Collagen is widely used for dental therapy in several ways such as films, 3D matrix, and composites, besides traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), has been used in tissue regeneration and wound healing application for centuries. Hence, the present study was targeted for the first time to fabricate collagen film with TCM such as resveratrol and celastrol in order to investigate the human periodontal ligament fibroblasts (HPLF) growth and bone marrow macrophages (BMM) derived osteoclastogenesis. Further, the physicochemical, mechanical and biological activities of collagen‐TCM films crosslinked by glycerol and EDC‐NHS (1‐ethyl‐3‐(3‐dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide‐N‐hydroxysulfosuccinimide) were investigated. Collagen film characterization was significantly regulated by the nature of plasticizers like hydrophobic and degree of polarity. Interestingly, the collagen film's denaturation temperature was increased by EDC‐NHS than glycerol. FT‐IR data confirmed the functional group changes due to chemical interaction of collagen with TCM. Morphological changes of HPLF cells cultured in control and collagen films were observed by SEM. Importantly, the addition of resveratrol upregulated the proliferation of HPLF cells, while osteoclastogenesis of BMM cells treated with mCSF‐RANKL was significantly downregulated by celastrol. Accordingly, the collagen‐TCM film could be an interesting material for dental regeneration, and especially it is a therapeutic target to restrain the elevated bone resorption during osteoporosis.

The inhibition of α‐glucosidase activity is a prospective approach to attenuate postprandial hyperglycemia in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Herein, the inhibition of α‐glucosidase by three compounds T1–T3 of Akebia trifoliata stem, namely hederagenin (T1), 3‐epiakebonoic acid (T2), and arjunolic acid (T3) were investigated using enzyme kinetics and molecular docking analysis. The three triterpenoids exhibited excellent inhibitory activities against α‐glucosidase. T1–T3 showed the strongest inhibition with IC50 values of 42.1±5.4, 19.6±3.2, and 11.2±2.3 μM, respectively, compared to the acarbose positive control (IC50=106.3±8.2). Enzyme inhibition kinetics showed that triterpenoids T1–T3 demonstrated competitive, mixed, and noncompetitive‐type inhibition against α‐glucosidase, respectively. The inhibition constant (Ki) values were 21.21, 7.70, and 3.18 μM, respectively. Docking analysis determined that the interaction of ligands T1–T3 and α‐glucosidase was mainly forced by hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions, which could result in improved binding to the active site of the target enzyme. The insulin resistant (IR)‐HepG2 cell model used in this study (HepG2 cells exposed to 10−7 M insulin for 24 h) and glucose uptake assays showed that compounds T1–T3 had no cytotoxicity with concentrations ranging from 6.25 to 25 μM and displayed significant stimulation of glucose uptake in IR‐HepG2 cells. Thus, triterpenoids T1–T3 showed dual therapeutic effects of α‐glucosidase inhibition and glucose uptake stimulation and could be used as potential medicinal resources to investigate new antidiabetic agents for the prevention or treatment of diabetes.

There is a risk of iodine de ciency in pregnant women in China. However, currently, little research is available on the iodine status of lactating women and infants. This study aimed to evaluate the iodine status of lactating women and their infants and explore the relationship between breast milk iodine concentration (BMIC) and urinary iodine concentration (UIC). 257 lactating women and their infants were recruited from the Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital East campus between May 2018 and May 2019. BMIC and UIC were measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). One-day 24hour dietary recall was used to determine the dietary intake of iodine. The mean dietary intake of iodine of the lactating women was 145.1 µg/day. The dietary iodine intake of 97.83% (n=225) of lactating women was lower than 240 µg/day. The median BMIC and UIC of the lactating women and UIC of the infants were 150.7 µg/L (Interquartile Range, IQR 102.9, 205.5), 110.0 µg/L (IQR 65.8, 171.4) and 212.7 µg/L (IQR 142.1, 320.6), respectively. The BMIC of lactating women who ate iodized salt was signi cantly higher than that without iodized salt (p = 0.015). The infants' UIC values were signi cantly correlated with the BMIC values (r = 0.597 ** , p < 0.001). The iodine nutritional status of lactating women and infants in Shanghai was generally su cient according to the WHO's iodine nutritional status. The use of iodized salt was related to increasing dietary iodine intake and BMIC. The improvement of BMIC has a positive effect on the iodine nutrition level of infants. Compared with the level of urinary iodine of mothers, BMIC was a more sensitive and stable index to evaluate the iodine nutritional status of infants.

In biology, collagen-biomaterial regulates several signaling mechanisms of bone and immune cells involved in tissue repair and any imbalance in collagen turnover may affect the homeostasis of cells, becoming a major cause of several complications. In this case, the administration of oral collagen may play a potential role in returning cells to their normal function. For several decades, the beneficial effects of collagen have been explored widely, and thus many commercial products are available in cosmetics, food, and biomedical fields. For instance, collagen-based-products have been widely used to treat the complications of cartilage-related-disorders. Many researchers are reporting the anti-arthritogenic properties of collagen-based materials. In contrast, collagen, especially type-II collagen (CII), has been widely used to induce arthritis by immunization in an animal-model with or without adjuvants, and the potentially immunogenic-properties of collagen have been continuously reported for a long time. Additionally, the immune tolerance of collagen is mainly regulated by the T-lymphocytes and B-cells. This controversial hypothesis is getting more and more evidence nowadays from both sides to support its mechanism. Therefore, this review links the gap between the arthritogenic and anti-arthritogenic effects of collagen and explored the actual mechanism to understand the fundamental concept of collagen in arthritis. Accordingly, this review opens-up several unrevealed scientific knots of collagen and arthritis and helps the researchers understand the potential use of collagen in therapeutic applications.