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Purpose: To explore whether circadian clock genes contribute to elicit inflammation in experimental dry eye (EDE). Methods: RNA sequencing analyzed mRNA expression patterns in EDE model. RT-qPCR and/or Western blot determined the expression of inflammatory factors and circadian genes during EDE. MethylTarget™ assays determined the promoter methylation levels of Per genes in vivo. Per2 or Per3 knockdown assessed their effects on inflammatory factors in vitro. Results: We utilized an intelligently controlled environmental system (ICES) to establish a mouse EDE model. The significant upregulated genes were enriched for circadian rhythms. Therein lied oscillatory and time-dependent upregulation of PER2 and PER3, as well as their promoter hypomethylation during EDE. Silencing PER2 or PER3 significantly decreased inflammatory factor expression and also reversed such increased inflammatory response in azacitidine (AZA) treatment in vitro model. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that DNA methylation mediated the upregulation of PER2 and PER3, leading to inflammatory response in EDE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Alterations in the gut microbiome and bile acid metabolism are known to play a role in the development and progression of colon cancer. Medicinal plants like Astragalus mongholicus Bunge and Curcuma aromatica Salisb. (AC) have shown preferable therapeutic effect on cancer therapy, especially digestive tract tumors like colon cancer. However, the precise mechanisms of AC inhibiting colon cancer, particularly in relation to the gut microbiome and bile acid dynamics, are not fully understood., Methods: Our research aimed to investigate the anti-tumor properties of AC in mice with CT26 colon cancer and further investigate its underlying mechanism via intestinal microbiota. The size and pathological changes of solid tumors in colon cancer are used to evaluate the inhibitory effect of AC on colon cancer. Metagenomics and 16s rRNA gene sequencing were employed to clarify the dysbiosis in the gut microbiome of colon cancer and its impact on colon cancer. The levels of bile acids (BAs) in the feces of mice from each group were measured using UPLC-Qtrap-MS/MS., Results: AC effectively suppressed the growth of colon cancer and reduced histological damage. Notably, AC treatment led to changes in the gut microbiome composition, with a decrease in pathogenic species like Citrobacter and Candidatus_Arthromitus , and an increase in beneficial microbial populations including Adlercreutzia , Lachnospiraceae _UCG-001, and Parvibacter . Additionally, AC altered bile acid profiles, resulting in a significant decrease in pro-carcinogenic bile acids such as deoxycholic acid (DCA) and lithocholic acid (LCA), while increasing the concentration of the cancer-inhibitory bile acid, ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA). Tracking and analyzing the data, AC may mainly upregulate FabG and baiA genes by increasing the relative abundance of Adlercreutzia and Parvibacter bacteria, which promoting the metabolism of pro-carcinogenic LCA., Discussion: These findings provide strong evidence supporting the role of AC in regulating gut microbiome-mediated bile acid metabolism, which is crucial in impeding the progression of colon cancer., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Wang, Zhu, Hua, Sun, Tan, Chang, Tang and Gu.)

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) is employed for the first time in a fingerprint analysis of Marsdenia tenacissima. Because the CE method is a new approach to fingerprinting, it is necessary to compare it to the conventional one: high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In HPLC separation, 15 components are separated in 55 min, while in CE separation, 10 stable components are separated by 200 mM boric acid (pH 8.0) containing 10% methanol within 12 min. CE shows better performance in the analysis of Marsdenia tenacissima, which makes its fingerprint in a much lower analysis time than with HPLC. It is further proven that CE can be a feasible and cost-effective method for the development of the fingerprint of Marsdenia tenacissima.