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Carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCS)-based complex coacervate has attracted much attention in drug oral delivery due to its pH-responsive property. As a unique ampholyte polymer, the self-coacervation of CMCS has great research potential. In this work, CMCS self-coacervates were prepared by adjusting the pH of the CMCS aqueous solution close to its isoelectric point. The Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) results revealed that electrostatic interactions, hydrogen bonding, and hydrophobic interactions were involved in the self-coacervation of CMCS. The obtained self-coacervates presented a dense surface structure, and were stable at a wide pH range of 3.0–6.0, and gradually dissolved under basic conditions. Although self-coacervation decreased the crystallinity and thermal stability of CMCS, the obtained coacervates showed excellent pH-responsive properties and ionic strength stability. We also investigated its potential in lactoferrin (LF) encapsulation and oral delivery. The CMCS self-coacervates exhibited a high encapsulation efficiency (EE) of 94.79 ± 0.49% and loading capacity (LC) of 26.29 ± 0.52% when the addition amount of LF was 2 mg. The simulated gastric digestion results demonstrated that CMCS self-coacervates could protect more than 80% of LF from hydrolysis and maintain the bioactivities of LF. Accordingly, the self-coacervation of CMCS could be used as a pH-responsive encapsulation and delivery strategy.

Recently, electrochemical NO reduction (eNORR) to ammonia has attracted enormous research interests due to the dual benefits in ammonia synthesis and denitrification fields. Herein, taking Ag as a model catalyst, we have developed a microkinetic model to rationalize the general selectivity trend of eNORR with varying potential, which has been observed widely in experiments, but not understood well. The model reproduces experiments well, quantitatively describing the selectivity turnover from N2O to NH3 and from NH3 to H2 with more negative potential. The first turnover of selectivity is due to the thermochemical coupling of two NO* limiting the N2O production. The second turnover is attributed to the larger transfer coefficient (β) of HER than NH3 production. This work reveals how electrode potential regulate the selectivity of eNORR, which is also beneficial to understand the commonly increasing HER selectivity with the decrease of potential in some other electroreduction reactions such as CO2 reduction.

The study aimed to reveal the different mechanisms of delaying starch digestion by ECG, EGCG and Procyanidin based on the perspective of α-amylase-flavanol interaction and starch-flavanol interaction. The interaction characteristics of flavanols with α-amylase were studied from five aspects: enzyme inhibition, kinetics, fluorescence quenching, circular dichroism (CD) and computer simulation. The IC50 of flavanols (ECG, EGCG and Procyanidin) against α-amylase were 172.21 ± 0.22, 732.15 ± 0.13 and 504.45 ± 0.19 μg/mL according to the results of α-amylase inhibition experiment, respectively. ECG and Procyanidin showed mixed inhibition against α-amylase, while EGCG showed non-competition against α-amylase. However, thermodynamic parameters，computer-based docking and dynamic simulation proved that ECG and EGCG-α-amylase complexs were mainly driven by van der Waals and hydrogen bonds, while Procyanidin-α-amylase complexs was driven by hydrophobic interaction. In addition, it was indicated, by means of starch‑iodine complex spectroscopy, that flavanols inhibited the digestion of starch not only through bind with α-amylase but also through bind with starch. Thus, flavanols as a starch-based food additive have the potential to be employed as adjuvant therapy for diabetes.

Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and epicatechin gallate (ECG) are the most abundant ester catechins of green tea polyphenols (GTPs) with numerous potential bioactivities, which have wide application prospects in the fields of medicine and functional foods. In this study, a new method using macroporous resin and crystallization was established to separate and purify EGCG and ECG. Two resins with high adsorption and desorption capacities for EGCG and ECG were screened through static adsorption/desorption tests, and the LX-20B resin was selected through column chromatography due to its best separation effect. Moreover, the column separation parameters of LX-20B resin (sample amount, ethanol elution concentration, elution volume, and elution flow rate) were optimized. After resin purification, the EGCG and ECG purity were 70.08 ± 2.55% and 74.97 ± 2.66%, respectively, and the recovery rates were 68.07 ± 2.43% and 74.28 ± 2.24%, respectively. After crystallization, the EGCG purity reached 95.87 ± 0.89%, with a total recovery rate of 58.66%, and the ECG purity reached 95.55 ± 1.30%, with a total recovery rate of 62.45%. The separation efficiency of the resin showed no significant change after 6 cycles. These results show the proposed method to be a simple, eco-friendly, and cost-effective separation method for the industrial separation and purification of EGCG and ECG from GTPs.

Separation and enrichment of phenolics from peony flowers were performed to improve the anti-biofilm and antibacterial activities for the first time. Through several times of separation, the purity of phenolics components increased significantly, and the anti-biofilm and antibacterial activities of phenolics components against E. coli and S. aureus were also significantly improved. Finally, the phenolics of peony flowers in the eluent of silica gel column chromatography (PPF-ESGCC) were found to exhibit the highest anti-biofilm and antibacterial activities. The inhibition rates of PPF-ESGCC on biofilms of E. coli and S. aureus were 77.93%, and 87.03% respectively, at a very low concentration (1/2 MIC, 0.235 mg/mL). It was found that the biofilm inhibition was achieved by inhibiting their swimming, swarming, twitching motilities, exopolysaccharide (EPS) production, and quorum sensing (QS). Moreover, there was a positive dose-dependent relationship (r = 0.75 to 1) between the inhibition rates and concentrations of PPF-ESGCC during the critical biofilm-formation stage (1-3 days). Chemical composition analysis showed the PPF-ESGCC comprised of gallic acid, kaempferol-7-O-glucoside, and apigenin-7-O-glucoside. In conclusion, PPF-ESGCC exhibited strong inhibitory effect on biofilm formation and gallic acid, kaempferol-7-O-glucoside, and apigenin-7-O-glucoside might play a crucial role in inhibiting biofilm formation. Meanwhile, this study indicated that PPF-ESGCC, a new natural QS inhibitor and biofilm inhibitor, could be used as a novel intervention strategy to enhance the safety and quality of food.

Verticillium wilt (VW) is a typical fungal disease affecting the yield and quality of cotton. The Trichome Birefringence-Like protein (TBL) is an acetyltransferase involved in the acetylation process of cell wall polysaccharides. Up to now, there are no reports on whether the TBL gene is related to disease resistance in cotton. In this study, we cloned a cotton TBL34 gene located in the confidence interval of a major VW resistance quantitative trait loci and demonstrated its relationship with VW resistance in cotton. Analyzing the sequence variations in resistant and susceptible accessions detected two elite alleles&nbsp, GhTBL34-2 and GhTBL34-3, mainly presented in resistant cotton lines whose disease index was significantly lower than that of susceptible lines carrying the allele GhTBL34-1. Comparing the TBL34 protein sequences showed that two amino acid differences in the TBL (PMR5N) domain changed the susceptible allele GhTBL34-1 into the resistant allele GhTBL34-2 (GhTBL34-3). Expression analysis showed that the TBL34 was obviously up-regulated by infection of Verticillium dahliae and exogenous treatment of ethylene (ET), and salicylic acid (SA) and jasmonate (JA) in cotton. VIGS experiments demonstrated that silencing of TBL34 reduced VW resistance in cotton. We deduced that the TBL34 gene mediating acetylation of cell wall polysaccharides might be involved in the regulation of resistance to VW in cotton.

A precursor-engineering strategy coupled with a microwave molten-salt process (PE-MWMS) is developed to synthesize graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3 N4 ) with an isotype triazine/heptazine-based g-C3 N4 heterojunction as a photocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) under visible light illumination. Four hybrid precursor combinations-thiourea/melamine, thiourea/dicyandiamide, urea/melamine, and urea/dicyandiamide-are used to synthesize g-C3 N4 heterojunctions by the PE-MWMS process. Control experiments indicate that the precursor components and microwave treatment have a great effect on the HER performance of the g-C3 N4 samples. Samples synthesized with the optimal molar ratios of thiourea/melamine (2:1), thiourea/dicyandiamide (2:1), urea/melamine (3:1), and urea/dicyandiamide (3:1), exhibit the highest HER rates of 3135, 2519, 2844, and 2565 μmol g-1 h-1 , respectively. The amounts of heptazine and triazine units in the g-C3 N4 samples can be easily adjusted by changing the ratios of the hybrid precursors and play a decisive role in improving the photocatalytic HER activity. Because of the unique composition and microstructure, the efficient separation of electron-hole pairs, the broadened photo-absorption edges, and the narrowed band gaps, the as-obtained triazine/heptazine-based g-C3 N4 nanostructures exhibit promising activity for HER application.

In the present study, microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), ultrasound-microwave synergistic extraction (UMSE) and conventional liquid–solid extraction (CLSE) methods were performed to extract the phenolics from ground peony flowers. For MAE and UMSE, the effect of extraction conditions (microwave power, extraction time, solid/solvent ratio, ethanol concentration) on the yield of phenolics was evaluated. Optimum conditions were determined in experiments where a single factor was varied. Under optimal conditions, yield, purity, composition, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of the phenolics from the different extracts were analyzed. The antioxidant activities were determined using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2′-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS) and reducing power assays. Thus, the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) was defined for the different extraction procedures in both DPPH and ABTS assays. The antimicrobial activities of the extracts were determined using an agar well diffusion assay. Although CLSE extracts exhibited the strongest free radical scavenging activities for both ABTS (IC50 = 11.35 ± 0.36 μg/mL) and DPPH (IC50 = 18.07 ± 0.21 μg/mL), and displayed the greatest reducing power, they also had the weakest inhibitory activities for all tested bacteria. Conversely, MAE extracts exhibited the largest zone of inhibition for Escherichia coli (E. coli) (14.00 ± 1.00 mm), Streptococcus mutans (S. mutan) (13.75 ± 0.50 mm), and Streptococcus agalactiae (S. agalactiae) (12.00 ± 0.10 mm), indicating that MAE extracts exerted the best antimicrobial activities. Therefore, the CLSE method should be selected for producing the strongest antioxidant activities and the MAE procedure for generating the strongest antimicrobial activities.

Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) has a variety of biological activities, but exhibits poor stability and low bioavailability. In this study, EGCG bilosome was prepared and characterized, and its stability during different storage conditions (pH, NaCl concentration, and temperature) and in gastrointestinal fluid was evaluated and compared with liposomes and niosomes. Among them, EGCG niosomes had the highest pH stability, and the existence of sodium cholate reduced the stability of bilosomes in acidic medium. EGCG stability was significantly increased in the presence of salt ions (0–100 mM NaCl) and under different temperatures (25 °C, 37 °C) when delivered as niosomes and bilosomes. Retention rate of EGCG in bilosomes was 71.64 ± 4.05% after incubation in simulated intestinal fluid for 2 h, which was significantly higher than retention rate of EGCG liposomes (24.02 ± 3.95%) and niosomes (55.74 ± 6.85%), thus indicating greater gastrointestinal stability of EGCG bilosomes. Furthermore, bioavailability of EGCG encapsulated in bilosomes was improved by 1.98 times. Overall, these findings indicate that EGCG bilosomes, as a new delivery system, had great potential application as a means to improve stability and bioavailability of EGCG.

There is a growing interest in screening α-amylase inhibitors from natural products for application in the development of new antidiabetic drugs or functional foods. In this study, a structure-based virtual screening was applied to rapidly identify the α-amylase inhibitors from medicine food homology (MFH) plants. Similarity search, docking & scoring were used for further filter small molecules. As a result, 21 corresponding potential α-amylase inhibitors from MFH plants were obtained. And, six polyphenol compounds (curcumin, procyanidins, epicatechin gallate (ECG), epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), hesperidin, and puerarin) were highlighted for further verification after a thorough assessment of the classification of hit molecules as well as docking scores. The results of the enzyme inhibition test showed that ECG, EGCG, and procyanidins had the better binding ability of α-amylase among these six polyphenols. The Ki values of ECG, EGCG, and procyanidins on α-amylase were 0.70, 1.68, and 0.24, respectively. The CD spectra results indicated that the three polyphenols can cause conformational changes in α-amylase. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: A structure-based virtual screening method for rapid identifying α-amylase inhibitors from MFH plants was developed successfully in this study. These findings suggested that natural polyphenols such as ECG, EGCG, and procyanidins may be a potential inhibitor of α-amylase which could be used as a nutrient supplement for the prevention of diabetes mellitus or can be further used in the development of hypoglycemic drugs. At the same time, it can provide theoretical guidance for the better utilization and development of medicine food homology plants containing these potential α-amylase inhibitors. Moreover, this work may provide ideas and references for the screening of other target protein inhibitors.

The proposal of pseudocapacitive materials breaks the barriers between batteries and capacitors, allowing for the possible achievement of a balanced energy-power performance. However, the limited reserve of lithium restricts the practical applications of pseudocapacitive materials in lithium-based systems, whereas sodium resources are abundant with the similar properties to lithium, but there is a lack of suitable pseudocapacitive materials for sodium-based systems. The exploitation of pseudocapacitive materials for Na+ storage is urgent. This study, for the first time, reports a sonochemical approach, involving intercalation and ultrasonic exfoliation processes, to prepare composite K2Mo4O13/α-MoO3 (i.e., KMO) nanorods, and the possible applications of the KMO nanorods in Li+/Na+ pseudocapacitance were evaluated. The as-synthesized KMO possessed a uniform rod-like morphology formed by assembling nanoneedles (or nanobelts) with a large apparent aspect ratio of more than 10. Both in lithium ion batteries (LIBs) and sodium ion batteries (SIBs), the KMO nanorods exhibited efficient pseudocapacitance, which was not observed in the pristine MoO3–Na system. In SIBs, the as-synthesized KMO delivered a capacity of 895 mA h g−1 at 0.02 A g−1, which was much higher than that of the pristine MoO3–Na system. Moreover, it was found that the b values of KMO (i = avb, current i and scan rate v in the CV curves) were over 0.9 at potentials ranging from 1 V to 2 V in SIBs, indicating an obvious pseudocapacitive process. Benefiting from the layered K2Mo4O13 nanorods built with edge-shared distorted MoO6 octahedra, the Na+ ions with a larger size could be intercalated into the spaces between the double MoO6 plates. This sonochemical approach based on the intercalation and exfoliation chemistry opened a new path to prepare molybdenum-based nanostructures for superior Li+/Na+ pseudocapacitance applications on a large scale in a low-carbon and environment-friendly manner.

Hybrid organic–inorganic halide perovskite solar cells have recently attracted much attention because of their highly efficient photovoltaic performance. However, perovskite solar cells suffer from intrinsic instabilities, which limit their commercial applications. In this study, we partially substituted the methyl-ammonium (MA) cation in MA lead iodide perovskite (MAPbI3) and investigated the geometric structures and electronic and optical properties by first-principles calculations to determine their thermodynamic stabilities and optical band gaps. The results suggest that substitution of the Az cation in the A-site can enhance the stability of the MA1−xAzxPbI3 system. However, the formation energies indicate that the MA1−xCyxPbI3 series is less stable. The estimated power conversion efficiency of MA0.50Az0.50PbI3 is 23.06%, which is higher than that of MAPbI3. Notably, MA1−xAzxPbI3 (0.50 < x < 0.75) is predicted to be a promising candidate for photovoltaic applications because it has the highest theoretical power conversion efficiency, which is attributed to its optimal band gap. These results suggest that an organic cation mixing strategy can be used to tune the stability, band gap, and photovoltaic performance of hybrid perovskites, which will be particularly useful for designing light-harvesting materials for perovskite solar cells.

To reduce the toxicity of Pb in perovskite solar cells, the structural stabilities, electronic and optical properties of the mixed perovskites MAPb0.75B0.25I3 (B = Mg, Ca, Sr, and Ba) were predicted using density functional theory. The calculated results show that the introduction of alkaline-earth metal components caused the structural stabilities of the mixed perovskites to weaken compared to that of MAPbI3. Moreover, the bandgaps of metal-doped perovskites are larger than that of MAPbI3. The results indicate that the bandgaps of the mixed perovskites are mainly determined by the Pb–I–B bond angles in the ab plane. The optical absorption coefficients of all of the metal-doped perovskites significantly decrease due to the use of alkaline-earth metals. These results provide a deep insight into a new kind of lead-free perovskite.

This study aimed to reveal the interaction and inhibitory mechanisms of tangeretin (TAN), nobiletin (NBT), and their acidic hydroxylated forms, 5-demethyltangeretin (5-DT) and 5-demethylnobiletin (5-DN) on porcine pancreatic lipase (PPL) using spectroscopic techniques and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. PPL inhibition assay showed that the inhibitory activity of NBT (IC50 value of 3.60 ± 0.19 μM) was superior to those of three polymethoxylated flavones (PMFs), indicating it may be related to the methoxy groups at the 3′-position in its molecular structure. Inhibition kinetic analyses demonstrated that the inhibition types of the 4 PMFs were consistent with the mixed inhibition model, which agreed well with the results from the ultraviolet-visible (UV–Vis) spectroscopy, Circular dichroism (CD), fluorescence spectroscopy, molecular docking, and MD simulation that PMFs could bind to the PPL catalytic site and non-catalytic site, affecting the normal spatial conformation of PPL and weakening its ability to decompose the substrate. All these findings suggest that PMFs are a kind of natural lipase inhibitors, and NBT has the potential as a lipase inhibition precursor because of its unique flavone skeleton structure.

The reverse water gas shift (RWGS) reaction has attracted great attention in recent years. It is well-known that supported catalysts, especially single-atom catalysts (SACs), exhibit good catalytic activity in many reactions. Thus, we designed the single-atom catalyst (SAC) Cu@Mo2C(001) and the smallest copper cluster catalyst Cu4@Mo2C(001) for the RWGS reaction. In this study, density functional theory (DFT) calculations were used to explore the reaction mechanisms of the RWGS reaction on the surfaces of Cu@Mo2C(001) and Cu4@Mo2C(001). The dissociative adsorption of H2 on these two surfaces is barrier-free and highly exothermic, which is beneficial to the RWGS reaction. Importantly, three possible mechanisms—the COOH mechanism, HCOO mechanism, and redox mechanism—have been discussed. The results illustrated that the redox mechanism is the most feasible pathway among the Cu@Mo2C(001) and Cu4@Mo2C(001) surfaces. By comparing the activation barrier of the rate-limiting step of the redox mechanism on the two...

The selenium polysaccharides (SPS) by Oudemansiella radicata were isolated, and two hydrolysates (enzymatic-SPS (ESPS) and acidic-SPS (ASPS)) were obtained by enzymolysis and acidolysis. The endo-toxemic-induced lung and kidney damages were successfully established by the lipopolysaccharides (LPS) injection (5 mg/kg/d). The in vivo mice experiments indicated that the ESPS showed superior antioxidant and protective effects against the LPS-toxicities by increasing the antioxidant activities, reducing lipid peroxidation, improving the inflammatory response and elevating the kidney and lung functions than SPS and ASPS. Furthermore, the selenium contents and structure of SPS, ESPS and ASPS were investigated through FAAS, GC, UV, HPGPC, FT-IR, NMR and the results indicated that SPS, ESPS and ASPS were homogeneous heteropolysaccharide with an average molecular weight of 3.12 × 104, 1.77 × 104, 1.41 × 104 Da, respectively. The conclusions demonstrated that the polysaccharides by O. radicata might be suitable for functional foods and natural drugs in preventing the endo-toxemia and its complications, and providing references for exploitation and utilization of natural substances.

In present study, the soluble polysaccharides by enzyme-assisted extraction from Agaricus bisporus (EnAPS) and its purified fractions of EnAPS-1, -2 and -3 were successfully obtained, and the antioxidant activities and anti-aging effects were investigated. The in vitro antioxidant assay demonstrated that EnAPS-2 had superior scavenging activities on DPPH and hydroxyl radicals, chelating activities of Fe2+ and reducing power. The in vivo animal experiments showed that both EnAPS and its purifies fractions had potential anti-aging effects against the d-galctose-induced aging diseases on liver, kidney, brain and skin, possibly by increasing the antioxidant enzymes, reducing the lipid peroxidation, improving the organ functions and remitting the lipid metabolism. The conclusions demonstrated that the polysaccharides by A. bisporus might be suitable for applying functional foods and natural drugs in preventing and delaying the aging and its complications.

The present work investigated the characteristics, antioxidative, anti-inflammative and renoprotective effects of mycelia selenized polysaccharides (MSPS) from Oudemansiella radicata on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced kidney damaged mice. The results demonstrated that both MSPS and mycelia polysaccharides (MPS) showed potential renoprotective effects reflecting by decreasing the serum levels of CRE, BUN and UA, increasing the nephritic enzyme activities of SOD, GSH-Px, CAT and T-AOC, reducing the activities of MPO, as well as down-regulating the contents of MDA and LPO, respectively. And the MSPS showed superior effects. Furthermore, the selenium contents and physical properties of polysaccharides were investigated by FAAS, GC, HPGPC, FT-IR, NMR and AFM analysis, and the results indicated that MSPS was a homogeneous heteropolysaccharide with an average molecular weight of 3.12 × 104 Da. These results may provide theoretical basis in applying natural and functional foods for the prevention and alleviation of kidney damages and its complications.

In present study, two hydrolyzed residue polysaccharides (RPS) of enzymatic-RPS (ERPS) and acidic-RPS (ARPS) were successfully obtained from the residue of Lentinula edodes , and the anti-inflammatory as well as antioxidative effects on lipopolysaccharide-induced (LPS-induced) lung injured mice were investigated. The results demonstrated that ERPS showed superior lung protective effects by ameliorating the lung wet-to-dry weight (W/D) ratio, reducing the TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β levels in BALF, lowing the pulmonary MPO activity, decreasing the serum C3 and hs-CPR contents, as well as improving the antioxidant status by enhancing pulmonary enzyme activities (SOD, GSH-Px, CAT, and T-AOC) and eliminating the lipid peroxidation (MDA and LPO), respectively. These conclusions indicated that both RPS and its hydrolysates (ARPS and ERPS) might be suitable for functional foods and a potentially effective candidate medicine for the treatment of lung injury.

This study was designed to investigate the antioxidant and anti-aging effects of D-galatose-induced (D-gal-induced) aging mice as well as monosaccharide compositions of acidic-extractable polysaccharides (AcAPS) and its major purified fractions (AcAPS-1, AcAPS-2 and AcAPS-3) from the fruiting body of Agaricus bisporus. In the in vitro assays, AcAPS-2 showed superior scavenging activities on hydroxyl (82.98±4.67%) and DPPH (64.47±4.05%) radicals at the concentration of 1.0mg/mL than AcAPS and other polysaccharides fractions. For in vivo anti-aging analysis, AcAPS-2 showed superior effects on hepatic and nephric protection by improving serum enzyme activities, biochemical levels, lipid contents and antioxidant status, respectively. The monosaccharide analysis showed that rhamnose (Rha) and glucose (Glu) may play vital roles in maintaining the antioxidant and anti-aging activities. The results suggested that both AcAPS and its purified fractions might be suitable for functional foods and natural drugs in preventing the acute aging-associated diseases.

This paper reports a novel hybridization of heterogeneous atoms to regulate the photocatalytic behavior of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) by controlling its energy band structure. The K+-modified g-C3N4 (KCN) was obtained by KCl/LiCl molten-salt treating the urea-derived pristine g-C3N4 (CN), and the H+-modified g-C3N4 (HCN) was obtained by HCl-treating KCN. The photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and gaseous acetaldehyde degradation (GAD) results show that KCN exhibits a high HER rate of 3447 μmol h−1 g−1, up to 19 times that of CN, whereas HCN has the GAD reaction rate constants of 0.876 and 4.352 h−1 under visible light and simulated solar light, respectively. The difference in photocatalytic HER and GAD resulted from the stronger reducibility of KCN and higher oxidizability of HCN, because of the efficient regulation in their energy band structures modified with K+ and H+.

In this study, we noted that the Al-MPS from Pleurotus eryngii var. tuolensis provoked pharmacological effects on blood lipid profiles and oxidative stress. Animal studies demonstrated that Al-MPS showed potential effects on relieving hyperlipidemia and preventing oxidative stress, reflecting by decreasing the levels of serum enzyme activities (ALP, ALT and AST), restoring the activities of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, GSH-Px, CAT and T-AOC), down-regulating the MDA and LPO contents, as well as remitting the hepatic and cardiac tissues injury, respectively. The serum levels of TC, TG, LDL-C, VLDL-C, and HDL-C on mice treated with Al-MPS (500mg/kg bw) reached 2.48±0.08, 1.24±0.03, 0.84±0.02, 0.34±0.02, and 1.80±0.03mmol/L, which were lower/higher against the hyperlipidemia mice. The results clearly indicated that the Al-MPS could be used as a beneficial health food and potentially natural candidate medicine in preventing the high-fat emulsion-induced hyperlipidemia.

Rapid synthesis and construction of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) based heterojunctions, cost-effective metal-free photocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) under solar irradiation, is of highly practical significance. This work reports a one-pot microwave-assisted molten-salt (mw-ms) process to rapidly synthesize isotype triazine-/heptazine based g-C3N4 heterojunctions with highly enhanced photocatalytic HER performance using melamine as the single-source precursor. The typical sample (mw-ms-g-C3N4) was obtained by thermally polymerizing melamine molecules at 550 °C for 30 min in the media of eutectic KCl/LiCl salts under microwave irradiation in air. The analyses of phases, chemical compositions and microstructures indicate that the mw-ms-g-C3N4 sample consists of an isotype triazine-/heptazine based g-C3N4 heterojunction, taking on a plate-like morphology with a specific surface area (SBET) of 25.7 m2 g−1. Comparatively, the g-C3N4 sample synthesized via an electric-resistance molten-salt (er-ms) process at 550 °C for 240 min is composed of a triazine-based g-C3N4 phase with a SBET of 58.1 m2 g−1, whereas the samples obtained by electric-resistance heating (er, at 550 °C for 240 min) and microwave heating (mw, at 550 °C for 30 min) processes consist of a heptazine-based g-C3N4 phase. The mw-ms-g-C3N4 sample shows a photocatalytic HER rate of 1480 μmol g−1 h−1, which is 5 times that (300 μmol g−1 h−1) of the er-ms-g-C3N4 sample, 15 times that (95 μmol g−1 h−1) of the er-g-C3N4 sample and 23 times that (63 μmol g−1 h−1) of the mw-g-C3N4 sample, under the similar visible-light (λ ≥ 420 nm) irradiation. The typical apparent quantum yield of the mw-ms-g-C3N4 sample at 420 nm is up to 10.7%. The UV–vis DR spectra suggest that both the triazine-based g-C3N4 and heptazine-based g-C3N4 phases have a similar bandgap of ∼2.66 eV, whereas the Mott-Schottky analysis indicates that the triazine-based g-C3N4 phase has a more positive flat conductive potential (−0.90 V) than the triazine-based g-C3N4 phase (−1.22 V). Due to the suitable alignment of their energy bandgap structures, the isotype triazine-/heptazine based g-C3N4 hybrids in the mw-ms-g-C3N4 sample form a type II heterojunction of semiconductor/semiconductor, which provides a convenient carrier transfer path and leads to more efficient separation of photo-generated electron-hole pairs than the other samples. The synergistic effects of microwave heating and molten-salt liquid polycondensation provide a robust platform for rapid and large-scale construction of isotype g-C3N4/g-C3N4 heterojunctions as metal-free high-performance HER photocatalysts using a simple single-source precursor.

The purpose of this work was designed to investigate the hepatoprotective and antioxidant effects of enzymatic-extractable mycelia zinc polysaccharides (En-MZPS) from Pleurotus eryngii var. tuoliensis on the hyperlipidemic mice induced by high-fat-high-cholesterol emulsion (HFHCM). The results showed that the supplementation of En-MZPS had potential anti-hyperlipidemia effects on reducing hepatic lipid levels by monitoring the serum enzyme activities (ALP, ALT and AST) and serum lipid levels (TC, TG, HDL-C, LDL-C and VLDL-C), enhancing the antioxidant enzymes (SOD, GSH-Px, CAT and T-AOC), and decreasing the lipid peroxidation (MDA and LPO). Furthermore, the in vitro scavenging results indicated that the inhibition effects of En-MZPS on hydroxyl radicals and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals reached 59.98±6.29% and 37.01±2.15%, respectively. These conclusions demonstrated that the En-MZPS might be suitable for functional foods and natural drugs in preventing the HFHCM-induced hyperlipidemia and non-alcoholic fatty liver.

To seek effective strategies that improve the photoelectrochemical water oxidation performance of hematite (α-Fe2O3) photoanodes is still challenging owning to their abundant surface states and low charge transfer efficiency. Herein, a facile impregnation method with an annealing process was developed to synthesize MoO3 modified Fe2O3 photoanodes using the MoO3 layer as an effective passivation component to decrease surface states and thus to improve the charge separation and transfer process at the electrode/electrolyte interfaces. The oxygen vacancies were subsequently introduced to steer the electrical conductivity, and further to boost the charge separation and transfer. The optimized MoO3-x/Fe2O3-x photoanode displays a photocurrent density of 2.6 mA cm–2 at 1.23 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode under AM 1.5 G irradiation, 2.2 times that of the Fe2O3 (1.2 mA cm–2). The synergetic integration of passivation layer and oxygen vacancies on photoelectrodes heralds an efficient paradigm for solar energy conversion.

This research evaluated the effects of enzymatic-chemical extraction (EC-SDF), subcritical water extraction (SW-SDF), and ultrasonic-chemical extraction (UC-SDF) processes on the yield, chemical composition, structural characterization, flow behavior, physicochemical, and functional properties of soluble dietary fiber (SDF) from defatted coconut flour (DCF). The optimum conditions of these three extraction methods were evaluated by response surface methodology. Compared with EC-SDF and UC-SDF, SW-SDF had the maximum yield (13.99 ± 0.12 g/100g). The structural results indicated that SW-SDF and UC-SDF possessed more complex and porous structures than EC-SDF and DCF. Moreover, they showed smaller molecular weight, stronger gelling property, higher thermal stability, and lower crystallinity. A monosaccharide composition analysis indicated that the major sugars in EC-SDF, UC-SDF and UC-SDF were mannose and galactose. Notably, the SW-SDF demonstrated the highest water and oil holding capacity, glucose adsorption, pancreatic lipase inhibition, cholesterol adsorption, and nitrite ion adsorption capacities. The above results suggest the defatted coconut flour to be a potential functional food and a possible source of cheap natural dietary fiber.

Fusarium graminearum, a devastating pathogenic fungus of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), causes fusarium head blight (FHB) and produces mycotoxins such as deoxynivalenol (DON). This study aimed to explore the potency of myriocin to control postharvest infection of F. graminearum in wheat grains. Myriocin showed excellent antifungal activity against F. graminearum, as evidenced through inhibition on spore germination and mycelial growth. The mechanism of action was investigated by analyzing changes of cell membrane permeability and serine palmitoyl transferase (SPT) activity. Results indicated that myriocin inhibited F. graminearum by disrupting permeability of membrane and result in release of cellular contents. Myriocin suppressed the SPT activity and molecular docking also proved the sC interaction of myriocin-SPT. Significant morphological alterations were observed in SEM imaging, including holes on the hyphae, contraction and disruption of mycelia. In addition, myriocin also showed inhibitory effect on toxigenic activity of F. graminearum in wheat grains by reducing more than 99.0% of deoxynivalenol (DON) and its derivative 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol (15-ADON) synthesis. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis indicated that TRI5 gene expression was downregulated by myriocin and results in the reduction of toxicity. Overall, myriocin exerted effective fungicidal activity to control F. graminearum contamination in wheat grains and provided a lead compound to develop more alternatives for pathogen control.

Activated carbon (AC) based supercapacitors exhibit intrinsic advantages in energy storage. Traditional two-step synthesis (carbonization and activation) of AC faces difficulties in precisely regulating its pore-size distribution and thoroughly removing residual impurities like silicon oxide. This paper reports a novel coupled ultrasonication-milling (CUM) process for the preparation of hierarchically porous carbon (HPC) using corn cobs as the carbon resource. The as-obtained HPC is of a large surface area (2288 m2 g−1) with a high mesopore ratio of ∼44.6%. When tested in a three-electrode system, the HPC exhibits a high specific capacitance of 465 F g−1 at 0.5 Ag−1, 2.7 times higher than that (170 F g−1) of the commercial AC (YP-50F). In the two-electrode test system, the HPC device exhibits a specific capacitance of 135 F g−1 at 1 A g−1, twice higher than that (68 F g−1) of YP-50F. The above excellent energy-storage properties are resulted from the CUM process which efficiently removes the impurities and modulates the mesopore/micropore structures of the AC samples derived from the agricultural resides of corn cobs. The CUM process is an efficient method to prepare high-performance biomass-derived AC materials.

Exopolysaccharides (ExPSs) and endopolysaccharides (EnPSs) were isolated from mycelia and culture medium of Agaricus brasiliensis. Four polysaccharide fractions (ExPS-1-2, ExPS-2, EnPS-1, and EnPS-2) were puri¬fied from ExPSs and EnPSs using diethylaminoethyl anion exchange and a Sephadex G-100 gel filtration column, respectively, and their physicochemical properties were analyzed and evaluated to determine antioxidant activity. The results showed that rhamnose and mannose were the main monosaccharides of the polysaccharide fractions. ExPS-2 and EnPS-2 were acidic polysaccharide fractions and showed higher scavenging effects on 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl- hydrazyl and hydroxyl radicals, and had higher reducing power in the in vitro antioxidant assays. In addition, the malondialdehyde contents, the total antioxidant capacity, and the alanine transaminase activity were also assessed to determine the antiaging effects; ExPSs showed more antiaging effects compared with EnPSs. The results suggest that polysaccharides extracted from A. brasiliensis have significant potential as natural antioxidants and antiaging agents.

This study aimed to investigate the antioxidant, antiaging, and organ protective effects of the water-extractable mycelium polysaccharides (MPS) and enzymic-extractable mycelium polysaccharides (En-MPS) by Agrocybe aegerita (Brig.) Sing in D-galactose-induced (D-gal-induced) aging mice. In in vitro assays, the En-MPS demonstrated stronger antioxidant activities in dose-dependent manners. The mice experiments revealed that both En-MPS and MPS had potential effects on antioxidation, antiaging, and organ protection mainly by improving the antioxidant enzyme activities, decreasing the lipid peroxidation, and remitting the lipid metabolism. Furthermore, chemical composition and monosaccharide composition of polysaccharides were also measured, and the results indicated that differences in biological activity of MPS and En-MPS samples showed a significant correlation to their purity. The findings demonstrated that the polysaccharides by A. aegerita (Brig.) Sing could be exploited as natural and functional foods for the prevention and alleviation of aging and its complications.

The present work was designed to investigated the antioxidant, anti-inflammation, and pulmonary protective effects of SMPS and MPS from Oudemansiella radicata on LPS-induced lung injured mice. The results demonstrated that SMPS showed potential effects on relieving lung injury and preventing oxidative stress, reflecting by decreasing the serum levels of C3, CRP and GGT, increasing the pulmonary activities of SOD, GSH-Px, CAT and T-AOC, as well as down-regulating the MDA and LPO contents, respectively. Furthermore, the levels of TNF-α (224.211±3.12ng/mL), IL-1β (254.557±2.18ng/L), and IL-6 (18.214±0.15ng/L) in BALF of mice treated with SMPS at the dosage of 400mg/kg/d significantly lower than that in the lung injured mice. These conclusions indicated that both SMPS and MPS possessed potent antioxidants and anti-inflammation activities, and could be used as functional foods and natural drugs in preventing lung injury.

The present work investigated the protective effects on liver, kidneys and pancreas of spent mushroom compost polysaccharide (SCP) and its hydrolysates (enzymatic- (ESCP) and acid-hydrolyzed SCP (ASCP)) from Hypsizigus marmoreus, in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice. The results showed that enzymatic (superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and catalase (CAT)) and non-enzymatic activities (total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC)) were significantly increased, the lipid peroxide contents (lipid peroxide (LPO) and malonaldehyde (MDA)) were remarkably reduced, and the clinical parameters were observably mitigated in diabetic mice treated with these three polysaccharides. Furthermore, histological observations also indicated recovery. These conclusions demonstrated that both SCP and its hydrolysates ESCP and ASCP possessed potent antioxidant activities and can be used as a potentially functional food for the prevention of diabetes and its complications induced by STZ.

The aim of this work was designed to investigate the antioxidant, antiaging, and hepatoprotective effects of alkali-extractable polysaccharides (AlAPS) and their three purified fractions (AlAPS-1, AlAPS-2, and AlAPS-3) from Agaricus bisporus in D-galactose induced aging mice. For in vitro antioxidant analysis, both AlAPS and its fractions exhibited moderate reducing power, Fe2+-chelating activities, and potent scavenging activities on hydroxyl and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals. The in vivo results demonstrated that the polysaccharides, especially AlAPS-2, showed potential antiaging and hepatoprotective effects by enhancing the antioxidant status, decreasing serum hepatic enzyme activities, and improving the lipid metabolism. This study suggested that the polysaccharides extracted and purified from A. bisporus could be exploited as a potent dietary supplement to attenuate aging and prevent age-related diseases.

In present study, a quadratic regression model based on the response surface methodology (RSM) coupled with Box–Behnken design (BBD) was employed to optimize the enzyme-assisted extraction (EAE) process of enzymatic-extractable Pleurotus djamor polysaccharides (EnPPs). By solving the regression equations and analyzing the model graphs, the optimum conditions were at pH 7.36, water to material ratio 56.78, extraction time 44.77 min and extraction temperature 35.36 °C, respectively. Under these conditions, the experimental yields of EnPPs reached 3.61%, which were in good agreement with the validated values (3.57 ± 0.51%). Basic physicochemical properties including molecular weights, structural identification by FT-IR and monosaccharide compositions were processed. In addition, the in vivo inhibiting activities against oxidative stress were investigated. The results provided an alternative bioresource for the exploitation of EnPPs under EAE from P. djamor, and the EnPPs had potential effects in prevention of oxidative stress.

The aim of the present study was to optimize the purification of mycelia selenium polysaccharides (MSPS) from Agrocybe cylindracea SL-02 and characterize their in vitro antioxidant and in vivo anti-ageing activities. The Box-Behnken experimental design (BBD) was evaluated, which showed that the optimum conditions included an extraction temperature of 94.99°C, a pH of 9 and a precipitation temperature of 12°C, and the predicted yield was 11.036 ± 0.31%. The in vitro antioxidant assay demonstrated that MSPS had potential effects on scavenging and enhanced the reducing power of reactive oxygen species. The in vivo anti-ageing evaluation showed that MSPS significantly reduced the malonaldehyde (MDA) contents and total cholesterol (CHOL) levels, and remarkably improved the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) in mice in response to D-galactose-induced ageing. Furthermore, the characteristic analysis of MSPS indicated a selenium content of 1.76 ± 0.10 mg/g at a concentration of 6 μg/mL in liquid media and a monosaccharide composition of rhamnose, arabinose, mannose, glucose and galactose at a molar ratio of 29:3:1:18.8:2.7. These results suggest that MSPS might be suitable for functional foods and natural drugs on preventing the ageing progress induced by toxic chemicals.