Bacterial resistance has always been a challenge in the field of antibacterials research. As one of the most problematic pathogens causing nosocomial infections, Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii) was a severe threaten to public health. In recent years, as the rate of multidrug-resistant, extensively drug-resistant, and even pan drug-resistant A. baumannii has been increasing, there is an urgent need to develop new strategies to combat this pathogen. Iron is an essential element for the survival and the infection process of A. baumannii. Bacteria have developed a series of iron uptake strategies to survive in conditions of the host iron starvation, including the secretion of siderophore for iron chelation, the uptake of ferroheme, and the transport of ferrous by Feo system. Developing antibacterial strategies to inhibit the iron uptake is an effective way to deal with A. baumannii infection. This article will review the mechanisms of iron uptake by A. baumannii and the antimicrobial strategies developed based on them.

Combined radiation and burn injury (CRBI) is a severe syndrome, which is induced by the simultaneous or successive radiation and burn; but no appropriate clinical therapies are available. Loong oil (LO) is a traditional Chinese medicine oil composed of the oil extracts of cuttlebone, safflower, walnut oil, and rapeseed oil, which has been demonstrated to own anti-radiation and tissue healing functions. In this study, glyceryl monostearate (GMO) was used for the preparation of lyotropic liquid crystals that loaded LO to obtain Loong oil-lyotropic liquid crystals (LOL) for the treatment of skin CRBI. The hexagonal phase structure of LOL was proved by small X-ray scattering (SAXS) analysis with an approximate $ \sqrt[]{7}:\sqrt[]{9}:\sqrt[]{11} $ ratio of peaks and under the polarizing microscope with the birefringence phenomenon. LOL had a high LO loading capacity (4%) and good bio-adhesive force, favoring skin administration. Animal experiments were approved by the Ethics Committee of the Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, Academy of Military Medical Sciences and the experiments were conducted in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations (approval number: IACUC-DWZX-2022-834). Compared to triethanolamine creams, LOL had higher skin permeability with total skin penetration within 1 h, benefiting the treatment of deep CRBI. A deep Ⅱ degree burn CRBI mouse model was established after whole-body irradiation with 5 Gy ⁶⁰Co γ-ray and the next 6-second 100 ℃ burn injury. LOL promoted LO skin penetration, improved epithermal cell proliferation and the formation of hair follicles, accelerated wound healing, and inhibited scarring, which benefitted the therapy of CRBI. In this study, LO application fields are expanded and LO is a promising medication for the treatment of CRBI.

An integrated evaluation model based on the combination of traditional trait identification and modern chemical analysis was used for the identification of key indexes of grade classification and the establishment of grade quality standard of Lycium barbarum fruits (LBF) from Ningxia genuine producing area. Under the guidance of herbal examination and market survey, particle size, skin color and imperfection were taken as the external trait indicators; focusing on the comprehensiveness and validity of the quality evaluation, 2-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-L-ascorbic acid (AA-2βG), zeaxanthin dipalmitate (ZD) and volatile ether extractives were used as important parameters involving in quality evaluation in addition to the pharmacopoeia test items and determination indicators such as moisture, ash, water-soluble extractives, Lycium barbarum polysaccharide (LBP) and betaine. The quality differences between different traits and grades of LBF as well as the relevance between character and quality were further investigated by mathematical and statistical means such as t-test analysis, correlation analysis and principal component analysis (PCA). Furthermore, the activities of extractives from different grades of LBF were compared at cellular level. The results showed that LBF were mainly preferred for large and red ones; except for betaine, the other index components were relatively high (moisture and ash were low) in the first-grade and samples with bright-red skin color. Besides, there was a significant correlation between skin color and moisture, water-soluble extractives, LBP, AA-2βG and ZD contents. Considering the results of the study and the market situation, the present study took the grain size and skin color of LBF as the core of evaluation, and at the same time introduced the multi-indicator components including LBP, AA-2βG, ZD, water-soluble extractives and moisture to further guide the grading, and established the quality standard of LBF grades combining the trait indexes and the chemical composition. More importantly, in vitro cell models both preliminarily confirmed that the first-grade LBF played a more significant "nourishing liver and kidney" effect, which provided an experimental basis for the quality control of LBF and promoted the realization of high quality and good price.

Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) are major outer membrane components of Gram-negative bacteria. Unlike most Gram-negative bacteria, Acinetobacter baumannii can still survive and acquire polymyxin resistance after complete loss of LPS. Previous studies of LPS-deficient Acinetobacter baumannii mostly focused on LPS-deficient strains induced by polymyxin, whose background was complex and unstable. To investigate LPS loss-mediated polymyxin resistant-Acinetobacter baumannii, this study constructed a stable and clear background LPS-deficient strain by knocking out lpxC gene in Acinetobacter baumannii ATCC 19606 with CIRSPR/Cas9, and then studied the phenotypic changes of the lpxC-deficient strain including morphology, growth rate, antibiotic susceptibility, virulence, membrane permeability, and membrane potential. Animal experiments were approved by the Animal Care and Welfare Committee Institute of Medicinal Biotechnology, CAMS and PUMC (approval number: IMB-20240119D₉). The results indicated that the lpxC gene of Acinetobacter baumannii ATCC 19606 was successfully knocked out. After losing the lpxC, the strain underwent the morphological change from rod-shaped to spherical. Furthermore, it leads to reduced growth rate, enhanced membrane permeability, decreased membrane potential, lower virulence, and increased antibiotic susceptibility to β-lactams, quinolones, aminoglycosides, macrolides, glycopeptides. The lpxC deletion results in significant changes in membrane homeostasis and adaptability of Acinetobacter baumannii. Understanding the phenotypic changes of colistin-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii mediated by LPS loss is useful for exploring the resistance mechanism of Acinetobacter baumannii and developing new therapeutic strategies.

The anti-inflammatory efficacy of Callicarpa nudiflora extract were evaluated upon lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced infective inflammation in rats. Pathological changes of lung and colon tissues observed with hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) staining, together with inflammatory factors in serum, including nitric oxide (NO), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), were applied to assess the mitigating effects of C. nudiflora water extract on model rats. The experimental protocol strictly adhered to the guidelines of the Ethics Committee of Animal Research of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University (Approval: gdpulac2022132). Quality markers with anti-inflammatory activities were recognized by network pharmacology analysis. Subsequently, a reliable method for simultaneously quantifying six components was established. As a result, the pathological injury on lung and colon tissues of model rats induced by LPS were improved by C. nudiflora water extract. Compared with model group, C. nudiflora extract had decreased the release of proinflammatory factors in serum, including TNF-α and IL-6, and reduced the NO (P < 0.01). Network pharmacological analysis obtained 83 chemical components, 466 component targets, 584 disease targets and 129 action targets, which were mainly concentrated in 624 biological processes such as inflammatory response and positive regulation of nitric oxide biosynthesis, as well as 162 pathways such as phosphatidylinositol-3-hydroxykinase-protein kinase (PI3K-Akt) signal pathway and Janus kinase-signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (JAK-STAT3) signal pathway. Upon analyzing their specificity, effectiveness, detectability, and quantity transfer rule from herb to extract, 6-hydroxyluteolin 7-glucoside, cynaroside, caffeic acid, acteoside, isoacteoside, and forsythoaside B were identified as the quality markers. Their anti-inflammatory activities were verified with LPS-induced inflammation model of RAW264.7 cells. Then contents of these 6 quality markers in 16 batches of C. nudiflora were determined. Thereby, the anti-inflammatory efficacy of C. nudiflora extract were confirmed in vivo, 6-hydroxyluteolin 7-glucoside, cynaroside, caffeic acid, acteoside, isoacteoside, and forsythoaside B were identified as anti-inflammatory ingredients, which can be used as quality control indicators for the herb and related formulation.

Eleven compounds were isolated from the twigs and leaves of Xylopia vielana Pierre by various chromatographic techniques such as silica gel, ODS and the semi-preparative HPLC. Their chemical structures were identified by HR-ESI-MS, NMR, ECD and other spectroscopic methods as vielana A (1), vielana B (2), vielana C (3), 10-oxo-isodauc-3-en-15-al (4), 1α-hydroxyisodauc-4-en-15-al (5), mokko lactone (6), 11β,13-dihydrocostunolide (7), eurylosesquiterpenol E (8), epi-α-cadinol (9), mustakone (10), 7-epi-amiteo (11). Among them, compounds 1-3 were new compounds, and the rest compounds were isolated from this plant for the first time. Compounds 1 and 2 increased the transcriptional activity of the farnesoid X receptor (FXR) downstream target gene BSEP promoter, indicating that they have potential of FXR activation.

Three neo-clerodane were isolated from the aerial parts of Salvia farinacea Benth., and were purified by various technologies, including silica gel, ODS, sephadex LH-20, and their structures were identified by modern spectroscopy techniques as 2β-hydroxy-7,8-dehydrobacchotricuneatin A (1), dugesin C (2), and tonalensin (3). Compound 1 was a new diterpenoid, and compounds 2 and 3 were isolated from this plant for the first time.

Physcion (PHY) is an anthraquinone compound derived from traditional Chinese medicine such as Rhei Radix et Rhizoma. The aim of this study is to investigate the improvement of PHY on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and its underlying mechanism. NAFLD was induced in mice by feeding with the methionine- and choline-deficient diet (MCD) for 6 weeks. This experiment was approved by the Experimental Animal Ethics Committee of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (approval number: PZSHUTCM190705019). The results displayed that PHY (5 and 20 mg·kg^-1) reversed liver damage, reduced hepatic lipid accumulation and decreased the elevated NAFLD activity score (NAS) in MCD-fed NAFLD mice. Results from Western blot and enzyme activity demonstrated that PHY could enhance the protein expression and enzyme activity of carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1A (CPT1A) in the liver and L-02 cells, but it did not affect Cpt1a mRNA expression. Immunofluorescence results indicated that PHY (10 and 25 μmol·L^-1) could reduce the mitochondrial injury induced by non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) in L-02 cells. Results from seahorse assay showed that PHY could enhance mitochondrial basic respiration, maximal respiration, ATP synthesis and reserve respiration in L-02 cells treated with NEFA, but had no effect on mitochondrial proton leakage. In summary, PHY reversed mitochondrial damage and enhanced fatty acid β-oxidation, thereby reducing hepatic steatosis and improving NAFLD.

At present, there is no cure for acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) due to HIV-1 latent reservoirs. Therefore, it urgently requires novel HIV-1 latency-regulating agents with high potency, low toxicity and favorable drug-like properties to achieve a functional cure for AIDS. Herein, we reviewed the advances in HIV-1 latency-regulating agents since 2019, including the drug discovery strategies, bioactivities, and mechanisms of these compounds. It is of great guiding significance in the development of latency-regulating agents with clinical value.

Ubiquitin-specific protease 1 (USP1) is one of the deubiquitinating enzymes which has received increasing attention in cancer research. USP1 is overexpressed in many types of cancer cells, and has been found to control tumorigenesis and progression by regulating various proteins associated with tumors, such as SIK2, GSK-3β, and Bcl-2. Knockdown or pharmacological inhibition of USP1 can effectively suppress tumors and is also expected to address the issues of cisplatin and poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitor resistance. This review describes the structure and function of USP1 and the relationship between USP1 targets and tumors and systematically summarizes the structure-activity relationships of small molecule USP1 inhibitors disclosed from 2013 to 2023. Finally, this review discusses the challenges and opportunities in developing small molecule USP1 inhibitors.