Novel biodegradable shape memory material based on partial inclusion complex formation between alpha-cyclodextrin and poly(epsilon-caprolactone)

A novel shape memory material was prepared based on the formation of inclusion complexes between alpha-cyclodextrin (alpha-CD) and poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL); the PCL-alpha-CD inclusion crystallites serve as a fixing phase, while free PCL crystallites serve as a reversible phase. The characteristics of the material were investigated and a mechanism for the shape memory behavior was proposed. This material showed good shape memory properties, with the recovery ratio exceeding 90% and the recovery time being less than 6 s at 90 degrees C. This PCL-alpha-CD partial inclusion complex lost about 50% (47.4 +/- 4.4%) weight within 45 days in presence of lipase, indicating its degradability. The shape memory and biodegradation properties of the well-designed polymer-alpha-CD complexes indicate great promise for this novel shape memory material.     

Metabonomic and metallomic profiling in the amniotic fluid of malnourished pregnant rats

Epidemiology and studies in animal models have revealed that prenatal malnutrition is highly correlated with abnormal fetal neurodevelopment. We present here a combined metabonomic and metallomic profiling technique to associate the metabolic and trace-elemental composition variations of rat amniotic fluid (AF) in malnourished pregnant rats with the retardation of fetal rat neurodevelopment. The AF samples from three groups of pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats, which were fed either a normal diet, a low-protein diet, or "a famine diet", were subjected to GC/MS and ICP/MS combined with multivariate data analysis (MVDA). PCA scores plot of both GC/MS and ICP/MS data showed similar and unique metabolic signatures of AF in response to the different diets. Rats in the famine group released increased amounts of glycine, inositol, putrescine, and rubidium and decreased amounts of methionine, dopa, tryptophan, glutamine, zinc, cobalt, and selenium in the AF. These discriminable variations in the AF may indicate the abnormality of a number of metabolic pathways in fetal rats including the folate cycle and methionine pathway, the monoamine pathway, and tri-iodothyronine (T3) metabolism. The abnormalities may be the result of metabolites or elemental differences or a combination of both. This study demonstrates the potential of combining profiling of small-molecule metabolites and trace elements to broaden the understanding of biological variations associated with fetal neurodevelopment induced by environmental perturbation.     

Four functional GnRH receptors in zebrafish: analysis of structure, signaling, synteny and phylogeny

Reproduction in all vertebrates requires the brain hormone gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) to activate a cascade of events leading to gametogenesis. All vertebrates studied to date have one to three forms of GnRH in specific but different neurons in the brain. In addition, at least one type of GnRH receptor is present in each vertebrate for activation of specific physiological events within a target cell. Humans possess two types of GnRH (GnRH1 and GnRH2) but only one functional GnRH receptor. Zebrafish, Danio rerio, also have two types of GnRH (GnRH2 and GnRH3), although in contrast to humans, zebrafish appear to have four different GnRH receptors in their genome. To characterize the biological significance of multiple GnRH receptors within a single species, we cloned four GnRH receptor cDNAs from zebrafish and compared their structures, expression, and cell physiology. The zebrafish receptors are 7-transmembrane G-protein coupled receptors with amino-acid sequence identities ranging from 45 to 71% among the four receptors. High sequence similarity was observed among the seven helices of zebrafish GnRHRs compared with the human GnRHR, the green monkey type II GnRHR, and the two goldfish GnRHRs. Also, key amino acids for putative ligand binding, disulfide bond formation, N-glycosylation, and G-protein coupling were present in the extracellular and intracellular domains. The four zebrafish receptors were expressed in a variety of tissues including the brain, eye, and gonads. In an inositol phosphate assay, each receptor was functional as shown by its response to physiological doses of native GnRH peptides; two receptors showed selectivity between GnRH2 and GnRH3. Each of the four receptor genes was mapped to distinct chromosomes. Our phylogenetic and syntenic analysis segregated the four zebrafish GnRH receptors into two distinct phylogenetic groups that are separate gene lineages conserved throughout vertebrate evolution. We suggest the maintenance of four functional GnRH receptors in zebrafish compared with only one in humans may depend either on subfunctionalization or neofunctionalization in fish compared with mammalian GnRH receptors. The differences in structure, location, and response to GnRH forms strongly suggests that the four zebrafish GnRH receptors have novel functions in addition to the conventional activation of the pituitary gland in the reproductive axis.     

pH对毕赤酵母表达重组人复合a干扰素的降解影响

使用Pichia pastoris表达重组人复合a干扰素(cIFN)会发生降解、聚合等不均一表达的现象。在5 L发酵罐中考察了不同诱导pH对cIFN表达产生降解的影响, 结果发现在适合酵母生长的pH 3.0~7.0范围内, 当诱导pH为4.0~5.0时, cIFN不均一表达现象最少, 生物活性达到2.5×108 IU/mL。通过测定发酵液中总蛋白酶活和细胞活性寻找了cIFN降解出现的原因：发现低诱导pH下细胞死亡率升高释放更多酶系, 高诱导pH下蛋白酶活性明显增大, 两者都使蛋白酶作用加强, 加剧cIFN的降解; 特别是诱导pH为7.0时, 适宜的pH使蛋白酶酶活陡升, 将cIFN完全降解。     

层析法去除重组人血清白蛋白干扰素α2b融合蛋白的内毒素

用柱层析方法在生产重组人血清白蛋白干扰素α2b融合蛋白过程中去除产品中的内毒素.所用柱层析组合为Blue-sepharose亲和柱层析、SOURCE 15 ISO疏水柱层析、Q Sepharose F.F.离子交换柱层析、Sephadex G25 Coarse凝胶过滤柱.采用鲎试剂法检测柱层析各阶段得到蛋白中的内毒素含量;并用RP-HPLC方法测定柱层析各阶段得到蛋白的纯度与浓度,求出每毫克蛋白的内毒素含量.结果为每步柱层析过程式均有去除内毒素的作用,最终所得蛋白的内毒素含量降为1 EU/mg,去除率达到99.9%.因而生产重组人血清白蛋白干扰素α2b融合蛋白所用分离纯化柱层析技术在纯化蛋白的同时能有效的去除产品中内毒素,所得产品内毒素的含量远低于药典对注射剂的内毒素含量要求.     

三氯杀螨醇浓度和食物密度对萼花臂尾轮虫种群增长的影响

采用群体累积培养方法,研究了不同浓度(0.03、0.3、3.30和300 μg·L-1)的三氯杀螨醇和不同食物密度(3.0和5.0×106cells·ml-1)的斜生栅藻(Scenedesmus obliquus)对萼花臂尾轮虫(Brachionus calyciflorus)种群增长影响.结果表明:藻类食物密度、三氯杀螨醇浓度以及二者的交互作用对轮虫种群增长率均有显著影响(P＜0.05);藻类食物密度和三氯杀螨醇浓度对轮虫最大种群密度也有显著影响(P＜0.01),但二者的交互作用对其却无显著作用(P＞0.05);与空白对照组相比,在3.0×106cells·ml-1藻密度下.0.03-30μg·L-1的三氯杀螨醇显著提高了轮虫种群增长率,3μg·L-1的三氯杀螨醇显著降低了轮虫的最大种群密度,而300μg·L-1的三氯杀螨醇则极显著提高了轮虫的最大种群密度;在5.0×106cells·ml-1藻密度下,三氯杀螨醇对萼花臂尾轮虫种群增长率和最大种群密度均无显著影响;高密度的藻类食物降低了0.03-30μg·L-1和300μg·L-1的三氯杀螨醇分别对萼花臂尾轮虫种群增长率和最大种群密度所具有的促进作用,以及3μg·L-1的三氯杀螨醇对轮虫最大种群密度所具有的抑制作用.     

Novel hexacyclic camptothecin derivatives. Part 1: synthesis and cytotoxicity of camptothecins with an A-ring fused 1,3-oxazine ring

A novel series of A-ring modified hexacyclic camptothecin derivatives containing a 1,3-oxazine ring were first designed and synthesized. All of the hexacyclic camptothecins were assayed for in vitro cytotoxicity against nine human cancer cell lines. Among these compounds, 9b and 9c showed most potent cytotoxicity against several cell lines. Particularly, 9c was about 13-fold more potent than camptothecin, and about sixfold more potent than topotecan toward HEPG-2. Furthermore, it was also found that the N-alkyl substituted derivatives were more potent than the N-aryl and N-benzyl substituted compounds against most cell lines.     

Characteristics of an endophytic pyrene-degrading bacterium of Enterobacter sp. 12J1 from Allium macrostemon Bunge

One pyrene-degrading endophytic bacterium was isolated from plants grown in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-contaminated soils and identified as Enterobacter sp. 12J1 based on the 16S rDNA gene sequence analysis. Heavy metal and antibiotic resistance, degradation of pyrene, solubilization of inorganic phosphate and cell surface hydrophobicity characteristics of the isolate were further characterized. The isolate was also evaluated for promoting plant growth of wheat and maize and pyrene removal from pyrene-amended soil in pot experiments. High-performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) analysis showed that the degradation rate of pyrene (5 mg l⁻¹) by the endophytic bacterial strain 12J1 was 83.8% under 28 °C for 7 days. The Enterobacter sp. 12J1 could produce indole acetic acid (IAA), siderophore and solubilize inorganic phosphate. The Enterobacter sp. 12J1 also has a cell surface hydrophobicity. In the live bacterial inoculation experiment, an increase in pyrene removal varying from 60% to 107% was observed in the planted soils treated with 100 mg kg⁻¹ of pyrene compared with the unplanted soils. The rate of pyrene removal increased by 43–65% in the live bacterium-inoculated planted soils compared with the dead bacterium-inoculated planted soils. Although there were no significant differences in the total culturable bacterial numbers between live and dead bacterial inoculation, the numbers of pyrene-degrading bacteria were significantly greater in the live bacterium-inoculated planted or unplanted soils. The isolate could colonize the tissue (root and stem) interiors and rhizosphere soils of wheat and maize after root inoculation.     

2-Phenoxy-indan-1-one derivatives as acetylcholinesterase inhibitors: a study on the importance of modifications at the side chain on the activity

As a part of our project aimed at developing new agents of potential application in AD, a new series of 2-phenoxy-indan-1-one derivatives which possess alkylamine side chain were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for their inhibitory activity against AChE and BuChE. Most of the compounds were found to inhibit AChE in the nanomolar range. The optimum inhibitor 3g exhibited 34-fold increase in AChE inhibition than donepezil and displayed neuroprotective effect against H(2)O(2)-induced cell death.     

中西医结合救治毒蛇咬伤致急性呼吸衰竭的临床观察

目的 探讨中西医结合救治毒蛇咬伤致急性呼吸衰竭的治疗效果.方法 应用中西医结合的方法(机械通气、抗蛇毒血清结合中医中药)救治46例毒蛇咬伤致急性呼吸衰竭患者.结果 46例全部痊愈出院.结论 中西医结合治疗措施是救治毒蛇咬伤致急性呼吸衰竭的最有效方法.