Impulse-dependent extracellular resting dopamine concentration in rat striatum in vivo

The ambient resting dopamine (DA) concentration in brain regulates cognition and motivation. Despite its importance, resting DA level in vivo remains elusive. Here, by high-frequency stimulation of the medial forebrain bundle and immediately following the stimulus-induced DA overflow, we recorded a DA “undershoot” which is a temporal reduction of DA concentration to a level below the baseline. Based on the DA undershoot, we predicted a resting DA concentration of ∼73 nM in rat striatum in vivo. Simulation studies suggested that removing basal DA by DAT during the post-stimulation inhibition of tonic DA release caused the DA undershoot, and the resting concentration of DA modulated the kinetics of the evoked DA transient. The DA undershoot was eliminated by either blocking D2 receptors with haloperidol or blocking the DA transporter (DAT) with cocaine. Therefore, the impulse-dependent resting DA concentration is in the tens of nanomolar range and is modulated by the presynaptic D2 receptors and the DAT in vivo.     

Activation of Gαq subunits up-regulates the expression of the tumor suppressor Fhit

The tumor suppressor Fhit protein is defective or absent in many tumor cells due to methylation, mutation or deletion of the FHIT gene. Despite numerous attempts to unravel the functions of Fhit, the mechanisms by which the function and expression of Fhit are regulated remain poorly understood. We have recently shown that activated Gα_q subunits interact directly with Fhit and enhance its inhibitory effect on cell growth. Here we investigated the regulation of Fhit expression by G_q. Our results showed that Fhit was up-regulated specifically by activating Gα subunits of the G_q subfamily but not by those of the other G protein subfamilies. This up-regulation effect was mediated by a PKC/MEK pathway independent of Src-mediated Fhit Tyr¹¹⁴ phosphorylation. We further demonstrated that elevated Fhit expression was due to the specific regulation of Fhit protein synthesis in the ribosome by activated Gα_q, where the regulations of cap-dependent protein synthesis were apparently not required. Moreover, we showed that activated Gα_q could increase cell–cell adhesion through Fhit. These findings provide a possible handle to modulate the level of the Fhit tumor suppressor by manipulating the activity of G_q-coupled receptors.     

Synthesis and structure–activity relationships evaluation of benzothiazinone derivatives as potential anti-tubercular agents

N-Alkyl and heterocycle substituted 1,3-benzothiazin-4-one (BTZ) derivatives were synthesized. The anti-mycobacterial activities of these compounds were evaluated by determination of minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) for Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra and M. tuberculosis H37Rv. It was found that an extended or branched alkyl chain analog could enhance the potency, and activities of N-alkyl substituted BTZs were not affected by either nitro or trifluoromethyl at 6-position. Trifluoromethyl plays an important role in maintaining anti-tubercular activity in the piperazine or piperidine analogs. Compound 8o, which contains an azaspirodithiolane group, showed a MIC of 0.0001 μM against M. tuberculosis H37Rv, 20-fold more potent than BTZ043 racemate. These results suggested that the volume and lipophilicity of the substituents were important in maintaining activity. In addition, compound 8o was nontoxic to Vero cells and orally bioavailable in a preliminary pharmacokinetics study.     

载脂蛋白A损伤小鼠骨髓源性EPCs血管发生能力及其机制

改善血流、促进血管新生是缺血性外周血管疾病的重要治疗措施．由于载脂蛋白A(ApoA)与纤溶酶原(plasminogen,Plg)具有75%～98%的结构同源性,因此,ApoA也可能通过类似Plg的方式抑制内皮祖细胞(endothelial progenitor cells,EPCs)增殖、黏附及迁移而影响血管发生的能力．本文研究ApoA对EPCs 血管发生的影响及机制．为了编码人ApoA全长cDNA序列的pSG-5表达载体,转染COS-7细胞株后进行培养,收集培养液,免疫亲和层析法分离纯化ApoA蛋白;从转ApoA基因小鼠、野生型对照鼠及正常对照鼠骨髓分离培养EPCs,经ApoA处理后移植下肢缺血实验小鼠,于移植后第3、7、14天后观察ApoA对EPCs黏附、迁移及血管发生能力的影响．研究发现,ApoA能显著降低 EPCs的黏附、迁移能力,Matrigel胶上,EPCs血管腔样结构严重破坏,体内实验揭示,EPCs归巢至ApoA转基因小鼠缺血组织血管周围的数量及毛细血管数量显著减少．结果表明,ApoA能损伤EPCs的黏附、迁移及归巢,最终损伤EPCs的血管发生能力．     

Effects of sphingosine-1-phosphate on pacemaker activity of interstitial cells of Cajal from mouse small intestine

Interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) are the pacemaker cells that generate the rhythmic oscillation responsible for the production of slow waves in gastrointestinal smooth muscle. Spingolipids are known to present in digestive system and are responsible for multiple important physiological and pathological processes. In this study, we are interested in the action of sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) on ICC. S1P depolarized the membrane and increased tonic inward pacemaker currents. FTY720 phosphate (FTY720P, an S1P_1,3,4,5 agonist) and SEW 2871 (an S1P₁ agonist) had no effects on pacemaker activity. Suramin (an S1P₃ antagonist) did not block the S1P-induced action on pacemaker currents. However, JTE-013 (an S1P₂ antagonist) blocked the S1P-induced action. RT-PCR revealed the presence of the S1P₂ in ICC. Calphostin C (a protein kinase C inhibitor), NS-398 (a cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor), PD 98059 (a p42/44 inhibitor), or SB 203580 (a p38 inhibitor) had no effects on S1P-induced action. However, c-jun NH₂-terminal kinase (JNK) inhibitor II suppressed S1P-induced action. External Ca²⁺-free solution or thapsigargin (a Ca²⁺-ATPase inhibitor of endoplasmic reticulum) suppressed action of S1P on ICC. In recording of intracellular Ca²⁺ ([Ca²⁺]_i) concentration using fluo-4/AM S1P increased intensity of spontaneous [Ca²⁺]_i oscillations in ICC. These results suggest that S1P can modulate pacemaker activity of ICC through S1P₂ via regulation of external and internal Ca²⁺ and mitogenactivated protein kinase activation.     

Predicting acidic and alkaline enzymes by incorporating the average chemical shift and gene ontology informations into the general form of Chou's PseAAC

Knowledge of the adaptation mechanism of enzymes to extreme pH values and distinguishing them from one another are necessary in the proteomics field, and would help in the drug design of stable enzymes. In this work, we have systematically analyzed the information of 105 acidic and 112 alkaline enzymes, and propose an approach for distinguishing acidic enzymes from alkaline enzymes by combining the amino acid composition, reduced amino acid composition, gene ontology, evolutionary information, and auto covariance of averaged chemical shift (acACS). The overall prediction accuracy is 94.01% by 10-fold cross-validation using the algorithm of support vector machine. This result is better than that obtained by other existing methods. The improvement of the overall prediction accuracy reaches up to 3.3% higher than those of the random forest algorithm and secondary structure amino acid composition. The acACS performance is excellent, indicating that our approach is better than other existing methods in the literature. A user-friendly web-server pred-enzymes for predicting acidic and alkaline enzymes has been established, which is accessible to the public.     

Kinetics of Apoptosis and Expression of Apoptosis-Related Proteins in Rat CA3 Hippocampus Cells After Experimental Diffuse Brain Injury

The present study examined kinetics of apoptosis and expression of apoptosis-related proteins Bcl-2, Bax, and caspase-3 in the CA3 hippocampus cells after diffuse brain injury (DBI) induced experimentally in rats. Percentage of apoptotic cells and expressions of above proteins were examined by flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry. Substantial neuronal apoptosis was documented in the CA3 hippocampus cells after DBI (22.26 ± 2.97 % at 72 h after DBI vs. 2.92 ± 0.88 % in sham-operated animals). Expression of Bc1-2 decreased, while expression of Bax and caspase-3 increased after DBI, with caspase-3 expression peaking after that of Bax (72 vs. 48 h, respectively). Further, the Bc1-2/Bax expression ratio decreased prior to increase of caspase-3 expression. In conclusion, cell apoptosis and altered expressions of Bcl-2, Bax, and caspase-3 are present in the CA3 region of hippocampus after experimental DBI. Changes in the Bc1-2/Bax expression ratio may facilitate activation of caspase-3 and aggravate neuronal apoptosis after brain injury.     

猪圆环病毒2型与猪细小病毒共感染对猪肺泡巨噬细胞吞噬功能及其干扰素表达水平的影响

【目的】分析猪圆环病毒2型(PCV2)与猪细小病毒(PPV)共感染对猪肺泡巨噬细胞(PAM)吞噬功能及其干扰素表达水平的影响,为进一步阐明猪断奶后多系统衰减综合征的发病机制提供实验依据。【方法】将48头5周龄健康仔猪随机分为PCV2组、PPV组、PCV2/PPV组和对照组,每组12头。PCV2和PPV组经口鼻途径分别接种PCV2或PPV,PCV2/PPV组同时接种PCV2和PPV,对照组接种细胞营养液。感染后3、7、14和35d(dpi)从每组随机选择3头剖杀,检测PAM的存活率、吞噬活性及其α1型干扰素(IFN-α1)、γ干扰素(IFN-γ)mRNA的表达水平。【结果】PCV2组和PCV2/PPV组PAM的存活率于3、7、14dpi均低于对照组,35dpi均与对照组PAM的存活率接近,PCV2与PCV2/PPV两组之间差异不显著(P>0.05);3个病毒感染组PAM的吞噬功能均显著下降(P<0.01),其中PCV2/PPV组的吞噬功能低于PCV2组(P<0.05);PCV2/PPV组PAM中IFN-α1和IFN-γ mRNA的水平持续低于PCV2、PPV组和对照组的水平(P<0.01)。【结论】PCV2与PPV共感染没有引起PAM的活力进一步下降,但导致其吞噬功能及IFN-α1和IFN-γmRNA的表达水平持续降低。