功能矫形前伸青春期大鼠下颌后翼外肌MyoD、myogenin的表达

目的：探讨＂应力-生长（改建）＂在细胞水平上的体现,为功能矫形治疗和矫治效果的保持提供新思路和实验依据。方法：本实验选用20只4周龄,雄性SD大鼠随机分为8组。其中实验组大鼠经戊巴比妥麻醉后佩戴上颌斜面导板,对照组未佩用。依据时间不同又分为四组：1d,7d,14d,21d。采用RT-PCR技术分析各组大鼠翼外肌组织中肌分化相关基因MyoD、myogenin mRNA的表达变化。结果：未施加功能矫形力的大鼠翼外肌组织MyoD表达伴随其生长发育呈现递减趋势,实验组在第7 d出现表达上调。同时,力学刺激后实验组动物myogenin的表达与对照组相比较在14 d组出现明显上调。结论：功能矫形力作用于翼外肌组织可以诱导MyoD和myogenin的表达上调进而诱导成肌细胞的分化。     

Responses of tropical cladocerans to a gradient of resource quality

1. The response of three tropical cladocerans to a gradient of resource quality was compared in a series of growth bioassays using seston collected from five lakes of different depth and trophic structure in Michigan, U.S.A. To assess the food quality in terms of digestibility, assimilation experiments were performed with ³²P‐labelled seston from the same lakes. Animals were also analysed for P‐content in their tissues at the end of these assays. 2. In general, assimilation efficiency was higher when animals fed on seston from shallow compared to deep lakes, and was significantly correlated with growth rates, suggesting that shallow lakes have the best food resources in terms of digestibility and P availability. 3. Results also showed that all cladoceran species responded similarly to the resource gradient, with lower growth rates in deep lakes and higher growth rates in shallow lakes, although the strength of response (sensitivity) was different among the species tested. 4. The cladoceran Moina micrura was the most sensitive species, and also displayed the highest P‐content and maximal growth rate, a pattern consistent with the growth rate hypothesis. 5. However, seston C : P ratio and growth rates in the different resources did not correlate with the animals’ P‐contents, showing an uncoupling between RNA‐phosphorus demands for growth and seston food quality. 6. In conclusion, our results support the idea that digestion resistance in algae is a major constraint to cladocerans in natural plankton communities.     

用RACE技术扩增并克隆牛BMP4基因3′端序列

RACE技术是一项扩增基因末端序列的新技术。该研究从牛BMP4基因出发,以牛软骨的RNA为模板,按照不同物种BMP4基因的相似性设计特异引物,运用PCR和RACE技术扩增并获得了特异片段,该片段经PCR、酶切和测序验证,证实所克隆序列为牛BMP4的3′端序列,包含有1170bp组成的开放读码框(ORF),编码389个氨基酸,3′非编码区121bp个核苷酸和poly(A)15。同源性分析结果表明,牛BMP4 cDNA最大开放读码框所推测的氨基酸序列与已知人、小鼠、大鼠、狗、羊和鸡等真核生物BMP4氨基酸序列进行比较,分别有94.5%、93.1%、91.9%、87.4%、94.2%、79%的同源性。这为克隆其他物种的BMP4基因提供了依据,同时牛骨形态发生蛋白的测序为我们更好的理解牛的生骨机理提供帮助。     

骨软骨复合支架的研究进展

软骨的修复是当前医学界十分棘手的难题,人们采取若干手段均收效甚微。由于软骨缺损时,其下的软骨下骨常出现硬化、退变,而新生软骨是无法与病变的软骨下骨进行整合的,所以在修复软骨的同时,必须重视软骨下骨的修复。近十几年来,人们开始发明和利用各种骨软骨复合支架,进行同时修复软骨与软骨下骨的动物实验研究。在正常骨软骨组织中,软骨与软骨下骨被钙化层所相连,此外钙化层也将软骨与软骨下骨分隔在不同的生存环境中。根据仿生学原理,人们又设计出一种带有隔离层的新型骨软骨复合支架,并取得了较为理想的实验结果。本文就国内外骨软骨复合支架的研完进展作一综述。     

Vibrational communication and mating behaviour of Dichelops melacanthus (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) recorded from loudspeaker membranes and plants

Vibrational communication is important for successful mating in various stink bugs species. The vibrational signals from males and females of Dichelops melacanthus Dallas (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) are recorded from a nonresonant substrate (i.e. a loudspeaker membrane) to characterize the temporal and spectral properties of these vibrational signals, as well as on a resonant substrate (i.e. bean plants) to obtain information about how these signals are altered when they are transmitted through the plants. On the loudspeaker membrane, D. melacanthus males and females emit only one male or one female song, respectively. However, when the insects are placed on bean leaves, a more complex repertoire is recorded, with three different songs for each sex. The first female and male songs appear to have calling functions and the third male and female songs are emitted during courtship. The second female and male songs are emitted after the first song, although their functions in mating behaviour are not clear. The identified repertoire is similar to those of other Neotropical stink bugs, starting with songs 1 and 2 and developing into song 3. Frequency modulation is observed in the female songs recorded from the loudspeaker membrane and the plants. The signals recorded from plants present higher harmonic peaks compared with the signals recorded from the loudspeaker membrane. The presence of species and sex‐specific songs during mating confirms the important role of vibrational communication in mate location and recognition. The temporal and spectral characteristic signals are influenced by the substrate used to record the songs emitted by D. melacanthus.     

河西走廊春季不同盐碱土壤中微生物数量、酶活性与理化因子的关系

【目的】揭示盐碱土壤微生物量与土壤因子间的关系。【方法】选择河西走廊不同盐碱程度的11个样点在春季进行采样,研究了土壤的微生物数量、酶活和理化性质,并对其进行方差分析、简单相关分析、逐步回归分析和主成分分析。【结果】河西地区原生盐碱地、次生盐碱地与农田土在土壤理化性质和土壤微生物数量等方面均有差异;河西地区土壤较贫瘠,土壤微生物数量较低,且分布有规律性,即原生盐碱土<次生盐碱土<农田土;放线菌、真菌、碱性磷酸酶、脲酶和有效磷5个因子是引起土壤微生物数量、酶活性与理化因子之间相关性的主要因素。【结论】结果证实河西地区盐碱土壤中磷的循环很大程度上影响着土壤微生物数量。     

Lipid-specific membrane activity of human beta-defensin-3

Defensins represent a major component of innate host defense against bacteria, fungi, and enveloped viruses. One potent defensin found, e.g., in epithelia, is the polycationic human beta-defensin-3 (hBD3). We investigated the role of the lipid matrix composition, and in particular the presence of negatively charged lipopolysaccharides (LPS) from sensitive (Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica serovar Minnesota) or resistant (Proteus mirabilis) Gram-negative bacteria or of the zwitterionic phospholipids of human cells, in determining the action of polycationic hBD3 on the different membranes, and related to their biological activity. The main focus was directed on data derived from electrical measurements on a reconstitution system of the OM as a planar asymmetric bilayer composed on one side of LPS and on the other of a phospholipid mixture. Our results demonstrate that the antimicrobial activity and the absence of cytotoxicity can be explained by the lipid-specificity of the peptide. A clear correlation between these aspects of the biological activity of hBD3 and its interaction with lipid matrices could be found. In particular, hBD3 could only induce lesions in those membranes resembling the lipid composition of the OM of sensitive bacterial strains. The permeation through the membrane is a decisive first step for the biological activity of many antimicrobial peptides. Therefore, we propose that the lipid-specificity of hBD3 as well as some other membrane-active antimicrobial peptides is important for their activity against bacteria or mammalian cells.     

Carrion flies of forensic interest: a study of seasonal community composition and succession in Lisbon,Portugal

Information on Diptera community, seasonality and successional patterns in every geographical region is fundamental for the use of flies as forensic indicators of time of death. In order to obtain these data from the Lisbon area (Portugal), experiments were conducted during the four seasons of the year, using piglet carcasses as animal models. Five stages were recognized during the decomposition process. The stages, besides visually defined, could be separated taking into account the occurrence and abundance of the specific groups of Diptera collected. In general, the bloated stage recorded higher abundance and species‐richness values. Seventy‐one species were identified, belonging to 39 families, in a total of 20 144 adult Diptera collected. Autumn yielded the highest values of species richness, whereas winter had the lowest. In all seasons of the year, Calliphoridae was the dominant family; Muscidae and Fanniidae were very abundant as well. Calliphora vicina Robineau‐Desvoidy, Calliphora vomitoria (Linnaeus), Chrysomya albiceps (Wiedemann), Lucilia ampullacea Villeneuve, Lucilia caesar (Linnaeus), Lucilia sericata (Meigen) (Calliphoridae), Hydrotaea ignava (Harris), Muscina prolapsa (Harris), Synthesiomyia nudiseta (van der Wulp) (Muscidae), Piophila megastigmata McAlpine, Stearibia nigriceps (Meigen) (Piophilidae) and Nemopoda nitidula (Fallén) (Sepsidae) were revealed to be very important members of the Diptera community collected. The necrophagous behaviour, demonstrated by their immatures, using carrion as a food source makes them useful forensic indicator species. Also of relevance is the presence of Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius), S. nudiseta and P. megastigmata, foreign species established in the local carrion communities. This study also marks the first record of S. nudiseta in Portugal.