Ten days of darkness causes temporary blindness during an early critical period in felines

Extended periods of darkness have long been used to study how the mammalian visual system develops in the absence of any instruction from vision. Because of the relative ease of implementation of darkness as a means to eliminate visually driven neural activity, it has usually been imposed earlier in life and for much longer periods than was the case for other manipulations of the early visual input used for study of their influences on visual system development. Recently, it was shown that following a very brief (10 days) period of darkness imposed at five weeks of age, kittens emerged blind. Although vision as assessed by measurements of visual acuity eventually recovered, the time course was very slow as it took seven weeks for visual acuity to attain normal levels. Here, we document the critical period of this remarkable vulnerability to the effects of short periods of darkness by imposing 10 days of darkness on nine normal kittens at progressively later ages. Results indicate that the period of susceptibility to darkness extends only to about 10 weeks of age, which is substantially shorter than the critical period for the effects of monocular deprivation in the primary visual cortex, which extends beyond six months of age.     

KSRP is critical in governing hepatic lipid metabolism through controlling Per2 expression

Hepatic lipid metabolism is controlled by integrated metabolic pathways. Excess accumulation of hepatic TG is a hallmark of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, which is associated with obesity and insulin resistance. Here, we show that KH-type splicing regulatory protein (KSRP) ablation reduces hepatic TG levels and diet-induced hepatosteatosis. Expression of period 2 (Per2) is increased during the dark period, and circadian oscillations of several core clock genes are altered with a delayed phase in Ksrp^−/− livers. Diurnal expression of some lipid metabolism genes is also disturbed with reduced expression of genes involved in de novo lipogenesis. Using primary hepatocytes, we demonstrate that KSRP promotes decay of Per2 mRNA through an RNA-protein interaction and show that increased Per2 expression is responsible for the phase delay in cycling of several clock genes in the absence of KSRP. Similar to Ksrp^−/− livers, both expression of lipogenic genes and intracellular TG levels are also reduced in Ksrp^−/− hepatocytes due to increased Per2 expression. Using heterologous mRNA reporters, we show that the AU-rich element-containing 3′ untranslated region of Per2 is responsible for KSRP-dependent mRNA decay. These findings implicate that KSRP is an important regulator of circadian expression of lipid metabolism genes in the liver likely through controlling Per2 mRNA stability.     

Respiratory metabolism of salivary glands during the late larval and prepupal development of Drosophila melanogaster

During the late larval period, the salivary glands (SG) of Drosophila show a cascade of cytological changes associated with exocytosis and the expectoration of the proteinaceous glue that is used to affix the pupariating larva to a substrate. After puparium formation (APF), SG undergo extensive cytoplasmic vacuolation due to endocytosis, vacuole consolidation and massive apocrine secretion. Here we investigated possible correlations between cytological changes, the puffing pattern in polytene chromosomes and respiratory metabolism of the SG. The carefully staged SG were explanted into small amounts (1 or 2 μl) of tissue culture medium. The respiratory metabolism of single or up to 3 pairs of glands was evaluated by recording the rate of O₂ consumption using a scanning microrespirographic technique sensitive to subnanoliter volumes of the respiratory O₂ or CO₂. The recordings were carried out at times between 8 h before pupariation (BPF), until 16 h APF, at which point the SG completely disintegrate. At the early wandering larval stage (8 h BPF), the glands consume 2 nl of O₂/gland/min (=2500 μl O₂/g/h). This relatively high metabolic rate decreases down to 1.2–1.3 nl of O₂ during the endogenous peak in ecdysteroid concentration that culminates around pupariation. The metabolic decline coincides with the exocytosis of the proteinaceous glue. During and shortly after puparium formation, which is accompanied cytologically by intense vacuolation, O₂ consumption in the SG temporarily increases to 1.6 nl O₂/gland/min. After this time, the metabolic rate of the SG decreases downward steadily until 16 h APF, when the glands disintegrate and cease to consume oxygen. The SG we analyzed from Drosophila larvae were composed of 134 intrinsic cells, with the average volume of one lobe being 37 nl. Therefore, a single SG cell of the wandering larva (with O₂ consumption of 2 nl/gland/min), consumes each about 16 pl of O₂/cell/min. A simultaneous analysis of the rate of protein and RNA synthesis in the SG shows a course similar to that found in respiratory metabolism.     

Mate guarding in relation to seasonal changes in the energy reserves of two freshwater amphipods (Gammarus fossarum and G. pulex)

1. We assessed sex‐specific seasonal changes in major energy storage compounds (triglycerides, glycogen) in Gammarus fossarum and Gammarus pulex collected from the field, with respect to their reproductive activity. 2. The dynamics of stored energy followed a seasonal pattern in both species and sexes. Moreover, over a 4‐year period, these changes were independent of the year in which they were investigated. Stored energy reached a peak in late winter, but was depleted in late summer and early autumn, coinciding with the reproductive periods. 3. Triglyceride (annual mean ± SD) accounted for 79.7 ± 11.9% of the total stored energy and was responsible for the seasonal pattern. In contrast, glycogen contributed a lesser percentage (20.3 ± 11.9%). Over the study period, the amount of stored energy ranged between 0.39 and 4.08 kJ g^?1 dry mass (triglyceride: 0.19–3.69 kJ g^?1 dry mass; glycogen: 0.14–0.80 kJ g^?1 dry mass). 4. In both species, the energy reserves of males were drastically depleted shortly before the cessation of precopulatory mate guarding in the field, thus offering a bioenergetic explanation for the reproductive period in these two widespread species.     

成人先天性髋关节发育不良的围手术期护理

成人先天性髋关节发育不良是一种髋臼先天性发育缺陷的疾病,长期发展会形成髋关节半脱位、脱位,最终甚至可能出现股骨头坏死等严重合并症。对于早期患者目前主要采用髋臼旋转截骨手术治疗,而晚期出现股骨头脱位及坏死则只能通过全髋关节置换进行治疗。不论哪种手术方式,围手术期的护理对于患者的健康恢复都有着非常重要的意义。     

生物节律基因period3的研究进展

昼夜节律是所有真核生物和部分原核生物的基本特征,一组节律表达的生物钟基因形成24 h周期振荡的自主调节转录-翻译反馈回路。period（per）基因家族是生物钟反馈回路中重要组成成分,per3基因是period基因家族成员之一。人类的per3基因定位于染色体1p36,其编码区第18外显子中含有一个灵长类特有的串联重复序列（variable number tandem repeat,VNTR）。该VNTR包含一簇理论上的磷酸化位点,能影响PER3蛋白的磷酸化降解,影响PER3蛋白的功能。近年研究发现,per3基因多态性与睡眠结构、睡眠紊乱发病年龄、睡眠剥夺后次日清晨执行能力等密切相关。     

番石榴实蝇寄主选择性试验

番石榴实蝇Bactrocera correcta(Bezzi)是一种为害多种水果的害虫,近年来在云南的元江暴发成灾。本试验选择番石榴实蝇的常见寄主:梨、芒果、苹果、桃、橙及芒果的不同品种进行室内试验,比较番石榴实蝇雌虫产卵对寄主的选择性及不同寄主对番石榴实蝇生长发育的影响。结果显示,番石榴实蝇雌虫对5种供试水果的寄生选择性大小依次为桃>梨>芒果>橙>苹果;番石榴实蝇对芒果不同品种的寄生选择性为三年芒>台农行1号>虎豹牙>胭脂芒>鹰嘴芒;番石榴实蝇在不同寄主上的蛀果期(卵及幼虫的历期)具有极显著的差异,以寄生桃和芒果的最短;从梨和苹果上饲养出的蛹最轻,且极显著低于其它寄主上饲养出来的蛹重;苹果上寄生的番石榴实蝇蛹重与蛀果期呈显著的正相关,而寄生梨的番石榴实蝇蛹重与蛀果期呈极显著的负相关。结果表明,番石榴实蝇雌虫产卵对不同寄主或同一寄主不同品种有明显的选择性,且该选择行为与其后代的生长发育有关。     

虾塘养殖中后期微型浮游动物的摄食压力

2008年8月底到10月初,用现场稀释法对虾塘中≤200 μm、≤100 μm和≤20 μm 3个粒级的微型浮游动物对浮游植物的摄食压力进行了研究。共进行了三次培养实验,结果表明：浮游植物的生长率为0.0834～0.4498 d-1,微型浮游动物的摄食率为0.1212～0.2998 d-1,微型浮游动物摄食率对浮游植物生长率比值(g:k)为0.4271～3.4901,占浮游植物现存量的11.41%～25.90%,对初级生产力的摄食压力为48.20%～314.69%。≤20 μm微型浮游动物的摄食率、对浮游植物现存量和初级生产力的摄食压力,占微型浮游动物(≤200 μm)的相关比例范围为73.85%～97.69%、76.67%～97.91%、78.87%～98.59%。这表明≤20 μm微型浮游动物比≥20 μm的微型浮游动物在对虾养殖中后期虾塘能量流动和物质循环方面起到更重要的作用。