Despite increasing knowledge of allantoin as a phytochemical involved in rice, relatively little is known about its distribution and function in rice grains. In this study, allantoin was quantified in 15 Chinese rice grains, and its contents varied with grain fraction, cultivar, and genotype. Bran always had the highest allantoin level, followed by brown rice and milled rice. Hull contained the lowest allantoin content. Allantoin in japonica bran ranged from 70 to 171 μg/g but rarely exceeded 100 μg/g in indica bran. There was a positive relationship between allantoin level in grains and seedling survival in seedbeds under low temperature or water deficit. Exogenous allantoin stimulated plant growth, increased soluble sugar and free proline contents, and decreased malondialdehyde content in rice seedlings. However, allantoin did not show any antioxidant activity through free radical-scavenging capacity, reducing power, linoleic acid peroxidation inhibition, and chelating activity. The results suggest that allantoin in rice grains may play some roles in providing plant stress protection but not serving as a beneficial health antioxidant.

To identify and quantify protein profiles from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients with isobaric Tagging for Relative and Absolute protein Quantification (iTRAQ)-based proteomic technology and to find differentially expressed proteins in SLE. PBMC were collected from patients of six stable SLE, six active SLE, six rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and six healthy donors. After protein extraction and concentration, the pooled protein content was labeled with iTRAQ reagents and then subjected to multiple chromatographic fractionation and tandem mass spectrometry. ProteinPilot™ 3.0 software and a database of IPI (International Protein Index) human 3.62 were used for database searching and statistical analysis. A total of 452 proteins were identified. Of these, 67 unique proteins were observed twofold or more alteration in levels across groups. The proteins determined support existing knowledge and uncover novel biomarker candidates. These results indicate that iTRAQ-based technology can serve as a useful aid for identification and quantification proteins from PBMC.

The objective of this study is to investigate the correlation between IL-37 level and osteoarthritis activity and to determine the anti-inflammatory effects of IL-37 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and synovial cells (SCs) from osteoarthritis (OA) patients, which including 32 patients with erosive inflammatory OA (EIOA) and 40 patients with primary generalized OA (PGOA), 40 age and sex matched healthy volunteers were recruited as healthy controls (HCs). The protein and relative mRNA levels of IL-37 were significant increased in the blood of EIOA patients compared with those of PGOA patients and HCs. Serum IL-37 levels of OA patients were positively correlated with VAS score, as well as with CRP, ESR in blood. Positive correlations were also observed among IL-37 with IL-1β, TNF-α and IL-6 in synovial cells. Furthermore, the expression of IL-1β, TNF-α and IL-6 in PBMCs and SCs from EIOA patients was suppressed by IL-37 in vitro. In conclusion, our results indicated that IL-37 increased in EIOA patients and was positively correlated with disease activity, the pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1β, TNF-α and IL-6 in PBMCs and synovial cells from EIOA patients were restrained by recombinant IL-37. Thus, IL-37 may serve as a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of OA inflammation.

No abstract