Shaoguan University

Industrial activities have caused widespread arsenic (As) contamination in soil and medicinal crops across southern Asia. This study constructed interplanting systems combing medicinal crops with Pteris vittata L., aiming to mitigate the risk of As exposure in medicinal crops, while simultaneously achieving ecological remediation of contaminated soil. The results revealed that interplanting with P. vittata significantly enhanced the yield of Gynostemma pentaphyllum by 31.90 % (P < 0.05) compared with monoculture systems. Under monoculture conditions, the As concentration in G. pentaphyllum leaves reached 2.34 mg/kg, exceeding the national food safety standard (GB2762-2017, 2 mg/kg). However, interplanting with P. vittata effectively reduced the As concentration in G. pentaphyllum leaves to 1.82 mg/kg. Furthermore, the interplanting of P. vittata with Rhus chinensis significantly inhibited As translocation from belowground to aboveground tissues in R. chinensis. Compared to monoculture, the stem biomass of P. vittata was significantly increased by 57.50 % and 70.32 % when interplanted with G. pentaphyllum and Cassia obtusifolia L. (P < 0.05). So the As enrichment of P. vittata was enhanced in interplanting systems, which is beneficial for the As removal from contaminated soil. The study demonstrated that interplanting primarily regulates plant As uptake through modifications of rhizosphere physicochemical properties and As bioavailability, especially for water-soluble As that is easily absorbed by plants. In conclusion, the interplanting models integrating medicinal crops and P. vittata can achieve the goal of "remediating while producing" in As-contaminated soil.

Phytochemical investigation of roots of Euphorbia ebracteolata Hayata led to ten higher diterpenoids including seven undescribed ones (1-7) and three analogues (8-10), accompanied by four derivatives (7a and 9a-9c) obtained via chemical correlation. Notably, compound 1 represents a rare dinor-ent-isopimarane diterpenoid. Their structures were fully characterized using a combination of spectroscopic, ECD, chemical, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction means. Cytotoxicity screening suggested that the oxidized derivative of 7 (7a) displayed the most potent activity against non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell line HCC827, comparable to the positive control, cisplatin. Mechanistic study revealed that 7a could arrest cell cycle at G1/S phase and induce apoptosis.

Acute lung injury (ALI), a life-threatening inflammatory syndrome driven by macrophage polarization imbalance, triggers uncontrolled cytokine storms and alveolar-capillary barrier collapse. While macrophage-targeted immunomodulation holds therapeutic promise, current strategies suffer from imprecise cellular targeting and inadequate functional reprogramming. To address this, we developed an inhaled biomimetic apoptotic body-mimicking nanoplatform (CeCPT@PSL). Its phosphatidylserine-containing liposomal (PSL) shell replicates the "eat-me" signaling of apoptotic bodies to enable macrophage targeting and immunomodulation. Inspired by the organelle-regulating capacity of apoptotic cargo, the encapsulated synthetic mitochondrial-targeting nanozyme complexes (CeCPT) execute precision mitochondrial restitution through redox homeostasis restoration. This dual-pathway strategy achieves synergistic therapy by concurrently modulating macrophage function and repairing damaged mitochondria, thereby enhancing macrophage repolarization. In murine ALI models, inhaled CeCPT@PSL concurrently attenuated inflammatory cascades and resolved mitochondrial impairment via targeting lung-macrophage-mitochondrial axis, and restored pulmonary function. This bio-inspired multi-function platform establishes a heuristic strategy wherein artificial nanovesicles recapitulate cellular functions to resolve dysregulated pathological cascades, offering a promising therapeutic avenue for intractable inflammatory diseases.