.
Saltbush (Atriplex hortensis L.) and birch leaves (Betulae folia) are ubiquitous raw materials with a wide range of useful properties. This research focused on the actoprotective effect that a mixed aqueous extract of these two plants had on laboratory rats subjected to forced swim test. The experiment included an intact group (control), rats that received treatment but underwent a forced swim test, and rats that were administered with the experimental aqueous extract of A. hortensis and Betulae folia followed by the forced swim test. The mixed extract of A. hortensis and Betulae folia (Kemerovo Region, Russia) was administered intragastrically to threemonth-old male Wistar rats (4 mL/100 g body weight) who performed daily 2-h swimming sessions for two weeks. The chemical analysis of the extract revealed the presence of flavonoids (quercetin, luteolin, kaempferol), 8 essential amino acids, and 17 amino acids, including amino acids with a branched side chain (valine, isoleucine, leucine). The forced swim test made it possible to study the effect of the extract on the hematological parameters of peripheral blood. The hematological analysis showed that the administration of the extract restored leukocytes, lymphocytes, and hemoglobin to the levels demonstrated by the animals in the intact group. As for the electrocardiographic parameters, the swimmers demonstrated a faster depolarization of the heart chambers while maintaining normal heart rate, which denoted an efficient compensation for the hypertrophic changes in the myocardium caused by the physical exertion. In this in-vivo research, the extract of Betulae folia and aerial parts of A. hortensis had no cardiotoxic effect and helped restore the level of blood oxygenation after physical exertion. In the future, the synergetic actoprotective effect of these two widespread plants can be used in dietary supplements and functional foods.
The green transformation of urban freight distribution systems is essential to advancing the low-carbon transition of the transportation sector and improving urban air quality. Treating China's Green Freight Distribution Pilot Program (GFDP) as a quasi-natural experiment, this study uses city-level panel data and a staggered difference-in-differences (DID) framework to estimate its effect on urban PM2.5 concentrations. We further examine the underlying mechanisms, effect heterogeneity, and spatial spillovers. The results show that the GFDP significantly reduces PM2.5 concentrations in pilot cities, with the main finding remaining robust across a battery of robustness checks. Mechanism tests identify green transportation technology innovation and government attention to smart transportation as two important channels underlying the GFDP's pollution-reduction effect. These effects are stronger in cities with higher pre-policy levels of green transportation technology innovation and government attention to smart transportation. Heterogeneity analysis reveals stronger pollution-reduction effects in coastal cities, cities with greater attention to green and environmental issues, and non-national logistics hub cities. Spatial analysis further reveals that the environmental effects of the GFDP extend beyond pilot-city boundaries. Spatial exposure coefficients are significantly negative across all distance bands within 300 km, with a relatively large negative point estimate for the 100–150 km band; beyond 300 km, the estimated effects are no longer statistically significant. The estimated negative effect on PM2.5 concentrations in pilot cities also remains stable when potentially exposed non-pilot cities are progressively excluded from the control group. By documenting both within-city pollution reduction and cross-city spatial spillovers, this study provides new evidence on the environmental consequences of green freight policies and informs efforts to advance low-carbon freight transportation and coordinated regional air pollution control.
Soybean lipophilic protein (LP) is composed of beta-conglycinin (7S), glycinin (11S), and oil body proteinphosphatidylcholine (OBPs-PC), but the interactions among its components and their effects on foaming properties remain unclear. In this study, we reconstituted these components at the native LP ratio and systematically investigated the regulatory mechanism of protein-protein interactions on foaming properties. The results showed that the nature of component interactions determined foaming properties. 7S and 11S exhibited a synergistic effect: compared with the individual components, their combination underwent conformational rearrangement, characterized by decreased particle size, transition from beta-sheet to random coil, increased free sulfhydryl content, reduced surface hydrophobicity, and fluorescence quenching. These changes enhanced interfacial adsorption and foam stability, making 7S + 11S exhibit the optimal foaming ability (136.44%) and stability (58.42%). In contrast, OBPs-PC, due to its strong hydrophobicity and large-sized aggregates, inhibited interfacial adsorption, causing a significant decrease in the foaming ability of OBPs-PC-containing complexes. Molecular interaction analysis indicated that hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions were the main non-covalent forces driving complex formation. Rheological results confirmed that 7S + 11S foam had the highest storage modulus and the widest linear viscoelastic region. In conclusion, 7S and 11S achieved optimal foaming properties through conformational rearrangement and synergistic interfacial behavior, while the strong hydrophobicity and largesized aggregates of OBPs-PC disrupted interfacial equilibrium and inhibited foaming. This study provides a theoretical basis for expanding the application of LP as efficient gas-water interface stabilizers and foaming agents.
Cultivated meat, produced through cellular agriculture, is proposed as an emerging alternative to conventional livestock production. Comprehensive proteome characterization across its production chain is essential for product development, quality control, and food safety assessment, yet proteomics application to cultivated meat faces considerable technical complexity. This paper reviews proteomics applications across the cultivated meat production chain, including cell line characterization, culture media optimization, differentiation monitoring, product quality and nutritional evaluation, safety and allergenicity detection, and authenticity traceability. Bottom-up mass spectrometry workflows, data acquisition strategies, and emerging approaches are critically evaluated. While new-generation instruments (e.g., Orbitrap Astral) enable ultradeep proteome coverage, instrumental performance alone cannot overcome between-method variability of up to 45% in protein group identifications reported across different sample-preparation protocols, a dispersion that may be attributable in part to differences in extraction solvents and protein-specific solubility characteristics rather than to poor reproducibility within any individual method. This between-method dispersion remains a key obstacle to cross-laboratory comparability and regulatory acceptance. High-resolution instrumentation, methodological standardization, multi-omics integration, and artificial intelligence for high-dimensional data must therefore operate as complementary layers, forming the analytical infrastructure required to advance cultivated meat from laboratory feasibility to industrial-scale production. Significance Cultivated meat represents a paradigm shift in protein production, yet its regulatory approval depends on molecular characterization that proteomics is uniquely positioned to provide. By reviewing proteomics applications across the entire production chain, evaluating analytical platforms, and highlighting between-method variability of up to 45% across sample-preparation protocols as a key bottleneck, this work articulates the urgent need for standardized protocols. The proposed framework for analytical standardization, combined with perspectives on multi-omics integration and AI-driven analysis, offers a roadmap for the proteomics community, regulators, and industry to establish the reproducible analytical infrastructure essential for consumer safety and global market development.
Understanding the combined effects of hydrogel:oleogel ratio and protein concentration on dual-protein-flaxseed oil bigels is essential for developing plant-based carriers of functional oils. The results showed that in the 75:25 (O/W-type) system, electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonds were jointly dominant, giving the highest small-strain elastic moduli and lowest tan delta (0.19-0.29). In the 50:50 bicontinuous system, hydrogen bonds dominated, and the system exhibited the sharpest radial distribution peak as well as the lowest interfacial and total interaction energies. In the 25:75 (W/O-type) system, hydrophobic interactions dominated with disulfide bonds as auxiliary crosslinks, and the oil phase was continuous with the glyceryl monostearate (GMS) crystalline network locking the water droplet size. Furthermore, the regulation of protein concentration was systemdependent. In the O/W-type system, high concentration enhanced gel strength, accompanied by increased particle size, oil droplet flocculation and a higher free water content, reflecting network densification with localized water release; in the bicontinuous system, 20% gave the smallest particle size, the highest zeta-potential, and a more unfolded conformation; in the W/O-type system, high concentration formed strong and tough microgels, imparting the overall highest hardness and springiness.
