炎性小体激活与细胞焦亡的研究进展

细胞焦亡是一种依赖天冬氨酸特异性半胱氨酸蛋白酶1(cysteinyl aspartate specific proteinase 1,caspase-1)/caspase-11的程序性细胞死亡方式。炎性小体的激活在细胞焦亡过程中扮演重要角色。当病原体入侵时,核苷酸结合寡聚化结构域样受体(nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor,NLR)和黑色素瘤缺乏因子2(absent in melanoma 2,AIM2)等胞内模式识别受体(pattern recognition receptor,PRR)与相应配体结合,导致炎性小体多蛋白复合物组装和caspase-1/caspase-11激活,进而诱导细胞焦亡发生。深入研究炎性小体激活和细胞焦亡的相关机制,对认识炎症性疾病的发生发展非常重要。本文就炎性小体激活与细胞焦亡的研究进展进行综述。     

炎症小体的研究进展概述CSCD

炎症小体(inflammasome)是一种多蛋白质复合物,它的组装可以导致Caspase-1的激活,并促进炎性细胞因子白介素-1β(interleukin-1β,IL-1β)和白介素-18(interleukin-18,IL-18)的成熟与释放;同时,激活的Caspase-1还可以引发细胞焦亡(pyroptosis)。炎症小体在应答病原体相关分子模式(pathogenassociated molecular pattern,PAMP)或者危险相关分子模式(danger-associated molecular pattern,DAMP)的刺激中扮演着重要角色。炎症小体的异常会导致多种自发炎症及自身免疫性疾病的发生,但是关于其调控活化机制仍有诸多不明,相关研究有待进一步深入。     

AIM2炎症小体介导细胞焦亡的研究进展

细胞焦亡是一种程序性细胞死亡,参与了多种疾病的发生发展,而炎症反应在细胞焦亡中的作用是目前的研究热点。炎症小体是炎症反应的重要组成部分,其中黑色素瘤缺乏因子2 (absent in melanoma 2,AIM2)炎症小体的激活是诱发由含半胱氨酸的天冬氨酸蛋白酶1 (caspase-1)介导的细胞焦亡的重要因素。靶向AIM2炎症小体激活与细胞焦亡可作为临床相关疾病治疗的有效策略,本文综述了AIM2炎症小体介导的细胞焦亡的研究进展。     

炎症小体在机体血脑屏障损伤中的作用机制研究进展

血脑屏障(blood-brain barrier,BBB)是一种天然的结构和功能屏障,可抑制病原体的进入并严格控制分子进入脑实质,完整的血脑屏障对于维持中枢神经系统内稳态至关重要。这一屏障功能是由特殊的多细胞结构决定的,每一种组成的细胞类型对血脑屏障的完整性都有不可或缺的贡献。炎症小体(inflammasome)是先天免疫系统最重要的组成部分之一,是一种多蛋白复合体。当病原侵入或机体产生过度免疫反应时,能够激活炎症小体并介导大量细胞因子以及趋化因子分泌。细胞因子及趋化因子表达上调会引起血脑屏障破坏,导致病原突破血脑屏障进入中枢神经系统,引发机体各种脑内疾病。本文就感染性疾病与非感染性疾病这两种情况下,对炎症小体介导机体血脑屏障的损伤进行综述,并列举了当前针对血脑屏障损伤的不同修复方式。     

炎症小体在对抗微生物感染中的作用

炎症小体(inflammasomes)是由胞浆内模式识别受体(PRRs)参与组装的多蛋白复合物,是天然免疫系统的重要组成部分。炎症小体能够识别病原相关分子模式(PAMPs)或者宿主来源的危险信号分子(DAMPs),招募和激活促炎症蛋白酶Caspase-1。活化的Caspase-1切割IL-1β和IL-18的前体,产生相应的成熟细胞因子。炎症小体的活化还能够诱导细胞的炎症坏死(pyroptosis)。目前已经确定多种炎症小体参与了针对多种病原体的宿主防御反应,病原体也已经进化出多种相应的机制来抑制炎症小体的活化。该文总结了炎症小体在抗感染免疫研究领域的最新进展,重点讨论了炎症小体对细菌、病毒、真菌和寄生虫的识别,以及炎症小体的活化在宿主抗感染过程中所发挥的作用。     

炎性小体在阿尔茨海默病发病中作用的研究进展

阿尔茨海默病(Alzheimer's disease,AD)是一种神经退行性疾病,严重威胁老年人的身体健康。近年研究发现,脑内炎性小体的活化参与该病的发生、发展过程。炎性小体作为一种大分子蛋白复合物,激活Caspase-1前体蛋白,导致炎性因子如IL-1β、IL-18等的成熟与释放,从而引起炎症反应。目前炎性小体与AD的关系仍需进一步研究,本文就炎性小体与AD的研究现状进行综述。     

NLRP3炎症小体在流感病毒感染中的作用

NLRP3(NOD-,LRR,and pyrin domain-containing 3)炎症小体能够对多种病原体保守结构和内源性危险信号应答而活化Caspase-1,介导促炎症细胞因子前体Pro-IL-1β和Pro-IL-18的成熟与分泌,启动免疫防御,在抗微生物感染中发挥着重要作用。该文总结了流感病毒的结构与变异、细胞对流感病毒的识别、流感病毒感染过程中NLRP3炎症小体的活化与功能、流感病毒对免疫识别的逃逸等内容。     

炎症小体在动脉粥样硬化发生发展中的研究进展

炎症小体(inflammasome)是免疫细胞内由多种蛋白质所组成的复合体,属于胞浆型模式识别受体(pattern recognition receptor,PRR)。它作为固有免疫系统的重要组分在机体免疫反应和疾病发生过程中具有重要作用。近年来的研究表明炎症小体是炎症免疫反应的核心。由于能被多种类型的病原体或危险信号所激活,NLRP3(NOD样受体蛋白-3)炎症小体在多种疾病过程中,包括动脉粥样硬化症、家族性周期性自身炎症反应、阿尔海默茨病和2型糖尿病等都发挥了关键作用。因此,NLRP3(NOD样受体蛋白-3)炎症小体可能为各种炎症性疾病,包括动脉粥样硬化的治疗提供新的靶点。本文将对炎症小体在动脉粥样硬化发生发展中发挥的作用进行综述。     

脊髓损伤的基因治疗

基因治疗脊髓损伤（SCI）既不存在胎儿神经组织移植的组织来源问题,且比外周神经组织移植引起的排异性低,是目前脊髓损伤治疗中最有前途的方法.基因治疗的转基因方式有两种：一是将目的基因直接导入体内靶细胞令其表达;二是将基因在体外导入适当的细胞内,并筛选出高效表达的移植细胞作为转基因中介移植到体内靶组织.不论采用何种方式,将基因导入细胞又可用多种手段实现：如微注射、脂质体等物理或化学手段;利用缺陷病毒作为载体感染细胞的生物学手段.因为用生物学手段转基因的细胞移植方法空间定位明确,所以目前最常采用它作为基因治疗效果的研究.虽然SCI基因治疗目前仍停留在实验探索阶段,一些问题尚待解决,但随着基因治疗技术方法的不断提高,它的临床应用前景可以预见.     

京尼平苷酸通过稳定微管促进脊髓损伤后轴突生长

脊髓损伤（spinal cord injury, SCI）是中枢神经系统最严重的创伤之一,其可造成患者感觉和运动功能障碍,并且引发一系列严重的并发症。促进轴突再生是修复脊髓损伤后功能恢复的关键因素。京尼平苷酸（geniposidic acid, GA）具有神经保护作用,但其在脊髓损伤后轴突生长的作用及机制方面尚未见报道。本研究通过提取原代神经元,并建立糖氧剥夺模型(oxygen glucose deprivation, OGD)。通过RT-PCR、Western印迹、免疫荧光等方法,探讨GA对神经元轴突的促进作用及其机制。结果发现,GA可以显著促进神经元轴突生长,并呈剂量依赖性。与OGD组神经元轴突长度（22±5.788 μm）相比,给予10 μmol/L的GA可使神经元轴突长度显著增加（68±17.73 μm）。同时,轴突生长相关蛋白（GAP43,MAP2）的基因和蛋白质水平都显著上升。不仅如此,我们发现,GA促进轴突生长与稳定神经元轴突微管相关,可使A/T的比值增加约1.5倍。同时,通过建立大鼠急性脊髓损伤模型评价GA在体内的效果,与对照组相比,每天腹腔注射GA（10 mg/kg）的大鼠在术后28 d的BBB评分（11.8分）和斜板试验（41.7°）均显著增高。上述结果表明,GA可能通过稳定微管从而促进轴突再生,最终促进脊髓损伤后运动功能的恢复。因此,GA 可能成为治疗脊髓损伤的有前景的候选药物。     

Retinoic Acid Induced-Autophagic Flux Inhibits ER-Stress Dependent Apoptosis and Prevents Disruption of Blood-Spinal Cord Barrier after Spinal Cord Injury

Spinal cord injury (SCI) induces the disruption of the blood-spinal cord barrier (BSCB) which leads to infiltration of blood cells, an inflammatory response, and neuronal cell death, resulting spinal cord secondary damage. Retinoic acid (RA) has a neuroprotective effect in both ischemic brain injury and SCI, however the relationship between BSCB disruption and RA in SCI is still unclear. In this study, we demonstrated that autophagy and ER stress are involved in the protective effect of RA on the BSCB. RA attenuated BSCB permeability and decreased the loss of tight junction (TJ) molecules such as P120, β-catenin, Occludin and Claudin5 after injury in vivo as well as in Brain Microvascular Endothelial Cells (BMECs). Moreover, RA administration improved functional recovery in the rat model of SCI. RA inhibited the expression of CHOP and caspase-12 by induction of autophagic flux. However, RA had no significant effect on protein expression of GRP78 and PDI. Furthermore, combining RA with the autophagy inhibitor chloroquine (CQ) partially abolished its protective effect on the BSCB via exacerbated ER stress and subsequent loss of tight junctions. Taken together, the neuroprotective role of RA in recovery from SCI is related to prevention of of BSCB disruption via the activation of autophagic flux and the inhibition of ER stress-induced cell apoptosis. These findings lay the groundwork for future translational studies of RA for CNS diseases, especially those related to BSCB disruption.     

A First-in-Human,Phase I Study of Neural Stem Cell Transplantation for Chronic Spinal Cord Injury

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Identification of Up-Regulated Genes After Complete Spinal Cord Transection in Adult Rats

Spinal cord injury (SCI) initiates a cascade of events and these responses to injury are likely to be mediated and reflected by changes in mRNA concentrations. As a step towards understanding the complex mechanisms underlying repair and regeneration after SCI, the gene expression pattern was examined 4.5 days after complete transection at T8-9 level of rat spinal cord. Improved subtractive hybridization was used to establish a subtracted cDNA library using cDNAs from normal rat spinal cord as driver and cDNAs from injured spinal cord as tester. By expressed sequence tag (EST) sequencing, we obtained 73 EST fragments from this library, representing 40 differentially expressed genes. Among them, 32 were known genes and 8 were novel genes. Functions of all annotated genes were scattered in almost every important field of cell life such as DNA repair, detoxification, mRNA quality control, cell cycle control, and signaling, which reflected the complexity of SCI and regeneration. Then we verified subtraction results with semiquantitative RT-PCR for eight genes. These analyses confirmed, to a large extent, that the subtraction results accurately reflected the molecular changes occurring at 4.5 days post-SCI. The current study identified a number of genes that may shed new light on SCI-related inflammation, neuroprotection, neurite-outgrowth, synaptogenesis, and astrogliosis. In conclusion, the identification of molecular changes using improved subtractive hybridization may lead to a better understanding of molecular mechanisms responsible for repair and regeneration after SCI.     

大鼠放射性脊髓损伤脊髓血流量变化规律

目的:放射性脊髓损伤(Radiation spinal cord injury,RSCI)是头颈部、胸部及上腹部肿瘤放射治疗和射线意外照射时的常见并发症,一般认为,白质坏死、脱髓鞘为其主要的病理学变化.然而,越来越多的证据表明血-脊髓屏障破裂和血管通透性增加等血管损伤远早于白质坏死和脱髓鞘改变.所以本文阐明大鼠放射性脊髓损伤病理生理过程中脊髓血流量变化规律.方法:将60只Sprague-Dawley (SD)大鼠随机分为12组,1组为对照,其余11组采用60Co放射治疗机行30 Gy大鼠颈髓C2-T2单次照射,剂量率为153 cGy/min,源皮距为80 cm,照射时长为1153 s,照射范围为2.0× 1.0 cm,对照组大鼠于麻醉后置于60Co放射治疗机下,佯照,照射前及照射后分别采用激光多普勒法测量脊髓血流量,11组大鼠于照射前以及照射后1、3、7、14、21、30、60、90、120、150、180天进行测量,以照射前测量值为基数,各时间点以基数的百分比表示该时间点脊髓血流量.结果:大鼠放射性脊髓损伤后,脊髓血流量在照射早期即有降低,照射后90天达到最低,随后脊髓血流量进入平台期.结论:阐明了大鼠放射性脊髓损伤后脊髓血流量的变化规律.大鼠放射性脊髓损伤可影响脊髓血流量,导致脊髓长期处于持续低灌流、缺血缺氧状态,最终导致脊髓不可逆性损伤.临床上放射性脊髓损伤的病人感到疲乏无力,出现神经系统的症状体征,通常死于脑疝.本文为临床上疲乏无力,出现神经系统的症状体征,死于脑疝放射性脊髓损伤的病人的早期防治提供病理生理基础.     

A Contusion Model of Severe Spinal Cord Injury in Rats

The translational potential of novel treatments should be investigated in severe spinal cord injury (SCI) contusion models. A detailed methodology is described to obtain a consistent model of severe SCI. Use of a stereotactic frame and computer controlled impactor allows for creation of reproducible injury. Hypothermia and urinary tract infection pose significant challenges in the post-operative period. Careful monitoring of animals with daily weight recording and bladder expression allows for early detection of post-operative complications. The functional results of this contusion model are equivalent to transection models. The contusion model can be utilized to evaluate the efficacy of both neuroprotective and neuroregenerative approaches.     

Long-Term Changes in Spinal Cord Evoked Potentials After Compression Spinal Cord Injury in the Rat

SUMMARY 1. After traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI), histological and neurological consequences are developing for several days and even weeks. However, little is known about the dynamics of changes in spinal axonal conductivity. The aim of this study was to record and compare repeated spinal cord evoked potentials (SCEP) after SCI in the rat during a 4 weeks’ interval. These recordings were used: (i) for studying the dynamics of functional changes in spinal axons after SCI, and (ii) to define the value of SCEP as an independent outcome parameter in SCI studies.2. We have used two pairs of chronically implanted epidural electrodes for stimulation/recording. The electrodes were placed below and above the site of injury, respectively. Animals with implanted electrodes underwent spinal cord compression injury induced by epidural balloon inflation at Th8–Th9 level. There were five experimental groups of animals, including one control group (sham-operated, no injury), and four injury groups (different degrees of SCI).3. After SCI, SCEP waveform was either significantly reduced or completely lost. Partial recovery of SCEPs was observed in all groups. The onset and extent of recovery clearly correlated with the severity of injury.There was good correlation between quantitated SCEP variables and the volumes of the compressing balloon. However, sensitivity of electropohysiological parameters was inferior compared to neurological and morphometric outcomes.4. Our study shows for the first time, that the dynamics of axonal recovery depends on the degree of injury. After mild injury, recovery of signal is rapid. However, after severe injury, axonal conductivity can re-appear after as long as 2 weeks postinjury.In conclusion, SCEPs can be used as an independent parameter of outcome after SCI, but in general, the sensitivity of electrophysiological data were worse than standard morphological and neurological evaluations.     

Novel Therapeutic Effects in Rat Spinal Cord Injuries: Recovery of the Definitive and Early Spinal Cord Injury by the Administration of Pentadecapeptide BPC 157 Therapy

Recently, marked therapeutic effects pertaining to the recovery of injured rat spinal cords (1 min compression injury of the sacrocaudal spinal cord (S2-Co1) resulting in tail paralysis) appeared after a single intraperitoneal administration of the stable gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157 at 10 min post-injury. Besides the demonstrated rapid and sustained recovery (1 year), we showed the particular points of the immediate effect of the BPC 157 therapy that began rapidly after its administration, (i) soon after injury (10 min), or (ii) later (4 days), in the rats with a definitive spinal cord injury. Specifically, in counteracting spinal cord hematoma and swelling, (i) in rats that had undergone acute spinal cord injury, followed by intraperitoneal BPC 157 application at 10 min, we focused on the first 10–30 min post-injury period (assessment of gross, microscopic, and gene expression changes). Taking day 4 post-injury as the definitive injury, (ii) we focused on the immediate effects after the BPC 157 intragastric application over 20 min of the post-therapy period. Comparable long-time recovery was noted in treated rats which had definitive tail paralysis: (iii) the therapy was continuously given per orally in drinking water, beginning at day 4 after injury and lasting one month after injury. BPC 157 rats presented only discrete edema and minimal hemorrhage and increased Nos1, Nos2, and Nos3 values (30 min post-injury, (i)) or only mild hemorrhage, and only discrete vacuolation of tissue (day 4, (ii)). In the day 4–30 post-injury study (iii), BPC 157 rats rapidly presented tail function recovery, and no demyelination process (Luxol fast blue staining).