A novel mutation at the JK locus causing Jknull phenotype in a Chinese family

Jk (kidd) blood group antigens are carried by the urea transporter UT-B[1,2]. The Jknull phenotype, lack-ing urea permeability in erythrocytes[3,4], has a very low frequency in all populations except Polynesians and Finns[5]. In Japan, only 14 individuals with Jk (a-b-) phenotype were identified from 638460 screened donor’s blood samples using the 2 mol/L urea solution hemolysis test[6]. The frequency of Jknull is 0.27% in Polynesian, about 0.03% in Finland[7], and extremely rare in Fran…     

The effects of proteasome inhibitor lactacystin on mouse oocyte meiosis and first cleavage

Many studies have shown that the ubiq-uitin-proteasome pathway (UPP) for the degradation of short-lived proteins plays a key role in regulating cell cycle progression[1—3]. At least two distinct prote-olytic pathways are required for cell cycle process. The first pathway promotes transition from G1 to S phase, and the second initiates the onset of anaphase and exit from mitosis. The inhibition of UPP will re-sult in the blockage of cell cycle process. The knowl-edge of the role of UPP in…     

Multi-locus association study of schizophrenia susceptibility genes with a posterior probability method

Schizophrenia is a serious neuropsychiatric illness affecting about 1% of the world’s population. Family, twin and adoption studies have demonstrated that 65%―85% of the susceptibility to schizophrenia can be attributed to genes. On the basis of genetic model-ing of epidemiological data and recent results of a number of whole-genome screens for susceptibility genes, schizophrenia has been considered a complex disorder. A number of genes with small to moderate effects are involved in combinat…     

Effects of epoxyeicosatrienoic acids on levels of eNOS phosphorylation and relevant signaling transduction path-ways involved

Vascular endothelial cells play crucial roles in regulating cardiovascular function, maintaining car-diovascular homeostasis and preventing the occur-rence of cardiac and cerebral vascular diseases. All these protective effects are fulfilled through various vasoactive products secreted by endothelium including nitric oxide (NO), prostacyclin (PGI2) and endothe-lium-derived hyperpolarizing factor (EDHF). NO, pro-duced from L-arginine by endothelial nitric-oxide synthase (eNOS), is an impor…     

Gene expression and molecular characterization of a thermostable trehalose phosphorylase fromThermoanaerobacter tengcongensis

Trehalose is a non-reducing disaccharide of glucosewidely distributed in microorganisms, plants and in-sects. It usually functions as a compatible solute in thestabilization of biological structures under several en-vironment stresses[1,2]. Trehalose has proved to be anactive stabilizer of enzymes, proteins, biomasses, pharmaceutical preparations and even organs fortransplantation. Thus much attention has been paid tothe synthesis pathway of trehalose and the develop-ment of novel and economic…     

Tyroserleutide tripeptide affects calcium homeostasis of human hepatocarcinoma BEL-7402 cells

Copyright by Science in China Press 2005 Primary hepatocarcinoma is one of the most fre-quent digestive-tract cancers, particularly in China. The incidence and death rate of primary hepatocarci-noma in China is the highest in the world, with about 1100 thousands people dying from primary hepatocar-cinoma per year[1]. Although the chemotherapeutic agents are the main therapeutic approach for hepato- carcinoma, they are relatively ineffective and result in many toxic and side effects. Accordin…     

Comparative analysis of the pig BAC sequence involved in the regulation of myostatin gene

Myostatin (GDF-8, MSTN) is a member of trans- forming growth factors (TGF-β) superfamily, which was first described by McPherron et al. in 1997[1]. Myostatin appears to act as a negative regulator of muscle development and controls not only fibre size but also fibre number[2,3]. Mutations in the third exon of the myostatin gene have been shown to cause dou- ble muscling in cattle[4]. By knocking out the gene of myostatin in mice, they were able to show that the transgenic mice developed …     

尼氟灭酸通过钙库钙释放引起豚鼠耳蜗螺旋动脉平滑肌细胞超极化(英文)

本研究旨在观察氯离子通道阻断剂尼氟灭酸（niflumic acid,NFA）引起豚鼠耳蜗螺旋动脉平滑肌细胞产生超极化的机制。以豚鼠为实验动物,运用细胞内微电极和全细胞膜片钳记录技术,观察NFA和其它药物对急性分离的耳蜗螺旋动脉平滑肌细胞的作用。结果显示：NFA、indanyloxyacetic acid94（LAh-94）和diSOdium4,4’-diisothiocyanatostilbene-2,2’-disulfonate（DIDS）可使低静息膜电位的细胞产生超极化,但对高静息膜电位的细胞无明显作用。低静息膜电位细胞的平均静息电位为（-42．47±1．38）mV（n=24）,100μmol／LNFA、10μmol／LIAA-94和200μmol／LDIDS分别使细胞超极化至（13．7±4．3）mV=9,P〈0．01）,（11．4±4．2）mV（n=7,P〈0．01）和（12．3±3．7）mV（n=8,P〈0．01）,这种氯离子通道阻断剂引起细胞超极化反应的效应呈浓度依赖性。NFA引起的超极化和外向电流几乎完全被100nmol／L iberiotoxin、100nmol／L charybdotoxin、10mmol／L tetraethylammonium、50μmol／LBAPTA—AM、10μmol／Lryanodine和0．1-10mmol／Lcaffeine阻断,但不能被100μmol／Lnifedipine、100μmol／LCdCI,和无Ca^2＋灌流外液阻断。结果捉示：氯离_了通道的阻断剂NFA可通过平滑肌细胞内钙库的钙释放增加细胞内钙,进而激活钙依赖的钾通道,产生耳蜗螺旋动脉平滑肌细胞的超极化反应。     

不同地区舟山种和孟加拉种眼镜蛇的神经毒素

先前的工作发现 ,眼镜蛇孟加拉种的神经毒分布存在明显的地理差异 ,但是导致这种现象的原因还不是很清楚。该工作首先采集夏季的眼镜蛇种 ,进行分类学的鉴定 ,以排除因为种属分类、季节和年龄而导致的不确定因素对蛇毒成分产生影响。再从鉴定好的成年浙江舟山种和云南孟加拉种眼镜蛇蛇毒中分离获得短链神经毒素 ;同时采用RT PCR方法得到相应的基因。结果从浙江舟山种眼镜蛇蛇毒中分离到两个神经毒素 ;从云南孟加拉种蛇毒中得到三个神经毒素。这些神经毒素都是短链神经毒素。说明该两个蛇种与已经报道的台湾及浙江的舟山种眼镜蛇很相似 ,蛇毒中都以短链神经毒素为主。另外泰国孟加拉种眼镜蛇蛇毒中则以长链神经毒素为主。这种现象很难用种群发生的前后或者地理距离的长短来解释 ,而可能与地区间的气候、地理环境或者眼镜蛇的食物差别相关。实验统计表明在云南、浙江和台湾这些条件基本相似 ,而泰国就有很大的不同。     

湖南烙铁头蛇毒中一个新的舒缓激肽增强肽（TmF）

通过 70 %冷甲醇抽提、SephadexG 15分子筛和反相高效液相色谱C1 8层析 ,从湖南产烙铁头蛇毒 (Trimeresurusmucrosquamatus)冻干粉中纯化得到一个新的舒缓激肽增强肽 (BPP) ,命名为TmF。该小肽的氨基酸序列为pGlu Gly Arg Pro Leu Gly Pro Pro Ile Pro Pro (pGlu表示焦谷氨酸 )。序列结果分析表明 ,TmF和已经分离得到的BPPs有很高的序列同源性。MSI MS测定其分子量为 1.110 7kD。TmF的生物学活性和药理学活性检测的结果表明 ,它增强舒缓激肽 (BK) ( 1mg L)诱导的离体豚鼠回肠纵行肌收缩的活性为 ( 1.13± 0 .3)单位 (mg L) ;TmF ( 5 .0× 10 - 4mg kg)可以增强约 ( 14± 2 )mmHg的由BK( 5 .0× 10 - 5mg kg)诱导的舒张压下降 ;在抑制剂试验中 ,不同剂量的TmF和 5× 10 - 2 mg的血管紧张素转化酶保温 30min ,结果表明大约2 .0× 10 - 3mg的TmF表现出对ACE水解活性的半数抑制率 (IC50 )。