Poor
proteolytic resistance is an urgent problem to be solved in
the clinical application of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), yet common
solutions, such as complicated chemical modifications and utilization
of d-amino acids, greatly increase the difficulty and cost
of producing AMPs. In this work, a set of novel peptides was synthesized
based on an antitrypsin/antichymotrypsin hydrolytic peptide structure
unit (XYPX)
n
(X represents I, L, and V;
Y represents R and K), which was designed using a systematic natural
amino acid arrangement. Of these peptides, 16 with seven
repeat units had the highest average selectivity index (GMSI = 99.07) for all of the Gram-negative bacteria tested and remained
highly effective in combating Escherichia coli infection in vivo. Importantly, 16 also had dramatic
resistance to a high concentration of trypsin/chymotrypsin hydrolysis
and exerted bactericidal activity through a membrane-disruptive mechanism.
Overall, these findings provide new approaches for the development
of antiprotease hydrolytic peptides that target Gram-negative bacteria.
Taken together, our observations elucidate distinct immune responses of monocyte subsets during HIV infection and antiviral therapy and provide new insight into the roles of innate immunity in HIV-related pathogenesis.
A narrow-spectrum antimicrobial peptide was obtained via database-filtering technology and symmetric-structure; the peptide disturbed bacterial membrane and reduced the cytokine levels in serum in the mouse model.
Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is a stable toxic metabolite threatening health of human and animal and widely contaminated animal feed and human food. This present study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary curcumin on ileum injury in ducks induced by AFB1 administration and explore its underlying mechanisms. Ducks (N = 450, one-day-old male) with a similar weight were randomly assigned to 3 groups, containing the control group, AFB1 group (60 μg AFB1 kg−1 body weight) and curcumin (500 mg curcumin kg−1 diet) + AFB1 group. AFB1 administration markedly increased the ileum damage, AFB1-DNA adducts in the plasma and oxidation stress and inflammation. Adding curcumin into diet protected the ileum against morphology damage induced by AFB1 administration, decreased AFB1-DNA adducts in the plasma and eliminated oxidation stress and inflammation in the ileum of ducks. Anti-oxidation and anti-inflammatory effects of curcumin could protect the ileum against acute damage via activating Nrf2-ARE signaling pathway and inhibiting NF-κB signaling pathway. Conclusively, curcumin was a dietary anti-oxidation and anti-inflammation agent via activating Nrf2-ARE signaling pathway and inhibiting NF-κB signaling pathway to protect ileum against acute damage induced by AFB1 administration.
Photodetectors (PDs) based on perovskite nanowires are among the most promising next‐generation photodetection technologies; however, their poor long‐term stability is the biggest challenge limiting their commercial application. Herein, an ionic liquid, 1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (BMIMBF4), is incorporated as an additive into methylammonium lead triiodide (MAPbI3) nanowires; this not only effectively passivates defects to inhibit perovskite degradation but also leads to the formation of nanochannels, enabling fast charge transfer. As a result, the long‐term stability and performance of MAPbI3 nanowires are considerably improved. The detectivity, linear detection range, and noise equivalent power of the MAPbI3 nanowire PD reach 2.06 × 1013 Jones, 160 dB, and 1.38 × 10−15 W Hz−1/2, respectively, comparable to the highest performance of perovskite nanowire PDs reported to date. Moreover, the unencapsulated PD can maintain 100% of its initial performance after being exposed to an open‐air environment for more than 5000 h, establishing it as the most stable perovskite nanowire PD reported to date. Notably, the PD exhibits improved diffuse reflection imaging ability when compared with commercial silicon photodiode S2386. This study provides a new strategy for constructing sensitive, stable, and flexible perovskite PDs and will accelerate their commercial application in the future.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.