PONE-D-20-12715

Bioactivity of alginetin, a caramelization product of pectin: Cytometric analysis of rat thymic lymphocytes using fluorescent probes

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Kamemura,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

As you can see reviewer #2 suggested minor edits to your manuscript. While reviewer #1 recommended a rejection, I believe his/her comments can be addressed in a revised version. 

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Patrick Lajoie, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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2. Please add the sources and catalog numbers of all reagents as well as details regarding all equipment used in your study to the Methods section of your manuscript.

In addition, please provide the total number of rats used in your study and clarify the method of euthanasia used.

3. Thank you for including the following funding statement in your acknowledgements section; "The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (Tokyo, Japan) supports this study with Grant-in-Aids for Scientific Research (C26340039, 18K14408). "

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: I Don't Know

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: In this manuscript, the authors investigated the effects of alginetin on the cell behaviors. I think there are many issues should addressed before published.

1. What is the “pection”?

2. The chemical structure of the alginetin should be investigated. The author state that Alginetin was characterized by 1H-NMR, but no data were provided.

3. The cell morphology images of the cells cultured in the present of alginetin should be provided.

4. the conclusion is too short.

Reviewer #2: Norio Kamemura’s manuscript, named as “Bioactivity of alginetin, a caramelization product of pectin: Cytometric analysis of rat thymic lymphocytes using fluorescent probes”, described the bioactivity algietin as an interesting story, which used fluorescent probes to analyze the zinc level and NPT level in the cytometric analysis. I thought it was good to accept after minor revision:

1. Page 4, line 70 and line 71, the number of H should be identified in the 1HNMR.

2. They didn’t declare clearly the relationship of NPT and oxidative stress.

3. Page 4, line 90 and line 91, it was recommended to use “,” but not “;”.

4. Page 5, line 117, A23187 wasn’t declare well when it was mentioned first time.

5. In the figure 1B, 2, 3B, 5, 7, were these experiments performed once? The error bars weren’t showed in the appropriate way.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Bioactivity of alginetin, a caramelization product of pectin: Cytometric analysis of rat thymic lymphocytes using fluorescent probes

PONE-D-20-12715R1

Dear Dr. Kamemura,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Kind regards,

Patrick Lajoie, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: the authors have revised the manuscript according to the comments of all reviewers, I think it can be accepted.

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No