小鼠精原干细胞不同转染方法效率的比较

本研究采用腺病毒感染、慢病毒感染、脂质体转染和电穿孔转化方法将含有绿色荧光蛋白（GFP）的质粒转入经过差异贴壁法初步分离纯化的小鼠精原干细胞(SSCs)中,转染48 h后通过流式细胞仪检测GFP阳性细胞比例比较4种方法在体外转染精原干细胞的效率.结果显示,脂质体转染效率最高仅为8.64%,不能满足对精原干细胞进一步实验的要求;电穿孔法效率最高达到25.27%,但转化后细胞大量死亡;腺病毒转染细胞的效率达到了32.4%;慢病毒转染效率最高,达到74.25%. 因此,慢病毒转染法是体外转染小鼠精原干细胞的有效方法.     

抗FGF2人鼠嵌合抗体在HEK293T细胞中的表达优化

目的：FGF2是肿瘤血管新生过程中最重要的因子之一,因此通过制备抗FGF2人鼠嵌合抗体中和其发挥作用,以达到抑制肿瘤生长的目的。方法：利用分泌抗FGF2抗体的杂交瘤细胞株IgG9B9和人B淋巴细胞,分别克隆抗体轻链可变区V_L、重链可变区V_H和人重链恒定区C_H基因,从pComb3λ载体中扩增出人λ 链恒定区C_L基因,通过重叠PCR,将V_L,V_H和C_L,C_H片段分别连接形成嵌合抗体的轻链L和重链H,将L/H链以单独构建或串联于同一载体的方式,构建抗FGF2嵌合抗体表达载体,并通过调控元件WPRE优化载体、共转染促生长因子aFGF以及调整表达温度等方式提高嵌合抗体在真核细胞中的表达。结果：成功构建了优化表达载体PLexm-WPRE、PLexm-aFGF;L、H链基因也成功构建,并以L、H或L-F2A-H（2A连接肽将L和H连接起来）的方式分别成功连接到PLexm,PLexm-WPRE载体中。转染细胞上清的ELISA鉴定结果表明,L/H链单独构建要比串联构建的方式具有更高的表达水平,WPRE能有效促进抗体的表达而aFGF并不能促进其表达,与31、37℃相比,33℃时抗体的表达量最高,同时嵌合抗体表现出了很好的结合活性及中和活性,竞争IC50=6.25μg/ml。通过亲和层析获得了高纯度的抗FGF2嵌合抗体。结论：在33℃下,人鼠嵌合抗体基因在WPRE存在下表达量最高,且与抗原FGF2有很好的结合活性及中和活性,为临床应用奠定了基础。     

Leber＇s遗传性视神经病变和细胞总抗氧化能力关系的实验研究（简报）

除mtDNA突变以外,LHON的突变基因的杂合性、临床表现的不完全外显性和明显的性别偏向等问题使其发病机制尚不明确,本研究拟了解LHON与氧化应激的关系。探索其进一步可能的发病机制和治疗。抽取有mtDNA＊LHON G11778A突变的LHON患者7人、正常携带者10人及正常健康非母系家庭成员13人的外周血,用PHA（植物血凝素）作为细胞氧化应激的促发剂,运用化学发光法测定全血中氧自由基的变化。家系人群（包括病人和正常携带者）中全血氧自由基的变化在即时组要明显高于对照人群（P〈0．05）,而家系人群二组间、即时组及10min组间的变化差异不大（P〉0.05）。在外界氧化应激刺激下,LHON家系人群组织或细胞中自由基／抗氧化物间的平衡状态更容易被打破,提示氧化应激在其发病机制中起重要作用。     

影响小鼠体细胞脂质体法转染效率的因素

We studied the effects of the amount of liposome and plasmid, exposure time of cells to the liposome-plasmid complexes, number of cell passages and cell types on GFP gene transfection of mouse somatic cells. The maximal GFP transgene expression (30.7%) was achieved when mouse fetal fibroblast cells (MFFC) at 70%-90% confluence of passage 3 were exposed for 6 h to the complexes of 4 microg liposome (LipofectAMINE) and 0.3 microg plasmid (pEGFP-N1). Under these conditions, we compared the effect of the number (from primary to 15) of passages on the transfection efficiency of MFFC. The transfection efficiency of MFFC was 10.0%, 28.9% and 7.2% at the primary, 3rd and 15th passage, respectively, which indicated that the transfection efficiency decreased with passaging. When MFFC, mouse oviductal epithelial cells (MOEC) and mouse granulosa cells (MGC) were transfected at passage 3, the transfection efficiency was 27.8%, 13.7% and 14.2%, respectively, under the described transfection conditions. When the cell cycle stages of different cell types at transfection were examined, it was found that 17.2% of MFFC, 8.7% of MOEC and 9.9% of MGC were at M phases of the cell cycle. Examination of the cell cycle stages of MFFC at different passages showed that MFFC at the third passage had the highest percentage of M cells and the percentage decreased afterwards. This suggested that the transfection efficiency was correlated with the percentages of cells at M phase, and provided essential data for improvement of the transfection efficiency.     

Interaction of p14ARF with Brca1 in cancer cell lines and primary breast cancer

We report an association between p14ARF and Brca1 in which both proteins co-immunoprecipitate (co-IP) in DU145 cells. The N-terminal 64 residues of p14ARF encoded by exon 1beta are sufficient for this association. Inside the cell, ectopic p14ARF co-localizes with ectopic and endogenous Brca1 in A375 cells. Endogenous p14ARF co-localizes with endogenous Brca1 in DU145 cells but not in H1299 cells. Since p14ARF interacts with B23 in the nucleolus, Brca1 co-localizes with B23 in DU145 but not in H1299 cells. While ectopic ARF potently inhibited DU145 cell proliferation, it had no effect on the proliferation of H1299 cells, suggesting that the interaction between ARF and Brca1 contributes to ARF-mediated tumor suppression. Consistent with this notion, ectopic p14ARF modulates endogenous Brca1 expression in MCF7 breast cancer cells and p14ARF co-localizes with Brca1 in normal breast epithelial cells. This co-localization is enhanced in primary breast cancer. Taken together, the results show that p14ARF associates with Brca1, which may play a major role in tumor suppression.     

Systematic and simultaneous gene profiling of 84 drug-metabolizing genes in primary human hepatocytes

Drug-metabolizing enzymes are an important battery of proteins that are involved in drug metabolism, xenobiotic detoxification, and drug-induced toxicity. Systematic, efficient, and simultaneous evaluation of drug-metabolizing gene expression in response to chemicals has a wide variety of implications in drug development, disease prevention, and personalized medicine and nutrition. In the current study, the authors have systematically and simultaneously evaluated the hepatic expression profile of drug-metabolizing enzymes in cultured human hepatocytes exposed to the xenobiotics rifampicin, omeprazole, and 3-methylcholanthrene (3-MC) using the Drug Metabolism RT(2)Profiler PCR Arrays. This new high-throughput tool allowed the authors to evaluate the expression of genes coding for 84 drug-metabolizing enzymes (including phase 1 and phase 2 drug-metabolizing enzymes and transporters) simultaneously, in a 96-well format using a small amount of experimental materials. To validate the quality of the Drug Metabolism RT(2)Profiler PCR Arrays, the PCR Array was compared with the well-documented platform TaqMan assay, and a high concordance was shown between these 2 methods, indicating the high reliability of the Drug Metabolism RT(2)Profiler PCR Arrays. In addition, increasing or decreasing the expression of drug-metabolizing enzymes by these 3 compounds was observed, and underlying mechanisms are discussed.     

Quantitative mechanical evaluation and analysis of Drosophila embryos through the stages of embryogenesis

The fruit fly Drosophila embryo is one of the most important model organisms in genetics and developmental biology research. To better understand the biomechanical properties involved in Drosophila embryo research, this work presents a mechanical characterization of living Drosophila embryos through the stages of embryogenesis. Measurements of the mechanical forces of Drosophila embryos are implemented using a novel, in situ, and minimally invasive force sensing tool with a resolution in the range of microN. The measurements offer an essential understanding of penetration force profiles during the microinjection of Drosophila embryos. Sequentially quantitative evaluation and analysis of the mechanical properties, such as Young's modulus, stiffness, and mechanical impedance of living Drosophila embryos are performed by extracting the force measurements throughout the stages of embryogenesis. Experimental results illustrate the changing mechanical properties of Drosophila embryos during development, and thus mathematical models are proposed. The evaluation provides a critical step toward better understanding of the biomechanical properties of Drosophila embryos during embryogenesis, and could contribute to more efficient and significant genetic and embryonic development research on Drosophila.     

Fabrication and characterization of poly(lactic acid)/acetyl tributyl citrate/carbon black as conductive polymer composites

By using acetyl tributyl citrate (ATBC) as the plasticizer of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and carbon black (CB) as conductive filler, electrically conductive polymer composites (CPC) with different CB and ATBC contents were prepared. FTIR revealed that the interaction existed between PLA/ATBC matrix and CB filler and ATBC could improve this interaction. The rheology showed that ATBC could obviously decrease the shear viscosity and improve the fluidity of the composites but just the reverse for CB. With the increasing of CB contents, the enforcement effect, storage modulus, and glass-transition temperature increased but the elongation at break decreased. PLA/ATBC/CB composites exhibited the low electrical percolation thresholds of 0.516, 1.20, 2.46, and 2.74 vol % CB at 30, 20, 10, and 0 wt % ATBC. The conductivity of the composite containing 3.98 vol % CB and 30 wt % ATBC reached 1.60 S/cm. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that the addition of ATBC facilitated the dispersion of the CB in the PLA matrix. Water vapor permeability (WVP) showed that, at the same CB contents, the more ATBC contents there were, the less the values of WVP were.