失重状态下肌萎缩研究进展

失重条件下人和动物生理状态会发生一系列的变化,其中骨骼肌萎缩和力量下降较为显著,目前其发生的机制仍不明确且缺少特效的干预措施。本文从肌肉湿重及肌纤维横截面积的变化、肌纤维类型的变化、肌纤维超微结构的变化、肌梭的适应性变化四个方面进行简要阐述,探讨肌肉萎缩的可能发生机制。     

新的肌肉因子:肌联素

肌联素是新发现的肌肉因子,为补体C1q/肿瘤坏死因子相关蛋白家族成员,又叫做补体C1q/肿瘤坏死因子相关蛋白15。机体营养状况、运动训练调节骨骼肌肌联素的mRNA表达和循环中肌联素水平。肌联素可通过内分泌的形式作用于外周脂肪组织和肝脏,上调脂肪酸转运蛋白的表达,促进脂肪酸的摄入,降低血清自由脂肪酸的水平,参与肥胖和胰岛素抵抗的发生,可能成为代谢性疾病防治的新靶点。     

转基因高表达卵泡抑素1对斑马鱼肌肉生长促进作用研究

抑肌素是转化生长因子β超家族成员,其主要功能是对肌肉的生长发育起负调控作用.在哺乳动物中,抑肌素信号是通过其特异性的与激活素受体ⅡB亚基结合而发挥作用.因此,其信号传递作用可以被其结合蛋白以及ActR ⅡB的结合蛋白卵泡抑素所抑制.在小鼠肌肉组织中,高表达卵泡抑素可以导致肌肉组织肌纤维的增生和肥大.为了研究鱼类卵泡抑素...     

调控骨骼肌纤维类型转化的信号通路

骨骼肌由异质性的肌纤维组成,不同类型的肌纤维具有不同的形态、代谢、生理和生化特性.根据不同肌纤维中表达的特异肌球蛋白重链亚型可将成体哺乳动物骨骼肌纤维分为4类,即Ⅰ,Ⅱa,Ⅱx和Ⅱb型.骨骼肌保持高度可塑性,当机体受到某些生理或病理刺激时,骨骼肌为了适应需要,通过激活胞内相关信号通路改变肌纤维特异基因的表达从而诱发肌纤维类型的转化.本文综述了细胞内参与调控肌纤维类型转化的多条重要信号通路,如Ca2+信号通路,Ras/MAPK信号通路及多种转录调节因子,辅激活因子和抑制子等,为改善肉类品质,提高运动训练效果及治疗肌肉相关疾病奠定了理论基础.     

中间纤维的功能和研究进展

中间纤维(intermediate filaments, IFs)与微丝、微管共同组成细胞骨架的纤维网络体系。除了结构支撑作用,中间纤维在诸多信号转导通路中发挥了重要调控功能。此外,中间纤维还参与调控细胞运动、增殖、分化和凋亡等过程,相关基因突变或翻译后修饰会导致癌症、创伤、炎症、病原体感染及自身免疫等多种疾病。该综述将简要介绍中间纤维参与的细胞功能调控,并重点介绍与其他骨架体系的协同互作及参与相关疾病的调控。中间纤维作为参与多种生物功能和组织特异调控的重要元素,对其深入全面的研究将会对相关生理过程、病理机制和临床治疗具有重要意义。     

肌肉萎缩引起肌电功率谱变化的理论和实验研究

为了通过肌电分析实现肌肉萎缩的无创检测,建立了一种数学模型研究肌肉萎缩后,其肌电信号功率谱的相应变化,并用大鼠的后肢卸载肌肉萎缩实验模型初步验证了数学模型分析的结论。该模型根据肌肉萎缩后肌纤维横截面积减小以及肌肉由于卸栽而出现持续性收缩的性质,采用中心导体模型及其电缆方程和肌电的线性系统模型建立起肌肉萎缩和生理肌电功率谱变化之间的数学关系。通过数字仿真和动物实验均发现了肌肉萎缩引起肌电幅度增加和功率谱高频成分降低的现象。结果表明数学模型和动物实验结果吻合,采用的数学模型能较好地阐述肌肉萎缩和肌电功率谱变化之间的关系。肌肉萎缩后肌电功率谱发生相应改变这一性质将为肌肉萎缩的无创检测提供一种新的方法。     

鱼类肌肉组织发生和分化相关基因的研究进展

鱼类骨骼肌由两种分布位置不同的肌纤维组成,一种是位于皮下浅层的慢收缩红肌纤维,另一种是构成躯体绝大部分的快收缩白肌纤维.肌肉组织中含有多种不同类型的蛋白质如具有收缩功能的结构蛋白,可溶性的肌肉蛋白及肌肉特异性的转录因子等,这些所有的肌源蛋白的产生都经过了复杂的肌肉发生与分化过程.基于相关研究近况,分析了多种转录因子的正、负向调控对肌肉分化发育的影响,同时讨论了研究此调控过程的理论价值及未来应用意义.     

鸡前、后背阔肌去神经后对辣根过氧化物酶(HRP)的胞纳作用

本文报道了用辣根过氧化物酶(HRP)作为大分子标记物,以组织化学和生物化学方法观察了鸡前后背阔肌在去神经后的胞纳现象。结果表明,在去神经后发生肥大的前背阔肌和去神经后发生萎缩的后背阔肌同样都出现胞纳的明显增加。组织化学所观察的结果表明,浸泡在含 HRP 的任氏液中的有完整神经支配的前、后背阔肌只有极少数的肌纤维摄取 HRP,而在去神经的前、后背阔肌中则有不少的肌纤维内部出现 HRP 染色反应。这种反应在有的纤维表现为弥散性染色,有的表现为浓的 HRP 反应颗粒。生物化学的结果显示,去神经后的前、后背阔肌中 HRP 的相对含量分别比有神经支配的对照肌肉明显地增多54%和87%,我们在鸡前背阔肌用组织化学和生物化学所得的实验结果与 Thesleff 等人提出的关于肌肉萎缩机制的假设显然不符。本工作证实了肌肉的胞纳作用的增加并不一定最终导致肌纤维的变性和萎缩。     

小鼠骨胳肌在切腱、协同肌切腱和肉毒杆菌毒素中毒后对辣根过氧化物酶(HRP)的胞纳作用

本文报道了用生物化学方法测定离体小鼠比目鱼肌对 HRP 的胞纳作用。结果表明,在切断神经或切腱后引起萎缩的肌肉侧或在协同肌切腱后引起代偿性肥大的肌肉侧,与它们各自对照的正常肌肉侧相比,都可发生对 HRP 胞纳的明显增加。而在肉毒杆菌毒素中毒后引起萎缩的肌肉侧,和它正常的对照肌肉侧相比,却意外地不发生这种胞纳摄取的明显增加。本文的实验结果进一步证实。肌肉的胞纳增加并不一定导致肌纤维的变性和萎缩(例如代偿性肥大的肌肉);而肌纤维的变性和萎缩亦不一定需要肌肉的胞纳增加为前提(例如肉毒杆菌毒素中毒的肌肉)。本工作结果还提示:肌肉的胞纳增加有其神经原性和肌原性因素。本文还对肌肉胞纳增加的可能机制进行了讨论。     

进行性肌营养不良患者Myo

进行性肌营养不良是一组以进行性骨骼肌萎缩和无力为特征的肌源性肌病.肌肉抑制素(Myostatin)是最近发现的骨骼肌生长发育抑制因子.为探讨Myostatin基因与进行性肌营养不良病理发生的相关性,采用RT-PCR方法克隆了患者的Myostatin基因并测序、分析肌营养不良患者是否存在Myostatin基因突变;然后采用半定量RT-PCR方法检测患者中Myostatin基因的表达水平是否发生改变,同时用Western blot方法分析了肌营养不良患者中Myostatin蛋白的表达情况.结果发现,所研究的肌营养不良患者中没有携带Myostatin基因突变,但一些患者的Myostatin基因转录水平降低,部分患者Myostatin蛋白加工障碍.结果提示,一些类型(亚型)的进行性肌营养不良可能与肌肉抑制素Myostatin基因表达异常、蛋白加工障碍有关.     

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.