TOLL样受体在睾丸炎症反应与精子发生中的功能

睾丸局部炎症反应以及系统性炎症疾病均可以损伤雄性生殖能力,近年来对于TOLL样受体(Toll-like recep-tor,TLR)调节睾丸功能的研究有了较大进展,为认识炎症反应与雄性生殖障碍之间的关系提供了新的线索。TLR介导的炎症信号通路在睾丸内除了抵御病原体外,还可以调节多种睾丸细胞的功能,从而影响精子发生。炎症对精子发生的影响主要由于循环系统和睾丸中炎症因子增多,它们可以破坏生精细胞的正常发育,损害睾丸体细胞对精子发生的正常调节。相关机理的深入研究可能为雄性不育的预防与治疗提供新的思路,本文将综述TLR介导的系统性炎症疾病及睾丸局部炎症反应干扰雄性生育的研究进展。     

内质网应激与哺乳动物雄性生殖

内质网应激 (endoplasmic reticulum stress,ERS) 激活未折叠蛋白反应,维持哺乳动物细胞的胞内稳态,过度持续的ERS导致细胞凋亡。最新研究表明,ERS对哺乳动物雄性生殖有重要的调节作用,包括对精母细胞、睾丸结构及精子发生的影响。ERS是研究生殖细胞生存和凋亡的新通路。雄性不育可能是由过度ERS引起的。本文通过简述ERS的最新研究进展,分析雄性生殖与ERS的关系,并从ERS调控雄性生殖角度提出新的理解和展望。     

定量蛋白质组学在动物睾丸蛋白研究中的应用进展

蛋白质组学是后基因时代重要的研究领域之一。而定量蛋白质组学是蛋白质组学研究的主要方法之一,可以反映蛋白质的动态本质。睾丸作为雄性动物重要的生殖器官,具有产生精子和分泌雄激素的功能。因此,应用蛋白质组学方法来探索睾丸中蛋白质的组成具有重要意义。就定量蛋白质组学的概念、研究技术手段及其在动物睾丸发育、疾病和各种应激条件下等方面的应用进行综述,旨在为睾丸蛋白质的进一步研究提供参考。     

哺乳动物精子发生的动力学过程

雄性生殖腺——睾丸是机体生殖、遗传的一个重要器官。睾丸内精子生成的过程极为复杂,它涉及到生精细胞的发生、发育、分化等一系列重要问题。弄清精子发生过程的基本规律,阐明精子发生过程中各个阶段所发生的一系列形态、生理和生化等变化,进而为深入研究精子发生过程的控制、调节机制打下一定的基础。同时,在实践中研究各种因素对生精过程的影响,遗传上可能发生的作用,以及对于雄性生殖的人工控制等都具有一定的参考意义。本文试图从动力学角度对精子发生过程中     

精子发生过程中翻译后修饰的蛋白质组学研究进展

精子发生由一系列多阶段、复杂的生物学事件所组成,受到多因素的调控。精子发生过程存在翻译延迟的现象,因此转录和蛋白表达水平变化不完全一致。蛋白质的翻译后修饰作为蛋白质功能的重要调控方式,在精子发生过程中起着重要调控作用。近年来,蛋白质组学(proteomics)的发展促进了蛋白质翻译后修饰的解析和功能研究。本文综述了精子发生过程中多种翻译后修饰的蛋白质组学研究进展,并讨论了它们在精子发生、精子功能和男性生育能力中的作用以及它们在未来临床诊疗中的价值。     

几种哺乳动物睾丸精子发生的激光流动细胞分析研究

在男性生殖生物学及男性计划生育研究中经常需要对动物或人睾丸的精子发生状态进行评价,用组织学方法观察睾丸切片只能对精子发生状态作定性或半定量的估计,我们曾用QTM-720型自动图象分析仪对七种哺乳动物及人睾丸进行定量组织学观察,也对服生棉子油以后不育患者的睾丸作了定量研究,     

功能基因组学和蛋白质组学在胚胎植入机制研究中的应用

胚胎植入是人类和哺乳动物生殖过程中的重要步骤,其分子机制至今尚未完全明了.近年来,功能基因组学和蛋白质组学等高通量检测新技术已广泛应用于胚胎植入机制的研究领域.通过从整体上观察胚胎植入过程中基因和蛋白质表达的变化,全面地筛选出大量胚胎植入相关因子,从而为在分子水平上阐明胚胎植入过程中的调控网络打下了基础.     

铅对雄性生殖毒性的研究进展

从铅对睾丸与附睾形态、精子生成和发育以及生殖内分泌功能等三方面的影响综述了铅对雄性生殖毒性的研究进展;并从铅对睾丸的脂质过氧化损伤,对睾丸标志酶活性的影响,对染色体、DNA及基因的影响以及对CaM、Ca2 -ATP酶活性的影响等方面探讨了铅对雄性生殖毒性作用机理。同时,提出了铅对雄性生殖毒性的研究中存在的若干问题和发展方向。     

长链非编码RNA在哺乳动物精子发生中的功能研究进展

长链非编码RNA(lncRNA)一般是指大于200 nt的RNA,位于细胞核内或胞浆中,不参与蛋白质编码,以RNA形式在表观遗传调控、转录调控以及转录后调控等多个层面上调控基因的表达水平。哺乳动物精子发生是一个精细调控的过程,通过雄性生殖细胞分裂和分化形成成熟精子,且精子发生受到不同阶段特异性基因表达的严格调控,而特异性基因表达又受到大量lncRNAs的调控。虽然lncRNA作为一类重要的基因表达调控因子广泛参与各类生物个体发育进程和疾病的发生,但是精子发生相关lncRNAs的报道并不多,且其生物学功能的研究有待进一步深入。因此,本文对lncRNA的起源、作用机制和在精子发生过程中调控作用的研究进展进行了总结分析。     

睾丸微环境对精子发生及其异常的调控作用

男性不育已经成为影响人类生殖健康的重大疾病。精子发生是精原干细胞自我更新和分化为精子的复杂过程。这个过程受睾丸微环境的精细调控。将讨论精子发生与睾丸微环境的关系,简要介绍睾丸微环境的国内外研究动态,展望睾丸微环境的研究热点和前沿。这将为阐释精子发生的机制提供新的调控机理,对治疗男性不育,预防子代出生缺陷,研发新型男性避孕方法等都具有重要意义。     

A Unique Protease Cleavage Site Predicted in the Spike Protein of the Novel Pneumonia Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Potentially Related to Viral Transmissibility

正Dear Editor,In December 2019, a novel human coronavirus caused an epidemic of severe pneumonia(Coronavirus Disease 2019,COVID-19) in Wuhan, Hubei, China(Wu et al. 2020; Zhu et al. 2020). So far, this virus has spread to all areas of China and even to other countries. The epidemic has caused 67,102 confirmed infections with 1526 fatal cases     

Curcuminoids as inhibitors of thioredoxin reductase: A receptor based pharmacophore study with distance mapping of the active site

Curcumin is the yellow pigment of turmeric that interacts irreversibly forming an adduct with thioredoxin reductase (TrxR), an enzyme responsible for redox control of cell and defence against oxidative stress. Docking at both the active sites of TrxR was performed to compare the potency of three naturally occurring curcuminoids, namely curcumin, demethoxy curcumin and bis-demethoxy curcumin. Results show that active sites of TrxR occur at the junction of E and F chains. Volume and area of both cavities is predicted. It has been concluded by distance mapping of the most active conformations that Se atom of catalytic residue SeCYS498, is at a distance of 3.56 from C13 of demethoxy curcumin at the E chain active site, whereas C13 carbon atom forms adduct with Se atom of SeCys 498. We report that at least one methoxy group in curcuminoids is necessary for interation with catalytic residues of thioredoxin. Pharmacophore of both active sites of the TrxR receptor for curcumin and demethoxy curcumin molecules has been drawn and proposed for design and synthesis of most probable potent antiproliferative synthetic drugs.     

Comparative morphology of the carpel in the Liliaceae: Hewardieae, Petrosavieae, and Tricyrteae

The young pistils in the melanthioid tribes, Hewardieae, Petrosavieae and Tricyrteae, are uniformly tricarpellate and syncarpous. They lack raphide idioblasts. All are multiovulate, with bitegmic ovules. The Petrosavieae are marked by the presence of septal glands and incomplete syncarpy. Tepals and stamens adhere to the ovary in the Hewardieae and the Petrosavieae but not in the Tricyrteae. Two vascular bundles occur in the stamens of the Hewartlieae and Tricyrtis latifolia. Ventral bundles in the upper part of the ovary of the Hewardieae are continuous with compound septal bundles and placental bundles in the lower part. Putative ventral bundles occur in the alternate position in the Tricyrteae and putative placental bundles in the opposite. position in the Petrosavieae. The dichtomously branched stigma in each carpel of the Tricyrteae is supplied by a bifurcated dorsal bundle.     

Enterovirus 71 3C proteolytically processes the histone H3 N-terminal tail during infection

Highlights
1. The N-terminal tail of histone H3 is specifically cleaved during EV71 infection.
2. Viral protease 3C is identified as a protease responsible for proteolytically processing the N-terminal H3 tail.
3. Our finding reveals a new epigenetic regulatory mechanism for Enterovirus 71 in virus-host interactions.     

Detection of EBV and HHV6 in the Brain Tissue of Patients with Rasmussen’s Encephalitis

Rasmussen’s encephalitis (RE) is a rare pediatric neurological disorder, and the exact etiology is not clear. Viral infection may be involved in the pathogenesis of RE, but conflicting results have reported. In this study, we evaluated the expression of both Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and human herpes virus (HHV) 6 antigens in brain sections from 30 patients with RE and 16 control individuals by immunohistochemistry. In the RE group, EBV and HHV6 antigens were detected in 56.7% (17/30) and 50% (15/30) of individuals, respectively. In contrast, no detectable EBV and HHV6 antigen expression was found in brain tissues of the control group. The co-expression of EBV and HHV6 was detected in 20.0% (6/30) of individuals. In particular, a 4-year-old boy had a typical clinical course, including a medical history of viral encephalitis, intractable epilepsy, and hemispheric atrophy. The co-expression of EBV and HHV6 was detected in neurons and astrocytes in the brain tissue, accompanied by a high frequency of CD8⁺ T cells. Our results suggest that EBV and HHV6 infection and the activation of CD8⁺ T cells are involved in the pathogenesis of RE.     

Perinatal Vertical Transmission of Chikungunya Virus in Ruili,a Town on the Border between China and Myanmar

正Dear Editor,Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), an arbovirus in the family of Togaviridae, genus Alphavirus, is transmitted by the A.aegyptii or A. albopictus mosquito, and causes disease in humans characterized by fever, rash, and arthralgia (Silva and Dermody 2017; Suhrbier 2019). It was first reported in 1953 in Tanzania, and caused only a few outbreaks and sporadic cases in Africa and Asia in last century. However, in the epidemic in 2004, CHIKV acquired mutations that conferred enhanced transmission by the A. albopictus mosquito(Schuffenecker et al. 2006). Since then, it has successively caused outbreaks in Africa, the Indian Ocean, South East Asia, the South America, and Europe (Zeller et al. 2016).     

Development of a Novel Reverse Transcription Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Method for Rapid Detection of SARS-CoV-2

In conclusion, the novel visual RT-LAMP assay is a simple, rapid, and sensitive approach for detection of SARS-CoV-2, and it is ready for application in primary care and community hospitals or health care centers, and even patients' own houses in response to the current SARS-CoV-2 epidemic because the assay does not require sophisticated equipment and skilled personnel. Furthermore, it is also ready to be used in fields for screening samples from wild animals and environments to facilitate the identification of potential intermediate hosts that mediate the cross-species transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from bats to humans.