Metabolic diseases are comprehensive disease based on obesity. Numerous cumulative studies have shown a certain correlation between the fluctuating abundance of Akkermansia muciniphila and the occurrence of metabolic diseases. A. muciniphila, a potential probiotic candidate colonized in the human intestinal mucus layer, and its derivatives have various physiological functions, including treating metabolic disorders and maintaining human health. This review systematically explicates the abundance change rules of A. muciniphila in metabolic diseases. It also details the high efficacy and specific molecules mechanism of A. muciniphila and its derivatives in treating obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Flavonoids exhibit a broad range of biological activities. However, poor absorption of some flavonoids is a major limitation for use of flavonoids as nutraceuticals. To investigate the structure requirements for flavonoids intestinal absorption, transepithelial transport and cellular accumulation (CA) of 30 flavonoids were determined using the Caco-2 cell monolayer. The bilateral permeation of five types of flavonoids followed the order: flavanones ≥ isoflavones > flavones ≥ chalcones > flavonols. The concentration of flavonoids accumulated in cells did not correlate with cell penetration since the correlation coefficient between the apparent permeability coefficient (P_app) and their corresponding CA was poor (R² < 0.3). Most flavonoids exhibited a ratio of 0.8–1.5 for P_{app A to B}/P_{app B to A}, suggesting passive diffusion pathways. However, luteolin, morin and taxifolin may involve the efflux mechanisms. The quantitative structure-permeability relationship (QSPR) study demonstrated that the intestinal absorption of flavonoids can be related to atomic charges on carbon 3′ (Q_C3′), molecule surface area (SlogP_V3), balance between the center of mass and position of hydrophobic region (vsurf_ID1) and solvation energy of flavonoids (E_sol). These results provide useful information for initially screening of flavonoids with high intestinal absorption.

The decreased reproductive capacity of men is an important factor contributing to infertility. Accumulating evidence has shown that Electromagnetic radiation potentially has negative effects on human health. However, whether radio frequency electromagnetic radiation (RF-EMR) affects the human reproductive system still requires further investigation. Therefore, The present study investigates whether RF-EMR at a frequency of 900 MHz can trigger sperm cell apoptosis and affect semen morphology, concentration, and microstructure. Twenty four rats were exposed to 900 MHz electromagnetic radiation with a special absorption rate of 0.66 ± 0.01 W/kg for 2 h/d. After 50d, the sperm count, morphology, apoptosis, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and total antioxidant capacity (TAC), representing the sum of enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidants, were investigated. Western blotting and reverse transcriptase PCR were used to determine the expression levels of apoptosis-related proteins and genes, including bcl-2, bax, cytochrome c, and capase-3. In the present study, the percentage of apoptotic sperm cells in the exposure group was significantly increased by 91.42 % compared with the control group. Moreover, the ROS concentration in exposure group was increased by 46.21 %, while the TAC was decreased by 28.01 %. Radiation also dramatically decreased the protein and mRNA expression of bcl-2 and increased that of bax, cytochrome c, and capase-3. RF-EMR increases the ROS level and decreases TAC in rat sperm. Excessive oxidative stress alters the expression levels of apoptosis-related genes and triggers sperm apoptosis through bcl-2, bax, cytochrome c and caspase-3 signaling pathways.

Polyphenol oxidase (PPO) causes the browning reaction in fruits and vegetables and deteriorates the quality. Thermal treatment for enzyme inactivation may result in defects as opposed to high pressure CO₂ (HPCD) processing. In this study, the changes in activity, dissociation, aggregation and conformation of purified PPO from thermal and HPCD treated juice were investigated. HPCD exhibited inactivation of PPO at 55–65 °C whereas thermal processing alone at the same temperature resulted in PPO still showing activity. Under thermal treatment at 25 and 65 °C, the browning degree was higher (0.39 and 0.24) than for HPCD-treated juice (0.23 and 0.12). Fluorescence and circular dichroism spectral results indicated that HPCD induced large decreases in intensities, revealing a rearrangement of the secondary structure and destruction of the native configuration of the PPO molecule. The particle size distribution (PSD) pattern revealed structural modification leading to initial dissociation and subsequent aggregation of PPO after HPCD treatment. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) analysis exhibited that molecular size of protein was 40 kDa. In conclusion, the HPCD method was found to be more effective than thermal treatment to inactivate PPO. Structural modifications provided better insights into the phenomena of activation and inactivation of PPO.