Ethanol extract (EE) from Periplaneta americana (PA) is the main ingredient of Kangfuxin, which is a popular traditional chinese medicine (TCM) and has long been used for the clinical treatment of burns, wounds and ulcers. We compared the wound-healing activities of three extracts of PA using cutaneous wound-healing in mice as the bioactivity model. These three extracts were EE, total polysaccharide and total protein. We also tracked bioactive fractions in the EE by organic reagent extraction, column chromatography and HPLC. Seven compounds were successfully identified from the water elution fraction of the EE of PA using UPLC-MS. Among these compounds, four compounds (P2, P3, P4, P5(1)) were first reported in PA. Some of these compounds have been previously reported to have various pharmacological activities that could contribute to the high wound-healing activity of PA.

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Obesity, which is largely due to energy imbalance, has emerged as one of the most serious health issues in the world. The hypothalamus is the most important organ to regulate feeding behavior and energy expenditure through nutrient sensing and signal integration from central and peripheral pathways. As the main organelle to produce energy, mitochondria play a critical role in energy homeostasis from the organelle level. Besides providing a platform for the oxidation of fuel substrates, mitochondria are also involved in a variety of cell signaling pathways and modulate energy homeostasis through mitochondrial dynamics. Mitochondrial dysfunction may lead to obesity due to inadequate ATP production, oxidative stress, endoplasmic reticulum stress, and inflammation. β, β-carotene-9',10'-oxygenase2 (BCO2) is a mitochondrial enzyme that catalyzes the asymmetric cleavage of both provitamin A and non-provitamin A carotenoids. This enzyme is localized to the inner mitochondrial membrane, where the electron transport chain is located. Besides the enzymatic function, BCO2 is important for mitochondrial function and is genetically associated with interleukin-18. Moreover, BCO2 protein expression is suppressed in obese and diabetic mice. Given that the important role of BCO2 in mitochondrial structure and function, and the key position of the hypothalamus in energy balance, BCO2 may play a new role in maintaining metabolic homeostasis that has been overlooked before. The mutation of BCO2 might lead to the impairment of whole body energy homeostasis through hypothalamic mitochondrial dysfunction. Here we will be presenting the updates on hypothalamic mitochondria in cellular energy homeostasis and discussing the potential of BCO2 in regulation of hypothalamic mitochondria in health and obesity.

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) results from the destruction of pancreatic β-cell through the β-cell specific autoimmune process. β-cell autoantigens, macrophages, dendritic cells (DC), B lymphocytes, and T lymphocytes have been implicated in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diabetes. Tamoxifen is a selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERM), used in the treatment of breast cancer. Research reports have shown that tamoxifen might decrease the strength of immune responses through modulation of DC differentiation and activation, and it may depress immunity. In NOD/ShiLtJ mice (female), which is a polygenic model for T1D, we found that tamoxifen exerts antidiabetic effects through acting on the immune system, leading to the suppression of insulitis and systemic inflammatory cytokine production in the in-vivo model. Tamoxifen therapy preserved the β-cell mass and prevented the development of T1D. Tamoxifen providing β-cell protection and immunoinhibitory effects offer a novel insight into the possible role of tamoxifen in the regulation of islet cell function and glucose homeostasis. These findings are significant and useful for clinical application. Disclosure J. Zheng: None. M. Zafar: None. L. Chen: None. X. Guo: None. X. Li: None.

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