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Objectives: Placental inflammation possibly underlies preeclampsia pathogenesis. This study aimed to investigate the expression of the high mobility box group 1 (HMGB1)-toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) signalling pathway in preeclamptic placentas and determine whether HMGB1 regulates the biological behaviour of trophoblasts in vitro. Design: Placental biopsies were taken from 30 preeclamptic patients and 30 normotensive controls. In vitro experiments were carried out in HTR-8/SVneo human trophoblast cells. Participants/Materials, Setting, Methods: HMGB1, TLR4, and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) mRNA and protein were quantified to compare their expression in human placentas from preeclamptic and normotensive pregnancies. HTR-8/SVneo cells were stimulated with HMGB1 (50 – 400 µg/L) for 6 – 48 h, and proliferation and invasion of HTR-8/SVneo cells were measured via Cell Counting Kit-8 and transwell assays. HTR-8/SVneo cells were also transfected with HMGB1 and TLR4 siRNA to investigate the effect of knocking down these proteins. The mRNA and protein expression of TLR4, NF-κB, and matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) were determined using qPCR and western blotting, respectively. Data were analysed with either a t-test or one-way analysis of variance. Results The mRNA and protein levels of HMGB1, TLR4, and NF-κB were significantly higher in the placentas from preeclamptic pregnancies than from normal pregnancies (P < 0.05). HMGB1 stimulation (at concentrations up to 200 µg/L) of HTR-8/SVneo cells significantly increased invasion and proliferation over time. However, at an HMGB1 stimulation concentration of 400 µg/L, the invasion and proliferation ability of HTR-8/SVneo cells decreased. Compared to controls, mRNA and protein expression levels of TLR4, NF-κB, and MMP-9 increased (mRNA level fold change: 1.460, 1.921, 1.667; protein level fold change: 1.600, 1.750, 2.047) when stimulated with HMGB1 (P < 0.05) but decreased when HMGB1 was knocked down (P < 0.05). TLR4 siRNA transfection combined with HMGB1 stimulation reduced the mRNA (fold change: 0.451) and protein (fold change: 0.289) expression of TLR4 (P < 0.05), while NF-κB and MMP-9 were unaffected (P > 0.05). Limitations Only one trophoblast cell line was used in this study, and the findings were not confirmed in animal studies. Conclusions This study explored the pathogenesis of preeclampsia from two aspects: inflammation and trophoblast invasion. The overexpression of HMGB1 in placentas from preeclamptic pregnancies suggests this protein may be involved in preeclampsia pathogenesis. In vitro, HMGB1 was found to regulate the proliferation and invasion of HTR-8/SVneo cells by activating the TLR4-NF-κB-MMP-9 pathway. These findings have implications for targetting HMGB1 could be a therapeutic strategy for treating PE. In the future, we will further verify this in vivo and in other trophoblast cell lines, further exploring the molecular interactions of the pathway.

Large‐scale and simple strategies to flexibly preparing materials with industrial application potential attract people's attention. Layer‐by‐layer (LBL) self‐assembly technology is a typical preparation method for current nanomaterials to address the large‐scale concern and achieve the possibility of a simple, streamlined and controllable process. Here, a novel and simple strategy is developed to fabricate microporous polymeric film (MPF) based on poly(styrene‐hydroxyethyl methylacrylate) (P(St‐HEMA)) microspheres, in combination with LBL self‐assembly technology and hypercrosslinked microporous post‐treatment. To improve the mechanical properties of the film, the buffer layer of polyethyleneimine (PEI) and poly(sodium‐p‐styrenesulfonate) (PSS) are used to avoid swelling of nanoparticles and the methacryloxyethyltrimethyl ammonium chloride (DMC) is chosen to increase the force between the nanoparticles via UV‐crosslinking. The MPF has well CO2 capture capabilities up to 46.21 wt% (10.52 mmol g−1), large‐scale feature and certain improved mechanical properties. It is hoped that the research could display a successful strategy to prepare the large‐scale film for the application of industrialization.

As novel materials for carbon capture, phase change solvents can separate into two immiscible phases during the CO2 capturing procedure under a certain temperature. The solvent systems can significantly decrease the energy consumption since the solvents can be regenerated by only heating the rich-CO2 phase. In this work, amino acid ionic liquids (AAILs) were synthesized using quaternary ammonium salts and amino acids as raw materials, and the aqueous solutions were prepared as novel liquid-solid phase change solvents. The results showed that the solvents had excellent CO2 absorption capacity, and the AAILs functionalized by glycine and tryptophan exhibited significant phase change properties. The mechanism of phase-change of the solvent were mainly due to the lower solubility of the product after reaction between AAILs and CO2. The solvent with tryptophan as anion could be regenerated by only heating the CO2-riched solid phase, which might significantly decrease energy consumption of regeneration. And the absorbent could be reused with the regenerated absorption ratio up to 79%. The solvent system has great potential in industrial application due to the easy operation process and efficient recycling ability.