GABA神经元在金黄地鼠视觉中枢的分布

本文用免疫细胞化学技术研究了GABA在金黄地鼠视觉中枢的分布特征,同时用统计学方法作了定量分析,结果表明:GABA阳性神经元分布在整个视皮层和上丘中,呈不均匀分布,外膝体中GABA阳性神经元密度较低.视皮层中GABA阳性神经元密度为781mm~2,占视皮层细胞总数的19.7%,上丘中其密度为812/mm~2,占22.3%,视皮层Ⅰ层中GABA阳性神经元为52%,上丘表层(浅灰层及视觉层GABA阳性神经元为56%,GABA阳性神经元包括不同类型的细胞.在视皮层中可观察到GABA免疫疫应阳性的锥体细胞.     

IL‐35 recombinant protein reverses inflammatory bowel disease and psoriasis through regulation of inflammatory cytokines and immune cells

Interleukin‐35 (IL‐35), a member of the IL‐12 family, functions as a new anti‐inflammatory factor involved in arthritis, psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and other immune diseases. Although IL‐35 can significantly prevent the development of inflammation in many diseases, there have been no early studies accounting for the role of IL‐35 recombinant protein in IBD and psoriasis. In this study, we assessed the therapeutic potential of IL‐35 recombinant protein in three well‐known mouse models: the dextransulfate sodium (DSS)‐induced colitis mouse model, the keratin14 (K14)‐vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF‐A)‐transgenic (Tg) psoriasis mouse model and the imiquimod (IMQ)‐induced psoriasis mouse model. Our results indicated that IL‐35 recombinant protein can slow down the pathologic process in DSS‐induced acute colitis mouse model by decreasing the infiltrations of macrophages, CD4⁺T and CD8⁺T cells and by promoting the infiltration of Treg cells. Further analysis demonstrated that IL‐35 recombinant protein may regulate inflammation through promoting the secretion of IL‐10 and inhibiting the expression of pro‐inflammatory cytokines such as IL‐6, TNF‐α and IL‐17 in acute colitis model. In addition, lower dose of IL‐35 recombinant protein could achieve long‐term treatment effects as TNF‐α monoclonal antibody did in the psoriasis mouse. In summary, the remarkable therapeutic effects of IL‐35 recombinant protein in acute colitis and psoriasis mouse models indicated that IL‐35 recombinant protein had a variety of anti‐inflammatory effects and was expected to become an effective candidate drug for the treatment of inflammatory diseases.     

A review on the hybrids of hydroxycinnamic acid as multi-target-directed ligands against Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a complex chronic progressive central nervous system degenerative disease and a public health problem of the world, often characters cognitive dysfunction accompaning aggression and depression, and may lead to death. More attentions should be paid on it because there is no modified strategy against AD till now. AD is featured with the loss of cholinergic neurons, the amyloid-beta peptide (Aβ) plaques and the neurofibrillary tangles and several hypotheses were established to explain the pathogenesis of AD. Hydroxycinnamic acids, including caffeic acid (CA) and ferulic acid (FA) are widely distributed in natural plants and fruits. CA and FA exert various pharmacological activities, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, neuroprotection, anti-amyloid aggregation and so on. All these pharmacological activities are associated with the treatment of AD. Here we summarized the pharmacological activities of CA and FA, and their hybrids as multi-target-directed ligands (MTDLs) against AD. The future application of CA and FA was also discussed, hoping to provide beneficial information for the development of CA- and FA-based MTDLs against AD.     

The relationship between vascular endothelial growth factor and spermatogenesis disturbance in an experimentally-induced unilateral cryptorchidism murine model

Molecular Biology Reports - This study is to explore the relationship between vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and pathological changes in cryptorchidism by using murine model of...     

Improving mass spectrometry peak detection using multiple peak alignment results

Mass spectrometry data are often corrupted by noise. It is very difficult to simultaneously detect low-abundance peaks and reduce false-positive peak detection caused by noise. In this paper, we propose to improve peak detection using an additional constraint: the consistent appearance of similar true peaks across multiple spectra. We observe that false -positive peaks in general do not repeat themselves well across multiple spectra. When we align all the identified peaks (including false-positive ones) from multiple spectra together, those false-positive peaks are not as consistent as true peaks. Thus, we propose to use information from other spectra in order to reduce false-positive peaks. The new method improves the detection of peaks over the traditional single spectrum based peak detection methods. Consequently, the discovery of cancer biomarkers also benefits from this improvement. Source code and additional data are available at: http://www.ece.ust.hk/ approximately eeyu/mspeak.htm.     

日龄及性别对橘小实蝇实验种群飞行能力的影响

利用飞行磨系统对实验种群橘小实蝇的1、6、11、16、21、26、31日龄的7个雌雄个体分别进行22h连续吊飞试验,测定其累计飞行距离、累计飞行时间、平均飞行速度。橘小实蝇原始种群采自湖南长沙,经室内连续饲养约30代,成为试验种群。试验环境条件为连续光照条件,温度25℃,RH 60%—80%,光照强度为990 lx。整个吊飞过程不补充食物和水份。共得到179组吊飞数据,其中雌虫86组,雄虫93组,每个日龄处理不少于9头。结果显示随着日龄的增加,橘小实蝇雌蝇和雄蝇的飞行能力均逐渐增加,到达16日龄后雌蝇飞行能力迅速下降,表现为单峰型;雄蝇的飞行能力在16—31日龄一般维持较高水平,但在26日龄有一定波动。16日龄雌蝇和雄蝇的累计飞行距离分别是(2485.6±2287.2)m和(2152.3±1773.3)m。其中1头21日龄雄性个体的累计飞行距离最大,完成了8795.80 m的飞行。雌蝇累计飞行距离最远的发生在16日龄,为8116.6 m。日龄对橘小实蝇的累计飞行距离和平均飞行速度的影响都达到了显著水平(前者,F=2.88,P0.05;后者,F=4.98,P0.01)。雌蝇和雄蝇的平均飞行速度的差异达到了显著水平(F=4.10,P0.05)。日龄和性别的互作对平均飞行速度的影响也达到了显著水平(F=2.74,P0.05)。尽管实验种群不能完全代表野生种群,研究结果对研究橘小实蝇扩散规律及综合防治,特别是改进橘小实蝇雄性不育技术仍有重要的参考价值。     

通过形成类胚体诱导人羊水多能干细胞向心肌细胞分化

由人羊水中分离羊水多能性干细胞,通过形成类胚体诱导其向心肌细胞分化.取人羊水标本进行体外培养,分离得到人羊水干细胞,已连续传代培养至42代,采用免疫细胞化学、RT-PCR和流式细胞仪技术对羊水干细胞的生物学特性进行检测.取10～15代羊水干细胞,悬浮培养使其形成类胚体,进而向心肌细胞诱导分化.培养的羊水干细胞呈成纤维样,表达部分胚胎干细胞特异标志基因,悬浮培养可形成类胚体.类胚体碱性磷酸酶(AP)检测呈阳性,表达三胚层特异标志基因fgf5、ζ-globin和α-fetoprotein.羊水干细胞形成类胚体后进行诱导,得到α-actin阳性细胞,表达心肌细胞特异标志基因Tbx5、Nkx2.5、GATA4和α-MHC.试验结果表明,从人羊水标本中可分离得到具有胚胎干细胞特性的细胞,经初步检测确定为羊水干细胞,并能通过形成类胚体诱导其向心肌细胞分化.