Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death worldwide. Colorectal adenomatous polyps are at high risk for the development of CRC. In this report, we described the metabolic changes in the sera from patients with colorectal polyps and CRC by using the NMR-based metabolomics. 110 serum samples were collected from patients and healthy controls, including 40 CRC patients, 32 colorectal polyp patients, and 38 healthy controls. The metabolic profiles and differential metabolites of sera were analyzed by multivariate statistical analysis (MSA), including principal component analysis (PCA), partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) methods. A total of 23 differential metabolites were identified from MSA. According to the pathway analysis and multivariate ROC curve-based exploratory analysis by using the relative concentrations of differential metabolites, we found abnormal metabolic pathways and potential biomarkers involved with the colorectal polyp and CRC. The results showed that the pyruvate metabolism and glycerolipid metabolism were activated in colorectal polyps. And the glycolysis and glycine, serine, and threonine metabolism were activated in CRC. The changed metabolism may promote cellular proliferation. In addition, we found that the rates of acetate/glycerol and lactate/citrate could be the potential biomarkers in colorectal polyp and CRC, respectively. The application of 1H-NMR metabolomics analysis in serum has interesting potential as a new detection and diagnostic tool for early diagnosis of CRC.

No abstract

This work aims to prepare ferulic acid alkyl esters (FAEs) through the lipase-catalyzed reaction between methyl ferulate and various fatty alcohols in deep eutectic solvents and ascertain their antibacterial activities and mechanisms. Screens of antibacterial effects of FAEs against Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 (E. coli) and Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 19115 (L. monocytogenes) revealed that hexyl ferulate (FAC6) exerted excellent bacteriostatic and bactericidal effects on E. coli and L. monocytogenes (minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC): 1.6 and 0.1 mM, minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC): 25.6 and 0.2 mM, respectively). The antibacterial mechanism of FAC6 against E. coli was systematically studied to facilitate its practical use as a food additive with multifunctionalities. The growth and time-kill curves implied the partial cell lysis and inhibition of the growth of E. coli caused by FAC6. The result related to propidium iodide uptake and cell constituents' leakage (K + , proteins, nucleotides, and β-galactosidase) implied that bacterial cytomembranes were substantially compromised by FAC6. Variations on morphology and cardiolipin microdomains and membrane hyperpolarization of cells visually verified that FAC6 induced cell elongation and destructed the cell membrane with cell wall perforation. SDS-PAGE analysis and alterations of fluorescence spectra of bacterial membrane proteins manifested that FAC6 caused significant changes in constitutions and conformation of membrane proteins. Furthermore, it also could bind to minor grooves of E. coli DNA to form complexes. Meanwhile, FAC6 exhibited antibiofilm formation activity. These findings indicated that that FAC6 has promising potential to be developed as a multifunctional food additive.

No abstract

No abstract