Intravital lipid droplet labeling and imaging reveals the phenotypes and functions of individual macrophages in vivo

Macrophages play pivotal roles in the maintenance of tissue homeostasis. However, the reactivation of macrophages toward proinflammatory states correlates with a plethora of inflammatory diseases, including atherosclerosis, obesity, neurodegeneration, and bone marrow (BM) failure syndromes. The lack of methods to reveal macrophage phenotype and function in vivo impedes the translational research of these diseases. Here, we found that proinflammatory macrophages accumulate intracellular lipid droplets (LDs) relative to resting or noninflammatory macrophages both in vitro and in vivo, indicating that LD accumulation serves as a structural biomarker for macrophage phenotyping. To realize the staining and imaging of macrophage LDs in vivo, we developed a fluorescent fatty acid analog-loaded poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoparticle to label macrophages in mice with high efficiency and specificity. Using these novel nanoparticles, we achieved in situ functional identification of single macrophages in BM, liver, lung, and adipose tissues under conditions of acute or chronic inflammation. Moreover, with this intravital imaging platform, we further realized in vivo phenotyping of individual macrophages in the calvarial BM of mice under systemic inflammation. In conclusion, we established an efficient in vivo LD labeling and imaging system for single macrophage phenotyping, which will aid in the development of diagnostics and therapeutic monitoring. Moreover, this method also provides new avenues for the study of lipid trafficking and dynamics in vivo.Supplementary key words: macrophage, inflammation, lipid droplet, nanoparticle delivery, in vivo imaging, fatty acid analog, bone marrow, systemic inflammation, lipid trafficking, biomarker

Macrophages, a type of immune cells, almost reside in all tissues of body, from the skin to the bone marrow (BM) (1). Macrophages have remarkable plasticity, and they can be activated into specific subtypes by modifying their physiology and functions in response to local environmental cues. Activated macrophages are commonly divided into proinflammatory killing subtype and anti-inflammatory repairing subtype. Proinflammatory macrophages responding to bacteria, IFN-γ, and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) are involved in host defense and inflammation, whereas anti-inflammatory macrophages responding to interleukin-4 (IL-4), IL-10, and IL-13 play a pivotal role in tissue homeostasis and remodeling (2). Increasing evidence indicates that the reactivation of macrophages toward proinflammatory states under diverse kinds of stress is correlated with a plethora of inflammatory diseases, such as atherosclerosis, diabetes, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, neurodegeneration, and BM failure syndromes (3, 4). Thus, characterization of macrophage activation status and the underlying molecular mechanism in situ will help elucidate their functions in these diseases; however, in vivo analysis of the macrophage activation status in their native multicellular microenvironment is challenging.Although lipid droplets (LDs) have been initially described as intracellular fat storage organelles in adipocytes, increasing studies indicate that myeloid cells also form LDs under inflammation and stress (5, 6). Macrophages, as the effector cells of innate immunity, are found to form LDs to support their host defense when exposed to pathogens, such as parasites, bacteria, and viruses (7, 8, 9, 10, 11). However, abnormal LD accumulation in tissue-resident macrophages correlates with the pathogenesis of various inflammatory diseases. For instance, foam cells in atherosclerotic lesions can maintain the local inflammatory response by secreting proinflammatory cytokines (12, 13, 14). Moreover, LD-accumulating microglia contribute to neurodegeneration by producing high levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and secreting proinflammatory cytokines (15). These findings indicate that LD accumulation might be a hallmark of macrophages with proinflammatory functions.In this study, based on the typical activation of in vitro BM-derived macrophages, we find that proinflammatory M_{(LPS + IFN-γ)} macrophages are characterized by LD accumulation, whereas resting macrophages and anti-inflammatory M_(IL-4) and M_(IL-10) macrophages do not contain any LDs. These features also hold for Matrigel plug-recruited macrophages and tissue-resident macrophages in mice. These findings demonstrate that LD accumulation could serve as a morphological index to distinguish proinflammatory macrophages from others.It is feasible to distinguish LD-containing cells using imaging techniques, which has translational potential for identification of proinflammatory macrophages in vivo. However, current techniques for LD visualization are traditional in vitro staining method, and in vivo staining and imaging of LD in individual macrophages remains a challenge. Through nanocarrier screening, we selected the poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles (NPs) as nanocarrier to deliver the lipophilic carbocyanine dye (DiI_C18(5) solid (1,1''-dioctadecyl-3,3,3'',3''-tetramethylindodicarbocyanine, 4-chlorobenzenesulfonate salt) [DiD]) and lipid staining dye (C1-BODIPY 500/510-C12) into macrophages. Using these dual fluorescence-labeled PLGA NPs, we achieved in situ and in vivo functional identification of single macrophages in various tissues under systemic or local inflammatory stress. Collectively, this study establishes an efficient in vivo labeling and imaging system of intracellular LDs for phenotyping the activation status and functions of individual macrophages in their dynamic niche, which is pivotal for disease diagnosis and preclinical research.     

七种我国昆虫病原线虫共生菌的分离与鉴定

昆虫病原线虫共生菌是一类具有广阔发展前景的生物防治资源,由于这类菌的分类鉴定工作起步晚,存在分类混乱和不系统的现象,在本土资源十分丰富的我国尤为突出.本文对本实验室分离的7个共生菌菌株进行了分类描述,建立了以生理形态,生化特征为分类基础,结合16 SrDNA序列分析的有效鉴定方法.     

印度块菌(Tuber indicum)菌根促生细菌的研究

【目的】筛选对印度块菌菌根量和菌根苗长势有促进作用的菌根促生细菌(Mycorrhization helper bacteria,MHB)。【方法】选择华山松为宿主植物,自块菌菌根根际土壤中分离得到的11种细菌为供试菌株,将印度块菌菌剂与不同浓度的细菌混合于特定基质中后接种于华山松上,并通过对印度块菌与华山松形成的菌根数、华山松的株高和地径三方面的统计与分析,确认MHB。【结果】Pseudomonas sp. JCM 5481 (P143)、Streptomyces sp. EN31 (S191)、Variovorax paradoxus (V633)在浓度为2.4×109 CFU/mL时对印度块菌菌根数、株高和地径均有极显著促进作用(P<0.01);Pseudomonas chlororaphis (P11)、Pseudomonas corrugate (P127)在浓度为0.8×109 CFU/mL时对印度块菌菌根数、株高和地径均有显著促进作用(P<0.05)。4种假单胞菌浓度梯度的设置显示了不同菌株适宜的浓度不同。【结论】实验获得5种MHB,并表明细菌浓度是获得MHB的一个重要影响因素。     

乙酸合成途径阻断及NADH氧化酶表达对于谷氨酸棒杆菌生产乙偶姻的影响

【目的】研究乙酸合成途径阻断及NADH氧化酶表达对于谷氨酸棒杆菌生产乙偶姻的影响。【方法】在谷氨酸棒杆菌CGF2中异源表达als SD操纵子构建乙偶姻生产菌株CGT1,考察敲除乙酸生成途径cat和pqo对乙偶姻的影响。然后引入短乳杆菌的NADH氧化酶,在优化的溶氧条件下研究其对乙偶姻产量的影响。【结果】CGT1在摇瓶发酵中可积累6.27 g/L乙偶姻,敲除cat使乙偶姻产量显著提高30.94%,达到8.21 g/L;双敲除cat和pqo没有进一步提高产量。通过优化发酵的溶氧水平,乙偶姻产量达到10.06 g/L。在高溶氧水平下引入NADH氧化酶导致菌株的生长和糖代谢速率提高,但乙偶姻产量略有降低。在分批补料发酵中,重组菌株乙偶姻产量达到40.51 g/L,产率为0.51 g/(L?h)。【结论】在谷氨酸棒杆菌中阻断乙酸合成途径cat能够有效提高乙偶姻产量,NADH氧化酶在高溶氧水平下表达不利于乙偶姻的合成,需要进一步调节表达水平以确定其效果。     

盐生荒漠地表水热与二氧化碳通量的季节变化及驱动因素

以古尔班通古特沙漠南缘原始盐生荒漠为对象,利用涡度相关法,对原始盐生荒漠地表水热、二氧化碳通量进行了连续观测,对通量的季节变化、浅层土壤水分条件改变对盐生荒漠植物群落水汽、二氧化碳通量以及水分利用效率的影响进行了系统的分析.结果表明:净辐射通量、潜热通量和二氧化碳通量都具有明显的季节变化趋势,而显热通量的季节变化不明显.在有效能量的分配上,显热通量是有效能量的主要输出项.在降水影响期和非影响期,二氧化碳通量没有明显的变化;而在非降水影响期潜热通量明显降低,表明土壤水分处于亏缺状态,但二氧化碳通量并没有降低的趋势,而与前期保持高度的一致性.以此可以推断,该荒漠盐生植物群落并不以降水为主要水分来源,降水后水汽通量和二氧化碳通量变化的不一致性是该原始盐生荒漠独特植物特征决定的.降水影响期原始盐生荒漠植物群落的水分利用效率低于非影响期,是由于降水后土壤蒸发迅速增加,而植物蒸腾与光合并未随之增加造成的.     

Determining the involvement of two aminopeptidase Ns in the resistance of Plutella xylostella to the Bt toxin Cry1Ac: cloning and study of in vitro function

The cloning, expression in vitro, and characterization of two aminopeptidase Ns (APN5s and APN2s) isolated from the midgut of Cry1Ac-resistant (R) and susceptible (S) strains of Plutella xylostella larvae are presented in this paper. The deduced amino acid sequences of APN5s included C-terminal GPI-modification sites, the gluzincin aminopeptidase motif GATEN, and three N-glycosylated sites; those of APN2s had no GPI-modification sites, had gluzincin aminopeptidase motif GAMEN, and had four N-glycosylated sites. O-glycosylated sites were not predicted for either APN. Because APN2R and APN2S cDNAs contained the same nucleotides, only full-length cDNAs encoding APN5R and APN5S were expressed in Trichoplusia ni cells. Far-Western blotting showed that the expressed receptor APN5 bound to the Cry1Ac toxin. An enzyme-specific activity experiment also showed that APN5 genes were expressed in T. ni cells. ELISA revealed no differences in the binding of expression proteins from the resistant and susceptible strain with Cry1Ac.     

基于小波神经网络的麦蚜发生程度预测模型

【目的】建立基于小波神经网络病虫害预测预报模型,对提前采取防病防虫措施、减少农作物病虫害损失、提高农作物产量与质量具有重要意义。【方法】本研究以山西省运城市芮城县1980-2014年麦蚜发生程度和气象因子数据为基础,采用主成分分析法从40个基础气象因子中整合形成9个新的自变量输入模型,采用试凑法筛选隐含层节点数,用1980-2009年的数据进行网络训练,对2010-2014年麦蚜发生程度进行回测,建立了以Morlet小波函数为传递函数的小波神经网络模型,并与以Sigmoid函数为传递函数的BP神经网络模型进行了比较。【结果】小波和BP神经网络两种模型对训练样本的平均拟合精度均有10年以上超过80%,两者MAPE 值分别为 89.83% 和83.07%,MSE 值分别为0.0578和0.6192。【结论】两个模型都能较好地描述麦蚜发生程度;从预测精度和模型的稳定性来看,小波神经网络好于BP神经网络。     

Reconciling nutritional geometry with classical dietary restriction: Effects of nutrient intake,not calories,on survival and reproduction

Dietary restriction (DR) is one of the main experimental paradigms to investigate the mechanisms that determine lifespan and aging. Yet, the exact nutritional parameters responsible for DR remain unclear. Recently, the advent of the geometric framework of nutrition (GF) has refocussed interest from calories to dietary macronutrients. However, GF experiments focus on invertebrates, with the importance of macronutrients in vertebrates still widely debated. This has led to the suggestion of a fundamental difference in the mode of action of DR between vertebrates and invertebrates, questioning the suggestion of an evolutionarily conserved mechanism. The use of dietary dilution rather than restriction in GF studies makes comparison with traditional DR studies difficult. Here, using a novel nonmodel vertebrate system (the stickleback fish, Gasterosteus aculeatus), we test the effect of macronutrient versus calorie intake on key fitness‐related traits, both using the GF and avoiding dietary dilution. We find that the intake of macronutrients rather than calories determines both mortality risk and reproduction. Male mortality risk was lowest on intermediate lipid intakes, and female risk was generally reduced by low protein intakes. The effect of macronutrient intake on reproduction was similar between the sexes, with high protein intakes maximizing reproduction. Our results provide, to our knowledge, the first evidence that macronutrient, not caloric, intake predicts changes in mortality and reproduction in the absence of dietary dilution. This supports the suggestion of evolutionary conservation in the effect of diet on lifespan, but via variation in macronutrient intake rather than calories.     

人Leptin基因在大肠杆菌中的高效表达、纯化及其生物学活性研究

将人Leptin表达质粒pBV220-OB转化E.coliJM109,经热诱导获得了目的蛋白的表达。经SDS-PAGE鉴定分析,表达产物以包涵体形式存在,目的蛋白表达量占菌体总蛋白的40%以上。通过包涵体分离,Sephacryl S200HR凝胶和DEAE52离子交换层析及Hypersil C18柱反相色谱纯化,获得纯度在95%以上,内毒素含量小于10EU/mg的高纯度的重组人Leptin。Western-blot鉴定表明,纯化表达产物能和抗Leptin抗体特异性结合;蛋白质N端15个氨基酸序列分析结果和预期的序列一致。纯化产物经复性处理,其分子中Cys96和Cys146形成二硫键。体内活性检测显示,纯化和复性的rh-Leptin明显抑制BALB/c小鼠的进食和体重增长,提示其具有明显的生物学活性。