Effects of fish oil on lymphocyte proliferation,cytokine production and intracellular signalling in weanling pigs

It has been widely documented that fish oil attenuates inflammatory responses partially via down-regulation of T-lymphocyte function. To determine the anti-inflammatory role of fish oil in weanling pigs, we investigated the effects of fish oil and its functional constituents on peripheral blood lymphocyte proliferation, cytokine production and subsequent intracellular signalling in inflammatory-challenged weanling pigs and in in vitro cultured lymphocytes. Fish oil (7%) or corn oil (7%) was supplemented to 72 crossbred pigs (7.6 ± 0.3 kg BW and 28 ± 3 days of age) in a 2 × 2 factorial experiment that included an Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge (challenged or not challenged). On day 14 and 28 of the experiment, 200 μg/kg BW of LPS or an equivalent amount of sterile saline was administered to the pigs by intraperitoneal injection. Blood samples were collected on days 15 and 29 to determine peripheral blood lymphocyte proliferation, interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and interleukin-2 (IL-2) production. The results showed that inflammatory challenge decreased average daily gain (P < 0.05) and average daily feed intake (P < 0.05) during days 15 - 28. Fish oil supplementation had no effect on growth performance. Inflammatory challenge increased lymphocyte proliferative response to concanavalin A (Con A) (P < 0.05) following each challenge. Fish oil tended to suppress (P < 0.1) the proliferation following the first challenge. Similarly, fish oil tended to reduce IL-1β production (P < 0.1) following the second challenge and IL-2 (P < 0.1) production following the first challenge in both challenged and unchallenged pigs compared with corn oil. In parallel in vitro experiments, peripheral blood lymphocytes of weanling pigs were incubated with various concentrations of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) or linoleic acid (LA) (0, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100 μg/ml). EPA, DHA and high levels of LA predominantly suppressed IL-1β (P < 0.05), IL-2 (P < 0.05) production and subsequent lymphocyte proliferation (P < 0.05). Low levels of LA increased (P < 0.05) IL-2 production. Compared with LA, EPA resulted in a stronger inhibition of lymphocyte proliferation (P < 0.05) and IL-2 (P < 0.01), and DHA resulted in a stronger inhibition of IL-1β (P < 0.05) and IL-2 (P < 0.01). To elucidate the mechanism(s) by which fish oil and its functional constituents suppressed lymphocyte function, the kinetics of intracellular [Ca^{2 +}]_i and protein kinase C activity were determined in in vitro experiments. EPA, DHA and LA exerted very similar dose-dependent stimulatory effects on intracellular Ca^{2 +}. EPA and DHA inhibited protein kinase C activity (P < 0.05), while LA had no significant effect (P > 0.05). These results suggest that fish oil and its functional constituents (EPA and DHA) exerted an anti-inflammatory effect by down-regulation of lymphocyte activation in weanling pigs, possibly by manipulation of intracellular signalling.     

Relationship of Nitrogen Deficiency-Induced Leaf Senescence with ROS Generation and ABA Concentration in Rice Flag Leaves

Nitrogen (N) deficiency is one of the critical environmental factors that induce leaf senescence, and its occurrence may cause the shorten leaf photosynthetic period and markedly lowered grain yield. However, the physiological metabolism underlying N deficiency-induced leaf senescence and its relationship with the abscisic acid (ABA) concentration and reactive oxygen species (ROS) burst in leaf tissues are not well understood. In this paper, the effect of N supply on several senescence-related physiological parameters and its relation to the temporal patterns of ABA concentration and ROS accumulation during leaf senescence were investigated using the premature senescence of flag leaf mutant rice (psf) and its wild type under three N treatments. The results showed that N deficiency hastened the initiation and progression of leaf senescence, and this occurrence was closely associated with the upregulated expression of 9-cis-epoxycarotenoiddioxygenase genes (NCEDs) and with the downregulated expression of two ABA 8′-hydroxylase isoform genes (ABA8ox2 and ABA8ox3) under LN treatment. Contrarily, HN supply delayed the initiation and progression of leaf senescence, concurrently with the suppressed ABA biosynthesis and relatively lower level of ABA concentration in leaf tissues. Exogenous ABA incubation enhanced ROS generation and MDA accumulation in a dose-dependent manner, but it decreased the activities of glutamine synthetase (GS) and glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) in detached leaf. These results suggested that the participation of ABA in the regulation of ROS generation and N assimilating/remobilizing metabolism in rice leaves was strongly responsible for induction of leaf senescence by N deficiency.

     

不同水稻品种库源的特征变化

为探讨不同年代水稻(Oryza sativa)品种间库、源及库/源的变化,用吉林省1958–2005年间育成的33个水稻品种为材料,对库、源及库/源的特征进行了研究。结果表明,吉林省47年来在水稻品种遗传改良过程中库和源性状均得到了改善。其中,单株穗重和单株粒数分别增长了62.93%和37.65%,平均年增长率分别为1.34%和0.80%,与育成年代均呈极显著正相关;单株叶面积、单株光合能力和剑叶净光合速率(Pn)分别增长了13.75%、24.80%和12.60%,年增长率分别为0.29%、0.53%和0.27%,与育成年代均呈显著正相关。不同年代育成水稻品种穗重/单株光合能力、粒数/单株光合能力无明显变化,但穗重/叶面积和粒数/叶面积与育成年代呈显著正相关,相关系数分别为0.441 0(P0.05)和0.401 7(P0.05);穗重/Pn和粒数/Pn与育成年代呈极显著正相关,相关系数分别为0.509 3(P0.01)和0.483 2(P0.01)。以上结果说明,吉林省水稻品种产量的增加是由于库和源共同作用的结果,但单位叶面积光合能力的改善远远落后于其它库源性状的增长。进一步提高叶片Pn并改善叶片的光合能力应作为高产水稻品种选育的新目标。     

Structural and biochemical studies of RIG-I antiviral signaling

Retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I) is an important pattern recognition receptor that detects viral RNA and triggers the production of type-I interferons through the downstream adaptor MAVS (also called IPS-1, CARDIF, or VISA). A series of structural studies have elaborated some of the mechanisms of dsRNA recognition and activation of RIG-I. Recent studies have proposed that K63-linked ubiquitination of, or unanchored K63-linked polyubiquitin binding to RIG-I positively regulates MAVS-mediated antiviral signaling. Conversely phosphorylation of RIG-I appears to play an inhibitory role in controlling RIG-I antiviral signal transduction. Here we performed a combined structural and biochemical study to further define the regulatory features of RIG-I signaling. ATP and dsRNA binding triggered dimerization of RIG-I with conformational rearrangements of the tandem CARD domains. Full length RIG-I appeared to form a complex with dsRNA in a 2:2 molar ratio. Compared with the previously reported crystal structures of RIG-I in inactive state, our electron microscopic structure of full length RIG-I in complex with blunt-ended dsRNA, for the first time, revealed an exposed active conformation of the CARD domains. Moreover, we found that purified recombinant RIG-I proteins could bind to the CARD domain of MAVS independently of dsRNA, while S8E and T170E phosphorylation-mimicking mutants of RIG-I were defective in binding E3 ligase TRIM25, unanchored K63-linked polyubiquitin, and MAVS regardless of dsRNA. These findings suggested that phosphorylation of RIG inhibited downstream signaling by impairing RIG-I binding with polyubiquitin and its interaction with MAVS.     

Changes in physicochemical properties,enzymatic activities,and the microbial community of soil significantly influence the continuous cropping of Panax quinquefolius L. (American ginseng)

Plant and Soil - In the production of the natural medicinal plant American ginseng, replantation typically fails due to continuous cropping obstacles. However, the cause is still not clear and...     

LncRNA SNHG15 modulates gastric cancer tumorigenesis by impairing miR-506-5p expression

The gastric cancer (GC) patients commonly have a poor prognosis due to its invasiveness and distant metastasis. Growing evidence proved that aberrant long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) expression contributes to tumor development and progression. LncRNA SNHG15 has been reported to be involved in many different kinds of cancer, while its role in GC remains unclear. In the present study, we found that SNHG15 was up-regulated in GC tissues and cell lines. Silencing SNHG15 suppressed proliferation migration, invasion and promoted apoptosis of AGS cells. More importantly, microRNA-506-5p (miR-506-5p) was predicted as a direct target of SNHG15 by binding its 3′-UTR and further verified using luciferase reporter assay. Meanwhile, the results of rescue experiments revealed that knockdown of miR-506-5p expression reversed the functional effects of SNHG15 silenced cell proliferation, migration, invasion and apoptosis. In conclusion, our findings revealed that SNHG15 executed oncogenic properties in GC progression through targeting miR-506-5p, which might provide a novel target for the GC treatment.     

Cloning, expression, purification, characterization, crystallization and x-ray diffraction of bifunctional pyrimidine deaminase/reductase from Shigella flexneri 2a

Bifunctional pyrimidine deaminase/reductase (RibD) plays an important role during riboflavin biosynthesis in many microorganisms. The 40.4 kDa RibD from Shigella flexneri 2a has been cloned, expressed, purified and characterized. Three Crystals of RibD have been obtained by the hanging-drop technique at 291 K using PEG 20k or NaCl as precipitant. The RibD crystal using PEG 20k as precipitant diffracted to 2.5A.     

Structural Snapshots of 26S Proteasome Reveal Tetraubiquitin-Induced Conformations

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多镜联合治疗胆总管结石合并胆囊结石的技术优势

目的探讨十二指肠镜、胆道镜、腹腔镜等多镜联合治疗胆总管结石合并胆囊结石的技术优势。方法采用腹腔镜胆总管探查术+腹腔镜胆囊切除术(LCBDE+LC)和内窥镜逆行胰胆管造影术+内窥镜下括约肌切开取石术+腹腔镜胆囊切除术(ERCP+EST+LC)两种术式治疗胆总管结石合并胆囊结石患者。结果有两组病例,其中LCBDE+LC组36例,本组术后胆道残余结石2例,后经T管窦道行胆道镜取石治愈。ERCP+EST+LC组54例,本组术后并发一过性高淀粉酶血症3例,发生急性轻型胰腺炎2例。结论多镜联合治疗胆总管结石合并胆囊结石具有创伤小、效果好、并发症少、恢复快的优点,多镜联合发挥出其独特技术优势,避免了因接受传统开腹手术而造成较大创伤的不合理治疗模式。     

天然草地植被覆盖度的高光谱遥感估算模型

利用ASD FieldSpec Pro FR^TM光谱仪,对内蒙古自治区锡林郭勒盟的天然草地进行高光谱遥感地面观测,并计算天然草地植被覆盖度;选择25个高光谱特征变量与天然草地植被覆盖度进行相关性分析.结果表明,共有17个变量通过极显著性检验,尤以红边波长范围内一阶微分波段值总和(SDr)的相关系数0.781为最高在此基础上将观测数据分成两组:一组观测数据作为训练样本(n=49),运用单变量线性、非线性和逐步回归方法,建立植被覆盖度高光谱遥感估算模型;另一组观测数据作为检验样本(n=32),进行精度检验分析结果显示,采用逐步回归分析方法,运用冠层原始反射率数据估算草地植被覆盖度的效果并不理想;而以红边波长范围内一阶微分波段值的总和(SDr)为变量的线性回归方程是最佳估算模型,模型标准差为10.4%,估算精度为83.99%.