Post-gastrulation synthetic embryos generated ex utero from mouse naive ESCs

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猴免疫缺陷病毒（SIV）在艾滋病模型恒河猴组织中的分布和载量测定

目的研究当艾滋病恒河猴模型的血浆病毒载量处于低水平或阴性时,猴免疫缺陷病毒（simian immunodeficiency viruses,SIV）在宿主组织中的分布情况。方法SIVmac251感染恒河猴10只,定期检测其血浆载量,感染病毒平均高峰时间第14天时,活检取淋巴结。选取感染18个月后病毒载量最低水平和阴性的2只艾滋病猴（SAIDS）,经安死术后取淋巴结、脾、肝、肺、肾、脑等组织,用原位杂交和实时荧光定量PCR的方法检测病毒在组织中的分布和组织中的病毒载量。结果感染后14d,10只猴血浆病毒载量达到10^7copies/mL,淋巴结组织病毒载量为10^5-10^8copies/g,原位杂交方法在腹股沟淋巴结中检测到强阳性斑点。感染后第18个月的2只猴,血浆病毒载量下降并维持不高于10^2copies/mL水平或阴性,但组织分布不尽相同,在肠系膜淋巴结、肾上腺、海马回、空肠、脾脏等组织中检测到10^5-10^6copies/g的病毒载量,于一只猴的脑积液中检测到10^3copies/mL的病毒载量。用原位杂交的方法在肠系膜淋巴结和空肠中检测到强阳性斑点,其它组织中未检测到阳性斑点。结论实验证实SAIDS猴在血浆病毒载量低甚至阴性时,病毒在不同组织中仍有分布,有些组织中甚至出现高病毒载量,提示在制备SIV/SAIDS模型中,尤其在药物筛选和疫苗评价时,应考虑组织病毒载量指标的测定和药物、疫苗对组织病毒的治疗清除作用的评价。     

Laser-induced Breakdown Spectroscopy: A New Approach for Nanoparticle's Mapping and Quantification in Organ Tissue

Emission spectroscopy of laser-induced plasma was applied to elemental analysis of biological samples. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) performed on thin sections of rodent tissues: kidneys and tumor, allows the detection of inorganic elements such as (i) Na, Ca, Cu, Mg, P, and Fe, naturally present in the body and (ii) Si and Gd, detected after the injection of gadolinium-based nanoparticles. The animals were euthanized 1 to 24 hr after intravenous injection of particles. A two-dimensional scan of the sample, performed using a motorized micrometric 3D-stage, allowed the infrared laser beam exploring the surface with a lateral resolution less than 100 μm. Quantitative chemical images of Gd element inside the organ were obtained with sub-mM sensitivity. LIBS offers a simple and robust method to study the distribution of inorganic materials without any specific labeling. Moreover, the compatibility of the setup with standard optical microscopy emphasizes its potential to provide multiple images of the same biological tissue with different types of response: elemental, molecular, or cellular.     

Generation of Myospheres From hESCs by Epigenetic Reprogramming

Generation of a homogeneous and abundant population of skeletal muscle cells from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) is a requirement for cell-based therapies and for a "disease in a dish" model of human neuromuscular diseases. Major hurdles, such as low abundance and heterogeneity of the population of interest, as well as a lack of protocols for the formation of three-dimensional contractile structures, have limited the applications of stem cells for neuromuscular disorders. We have designed a protocol that overcomes these limits by ectopic introduction of defined factors in hESCs - the muscle determination factor MyoD and SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex component BAF60C - that are able to reprogram hESCs into skeletal muscle cells. Here we describe the protocol established to generate hESC-derived myoblasts and promote their clustering into tridimensional miniaturized structures (myospheres) that functionally mimic miniaturized skeletal muscles⁷.     

褪黑激素对D-半乳糖处理小鼠学习记忆和脑组织超氧物歧化酶活力的影响

采用Ｍｏｒｒｉｓ水迷宫法和ＮＢＴ法分别检测了褪黑激素对Ｄ－半乳糖处理小鼠的空间学习记忆能力和脑组织超氧物歧化酶活力的影响。结果表明,Ｄ－半乳糖对小鼠的逃避潜伏期无显著影响,但降低小鼠的穿环系数,还促使小鼠的脑组织超氧物歧化酶活力明显升高;褪黑激素可提高小鼠的空间学习记忆能力,降低Ｄ－半乳糖所引起的超氧物歧化酶活力升高。     

Dichloroacetate- and trichloroacetate-induced phagocytic activation and production of oxidative stress in the hepatic tissues of mice after acute exposure

Dichoroacetate (DCA) and trichloroacetate (TCA) are by-products formed during chlorination of the drinking water and were found to be hepatotoxic and hepatocarcinogenic in rodents. In this study, the abilities of the compounds to induce oxidative stress and phagocytic activation have been studied in B6C3F1 mice. Groups of mice were administered 300 mg/kg of either DCA or TCA, p.o, and were sacrificed after 6 or 12 h. Peritoneal lavage cells (PLCs) were isolated and assayed for superoxide anion (SA) production, and hepatic tissues were assayed for the production of SA, lipid peroxidation (LP), and DNA-single strand breaks (SSBs). TCA resulted in significant production of SA in the PLCs, and in the production of SA, LP, and DNA-SSBs in the hepatic tissues, 12 h after dosing, as compared with the control. DCA administration, on the other hand, resulted in significant increases in the productions of LP and DNA-SSBs in the hepatic tissues at both time points, and in SA production in PLCs and hepatic tissues, 6 h after dosing. However, DCA-induced increases in SA production in PLC and hepatic tissues declined at the 12-h time point, reaching control level in the hepatic tissues. These results may implicate the contribution of phagocytic activation to the induction of oxidative stress in the hepatic tissues and also the role of SA production in the induction of LP and/or DNA damage in those tissues, in response to the compounds. The results also suggest studying the involvement of these mechanisms in the long-term hepatotoxicity/hepatocarcinogencity of the compounds.     

CCN5 Expression in mammals. II. Adult rodent tissues

CCN5 is a secreted heparin- and estrogen-regulated matricellular protein that inhibits vertebrate smooth muscle cell proliferation and motility. CCN5 is expressed throughout murine embryonic development in most organs and tissues. However, after embryonic development is complete, we hypothesized that CCN5 distribution would be largely restricted to small set of tissues, including smooth muscle cells of the arteries, uterus, airway, and digestive tract. Because CCN5 inhibits proliferation of smooth muscle cells in vitro, it might function to prevent excessive growth in vivo. In contrast, another member of the CCN family, CCN2, promotes smooth muscle cell proliferation in vitro, and thus it was expected that its expression levels would be low in uninjured normal adult tissues. Frozen sections from adult tissues and organs were analyzed immunohistochemically using anti-CCN5 and anti-CCN2 antibodies. Both proteins were detected in arteries, the uterus, bronchioles, and the digestive tract as expected, and also in many other tissues including the pancreas, spleen, liver, skeletal muscle, ovary, testis, thymus, brain, olfactory epithelium, and kidney. CCN5 and CCN2 protein was found in smooth muscle, endothelial cells, epithelial cells, skeletal muscle, cells of the nervous system, and numerous other cell types. In many cells, both CCN5 and CCN2 was present in the nucleus. Rather than having opposite patterns of localization, CCN5 and CCN2 often had similar sites of expression. The wide distribution of both CCN5 and CCN2 suggests that both proteins have additional biological functions beyond those previously identified in specific cellular and pathological models.     

Proteins from bovine tissues and biological fluids: defining a reference electrophoresis map for liver,kidney, muscle,plasma and red blood cells

A number of high resolution two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) reference maps for bovine tissues and biological fluids have been determined for animals in basal state. Among the 1863 distinct protein features detected in samples of liver, kidney, muscle, plasma and red blood cells, 509 species were identified and associated to 209 different genes. Difficulties in the identification were related to the poorly characterized Bos taurus genome and were solved by a combined matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation-mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry approach. The experimental output allowed us to establish a 2-DE database accessible through the World Wide Web network at the URL address (http://www.iabbam.na.cnr.it/Biochem). These reference maps may serve as a tool in future veterinary medical studies aimed at the evaluation of changes in protein repertoire for altered animal physiological conditions and infectious diseases, to the definition of molecular markers for novel diagnostic kits and vaccines, as well as the characterization of protein modifications in bovine materials following technological processes used in the food industry.     

中国大鲵乳酸脱氨酶同工酶研究I组织分布

采用垂直板聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳和紫外分光光度法分析大鲵１５种组织的乳酸脱氢酶（ＬＤＨ）同工酶后发现：在正常生理条件下,大鲵体内只有Ｈ４和Ｍ４两种同工酶,红细胞只有Ｍ４一种同工酶;大鲵体内ＬＤＨ同工酶中,以Ｍ４占绝对优势;除生殖腺及脑外,在幼体至成体的发育过程中,ＬＤＨ同工酶未见变化;大鲵体内各组织ＬＤＨ含量及前述两种同工酶相对含量不同。