CO2和O3浓度升高及其复合作用对玉米（Zea mays L.）活性氧代谢及抗氧化酶活性的影响

为了揭示CO2和O3浓度升高及其复合作用对植物活性氧(ROS)代谢及抗氧化酶活性的影响机理,以玉米(Zea mays L.)为研究材料,利用开顶式气室(OTCs)研究了CO2和O3浓度升高及其复合作用下,玉米叶片活性氧产生速率、含量,膜脂过氧化程度,抗氧化酶活性,净光合速率及玉米籽粒产量的变化.结果表明,在整个生育期内,与对照相比,高浓度CO2((550±20)μmol · mol-1)处理下,玉米叶片净光合速率升高,O- ·2 产生速率、H2O2含量下降, MDA含量、相对电导率减小,SOD、CAT、POD活性增强,玉米百粒重和穗粒数增加;而在O3浓度为(80±10)nmol · mol-1的条件下,玉米叶片净光合速率下降,O- ·2 产生速率、H2O2含量升高,MDA含量、相对电导率增大,SOD、CAT、POD活性减弱,玉米百粒重和穗粒数降低;CO2和O3浓度升高复合((550±20)μmol · mol-1 (80±10)nmol · mol-1)处理下,玉米叶片的净光合速率、H2O2含量、SOD活性先升高后降低, MDA含量、相对电导率、CAT活性增加,POD活性减弱,而O- ·2 产生速率几乎不变化,且玉米的百粒重和穗粒数略低于对照.以上结果说明,CO2浓度升高抑制了玉米叶片活性氧的代谢速率,提高了抗氧化酶的活性,从而增强了光合作用,使玉米籽粒产量增加,对玉米表现为保护效应,而O3浓度升高促进了玉米叶片活性氧的代谢速率,降低了抗氧化酶的活性,抑制了光合作用,使玉米籽粒产量下降,对玉米表现为伤害效应.在CO2和O3浓度升高复合处理下,CO2浓度升高在一定程度上缓解了O3浓度升高对玉米的伤害效应,而O3浓度升高亦在一定程度上削弱了CO2浓度升高对玉米的保护效应.     

Gene expression signature of human HepG2 cell line

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer worldwide and is associated with various clinico-pathological characteristics such as genetic mutations and viral infections. Therefore, numerous laboratories look out for identifying always new putative markers for the improvement of HCC diagnosis/prognosis. Many molecular profiling studies investigated gene expression changes related to HCC. HepG2 represents a pure cell line of human liver carcinoma, often used as HCC model due to the absence of viral infection. In this study we compare gene expression profiles associated with HepG2 (as HCC model) and normal hepatocyte cells by microarray technology. Hierarchical cluster analysis of genes evidenced that 2646 genes significantly down-regulated in HepG2 cells compared to hepatocytes whereas a further 3586 genes significantly up-regulated. By using the Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) program, we have classified the genes that were differently expressed and studied the functional networks correlating these genes in the complete human interactome. Moreover, to confirm the differentially expressed genes as well as the reliability of our microarray data, we performed a quantitative Real time RT-PCR analysis on 9 up-regulated and 11 down-regulated genes, respectively. In conclusion this work i) provides a gene signature of human hepatoma cells showing genes that change their expression as a consequence of liver cancer in the absence of any genetic mutations or viral infection, ii) evidences new differently expressed genes found in our signature compared to previous published studies and iii) suggests some genes on which to focus future studies to understand if they can be used to improve the HCC prognosis/diagnosis.