Targeted disruption of AdipoR1 and AdipoR2 causes abrogation of adiponectin binding and metabolic actions

Adiponectin plays a central role as an antidiabetic and antiatherogenic adipokine. AdipoR1 and AdipoR2 serve as receptors for adiponectin in vitro, and their reduction in obesity seems to be correlated with reduced adiponectin sensitivity. Here we show that adenovirus-mediated expression of AdipoR1 and R2 in the liver of Lepr(-/-) mice increased AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activation and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-alpha signaling pathways, respectively. Activation of AMPK reduced gluconeogenesis, whereas expression of the receptors in both cases increased fatty acid oxidation and lead to an amelioration of diabetes. Alternatively, targeted disruption of AdipoR1 resulted in the abrogation of adiponectin-induced AMPK activation, whereas that of AdipoR2 resulted in decreased activity of PPAR-alpha signaling pathways. Simultaneous disruption of both AdipoR1 and R2 abolished adiponectin binding and actions, resulting in increased tissue triglyceride content, inflammation and oxidative stress, and thus leading to insulin resistance and marked glucose intolerance. Therefore, AdipoR1 and R2 serve as the predominant receptors for adiponectin in vivo and play important roles in the regulation of glucose and lipid metabolism, inflammation and oxidative stress in vivo.     

Structure-Function Relationship of Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) and Its Receptor Interaction Based on 3D Structural Analysis of a Fully Active TNFR1-Selective TNF Mutant

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is an important cytokine that suppresses carcinogenesis and excludes infectious pathogens to maintain homeostasis. TNF activates its two receptors [TNF receptor (TNFR) 1 and TNFR2], but the contribution of each receptor to various host defense functions and immunologic surveillance is not yet clear. Here, we used phage display techniques to generate receptor-selective TNF mutants that activate only one TNFR. These TNF mutants will be useful in the functional analysis of TNFR.Six amino acids in the receptor binding interface (near TNF residues 30, 80, and 140) were randomly mutated by polymerase chain reaction. Two phage libraries comprising over 5 million TNF mutants were constructed. By selecting the mutants without affinity for TNFR1 or TNFR2, we successfully isolated 4 TNFR2-selective candidates and 16 TNFR1-selective candidates, respectively. The TNFR1-selective candidates were highly mutated near residue 30, whereas TNFR2-selective candidates were highly mutated near residue 140, although both had conserved sequences near residues 140 and 30, respectively. This finding suggested that the phage display technique was suitable for identifying important regions for the TNF interaction with TNFR1 and TNFR2. Purified clone R1-6, a TNFR1-selective candidate, remained fully bioactive and had full affinity for TNFR1 without activating TNFR2, indicating the usefulness of the R1-6 TNF mutant in analyzing TNFR1 receptor function.To further elucidate the receptor selectivity of R1-6, we examined the structure of R1-6 by X-ray crystallography. The results suggested that R31A and R32G mutations strongly influenced electrostatic interaction with TNFR2, and that L29K mutation contributed to the binding of R1-6 to TNFR1. This phage display technique can be used to efficiently construct functional mutants for analysis of the TNF structure-function relationship, which might facilitate in silico drug design based on receptor selectivity.     

Development of one or two blastomeres from eight-cell mouse embryos to term in the presence of parthenogenetic eggs

This study was undertaken to develop a new technique to produce identical offspring by aggregating a quarter or eighth embryo with a parthenogenetically activated egg in the mouse. One or two blastomeres from 8-cell embryos were aggregated with a parthenogenetic 4-cell egg from which one or two blastomeres had been removed. After micromanipulation and culture for 2 d in vitro, the morphologically normal blastocysts were transferred to the uterus of recipient females. The success rate in micromanipulation of eggs was 93 to 100%: aggregation of blastomeres occured about 60% of the time and the proportion of live young after transfer of aggregated eggs was 11 to 33% for the quarter and 2 to 24% for the eighth egg. The proportion of chimaeras as judged by coat color was 10% for the quarter and 20% for the eighth egg. However, GPI-1 analysis and progeny testing could not detect a parthenogenetic contribution in all offspring. The mean number of young obtained from one embryo was 1.7 for the quarter and 1.6 for the eighth embryo. The maximal number of young obtained from splitting one 8-cell embryo into quarters was three and into eighths was four. The mice of each set derived from a single embryo were of the same sex. Our study clearly demonstrates that the parthenogenone can assist development of the quarter and eighth mouse embryo to term. The proportion of chimaeras is low compared with that obtained when two fertilied eggs are combined.     

Role of Intermolecular Disulfide Bonds of the Organic Solvent-Stable PST-01 Protease in Its Organic Solvent Stability

The PST-01 protease is secreted by the organic solvent-tolerant microorganism Pseudomonas aeruginosa PST-01 and is stable in the presence of various organic solvents. Therefore, the PST-01 strain and the PST-01 protease are very useful for fermentation and reactions in the presence of organic solvents, respectively. The organic solvent-stable PST-01 protease has two disulfide bonds (between Cys-30 and Cys-58 and between Cys-270 and Cys-297) in its molecule. Mutant PST-01 proteases in which one or both of the disulfide bonds were deleted were constructed by site-directed mutagenesis, and the effect of the disulfide bonds on the activity and the various stabilities was investigated. The disulfide bond between Cys-270 and Cys-297 in the PST-01 protease was found to be essential for its activity. The disulfide bond between Cys-30 and Cys-58 played an important role in the organic solvent stability of the PST-01 protease.     

Production of mice derived entirely from embryonic stem cells after injecting the cells into heat treated blastocysts

The sensitivity of the inner cell mass (ICM) and trophectoderm (TE) of mouse blastocysts to high temperatures was examined. When blastocysts with a diameter of 100 to 120 microm treated for 15 to 20 min at 45 degrees C were cultured in vitro, the cell number in the ICM did not increase, although that in the TE did increase. After transfer of treated blastocysts to recipients, implantation was not drastically inhibited but no live fetuses were obtained. These results demonstrated that the ICM at the blastocyst stage was more sensitive to high temperature than the TE. ICM clumps or ES cells were injected into blastocysts treated for 20 min at 45 degrees C. After transfer of injected blastocysts to recipients, we obtained mice derived completely from ICM or ES cells as judged by GPI analysis. Since 4 of 7 ES-cell derived mice, but none of the 6 mice derived from the ICM died after birth, an as yet unidentified epigenetic alteration might have occurred during the establishment and/or culture of ES cells.     

我国蒙古羊系统不同生态型绵羊品种遗传多样性及距离隔离机制的研究

以我国主要地方绵羊品种湖羊、同羊、小尾寒羊、滩羊和洼地绵羊为研究对象,检测位于不同染色体的微卫星位点的基因频率分布,进行比较分析.结果表明 1) 就本研究涉及的微卫星标记而言,湖羊处于Hardy-Weinberg极不平衡状态 (P ＜ 0.01),而其余群体包括同羊、小尾寒羊、滩羊和洼地绵羊却处于Hardy-Weinberg平衡 (P ＜ 0.05).2) 就本研究涉及的微卫星标记而言,平均杂合度、多型信息含量和有效等位基因数三个遗传变异指标的方差分析表明不同群体间杂合度、多型信息含量均不存在显著差异 (P ＞ 0.05),有效等位基因数遗传变异指标在、滩羊、湖羊、同羊和洼地羊相互之间以及洼地羊与小尾寒羊之间亦差异不显著(P ＞ 0.05),但是有效等位基因数在前3个群体与后2个群体之间存在显著差异 (0.01 ＜ P ＜ 0.05).5个绵羊群体的变异水平以小尾寒羊最高,其次为洼地绵羊、同羊和滩羊,最低的是湖羊.3) 本研究涉及的我国蒙古羊系统内5个绵羊群体间的系统发生关系不满足距离隔离模式,绵羊群体间的遗传分化关系的远近与其地理分布并未表现出紧密的线性相关.这与5个绵羊起源于不同时期的蒙古羊始祖群体,同时在品种间存在一定程度的基因交流,并在各自特有的生态环境中经历不同程度的自然选择和人为选择品种培育史实相符.     

Human follicular dendritic cells in vitro and follicular dendritic-cell-like cells

Cell and Tissue Research - Human follicular dendritic cell (FDC)-like cells (FLC) have been utilized for the in vitro analysis of germinal center reactions. However, there is no consensus whether...     

Changes in Interleukin 1 Levels in Human Amniotic Fluid with Gestational Ages and Delivery

In order to understand the role of interleukin 1 (IL-1) in pregnancy, the amount of IL-1 in normal human amniotic fluid (AF) from various gestational ages and delivery was measured using an ELISA. AF samples were divided into three groups of varying gestational ages. Group 1 of AF was collected by amniocentesis from gestational ages <24 weeks (n = 13). Group 2 was collected transvaginally during delivery following labor ≥36 weeks (n = 36). Group 3 was transabdominally collected from elective cesarean section without labor ≥36 weeks (n ?8). IL-1α was present in AF of early gestational age, 19.2±21.7 pg/ml, in group 1, and appeared to increase with gestational age, 63.4±50.1 pg/ml, in group 3. In contrast, IL-1β was not detectable in either group 1 or 3. However, the concentration of IL-1 in group 2 was extremely high (IL-lα, 233.1±351.9 pg/ml; IL-1β, 1,093.5±1,369.7 pg/ml) compared to the other groups. Moreover, these concentrations tended to increase with the duration of labor. IL-1α and IL-1β concentrations in AF were intimately related. These findings suggest that IL-1 has some roles during pregnancy and especially during labor.     

A preliminary report on the treatment of ovulation failure in cows with gonadotropin-releasing hormone analog or human chorionic gonadotropin combined with insemination

Seventy-two cows which did not ovulate within 24–36 h after insemination were reinseminated and treated intramuscularly at the same time with either 50, 100 or 200 μg of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analog (49 cows) or 2000 MU of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) (23 cows). One hundred and seventy-seven other cows, which were not considered to ovulate within 24–36 h unless treated with hormones having LH activity because of abnormalities in Graafian follicles detected by rectal palpation at insemination or because of repeat breeding, were also treated with either GnRH (144 cows) or hCG (33 cows) at the same time of initial service. The ovulation rate within 24–36 h after treatment and the conception rate were 79.6% (39 cows of 49) and 46.9% (23 cows of 49) in cows treated with GnRH and 87.0% (20 cows of 23) and 26.1% (6 cows of 23) in cows treated with hCG, respectively. Prophylactic application of GnRH for ovulation failure-predicted cases resulted in ovulation and conception rates of 86.8% (125 cows of 144) and 51.4% (74 cows of 144), and the results of hCG treatment were 78.8% (26 cows of 33) and 45.5% (15 cows of 33). Ovulation rates and conception rates did not differ following treatment with GnRH or hCG, but the lack of untreated controls leaves some uncertainty as to the effectiveness of either of these prophylactic treatments.