Sonic Hedgehog Protein Is Decreased and Penile Morphology Is Altered in Prostatectomy and Diabetic Patients

Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a debilitating medical condition and current treatments are ineffective in patients with cavernous nerve (CN) injury, due to penile remodeling and apoptosis. A critical regulator of penile smooth muscle and apoptosis is the secreted protein sonic hedgehog (SHH). SHH protein is decreased in rat prostatectomy and diabetic ED models, SHH inhibition in the penis induces apoptosis and ED, and SHH treatment at the time of CN injury suppresses smooth muscle apoptosis and promotes regeneration of erectile function. Thus SHH treatment has significant translational potential as an ED therapy if similar mechanisms underlie ED development in patients. In this study we quantify SHH protein and morphological changes in corpora cavernosal tissue of control, prostatectomy and diabetic patients and hypothesize that decreased SHH protein is an underlying cause of ED development in prostatectomy and diabetic patients. Our results show significantly decreased SHH protein in prostatectomy and diabetic penis. Morphological remodelling of the penis, including significantly increased apoptotic index and decreased smooth muscle/collagen ratio, accompanies declining SHH. SHH signaling is active in human penis and is altered in a parallel manner to previous observations in the rat. These results suggest that SHH has significant potential to be developed as an ED therapy in prostatectomy and diabetic patients. The increased apoptotic index long after initial injury is suggestive of ongoing remodeling that may be clinically manipulatable.     

中药新药保肝作用的研究进展

肝脏作为代谢器官,在人体内发挥着重要作用。随着肝病的发病率逐年上升,如何有效的保肝护肝已成为医学界和药学界共同面一临的巨大挑战之一。化学药物在治疗肝病的同时常常伴随各种毒副作用甚至更进一步的肝损伤,而中药凭借其安全性和有效性的优势在肝病治疗领域受到越来越多的重视。中药护肝已有悠久的历史,近年来随着技术的进步,更多更好的新型中药逐步上市,相关研究不断增多。本文将就这些研究成果进行阐述。     

Cyclo(l-Pro-d-Arg): a new antibacterial and antitumour diketopiperazine from Bacillus cereus associated with a rhabditid entomopathogenic

In continuation of our search for new antimicrobial secondary metabolites from Bacillus cereus associated with rhabditid entomopathogenic nematode, a new microbial diketopiperazine, cyclo(l-Pro-d-Arg), was isolated from the ethyl acetate extract of fermented modified nutrient broth. The chemical structures of the isolated compounds were identified based on their 1D, 2D NMR and high-resolution electrospray ionisation–mass spectroscopy data. Antibacterial activity of the compound was determined by minimum inhibitory concentration and disc diffusion method against medically important bacteria, and the compound was recorded to have significant antibacterial activity against test bacteria. The highest activity was recorded against Klebsiella pneumoniae (1 μg/mL). Cyclo(l-Pro-d-Arg) was recorded to have significant antitumor activity against HeLa cells (IC₅₀ value 50 μg/mL), and this compound was recorded to have no cytotoxicity against normal monkey kidney cells (VERO) up to 100 μg/mL). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that cyclo(l-Pro-d-Arg) has been isolated from a microbial natural source.     

Genetic elements associated with antimicrobial resistance in enteropathogenic <Emphasis Type="Italic">Escherichia coli</Emphasis> (EPEC) from Brazil

Background  

We recently observed an association of resistance with a certain enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) serotypes and identified a conjugative plasmid, similar to plasmid pED208, that was conserved among archival O111:H2/NM and O119:H2 strains of diverse geographical origin. In this study, we sought to determine the prevalence and distribution of this plasmid among a collection of EPEC isolates from Brazil, as well as to study the susceptibilities of these isolates to antimicrobial agents.     

表没食子儿茶素没食子酸酯对人结肠癌HT-29细胞G1期的阻滞作用

目的:研究表没食子儿茶素没食子酸酯(Epigallaocatechin-3-gallate,EGCG)时人结肠癌HT-29细胞增殖的影响.方法:实验分为EGCG不同浓度处理组和阴性对照组.采用MTT比色法检测EGCG(30μg/mL、40μg/mL、50μg/mL、60μg/mL、70μg/mL)对HT-29细胞的生长影响;应用流式细胞术分析EGCG对HT-29细胞周期分布的影响;免疫印迹观测EGCG对HT-29细胞p38MAPK、cyclinD1蛋白表达的影响.结果:MTT比色结果显示.不同浓度EGCG(30μg/ml、40μg/ml、50μg/ml、60μg/ml)对HT-29细胞具有明显的生长抑制作用,并呈剂量-效应依赖关系(P<0.05);流式细胞术分析显示,EGCG诱导人结肠癌细胞G1期阻滞,且随着处理时间的延长,其诱导周期阻滞的效应越明显(P<0.05);蛋白免疫印迹显示.总的p38MAPK不随处理时间和浓度的改变而改变,但是磷酸化的p38MAPK蛋白的表达随处理时间和处理浓度的增加而明显增加,而CyclinD1蛋白的表达随处理浓度的增加而明显减少.结论:EGCG诱导HT-29细胞G1期阻滞,抑制细胞增殖,可能与活化p38MAPK,下调CyclinD1蛋白表达有关.     

Molecular evolution of olfactomedin

Olfactomedin is a secreted polymeric glycoprotein of unknown function, originally discovered at the mucociliary surface of the amphibian olfactory neuroepithelium and subsequently found throughout the mammalian brain. As a first step toward elucidating the function of olfactomedin, its phylogenetic history was examined to identify conserved structural motifs. Such conserved motifs may have functional significance and provide targets for future mutagenesis studies aimed at establishing the function of this protein. Previous studies revealed 33% amino acid sequence identity between rat and frog olfactomedins in their carboxyl terminal segments. Further analysis, however, reveals more extensive homologies throughout the molecule. Despite significant sequence divergence, cysteines essential for homopolymer formation such as the CXC motif near the amino terminus are conserved, as is the characteristic glycosylation pattern, suggesting that these posttranslational modifications are essential for function. Furthermore, evolutionary analysis of a region of 53 amino acids of fish, frog, rat, mouse, and human olfactomedins indicates that an ancestral olfactomedin gene arose before the evolution of terrestrial vertebrates and evolved independently in teleost, amphibian, and mammalian lineages. Indeed, a distant olfactomedin homolog was identified in Caenorhabditis elegans. Although the amino acid sequence of this invertebrate protein is longer and highly divergent compared with its vertebrate homologs, the protein from C. elegans shows remarkable similarities in terms of conserved motifs and posttranslational modification sites. Six universally conserved motifs were identified, and five of these are clustered in the carboxyl terminal half of the protein. Sequence comparisons indicate that evolution of the N-terminal half of the molecule involved extensive insertions and deletions; the C-terminal segment evolved mostly through point mutations, at least during vertebrate evolution. The widespread occurrence of olfactomedin among vertebrates and invertebrates underscores the notion that this protein has a function of universal importance. Furthermore, extensive modification of its N-terminal half and the acquisition of a C-terminal SDEL endoplasmic-reticulum- targeting sequence may have enabled olfactomedin to adopt new functions in the mammalian central nervous system.      

The molecular organization of the beta-globin complex of the deer mouse, Peromyscus maniculatus

Recombinant DNA clones have been isolated that contain 80 kb of the beta-globin complex from the deer mouse, Peromyscus maniculatus. Comparisons of this complex with that from the laboratory mouse, Mus domesticus (with an order 5'-Hbby, Hbb-bhO, Hbb-bhl, Hbb-bh2, Hbb-bh3, Hbb-bl, Hbb-b2 3') highlight organizational trends in the beta-globin complex since the two species diverged. Unlike other mammals studied thus far, the deer mouse possesses three adult genes. Partial sequence analysis indicates that each of the three adult genes is intact and hence may be functional. Hybridization of one of the two Mus pseudogenes, Hbb-bh3, to genomic blots from Peromyscus reveals that it has a homologous counterpart in Peromyscus. Homologous genes to the two gamma-like Mus genes, Hbb-bhO and Hbb-bhl, are also found in Peromyscus. The strong hybridization between the Hbb-bhl genes and significant nucleotide similarity between the Hbb-bhO genes suggest that both pairs are important for the ontogeny of these mice although no known product has been identified for the Hbb-bhO genes. The presence of Hbb-bhO and Hbb-bhl in Peromyscus suggests that the duplication that created this related gene set occurred before the two lineages diverged. A single gene for Hbb-y has been isolated from Peromyscus. The adult region in Peromyscus has undergone significant divergence from the same region in Mus, having three rather than two adult genes, the acquisition of at least 15 kb of extra DNA relative to Mus, and possibly the loss of the Hbb-bh2 pseudogene. The nonadult region of the complex, in contrast, contains the same set of genes apparently distributed over the same amount of DNA as in the Mus beta- globin complex. This observation suggests that the embryonic region of the complex is more evolutionarily stable than the adult region.