Ying Song

In the present study, we aimed to investigate the antioxidant and therapeutic protective effects of carvacryl acetate (CAA) on Mitochondrial damage of cerebral ischemia-reperfusion through mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM) signaling molecules.SD rats were used to establish the middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model in vivo, and PC12 cells were stimulated with H ₂ O ₂ in vitro. Longa neurological score and triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining was used to observe the ischemic infarction. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) was used to observe the mitochondria. Reactive Oxygen Species/ Superoxide Dismuptase/Malondialdehyde/Adenosine Triphosphate (ROS/SOD/MDA/ATP) detection kit was used to detect. RT-qPCR was used to detect the mRNA level of target gene and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number changes. Immunofluorescence and Western blot were used to detect the expression of protein. After oxidative stress in the MCAO model of SD rats, the neurological score increased, the volume of ischemic area of cerebral infarction increased, the morphology of nerve cells in brain tissue and PC12 cells was disordered, the mitochondria appeared vacuolated, the contents of ROS and MDA increased, and the activity of SOD decreased. Oxidative stress causes mitochondrial dysfunction, resulting in the reduction of mtDNA copy number and the decreased expression of TFAM in brain tissue nerve cells and PC12 cells, which in turn affects mitochondrial transcription biogenesis and decreases the expression of POLRMT and TFB ₂ M molecules. CAA promotes intracellular TFAM expression and activates its antioxidant pathway, thereby protecting mtDNA and alleviating oxidative stress and mitochondrial damage caused by MCAO in vivo and H ₂ O ₂ stimulation in vitro. Lentivirus downregulates the expression of TFAM, and under its action, the antioxidant and mitochondrial protection effects of CAA are weakened. When TFAM was disrupted, the protective effect of CAA on mitochondria was inhibited. Compared to edaravone, a positive control, CAA exhibited similar therapeutic effects. These findings suggest that CAA alleviates CIRI through TFAM signaling pathways, offering potential therapeutic implications for ischemic stroke treatment.

Neuronal death is associated with mitochondrial dysfunction caused by mutations in mitochondrial DNA. Mitochondrial DNA becomes damaged when processes such as replication, repair, and nucleotide synthesis are compromised. This extensive accumulation of damaged mitochondrial DNA subsequently disrupts the normal function of mitochondria, leading to aging, degeneration, or even death of neurons. Mitochondrial dysfunction stands as a pivotal factor in the development of neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Recognizing the intricate nature of their pathogenesis, there is an urgent need for more effective therapeutic interventions. In recent years, mitochondrial DNA editing tools such as zinc finger nucleases, double-stranded DNA deaminase toxin A-derived cytosine base editors, and transcription activator-like effector ligand deaminases have emerged. Their emergence will revolutionize the research and treatment of mitochondrial diseases. In this review, we summarize the advancements in mitochondrial base editing technology and anticipate its utilization in neurodegenerative diseases, offering insights that may inform preventive strategies and therapeutic interventions for disease phenotypes.

Skin, as the first line of defence of the human body, is exposed to dangers such as overheating substances, ultraviolet rays, and environmental pollutants, and the incidence of skin diseases is increasing annually. Oxidative stress plays a dominant role in most skin diseases. Abelmoschus manihot (L.) medic flower (TEA) is a traditional Chinese medicine widely used to treat injuries to the skin such as water and fire scalds. It has been reported that TEA has excellent antioxidant effects. In this study, we aimed to explore the antioxidant and mitochondrial protection effects of TEA in H₂O₂-mediated HaCaT cell damage. HaCaT cells were incubated with H₂O₂ to simulate oxidative stress in the skin. The effect of TEA on HaCaT cells was also evaluated. Cell morphology was observed via inverted microscopy, and cell viability was measured via the MTT reagent. The cells were stained with Hoechst 33,324 solution. Reactive oxygen species (ROS), superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA) and ATP detection kits were used to detect the corresponding indicators. The mitochondrial membrane potential was detected by JC-1. RT-PCR was used to detect mRNA and mtDNA expression. The expression of the target protein was detected by Western blotting and immunofluorescence. H₂O₂ triggered oxidative damage in HaCaT cells, which manifested as apoptosis, increased ROS and MDA contents, and decreased SOD activity. H₂O₂ activates the KEAP1/Nrf2/NQO1 signalling pathway, which decreases the expression of the intracellular KEAP1 protein and slightly increases the expression of the Nrf2 and NQO1 proteins, further causing mitochondrial oxidative stress, resulting in changes in the mitochondrial membrane potential, a reduction in the mtDNA copy number, and decreased expression of the PGC-1α and TFAM proteins. In addition the expression of mitochondrial respiratory chain genes and proteins decreased. TEA promoted the expression of Nrf2 in HaCaT cells, activated the downstream antioxidant response, and alleviated the oxidative stress and mitochondrial damage caused by H₂O₂. ML385 is an Nrf2 inhibitor, under which the antioxidant and mitochondrial protective effects of TEA are inhibited. When TFAM was knocked down, the protective effect of TEA on mitochondria was also inhibited. TEA protects HaCaT cells from H₂O₂-induced oxidative damage and mitochondrial oxidative damage through the KEAP1/Nrf2/NQO1/PGC-1α/TFAM pathway.

FoxO proteins represent a subfamily of the forkhead box family (Fox) superfamily of proteins. It is involved in cell proliferation, differentiation, oxidative stress, apoptosis as well as tumors and metabolic disorders by regulating cellular functions. This paper aims to summarize the role of the transcription factor FoxO in type 2 diabetes and its complications, which may add to the potential of FoxO as a therapeutic target for future research. The transcription factor FoxO is expressed in various tissues and participates in various bodily functions including cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, tumor therapy, and metabolic processes, playing a crucial role in the human body. FoxO plays a positive role in attenuating oxidative stress, inflammation, and metabolic disorders, which are the main causes of type 2 diabetes and its complications. FoxO plays an important role in the regulation of type 2 diabetes and its complications, and more precise targeting studies of FoxO will help to prevent, regulate, and treat diabetes-related diseases.

Previous studies suggested that central nervous system injury is often accompanied by the activation of Toll‐like receptor 4/NF‐κB pathway, which leads to the upregulation of proapoptotic gene expression, causes mitochondrial oxidative stress, and further aggravates the inflammatory response to induce cell apoptosis. Subsequent studies have shown that NF‐κB and IκBα can directly act on mitochondria. Therefore, elucidation of the specific mechanisms of NF‐κB and IκBα in mitochondria may help to discover new therapeutic targets for central nervous system injury. Recent studies have suggested that NF‐κB (especially RelA) in mitochondria can inhibit mitochondrial respiration or DNA expression, leading to mitochondrial dysfunction. IκBα silencing will cause reactive oxygen species storm and initiate the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway. Other research results suggest that RelA can regulate mitochondrial respiration and energy metabolism balance by interacting with p53 and STAT3, thus initiating the mitochondrial protection mechanism. IκBα can also inhibit apoptosis in mitochondria by interacting with VDAC1 and other molecules. Regulating the biological role of NF‐κB signaling pathway in mitochondria by targeting key proteins such as p53, STAT3, and VDAC1 may help maintain the balance of mitochondrial respiration and energy metabolism, thereby protecting nerve cells and reducing inflammatory storms and death caused by ischemia and hypoxia.

Protein–peptide interactions (PPepIs) are vital to understanding cellular functions, which can facilitate the design of novel drugs. As an essential component in forming a PPepI, protein–peptide binding sites are the basis for understanding the mechanisms involved in PPepIs. Therefore, accurately identifying protein–peptide binding sites becomes a critical task. The traditional experimental methods for researching these binding sites are labor-intensive and time-consuming, and some computational tools have been invented to supplement it. However, these computational tools have limitations in generality or accuracy due to the need for ligand information, complex feature construction, or their reliance on modeling based on amino acid residues. To deal with the drawbacks of these computational algorithms, we describe a geometric attention-based network for peptide binding site identification (GAPS) in this work. The proposed model utilizes geometric feature engineering to construct atom representations and incorporates multiple attention mechanisms to update relevant biological features. In addition, the transfer learning strategy is implemented for leveraging the protein–protein binding sites information to enhance the protein–peptide binding sites recognition capability, taking into account the common structure and biological bias between proteins and peptides. Consequently, GAPS demonstrates the state-of-the-art performance and excellent robustness in this task. Moreover, our model exhibits exceptional performance across several extended experiments including predicting the apo protein–peptide, protein–cyclic peptide and the AlphaFold-predicted protein–peptide binding sites. These results confirm that the GAPS model is a powerful, versatile, stable method suitable for diverse binding site predictions.