臂旁核和延髓头端腹外侧区在黑质升压效应中的作用

本实验室观察到黑质具有升压效应。用L-谷氨酸钠微量注入黑质可使血压升高,此效应可被DA受体阻断剂氟哌啶醇(Halo)微量注入臂旁核加压区基本阻断。我们过去的工作证明延髓头端腹外侧区(RVL)及其内的α-受体中介臂旁核的加压效应,本实验将酚妥拉明注入RVL能明显衰减黑质的加压效应,而将Halo注入RVL加压区对黑质加压效应无明显影响。以上结果提示臂旁核-RVL(α-受体)加压系统参与黑质加压效应。     

A life in books

A note from the Reviews Editor. How are intellectual and personal lives shaped through encounters with books? In this first instalment of our new occasional special feature, Tim Ingold responds to our invitation to select the five key books that most influenced his thinking. His selections illustrate the diversity of ways in which books can become meaningful: sometimes condensing an existing train of thought; in moments of inspiration; nagging away in languages that draw us in despite, or because of, the partial ways we understand; sometimes as points of arrival, redescribing what we already feel we know; at others as moments of departure, in new possibilities realized or glimpsed; in disagreement as much as assent; in the exhilarating revelation of a fleeting moment of discovery, or in the gradual evolution of new ideas over years or even decades.     

Interactions of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and TNF receptor family members in the mouse and human

Ligands of the tumor necrosis factor superfamily (TNFSF) (4-1BBL, APRIL, BAFF, CD27L, CD30L, CD40L, EDA1, EDA2, FasL, GITRL, LIGHT, lymphotoxin alpha, lymphotoxin alphabeta, OX40L, RANKL, TL1A, TNF, TWEAK, and TRAIL) bind members of the TNF receptor superfamily (TNFRSF). A comprehensive survey of ligand-receptor interactions was performed using a flow cytometry-based assay. All ligands engaged between one and five receptors, whereas most receptors only bound one to three ligands. The receptors DR6, RELT, TROY, NGFR, and mouse TNFRH3 did not interact with any of the known TNFSF ligands, suggesting that they either bind other types of ligands, function in a ligand-independent manner, or bind ligands that remain to be identified. The study revealed that ligand-receptor pairs are either cross-reactive between human and mouse (e.g. Tweak/Fn14, RANK/RANKL), strictly species-specific (GITR/GITRL), or partially species-specific (e.g. OX40/OX40L, CD40/CD40L). Interestingly, the receptor binding patterns of lymphotoxin alpha and alphabeta are redundant in the human but not in the mouse system. Ligand oligomerization allowed detection of weak interactions, such as that of human TNF with mouse TNFR2. In addition, mouse APRIL exists as two different splice variants differing by a single amino acid. Although human APRIL does not interact with BAFF-R, the shorter variant of mouse APRIL exhibits weak but detectable binding to mouse BAFF-R.     

Multiple glacial refugia and postglacial colonization routes inferred for a woodland geophyte,Cyclamen purpurascens: patterns concordant with the Pleistocene history of broadleaved and coniferous tree species

The phylogeographical history of mid‐altitude woodland herbs that depend on moist and shaded forest habitats is poorly understood. Here, we analysed the genetic structure of Cyclamen purpurascens, a mountainous calcicolous perennial, to test hypotheses regarding its glacial survival in single or multiple refugia and postglacial colonization routes, and to explore how they are congruent with the histories inferred for temperate trees and other mountainous herbs. We gathered AFLP data and chloroplast DNA sequences (trnD‐trnT region) from 68 populations spanning the entire distribution range (the Jura Mountains, Alps, western Carpathians, Dinarides). Both genetic markers revealed two main phylogeographical groups (phylogroups) in C. purpurascens. Additionally, AFLP data detected a more detailed structure of five phylogroups: two widespread, showing east?west geographical separation, and three local ones, restricted to somewhat disjunct, marginal regions of the species range. We suggest that C. purpurascens survived the last glaciation in two main regions, the foothills of the Southern Limestone Alps and the Karst area of the north‐western Dinarides, and possibly also in microrefugia in the Western Carpathians. The glacial persistence and colonization routes of this woodland herb are highly concordant with those inferred for several temperate trees, especially the European beech. © 2012 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012, 105 , 741–760.     

浙江江山公益林物种种间关系及CCA排序

利用浙江省江山市80个公益林固定小班监测数据,基于生态位理论、种间联结、CCA排序方法对研究区内群落优势种种间关系及其与环境的关系进行研究。结果表明:江山市公益林群落中杉木、檵木、紫萁分别在乔木、灌木、草本层中占优势地位;石栎与青冈、隔药柃与山苍子、蕨与海金沙的生态位重叠指数值分别在乔、灌、草本层中最大;而CCA协变量矩阵偏典范对应分析说明物种分布主要受海拔、坡度、坡向(光照强度)以及腐殖质厚度的影响,总体上可以对89.44%的环境因子进行解释。并且还表明,生态位宽度较大的物种其生态位重叠值较大,并在CCA排序图物种集中区分布。反之,生态位重叠较小,在CCA排序图中将偏离物种集中区;除此之外,在CCA排序图上,物种间的距离与其生态位重叠值的大小及种间联结均有密切的关联,若未存在显著的联结性,随物种间的生态位重叠值越高,其在CCA排序上的距离越近,若存在显著联结性,则正相关缩小距离,负相关拉大距离。     

Superoxide,amine buffers and tetranitromethane: A novel free radical chain reaction

The amine buffer Tris slowly reduces tetranitromethane (TNM) to the nitroform anion in a non-accelerating reaction. The amine buffers HEPES and MOPS also (slowly) react with TNM but the dialkylaminoalkyl radicals formed from these two buffers undergo further reactions resulting in a rapid, accelerating, free radical chain process whereby the amine is oxidized and TNM reduced. The chemical functionality in any reaction component, not necessarily the buffer, required for this radical chain mechanism is >N-CH<. In the presence of such groups, the quantification of superoxide by TNM is impossible.     

Melatonin does not "directly scavenge hydrogen peroxide": demise of another myth

We have reexamined claims that melatonin directly scavenges hydrogen peroxide and shown them to be unfounded. Relative hydrogen peroxide concentrations were determined in the absence and presence of melatonin using both an isoluminol-based chemiluminescence assay (with measurements at circa 40 s, 6 h, and 24 h after mixing) and the phenol red/horseradish peroxidase assay employed by two earlier groups of workers (with measurements at 5 s, then every minute for the first 5 min, and then every hour to 5 h). Both assay procedures were in agreement. There was no significant change in the hydrogen peroxide concentrations over 24 h, and, furthermore, the concentrations of H(2)O(2) in the presence and absence of melatonin were the same within experimental error. Our results were obtained in metal ion-free systems. It therefore appears likely that the claims for a direct melatonin/H(2)O(2) reaction were due to contamination by traces of transition metal ions.