Chang Liu

Correction for ‘Negatively charged gold nanoclusters protect against diabetic cardiomyopathy by inhibiting mitophagy’ by Xiaolei Shen et al., New J. Chem., 2022, 46, 10878–10886, https://doi.org/10.1039/D2NJ01536F.

The use of PB@Lipo in a skin defect model reduces CD86 levels and increases Arg-1, COL-1, and COL-3 levels.

Diabetic cardiomyopathy is a disorder of the heart muscle in people with diabetes and has seriously threatened people's life. Herein, we developed gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) stabilized by two modification ligands, 3-mercaptopropionic acid (MPA) and N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC), and three different charged ligands, positive charged polyetherimide (PEI), relatively positive charged polyethylene glycol (PEG), and negatively charged polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) for the therapy of diabetic cardiomyopathy. PVP-MPA stabilized AuNCs (PVP-M) were found to most effectively protect cardiac mitochondria against perturbations, stabilize the mitochondrial membrane potential, and inhibit overexpressed mitochondrial ROS via different pathways. In addition, PVP-M have a protective effect in cardiomyopathy cell models, by up-regulating cell activity under high-fat environmental conditions and enhancing the degradation of excessively produced lipid peroxides, thereby reducing the loss of cell viability. Our findings indicate PVP-M are promising in the treatment of cardiovascular disease in diabetic patients.

Objective. In patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), it is unknown whether acylcarnitine changes in the patients plasma as diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) occurs. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the correlation between acylcarnitines and DPN in Chinese patients with T2DM. Methods. A total of 508 patients admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Jinzhou Medical University were included in this study, and all of whom were hospitalized for T2DM from January 2018 to December 2020. The diagnostic criteria for DPN were based on the 2017 Chinese Guidelines for the Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes. The contents of 25 acylcarnitine metabolites in fasting blood were determined by mass spectrometry. The measured acylcarnitines were classified by factor analysis, and the factors were extracted. To determine the correlation between acylcarnitines and DPN, binary logistic regression analysis was applied. Results. Among the 508 T2DM patients, 270 had DPN. Six factors were extracted from 25 acylcarnitines, and the cumulative contribution rate of variance was 61.02. After the adjustment for other potential confounding factors, such as other carnitines and conventional risk factors, Factor 2 was positively associated with an increased risk of DPN (OR: 1.38, 95 CI: 1.13-1.69). Factor 2 contained acetylcarnitine (C2), propionylcarnitine (C3), butylcarnitine (C4), and isovalerylcarnitine (C5). Conclusions. Plasma levels of short-chain acylcarnitines (C2, C3, C4, and C5) were positively associated with DPN risk.

Background: Acylcarnitine is an intermediate product of fatty acid oxidation. It is reported to be closely associated with the occurrence of diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM). However, the mechanism of acylcarnitine affecting myocardial disorders is yet to be explored. This current research explores the different chain lengths of acylcarnitines as biomarkers for the early diagnosis of DCM and the mechanism of acylcarnitines for the development of DCM in-vitro. Methods: In a retrospective non-interventional study, 50 simple type 2 diabetes mellitus patients and 50 DCM patients were recruited. Plasma samples from both groups were analyzed by high throughput metabolomics and cluster heat map using mass spectrometry. Principal component analysis was used to compare the changes occurring in the studied 25 acylcarnitines. Multivariable binary logistic regression was used to analyze the odds ratio of each group for factors and the 95% confidence interval in DCM. Myristoylcarnitine (C14) exogenous intervention was given to H9c2 cells to verify the expression of lipid metabolism-related protein, inflammation-related protein expression, apoptosis-related protein expression, and cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and fibrosis-related protein expression. Results: Factor 1 (C14, lauroylcarnitine, tetradecanoyldiacylcarnitine, 3-hydroxyl-tetradecanoylcarnitine, arachidic carnitine, octadecanoylcarnitine, 3-hydroxypalmitoleylcarnitine) and factor 4 (octanoylcarnitine, hexanoylcarnitine, decanoylcarnitine) were positively correlated with the risk of DCM. Exogenous C14 supplementation to cardiomyocytes led to increased lipid deposition in cardiomyocytes along with the obstacles in adenosine 5′-monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling pathways and affecting fatty acid oxidation. This further caused myocardial lipotoxicity, ultimately leading to cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, fibrotic remodeling, and increased apoptosis. However, this effect was mitigated by the AMPK agonist acadesine. Conclusions: The increased plasma levels in medium and long-chain acylcarnitine extracted from factors 1 and 4 are closely related to the risk of DCM, indicating that these factors can be an important tool for DCM risk assessment. C14 supplementation associated lipid accumulation by inhibiting the AMPK/ACC/CPT1 signaling pathway, aggravated myocardial lipotoxicity, increased apoptosis apart from cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and fibrosis were alleviated by the acadesine.

Accumulation of lipids in the myocardium contributes to the development of cardiac dysfunctions and various chronic diseases, such as diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM). Curcumin (Cur) can relieve lipid accumulation problems, but its efficiency is limited by poor water solubility and biocompatibility. Herein, gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) were used to improve the efficiency of Cur, and the conjugates Curcumin-AuNCs (AuCur) were developed. In the treatment of high-fat-induced myocardial cell damage, we found that AuCur could effectively reduce intracellular lipid accumulation, the increase of reactive oxygen species (ROS), the increase of mitochondrial division, and the increase of apoptosis compared with Cur. AuCur decreased the expression of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors-α subtype (PPARα), and the therapeutic effect of AuCur was canceled when the expression of PPARα was enhanced. For the above reasons, AuCur treated the toxic effect of high lipid on cardiomyocytes by regulating PPARα, providing a new idea and method for the treatment of DCM.