Localization of neuropeptide Y-like immunoreactivity in the cat hypothalamus

The distribution pattern of neuropeptide Y-like immunoreactivity (NPY-Li) in cat hypothalamus was studied using avidin-biotin modification of immunocytochemical method. This study showed cell bodies containing NPY-Li in the periventricular and the infundibular nuclei and also a moderate number of neurons with NPY-Li in the ventromedial nucleus, an observation not reported in earlier studies. Fibers with NPY-Li were noted throughout the hypothalamus, but most prominently within the periventricular regions. The location of NPY cells within the hypothalamus suggests the possibility of an interaction with dopaminergic and other proopiomelanocortinergic neurons.     

Properties of ornithine decarboxylase-antizyme from mammary gland of lactating rats

Ornithine decarboxylase-antizyme was induced in mammary gland of fasted lactating rats by administration of 1,3-diaminopropan-2-ol. Antizyme from mammary gland showed similar chemical and kinetic behavior to that previously reported by Canellakis and co-workers for antizyme from liver [J. S. Heller, W. F. Fong, and E. S. Canellakis (1976) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 72, 1858-1862]; specifically the inhibitor was nondialyzable, heat labile, and ribonuclease insensitive, and the inhibition was time independent, proportional to the concentration of antizyme present, and noncompetitive with respect to the substrate, ornithine. However, ornithine decarboxylase-antizyme from mammary gland eluted from Sephadex G-75 with an apparent molecular mass of 55 kDa, compared with 27 kDa, for antizyme from liver under identical conditions. The elution pattern was unaffected by the presence of high salt concentrations, indicating that the larger size was not due to macromolecular complexes. The presence of antizyme-ornithine decarboxylase complex was detected in mammary gland of untreated lactating rats fasted for 6 or 24 h, thus indicating that antizyme plays a role in the regulation of ornithine decarboxylase in mammary gland under physiological conditions.     

利用阵列分析水稻AP2/EREBP 家族基因的表达特性

AP2/EREBP蛋白是广泛存在于高等植物中的且包含AP2/EREBP功能域的重要转录因子家族, 通常可分为包含单功能域的EREBP类蛋白和包含两个功能域的AP2类蛋白, 它们的功能涉及植物生长发育调控和对逆境应答等许多方面。据预测,水稻基因组编码150个左右的AP2/EREBP 家族成员, 但目前绝大多数蛋白的功能仍不清楚。为了解这些基因在水稻不同器官中的表达特性, 我们以AP2/EREBP功能域的氨基酸序列为基础, 从水稻基因组数据库中搜索到12个AP2类以及20个EREBP类预测基因, 利用PCR扩增的编码区序列制备了这些预测基因的macro-array。 以幼芽、幼根、幼叶、颖花和灌浆期成熟叶的 cDNA为探针, 杂交分析结果显示: 不同AP2类预测基因之间的表达量差别较大, 但同一个基因在不同器官中表达量基本一致; 与此不同的是, 大部分EREBP类预测基因在幼根和成熟叶片中表达量较高, 而在幼芽和幼叶中表达量较低。这些预测基因的表达模式可能与它们的功能密切相关。     

近自然化改造对马尾松和杉木人工林生物量及其分配的影响

近自然化改造作为森林新增碳汇的最有希望的选择之一,将如何通过改变林分结构影响林分生物量和生产力进而影响林分固碳能力和潜力目前尚不清楚,因此,了解近自然化改造对人工林生物量及其分配的影响,对人工林生态系统碳管理具有重要意义。以马尾松近自然化改造林(P(CN))、马尾松未改造纯林(P(CK))、杉木近自然改造林(C(CN))和杉木未改造纯林(C(CK))4种人工林为研究对象,采用样方调查和生物量实测的方法,分析4种林分生物量差异,旨在揭示近自然化改造对马尾松和杉木人工林生物量及其分配的影响。结果表明:马尾松杉木人工林近自然化改造通过调整林分结构显著提升马尾松和杉木人工林生物量和生产力,8a后马尾松和杉木林分生物量分别增加46.71%和37.24%。乔木层生物量在林分生物量总量中占主导地位(95.48%-98.82%),并对林分生态系统总生物量变化起决定性作用。林分生物量和生产力的增加主要因为近自然化改造改变了林分群落结构,进而提高了乔木层生产力。研究结果表明,合理的经营措施不仅可以改善林分结构,提升林分生产力,并可为增强植被固碳能力创造有利条件。     

青蒿素衍生物对Na+和K+通道的抑制及其与普鲁卡因作用的比较

抗疟新药青蒿素的某些含氮衍生物在动物实验中还显示中局部麻醉效应。本工作利用分化的ＮＣ１０８－１５细胞,在全细胞电压箝位下,比较了五种青蒿素 生物和普鲁卡因对电压门控钠流和延迟整汉钾流的作用。所观察的五种衍生物均部分可逆地和剂量依赖地抑制ＩＮａ,其中含芳香环的ＳＭ５４１作用最强,效应与普鲁卡因的相近。３００μｍｏｌ／Ｌ普卡因对ＩＫ只有微弱的抑制作用;而五种衍生物在相同浓度下均明显抑制ＩＫ,并加快它的     

Polymeric micelles with glycolipid-like structure and multiple hydrophobic domains for mediating molecular target delivery of paclitaxel

Herein, polymeric micelles with glycolipid-like structure and about 40 nm diameter are prepared by self-aggregation from stearate-grafted chitosan oligosaccharides in aqueous medium. The micelles, with high degree of substitution (DS), present specific spatial structure with multiple hydrophobic "minor cores", and thus obtain excellent internalization into cancer cells and accumulation in cytoplasm. Furthermore, the micelles showed pH-sensitive properties, thus favoring intracellular delivery of encapsulated drug via endocytosis. The cell cytotoxicity of paclitaxel encapsulated in micelles was improved sharply and contributed to the increased intracellular delivery of the drug. The present micelles are a promising carrier candidate for targeting therapy of antitumor drugs with a cytoplasmic molecule target.     

~（60）Co－γ射线诱变钝顶螺旋藻的研究

用不同剂量的６０Ｃｏ－γ射线诱变钝顶螺旋藻Ｓｐｉｒｕｌｉｎａｐｌａｔｅｎｓｉｓ出发株（Ｓｐ）ＩＳ－９００１０,筛选获得两株抗高光抑制突变株（Ｓｐ）ＡＩｐ－９００１０和（Ｓｐ）ＡＩｐ－９００１１,然后比较出发株和突变株的一般形态和生理生化特性。出发株和突变株的一般形态有较大的差异,与出发株相比,两个突变株藻丝体显著变短,螺旋数目大大减小。出发株是对高光敏感的品系,而突变株表现明显的抗高光抑制,１３０００ｌｘ光强下出发株和两个突变株的代时分别为２９．４、２０．８和２２．２ｈ。（Ｓｐ）ＡＩｐ－９００１１的光合作用和呼吸作用与出发株相似,而（Ｓｐ）ＡＩｐ－９００１０明显地表现出高光合、低呼吸作用。突变株和出发株都属于中温品系,最适温度为２８℃,具有较广的温度适应范围（２３～３５℃）以及相同的耐盐性,但突变株的生长速率比出发株快、代时短。此外三者的蛋白质含量、氨基酸组成差别不大：（Ｓｐ）ＡＩｐ－９００１１的可溶性多糖比出发株减少４０％。而在（Ｓｐ）ＡＩｐ－９００１０中其含量提高６０％。     

Rapid Engineering of the Geldanamycin Biosynthesis Pathway by Red/ET Recombination and Gene Complementation

Genetic manipulation of antibiotic producers, such as Streptomyces species, is a rational approach to improve the properties of biologically active molecules. However, this can be a slow and sometimes problematic process. Red/ET recombination in an Escherichia coli host has permitted rapid and more versatile engineering of geldanamycin biosynthetic genes in a complementation plasmid, which can then be readily transferred into the Streptomyces host from which the corresponding wild type gene(s) has been removed. With this rapid Red/ET recombination and gene complementation approach, efficient gene disruptions and gene replacements in the geldanamycin biosynthetic gene cluster have been successfully achieved. As an example, we describe here the creation of a ketoreductase 6 null mutation in an E. coli high-copy-number plasmid carrying gdmA2A3 from Streptomyces hygroscopicus NRRL3602 and the subsequent complementation of a gdmA2A3 deletion host with this plasmid to generate a novel geldanamycin analog.     

Effect of MOI ratio on the composition and yield of chimeric infectious bursal disease virus-like particles by baculovirus co-infection: deterministic predictions and experimental results

Virus-like particles (VLPs) are empty particles consisting of virus capsid proteins that closely resemble native virus but are devoid of the native viral nucleic acids and therefore have attracted significant attention as noninfectious vaccines. A recombinant baculovirus, vIBD-7, which encodes the structural proteins (VP2, VP3, and VP4) of infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV), produces native IBD VLPs in infected Spodoptera frugiperda insect cells. Another baculovirus, vEDLH-22, encodes VP2 that is fused with a histidine affinity-tag (VP2H) at the C-terminus. By co-infection with these two baculoviruses, hybrid VLPs with histidine tags were formed and purified by immobilized metal affinity chromatography (Hu et al., 1999). Also, we demonstrated that varying the MOI ratio of these infecting viruses altered the extent of VP2H incorporated into the particles. A dynamic mathematical model that described baculovirus infection and VLP synthesis (Hu and Bentley, 2000) was adapted here for co-infection and validated by immunofluorescence labeling. It was shown to predict the VLP composition as a dynamic function of MOI. A constraint in the VP2H content incorporated into the particles was predicted and shown by experiments. Also, the MOI ratio of both infecting viruses was shown to be the major factor influencing the composition of the hybrid particles and an important factor in determining the overall yield. ELISA results confirmed that VP2H was exhibited to a varied extent on the outer surface of the particles. This model provides insight on the use of virus co-infection in virus-mediated recombinant protein expression systems and aids in the optimization of chimeric VLP synthesis.     

Retigeric acid B exhibits antitumor activity through suppression of nuclear factor-κB signaling in prostate cancer cells in vitro and in vivo

Previously, we reported that retigeric acid B (RB), a natural pentacyclic triterpenic acid isolated from lichen, inhibited cell growth and induced apoptosis in androgen-independent prostate cancer (PCa) cells. However, the mechanism of action of RB remains unclear. In this study, we found that using PC3 and DU145 cells as models, RB inhibited phosphorylation levels of IκBα and p65 subunit of NF-κB in a time- and dosage-dependent manner. Detailed study revealed that RB blocked the nuclear translocation of p65 and its DNA binding activity, which correlated with suppression of NF-κB-regulated proteins including Bcl-2, Bcl-x(L), cyclin D1 and survivin. NF-κB reporter assay suggested that RB was able to inhibit both constitutive activated-NF-κB and LPS (lipopolysaccharide)-induced activation of NF-κB. Overexpression of RelA/p65 rescued RB-induced cell death, while knockdown of RelA/p65 significantly promoted RB-mediated inhibitory effect on cell proliferation, suggesting the crucial involvement of NF-κB pathway in this event. We further analyzed antitumor activity of RB in in vivo study. In C57BL/6 mice carrying RM-1 homografts, RB inhibited tumor growth and triggered apoptosis mainly through suppressing NF-κB activity in tumor tissues. Additionally, DNA microarray data revealed global changes in the gene expression associated with cell proliferation, apoptosis, invasion and metastasis in response to RB treatment. Therefore, our findings suggested that RB exerted its anti-tumor effect by targeting the NF-κB pathway in PCa cells, and this could be a general mechanism for the anti-tumor effect of RB in other types of cancers as well.