Differentiated fibroblastic progenies of human embryonic stem cells for toxicology screening

Immortalized cell lines and live animal models are commonly used for cytotoxicity screening of biomedical devices and materials. However, these assays poorly reflect human physiology and have numerous other disadvantages. An alternative may be to utilize differentiated fibroblastic progenies of human embryonic stem cells (hESC) for in vitro toxicology screening. These were generated through random spontaneous differentiation within standard culture media, over several passages. The cytotoxic response of the differentiated hESC fibroblastic progenies (pH9) to mitomycin C was observed to be not only very similar to the L929 cell line, but was, in fact, more sensitive. At an initial seeding density of 1000 cells/well (0.33 cm(2)), the proliferation index was observed to decrease 19.0% from 1.638 to 1.326 for the L929 cell line, as the dosage of mitomycin C was gradually increased from 0 to 1.54 microg/mL. By contrast, pH9 displayed a corresponding 40.5% drop in proliferation index from 3.713 to 2.209. At a higher seeding density of 2000 cells/well (0.33 cm(2)), the proliferation index was observed to decrease 27.0% from 1.213 to 0.885 for the L929 cell line, whereas pH9 displayed a corresponding 43.7% drop in proliferation index from 3.711 to 2.091. Hence, it is apparent that pH9 exhibited a more sensitive dose-response to mitomycin C compared to L929, which could be advantageous for cytotoxicity screening assays. Additionally, this study also demonstrated that a highly purified and well-defined phenotypic population of differentiated hESC progenies is not necessary for high reproducibility and accuracy in cytotoxic response.     

中国东部武夷山风景区苔藓中的缓步动物

记述了采自中国东部福建省武夷山风景区苔藓中的缓步动物11种,包括:日本棘影熊虫Echiniscus japonicus Morikawa,1951中国东部新纪录种;结痂棘影熊虫Echiniscus scabrospinesus Fontoura,1982中国东部新纪录种;华美假棘影熊虫Pseudechiniscus facettalis Petersen,1951中国东部新纪录种;迟缓小斑熊虫Milnesium tardigradum(Doyère,1840);埃卡门大生熊虫Macrobiotus ariekammensis Weglarska,1965中国东部新纪录种;节值大生熊虫,模式亚种Macrobiotus harms worthi harmsworthi Murray,1907;华丽大生熊虫Macrobiotus richtersi Murray,1911;陆栖大生熊虫Macrobiotus terricola Miheli,1949;异常拉玛熊虫Ramazzottius anomalus(Ramazzotti,1962)中国新纪录种;肥曲拉玛熊虫Ramazzottius oberhaeuseri(Doyère,1840);黄色具矛熊虫Doryphoribius flavus(Iharos,1966)中国东部新纪录种。所有的标本均保存于中国科学院水生生物研究所。     

中国牛蛭属一新种记述(吻蛭目,医蛭科)

报道了采自云南省景东县的牛蛭属Poecilobdella Blanchard,18931新种。由于新种总体环数为99环,生殖孔分别在30(Ⅺ)与38(ⅩⅢ)环内,两孔相隔7环;肛门在99环与尾吸盘交界线上;附睾呈卵圆形,精管膨腔呈梨形并且为前者的1/3大小;阴道盲囊呈圆球形,阴道管粗短且无阴道柄。因此与本属中所有的已知种均不相同。     

Enhanced performance in prediction of protein active sites with THEMATICS and support vector machines

Theoretical microscopic titration curves (THEMATICS) is a computational method for the identification of active sites in proteins through deviations in computed titration behavior of ionizable residues. While the sensitivity to catalytic sites is high, the previously reported sensitivity to catalytic residues was not as high, about 50%. Here THEMATICS is combined with support vector machines (SVM) to improve sensitivity for catalytic residue prediction from protein 3D structure alone. For a test set of 64 proteins taken from the Catalytic Site Atlas (CSA), the average recall rate for annotated catalytic residues is 61%; good precision is maintained selecting only 4% of all residues. The average false positive rate, using the CSA annotations is only 3.2%, far lower than other 3D-structure-based methods. THEMATICS-SVM returns higher precision, lower false positive rate, and better overall performance, compared with other 3D-structure-based methods. Comparison is also made with the latest machine learning methods that are based on both sequence alignments and 3D structures. For annotated sets of well-characterized enzymes, THEMATICS-SVM performance compares very favorably with methods that utilize sequence homology. However, since THEMATICS depends only on the 3D structure of the query protein, no decline in performance is expected when applied to novel folds, proteins with few sequence homologues, or even orphan sequences. An extension of the method to predict non-ionizable catalytic residues is also presented. THEMATICS-SVM predicts a local network of ionizable residues with strong interactions between protonation events; this appears to be a special feature of enzyme active sites.     

Analysis of several serum enzymes and blood urea nitrogen of swainsonine–HSA immunized goats

Locoweeds cause significant livestock poisoning and economic loss all over the world. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the immune effect of locoweed toxin, swainsonine (SW), and human serum albumin (HSA) immunoconjugate (SW–HSA) on goats. Twenty four Sannon goats were randomly separated into immune control group, immune poisoning group I, immune poisoning group II and poisoning control group. Immune control group, immune poisoning group I and II were first vaccinated with SW–HSA immunoconjugate. Then, the poisoning control group, immune poisoning group I and II were fed with 10.0 g/kg BW/d dry powder of Oxytropis kansuensis Bunge in every morning and the duration of poisoning was 80 days. The immune control group was supplied with an alfalfa-based diet. Blood samples of these experimental animals were collected every 7 days after poisoning, and the serum enzymes α-mannosidase (AMA), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), alkaline phosphatase (AKP), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) were analyzed. Comparing with the poisoning control group, the changes of serum LDH, AKP, AST, AMA and BUN level of the two immune groups (I and II) were delayed 28, 14, 28, 21, 14 days, respectively, which indicated that SW–HSA immunoconjugate could prevent tissues containing BUN and these serum enzymes of the experimental animals from Oxytropis kansuensis Bunge injuring during these days. In the whole study, SW–HSA immunoconjugate and swainsonine did not influence serum ALT levels of the experimental goats.     

Preterm birth without progesterone withdrawal in 15-hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase hypomorphic mice

Parturition is a complex mammalian physiological process whose fundamental determinants have remained elusive. The increasing incidence of human preterm birth, a leading cause of infant mortality, highlights the importance of further understanding mechanisms regulating the timing of birth. Parturition is initiated in most nonprimate mammals, including mice, through a decrease in circulating progesterone caused by elevated prostaglandins. In humans, other higher primates, and guinea pigs, no consistent decrease in circulating progesterone occurs before the onset of labor. The divergence in endocrine control of labor initiation between most mammals compared with the great apes and guinea pigs gives rise to the question: how could a mechanism for the initiation of labor not requiring the withdrawal of progesterone evolve? Here, we genetically modulate prostaglandin signaling to determine the role of prostaglandin catabolism in the timing of birth. We find spontaneous preterm labor in the absence of progesterone withdrawal in 15-hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase hypomorphic mice. The onset of labor in these hypomorphic mice is preceded by prematurely increased concentrations of prostaglandin E(2) and F(2alpha). Moreover, genetic crosses demonstrate a role for fetal genotype in birth timing. Together, these findings demonstrate a 15-hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase-dependent shift in the physiology of murine parturition to one resembling the physiology of higher primates. Thus, endocrine control of labor has the capacity to plastically adapt to changes in genetically determined prostaglandin signals.     

协同刺激分子与疾病

在T细胞表面受体中,除TCR外,协同刺激分子在调节T细胞的免疫反应中起关键性作用,目前较熟悉的协同刺激分子及其配体有：CD40／CD40L、B7—1／B7-2-CD28／CTLA-4、ICOS—B7RP-1。最近人们又发现了CD2-LFA3、CD5-CD5L、4—1BB／4—1BBL、HAS等新的协同刺激分子组合,它们在器官移植、肿瘤治疗、自身免疫病的治疗方面有重要作用;在基础研究中则可用于T细胞与B细胞分化、活化机制、抗原递呈、协同刺激机制、免疫耐受、移植排异反应和自体免疫等的研究。     

载脂蛋白E3的克隆及原核表达

载脂蛋白Ｅ(ａｐｏｌｉｐｏｐｒｏｔｅｉｎＥ ,ａｐｏＥ)由 2 99个氨基酸组成 ,分子量 34ｋＤ ,是维持人体正常脂质代谢的必需蛋白质 .它是乳糜微粒 (ＣＭ )、极低密度脂蛋白 (ＶＬＤＬ)和高密度脂蛋白 (ＨＤＬ)的组分 ,是极低密度脂蛋白受体的重要配体 ,是脂质进入细胞不可缺少的中介 .ａｐｏＥ有 3种同分异构体 :ａｐｏＥ2、ａｐｏＥ3、ａｐｏＥ4 ,分别具有不同的生理作用 .ａｐｏＥ4与血浆高胆固醇、心血管疾病和老年痴呆等疾病关联[1～ 3 ] .ａｐｏＥ2与Ⅲ型高脂血症有关 ,并对老年痴呆有防治作用[4,5] .ａｐｏＥ3是大多数健康人所具有…