Intracellular fate of liposome-encapsulated DNA in mouse liver. Analysis using electron microscope autoradiography and subcellular fractionation

Transient expression of liposome-encapsulated DNA in liver after intravenous injection to rats and mice has raised questions concerning the intracellular fate of this DNA. Electron microscope autoradiography shows that at 10 min after injection the highest concentration of liposomal DNA which is taken up by the liver is associated with lysosomes and vesicles. The proportion of DNA associated with the mitochondria steadily increases for 1 h after injection, up to 48% of the exogenous DNA found in the tissue. Part of this DNA follows the subcellular fractionation profile of the mitochondrial matrix marker, malate dehydrogenase. In contrast, 14% of the liposomal DNA taken up by the liver is found in the nuclei at 3 min after injection, and this percentage decreases over a period of 1 h. These results permit us to establish the distribution of liposome-encapsulated DNA among subcellular organelles in liver at different times after injection.     

Weekly osimertinib dosing prevents EGFR mutant tumor cells destined to home mouse lungs

The recently conducted ADAURA trial concludes daily dosing of adjuvant osimertinib, a third-generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), improves disease-free survival with stage IB/II/IIIA EGFR -mutated non-small cell lung cancer patients in comparison to placebo. We have developed a preclinical orthotopic mouse model, using luciferase tagged lung adenocarcinoma cells harboring EGFR TKI sensitive exon 19 deletion to model and extend trial implications comparing a weekly vs daily dosing outcome of osimertinib to a first-generation TKI- erlotinib. We find that 100% of mice in both the groups receiving osimertinib daily or weekly before injection of cells show a complete absence of homing of cells in mice''s lungs from day three until day 18 post-injection of cells. On the other hand, 25% and 75% of mice receiving erlotinib daily and weekly before injecting cells show homing of cells to the lungs. The tumors observed in the lungs, when dissected at day 30, confirmed the colonization of the injected cells homing to the organ. Thus, our study establishes the efficacy of pretreatment with osimertinib in reducing tumor cells'' homing to mouse lungs in an in vivo mouse model.     

Intraspecfic variation in cold-temperature metabolic phenotypes of Arabidopsis lyrata ssp. petraea

Atmospheric temperature is a key factor in determining the distribution of a plant species. Alongside this, plant populations growing at the margin of their range may exhibit traits that indicate genetic differentiation and adaptation to their local abiotic environment. We investigated whether geographically separated marginal populations of Arabidopsis lyrata ssp. petraea have distinct metabolic phenotypes associated with exposure to cold temperatures. Seeds of A. petraea were obtained from populations along a latitudinal gradient, namely Wales, Sweden and Iceland and grown in a controlled cabinet environment. Mannose, glucose, fructose, sucrose and raffinose concentrations were different between cold treatments and populations, especially in the Welsh population, but polyhydric alcohol concentrations were not. The free amino acid compositions were population specific, with fold differences in most amino acids, especially in the Icelandic populations, with gross changes in amino acids, particularly those associated with glutamine metabolism. Metabolic fingerprints and profiles were obtained. Principal component analysis (PCA) of metabolite fingerprints revealed metabolic characteristic phenotypes for each population and temperature. It is suggested that amino acids and carbohydrates were responsible for discriminating populations within the PCA. Metabolite fingerprinting and profiling has proved to be sufficiently sensitive to identify metabolic differences between plant populations at different atmospheric temperatures. These findings show that there is significant natural variation in cold metabolism among populations of A. l. petraea which may signify plant adaptation to local climates. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Targeted optical injection of gold nanoparticles into single mammalian cells

We present an all optical technique for the targeted delivery of single 100 nm diameter gold nanoparticles into a specified region of the interior of an individual mammalian cell through a combination of optical tweezing and optical injection. The internalisation of the nanoparticle is verified by confocal laser scanning microscopy and confocal laser scanning reflectance microscopy. This represents the first time that nano sized particles have been tweezed and optically injected into mammalian cells using only light, and provides a novel methodology for internalising nanosphere based biosensors within specific intracellular regions of a mammalian cell. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

小鼠精子形成各阶段转基因效率的研究

在过去的近30年中,转基因技术在哺乳动物基因表达方面研究的应用已经成为实验生物学及应用生物学领域最为显著的进展之一．传统的制作转基因动物方法有显微注射法、逆转录病毒感染法和胚胎干细胞法等,但每种方法都有其缺陷,限制了其在今后转基因动物研究中的广泛应用．对小鼠体内生殖细胞进行外源基因转染,研究精子形成过程中制作转基因小鼠的效率．首先运用睾丸注射法将被脂质体包裹的绿色荧光蛋白表达载体(pIRES2-EGFP)注射到公鼠睾丸及附睾内,然后根据精子形成的不同阶段,分别于注射后7、16、30和42天与发情母鼠合笼,利用PCR和DNA印迹方法对新生小鼠进行基因组DNA检测．在各阶段所得新生小鼠中PCR阳性率分别为6.82%、0、56.86%和42.86%,DNA印迹检测阳性率分别为6.82%、0、47.06%、34.69%．经活体荧光成像系统及荧光显微镜分析,转基因小鼠呈现绿色荧光表达．通过比较精子生成各阶段转基因效率高低,为以后通过用睾丸内注射法转染雄性生殖细胞高效制作转基因动物提供了理论依据．     

高产耐热脂肪酶嗜热脂肪地芽孢杆菌的选育

采用氮离子注入技术对耐热脂肪酶产生菌嗜热脂肪地芽孢杆菌（Geobacillus stearothermophilus）L4进行诱变,筛选获得酶活力有较大提高且传代稳定的正突变菌株L4-3;再对L4-3进行紫外线诱变,得到脂肪酶活力提高的正突变菌株L4-3-2,其脂肪酶活力达25．71U／mL,较原始菌株M提高511．9％。高产突变株L4-3-2所产脂肪酶的最适作用温度为50℃,70℃保温60min的剩余酶活为82％,最适作用pH为7．0～8．0,为一种耐热碱性脂肪酶。     

Impact of intentionally injected carbon dioxide hydrate on deep-sea benthic foraminiferal survival

Sequestration of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the ocean is being considered as a feasible mechanism to mitigate the alarming rate in its atmospheric rise. Little is known, however, about how the resulting hypercapnia and ocean acidification may affect marine fauna. In an effort to understand better the protistan reaction to such an environmental perturbation, the survivorship of benthic foraminifera, which is a prevalent group of protists, was studied in response to deep-sea CO₂ release. The survival response of calcareous, agglutinated, and thecate foraminifera was determined in two experiments at ∼3.1 and 3.3 km water depth in Monterey Bay (California, USA). Approximately 5 weeks after initial seafloor CO₂ release, in situ incubations of the live–dead indicator CellTracker Green were executed within seafloor-emplaced pushcores. Experimental treatments included direct exposure to CO₂ hydrate, two levels of lesser exposure adjacent to CO₂ hydrate, and controls, which were far removed from the CO₂ hydrate release. Results indicate that survivorship rates of agglutinated and thecate foraminifera were not significantly impacted by direct exposure but the survivorship of calcareous foraminifera was significantly lower in direct exposure treatments compared with controls. Observations suggest that, if large scale CO₂ sequestration is enacted on the deep-sea floor, survival of two major groups of this prevalent protistan taxon will likely not be severely impacted, while calcareous foraminifera will face considerable challenges to maintain their benthic populations in areas directly exposed to CO₂ hydrate.     

Determination of propafenone hydrochloride by flow‐injection analysis coupled with resonance light scattering detection

A simple, sensitive and rapid flow injection analysis (FIA) method with resonance light scattering (RLS) was described for the determination of propafenone (PPF). The method was based on the ion‐association reaction of 12‐tungstophosphoric acid (TP) with propafenone. In pH 1.0 acidic medium, TP reacted with PPF to form an ion‐associate complex, which resulted in a significant enhancement of RLS intensity. The maximum scattering peak was located at 340 nm, the RLS intensity was proportional to the concentration of PPF in the range 0.003–9.0 µg/mL, and the detection limit (3σ) of 1.0 ng/mL was obtained at a sampling rate of 60 samples/h. The feasible reaction conditions and FIA parameters for the system were optimized. The method proposed in this paper shows satisfactory reproducibility with a relative standard deviation (RSD) of 2.1% for 10 successive determinations of 2.0 µg/mL PPF. The present method had been successfully applied to the determination of PPF in serum samples and pharmaceutical samples. The results obtained were in agreement with the method used in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Flow‐injection chemiluminescence method for the determination of naphazoline hydrochloride and oxymetazoline hydrochloride

A sensitive and simple flow‐injection chemiluminescence (FI‐CL) method, which was based on the CL intensity generated from the redoxreaction of potassium permanganate (KMnO₄)–formaldehyde in vitriol (H₂SO₄) medium, has been developed, validated and applied for the determination of naphazoline hydrochloride and oxymetazoline hydrochloride. Besides oxidants and sensitizers, the effect of the concentration of H₂SO₄, KMnO₄ and formaldehyde was investigated. Under the optimum conditions, the linear range was 1.0 × 10^?2–7.0 mg/L for naphazoline hydrochloride and 5.0 × 10^?2–10.0 mg/L for oxymetazoline hydrochloride. During seven repeated inter‐day and intra‐day precision tests of 0.1, 1.0 and 10.0 mg/L samples, the relative standard deviations all corresponded to reference values. The detection limit was 8.69 × 10^?3 mg/L for naphazoline hydrochloride and 3.47 × 10^?2 mg/L for oxymetazoline hydrochloride (signal‐to‐noise ratio ≤3). This method has been successfully implemented for the determination of naphazoline hydrochloride and oxymetazoline hydrochloride in pharmaceuticals. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Chemiluminescence determination of promazine in human serum and drug formulations using Ru(phen)32+–Ce(IV) system and a chemometrical optimization approach

A new chemiluminescence (CL) method using flow injection has been described for the rapid and sensitive determination of promazine hydrochloride (PMH). The method is based on the CL reaction of PMH with tris(1,10 phenanthroline)ruthenium(II), [Ru(phen)₃²⁺] and Ce(IV) in sulfuric acid medium. Effects of chemical variables were investigated employing central composite design and response surface methodology. Under the optimum conditions, the CL intensity was proportional to the concentration of the drug in solution over the ranges 0.020–0.32 and 0.32–32 µg/mL. The limit of detection (signal‐to‐noise ratio = 3) was 0.012 µg/mL. The method was applied successfully to the determination of PMH in drug formulations and human serum (recovery percentages between 96.7 and 105.0%). The relative standard deviation for 11 replicate determinations of 1.5 µg/mL of PMH was 1.7%. The minimum sampling rate was 100 samples per hour. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.