Feeding scallop shell powder induces the expression of uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) in white adipose tissue of rats

Previously we found that the organic components in scallop shell promote lipolysis in differentiated 3T3-L1 and C3H10T1/2 adipocyte cells, and that incorporating scallop shell powder into the diet of rats reduced the amount of white adipose tissue. In this study, we used RT-PCR to investigate the effect of ingesting scallop shell powder on the gene expression profile of uncoupling proteins (UCPs) regulating energy metabolism in rats.Feeding of scallop shell powder increased mRNA levels of UCP1 and UCP2 in white adipose tissue. By contrast, scallop shell powder had no effect on the expression of UCP1 in brown adipose tissue, although the expression level of UCP2 mRNA decreased significantly. These results suggest that feeding scallop shell powder increases gene expression of UCP1 that may regulate energy metabolism in white adipose tissue, resulting in the observed reduction in weight of white adipose tissue.     

野大豆(Glycine soja)叶绿体的光谱及其激子能量转移

野大豆叶绿体在低温(77K)时出现三条荧光发射谱带,它们来源于不同的色素蛋白复合体。 在纳秒脉冲激光激发下,捕光天线色素的相对荧光量子产额,随激光强度的增加有明显下降现象。用激子理论和动力学方程讨论和计算了激子扩散参量。指出激子转移是随机的,非相干的。     

O‐GlcNAcylation of protein kinase A catalytic subunits enhances its activity: a mechanism linked to learning and memory deficits in Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized clinically by memory loss and cognitive decline. Protein kinase A (PKA)‐CREB signaling plays a critical role in learning and memory. It is known that glucose uptake and O‐GlcNAcylation are reduced in AD brain. In this study, we found that PKA catalytic subunits (PKAcs) were posttranslationally modified by O‐linked N‐acetylglucosamine (O‐GlcNAc). O‐GlcNAcylation regulated the subcellular location of PKAcα and PKAcβ and enhanced their kinase activity. Upregulation of O‐GlcNAcylation in metabolically active rat brain slices by O‐(2‐acetamido‐2‐deoxy‐d ‐glucopyranosylidenamino) N‐phenylcarbamate (PUGNAc), an inhibitor of N‐acetylglucosaminidase, increased the phosphorylation of tau at the PKA site, Ser214, but not at the non‐PKA site, Thr205. In contrast, in rat and mouse brains, downregulation of O‐GlcNAcylation caused decreases in the phosphorylation of CREB at Ser133 and of tau at Ser214, but not at Thr205. Reduction in O‐GlcNAcylation through intracerebroventricular injection of 6‐diazo‐5‐oxo‐l ‐norleucine (DON), the inhibitor of glutamine fructose‐6‐phosphate amidotransferase, suppressed PKA‐CREB signaling and impaired learning and memory in mice. These results indicate that in addition to cAMP and phosphorylation, O‐GlcNAcylation is a novel mechanism that regulates PKA‐CREB signaling. Downregulation of O‐GlcNAcylation suppresses PKA‐CREB signaling and consequently causes learning and memory deficits in AD.     

农田休闲后土壤微生物类群和酶活性的变化及对西洋参种植的影响

研究农田经不同休闲年限后的土壤肥力、微生物类群和酶活性的关系.试验结果表明,农田土栽参在经过土壤体闲后土壤的有机质、速效氮和速效钾的含量均高于未经休闲的土壤.在休闲1年后,各类微生物的增长幅度是最大的.细菌增长了25倍,真菌增长5.6倍,放线菌增长4倍.当休闲2年后,微生物的增长速度明显降低.土壤在休闲1年后过氧化氢酶的活性提高了16%,蔗糖酶活性虽略有提高但差异不显著.休闲后土壤的氨化作用和硝化作用明显提高,其中休闲1年的土壤硝化作用比休闲前的提高33.5%.     

Efficient Passivation of Hybrid Perovskite Solar Cells Using Organic Dyes with COOH Functional Group

Organic–inorganic halide perovskites are efficient absorbers for solar cells. Nevertheless, the trap states at the surfaces and grain boundaries are a detrimental factor compromising the device performance. Here, an organic dye (AQ310) is employed as passivator to reduce the trap states of the perovskites and promote better stability. The results demonstrate that the trap states of perovskite are minimized by the presence of AQ310's ?COOH group and the formation of coordination with under‐coordinated Pb²⁺ ions. The resulting carrier recombination time is prolonged and verified by the photoluminescence and open‐circuit voltage decay measurements. Consequently, the best average power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 19.43% is achieved for the perovskite solar cell (PSC) with AQ310 passivation, as compared with a low average PCE of 17.98% for the PSC without AQ310 passivation.     

Cyclin G2 is degraded through the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway and mediates the antiproliferative effect of activin receptor-like kinase 7

We have previously reported that Nodal, a member of the TGF-β superfamily, acts through activin receptor-like kinase 7 (ALK7) to inhibit ovarian cancer cell proliferation. To determine the mechanism underlying their effects, a cell cycle gene array was performed and cyclin G2 mRNA was found to be strongly up-regulated by Nodal and ALK7. To study the function and regulation of cyclin G2 in ovarian cancer cells, expression constructs were generated. We found that cyclin G2 protein level decreased rapidly after transfection, and this decrease was prevented by 26S proteasome inhibitors. Immunoprecipitation and pull-down studies showed that ubiquitin, Skp1, and Skp2 formed complexes with cyclin G2. Knockdown of Skp2 by siRNA increased, whereas overexpression of Skp2 decreased cyclin G2 levels. Nodal and ALK7 decreased the expression of Skp1 and Skp2 and increased cyclin G2 levels. Overexpression of cyclin G2 inhibited cell proliferation whereas cyclin G2-siRNA reduced the antiproliferative effect of Nodal and ALK7. Taken together, these findings provide strong evidence that cyclin G2 is degraded by the ubiquitin–proteasome pathway and that Skp2 plays a role in regulating cyclin G2 levels. Furthermore, our results also demonstrate that the antiproliferative effect of Nodal/ALK7 on ovarian cancer cells is in part mediated by cyclin G2.     

Temporal relationship of autophagy and apoptosis in neurons challenged by low molecular weight β‐amyloid peptide

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an aging‐related progressive neurodegenerative disorder. Previous studies suggested that various soluble Aβ species are neurotoxic and able to activate apoptosis and autophagy, the type I and type II programmed cell death, respectively. However, the sequential and functional relationships between these two cellular events remain elusive. Here we report that low molecular weight Aβ triggered cleavage of caspase 3 and poly (ADP‐ribose) polymerase to cause neuronal apoptosis in rat cortical neurons. On the other hand, Aβ activated autophagy by inducing autophagic vesicle formation and autophagy related gene 12 (ATG12), and up‐regulated the lysoso‐mal machinery for the degradation of autophagosomes. Moreover, we demonstrated that activation of autophagy by Aβ preceded that of apoptosis, with death associated protein kinase phosphorylation as the potential molecular link. More importantly, under Aβ toxicity, neurons exhibiting high level of autophagosome formation were absent of apoptotic features, and inhibition of autophagy by 3‐methylade‐nine advanced neuronal apoptosis, suggesting that autophagy can protect neurons from Aβ‐induced apoptosis.     

ICAM在着床期小鼠PBLC及EC/DC中表达的研究(英文)

细胞粘附分子（ＣＡＭ）可介导细胞间及细胞与间质之间的相互作用并传导信息,参与机体胚胎发育、免疫调节、炎症反应、组织修复及肿瘤转移等生理和病理过程。细胞间粘附分子１（ＩＣＡＭ１）是主要的ＣＡＭ分子之一,可表达于活化的细胞,内皮细胞等。人膜是母体与胚胎滋养层直接接触的特殊组织、已发现蜕膜细胞在着床过程中参与了局部免疫耐受的形成,但对着床期ＩＣＡＭ１在蜕膜细胞表达的动态研究鲜见报道。本研究采用免疫荧光、多参数流式细胞术,分别从整体和局部角度、着床过程中外周血淋巴细胞（ＰＢＬＣ）及子宫内膜／蜕膜（ＥＣ／ＤＣ）细胞ＩＣＡＭ１的不同表达特点进行了动态观察和对比性分析。结果发现,ＩＣＡＭ１在着床期ＰＢＬＣ及ＥＣ／ＤＣ中的表达均存在明显的动态变化（Ｔａｂ．１;Ｆｉｇｓ．１＆２）。ＩＣＡＭ１在ＰＢＬＣ中的表达于妊娠第一天（Ｄ１）即开始降低,Ｄ２降至最低;与此不同,ＩＣＡＭ１在ＥＣ／ＤＣ中的表达于Ｄ２开始降低,Ｄ４降至最低,Ｄ５开始恢复,但尚未恢复到对照水平。结果表明,ＩＣＡＭ１在蜕膜局部的表达调节方式不同于外周血;ＩＣＡＭ１表达阳性的外周血,淋巴细胞和蜕膜细胞均代表着活化的功能性细胞,这些细胞表面ＩＣＡＭ     

The use of intensity‐based Doppler variance method for single vessel response to functional neurovascular activation

This study presents 1 use of optical coherence tomography (OCT) angiography technique to examine neurovascular coupling effect. Repeated B‐scans OCT recording is performed on the rat somatosensory cortex with cranial window preparation while its contralateral forepaw is electrically stimulated to activate the neurons in rest. We use an intensity‐based Doppler variance (IBDV) algorithm mapped cerebral blood vessels in the cortex, and the temporal alteration in blood perfusion during neurovascular activation is analyzed using the proposed IBDV quantitative parameters. By using principal component analysis‐based Fuzzy C Means clustering method, the stimulus‐evoked vasomotion patterns were classified into 3 categories. We found that the response time of small vessels (resting diameter 14.9 ±6.6 μm), middle vessels (resting diameter 21.1 ±7.9 μm) and large vessels (resting diameter 50.7 ±6.5 μm) to achieve 5% change of vascular dilation after stimulation was 1.5, 2 and 5.5 seconds, respectively. Approximately 5% peak change of relative blood flow (RBF) in both small and middle vessels was observed. The large vessels react slowly and their responses nearly 4 seconds delayed, but no significant change in RBF of the large vessels was seen.