Gut microbes influence tumor development and progression in the intestines and may provide a novel paradigm for the treatment of colorectal cancer (CRC). Gut dysbiosis may be associated with the development and progression of CRC. Identifying the interactions between the colonic tract and gut microbiota may provide novel information relevant to CRC prevention. The present study examined the effects of butyrate-producing Butyricicoccus pullicaecorum (B. pullicaecorum) on mice with 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH)-induced CRC and the microbial metabolite of B. pullicaecorum on CRC cells. Immunohistochemical staining of the mouse colon tissues and reverse transcription PCR of CRC cells were used to determine the protein and mRNA expression levels of the short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) transporter solute carrier family 5 member 8 (SLC5A8) and G-protein-coupled receptor 43 (GPR43). In CRC-bearing mice fed B. pullicaecorum, DMH-induced CRC regressed, body weight increased and serum carcinoembryonic antigen levels decreased. Notably, SLC5A8 and GPR43 were diffusely and moderately to strongly expressed in the neoplastic epithelial cells and underlying muscularis propria in the colons of the mice. In conclusion, administration of B. pullicaecorum or its metabolites improved the clinical outcome of CRC by activating the SCFA transporter and/or receptor. These results indicated that B. pullicaecorum was a probiotic with anti-CRC potential.

Among the strategies for growing one-dimensional nanostructures such as nanotubes and nanowires, a very viable approach is deposition of the desired material into a template with arrays of well-aligned nanochannels.[1±7] A competitive template with such characteristics is the porous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) film, whose nanochannels can even laterally self-organize into hexagonally close-packed (hcp) domains exhibiting short-range order provided it is grown under specific anodization conditions. [8,9] It has been demonstrated that the range of the order can be further extended by several orders of magnitude using lithographic-guiding techniques, [4,10±12] and that the pore size distributions of such guided arrays are much narrower than those of the self-organized ones. The successful fabrication of such long-range-ordered nanochannel arrays, hereafter referred to simply as ordered arrays, has not only broadened the potential applications of AAO films but also opened possibilities for the fabrication of arrays of nanostructures arranged according to a custom-designed geometry. For example, one can envision an array with only part of it covered by nanodots or nanowires while the rest of the surface area remains empty. Depending on its geometry, such an array, with designed optical and electronic properties, could be used as a photonic crystal and/or a waveguide.[13±16] One of the viable approaches for fabricating such a custom-designed array is to grow the desired material into a template with a partially closed nanochannel array. Herein, we demonstrate a focused ion beam (FIB) directwrite lithographic method for selectively closing part of the channels of an ordered array on an AAO film in order to create a custom-designed nanochannel array. The initial ordered arrays were fabricated by FIB lithographic guiding techniques where the closure of the nanochannels within a certain area was achieved by raster scanning the FIB over the area, thus directly bombarding the AAO film. The successful fabrication of such a template with custom-designed nanochannel arrays opens up numerous possibilities for the creation of nanowire or nanodot arrays with desired geometric patterns. The fabrication process always starts from growing an ordered array by anodizing a finely polished aluminum sample that has been patterned with a guiding lattice on its surface. The lattice is a two-dimensional array of hcp concave pits created by FIB direct-write lithography. An ordered array is achieved when the lattice constant of the guiding lattice is carefully matched with the electrolyte and anodization voltage.[17] For the present work, we set the lattice constant, and therefore the spacing, of the ordered array to be 100 nm, and grew the nanochannels to a typical aspect ratio of larger than » 50. Figure 1a shows a micrograph of a typical ordered array on an AAO film taken by scanning with a 50 keV gallium FIB with a beam current of 1.1 pA and a diameter of » 10 nm over the sample while collecting the secondary electron signal to provide th...

No abstract

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disorder with a pathogenesis involving the interleukin-23/interleukin-17 axis. Salvianolic acid B exerts several pharmacological effects, such as antioxidation, anti-inflammation, and antitumor effects. The anti-psoriatic effects of salvianolic acid B have not been reported. In this study, we aimed to determine the optimum vehicle for salvianolic acid B, investigate its therapeutic effect on psoriatic-like skin conditions, and explore its underlying mechanisms of action. BALB/c mice were administered topical imiquimod to induce psoriasis-like skin and were then randomly assigned to control, vehicle control, salvianolic acid B in vehicles, and 0.25% desoximetasone ointment treatment groups. Barrier function, cytokine expression, histology assessment, and disease severity were evaluated. The results showed that salvianolic acid B-containing microemulsion alleviated disease severity, reduced acanthosis, and inhibited interleukin-23/interleukin-17 (IL-23/IL-17) cytokines, epidermal proliferation, and increased skin hydration. Our study suggests that salvianolic acid B represents a possible new therapeutic drug for the treatment of psoriasis. In addition, such formulation could obtain high therapeutic efficacy in addition to providing sufficient hydration for dry skin.

Anodization of tungsten in NaOH leads to the growth of a porous tungsten oxide layer with either irregular trenches or isolated nanobubbles. For anodic potentials between 30 to 40 V and NaOH concentrations of 2–3 M, nanobubbles with diameters of ∼40 nm form spontaneously and self-organize into hexagonal close-packed ordered arrays with a period of ∼60 nm. The nanobubbles are likely to be initiated by the electrostatic stress on the oxide film that could become more plastic under the influence of high-density anodic current. The ordered arrangement of the nanobubbles manifests a delicate balance of the stress on their surrounding oxide walls.