ALBERT

Description: In order to make full use of exposure energy, one feasible way is to modify the luminance of crystal by rare earth doping technique. KZnF3:Er3+ and KZnF3:Er3+/Yb3+ nanocrystals of uniform cuboid perovskite type morphology, with average diameter of 130 nm, has been synthesized by hydrothermal method. When Yb3+ ions were codoped with Er3+, absorption peak at 970 nm has been heightened and widened, and the photon absorption cross section increased. The common xenon lamp exposure cannot initiate obvious nonlinear phenomenon of the doped Er3+ and Yb3+, and exposing at 245 nm only excites the fluorescence around 395 nm. Contrarily, under high power IR exposure at 980 nm, obvious upconversion photoluminescence (PL) has been observed due to the two-photon process. The PL mechanism of the doped Er3+ ion in KZnF3:Er3+/Yb3+ nanocrystals is confirmed. Furthermore, Yb3+ codoped as sensitizer has modified the PL intensity of Er3+ from green light range to red range, and the primary channel is changed from 4S3/2(Er3+) → 4I15/2(Er3+) of only Er3+ doped KZnF3 nanocrystal to 4F9/2(Er3+) → 4I15/2(Er3+) of Er3+/Yb3+ codoped sample. With exposure energy increasing, such primary transition channel after two-photon excitation is unchanged.

Description: Electroresponsive and cell-affinitive polydopamine/polypyrrole composite microcapsules with a dual-function of on-demand drug delivery and cell stimulation for electrical therapy NPG Asia Materials 9, e358 (March 2017). doi:10.1038/am.2017.16 Authors: Chaoming Xie, Pengfei Li, Lu Han, Zhenming Wang, Ting Zhou, Weili Deng, Kefeng Wang & Xiong Lu

Description: Indigo naturalis (IN) is a traditional Chinese medicine, named Qing-Dai, which is extracted from indigo plants and has been used to treat patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in China and Japan. Though there are notable effects of IN on colitis, the mechanisms remain elusive. Regarding the significance of alterations of intestinal flora related to IBD and the poor water solubility of the blue IN powder, we predicted that the protective action of IN on colitis may occur through modifying gut microbiota. To investigate the relationships of IN, colitis, and gut microbiomes, a dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced mice colitis model was tested to explore the protective effects of IN on macroscopic colitis symptoms, the histopathological structure, inflammation cytokines, and gut microbiota, and their potential functions. Sulfasalazine (SASP) was used as the positive control. Firstly, because it was a mixture, the main chemical compositions of indigo and indirubin in IN were detected by ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC). The clinical activity score (CAS), hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining results, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) results in this study showed that IN greatly improved the health conditions of the tested colitis mice, ameliorated the histopathological structure of the colon tissue, down-regulated pro-inflammatory cytokines, and up-regulated anti-inflammatory cytokines. The results of 16S rDNA sequences analysis with the Illumina MiSeq platform showed that IN could modulate the balance of gut microbiota, especially by down-regulating the relative quantity of Turicibacter and up-regulating the relative quantity of Peptococcus. The therapeutic effect of IN may be closely related to the anaerobic gram-positive bacteria of Turicibacter and Peptococcus. The inferred metagenomes from 16S data using PICRUSt demonstrated that decreased metabolic genes, such as through biosynthesis of siderophore group nonribosomal peptides, non-homologous end-joining, and glycosphingolipid biosynthesis of lacto and neolacto series, may maintain microbiota homeostasis during inflammation from IN treatment in DSS-induced colitis.