Protective role of crocin against sepsis-induced injury in the liver, kidney and lungs via inhibition of p38 MAPK/NF-κB and Bax/Bcl-2 signalling pathways.

Context: Crocin has been reported to have multiple bioactivities. However, the effect of crocin administration on caecal ligation and puncture (CLP)-induced sepsis remains unknown.

Objective: We investigated the effects of crocin on CLP-induced sepsis in mice and the underlying mechanism of action.

The selective breeding and mutagenesis mechanism of high-yielding surfactin Bacillus subtilis strains with atmospheric and room temperature plasma.

Background: Surfactin, a good biological surfactant, is derived from the metabolites of microorganisms. However, the ability of natural strains to produce surfactin is low, and so the presented study aimed to use a novel mutagenesis technology to increase their yields.

Results: Atmospheric and room temperature plasma (ARTP) was used to conduct mutation breeding of Bacillus subtilis CICC 10721, and a mutant strain M45 with a higher surfactin yield of 34.

Stimulation of low intensity ultrasound on fermentation of skim milk medium for yield of yoghurt peptides by Lactobacillus paracasei.

Herein the effect of low intensity ultrasound on the fermentation of skim milk medium by Lactobacillus paracasei were investigated to obtain optimum ultrasonic conditions for the highest yield of yoghurt peptides. The results showed that the fermented skim milk medium treated with ultrasound with its seed culture without ultrasonic treatment was an optimum scheme. In this scheme with the ultrasonic conditions of 28 kHz, ultrasonic pulsed model of on-time 100 s and off-time 10 s, 100 W/L for the treatment time of 30 min after the fermentation time of 9 h, the peptide content in the fermented skim milk media increased by 49.

Ultrasonic irradiation of low intensity with a mode of sweeping frequency enhances the membrane permeability and cell growth rate of Candida tropicalis.

Here we report the enhancement of both cellular permeability and cell growth rate of Candida tropicalis after treatment with the ultrasonic irradiation of low intensity using a mode of sweeping frequency (UILS) generated by a self-developed ultrasonic device in our lab. After the ultrasonic treatment, remarkable biomass enhancement of the yeast was observed; the hyphae became significantly longer; the seeped cellular protein and nucleic acid from the yeast increased and the cellular Ca content became lower. Illumina transcriptome sequencing showed that the ultrasonic treatment affected the expression of genes involved in diverse cellular components, biological processes and molecular functions.

Effects of ultrasound on microbial growth and enzyme activity.

Nowadays, ultrasound is widely used in many aspects. In the last few years, many papers have concentrated on the applications of ultrasound in engineering, chemistry, medicine, physics and biology, but few in biological effects such as the acceleration effects on proliferation of microbial cells, the inactivation effects on microorganisms and the influences on the activities of enzyme. Thus, the objective of this review is to investigate the biological effects of ultrasound on these aspects.