The phenylalanine–tyrosine–dopa–dopamine pathway provides dopamine to the brain. In this process, tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) is the rate-limiting enzyme that hydroxylates tyrosine and generates levodopa (l-dopa) with tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) as a coenzyme. Here, we show that oral berberine (BBR) might supply H• through dihydroberberine (reduced BBR produced by bacterial nitroreductase) and promote the production of BH4 from dihydrobiopterin; the increased BH4 enhances TH activity, which accelerates the production of l-dopa by the gut bacteria. Oral BBR acts in a way similar to vitamins. The l-dopa produced by the intestinal bacteria enters the brain through the circulation and is transformed to dopamine. To verify the gut–brain dialog activated by BBR’s effect, Enterococcus faecalis or Enterococcus faecium was transplanted into Parkinson’s disease (PD) mice. The bacteria significantly increased brain dopamine and ameliorated PD manifestation in mice; additionally, combination of BBR with bacteria showed better therapeutic effect than that with bacteria alone. Moreover, 2,4,6-trimethyl-pyranylium tetrafluoroborate (TMP-TFB)-derivatized matrix-assisted laser desorption mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) imaging of dopamine identified elevated striatal dopamine levels in mouse brains with oral Enterococcus, and BBR strengthened the imaging intensity of brain dopamine. These results demonstrated that BBR was an agonist of TH in Enterococcus and could lead to the production of l-dopa in the gut. Furthermore, a study of 28 patients with hyperlipidemia confirmed that oral BBR increased blood/fecal l-dopa by the intestinal bacteria. Hence, BBR might improve the brain function by upregulating the biosynthesis of l-dopa in the gut microbiota through a vitamin-like effect.

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Switchable polymerization holds considerable potential for the synthesis of highly sequence-controlled multiblock. To date, this method has been limited to three-component systems, which enables the straightforward synthesis of multiblock polymers with less than five blocks. Herein, we report a self-switchable polymerization enabled by simple alkali metal carboxylate catalysts that directly polymerize six-component mixtures into multiblock polymers consisting of up to 11 blocks. Without an external trigger, the catalyst polymerization spontaneously connects five catalytic cycles in an orderly manner, involving four anhydride/epoxide ring-opening copolymerizations and one L-lactide ring-opening polymerization, creating a one-step synthetic pathway. Following this autotandem catalysis, reasonable combinations of different catalytic cycles allow the direct preparation of diverse, sequence-controlled, multiblock copolymers even containing various hyperbranched architectures. This method shows considerable promise in the synthesis of sequentially and architecturally complex polymers, with high monomer sequence control that provides the potential for designing materials.

Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text.Glial inhibitors only reverse mechanical hypersensitivity in male mice subjected to arthritis. No obvious arthritis-related transcriptional difference was identified between male and female spinal microglia.

The mechanisms underlying rheumatoid arthritis (RA)-induced pain are still not fully elucidated, and accumulating data indicate that peripheral inflammation is not the only factor driving pain in these patients. The focus of our work is to investigate the molecular basis for long-term alterations in nociceptive pathways induced by polyarthritis using the collagen antibody-induced arthritis (CAIA) mouse model. In this model, mechanical hypersensitivity outlasts the joint inflammation by weeks. Here we examined expression levels of neuropeptides, ion channels, and nerve injury markers associated with neuropathic and/or inflammatory pain in dorsal root ganglia (DRGs) and spinal cord both during the peak of inflammation (day 15) and when the inflammation has resolved but the hypersensitivity persists (days 45-47). No apparent differences were observed in substance P, calcitonin gene-related peptide, or neuropeptide Y protein expression in DRGs and spinal cord of CAIA mice. However, the neuropeptide galanin, the ATP-gated ion channel P2X3, and calcium channel subunit α2δ1 were significantly increased in the CAIA DRGs as compared to controls, both 15 and 47 days after induction of arthritis. On day 15 there was an increase in expression of two factors associated with nerve injury and cell stress, activating transcription factor 3 and growth-associated protein 43 in DRGs, whereby the latter was still dramatically upregulated after 47 days. In conclusion, this study suggests that long-term joint inflammation has an impact on DRG neurons that resembles both inflammation and nerve injury-induced pain states. Thus, antibody-driven inflammation generates a pain state with a unique neurochemical profile.