Biohydrogen production from corncob by dark fermentation was reported for the first time. The effects of the pretreatment condition, substrate concentration and initial pH on the hydrogen production were investigated in batch cultivations. The maximum hydrogen yield of 107.9 mL/g-TVS and hydrogen production rate of 4.2 mL/g-TVS .h(-) were obtained under the condition of 1% HCl pretreating substrate for 30 min, 10 g/L substrate concentration and initial pH8.0. The content of hemicellulose in corncob decreased significantly from 42.2% to 3.0% after HC1 pretreatment. The contents of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin in the acid pretreated corncob decreased slightly in hydrogen producing process. The results indicate that the acid pretreatment of the substrate plays a key role in the conversion of corncob into biohydrogen. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to study the changes in the corncob composition during the treatment of chemical-microbial process. It was shown that the amorphous domains of cellulose and hemicellulose were hydrolyzed into fermentable asccharides through HCl pretreatment and the microorganisms had a devastating effect on the crystallinitiy of the cellulose.
Anaerobiosis ; Bioelectric Energy Sources ; Bioreactors ; microbiology ; Fermentation ; Hydrogen ; metabolism ; Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared ; Zea mays ; metabolism

Alcohol abuse leads to alcoholic liver disease and no effective therapy is currently available. Wuzhi Tablet (WZ), a preparation of extract fromthat is a traditional hepato-protective herb, exerted a significant protective effect against acetaminophen-induced liver injury in our recent studies, but whether WZ can alleviate alcohol-induced toxicity remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the contribution of WZ to alcohol-induced liver injury by using chronic-binge and acute models of alcohol feeding. The activities of ALT and AST in serum were assessed as well as the level of GSH and the activity of SOD in the liver. The expression of CYP2E1 and proteins in the NRF2-ARE signaling pathway including NRF2, GCLC, GCLM, HO-1 were measured, and the effect of WZ on NRF2 transcriptional activity was determined. We found that both models resulted in liver steatosis accompanied by increased transaminase activities, but that liver injury was significantly attenuated by WZ. WZ administration also inhibited CYP2E1 expression induced by alcohol, and elevated the level of GSH and the activity of SOD in the liver. Moreover, the NRF2-ARE signaling pathway was activated by WZ and the target genes were all upregulated. Furthermore, WZ significantly activated NRF2 transcriptional activity. Collectively, our study demonstrates that WZ protected against alcohol-induced liver injury by reducing oxidative stress and improving antioxidant defense, possibly by activating the NRF2-ARE pathway.