Yu Huahua

Cytotoxicity of the venom from the nematocysts of jellyfish Cyanea nozakii Kishinouye

In this article, the cytotoxicity of the venom from the nematocysts of jellyfish Cyanea nozakii Kishinouye on human hepatoma cells (Bel-7402, SMMC-7721) and human colon cancer cells (H630) was investigated first. Of the three kinds of cells, the venom had the strongest cytotoxicity on H630 cells with the 50% lethal concentration (IC50) of 5.1 μg/ml. However, the IC50 on Bel-7402 and SMMC-7721 was approximate 17.9 and 24.3 μg/ml, respectively. The cytotoxicity of the venom was affected by pH, temperature and storage conditions. At the pH 4.5–8.5, the venom displayed obvious cytotoxicity and the percentage of survival was about 50%. When pre-incubated at temperatures over 60°C for as short as 10 min, the percentage of survival sharply improved from 4.6% up to 80%. The venom was stored in a more stable condition at −80°C and in lyophilized state compared to other storage conditions used in this study. Lactate dehydrogenase release assay performed on H630 cells indicated that exposure to the venom could result in damage to the cell membrane.

Comparative analysis of methods for concentrating venom from jellyfish Rhopilema esculentum Kishinouye

In this study, several methods were compared for the efficiency to concentrate venom from the tentacles of jellyfish Rhopilema esculentum Kishinouye. The results show that the methods using either freezing-dry or gel absorption to remove water to concentrate venom are not applicable due to the low concentration of the compounds dissolved. Although the recovery efficiency and the total venom obtained using the dialysis dehydration method are high, some proteins can be lost during the concentrating process. Comparing to the lyophilization method, ultrafiltration is a simple way to concentrate the compounds at high percentage but the hemolytic activities of the proteins obtained by ultrafiltration appear to be lower. Our results suggest that overall lyophilization is the best and recommended method to concentrate venom from the tentacles of jellyfish. It shows not only the high recovery efficiency for the venoms but high hemolytic activities as well.

Effect of Differently Regioselective Chitosan Sulfates on Serum Lipids in Alloxan induced Diabetic Rats

Effect of Differently Regioselective Chitosan Sulfates on Serum Lipids in Alloxan induced Diabetic Rats Objective: Diabetes mellitus is the most common endocrine disorder, and sometimes accompanied by long-term complications, which mainly was resulted in insufficient metabolic control. In this paper, we investigated and compared the hypolipidemic activity of differently regioselective chitosan sulfates in alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Methods: Compared with the normal control rats, no noticeable changes were found in serum lipid levels in the diabetes rats. Except 3-O-sulfochitosan (TCTS), other chitosan sulfates exhibit mild lipid regulating activities at different doses and time. Results: First, TCTS significantly elevated the serum cholesterol level, however, TCTS also notably increased HDL-C level. HDL-C is a kind of the important criteria of antiatherogenic agents. Many studies have showed that the higher level of HDL-C lead to the lower incidence of cardiovascular diseases. Second, treatment with TCTS the plasma insulin levels were obviously increased in the diabetic rats. Insulin deficiency in diabetes mellitus has been demonstrated to bring about various disorders in metabolic and regulatory processes, which in turn causes to accumulation of lipids. Conclusions: Therefore, in terms of the effect of TCTS for HDL-C and serum insulin level, TCTS might be has a lipid lowering effect on the alloxan-induced diabetic rats.