Limonin (Lim) is a white crystalline substance usually found in orange and lemon seeds. In this paper, we report the antiobesity effects of cyclodextrin (CD)-treated Lim along with naringenin (Ng) and hesperetin (Hes). We demonstrated that Lim, Ng and Hes decreased cell viability in 3T3-L1 preadipocyte cells. Lim, Ng and Hes inhibited the adipocyte differentiation in response to adipogenic inducers. The evidence for this inhibition included fewer Oil Red O positive droplets and a decreased expression of the adipocyte-specific gene PPARg2. In animal studies, Lim-, Hes-and combination-treated mice gained less body weight than control mice did. The plasma triglyceride and cholesterol levels were significantly reduced by Lim and the other substances. Furthermore, Lim increased the mRNA levels of lipid metabolism-related genes, including Acox1, UCP2 and CPT1 in the liver. This study suggests that CD-treated Lim prevents diet-induced obesity in mice by inducing lipid metabolism-related genes in the liver. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSLimonin (Lim) is a limonoid that has a bitter taste and is a water-insoluble substance found in citrus fruits. It has several important biological properties. Citrus Lim does not dissolve in water, which makes it unsuitable for use in oral preparations. In the present study, we used a cyclodextrin-treated Lim that is very easily dissolved in water. In this report, we demonstrated the anti-adipogenic effects of citrus Lim in 3T3-L1 preadipocyte cells. We also used cyclodextrin-clathrated Lim, naringenin and hesperetin to examine the hypocholesterolemic activities in mice. The results from our study showed that Lim and these two flavonoid-related compounds can be used to develop oral preparations that may have possible lipidlowering properties and may be able to reduce diet-induced obesity.

Terminalia chebula is a native plant from southern Asia to southwestern China that is used in traditional medicine for the treatment of malignant tumors and diabetes. This plant also has antibacterial and immunomodulatory properties. The present study assessed T. chebula extract-dependent protein expression changes in Jurkat cells. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry and Ingenuity Pathways Analysis (IPA) were performed to assess protein expression and networks, respectively. A comparative proteomic profile was determined in T. chebula extract (50 μg/mL)-treated and control cells; the expressions of β-tubulin, ring finger and CHY zinc finger domain containing 1, and insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor kinase were significantly down-regulated in T. chebula extract-treated Jurkat cells. Moreover, the molecular basis for the T. chebula extract-dependent protein expression changes in Jurkat cells was determined by IPA. Treatment with the T. chebula extract significantly inhibited nuclear factor-κB activity and affected the proteomic profile of Jurkat cells. The molecular network signatures and functional proteomics obtained in this study may facilitate the evaluation of potential antitumor therapeutic targets and elucidate the molecular mechanism of T. chebula extract-dependent effects in Jurkat cells.

A mechanistic study of vanadium-sorbent interaction at high temperature was conducted to investigate the underlying mechanisms of sorbent injection for controlling vanadium emissions from combustion systems. Both calcium-and silica-based sorbents successfully reduced the formation of vanadium submicron particles. The capture of vanadium was found to correlate well with sorbent surface area, demonstrating that the dominant mechanism was condensation. Bimodal lognormal modeling based on the experimental conditions verified that condensation on injected sorbents was a very effective means of scavenging vanadium vapor. However, if vanadium vapor quickly nucleated (e.g., through gas phase hydrolysis in the studied system) to form a large number of ultrafine particles, their much larger specific surface area overshadowed that of the sorbent particles and scavenged the rest of the vanadium vapor. Using the residence times employed in this study, intra-coagulation of and condensation onto these ultrafine vanadium particles was not an effective means of growing the particles to the supermicrometer range. Such a scenario decreased the effectiveness of the sorbent technique. Consequently, enhancing direct vanadium condensation onto sorbent particles and suppressing vanadium nucleation is critical to successful reduction of vanadium emissions from combustion sources.