The foraging behavior of Japanese macaques Macaca fuscata in a forested enclosure:Effects of nutrient composition,energy and its seasonal variation on the consumption of natural plant foods

In the wild, primate foraging behaviors are related to the diversity and nutritional properties of food, which are affected by seasonal variation. The goal of environmental enrichment is to stimulate captive animals to exhibit similar foraging behavior of their wild counterparts, e.g. To extend foraging time. We conducted a 12-month study on the foraging behavior of Japanese macaques in a semi-naturally forested enclosure to understand how they use both provisioned foods and naturally available plant foods and what are the nutritional criteria of their consumption of natural plants. We recorded time spent feeding on provisioned and natural plant foods and collected the plant parts ingested of their major plant food species monthly, when available.We conducted nutritional analysis (crude protein, crude lipid, neutral detergent fiber-'NDF', ash) and calculated total non-slructural carbohydrate - 'TNC' and total energy of those food items. Monkeys spent 47% of their feeding time foraging on natural plant species. The consumption of plant parts varied significantly across seasons. We found that leaf items were consumed in months when crude protein, crude protein-to-NDF ratio, TNC and total energy were significantly higher and NDF was significantly lower, fruit/nut items in months when crude protein and TNC were significantly higher and crude lipid content was significantly lower, and bark items in months when TNC and total energy were higher and crude lipid content was lower. This preliminary investigation showed that the forested enclosure allowed troop members to more fully express their species typical flexible behavior by challenging them to adjust their foraging behavior to seasonal changes of plant item diversity and nutritional content, also providing the possibility for individuals to nutritionally enhance their diet.     

环境光对哺乳动物昼夜节律和大脑功能的影响

昼夜循环对人类和其他动物的生理和行为有着巨大的影响。光照条件能影响动物的视觉成像,并通过向大脑中的生物钟中心发送信号来调整生理和行为的节律。环境光向生物钟传递信号的系统包含了一个复杂的神经递质复合体-受体-第二信使系统。在夜间曝光能迅速启动下丘脑视交叉上核中大量相关的早期基因。此外,许多白天活动的物种,通常都是在光照条件下获得认知。本文综述了环境光对哺乳动物睡眠、生物节律、大脑认知能力和基因表达等生理和行为方面的影响。     

多通道局部场电位时变频谱的同步模式及其对行为事件的编码

用时变相干（time-varying coherence）频谱方法分析多通道局部场电位（local field potentials, LFPs）随时间变化的同步模式及其对行为事件的编码。实验数据为行为事件前后3秒的28通道LFPs。分别计算每个通道LFP的功率谱密度（power spectral density, PSD）及多通道LFPs各个特征频段的PSD,选取PSD分布集中的?兹频段为LFPs的特征频段;应用离散二进小波变换获取LFPs的?兹频段分量;从28通道LFPs中选取PSD最大的通道作为参考通道。选取计算窗口为50 ms,从初始点开始计算每个窗口中每个通道LFP及其?兹分量对参考通道的频谱相干分析。移动窗口步长为25 ms,获取多通道LFPs及其?兹分量的时变频谱相干动态分布。研究结果显示,?兹频段分量的PSD占LFPs总功率的71.95%,表明?兹分量是实验中多通道LFPs同步的特征频段;多通道LFPs的?兹分量频谱相干值随时间变化,行为事件点前后1 s的相干值具有显著差别（P＜0.05）,表明多通道LFPs的?兹频段时变频谱相干有效地编码了这一行为事件。     

微流控技术对细胞微环境的模拟及应用研究

细胞微环境是一个多因素组成的、时空可变的复杂集合,对细胞的行为和功能发挥起着决定性作用。但传统的细胞生物学研究方法很难在体外为细胞提供这样一个复杂的、微尺度的生长环境,致使许多体外研究结果与在体情况相差甚远。近年来,微流控技术与细胞培养技术的结合为细胞微环境的模拟和控制提供了可能。文章通过提炼微环境的重要参数及其特征,介绍微流控技术是如何满足这些参数的需求,探讨了微流控技术在体外模拟细胞微环境的可行性,并总结了近年来该技术在微环境体外模拟研究中取得的成果,对微流控技术在细胞微环境构建中的发展方向和应用前景进行了展望。     

围产期食物限制对子代成年大鼠海马CA1区突触可塑性的影响

围产期食物限制导致子代大鼠学习和记忆能力等的神经生物学变化,但其机制并不清楚。将成年Wistar雌性大鼠与雄性大鼠同笼,受孕后随机分为对照组 (n=9) 和食物限制组 (n=8) 。对照组母鼠在妊娠期和哺乳期自由进食和饮水,食物限制组母鼠从妊娠的第7天到子代大鼠出生后21天进行食物限制,食物限制量为对照组大鼠的50%。子代雄性大鼠成年后,通过Morris 水迷宫测试空间学习和记忆能力。之后,在海马CA1区在体记录场兴奋性突触后电位 (field excitatory postsynaptic potential,fEPSP),并采用免疫组织化学方法观察海马CA1区神经元型一氧化氮合酶 (nNOS) 阳性细胞密度的变化。结果表明,围产期食物限制降低了子代大鼠出生后第1、7、10、14和21天的体重,并减弱了成年子代大鼠的学习和记忆能力,海马CA1区fEPSP的斜率和nNOS阳性细胞的密度也明显降低。结果提示,围产期食物限制可能通过抑制NO的产生降低了海马突触可塑性,从而影响了子代大鼠的学习和记忆能力。     

Evidence that human histidine triad nucleotide binding protein 3 (Hint3) is a distinct branch of the histidine triad (HIT) superfamily

Human Hint3 (hHint3) has been classified as a member of the histidine triad nucleotide (Hint) binding protein subfamily. While Hint1 is ubiquitously expressed by both eukaryotes and prokaryotes, Hint3 is found only in eukaryotes. Previously, our laboratory has characterized and compared the aminoacyl-adenylate and nucleoside phosphoramidate hydrolase activity of hHint1 and Escherichia coli hinT. In this study, hHint3-1(Ala36) and its single nucleotide polymorphism, hHint3-2 (A36G variant), were cloned, overexpressed, and purified. Steady-state kinetic studies with a synthetic fluorogenic indolepropinoic acyl-adenylate (AIPA) and with a series of fluorogenic tryptamine nucleoside phosphoramidates revealed that hHint3-1 and hHint3-2 are adenylate and phosphoramidate hydrolases with apparent second-order rate constants (kcat/Km) ranging from 10(2) to 10(6) s(-1) M(-1). Unlike hHint1, hHint3-1 and hHint3-2 prefer AIPA over tryptamine adenosine phosphoramidate by factors of 33- and 16-fold, respectively. In general, hHint3s hydrolyze phosphoramidate 370- to 2000-fold less efficiently than hHint1. Substitution of the potential active-site nucleophile, His145, by Ala was shown to abolish the adenylate and phosphoramidate hydrolase activity for hHint3-1. However, 0.2-0.4% residual activity was observed for the H145A mutant of hHint3-2. Both hHint3-1 and hHint3-2 were found to hydrolyze lysyl-adenylate generated by human lysyl-tRNA synthetase (hLysRS) by proceeding through an adenylated protein intermediate. hLysRS-dependent labeling of hHint3-1 and hHint3-2 was found to depend on His145, which aligns with the His112 of the Hint1 active site. The extent of active-site His145-AMP labeling was shown to be similar to His112-AMP labeling of hHint1. In contrast to all previously characterized members of the histidine triad superfamily, which have been shown to exist exclusively as homodimers, wild type and the H145A of hHint3-1 were found to exist across a range of multimeric states, from dimers to octamers and even larger oligomers, while wild type and the H145A of hHint3-2 exist predominantly in a monomeric state. The differences in oligomeric state may be important in vivo, because unlike tetracysteine-tagged Hint1, which was found along linear arrays exclusively in the cytoplasm in transfected HeLa cells, tagged Hint3-1 and Hint3-2 were found as aggregates both in the cytosol and in the nucleus. Taken together, these results imply that while Hint3 and Hint1 prefer aminoacyl-adenylates as substrates and catalytically interact with aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, the significant differences in phosphoramidase activity, oligomeric state, and cellular localization suggest that Hint3s should be placed in a distinct branch of the histidine triad superfamily.     

黔东北志留纪兰多维列世的似发珊瑚属(Pilophyllia Ge et Y,1974)新资料

Pilophyllia Ge et Y,1974具有典型的包珊瑚型隔壁,是包珊瑚科的主要分子。该属广泛分布于上扬子区志留纪兰多维列世地层。首次对采自贵州石阡中兰多维列世(Llandovery)爱隆期(Aeronian)香树园组和雷家屯组的大量Pilophyllia Ge et Y,1974标本进行详细研究,经鉴定,共计有9种,其中包括6新种,1未定种,它们是:Pilophyllia simplex Chen,1986,P.fenggangensis Ge et Y,1974,P.vesiculosa Tang sp.nov.,P.conica Tang sp.nov.,P.ultimuma Tang sp.nov.,P.stylaris Tangsp.nov.,P.raritabulata Tangsp.nov.,P.lei-jiatunensis Tang sp.nov.,Pilophyllia sp.。此外,根据新的研究材料补充和修订Pilophyllia部分属征,并将石阡地区香树园组和雷家屯组的Pilophyllia种群特征与川北、陕南宁强组(Telychian阶)的进行比较。     

抗香蕉枯萎病的野生蕉抗病基因类似序列的克隆与表达

野生蕉是香蕉遗传改良的天然基因库。为了分离野生蕉中的抗病基因类似序列,根据核苷酸结合位点（nucleotide binding site,NBS）和丝氨酸,苏氨酸蛋白激酶域设计简并性引物,以经过鉴定的抗香蕉枯萎病4号生理小种的野生蕉（Musaacuminata）叶片cDNA为模板进行PCR扩增。经过对扩增产物进行克隆和测序,获得了6个500bp左右的RGAs片段。其中有2个RGA（WNB1和WNB2）具有NB—ARC保守结构域特征,并且WNB1具有连续的ORF。其余4个RGAs（WST1、WST2、WST3和WST4）均具有丝氨酸,苏氨酸蛋白激酶域特征,且WST3编码的氨基酸序列与水稻抗叶斑病基因Xa21同源性很高。用半定量PCR分析枯萎病菌诱导后野生蕉叶片中RGAs的表达情况,结果表明WNB1和WST3受枯萎病菌诱导后表达量增强,这表明wNB1和WST3的表达可能与香蕉枯萎病抗性相关。     

纺织基人造血管几何特征表征的实验研究

人造血管的壁厚和松弛内径是其主要的几何特征参数。本文中首先依据国际标准ISO 7198的要求设计了测试人造血管松弛内径的测试定规,并对人造血管样品进行了测试。然后对人造血管壁厚的测试方法进行了初步探讨。