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Transforming growth factor-ß1 promotes excessive extracellular matrix deposition and epithelial-mesenchymal transition of tubular epithelial cells, thus stimulating the progression of renal fibrosis. Carvacrol has been shown to alleviate cardiac and liver fibrosis and attenuate renal injury. However, the role of carvacrol on renal fibrosis has not been examined. First, measurements using Cell Counting Kit-8 showed that carvacrol reduced cell viability of tubular epithelial cell line HK-2 in a dose-dependent fashion. Second, transforming growth factor-ß1 induced excessive extracellular matrix deposition in HK-2 cells with enhanced collagen I, collagen IV, and fibronectin expression. However, carvacrol decreased the expression of collagen I, collagen IV in a dose-dependent manner and fibronectin to attenuate the extracellular matrix deposition in HK-2. Third, carvacrol attenuated TGF-ß1-induced decrease of E-cadherin and increase of snail, vimentin, and alpha-smooth muscle actin in HK-2 cells. Transforming growth factor-ß1-induced increase in PI3K and AKT phosphorylation in HK-2 were also reversed by carvacrol. Collectively, carvacrol ameliorates renal fibrosis through inhibition of transforming growth factor-ß1-induced extracellular matrix deposition and epithelial-mesenchymal transition of HK-2 cells, providing potential therapy for the treatment of renal fibrosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conjugatedmicroporous polymers (CMPs) are usually obtained asamorphous or semicrystalline powders. Their insolubility and nonprocessabilityare considered as key bottlenecks that impede CMP applications. Inthis study, light-emitting, nanofibrous films were fabricated by electrospinningCMP/poly(lactic acid) (PLA) mixtures. The resulting nanofibrous filmsshow a high flexibility combined with high porosity and surface-area-to-volumeratios. The CMP-based nanofibrous films have been used as sensitivesensors in the detection of nitroaromatic and benzoquinone vaporsas well as oxidizing metal ions. Moreover, 4-iodophenyl-substitutedgraphene sheets were used as templates for growing CMP/graphene sandwiches.The graphene-based CMP (G-CMP) sandwiches are characterized by highsurface areas and aspect ratios. Furthermore, hierarchically poroustwo-dimensional carbon nanosheets were obtained by pyrolysis of thesecarbon-rich G-CMP hybrids. The resulting carbon nanomaterials showexcellent supercapacitor behavior with a 48% increased capacitanceif compared to porous carbons without the graphene template. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]