λ-Carrageenan P32 Is a Potent Inhibitor of Rabies Virus Infection

Rabies, caused by rabies virus (RABV), is an acute, fatal encephalitic disease that affects many warm-blooded mammals. Currently, post-exposure prophylaxis regimens are effective for most rabies cases, but once the clinical signs of the disease appear, current treatment options become ineffective. Carrageenan has been reported as a potent inhibitor of many viruses. In this study, the λ-carrageenan (λ-CG) P32 was investigated for its potential role in inhibiting RABV infection. Our results show that P32 specifically inhibits the replication of several RABV strains but not vesicular stomatitis virus in multiple cell lines and shows low cytotoxicity. P32 mainly abrogated viral replication during the early stage of the post-adsorption period. Further studies demonstrated that P32 could affect not only viral internalization but also viral uncoating by blocking cell fusion mediated by RABV glycoprotein. Moreover, P32 can fully inhibit RABV infection in vitro during the post-adsorption period, whereas heparin and heparan sulfate, which possess similar structures to P32, showed significant but not complete inhibition of RABV infectivity. Collectively, our results indicate that λ-CG P32 is a promising agent that can inhibit RABV infection mainly by inhibiting viral internalization and glycoprotein-mediated cell fusion and can be used for the development of novel anti-RABV drugs.     

核因子-κB与炎症

NF-κB是近年来研究较多的一类重要的转录因子,它参与许多与免疫炎症有关的细胞因子、粘附分子的转录调控,在免疫反应、炎症的形成过程中起重要作用.抑制NF-κB的活性,可能有助于炎症的治疗.     

种植牧草在白浆土改良中的作用

研究了农田生态系统中引种紫花苜蓿对土壤生态环境的影响。结果表明,紫花苜蓿种植3年以后,白浆土的通气孔隙增加2.37—5.34％,渗透系数增加0.7—5.5倍,土壤有机碳增加0.349—0.600％,作物产量平均提高25％。种植苜蓿比单种作物的产投比高0.36—0.39。