Journal: Cardiology Research

Article Title: Nuclear Respiratory Factor-1 Ameliorates Heart Failure by Suppressing Cardiomyocyte Pyroptosis-Associated Signaling Via the Downregulation of Gasdermin D and Caspase-1

doi: 10.14740/cr2153

Figure Lengend Snippet: NRF-1 is negatively correlated with pyroptosis in HF patients. (a) Representative images of echocardiography in HF patients and NF controls. (b–g) Serum NT-proBNP, IL-18, IL-1β, NRF-1, GSDMD and caspase-1 level in HF patients (n = 15) and NF controls (n = 10). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001. GSDMD: gasdermin D; HF: heart failure; IL: interleukin; NF: normal cardiac function; NRF-1: nuclear respiratory factor-1; NT-proBNP: N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide.

Article Snippet: ELISA kits were used to detect N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP, EK1393, Multi Science, Hangzhou, China), NRF-1 (E15022h, EIAab, Wuhan, China), IL-18 (EK118S, Multi Science, Hangzhou, China), IL-1β (EK101B, Multi Science, Hangzhou, China), gasdermin D (GSDMD) (E15480h, EIAab, Wuhan, China), and caspase-1 (E1592h, EIAab, Wuhan, China), following the instructions of manufacturers.

Techniques:

Journal: Translational Psychiatry

Article Title: Astrocytic APOE3-Christchurch expression ameliorates brain amyloid-β pathology in 5xFAD mice

doi: 10.1038/s41398-026-04002-9

Figure Lengend Snippet: ( A - C ) Aβ40 and Aβ42 levels in the soluble TBS fractions ( A ), detergent soluble (TBS-X) fractions ( B ), and insoluble neutralized formic acid (FA) fractions ( C ) of cortical brain homogenates in the 5xFAD mice were measured by ELISA at 8 months of age, normalized to protein concentrations of each fraction. ( D ) Soluble oligomeric Aβ (oAβ) levels in the TBS-X fractions of cortical brain homogenates in the 5xFAD mice were measured by ELISA at 8 months of age, normalized to protein concentrations. ( E, F ) Amounts of full-length APP in the TBS-X fractions of mouse cortical lysates were measured by western blot at 8 months of age, normalized to those of β-actin (ACTB). Data are expressed as means ± SEM (GFP: N = 12; APOE3: N = 18; APOE3Ch: N = 13; Open circles: females, closed circles: males). Injection group differences were analyzed using two-way ANOVA, with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test, adjusting for sex. *, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01.

Article Snippet: Recombinant Aβ42 monomer (1 mg/ml) (Stressmarq, #SPR-485) was incubated at room temperature for 10 min. To dissolve the peptide, 7.5 μl of cold DMSO (Sigma Aldrich) was added, followed by 92.5 μl of cold PBS (PH 7.4) to reach a final concentration of 220 μM monomeric Aβ42.

Techniques: Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay, Western Blot, Injection

Journal: Translational Psychiatry

Article Title: Astrocytic APOE3-Christchurch expression ameliorates brain amyloid-β pathology in 5xFAD mice

doi: 10.1038/s41398-026-04002-9

Figure Lengend Snippet: ( A ) Isogenic iPSC-derived astrocytes (iPSC-ACs) with homozygous APOE3 (left) and APOE3Ch (right) were immunostained for GFAP (green) and S100b (red). DAPI (blue) stains nuclei. Scale bars: 100 µm. ( B ) APOE mRNA levels in the iPSC-ACs were measured by RT-qPCR, normalized to those of β-actin ( ACTB ). ( C, D ) Amounts of APOE in the conditioned medium (CM) from iPSC-ACs were measured by western blot, normalized to protein amounts of cell lysates. ( E ) Effects of the CM from iPSC-ACs on Aβ42 aggregation was assessed by western blot using 6E10 antibody. ( F - G ) Populations of Aβ fibrils (F; > 150 kDa), oligomers (G; 37–150 kDa), and monomers ( H ; < 10 kDa) were quantified. Data expressed as means ± SEM (n = 3–5 independent differentiation batches). Group differences were analyzed using two-tailed student t-test or one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test. *, P < 0.05.

Article Snippet: Recombinant Aβ42 monomer (1 mg/ml) (Stressmarq, #SPR-485) was incubated at room temperature for 10 min. To dissolve the peptide, 7.5 μl of cold DMSO (Sigma Aldrich) was added, followed by 92.5 μl of cold PBS (PH 7.4) to reach a final concentration of 220 μM monomeric Aβ42.

Techniques: Derivative Assay, Quantitative RT-PCR, Western Blot, Two Tailed Test

Journal: Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine

Article Title: A swine model of severe chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension induced by repeated pulmonary artery long suture injection

doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2025.1736958

Figure Lengend Snippet: Right ventricular myocardium gene expression (A) and protein levels (B) , and circulating plasma mediator levels (C) in chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) and sham (sham). Gene expression data depicts genes involved in myofilament remodeling (MYH6 and MYH7, α- and β-myosin heavy chain isoforms, respectively), extracellular matrix fibrosis (COL1A1 and COL3A1, type I and III collagen chains, respectively), Ca 2+ -handling (ATP2A2, sarcoendoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase 2; RYR2, cardiac ryanodine receptor), and neurohumoral mediators (NPPB, B-type natriuretic peptide; EDN1, endothelin-1; TNF, tumor necrosis factor-α). Data were averaged upon normalization for 2 internal control genes, GAPDH (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase) and RPL4 (ribosomal protein L4). Calcium-handling protein levels of sarcoendoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase 2a (SERCA2a) normalized for GAPDH and phospho-phospholamban (PLB) normalized for total PLB and representative Western blot bands are presented in (B) , whilst mediator plasma levels of N-terminal pro–B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and endothelin-1 (ET-1) are presented in panel C. In panels A and B data are presented relative to Sham reference levels (dashed lines). * P < 0.05 vs. Sham by Student's t -test or Mann–Whitney U -test, according to assumptions ( n = 6 and 7 in Sham and CTEPH, respectively).

Article Snippet: Previously aliquoted plasma samples were thawed on ice and assayed for N-terminal pro–B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP; CSB-EQ027465PI, Cusabio) and endothelin-1 (ET-1; ADI-900-020A, Enzo Life Sciences Inc) in duplicate according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Techniques: Gene Expression, Clinical Proteomics, Control, Western Blot, MANN-WHITNEY

Journal: Nature Communications

Article Title: Identification of antimicrobial peptides from ancient gut microbiomes

doi: 10.1038/s41467-026-68495-0

Figure Lengend Snippet: a The bioinformatic approaches for ancient AMPs mining tasks. Gut microbiome sequences were assembled form ancient biological samples of human stool, and AMPs were mined from these data. Further screened by potential cytotoxicity, the selected candidates were experimentally validated in vitro and in vivo. b The prediction of AMP ORFs from seven well-processed palae-feces samples of Homo sapiens (1000–2000 years ago) with geographical locations. c – f The comparison of molecular features including isoelectric point, aromaticity percentage, molecular weight, charge at pH 7.0 and Hydrophobicity between previously reported AMPs ( n = 8794) and Predicted AMPs ( n = 723,045) from ancient samples. The statistical tests were conducted by 2-sided Welch T test with the adjustment of Cohen’s d method ( p < 0.05 and |Cohen’s d | > 0.8, *, p < 0.01 and |Cohen’s d | > 0.8, **, p < 0.001 and |Cohen’s d | > 0.8, ***). The 2-sided Welch T test p -value in molecular weight comparison is less than 1 × 10 −16 . g Screen criteria of AMP candidates for further experimental validations. h The experimental validations for antimicrobial activities of the predicted 40 peptides from ancient biological samples towards P. aeruginosa 27853 , E. coli 25404 , B. subtilis 23857 , and S. aureus 6538 in vitro. PC and NC represent positive control and negative control, respectively. The NC represents 1× PBS solutions. The PC represents 100 μM kanamycin for groups of E. coli 25404 , B. subtilis 23857 , and S. aureus 6538 or 100 μM polymyxin B for the group of P. aeruginosa 27853 . BioRender was used during the construction of the Figure, with the issued License agreement number GG294KREHV (Created in BioRender. Chen, S. (2025) https://BioRender.com/7b397jf ).

Article Snippet: The antimicrobial activities of the selected peptides against B. subtilis 23857 (ATCC 23857), S. aureus 6538 (ATCC 6538), E. coli 25404 (ATCC 25404), and P. aeruginosa 27853 (ATCC 27853) were quantified according to the broth microdilution guidelines from NCCLS and previously published article , , , .

Techniques: In Vitro, In Vivo, Comparison, Molecular Weight, Positive Control, Negative Control

Journal: Nature Communications

Article Title: Identification of antimicrobial peptides from ancient gut microbiomes

doi: 10.1038/s41467-026-68495-0

Figure Lengend Snippet: a The length and distribution of particular AMP ORFs on the assembled genomes of S. copri collected from rural populations. By default, the coding direction of the annotated genes follows the 5′ to 3′ direction. Those annotated with “complement” tags indicate the distribution along the reverse strand. b The existence of particular AMP ORFs screened on the currently available S.copri genomes in the public dataset. For the assembled metagenomic contigs containing these AMP ORFs from ancient prevalent gut microbiota S. copri , the conservations of these AMPs were further confirmed through alignment-based taxonomic binning against reference genomes available in NCBI. c t-SNE clustering methods on 8794 publicly known AMP sequences and 13 representative AMP sequences identified from S. copri in the 7 ancient stool metagenomic samples. The structures of AMPs were predicted by using Alphafold3 . d The antimicrobial efficacy of the representative AMPs from S. copri with diverse concentration gradients against P. aeruginosa 27853 , E. coli 25404 , B. subtilis 23857 , and S. aureus 6538 . e The in vivo assessment of the decreased bacteria loads (left panel: p = 0.0153, p = 0.0979, p = 0.049, p = 0.0454, p = 0.0415) (right panel: p = 0.0316, p = 0.0543, p = 0.1649, p = 6.83 × 10 −5 , p = 0.015) and f the wound closure radius by the representative AMPs (left panel: p = 0.0152, p = 0.0193, p = 0.033, p = 0.1208, p = 0.0327) (right panel: p = 0.0248, p = 0.7769, p = 0.2739, p = 0.2322, p = 0.021). The data were presented as mean ± SD, and statistical tests between the control group and experimental group were statistically conducted by a 2-sided Welch T test ( p < 0.05, *, p < 0.01, **, p < 0.001, ***), with 3 independent replicates in each group involved. BioRender was used during the construction of the Figure, with the issued License agreement number GG294KREHV (Created in BioRender. Chen, S. (2025) https://BioRender.com/7b397jf ).

Article Snippet: The antimicrobial activities of the selected peptides against B. subtilis 23857 (ATCC 23857), S. aureus 6538 (ATCC 6538), E. coli 25404 (ATCC 25404), and P. aeruginosa 27853 (ATCC 27853) were quantified according to the broth microdilution guidelines from NCCLS and previously published article , , , .

Techniques: Concentration Assay, In Vivo, Bacteria, Control