维生素对体外培养人脐带间充质干细胞生长的影响

该实验以人脐带间充质干细胞（human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells,hUCM—SCs）为研究对象,探讨维生素A对其体外培养的影响。结果显示,添加维生素A培养后,hUCMSCs仍维持其本身生物学特性,表达其标记基因CD29、CD44和干细胞标记基因Oct4、Sox2、Nanog。维生素A促进hUCMSCs的体外增殖,上调增殖基因PCNA、C-myc和干细胞标记基因Nanog的表达,下调凋亡基因Bch的表达。该研究证明了维生素A具有促进hUCMSCs增殖和维持其干细胞特性的作用,对继续探索hUCMSCs的体外快速增殖和维生素A对hUCMSCs增殖调控的机理具有重要意义。     

牛β-乳球蛋白基因的克隆及部分序列测定

为了制备乳腺生物反应器所需要的乳腺特异性表达的调控序列,用ＰＣＲ法从奶牛染色体上分５段扩增出了全长的牛 ＢＬＧ基因约 ８ ｋｂ,包括 １．８ ｋｂ的 ５’侧翼区、１．７ ｋｂ的 ３’侧翼区及 ４．７ ｋｂ的ｇＤＮＡ区。扩增出的各片段克隆到Ｔ－Ｖｅｃｔｏｒ上,酶切鉴定及序列分析均证实了所扩增片段的正确性。     

Elf5 is essential for early embryogenesis and mammary gland development during pregnancy and lactation

Elf5 is an epithelial-specific ETS factor. Embryos with a null mutation in the Elf5 gene died before embryonic day 7.5, indicating that Elf5 is essential during mouse embryogenesis. Elf5 is also required for proliferation and differentiation of mouse mammary alveolar epithelial cells during pregnancy and lactation. The loss of one functional allele led to complete developmental arrest of the mammary gland in pregnant Elf5 heterozygous mice. A quantitative mRNA expression study and Western blot analysis revealed that decreased expression of Elf5 correlated with the downregulation of milk proteins in Elf5(+/-) mammary glands. Mammary gland transplants into Rag(-/-) mice demonstrated that Elf5(+/-) mammary alveolar buds failed to develop in an Elf5(+/+) mammary fat pad during pregnancy, demonstrating an epithelial cell autonomous defect. Elf5 expression was reduced in Prolactin receptor (Prlr) heterozygous mammary glands, which phenocopy Elf5(+/-) glands, suggesting that Elf5 and Prlr are in the same pathway. Our data demonstrate that Elf5 is essential for developmental processes in the embryo and in the mammary gland during pregnancy.     

Human endothelial cell growth and phenotypic expression on three dimensional poly(lactide-co-glycolide) sintered microsphere scaffolds for bone tissue engineering

Bone tissue engineering offers promising alternatives to repair and restore tissues. Our laboratory has employed poly(lactide-co-glycolide) PLAGA microspheres to develop a three dimensional (3-D) porous bioresorbable scaffold with a biomimetic pore structure. Osseous healing and integration with the surrounding tissue depends in part on new blood vessel formation within the porous structure. Since endothelial cells play a key role in angiogenesis (formation of new blood vessels from pre-existing vasculature), the purpose of this study was to better understand human endothelial cell attachment, viability, growth, and phenotypic expression on sintered PLAGA microsphere scaffold. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) examination showed cells attaching to the surface of microspheres and bridging the pores between the microspheres. Cell proliferation studies indicated that cell number increased during early stages and reached a plateau between days 10 and 14. Immunofluorescent staining for actin showed that cells were proliferating three dimensionally through the scaffolds while staining for PECAM-1 (platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule) displayed typical localization at cell-cell contacts. Gene expression analysis showed that endothelial cells grown on PLAGA scaffolds maintained their normal characteristic phenotype. The cell proliferation and phenotypic expression were independent of scaffold pore architecture. These results demonstrate that PLAGA sintered microsphere scaffolds can support the growth and biological functions of human endothelial cells. The insights from this study should aid future studies aimed at enhancing angiogenesis in three dimensional tissue engineered scaffolds.     

Screening of the antigen epitopes of basic fibroblast growth factor by phage display

In order to investigate the epitope of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and its immunogenicity, the epitopes of bFGF were screened from the phage display library with monoclonal antibody GF22, which can neutralize the bio-activity of bFGF. By three rounds of screening, the positive phage clones with bFGF epitopes were selected, which can effectively block the bFGF to bind with GF22. Sequence analysis showed that the epitopes shared a highly conservative sequence (Leu-Pro-Pro/Leu-Gly-His-Phe/Ile-Lys). The sequence of PPGHFK was located at 22-27 of the bFGF. The specific immuno-response of mouse could be highly induced by phage clones with the epitopes. And the anti-bFGF activity induced by LPGHFK was 3 times higher than the original sequence, which showed that the mimetic peptide LPLGHIK might be used as a tumor vaccine in the prevention and treatment of tumor.     

An improved mathematical model of hormone secretion in the hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal axis in man

We propose an improved mathematical model for the secretion in the hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal axis. We think this model is more reasonable than any previous one and can interpret a large number of experimental facts.     

Diterpenoids from Wedelia prostrata and Their Derivatives and Cytotoxic Activities

One new ent‐kaurane diterpenoid, 11β,16α‐dihydroxy‐ent‐kauran‐19‐oic acid ( 1 ), together with eight known analogues 2 – 9 were isolated from the aerial parts of Wedelia prostrata. One of the acidic diterpenoids, kaurenoic acid ( 3 ), was converted to seven derivatives, 10 – 16 . All compounds were evaluated for their cytotoxic activity in vitro against human leukemia (K562), liver (HepG‐2), and stomach (SGC‐7901) cancer cell lines. Only four kaurenoic acid derivatives, 13 – 16 , with 15‐keto and substitutions at C(19) position, exhibited notable cytotoxic activities on these tumor cell lines with IC₅₀ value ranging from 0.05 to 3.71 μm . Compounds 10 – 12 , with oxime on C(15) showed moderate inhibitory effects and compounds 1 – 9 showed no cytotoxicities on them. Structure–activity relationships were also discussed based on the experimental data obtained. The known derivative, 15‐oxokaurenoic acid 4‐piperdin‐1‐ylbutyl ester ( 17 ), induced typical apoptotic cell death in colon SW480 cells upon evaluation of the apoptosis‐inducing activity by flow‐cytometric analysis.     

湖南湖北两省H6亚型禽流感病毒表面基因的序列分析

2008年至2009年间,在湖南和湖北两省的活禽市场中分离到了14株H6亚型禽流感病毒,为了解这14株病毒之间的分子特征和差异,我们运用PCR和测序鉴定对这14株病毒的NA基因进行了分型,并对其表面基因HA和NA进行序列测定及序列分析.14株H6亚型病毒中,H6N2亚型12株,H6N6亚型2株.序列测定和进化分析结果显示:DK/HN/284的HA基因与其它13株的HA差异性较大,差异性达到19.4%～20.2%,其余13株毒同源性在94.2%～99.9%;N2亚型NA基因的同源性在91.1%～99.9%,差异性比较大;两株N6亚型NA基因同源性为89.5%,差异明显.这些数据表明:不同毒株呈现一定的地域性差异.与我国周边其它地区的H6亚型禽流感毒株序列进行比较发现,只有DK/HN/284的HA基因与香港早期的毒株可能有着共同的来源,其余都与香港和韩国等的毒株有着较大的差异性,并且各个毒株的HA基因上潜在的糖基化位点和受体结合位点也有所不同,这些数据表明,这些毒株表现出明显的异源性.     

从噬菌体展示随机12肽库中筛选与IRS-1PH结构域相结合的多肽模体

将胰岛素受体底物-1(IRS-1)的PH结构域(pleckstrin homology domain)编码序列克隆到融合表达载体pRSETA中,阳性克隆经IPTG诱导,表达出氨基端带6个连续组氨酸残基的融合蛋白。经检测,表达的目的蛋白一部分以可溶形式存在。利用Ni-NTA金属螯合亲和层析法在非变性条件下对表达的目的蛋白进行纯化,纯度大于98％。将纯化的目的蛋白包被于聚苯乙烯平皿上作为靶蛋白,经过4轮淘筛,得到能够与IRS-1的PH结构域相结合的重组噬菌体克隆;从中随机挑选出50个克隆进行DNA序列测定,对获得的短肽序列进行了分析。并通过ELISA检测了这些克隆与IRS-1的PH结构域的结合活性。