Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive cognitive decline. Tetrahydroxy stilbene glucoside (TSG) has been demonstrated to improve learning and memory in aged mice; however, its underlying mechanisms remain incompletely understood. This study aimed to elucidate the effects of TSG on cognitive impairment in APP/PS1 mice through analysis of gut microbiota and associated metabolites. Behavioral tests, immunohistochemistry, and 16S rDNA sequencing revealed that TSG treatment improved cognitive function and alleviated neuroinflammation. Furthermore, TSG restored gut microbiota homeostasis and normalized aberrant metabolite profiles, accompanied by elevated levels of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). Correlation analysis indicated associations between alterations in gut microbiota, metabolites, and SCFAs. Notably, TSG promoted the production and content of SCFAs, especially acetic acid, propionic acid, and hexanoic acid. These findings suggest that TSG mitigates AD-related pathology possibly via modulation of specific gut microbial communities and their metabolic outputs, providing a basis for further therapeutic exploration.

Macrophages are the core effector cells of the innate immune system. The dysregulation of amino acid, glucose, lipid, and energy metabolism in macrophages has a profound impact on inflammatory pathways. A comprehensive analysis of metabolites in macrophages can identify inflammatory metabolic biomarkers, elucidate inflammatory metabolic pathways, and provide a deep understanding of inflammation. Metabolomics technology, as a high-throughput detection method for analyzing small molecule metabolites in the body, can reveal the relationship of metabolic networks by detecting changes in the metabolites of macrophages. Therefore, this review summarizes the application of metabolomics in macrophages, comprehensively elaborates the metabolic network within macrophages, and aims to provide a new perspective for the discovery of potential inflammatory biomarkers and therapeutic targets.

Although Rosmarinus officinalis L. (rosemary) is widely consumed as a prominent source of natural antioxidants, its specific bioactive constituents and precise molecular targets against oxidative stress remain elusive. This study aimed to identify the core functional ingredients of rosemary and elucidate their underlying protective mechanisms. Through an integrated screening strategy combining untargeted metabolomics, spectrum-effect analysis, and a component knock-out method, rosmarinic acid (RA) was identified as the pivotal dietary antioxidant. The efficacy of RA was validated in hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂)-challenged HepG2 cells and 2,2'-azobis(2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride (AAPH)-challenged zebrafish models, where RA effectively mitigated oxidative damage by suppressing reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and apoptosis. Mechanistically, RA upregulated peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) expression and activated downstream nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)/NAD(P)H quinone dehydrogenase 1 (NQO1) pathway. Concurrently, RA attenuated MAPK1 and STAT1 phosphorylation and inhibited cleaved-Caspase-3 activation. Crucially, molecular docking (binding affinity: -9.038 kcal/mol) and Cellular Thermal Shift Assay (CETSA) confirmed the direct physical binding of RA to PPARγ. In conclusion, RA is the core bioactive compound in rosemary that exerts potent cytoprotective effects by directly targeting PPARγ to activate the antioxidant Nrf2/NQO1 axis. These findings provide a robust scientific basis for utilizing rosemary and RA as functional food ingredients to combat oxidative stress-related pathologies.

Natural remedies are often used as standalone treatments or as complementary approaches to modern medicine for controlling type 2 diabetes. Gardenia jasminoides, a substance used in both food and medicine, has been clinically employed in traditional Chinese medicine to treat hyperglycemia. Here, we first identified crocetin as the compound responsible for the primary hypoglycemic activity of G. jasminoides and revealed that G protein-coupled receptor kinase 5 (GRK5) is the key target through which crocetin improves glucose homeostasis and insulin resistance. To identify the bioactive components in G. jasminoides, we conducted high-resolution mass spectrometry analysis and bioactivity-guided fractionation, confirming that crocetin is the primary bioactive constituent. We demonstrated the direct binding of crocetin to GRK5 via cellular thermal shift (CETSA) and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) assays. Further knockdown experiments confirmed the essential role of GRK5 in enhancing crocetin-mediated improvements in glucose metabolism. Additionally, we explored direct downstream targets of GRK5 and demonstrated for the first time that AKT2 is a novel GRK5-interacting protein. Collectively, these findings reveal that crocetin is a promising glucose-regulating phytochemical that targets GRK5 to phosphorylate AKT2, thereby improving glucose homeostasis.

The theory of food and medicine homology emphasizes the integration of food and medicine functions to achieve health interventions through daily diet, becoming a significant development direction for the health industry. With the rapid advancement of modern disciplines such as mass spectrometry, omics technologies, artificial intelligence (AI), and bioinformatics, the scientific underpinnings of food and medicine homology are gradually being revealed. The in-depth exploration and development of food and medicine homology resources and their products are increasingly shaping the future of food innovation. This paper summarizes the application of classical herbal texts, folk practices, and cutting-edge technologies like AI and multimodal omics technology in mining food and medicine homologous resources. It also highlights the bidirectional value exploration, uncovering medicinal properties in edible resources and the edible potential in medicinal resources, to foster innovative scientific paradigms in this field. This approach accelerates the development of food and medicine homologous resources and paves new pathways for future food innovation.

Soybean is widely used in diets, and numerous reports have highlighted its antioxidant properties. However, constructing a methodology for rapid identifying and predicting a series of antioxidant active ingredients in Soybean presents certain challenges. Therefore, we introduced the spectrum-effect relationship-ingredient knockout identification technique to identify a series of antioxidant active ingredients in soybean. By combining untargeted metabolomics with network pharmacology, we predicted the antioxidant active ingredients and their target sites. We successfully identified 4 antioxidant active compounds (daidzein, genistein, daidzein, and glycitin) and 10 corresponding antioxidant targets (epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), estrogen receptor 1 (ESR1), steroid receptor coactivator (SRC), tumor necrosis factor (TNF), kinase insert domain receptor (KDR), AKT serine/threonine kinase 1 (AKT1), growth factor receptor bound protein 2 (GRB2), signal transducer and activator of transcription1 (STAT1), mitogen-activated protein kinase 8 (MAPK8), B-cell lymphoma-2 (BCL2)) by our analysis. The validation results from cell experiments revealed that glycitin exhibited the best antioxidant activity and significantly influenced the expression of EGFR and the proteins associated with nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2/NAD(P)H quinone dehydrogenase 1 (NRF2/NQO1) signaling pathways. These findings were consistent with the predicted outcomes and were further confirmed in a zebrafish model. It suggests that glycitin may exert antioxidant effects by regulating the expression of EGFR, NRF2, and NQO1 proteins. The results demonstrate that a rapid analytical method for determining antioxidant activity was established.

Flowers have a high medicinal value and contain secondary metabolites including flavonoids, volatile oils, organic acids, terpenoids and alkaloids as well as polysaccharides as important active compounds with many functions including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, hypoglycemic, hypolipic, anti-tumor, and immunoenhancing properties. In this article, the progress in the chemical composition and biological activity of polysaccharides in flowers in the past five years is summarized, and future research directions and application prospects are discussed. Through this review, we hope to provide an impetus for further research on flower-derived polysaccharides and provide reference for the development and utilization of related health products.

The housekeeping genes atpD, gyrB, infB, fusA and glnS in Cronobacter sakazakii were selected as target sequences to construct plasmid standards for rapidly detecting C. sakazakii. The constructed recombinant plasmids was verifiedby colony polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing and was checked for stability after 15 passages. The atpD, gyrB, infB, fusA and glnS plasmid standards were qualitatively tested and evaluated in terms of limit of detection (LOD) and stability. Then, these plasmid standards were used to detect C. sakazakii in infant milk powder. The results of colony PCR and sequencing showed successful construction of the atpD, gyrB, infB, fusA and glnS plasmid standards. The PCR system was specificfor the detection of the plasmid standards. The detection limits of atpD, gyrB, infB, fusA and glnS were 1.14 × 10⁶, 1.07 × 10⁷, 1.09 × 10⁷, 1.73 × 10⁵ and 7.54 × 10⁵ copies/μL, respectively. The lyophilized plasmids could be stored stably at -20, 4 and 25 ℃ for 90 days. The plasmid standards were used to detect 23 samples of infant milk powder, and one of them was detected positive for gyrB. However, C. sakazakii was undetectable by the traditional national standard method (GB 4789.40-2016). Compared with the traditional method, the application of the plasmid standards greatly improved the detection efficiency of samples

Inflammation caused by obesity, particularly in adipose tissue and the liver, can lead to insulin resistance (IR) and trigger type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). It is crucial to identify therapeutic agents that alleviate IR by reducing inflammation. Here, we report that isobavachromene (IB), a flavonoid derived from Psoralea corylifolia Linn., ameliorates IR in 3T3-L1 adipocytes by inhibiting the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB) signaling pathway. We first found that IB could promote glucose uptake in 3T3-L1 adipocytes by activating the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI-3K)/protein kinase B (Akt) signaling pathway and was more effective than the positive control sodium orthovanadate at concentrations ranging from 25 to 100 μmol/L. Additionally, IB inhibited RAW264.7 macrophage infiltration into 3T3-L1 adipocytes and suppressed the secretion of inflammatory factors from RAW264.7 macrophages, as well as the phosphorylation levels of key proteins (NF-κB p65, extracellular-signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2), Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and mitogen-activated protein kinase 38 (p38)) in the NF-κB and MAPK signaling pathways. In summary, IB improves glucose uptake in IR adipocytes, activates the PI-3K/Akt signaling pathway, inhibits the JNK and NF-κB inflammatory signaling pathways, and reduces adipocyte inflammation, thereby improving of IR in 3T3-L1 adipocytes.