Publications by authors named "Ronge Xing"

The development of skin-protective materials that prevent the adhesion of cnidarian nematocysts and enhance the mechanical strength of these materials is crucial for addressing the issue of jellyfish stings. This study aimed to construct superhydrophobic nanomaterials capable of creating a surface that inhibits nematocyst adhesion, therefore preventing jellyfish stings. We investigated wettability and nematocyst adhesion on four different surfaces: gelatin, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), dodecyl trichlorosilane (DTS)-modified SiO, and perfluorooctane triethoxysilane (PFOTS)-modified TiO.

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Article Synopsis
  • Chitin is a highly abundant biomass, second only to cellulose, and converting it into valuable compounds like 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) shows great potential.
  • A two-step process involving a pretreatment with a CHOH/CaCl solution followed by a green biphasic catalytic system using formic acid and n-butanol resulted in a remarkable 47.65% yield of HMF in just 32 minutes, which is significantly higher than previous reports.
  • The introduction of calcium during pretreatment plays a crucial role by disrupting chitin's internal structure, enhancing its breakdown, and improving the selectivity for HMF in the catalytic process.
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  • The study identifies and characterizes a new venom metalloproteinase (NnM469) from the jellyfish Nemopilema nomurai, which plays a role in jellyfish dermatitis by disrupting cell matrices.
  • NnM469 contains a unique zinc-binding motif and is found in specific structures of the jellyfish, indicating its importance in venom function.
  • Findings suggest that understanding NnM469 could lead to the development of treatments for skin injuries caused by jellyfish stings, as it can effectively kill skin cells at a certain concentration.
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Chitin oligosaccharides have garnered significant attention due to their biological activities, particularly their immunomodulatory properties. However, O-acetylation in chemically preparing chitin oligosaccharides seems inevitable and leads to some uncertainty on the bioactivity of chitin oligosaccharides. In this study, an O-acetyl-free chitin oligosaccharides and three different O-acetylated chitin oligosaccharides with degree of polymerization ranging from 2 to 6 were prepared using ammonia hydrolysis, and their structures and detailed components were further characterized with FTIR, NMR and MS.

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The escalation of jellyfish stings has drawn attention to severe skin reactions, underscoring the necessity for novel treatments. This investigation assesses the potential of hydroxybenzoic acid derivatives, specifically protocatechuic acid (PCA) and gentisic acid (DHB), for alleviating Nematocyst Venom (NnNV)-induced injuries. By employing an in vivo mouse model, the study delves into the therapeutic efficacy of these compounds.

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Chitosan oligosaccharide (COS) modification is a feasible way to develop novel green nematicides. This study involved the synthesis of various COS sulfonamide derivatives via hydroxylated protection and deprotection, which were then characterized using NMR, FTIR, MS, elemental analysis, XRD, and TG/DTG. In vitro experiments found that COS-alkyl sulfonamide derivatives (S6 and S11-S13) exhibited high mortality (>98 % at 1 mg/mL) against Meloidogyne incognita second-instar larvaes (J2s) among the derivatives.

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Thromboembolic diseases pose a serious risk to human health worldwide. Fucosylated chondroitin sulfate (FCS) is reported to have good anticoagulant activity with a low bleeding risk. Molecular weight plays a significant role in the anticoagulant activity of FCS, and FCS smaller than octasaccharide in size has no anticoagulant activity.

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Herein, a series of chitosan oligosaccharide copper complexes modified with pyridine groups (CPSx-Cu complexes) were successfully prepared via the Schiff base reaction and ion complexation reaction for slow-release fungicide. The structures of the synthesized derivatives were characterized via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and H and C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and the unit configuration of the complexes was calculated using Gaussian software. The slow-release performance experiment demonstrated that the cumulative copper ion release rate of CPSx-Cu complexes was dependent on the type of substituents on the pyridine ring.

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Chitosan has been studied as an immunomodulator, but few studies have used chitosan derivatives as adjuvants alone. After a preliminary study, we found that nanoparticles prepared from chitosan derivatives had better cellular immune activity when used as an adjuvant. Therefore, animal experiments were conducted to further investigate the performance and mechanism of these nanoparticles as immune adjuvants.

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Jellyfish dermatitis is a common medical problem in many countries due to the jellyfish envenomation. However, there are no specific and targeted medications for their treatment. Here we investigated the possible therapeutic effects of metalloproteinase inhibitors on the dermal toxicity of Nemopilema nomurai nematocyst venom (NnNV), a giant venomous jellyfish from China, using the jellyfish dermatitis model, focusing on inflammatory effector molecules during jellyfish envenomation.

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Toxin metalloproteinases are the primary components responsible for various toxicities in jellyfish venom, and there is still no effective specific therapy for jellyfish stings. The comprehension of the pathogenic mechanisms underlying toxin metalloproteinases necessitates further refinement. In this study, we conducted a differential analysis of a dermatitis mouse model induced by jellyfish Nemopilema nomurai venom (NnNV) samples with varying levels of metalloproteinase activity.

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Article Synopsis
  • Jellyfish dermatitis is a common issue from jellyfish stings, but effective treatments are currently lacking.
  • This study explores the potential of fucoidan, showing that a 3 mg/mL concentration reduces inflammation caused by jellyfish venom and inhibits harmful enzymes.
  • The findings suggest that fucoidan could be a new treatment for jellyfish dermatitis, opening up possibilities for its use in clinical settings.
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Chitin deacetylase (CDA), a prominent member of the carbohydrate esterase enzyme family 4 (CE4), is found ubiquitously in bacteria, fungi, insects, and crustaceans. This metalloenzyme plays a pivotal role in recognizing and selectively removing acetyl groups from chitin, thus offering an environmentally friendly and biologically-driven preparation method for chitosan with immense industrial potential. Due to its diverse origins, CDAs sourced from different organisms exhibit unique functions, optimal pH ranges, and temperature preferences.

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Recent studies on marine organisms have made use of third-generation sequencing technologies such as Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) and Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT). While these specialized bioinformatics tools have different algorithmic designs and performance capabilities, they offer scalability and can be applied to various datasets. We investigated the effectiveness of PacBio and ONT RNA sequencing methods in identifying the venom of the jellyfish species Nemopilema nomurai.

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Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a prevalent metabolic disease that poses significant health risks due to its numerous complications. However, the effects of eumelanin on oxidative stress, hyperglycemia and depression in diabetic mice have not been extensively studied.

Results: Our study employed an enzymatic approach to extract eumelanin from squid ink and characterized it using spectroscopic techniques.

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Melanin, a widely distributed pigment found in various organisms, possesses distinct structures that can be classified into five main types: eumelanin (found in animals and plants), pheomelanin (found in animals and plants), allomelanin (found in plants), neuromelanin (found in animals), and pyomelanin (found in fungi and bacteria). In this review, we present an overview of the structure and composition of melanin, as well as the various spectroscopic identification methods that can be used, such as Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). We also provide a summary of the extraction methods of melanin and its diverse biological activities, including antibacterial properties, anti-radiation effects, and photothermal effects.

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Chitooligosaccharide (COS) is a green and non-toxic cationic carbohydrate that has attracted wide attention in recent years due to its anti-inflammatory activity. However, the anti-inflammatory mechanism of COS remains unclear. In this study, RNA-seq was used to investigate the integrated response of COS to LPS-induced damage in macrophages.

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Environmentally friendly and efficient biodegradation with chitosanase for degrading chitosan to oligosaccharide has been gaining more importance. Here, we studied a chitosanase from with potential for production, but does not have the ideal thermal stability. The structure predicted by the Alphafold2 model, especially the binding site and two catalytic residues, has been found to have a high similarity with the experimental structure of the chitosanase V-CSN from the same family.

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Jellyfish is a valuable biological resource in marine ecosystems, and blooms been observed in numerous coastal regions. However, their utility is limited by their high water content. Recent research has focused on extracting antioxidants from marine sources.

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Article Synopsis
  • The primary culprit behind jellyfish stings in China is the scyphozoan Nemopilema nomurai, whose venom has potent metalloproteinase activity that causes harmful effects.
  • Researchers are exploring inhibitors for this activity as a new way to treat jellyfish stings, focusing on secondary metabolites from the jellyfish-associated fungus Aspergillus versicolor SmT07.
  • The study discovered that phenazine-1-carboxylic acid (PCA) effectively inhibits the toxic effects of jellyfish venom and showed potential as a therapeutic agent for jellyfish envenomations.
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In this study, nanoparticles were prepared by using positively charged quaternized chitosan and negatively charged mucopolysaccharide such as chondroitin sulfate, heparin and hyaluronic acid. The nanoparticles have a stable nanostructure with particle size in 336.2-424.

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Endotoxemia is mainly caused by a massive burst of inflammatory cytokines as a result of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) invasion. Chitooligosaccharides (COS) is expected to be a potential drug for relieving endotoxemia due to its anti-inflammatory properties. However, the structural parameters of COS are often ambiguous, and the effect of degree of acetylation (DA) of COS on its anti-inflammatory remains unknown.

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Alcohol-induced liver disease (ALD) has become one of the major global health problems, and the aim of this study was to investigate the characterization of the structure as well as the hepatoprotective effect and mechanism of oyster peptide (OP, MW < 3500 Da) on ALD in a mouse model. The results demonstrate that ethanol administration could increase the activities of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), γ-Glutamyl transferase (GGT), reactive oxygen species (ROS), malondialdehyde (MDA), and triglycerides (TG), as well as increase the interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) levels (p < 0.01), and reduce the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and the concentration of glutathione (GSH).

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Hymexazol (HYM) is irreplaceable for treating soil-borne diseases due to its high efficiency and low cost, as a broad-spectrum fungicide. However, when HYM is absorbed by plants, it is rapidly converted into two glycoside metabolites, and the antifungal activities of these glycosides are inferior to that of HYM. Therefore, in this study, to maintain strong antifungal activity in vitro and in vivo, HYM was glycosylated with amino sugars that have diverse biological activities to simulate plant glycosylation.

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Copper fungicides are fungicides have a wide application, but their toxicity to plant growth and the damage they cause to the environment cannot be ignored. As such, the novel, low toxicity biogenic copper fungicide has strong industrial application prospects. Herein, pyridinylcarbonyl chitooligosaccharide ligands (pCOSx) and their copper complexes (pCOSx-Cu) were synthesized.

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