黄山——大自然的骄子

黄山——大自然的骄子合肥市科技馆馆长段福新黄山,雄踞于风景秀丽的安徽南部,是祖国锦绣河山中的一颗璀灿明珠。１９８２年经国务院批准为国家级重点风景名胜区,１９８５年,在国内外评选我国十大名胜风景区活动中,黄山是当选的唯一山岳风景区,１９９０年经联合国教...     

最后的香格里拉——亚丁

正位于四川省甘孜藏族自治州稻城的亚丁,藏语意为"向阳之地"。主体由3座完全隔开、呈"品"字形排列的雪峰构成,其周围角峰林立,大大小小共30多座。1997年12月,四川省政府批准稻城亚丁为省级自然保护区。2001年6月,经国务院批准,亚丁成为国家级自然保护区。2003年7月10日,联合国教科文组织人与生物圈执行局在巴黎召开的会议上,把亚丁列入联合国MAB保护计划之中,亚丁正式加入世界人与生物圈保护区网络。     

达里诺尔——天鹅湖的由来

“达里诺尔”是蒙古语,意思是像大海一样宽阔美丽的湖,它在历史上还有“神恩泊”、“鱼儿泺”、“捕鱼儿海”、“答尔海子”等名称。达里诺尔是内蒙古四大内陆湖之一,位于内蒙古东部贡格尔草原,水域面积228平方公里,总储水量16亿立方米,水丰草茂,食物充足,气候凉     

DL—1—(2,6—二甲基苯氧基)—2——氨基丙烷氨基酸衍生物的研究

<正> DL—1—(2,6—二甲基苯氧基)—乙—氨基丙烷盐酸盐,商品名为慢心律(Mcxiletine)是七十年代进行临床研究的一个抗心律失常药物。目前国内外广泛用于临床,其特点是可以长期口服治疗和预防室性心律失常。根据国内外近十年的临床观察,若用量超过600—800mg/日,则有明显副作用如神经兴奋、噁心、复视、抽搐、振颤等。为了寻找更理想的抗心律失常药物,国内外已做过一些慢心律的类似物供药理筛选研究。本文是从前体药物的角度以慢心律自由碱DL—1—(2,6—甲基苯氧基)—2—氨基丙     

小分子免疫调节剂 L—2—(3—羟基—4—羟甲基苯基)—甘氨酸前体物 DL—2—(3—羟基—4—羟甲基苯基)—N—乙酰基甘氨酸的合成

本文通过对小分子免疲调节剂L—2—(3—羟基—4—羟甲基苯基)—甘氨酸(英文名:Forphenicinol)前体物DL—2—(3—羟基—4—羟甲基苯基)—N—乙酰基甘氨酸的合成方法研究,探索了终产物Forphenicinol 的合成路线及实验方法、并通过对各步产物之红外光谱分析,确证各步产物之主要特征吸收峰,为今后的合成工作打下良好之基础、     

核蛋白基本单元的合成—O—乙基—UMP—丙氨酸甲酯

在合成磷酰蛋白的模型化合物Ｎ－磷酰化氨基酸（１）的基础上,首次合成了有机磷生命化学的模型化合物－核蛋白基本单元Ｎ－磷酰化氨基酸（２）,并对上述物质进行了分离,鉴定,比较了两种模型的合成方法,这对在小分子水平上,深入研究磷酰基的参与作和蛋白与核酸之间的互相作用机理提供了较好的模型化合物。     

N~ω—硝基—L—精氨酸的抗肿瘤活性

<正> 氨基酸是构成蛋白质的基本单位,显然,与癌瘤细胞的生长有极为密切的关系。Eagle,H.等人用组织培养的方法,比较了癌瘤细胞和正常细胞对氨基酸的需要,实验发现,对于两类细胞的生长需要13种氨基酸即精、胱、谷氨酰胺、组、异亮、亮、赖、蛋、苯丙、苏、酪、缬、色等氨基酸。但是,癌瘤细胞对其中某些氨基酸即:胱、谷氨酰胺、异亮、赖、苯丙、缬等需要量是正常细胞的2—3倍。     

宝石界的精灵——琥珀

长期以来,琥珀化石因其富含的生物学信息,一直备受古生物学家的青睐。然而现在,琥珀并不仅仅是生物学家的独宠,更因其不张扬炫目,却拥有着天然的晶莹剔透、轻盈温和,具有浑然天成的古朴庄重之美,却又不失其本身的灵动,富有生机,蕴涵着人们认识大自然的卓越智慧,颇受人们的喜爱,其科学研究价值和经济价格扶摇直上,更是宝石界中最轻盈的宝石。(一)初识琥珀在白垩纪晚期和古近纪早期的时候,欧亚大陆的一些地区,分布着大量类似现代生存的     

RFLP——遗传学研究的新领域

RFLP——限制性片段长度多态性(restriction fragment length polym0rphisms.RFLP(s))是近几年来国外十分活跃的研究领域,其应用已渗透到遗传学研究的许多领域,如:人类遗传病的基因定位和基因诊断,法医生物物证验证,精细遗传图谱的建立、遗传育种等等,给这些领域的研究提供了一种崭新的研究手段。自Grodzicker等(1974)首次将RFLP用作腺病毒温度敏感突变的遗传标记以来,人们在真核生物包括果蝇、牛、人、玉米、莴苣、番茄、大麦、大豆、小麦、芸苔属等动植物中做了大量研究,就RFLP的遗传特性和应用作了大量卓有成效的探索。 RFLP的获得,是将基因组DNA用已知的限制内切酶消化,电泳印迹后,用DNA探     

Hsp27 inhibits 6-hydroxydopamine-induced cytochrome c release and apoptosis in PC12 cells

Cellular stress may stimulate cell survival pathways or cell death depending on its severity. 6-Hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) is a neurotoxin that targets dopaminergic neurons that is often used to induce neuronal cell death in models of Parkinson's disease. Here we present evidence that 6-OHDA induces apoptosis in rat PC12 cells that involves release of cytochrome c and Smac/Diablo from mitochondria, caspase-3 activation, cleavage of PARP, and nuclear condensation. 6-OHDA also induced the heat shock response, leading to increased levels of Hsp25 and Hsp70. Increased Hsp25 expression was associated with cell survival. Prior heat shock or overexpression of Hsp27 (human homologue of Hsp25) delayed cytochrome c release, caspase activation, and reduced the level of apoptosis caused by 6-OHDA. We conclude that 6-OHDA induces a variety of responses in cultured PC12 cells ranging from cell survival to apoptosis, and that induction of stress proteins such as Hsp25 may protect cells from undergoing 6-OHDA-induced apoptosis.     

Human albumin prevents 6-hydroxydopamine-induced loss of tyrosine hydroxylase in in vitro and in vivo

Human albumin has recently been demonstrated to protect brain neurons from injury in rat ischemic brain. However, there is no information available about whether human albumin can prevent loss of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) expression of dopaminergic (DA) neurons induced by 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) toxicity that is most commonly used to create a rat model of Parkinson's disease (PD). In the present study, two microliters of 1.25% human albumin were stereotaxically injected into the right striatum of rats one day before or 7 days after the 6-OHDA lesion in the same side. D-Amphetamine-induced rotational asymmetry was measured 7 days, 3 and 10 weeks after 6-OHDA lesion. We observed that intrastriatal administration of human albumin significantly reduced the degree of rotational asymmetry. The number of TH-immunoreactive neurons present in the substantia nigra was greater in 6-OHDA lesioned rats following human albumin-treatment than non-human albumin treatment. TH-immunoreactivity in the 6-OHDA-lesioned striatum was also significantly increased in the human albumin-treated rats. To examine the mechanisms underlying the effects of human albumin, we challenged PC12 cells with 6-OHDA as an in vitro model of PD. Incubation with human albumin prevented 6-OHDA-induced reduction of cell viability in PC12 cell cultures, as measured by MTT assay. Furthermore, human albumin reduced 6-OHDA-induced formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and apoptosis in cultured PC12 cells, as assessed by flow cytometry. Western blot analysis showed that human albumin inhibited 6-OHDA-induced activation of JNK, c-Jun, ERK, and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) signaling in PC12 cultures challenged with 6-OHDA. Human albumin may protect against 6-OHDA toxicity by influencing MAPK pathway followed by anti-ROS formation and anti-apoptosis.     

Caspases Mediate 6-Hydroxydopamine-Induced Apoptosis but Not Necrosis in PC12 Cells

Abstract: The neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) induces apoptosis in the rat phaeochromocytoma cell line PC12. 6-OHDA-induced apoptosis is morphologically indistinguishable from serum deprivation-induced apoptosis. Exposure of PC12 cells to a low concentration of 6-OHDA (25 µ M ) results in apoptosis, whereas an increased concentration (50 µ M ) results in a mixture of apoptosis and necrosis. We investigated the involvement of caspases in the apoptotic death of PC12 cells induced by 6-OHDA, using a general caspase inhibitor, benzyloxycarbonyl-Val-Ala-Asp-fluoromethyl ketone (zVAD-fmk), and compared this with serum deprivation-induced apoptosis, which is known to involve caspases. We show that zVAD-fmk (100 µ M ) completely prevented the apoptotic morphology of chromatin condensation induced by exposure to either 6-OHDA (25 and 50 µ M ) or serum deprivation. Furthermore, cell lysates from 6-OHDA-treated cultures showed cleavage of a fluorogenic substrate for caspase-3-like proteases (caspase-2, 3, and 7), acetyl-Asp-Glu-Val-Asp-aminomethylcoumarin, and this was inhibited by zVAD-fmk. However, although zVAD-fmk restored total cell viability to serum-deprived cells or cells exposed to 25 µ M 6-OHDA, the inhibitor did not restore viability to cells exposed to 50 µ M 6-OHDA. These data show the involvement of a caspase-3-like protease in 6-OHDA-induced apoptosis and that caspase inhibition is sufficient to rescue PC12 cells from the apoptotic but not the necrotic component of 6-OHDA neurotoxicity.     

Gallic Acid Protects 6-OHDA Induced Neurotoxicity by Attenuating Oxidative Stress in Human Dopaminergic Cell Line

Gallic acid is one of the most important polyphenolic compounds, which is considered an excellent free radical scavenger. 6-Hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) is a neurotoxin, which has been implicated in mainly Parkinson’s disease (PD). In this study, we investigated the molecular mechanism of the neuroprotective effects of gallic acid on 6-OHDA induced apoptosis in human dopaminergic cells, SH-SY5Y. Our results showed that 6-OHDA induced cytotoxicity in SH-SY5Y cells was suppressed by pre-treatment with gallic acid. The percentage of live cells (90%) was high in the pre-treatment of gallic acid when compared with 6-OHDA alone treated cell line. Moreover, gallic acid was very effective in attenuating the disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential, elevated levels of intracellular ROS and apoptotic cell death induced by 6-OHDA. Gallic acid also lowered the ratio of the pro-apoptotic Bax protein and the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 protein in SH-SY5Y cells. 6-OHDA exposure was up-regulated caspase-3 and Keap-1 and, down-regulated Nrf2, BDNF and p-CREB, which were sufficiently reverted by gallic acid pre-treatment. These findings indicate that gallic acid is able to protect the neuronal cells against 6-OHDA induced injury and proved that gallic acid might potentially serve as an agent for prevention of several human neurodegenerative diseases caused by oxidative stress and apoptosis.     

Fibronectin protects prostate cancer cells from tumor necrosis factor-alpha-induced apoptosis via the AKT/survivin pathway

Integrins are cell surface heterodimeric transmembrane receptors that, in addition to mediating cell adhesion to extracellular matrix proteins modulate cell survival. This mechanism may be exploited in cancer where evasion from apoptosis invariably contributes to cellular transformation. The molecular mechanisms responsible for matrix-induced survival signals begin to be elucidated. Here we report that the inhibitor of apoptosis survivin is expressed in vitro in human prostate cell lines with the highest levels present in aggressive prostate cancer cells such as PC3 and LNCaP-LN3 as well as in vivo in prostatic adenocarcinoma. We also show that interference with survivin in PC3 prostate cancer cells using a Cys84--> Ala dominant negative mutant or survivin antisense cDNA causes nuclear fragmentation, hypodiploidy, cleavage of a 32-kDa proform caspase-3 to active caspase-3, and proteolysis of the caspase substrate poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase. We demonstrate that in the aggressive PC3 cell line, adhesion to fibronectin via beta1 integrins results in up-regulation of survivin and protection from apoptosis induced by tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha). In contrast, survivin is not up-regulated by cell adhesion in the non-tumorigenic LNCaP cell line. Dominant negative survivin counteracts the ability of fibronectin to protect cells from undergoing apoptosis, whereas wild-type survivin protects non-adherent cells from TNF-alpha-induced apoptosis. Evidence is provided that expression of beta1A integrin is necessary to protect non-adherent cells transduced with survivin from TNF-alpha-induced apoptosis. In contrast, the beta1C integrin, which contains a variant cytoplasmic domain, is not able to prevent apoptosis induced by TNF-alpha in non-adherent cells transduced with survivin. Finally, we show that regulation of survivin levels by integrins are mediated by protein kinase B/AKT. These findings indicate that survivin is required to maintain a critical anti-apoptotic threshold in prostate cancer cells and identify integrin signaling as a crucial survival pathway against death receptor-mediated apoptosis.     

Protective effects of green tea polyphenols and their major component, (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), on 6-hydroxydopamine-induced apoptosis in PC12 cells

Green tea polyphenols exert a wide range of biochemical and pharmacological effects, and have been shown to possess antimutagenic and anticarcinogenic properties. Oxidative stress is involved in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease. However, although green tea polyphenols may be expected to inhibit the progression of Parkinson's disease on the basis of their known antioxidant activity, this has not previously been established. In the present study, we evaluated the neuroprotective effects of green tea polyphenols in the Parkinson's disease pathological cell model. The results show that the natural antioxidants have significant inhibitory effects against apoptosis induced by oxidative stress. 6-Hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced apoptosis in catecholaminergic PC12 cells was chosen as the in vitro model of Parkinson's disease in our study. Apoptotic characteristics of PC12 cells were assessed by MTT assay, flow cytometry, fluorescence microscopy and DNA fragmentation. Green tea polyphenols and their major component, EGCG at a concentration of 200 microM, exert significant protective effects against 6-OHDA-induced PC12 cell apoptosis. EGCG is more effective than the mixture of green tea polyphenols. The antioxidant function of green tea polyphenols may account for this neuroprotective effect. The present study supports the notion that green tea polyphenols have the potential to be effective as neuropreventive agents for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.     

Catechin attenuates 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced cell death in primary cultures of mesencephalic cells

Past studies have shown the protective effects of tea catechins on oxidative cell damage induced by 6-OHDA in PC12 cells. In this study we verified whether or not catechin prevents 6-OHDA-induced oxidative cell damage in primary cultures of rat mesencephalic cells. On exposure to 6-OHDA (200 microM), the cultures showed a marked decrease in cell viability, disturbances in lipid peroxidation, and an increased generation of NO, as assayed by MTT, TBARS and nitrite assays, respectively. Introduction of catechin significantly attenuated the cell death caused by 6-OHDA at concentrations of 3.4, 34 and 340 microM in a dose-related manner. Catechin produced no marked changes on 6-OHDA-induced increases in NO, but caused a significant inhibition of lipid peroxidation. These results suggest that catechins offer similar cytoprotection against 6-OHDA-induced oxidative cell damage in mesencephalic cell cultures, as previously described in PC12 cells. The cytoprotective function of catechin results from its antioxidant property and is not due to the inhibition of nitric oxide synthase. These findings further support and substantiate traditional consumption of catechin rich green/black tea as protection against neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinsonism.     

茶多酚保护脑神经防止帕金森病损伤作用及其分子机理

详细介绍了茶多酚保护脑神经防止PD损伤作用及其分子机理.家族遗传虽然是帕金森病(PD)的重要因素,但主要与环境因素有关(大约70%),其中氧化应激在致病机理中发挥着重要作用.茶多酚的抗氧化作用和及饮后可以进入血液甚至穿越血脑屏障为其保护脑神经防止PD提供了重要条件.在细胞水平,选择6-OHDA诱导的PC12和SH-SYSY细胞作为细胞模型.结果表明,茶多酚预处理可明显减少细胞的凋亡率,防止线粒体膜电位下降,降低细胞内活性氧和钙离子累积.茶多酚还可以抑制6-OHDA诱导NO升高和nNOS与iNOS过量表达,降低细胞内蛋白质结合硝基酪氨酸水平.在动物水平,利用6-OHDA建立PD大鼠模型,探讨茶多酚对其保护作用机制.结果发现,茶多酚可以浓度和时间依赖性减轻6-OHDA诱导产生的旋转行为,降低中脑和纹状体中ROS和NO含量、脂质过氧化程度、硝酸盐/亚硝酸盐含量、蛋白质结合硝基酪氨酸浓度,同时降低nNOS和iNOS表达水平.茶多酚预处理可增加黑质致密部存活神经元,减少凋亡细胞.上述实验结果证明,口服茶多酚可以有效保护脑组织免于6-OHDA损伤引起的神经细胞死亡,其保护作用可能是通过ROS和NO的途径减少过氧亚硝基的生成实现的.     

Differential effect of catecholamines and MPP(+) on membrane permeability in brain mitochondria and cell viability in PC12 cells.

The present study examined the effect of dopamine, 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA), and MPP(+) on the membrane permeability transition in brain mitochondria and on viability in PC12 cells. Dopamine and 6-hydroxydopamine induced the swelling and membrane potential change in mitochondria, which was inhibited by addition of antioxidant enzymes, SOD and catalase. In contrast, antioxidant enzymes did not reduce the effect of MPP(+) on mitochondrial swelling and membrane potential. Catecholamines enhanced the Ca(2+) uptake and release by mitochondria, and the addition of MPP(+) induced Ca(2+) release. Catecholamines induced a thiol oxidation in mitochondria that was decreased by antioxidant enzymes. MPP(+) showed a little effect on the cytochrome c release from mitochondria and did not induce thiol oxidation. Catecholamines and MPP(+) induced a cell death, including apoptosis, in PC12 cells that was inhibited by addition of antioxidant enzymes. The result suggests that the oxidation of dopamine and 6-hydroxydopamine could modulate the membrane permeability in brain mitochondria and induce PC12 cell death, which may be ascribed to oxidative stress. MPP(+) appears to exert a toxic effect on neuronal cells by the action, which is different from catecholamines.     

甘薯提取物对谷氨酸所致PC12细胞损伤的保护作用初探

观察甘薯提取物对谷氨酸诱导的PC12细胞损伤的保护作用.将大鼠嗜铬细胞瘤细胞(PC12)分为空白对照组、模型组、甘薯提取物0.1、1.0、10.0 μg/mL低、中、高剂量组和1.0 μmol/L尼莫地平阳性药物对照组,用2.0 mmol/L谷氨酸造成PC12细胞损伤,MTT法测定损伤细胞的存活率,观察其细胞损伤的形态学变化,考察甘薯提取物对谷氨酸所致PC12细胞损伤的保护作用.结果表明甘薯提取物可明显提高谷氨酸诱导的PC12损伤细胞存活率,同时能够明显改善谷氨酸诱导的PC12损伤细胞的细胞形态变化,并呈现剂量相关性,具有一定的神经营养及保护作用.