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Background: This study aims to investigate the regulatory effect of microRNA-96-5p (miR-96-5p) in the pathophysiological process of allergic rhinitis (AR). Methods: Nasal mucosal tissue samples were collected from AR patients and healthy controls. An in vitro AR model was established by stimulating human nasal epithelial cells (HNECs) with interleukin (IL)-13. The expressions of target genes and proteins were measured by qPCR, Western blot, or ELISA. Dual-luciferase reporter assay and pull-down assay were performed to confirm the interaction between miR-96-5p and DEP domain-containing mammalian target of rapamycin-interacting protein (DEPTOR). Results: The level of miR-96-5p was increased while the expression of DEPTOR was decreased in AR patients. The expressions of proinflammatory cytokines were markedly increased and the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR)/NF-κB pathway was activated in HNECs following IL-13 stimulation. miR-96-5p downregulation alleviated the stimulated function by IL-13. DEPTOR was the target of miR-96-5p. Knockdown of DEPTOR reversed the function of miR-96-5p inhibitor on IL-13-stimulated HNECs. Conclusions: The current study showed that miR-96-5p and DEPTOR were aberrantly expressed in AR nasal mucosa. miR-96-5p knockdown inhibited the production of inflammatory cytokines and the activation of mTOR/NF-κB pathway via targeting DEPTOR. These findings suggested that miR-96-5p might be used as a diagnostic marker and therapeutic target for the treatment of AR.

Background Hyssopus cuspidatus Boriss has been used as an important ethnomedicinal plant for long to eliminate phlegm, relieve cough and as well as having antibacterial, antioxygenation, and antitumor activities. In this study, the polyphenol contents, flavonoid contents, free radical scavenging assay and animal antioxygenation property assay of ethanol extract of H. cuspidatus were measured. Methods This study determined the total polyphenol and flavonoid contents in H. cuspidatus by UV-VIS. Caffeic, ferulic, and rosmarinic acids were measured using HPLC-DAD. Free radical scavenging assay of H. cuspidatus was studied by colorimetric method. Animal antioxygenation property assay of H. cuspidatus was studied with mice by biochemical assay kits. Results The total polyphenol and flavonoid contents of H. cuspidatus in 2017, 2018, 2019 were determined and the contents of H. cuspidatus in 2019 was the highest. In addition, rosmarinic acid was the phenolic acid with the highest content in H. cuspidatus. Compared with those of DPPH free radical, hydroxyl free radical, and superoxide anion free radical, the scavenging ability of H. cuspidatus of ABTS free radical was stronger, the average IC50 value was 0.0245 mg/mL. In animal antioxygenation property experiment, the model group was successfully established with decreased activities of SOD, CAT, and GSH-px and increased content of MDA. The ethanol extract of H. cuspidatus increased the activities of SOD, CAT, and GSH-px and reduced the content of MDA. Each group of samples and the ascorbic acid positive control group showed significant differences in the results of free radical scavenging and animal antioxygenation property experiments (P Conclusions These results suggest that H. cuspidatus exerts an antioxygenation property, which can be attributed to the contents of total polyphenol and flavonoid. Given its strong antioxygenation property, H. cuspidatus can be used as a new natural antioxidant in food preservation and disease treatment.

The insufficient photocatalytic performance of Ag2O makes it difficult to apply to actual industrial printing and dyeing waste water treatment systems, which contain a variety of organic pollutants. Therefore, it is urgent to improve the photocatalytic performance of Ag2O. In this study, the main factors affecting the properties of Ag2O photocatalysts were screened out by single factor experiments. Then, the optimum conditions for the preparation of Ag2O were simulated by response surface design. The prepared Ag2O showed good photodegradation performance to methyl orange and phenol, but the degradation of rhodamine B was significantly delayed. After that, the pyridine was introduced to adjust the crystal plane structure of Ag2O. The results showed that the photocatalytic oxidation capacity of Ag2O was greatly improved. Ninety percent of rhodamine was removed within 25 minutes. Moreover, the mechanism of controlling the photocatalytic performance has also been studied through fine characterizations.

Hepatitis B (HB) is a globally prevalent infectious disease caused by the HB virus. Xiaochaihu decoction (XCHD) is a classic herbal formula with a long history of clinical application in treating HB. Although the anti-HB activity of XCHD has been reported, systematic research on the exact mechanism of action is lacking. Here, a network pharmacology-based approach was used to predict the active components, important targets, and potential mechanism of XCHD in HB treatment. Investigation included drug-likeness evaluation; absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination (ADME) screening; protein-protein interaction (PPI) network construction and cluster analysis; Gene Ontology (GO) analysis; and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) annotation. Molecular docking was adopted to investigate the interaction between important target proteins and active components. Eighty-seven active components of XCHD and 155 anti-HB targets were selected for further analysis. The GO enrichment and similarity analysis results indicated that XCHD might perform similar or the same GO functions. Glycyrrhizae Radix (GR), one of the seven XCHD herbs, likely exerts some unique GO functions such as the regulation of interleukin-12 production, positive regulation of interleukin-1 beta secretion, and regulation of the I-kappaB/NF-kappaB complex. The PPI network and KEGG pathway analysis results showed that XCHD affects HB mainly through modulating pathways related to viral infection, immunity, cancer, signal transduction, and metabolism. Additionally, molecular docking verified that the active compounds (quercetin, chrysin, and capsaicin) could bind with the key targets. This work systematically explored the anti-HB mechanism of XCHD and provides a novel perspective for future pharmacological research.

The aim of this work was to establish qualitative and quantitative methods for studying Guyinye residue extracts and Turkish gall (TG) cream. This study involved qualitative and quantitative analyses of gallic acid and methyl gallate and determined their preliminary antioxidant activity by high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) and thin-layer chromatography—1,1-di-phenyl-2-trinitrobenzene hydrazine (TLC—DPPH) in Guyinye residue extracts and TG cream. The thin-layer plate was a polyamide film and glacial acetic acid, methanol, ethyl acetate, and formic acid (10:6:2:1, volume ratio) were used as the developing agent. The scanning wavelength was 280 nm. Results showed that the R F values of gallic acid and methyl gallate were 0.57 ± 0.05 and 0.72 ± 0.05, respectively, and their linearity ranges were 0.001–0.005 and 0.00025–0.00125 mg with correlation coefficients of 0.9990 and 0.9994, respectively, which indicated a good linear relationship. The detection limits of gallic acid and methyl gallate were 3 and 75 ng, respectively, and their quantification limits were 10 and 250 ng, respectively. The average recovery was 98.59% and 98.33%, and the relative standard deviation (RSD) was 2.49% and 3.55%, respectively. Gallic acid was more remarkable than methyl gallate in antioxidant activity. Thus, HPTLC combined with TLC—DPPH, which can rapidly and accurately determine gallic acid and methyl gallate in Guyinye residue extracts and TG cream, is a simple, accurate, and rapid qualitative and quantitative method.

As the last step of leaf development, premature senescence often causes the damage of photosynthetic apparatus and the reduction of active photosynthesis, which leads to a decrease in crop yield. In this study, we investigated the early response of rice NG46 leaves to senescence by following changes in physiological attributes and thylakoid membrane proteins. We found that photosynthetic pigment contents, net photosynthetic rate (PN), stomatal conductance (gs) and transpiration rate (E) decreased significantly, while the contents of superoxide anion (O2·−), malondialdehyde concentration (MDA) and the antioxidant enzyme activities were substantially increased. Analysis of OJIP transients and parameters showed that part of photosystem II (PSII) reaction center (RC) was damaged and electron transport chain was impaired. Blue native page investigations revealed that the amount of supercomplexes increased at the filling stage, while a significant decrease in PSII monomer and cytochrome b6/f (Cyt b6/f) complex was observed. Further analysis of the thylakoid protein complex by 2-D BN/SDS-PAGE showed that the differential proteins were involved in light harvesting, stability and function of photosystems, electron transport, CO2 assimilation rate, and breakdown and repair of thylakoid membranes. Our results suggest that PSII and Cyt b6/f of rice NG46 are extremely susceptible to senescence, which affects the stability of the photosynthetic apparatus and exhibits a low photosynthetic capacity.

A sensitive, reliable, and rapid densitometric high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) method has been developed for the quantification of hydroxysafflor yellow A (HSYA) in safflower. Chromatographic analysis was performed using the methanol extract of safflower. Polyamide TLC plates were used with the solvent system containing 3.6% hydrochloric acid, methanol, and ethyl acetate (7:3:1, v/v). Densitometric analysis of HSYA was performed at the absorbance mode of 399 nm. This system was found to give compact and dense spots for HSYA (RF value of 0.60 ± 0.03). The method showed a good linear relationship in the range of 61.0– 79.3 ng with r = 0.9991. The limit of detection, limit of quantification, and average recovery were 59 ng, 169 ng, and >95%, respectively. The proposed validated HPTLC method is an easy-to-use, accurate, and convenient method that can be successfully used for the standardization and quality analysis of herbal materials with different species of safflower.

Silver oxide is a potential visible-light driven photocatalyst for the degradation of organic pollutants, but its high cost and energy intensive recovery limit its future applications. In this study, a magnetic core-shell composite, Fe3O4-SiO2-APTES-Ag2O, was prepared and evaluated. Results show that the obtained composite possesses equivalent photocatalytic performance to the pure Ag2O under visible light irradiation. Phenol and methyl orange can be effectively photodegraded with the composite catalyst in 10 min. The used composite can be efficiently separated with greater than a 98.95% recovery rate in 5 s with a 330 mT magnetic field after four cycles. In addition, the composite only exhibited negligible performance decay due to the slight loss of loaded Ag2O. Evaluations of the Fe3O4-SiO2-APTES-Ag2O composite performance in a batch reactor, a semi-continuous reactor, and a continuous magnetic agglomeration reactor with methyl orange, all confirm the superb performance, stability, and separability of this magnetic composite photocatalyst.

We examined the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and characteristics of human neural stem cells after transfection with the lentiviral vector encoding the VEGF 165 gene. The latter gene was amplified from the human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 using RT-PCR; then the target gene was cloned into the pCDH–CMV–MCS-EF1-copGFP, a lentiviral expressing plasmid. After transformation, enzyme digestion led to a correct length of the VEGF165 gene, and DNA sequencing analysis confirmed that the VEGF165 gene sequence was exactly the same as that reported by the GeneBank. Then, the recombinant lentivirus produced by 293T cells and packaging plasmids were transfected into fourthpassage human neural stem cells (NSCs). One week after transfection with pCDH-VEGF165, NSCs expressed VEGF stably, and their proliferation ability significantly increased. Furthermore, human NSCs kept their characteristics and multiple differentiation activity after transfection. Our results indicate that human NSCs can express vascular endothelial growth factor highly and stably via transfection with the lentiviral vector encoding the VEGF165 gene, which may be useful for future research on function recovery after stroke.

OBJECTIVE Acute gastric or intestinal spasm-like pain is common in clinical setting. Hyoscine butylbromide (HBB), an anti-cholinergic agent, relieves pain in stomach and bowel cramps by inhibiting smooth muscle contractility. In this study, we aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of parenteral HBB and anisodamine for treating acute gastric or intestinal pain. METHODS In this randomized, controlled, double-blind, parallel-group, multicenter non-inferiority trial, 299 Chinese patients were randomly assigned to HBB or anisodamine in a ratio of 1:1. They were administrated a single dose of either HBB 20 mg or anisodamine 10 mg, and a second dose was given when needed. The primary end-point was the difference in pain intensity (PID) from the pre-dose baseline at 20 min after the first injection. RESULTS Altogether 295 patients completed the protocol (153 in the HBB and 142 in the anisodamine group). For the primary end-point, the PID was -4.09 (95% confidence interval [CI]: -4.41, -3.76) for the HBB group and -3.66 (95% CI: -4.02, -3.31) for the anisodamine group (P < 0.0001 for non-inferiority). The percentage of patients with at least one adverse event was lower in the HBB group than in the anisodamine group (13.1% vs 17.6%), but there was no statistical significance (P = 0.279). The most frequent adverse events were thirst (7.8%) and dry mouth (2.6%) in the HBB group, and thirst (7.0%), dry mouth (3.5%) and nodal arrhythmia (2.1%) in the anisodamine group. CONCLUSIONS HBB 20 mg was not inferior to anisodamine 10 mg in pain relief of patients with acute gastric or intestinal spasm-like pain. Both drugs were safe and well tolerated.

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs), which are present in heat-processed foods, have been associated with several chronic diseases. Sodium chloride (NaCl) modulates the formation of furfurals and acrylamide in the Maillard reaction, however, the effects of NaCl on AGE formation are inconsistent. In this study, we investigated the effects of NaCl on pyrraline formation using glucose-lysine model systems. NaCl, especially at 0.50%, promoted Maillard browning and pyrraline formation, with a simultaneous increase in the 3-deoxyglucosone concentration. To reduce the rate of pyrraline formation, NaCl coated with different gums and starches were used. The results showed that NaCl encapsulation is an effective approach to mitigate pyrraline and 3-deoxyglucosone formation. The content of NaCl in the microparticles were 284 &plusmn, 12, 269 &plusmn, 6, 258 &plusmn, 8, 247 &plusmn, 10, 273 &plusmn, 16, and 288 &plusmn, 15 mg/g (coated with waxy maize starch, normal maize starch, HYLON VII high amylose maize starch, gelatinized resistant starch, xanthan gum, and gum arabic, respectively). The heat resistance of the coating material was negatively correlated with the pyrraline and 3-deoxyglucosone formation, whereas the solubility of the coating material had the opposite results. Coating the material with gum had little effects on the reduction of pyrraline and 3-deoxyglucosone.

Atherosclerosis is a dyslipidemia disease characterized by foam cell formation driven by the accumulation of lipids. Visceral adipose tissue-derived serine protease inhibitor (vaspin) is known to suppress the development of atherosclerosis via its anti-inflammatory properties, but it is not yet known whether vaspin affects cholesterol efflux in THP-1 macrophage-derived foam cells. Here, we investigated the effects of vaspin on ABCA1 expression and cholesterol efflux, and further explored the underlying mechanism. We found that vaspin decreased miR-33a levels, which in turn increased ABCA1 expression and cholesteorl efflux. We also found that inhibition of NF-κB reduced miR-33a expression and vaspin suppressed LPS-mediated NF-κB phosphorylation. Our findings suggest that vaspin is not only a regular of inflammasion but also a promoter of cholesterol efflux.

Sepsis is a systemic inflammatory response syndrome induced by infection. T Lymphocytes play an important role in this disease. Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels and calcium-sensing receptors (CaSR) are expressed in lymphocytes to promote intracellular Ca(2+) release. However, data about the link between CaSR and TRP channels in septic T lymphocytes are few. In this study, by Ca(2+) imaging and Western blotting, we found that in septic rat peripheral blood T lymphocytes expressions of TRPC3 and TRPC6 proteins are higher. The SR/ER Ca(2+) ATPase inhibitor thapsigargin (TG) and CaSR agonist NPS R-568 also increased expressions of TRPC3 and TRPC6 proteins, which were reversed by PLC-IP3 channel blocker U73122 and TRPC channels inhibitor SKF96365. By Ca(2+) imaging, we found that the depletion of ER Ca(2+) stores by TG elicited a transient rise in cytoplasmic Ca(2+), followed by sustained increase depending on extracellular Ca(2+). But, SKF96365, not Verapamil (L-type channels inhibitor) and NiCl2 (Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchanger inhibitor), inhibited the relatively high [Ca(2+)]i. NPS R-568 also resulted in the same effect, and the duration of [Ca(2+)]i increase was eliminated completely by U73122 and was reduced in the absence of [Ca(2+)]o. NPS R-568 and TG increased the apoptotic ratio of septic T lymphocytes, which can be suppressed by SKF96365 and U73122. These results suggested that CaSR activation promoted the expression of TRPC3 and TRPC6 and enhanced T lymphocytes apoptosis through PLC-IP3 signaling pathway in sepsis.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether IL-27 regulates macrophage ABCA1 expression, foam cell formation, and also explore the underlying mechanisms. Here, we revealed that IL-27 decreased lipid accumulation in THP-1 derived macrophages through markedly enhancing cholesterol efflux and increasing ABCA1 expression at both protein and mRNA levels. Our study further demonstrated that IL-27 increased ABCA1 level via activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3). Inhibition of Janus kinase 2, (JAK2)/STAT3 suppressed the stimulatory effects of IL-27 on ABCA1 expression. The present study concluded that IL-27 reduces lipid accumulation of foam cell by upregulating ABCA1 expression via JAK2/STAT3. Therefore, targeting IL-27 may offer a promising strategy to treat atherosclerotic vascular disease.

Highlights: • U II reduces cholesterol efflux in THP-1 macrophages. • U II decreases the expression of ABCA1. • Inhibition of the ERK/NF-κB pathway reduces U II effects on ABCA1 expression and cholesterol efflux. - Abstract: Objective: Foam cell formation in the arterial wall plays a key role in the development of atherosclerosis. Recent studies showed that Urotensin II (U II) is involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Here we examined the effects of human U II on ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1) expression and the underlying mechanism in THP-1 macrophages. Methods and results: Cultured THP-1 macrophages were treated with U II, followed by measuring the intracellular lipid contents, cholesterol efflux and ABCA1 levels. The results showed that U II dramatically decreased ABCA1 levels and impaired cholesterol efflux. However, the effects of U II on ABCA1 protein expression and cellular cholesterol efflux were partially reversed by inhibition of extracellular signal regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) activity, suggesting the potential roles of ERK1/2 and NF-κB in ABCA1 expression, respectively. Conclusion: Our current data indicate that U II may have promoting effects on the progression of atherosclerosis, likely through suppressing ABCA1 expression via activation of the ERK/NF-κBmore » pathway and reducing cholesterol efflux to promote macrophage foam cell formation.« less

Quercetin is an active constituent of Hippophae rhamnoides L. and Ginkgo Biloba, which are commonly taken for high altitude sickness. The preventive effect of quercetin on hypobaric hypoxic rats was investigated. Male Wistar rats (180-220 g) were placed into six groups: normoxic group (normal control), a hypoxic group (model control), three quercetin-treated groups (5, 10, 20mg/kg, i.g.), and acetazolamide-treated group (22.5mg/kg, i.g., positive control), 10 animals in each group. Hypoxic rats were raised in a hypobaric hypoxia chamber simulating a high altitude of 5000 m for 23 h per day after a five-day pretreatment. Normoxic control rats were raised at an altitude of 300 m. After the five-day treatment, hemodynamic, arterial blood gas and electrolyte parameters, antioxidants and nitric oxide metabolism were measured. Hypobaric hypoxia enhanced the right ventricular systolic pressure, right ventricular end-diastolic pressure and left ventricular end-diastolic pressure, which were reversed by quercetin. Quercetin increased the declined pH, PO(2), Sp(O2), PCO(2) levels in arterial blood induced by hypobaric hypoxia, and increased Na(+), HCO(3)(-), Cl(-), but decreased K(+) concentrations. Quercetin increased superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase activities, glutathione levels, and it decreased malondialdehyde levels in serum. Furthermore, quercetin increased nitric oxide levels and inducible nitric oxide synthase activity in serum. Rats failed to gain body weight under hypobaric hypoxia and quercetin had no effect on it. These results suggest that the activities of quercetin on cardiac function, arterial blood gas, antioxidants and nitric oxide metabolism may be related to its protective potential on hypobaric hypoxia-induced damage.

Oxidative stress in diabetes coexists with a reduction in the antioxidant status, which can further increase the deleterious effects of free radicals. Trigonelline is the major component of Mirabilis jalapa L., which has been used to treat diabetes in China. The present study was designed to evaluate the beneficial effects of trigonelline against hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, β cell damage and antioxidant of pancreas in diabetic rats. Diabetic rats were induced by intraperitoneal injection 35 mg/kg streptozotocin and a high-carbohydrate/high-fat diet. Rats were divided into four groups: normal control, diabetic control, trigonelline-treated diabetic, and glibenclamide-treated diabetic. After 4-week treatment, blood glucose, serum insulin, total cholesterol (TC), and triglyceride (TG) levels, insulin content in pancreas, and oxidative stress parameters in pancreatic homogenate were assayed. Pancreas was examined by hematoxylin/eosin staining. Trigonelline significantly decreased blood glucose, TC, and TG levels of diabetic rats. Pancreas-to-body weight ratio, insulin level, insulin sensitivity index, insulin content in pancreas, malonaldehyde and nitric oxide contents, and superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione and inducible nitric oxide synthase activities were altered in diabetic rats, and were near control levels treated with trigonelline. These findings suggest that trigonelline has beneficial effect for diabetes through decreasing blood glucose and lipid levels, increasing insulin sensitivity index and insulin content, up-regulating antioxidant enzyme activity and decreasing lipid peroxidation.

Two fluorescent anion receptors (1 and 2) based on amide macrocycle were synthesized and corresponding fluorescence quenching induced by anion complexation was observed in different degree. Receptors form 1:1 complexes with anions by hydrogen bonding interactions. Receptor 1 bound anions in the order of F->Cl- > H2PO4−- CH3COO− > >Br−, I− and receptor 2 showed high selectivity to F− over other anions.

Two new neutral receptors (1 and 2) containing (thio) urea and amide groups were synthesized by simple steps in good yields. The binding properties for anions of 1 and 2 were characterized by UV-vis and fluorescence spectra. Receptor 1 had an excellent selectivity for AcO− in comparison with other anions. The association constants of 1 · AcO− and 2 · p-NO2PhOPO23− were higher than those of other anions (Cl−, Br−, I−, H2PO−4 and p-NO2PhO−). In particular, an obvious color change was observed from light yellow to golden yellow upon addition of AcO− to the solution of 1 in DMSO. The results of non-linear curve fitting by UV-vis and fluorescence spectral data indicate that a 1:1 stoichiometry complex is formed between compound 1 or 2 and anions through a hydrogen bonding interaction.

Visible light-driven photocatalyst is the current research focus and silver oxyacid salts with p-block elements are the promising candidates. In this research, Ag2 CO3 was prepared by a facile precipitation method and used to degrade the pollutants from waters. The results revealed that the silver carbonate with monoclinic structure quickly decomposed methyl orange and rhodamine B in less than 15 min under visible light irradiation. When it was recycled six times, the degradation of methyl orange still can reach 87% after 30 min. The calculated band gap of Ag2 CO3 was 2.312 eV with Valence band edge potential of 2.685 eV and Conduction band 0.373 eV vs NHE, which endowed the excellent photo-oxidation ability of silver carbonate. Photogenerated holes and ozone anion radicals were the primary active species in the photo-oxidization degradation of dye. The generation of metallic silver resulted from photocorrosion and the consequent reduction in the ozone anion radical amount led to the performance degradation of Ag2 CO3 . The simple preparation method and high photocatalytic performance of Ag2 CO3 increases its prospect of application in future.

Two multi-armed neutral fluorescent anion receptors (1, 2) bearing multiple amide and thiourea binding sites were synthesized. Study of their UV/Vis and fluorescence spectra indicates that receptors 1 and 2 both form 1:1 complexes with dicarboxylate anions, and that the sensitivity for recognition of dicarboxylate is related to the chain lengths of these dicarboxylate anions. Upon addition of anions, the fluorescence intensities of host solutions were changed significantly. (© Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2004)

A multi-armed neutral anion receptor (1) bearing multiple amide and thiourea binding sites was synthesized. Receptor 1 forms 1:2 complexes with dicarboxylate anions, and the sensitivity for recognition of dicarboxylate depends strongly on the chain length of these dicarboxylate anions. Addition of the anions caused a considerable change in the absorbance and fluorescent intensity of the host solution and a consequent visible color change.

Three new neutral receptors ( 1 , 2 and 3 ) containing thiourea and amide groups were synthesized by simple steps in good yields. The binding properties for anions of 1 , 2 and 3 were examined by UV–vis, fluorescence, and 1 H NMR spectroscopy. Receptors 1 , 2 and 3 all had a better adipate anion selectivity by comparison with other dicarboxylate anions. The association constants of 1 , 2 and 3 with adipate were higher as compared to other anions (malonate, succinate, glutarate). In particular, a distinct color change was observed from light yellow to orange-red upon addition of adipate to the solution of 1 in DMSO. The UV–vis and fluorescence data indicate that a 1:1 stoichiometry complex is formed between compound 1 , 2 or 3 and dicarboxylate anions through hydrogen bonding interactions.

Two new neutral receptors (1 and 2) containing thiourea and amide groups were synthesized by simple steps in good yields. The binding properties of 1 and 2 with anions were examined by UV–vis, fluorescence, and 1H NMR spectroscopy. Receptor 1 had a better AcO–: H2PO4– selectivity in comparison with that for receptor 2. The association constants of 1·AcO–, 2·AcO–, and 2·H2PO4– were higher in comparison with those of other anions (Cl–, Br–, I–, p-NO2PhO–, and p-NO2PhOPO32–). In particular, a clear color change was observed, from pale yellow to red-brown, upon addition of AcO– to the solution of 1 in DMSO. The UV–vis and fluorescence data indicate that a 1:1 stoichiometry complex is formed between compound 1 or 2 and anions through hydrogen-bonding interactions.Key words: neutral receptors, anion recognition, synthesis, hydrogen bonds.

The present study investigated the insulin sensitivity, hypoglycemic, and hypolipidemic activities of ethanolic extract ofMirabilis jalapaL. root (EEM) in normal and diabetic mice. After induction of diabetes with streptozotocin, both normal and diabetic mice were singly or repeatedly for 28 days administrated with EEM at doses of 2, 4, 8 g/kg, respectively. Before induction of diabetes, mice were administrated with EEM at doses of 2, 4, 8 g/kg for 14 days and were injected with streptozotocin and continued on EEM administration for another 28 days. Both after and before induction of diabetes, repeated administration with 4, 8 g/kg EEM continually lowered blood glucose level, decreased serum insulin level and improved insulin sensitivity index, and lowered serum total cholesterol, triglyceride levels and triglyceride content in liver and skeletal muscle, and increased glycogen content in these tissues; but repeated administration had no influence on those indexes of normal mice. Single administration with EEM (4, 8 g/kg) showed hypoglycemic effect in oral glucose tolerance test in normal and diabetic mice. Single administration with EEM had no hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic effects on normal and diabetic mice. These results suggest that EEM possesses both potential insulin sensitivity, hypoglycemic, and hypolipidemic effects on diabetes.