Elevated Neuroglobin Lessens Neuroinflammation and Alleviates Neurobehavioral Deficits Induced by Acute Inhalation of Combustion Smoke in the Mouse

Acute inhalation of combustion smoke produces long-term neurologic deficits in survivors. To study the mechanisms that contribute to the development of neurologic deficits and identify targets for prevention, we developed a mouse model of acute inhalation of combustion smoke, which supports longitudinal investigation of mechanisms that underlie the smoke induced inimical sequelae in the brain. Using a transgenic mouse engineered to overexpress neuroglobin, a neuroprotective oxygen-binding globin protein, we previously demonstrated that elevated neuroglobin preserves mitochondrial respiration and attenuates formation of oxidative DNA damage in the mouse brain after smoke exposure. In the current study, we show that elevated neuronal neuroglobin attenuates the persistent inflammatory changes induced by smoke exposure in the mouse brain and mitigates concordant smoke-induced long-term neurobehavioral deficits. Specifically, we found that increases in hippocampal density of GFAP and Iba-1 positive cells that are detected post-smoke in wild-type mice are absent in the neuroglobin overexpressing transgenic (Ngb-tg) mice. Similarly, the smoke induced hippocampal myelin depletion is not observed in the Ngb-tg mice. Importantly, elevated neuroglobin alleviates behavioral and memory deficits that develop after acute smoke inhalation in the wild-type mice. Taken together, our findings suggest that the protective effects exerted by neuroglobin in the brains of smoke exposed mice afford protection from long-term neurologic sequelae of acute inhalation of combustion smoke. Our transgenic mouse provides a tool for assessing the potential of elevated neuroglobin as possible strategy for management of smoke inhalation injury.

     

Theoretical study on benzoheterocycle based energetic materials,effect of heterocyclic-fused,conjugation, hydrogen bond,and substitutional group on the detonation performance

In this paper, four series of benzoheterocycle based energetic materials (EMs) have been designed to plan out a strategy to improve the density and safety of EMs, such as combining the insensitive group with aminobenzene ring and the high energetic nitramine explosives, benzo-heterocycle mother ring, designing multi-nitrogen heterocycles with a conjugated system containing N-N and C-N high energy bonds, and hydrogen bonding. Their optimized structure and detonation properties were first calculated and discussed using DFT methods. After calculation, these designed explosives all showed good detonation from 7352 m/s to 8788 m/s. Among them, the compounds with six nitro groups, 1c, 2c, 3c, and 4c, exhibit better performance and rather poor impact sensitivity. However, we found that the compounds with five nitro groups and one amino group have a limited performance reduction and a rapid stability improvement. These four compounds, 1b, 2b, 3b, and 4b, have good detonation performance and better stability. Moreover, the synthesis routes for these four compounds were also designed. The precursor 4–0 and mononitro product 4–1 were successfully synthesized. Their 1H NMR, single crystal, and elemental analysis were also done to verify the structures.     

裂解性复制诱导产生可视化重组Epstein Barr病毒

为了在病毒的整个基因组中研究基因的功能,分析基因与基因之间的相互作用,含有整个野生型EB病毒(EBV)基因组的BAC-EBV质粒(p2089),首先被转染EBV阴性的HEK293细胞,经潮霉素筛选建立了HEK293/p2089稳定细胞系.再构建pcDNA3.1( )/BZLF1和pcDNA3.1( )/BALF4真核表达质粒,共转染至HEK293/p2089细胞内,诱导EBV裂解性复制产生可视化的重组EBV颗粒.重组EBV颗粒感染Raji细胞,在倒置荧光显微镜下和流式细胞仪记数GFP阳性细胞,根据这些"绿色Raji单位"确定病毒的滴度.在国内首次建立这种以细菌人工染色体(BAC)为基础的EBV感染性克隆技术,将允许对EB病毒基因组中任何基因的任何遗传修饰,为在整个基因组中对EB病毒基因功能的研究奠定了基础,也为对EBV与其相关的肿瘤如鼻咽癌发生机理的研究建立了新的技术平台.     

Slow Mitochondrial COI Sequence Evolution at the Base of the Metazoan Tree and Its Implications for DNA Barcoding

The evolution rates of mtDNA in early metazoans hold important implications for DNA barcoding. Here, we present a comprehensive analysis of intra- and interspecific COI variabilities in Porifera and Cnidaria (separately as Anthozoa, Hydrozoa, and Scyphozoa) using a data set of 619 sequences from 224 species. We found variation within and between species to be much lower in Porifera and Anthozoa compared to Medusozoa (Hydrozoa and Scyphozoa), which has divergences similar to typical metazoans. Given that recent evidence has shown that fungi also exhibit limited COI divergence, slow-evolving mtDNA is likely to be plesiomorphic for the Metazoa. Higher rates of evolution could have originated independently in Medusozoa and Bilateria or been acquired in the Cnidaria + Bilateria clade and lost in the Anthozoa. Low identification success and substantial overlap between intra- and interspecific COI distances render the Anthozoa unsuitable for DNA barcoding. Caution is also advised for Porifera and Hydrozoa because of relatively low identification success rates as even threshold divergence that maximizes the “barcoding gap” does not improve identification success. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

不同功能位点介导α干扰素的免疫调节和中枢镇痛作用

细胞因子α干扰素（ＩＦＮα）具有中枢镇痛作用。抗内源性阿片肽血清与ＩＦＮα能发生明显的交叉反应,提示ＩＦＮα与内源性阿片肽之间存在着共同的抗原决定基。采用基因定点突变技术,获得系列ＩＦＮα突变体,并分别测定其免疫学活性和镇痛能力。结果显示,ＩＦＮα突变体Ｙ１２９Ｓ－ＩＦＮα免疫学活性显著下降,但仍然保留了很强的镇痛能力,阿片受体拮抗纳洛酮能够阻断Ｙ１２９Ｓ－ＩＦＮα的镇痛作用。实验结果表明,ＩＦＮ     

酵母浸出粉在奈瑟脑膜炎双球菌培养中的比较观察

目的探索A群,C群奈瑟脑膜炎双球菌(简称流脑)多糖疫苗生产中奈瑟脑膜炎双球菌培养的最适培养基。方法在培养基配制中用增减酵母浸出粉的方法制备相应的培养基,8h收菌,通过菌体的收获量并参考多糖量来确定较好的培养基配比。结果不同培养基用于A群、C群奈瑟脑膜炎菌培养8h后均有收获,其中2号培养基(酵母浸出粉)培养的菌体的浓度明显高于1号和3号培养基,它们之间有显著性差异(P<0.05)此种培养基能提高奈瑟脑膜炎双球菌的产量。结论添加酵母浸出粉的培养基可作为A群、C群奈瑟脑膜炎双球菌培养的最适培养基。     

A recombinant anti-erbB2, scFv-Fc-IL-2 fusion protein retains antigen specificity and cytokine function

Elevated erbB2 expression is detected in many in situ and invasive human ductal carcinomas. Anti-erbB2 antibody directed at the extracellular domain of erbB2 can result in an antitumor response in some patients with tumors overexpressing erbB2 oncoprotein. By combining interleukin 2 (IL-2) activities with a tumor specific antibody, immunotherapy of tumors might be more effective in the future. In this study, a fusion protein consisting of erbB2 single chain antibody (scFv), Fc fragment of human IgG1 and IL-2 was constructed. The molecular weight of fusion proteins is 66 kDa, only one third of whole antibody-IL-2 fusion protein or 44% whole Ig molecule. The fusion proteins retained the activities of both antigen binding and IL-2. The scFv-Fc-IL-2 fusion protein may have advantages over whole antibody-IL-2 fusion proteins, such as smaller molecule, better activity of penetration, more favorable pharmacokinetic properties.     

Membrane-bound pyrophosphatase of human gut microbe Clostridium methylpentosum confers improved salt tolerance in Escherichia coli,Saccharomyces cerevisiae and tobacco

Membrane-bound pyrophosphatases (PPases) are involved in the adaption of organisms to stress conditions, which was substantiated by numerous plant transgenic studies with H⁺-PPase yet devoid of any correlated evidences for other two subfamilies, Na⁺-PPase and Na⁺,H⁺-PPase. Herein, we demonstrate the gene cloning and functional evaluation of the membrane-bound PPase (CmPP) of the human gut microbe Clostridium methylpentosum. The CmPP gene encodes a single polypeptide of 699 amino acids that was predicted as a multi-spanning membrane and K⁺-dependent Na⁺,H⁺-PPase. Heterologous expression of CmPP could significantly enhance the salt tolerance of both Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and this effect in yeast could be fortified by N-terminal addition of a vacuole-targeting signal peptide from the H⁺-PPase of Trypanosoma cruzi. Furthermore, introduction of CmPP could remarkably improve the salt tolerance of tobacco, implying its potential use in constructing salt-resistant transgenic crops. Consequently, the possible mechanisms of CmPP to underlie salt tolerance are discussed.     

Protective immune responses in mice induced by intramuscular and intranasal immunization with a Mycoplasma pneumoniae P1C DNA vaccine

Mycoplasma pneumoniae is an important causative agent of atypical pneumonia. This study was to determine the ability of a DNA expression vector, which encodes the carboxy terminal region of the M. pneumoniae P1 protein (P1C), to induce humoral and cellular immune responses and to protect against M. pneumoniae infection in BALB/c mice. Mice were immunized with pcDNA3.1/P1C by either intramuscular injection (i.m.) or intranasal inoculation (i.n.). Our results showed that p1c DNA immunization generates detectable antibodies specific to M. pneumoniae, and elicits high levels of IgG1, IgG2a, and IgG2b isotypes (P?< 0.01). The levels of IFN-γ and IL-4 in spleen cells of the immunized mice were significantly elevated by immunization via both the i.m. and i.n. methods. Moreover, p1c DNA-immunized mice exhibited detectable protection against M. pneumoniae infection. The lung tissue inflammation was relieved and the histopathologic score (HPS) of pcDNA3.1/P1C-immunized mice was significantly decreased than those in phosphate-buffed saline (PBS) or vaccine-vector-immunized mice (P?< 0.01), whereas there were no significant differences in HPS between i.m. and i.n. vaccination (P?> 0.05). Our results suggest that pcDNA3.1/P1C could be useful for developing a vaccine against M. pneumoniae infection.