Action of diphtheria toxin does not depend on the induction of large,stable pores across biological membranes

Summary Vero cells exposed to diphtheria toxin at pH 4.5 leak monovalent cations but not amino acids or phosphorylated metabolites; affected cells do not take up trypan blue. Monovalent cation leakage is inhibited by 1mmCd²⁺, but not by 1mmZn²⁺ or Ca²⁺. Cd²⁺ blocks calcein leakage from liposomes and closes diphtheria toxin-induced channels in lipid bilayers. It is concluded that translocation of the A fragment of diphtheria toxin across biological membranes does not depend on the formation of large stable pores, but that small Cd²⁺-sensitive pores may play a role.     

HMCES蛋白促进猪流行性腹泻病毒在Vero细胞中的复制

【目的】鉴定能够调控猪流行性腹泻病毒(porcine epidemic diarrhea virus,PEDV)复制的关键宿主蛋白。【方法】利用LC-MS/MS技术结合串联质谱标签(tandem mass tag,TMT)，分析PEDV感染Vero细胞36 h后和未感染组的蛋白组学差异。鉴定筛选了114个显著差异表达蛋白，其中宿主胚胎干细胞特异性5-羟甲基胞嘧啶结合蛋白(5-hydroxymethylcytosine binding,ES cell-specific protein,HMCES)显著上调。进一步构建HMCES真核表达质粒，通过蛋白免疫印迹和实时荧光定量PCR检测过表达HMCES对PEDV复制的影响；合成针对HMCES基因的特异性si RNA，利用Western blotting和RT-q PCR检测si RNA对HMCES表达的干扰效果及HMCES被干扰后对PEDV复制的影响。【结果】过表达HMCES能显著促进PEDV在Vero细胞中复制，并且复制水平随着HMCES的剂量递增呈现剂量依赖式增加；si RNA-341下调内源性HMCES表达进而抑制PEDV复制。【结论】H...     

The growth of Vero cells in suspension as cell-aggregates in serum-free media

Vero cell lines, usually considered anchorage-dependent, could be grown as cell-aggregates in suspension culture with serum-free media. Several different combinations of base media gave growth results above 10⁶ cells/ml (NCTC 135:SFRE 199-1; NCTC 135:Waymouth MB 752/1; NCTC 135:RPMI 1640). Insulin was not essential for growth and Bovine Serum Albumin could be diluted out of the media if linoleic acid was present. The size and density of the aggregates formed varied depending on the media used.     

非洲绿猴肾细胞株AGMr（HindⅢ）—1高度重复顺序的克隆及初步应用

从非洲绿猴肾细胞株分离高度重复顺序AGMr（HindⅢ）－1基因,以pUC18质粒为载体构建重组质粒pUC18／AGMr（HindⅢ）－1,转化E．coliJM83。酶切分析、SouthernBlot分析和序列分析均证明克隆成功,但所用的第165代Vero细胞株与另一非洲绿猴肾BSC－1细胞株的序列相比较,172个碱基中有6个位点突变。用该重组质粒作探针,对Vero细胞培养的狂犬疫苗作SouthernBlot分析表明,未经纯化的半成品中残余细胞DNA长度约400～5000bp。斑点杂交分析表明,杂交特异性良好,残余细胞DNA最小检出量约4pg。提示AGMr（HindⅢ）－1高度重复顺序可特异地应用于Vero细胞残余DNA检测。     

8-Azaguanine resistant african green monkey kidney cell mutans (Vero 153): isolation and characterization

Summary A clone of Vero cells resistant to up 20 μg/ml 8-azaguanine was isolated. This clone (designated Vero 153) has a doubling rate of approximately 24 h and a maximum cell density of 10,000/mm². Deficiency of the enzyme hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (HGPRT) in Vero 153 was demonstrated by methods of radiochromatography. Vero 153 is susceptibletto hypoxanthine-thymidine-aminopterin (HAT) medium and its resistance to 8-azaguanine seems to be nonreversible. Like parenal cells, Vero 153 was also incapable of interferon production when challenged with Newcastle disease virus (NDV) or poly(inosinic acid) poly(cytidylic acid) (poly I:C). Similar chromasome complements (majority range 56 to 57) and band patterns were observed in cells harvested at Passages 10, 20, and 50. The potential use of Vero 153 for somatic cell hybridization for purposes of gene mapping, virus rescue, and the control of inteferon production is discussed. This project was supported by grant from the Medical Research Council, Canada (MT-1615).     

Characterization of membrane permeability alterations induced in vero cells by Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin

Alterations in plasma membrane permeability induced by Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin were studied using Vero (African green monkey kidney) cells which were radioactively labeled with four markers of different molecular size. The markers were α-amino[¹⁴C]isobutyric acid (M_r 103), ³H-labeled nucleotide (M_r approx. 300), ⁵¹Cr label (M_r approx. 3000) and [³H]RNA (M_r > 25 000). Over a 2 h period, enterotoxin caused significant release of aminoisobutyric acid, nucleotides and ⁵¹Cr label but not RNA. The effects of enterotoxin on label release were dose- and time-dependent. The rate of release of markers was dependent upon their size. Permeability alterations could be detected within 15 min with a high dose of enterotoxin. Gel chromatography of released material was used to determine that markers of M_r 3000 but not 25 000 leaked from permeabilized cells. It was concluded that enterotoxin is producing functional ‘holes’ of limited size in the membrane. Permeability changes due to enterotoxin treatment differed between confluent and non-confluent (growing) cells. We propose that the primary action of the enterotoxin is to interact with the plasma membrane and produce functional ‘holes’ of defined size. The resultant alterations in membrane permeability cause the loss of essential cellular substances which inhibits processes such as macromolecular synthesis and eventually leads to cell deterioration and death.     

流行性出血热(EHF)病毒半微量甲基纤维素空斑法的建立

本文报道EHF病毒一种新的空斑形成按术,即半微量甲基纤维素空斑法的建立及其应用。6株来源不同的毒株均可在V_(ero)-E_6细胞或V_(ero)细胞上形成清晰的空斑,形成的空斑能被特异抗EHF病毒血清所中和。其敏感性与用琼脂糖作覆盖物的空斑法一致。该法具有操作简便、快速等优点,适用于EHF的病原学和血清学研究。     

流感病毒在Vero细胞系与MDCK细胞系增殖条件的比较

目的研究流感病毒H1N1及其他亚型在Vero细胞系和MDCK细胞系高效增殖的最适条件,比较两种细胞系对流感病毒的敏感性差异及影响敏感性差异的条件。方法在培养好的Vero细胞系与MDCK细胞系用不同的病毒感染复数(M.O.I)、胰酶浓度、病毒吸附时间、病毒维持液血清质量浓度等条件进行流感病毒在细胞上的增殖。结果在M.O.I为0.01接种流感病毒,吸附时间为1 h,胰酶质量浓度2μg/mL,血清质量浓度为8%时,流感病毒血凝素在MDCK细胞系可获得较高的滴度。结论 MDCK细胞系是适于流感病毒培养的细胞,它作为生产新型流感病毒疫苗的主要细胞基质需要进一步的研究。     

The ion channel activity of the SARS-coronavirus 3a protein is linked to its pro-apoptotic function

The severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus (SARS-CoV) caused an outbreak of atypical pneumonia in 2003. The SARS-CoV viral genome encodes several proteins which have no homology to proteins in any other coronaviruses, and a number of these proteins have been implicated in viral cytopathies. One such protein is 3a, which is also known as X1, ORF3 and U274. 3a expression is detected in both SARS-CoV infected cultured cells and patients. Among the different functions identified, 3a is a capable of inducing apoptosis. We previously showed that caspase pathways are involved in 3a-induced apoptosis. In this study, we attempted to find out protein domains on 3a that are essential for its pro-apoptotic function. Protein sequence analysis reveals that 3a possesses three major protein signatures, the cysteine-rich, Yxx and diacidic domains. We showed that 3a proteins carrying respective mutations in these protein domains exhibit reduced pro-apoptotic activities, indicating the importance of these domains on 3a's pro-apoptotic function. It was previously reported that 3a possesses potassium ion channel activity. We further demonstrated that the blockade of 3a's potassium channel activity abolished caspase-dependent apoptosis. This report provides the first evidence that ion channel activity of 3a is required for its pro-apoptotic function. As ion channel activity has been reported to regulate apoptosis in different pathologic conditions, finding ways to modulate the ion channel activity may offer a new direction toward the inhibition of apoptosis triggered by SARS-CoV.     

Vero细胞无血清培养技术的研究与应用

Vero细胞是世界卫生组织和我国生物制品规程认可的疫苗生产细胞系。随着对疫苗质量和安全性要求的不断提高,用无血清培养基取代含血清培养基培养Vero细胞已成为病毒疫苗生产的一个重要发展趋势。Vero细胞无血清培养的技术关键是研发或选择能支持细胞以贴附培养方式生长的无血清培养基。微载体培养是贴附依赖性细胞系规模化培养和病毒疫苗生产的有效技术途径。我们对Vero细胞无血清培养基的研发、Vero细胞无血清培养及病毒疫苗生产工艺做了讨论,对该领域存在的问题和发展策略进行了展望。