypobaric hypoxia brain injury at high altitude with the function of invigorating Qi and promoting blood circulation in Tibetan medicine. Salidroside (Sal), an active compound identified from Rhodiola species, has been shown to exert neuroprotective effects against hypoxic brain injury. However, its mitochondrial protective mechanisms remain largely unknown.Aim of the study:The present study aimed to explore the mitochondrial protection of Sal and the involved mechanisms related to mitochondrial dynamics homeostasis on hypoxia-induced injury of HT22 cells.Materials and methods:Hypoxic condition was performed as cells cultured in a tri-gas incubator with 1% O2, 5% CO2 and 94% N2. We firstly investigated the effects of different concentrations of Sal on the viability of normal or hypoxic HT22 cells. Whereafter, the levels of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and Na+-K+-ATPase were tested by commercial kits. Meanwhile, mitochondrial superoxide, intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) were determined by specific labeled probes. Mitochondrial morphology was detected by mito-tracker green with confocal microscopy. Additionally, the potential interactions of Sal with Sirt1/p53/Drp1 signaling pathway-related proteins were predicted and tested by molecular docking and localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) techniques, respectively. Furthermore, the protein levels of Sirt1, p53, ac-p53, Drp1, p-Drp1(s616), Fis1 and Mfn2 were estimated by western blot analysis. Results:Sal alleviated hypoxia-induced oxidative stress in HT22 cells as evidenced by increased cell viability and SOD activity, while decreased LDH release and MDA content. The protected mitochondrial function by Sal treatment was indicated by the increases of ATP level, Na+-K+-ATPase activity and MMP. Miraculously, Sal reduced hypoxia-induced mitochondrial fission, while increased mitochondrial tubular or linear morphology. The results of molecular docking and LSPR confirmed the potential binding of Sal to proteins Sirt1, p53, Fis1 and Mfn2 with affinity values 1.38 × 10-2, 5.26 × 10-3, 6.46 × 10-3 and 7.26 × 10-3 KD, respectively. And western blot analysis further demonstrated that Sal memorably raised the levels of Sirt1 and Mfn2, while decreased the levels of ac-p53, Drp1, p-Drp1 (s616) and Fis1.Conclusion:Collectively, our data confirm that Sal can maintain mitochondrial dynamics homeostasis by activating the Sirt1/p53/Drp1 signaling pathway.

In this paper, we present a novel room temperature (RT) operated SnO2-ZnO-Fe2O3 based tri-composite analyte sensor with dual behavior having detection ability of up to ~1 ppb with a substantial % response (R) to detect ammonia and ethanol vapors. The tri-composite is synthesized via a sol-gel spin coating technique and characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) for structural analysis. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Raman results are used to confirm tri-composite formation. Further, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) results are used for examining the detailed surface morphology and structural and topographical characteristics of the tri-composite. The sensing characteristics are monitored from 1 ppb to 50 ppm for ammonia detection and 1 ppb to 25 ppm for ethanol detection at RT (~27 °C) under ~45% relative humidity (RH) conditions. This dual sensing behavior (based on change in resistance under ammonia and ethanol exposure) of the sensor is used to differentiate and detect the presence of ammonia (resistance decreases) and ethanol (resistance increases) with high %R within a few seconds. In addition, the sensor showed excellent sensing characteristics under moist conditions (up to 85% RH) and outstanding reproducibility, and was found to be highly stable, selective and specific towards the target analytes. This work not only reports a RT operated ppb level ammonia and ethanol sensor, but also explores the novel SnO2-ZnO-Fe2O3 tri-composite along with a scientific approach towards multi-composite nanostructures to develop analyte sensors.

Background:Having short drying time and attractive product quality are important in fruit and vegetable dehydration processing. In this work, tri-frequency (20, 40 and 60 kHz) ultrasound-ethanol pretreatment, ultrasound-water pretreatment and ethanol pretreatment were employed before infrared convection drying (ICD) of scallion stalks, which was aimed at improving the drying process and quality of the end products. The mass transfer, drying characteristics (moisture ratio and drying rate and quality properties of scallion (rehydration, color, flavor, optical microscope image, moisture distribution and microbiological quality) were analyzed. Results:All pretreatments have decreased the drying time by 33.34-83.34% compared to the control, while ultrasound-ethanol pretreatment provided the highest time reduction (83.34%). The reason is that the volatility of ethanol have replaced air in the tissue, which produced a better osmotic dehydration effect and the cavitation effect of ultrasound changed the cell function of the material, so that the food tissue was rapidly compressed and expanded, resulting in damage to the cell structure. Ultrasonic-ethanol pretreatment has greatly reduced the water loss and dry matter of fresh scallion, improved the rehydration effect of dried scallion, better retained the color and flavor of scallion and effectively reduced the microbiological quality of the scallion.Conclusion:The tri-frequency ultrasound-ethanol pretreatment has effectively improved the drying process and quality characteristics of the dried scallion. Therefore, this research has a great contribution to the drying technology, as evident in the remarkable reduction in drying time and the improvement in the quality of the end product. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.