四种阿片受体激动剂对大鼠腹腔巨噬细胞释放过氧化氢的影响

本实验观察了四种阿片受体亚型的激动剂对大鼠腹腔巨噬细胞(Mφ)释放过氧化氢(H_2O_2的影响。吗啡、β-内啡肽和κ受体激动剂NDAP能抑制Mφ释放H_2O_2。纳洛酮能翻转吗啡和β-内啡肽的这一作用,κ受体阻断剂nor-BNI能拮抗NDAP的作用。δ受体激动剂DADLE仅在高浓度时才抑制Mφ释放H_2O_2。以上结果表明,Mφ上可能存在若干类型阿片受体,其中μ、ε和κ受体对Mφ释放H_2O_2具有明显的调节作用。     

人白细胞介素-2结构与镇痛功能关系的研究

免疫调节因子白细胞介素-2(IL-2)具有中枢镇痛功能。实验采用基因定位突变技术,获得系列IL-2突变体,并测定其免疫学活性和镇痛能力,发现无免疫学活性的IL-2突变体20Leu-IL-2仍具有中枢镇痛能力,而44Leu-IL-2,45 Val-IL-2虽保留了免疫学活性,但其镇痛能力显著性下降或消失,阿片受体拮抗剂纳洛酮能够阻断IL-2的中枢镇痛作用,而不能影响IL-2对CTLL-2细胞的增殖作用。抗内源性阿片肽血清与IL-2能发生明显的交叉反应。实验结果提示,IL-2分子是通过由第45位Tyr残基及空间上相近的Phe残基等组成的镇痛功能位点与阿片受体相结合而发挥镇痛效应。     

羟甲芬太尼──高选择性μ阿片受体激动剂及与μ-阿片受体相互作用的研究

吗啡的强效镇痛功能及广泛的生理、药理作用是几百年来药学、药理学研究的重要对象,但其作用机理未能得到阐明。70年代初发现脑内存在阿片受体以来,随之在脑内找到内源性阿片肽──甲硫氨酸脑啡肽和亮氨酸脑啡肽;接着又发现了β内啡肽、强啡肽等多种内啡肽（endophines）,从而在学术界里掀起一股研究神经肽的热潮,对吗啡药理机理研究又进入一个新的阶段,对阿片肽的生理功能成为研究的热点。利用各种阿片受体配体特性功能表达的差异,证明脑内存在多种阿片受体类型。公认的主要有μ、三种亚型。要深入研究阿片受体亚型的结构功能,必须…     

背根神经节神经元阿片受体和离子通道的研究进展

阿片及阿片受体与外周神经系统镇痛机制的研究,随着分子生物学技术的发展,已在受体的分子结构、形态学、分子药理学、离子通道和细胞内信号转导系统等方面取得了显著进展。μ、δ、κ阿片受体分子结构上的部分差异决定了它们各自的功能特征。三种受体在初级感觉神经元分布的比例不同,但都能介导细胞Ｃａ＾２＋通道的抑制和Ｋ＾＋电流增加及减少。阿片受体和通道之间由多种第二信使系统偶联。分子药理学研究表明它们还存在亚型受体     

人源μ型阿片受体与激动剂慢性作用介导的cAMP上调作用研究

μ型阿片受体是阿片类药物镇痛与成瘾的分子基础。从人脑组织总RNA通过RT-PCR法扩增获得μ型阿片受体的cDNA,将其克隆至pcDNA3．1( )中,转染CHO细胞后筛选单克隆细胞株,检测重组细胞株表达的μ型阿片受体与激动剂慢性作用介导的胞内信号转导能力。通过激动剂慢性作用信号转导分析证实,DAMGO能够明显抑制吗啡慢性给药引起的重组细胞株胞内cAMP水平的上调作用,初步揭示了阿片受体与特异性配体相互作用的信号转导机制。     

μ阿片受体基因敲出(Knockout)小鼠模型的建立和阿片受体镇痛及成瘾机理的阐明

1992年克隆出阿片δ受体后,已从不同种属的动物克隆出了阿片受体的三个亚型μ、δ和k受体。最近法国Kieffer实验室的Matthes等利用小鼠胚胎干细胞基因敲出技术繁育成功了一个μ阿片受体缺陷的种系小鼠。这种小鼠除无出阿片受体外,生长、发育、生殖和活动周期等与正常小鼠无异,且小鼠的δ和k受体的数量和分布、内源性阿片肽的表达和对热刺激的敏感性都与正常小鼠无异。给予该小鼠吗啡,无镇痛、位置偏爱和身体依赖性作用,给予纳洛酮也不出现撤药综合征。给予δ受体的选择性激动剂也无镇痛作用。说明吗啡的镇痛、位置偏爱和身体依赖性作用由μ受体介导,而与δ和k受体无关。     

脑啡肽-αⅠ干扰素的镇痛作用和抗肿瘤作用

从大肠杆菌工程菌中纯化脑啡肽-αⅠ干扰素融合蛋白,测定其在小鼠脑内的镇痛作用,阿片受体结合功能及对肿瘤细胞生长抑制和体内抗肿瘤作用.结果显示,与αⅠ干扰素母体相比,融合蛋白具有较强的镇痛作用, 镇痛作用可为腹腔注射阿片受体拮抗剂Naloxone和Naltrindole 反转, 融合蛋白可竞争³H标记σ型阿片受体配基DPDPE与膜受体结合.融合蛋白的肿瘤细胞生长抑制和体内抗肿瘤作用也高于母体分子, 说明脑啡肽和αⅠ干扰素的融合蛋白实现并增强了脑啡肽-αⅠ干扰素融合蛋白的双重功能.     

阿片样物质与心脏缺血预处理

阿片肽和外源性阿片术物质如吗啡除了能缓解心肌梗塞造成的疼痛外,还具有减小梗塞范围和降低心律失常的发生等重要作用。心脏阿片受体参与了缺血预处理（IPC）对心脏的调节作用,阿片样物质激活心脏阿片受体还可模拟IPC对心脏的作用。心脏阿片受体的激活产生的急性即第一窗口期和延迟即第二窗口期的心脏保护作用的信号途径,与IPC相似,其信号通路涉及Gi/Go蛋白、蛋白激酶C、酪氨酸激酶和ATP敏感K^ 通道等途径。     

吗啡和纳洛酮对豚鼠离体胆囊肌条活动的作用

5种浓度的吗啡对胆囊肌条的自动节律性收缩,均有明显加强作用。阿片受体拮抗剂——纳洛酮可阻断和翻转吗啡对胆囊肌条的作用,说明豚鼠的胆囊壁有阿片受体。乙酰胆碱显著地加强胆囊肌条的收缩,此效应可被阿托品阻断,而且阿托品也使吗啡对胆囊肌条的作用明显减弱。异丙肾上腺素和去甲肾上腺素分别抑制和加强胆囊肌条的运动,前者的效应可被心得宁阻断,后者则被酚妥拉明阻断,但两者的效应均不受纳洛酮的影响。而心得宁和酚妥拉明不影响吗啡对胆囊肌条的作用。本实验似能表明,吗啡对胆囊肌条运动的调节是通过阿片受体而起作用的。但吗啡对胆囊肌条的作用与肾上腺素能α和β受体无关。     

阿片肽研究的回顾与展望

阿片肽研究已有２０多年历史,１９６２年中国学者提出脑内存在吗啡有效作用位点的创见。７０年代期间,先后发现各类阿片受体以及脑啡肽、β－内啡肽和强啡肽等阿片肽。９０年代初,各类阿片受体的基因 克隆成功,随后又发现了孤啡肽,当前阿片肽研究正在继续。阿片受体的基因剔除、计算机的模拟结构分析、阿片类物质的镇痛与成瘾机制、寻找新的阿片肽及受体的基因克隆等均在深入进行。     

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.