汉防己甲素及克矽平对矽肺大鼠Ⅰ型和Ⅲ型胶原mRNA的影响

汉防己甲素（汉甲）及克矽平（Ｐｏｌｙｖｉｎｙｌｐｙｒｉｄｉｎｅ－Ｎ－Ｏｘｉｄｅ,ＰＶＮＯ）是目前较为有效的抑制矽肺纤维化的药物。本文研究了其对胶原ｍＲＮＡ水平的影响．斑点杂交实验表明大鼠接尘６０天和１２０天后α１（Ⅰ）及α１（Ⅲ）ｍＲＮＡ水平明显上升,经汉甲或克矽平治疗１个月或３个月后,胶原ｍＲＮＡ水平明显下降。原位杂交结果表明胶原ｍＲ－ＮＡ银颗粒与细胞性结节和增厚的肺泡壁的成纤维细胞分布重合。汉甲或克矽平治疗后银颗粒数下降。提示汉甲及克矽平对矽肺进程中的胶原基因表达增强有抑制作用。     

Acorn mass and seedling growth in Quercus rubra in response to elevated CO2

Abstract. In order to explore whether seed size affects plant response to elevated CO₂, plants grown from red oak (Quercus rubra L.) acorns were studied for differences in their first year response to CO₂ concentrations of 350 and 700 μl/l. Overall, at final harvest, total biomass of plants grown in elevated CO₂ were 47 % larger than that of plants grown in ambient CO₂. There were significant interactions between CO₂ treatments and initial acorn mass for total biomass, as well as for root, leaf, and stem biomass. Although total biomass increased with increasing initial acorn mass for both high and ambient CO₂ plants, high CO₂ plants exhibited a greater increase than ambient CO₂ plants, as indicated by a steeper slope in high CO₂ plants. However, CO₂ levels did not affect biomass partitioning traits, such as root/shoot ratio, leaf, stem, and root weight ratios, and leaf area ratio. These results suggest that variation in seed size or initial plant size can cause intraspecific variation in response to elevated CO₂.     

Costs of reproduction in the pink lady's slipper orchid (Cypripedium acaule): defoliation,increased fruit production,and fire

An earlier experiment with the pink lady's slipper orchid demonstrated that plant leaf area was lowered only after successive years of increased fruit production. This result suggested that the cost of reproduction was small in relation to the energy budget of the plant. To test this idea, plants were subjected to experimental hand-pollination treatments to increase fruit set as well as leaf removal treatments to decrease the energy budget of plants. Changes in plant size in years 2 and 3 and, to some extent, rate of flowering, were determined by a combination of initial plant size, leaf removal treatments in year 1, fruit production in year 1, and damage from an unplanned fire in year 2. Plants that had both leaves removed and produced a fruit in 1987 decreased in size in the following 2 years in comparison with other treatment groups. The cost of fruit production was not apparent in plants that had only one or no leaves removed. Plants apparently have to be put into severe physiological stress in order for a cost of reproduction to appear in the following year. The cost of producing one fruit was a decline of plant size in the following year of 30 cm², which is very similar to our previous experiment using a different design. An additional experiment failed to find evidence that these plants increase their photosynthetic rate to compensate for the loss of leaves or the cost of maturing fruit. Published experiments in both the greenhouse and the field that failed to find a cost of reproduction should be reevaluated in terms of the intensity of treatment imposed and the overall energy budget of the plant in field situations.     

Formation of tight junctions and desmosomes protects MDCK cells against hyperthermic killing

Cell density is known to modify the survival of mammalian cells exposed to elevated temperatures. We have examined the role that cell–cell contact plays in this phenomenon. The formation of cell–cell contact is carried out by cells' junctional complex, i.e., tight junctions, desmosomes, and gap junctions. Lack of formation of tight junctions and desmosomes, or their opening, could interfere with the functions and structures of cell membrane. Membrane damage is at least partially responsible for cell death at elevated temperatures. MDCK cells with high density plated in low calcium medium form confluent monolayers devoid of the formation of tight junctions and desmosomes but quickly assemble them after Ca²⁺ restoration. We used MDCK cells and the calcium switch technique to investigate effects of cell–cell contact and, independently, of cell density on hyperthermic cell killing. We found that MDCK cells that formed tight junctions and desmosomes were more resistant to hyperthermic treatment than those that did not. Blocking the formation pathway of tight junctions made cells sensitive to heat. Cells growing at lowdensity showed almost the same survival as did cells at high density in the absence of the formation of tight junctions and desmosomes. The results suggest that the formation of tight junctions and desmosomes play a more important role in determining hyperthermic response than does density per se. The formation of tight junctions and desmosomes appears to protect cells modestly against hyperthermic killing. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Water potentials for developing cladodes and fruits of a succulent plant, including xylem-versus-phloem implications for water movement

Developing cladodes had lower water potentials and developingfruits had higher water potentials than the underlying cladodesof the widely cultivated prickly pear cactus, Opuntia ficus-indica.The 0.06 MPa lower value in 4-week-old daughter cladodes indicateda typical water potential gradient from the underlying clad-odealong the xylem of –0.2 MPa m^–1; the 0.17 MPa highervalue in 4-week-old fruits, which decreased to 0.07 MPa by 10weeks, implicated the phloem as their supplier of water. Thephloem sap of the underlying cladodes had an osmotic pressureof only 0.90 to 0.98 MPa, so the phloem could supply a relativelydilute solution to the photosynthetically dependent fruits (daughtercladodes of O. ficus-indica are photosynthetically independentat 4 weeks). Although the water potentials were similar foradjacent tissues, the osmotic pressures were lower for the water-storagecompared with the photosynthetic tissue; the osmotic pressureswere higher for xylem sap from fruits, for which xylary flowapparently occurred toward the underlying cladodes, than fordaughter cladodes. The relative capacitance (change in relativewater content divided by change in tissue water potential) wasapproximately 0.71 MPa^–1 for the water-storage tissueand the photosynthetic tissue of both daughter cladodes andfruits at 4 weeks of age. When these organs approached maturityat 10 weeks, the relative capacitance increased about 40% fortheir water-storage tissue, but decreased 30% for their photosynthetictissue. As the plant water content decreases during drought,about twice as much water will thus be lost per unit volumeof the water-storage tissue compared with the photosynthetictissue of maturing fruits and cladodes. Key words: Opuntia ficus-indica, phloem, relative water content, water capacitance, water potential     

Effects of chorda-lingual nerve injury and repair on human taste

Citric acid detection threshold and magnitude response weremeasured on the anterior tongue in 10 patients with unilateralchorda-lingual nerve transections before and after repair. Fungiformtaste buds were analysed by videomicroscopy. Preliminary datasuggests that humans can regenerate fungiform taste buds andrecover some taste sensitivity after repair.     

野生大豆种子蛋白含量差异的生理及结构基础的探讨

利用ＳＤＳ－聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳、电子显微镜、蛋白及酰脲含量测定等技术,对高蛋白含量（５０．７％ ）的５０３５９ 和低蛋白含量（４０．８％ ）的５０３０５ 两个野生大豆在种子发育过程中贮藏蛋白积累的速率、蛋白组分合成的起始时间、蛋白体发育的进程以及幼茎的酰脲含量进行了比较研究。结果表明：野生大豆５０３５９的高蛋白含量是与其种子发育过程中较高的植株酰脲含量、较早较快的贮藏蛋白合成及积累速率,液泡中高效的蛋白贮藏方式以及蛋白体在子叶细胞中占有较大体积相联系的     

几种CAM植物PEP羧化酶同工酶的比较研究

比较研究几种兼性和专一性ＣＡＭ植物材料的ＰＥＰＣ同工酶表明：经自然干旱诱导,兼性ＣＡＭ植物露花（Ｍｅｓｅｍｂｒｙａｎｔｈｅｍｕｍｃｏｒｄｉｆｏｌｉｕｍ）、长药景天（Ｓｕｄｕｍｓｐｅｃｔａｂｉｌｅ）有新的ＰＥＰＣ同工酶的出现,诱导前后各同工酶的天然分子量变化不大;而土三七（Ｓｅｄｕｍａｉｚｏｏｎ）则没有新的ＰＥＰＣ同工酶出现,但诱导后其同工酶的天然分子量有所增大。以上几种兼性ＣＡＭ植物的ＰＥＰＣ同工酶酶谱无明显昼夜变化。专一性ＣＡＭ植物的ＰＥＰＣ酶谱和天然分子量均较一致,亦无昼夜差异。     

人重组IL6／IL2融合蛋白的变性、复性及纯化

经超声破碎,分离已表达CH925包涵体,较系统地研究变性剂浓度、融合蛋白浓度对蛋白折叠的影响.在还原型及氧化型谷胱甘肽复性条件下,成功地将融合蛋白CH925折叠成具有IL6及IL2双活性蛋白,IL6的比活为2.3×10⁸U/mg, IL2比活为2.2×10⁶U/mg.经阴离子交换、凝胶过滤层析,获得一定纯度的CH925,配合反相HPLC.洗脱收集蛋白峰,CH925纯度为98%.     

蜜蜂脑中5—HT，GABA，Ach免疫反应阳性神经元分布的比较研究

通过免疫细胞化学方法－ＰＡＰ法,研究了中华峰（Ａｐｉｓｓｉｎｅｎｓｉｓ）和意大利峰（ＡｐｉｓｍｅｌｌｉｆｅｒａＬ）脑和视叶中乙酰胆碱（Ａｃｈ）、５－羟色胺（５－ＨＴ）、γ－氨基丁酸（ＧＡＢＡ）免疫反应阳性神经元胞体和纤维的形态、染色强度、分布和各种神经丛之间的联系．一方面将这些阳性分布系统和蜜蜂脑中相应的神经元类型进行比较,另一方面也分析了在一些特殊解剖学通路中存在的可能的神经递质及其作用．