甘草酸二铵对于HCV相关性B-NHLCD25-和CD25+T细胞增殖影响研究

目的:本研究初步探究甘草酸二铵(Diammonium Glycyrrihizinate,DG)对HCV相关性B细胞非霍奇金淋巴瘤(B-cellnon-Hodgkin's lymphoma,B-NHL)CD25-T细胞、CD25+T细胞的免疫调控作用。方法:应用流式细胞分析仪检测HCV相关性B-NHL CD4+CD25+T细胞占CD4+T细胞的比例、CD25+细胞占总PBMC比例,并与单纯HCV感染患者、健康人检测结果相对照。应用免疫磁珠分离法(MACS)分选获得CD25-和CD25+细胞,将两者和未分选的外周血单个核细胞(peripheral blood mononuclearcell,PBMC)以CFSE标染孵育72小时后,应用流式细胞分析仪将APC CD3阳性细胞设定为门检测CD25-T细胞、未分选T细胞、CD25+T细胞的增殖情况,及甘草酸二铵干预后的CD25-T细胞、CD25+T细胞增殖情况。结果:应用流式细胞分析仪检测健康人、单纯HCV感染者和HCV相关性B-NHL患者在CD4+CD25+占总CD4+细胞比例和CD25+占总细胞比例上均呈现逐步递增的关系(分别为33.94%±2.18%,57.95%...     

棉花咖啡酸-O-甲基转移酶基因的原核表达及蛋白纯化鉴定

为获得大量高纯度的GhCOMT2蛋白以便研究其功能和性质,以pMD18-GhCOMT2质粒为模板,PCR扩增GhCOMT2基因的cDNA编码区,构建原核表达载体pET-28a-GhCOMT2,经酶切鉴定并测序后转化到大肠杆菌BL21 (DE3)中进行诱导表达,并采用Western blotting方法鉴定表达产物.结果表明:在大肠杆菌BL21(DE3)菌株中成功表达了与标签蛋白融合的GhCOMT2蛋白,大小约为40.062 kD,浓度为0.62 mg/mL.重组蛋白的最佳诱导条件为:0.2 mmol/L IPTG在16℃诱导12 h.重组蛋白以可溶形式高效表达,用蛋白标签亲和层析柱(His TrapTM HP)获得纯化重组蛋白,Western blotting分析表明其能与His多克隆抗体起特异性反应.     

蒙古扁桃的开花生物学研究

对分布于宁夏的蒙古扁桃居群进行开花动态、繁育系统、花粉与柱头活性、生殖器官解剖结构与花粉管的生长观察以及人工授粉实验,分析其传粉生物学特性,以探讨影响蒙古扁桃结实率低下的原因.结果显示:蒙古扁桃为专性异交植物;花具有花柱多型性现象,同一个体中存在长花柱花、中花柱花、短花柱花3种花柱型花,在不同个体中三型花所占比例不同且差异显著;短花柱花不可育,中花柱花与长花柱花为可育花.研究表明,大量不育花的存在、早春稀少的传粉昆虫以及荒漠地区恶劣的气候环境和破碎化的生境是导致蒙古扁桃结实率低下的主要因素.     

棉花4-香豆酸辅酶A连接酶基因克隆及原核表达

本研究从棉花中克隆了一个4CL基因,命名为Gh4CL2(GenBank登录号为FJ848870)。研究结果表明:Gh4CL2基因cDNA全长2332bp,具有一个1725bp的开放阅读框,5′非编码区为64bp,3′非编码区为543bp,编码574个氨基酸,预测分子量约为62.106kD,等电点为5.94。氨基酸同源性分析发现,Gh4CL2与来自白杨、大豆和紫草的4CL一致性较高。进一步研究Gh4CL2基因的功能,构建了该基因的原核表达载体pET-28a-4CL2,经酶切鉴定后转化到大肠杆菌BL21(DE3)中。SDS-PAGE分析表明,最佳诱导表达条件为0.5mmol/LIPTG在37℃下诱导4h,重组蛋白主要以包涵体形式出现。     

钉螺体内细菌群落结构PCR-DGGE分析方法的建立

建立了通过PCR-DGGE研究钉螺体内细菌群落结构的方法,并采用此技术分析了钉螺体内细菌群落结构.钉螺样本采自湖北省荆州市,样本带回实验室经破壳解剖后取清洗的钉螺内脏放入无菌离心管后经酚-氯仿法抽提微生物DNA.使用获得的微生物DNA为模板,选择细菌原核通用引物F357-GC和R518进行PCR扩增得到大约250 bp的目的片段,然后采用变性梯度凝胶电泳结合DNA测序技术对获得的目的片段进行分析.结果显示此技术能够区分幼螺和成螺体内细菌群落结构差异,并发现在成螺体内有大量的Pseudomonas属和Acidobacteria属细菌出现.     

醛固酮对大鼠主动脉bax基因表达的影响

目的研究醛固酮对大鼠主动脉bax基因表达的影响。方法32只SD大鼠随机分为空白对照组、腺瘤组、腺瘤＋依普利酮组和腺瘤＋肼苯哒嗪组。在每只大鼠皮下埋植的微量渗透泵内注入空白溶剂或醛固酮。8周后通过免疫组化、RT—PCR和Western印迹检测主动脉bax基因的表达。结果与对照组相比,腺瘤组大鼠主动脉bax mRNA和蛋白表达都显著上调（P〈0．05）;依普利酮能够抑制醛固酮对bax基因的诱导作用（P〈0．05）;而肼苯哒嗪虽然可以使大鼠收缩压下降,但不能阻止醛固酮对bax基因的作用。结论醛固酮通过诱导bax基因表达,调节血管平滑肌细胞凋亡和干预细胞周期进程,可能是其导致血管重构的机制之一。     

Effects of protein stability and structure on substrate processing by the ClpXP unfolding and degradation machine.

ClpXP is an ATP-dependent protease that denatures native proteins and translocates the denatured polypeptide into an interior peptidase chamber for degradation. To address the mechanism of these processes, Arc repressor variants with dramatically different stabilities and unfolding half-lives varying from months to seconds were targeted to ClpXP by addition of the ssrA degradation tag. Remarkably, ClpXP degraded each variant at a very similar rate and hydrolyzed approximately 150 molecules of ATP for each molecule of substrate degraded. The hyperstable substrates did, however, slow the ClpXP ATPase cycle. These results confirm that ClpXP uses an active mechanism to denature its substrates, probably one that applies mechanical force to the native structure. Furthermore, the data suggest that denaturation is inherently inefficient or that significant levels of ATP hydrolysis are required for other reaction steps. ClpXP degraded disulfide-cross-linked dimers efficiently, even when just one subunit contained an ssrA tag. This result indicates that the pore through which denatured proteins enter the proteolytic chamber must be large enough to accommodate simultaneous passage of two or three polypeptide chains.     

Development of a novel method to determine very low density lipoprotein kinetics

Isotopic tracer methods of determining triglyceride-rich lipoprotein (TRL) kinetics are costly, time-consuming, and labor-intensive. This study aimed to develop a simpler and cost-effective method of obtaining TRL kinetic data, based on the fact that chylomicrons compete with large VLDL (VLDL(1); S(f) = 60-400) for the same catalytic pathway. Ten healthy subjects [seven men; fasting triglyceride (TG), 44.3-407.6 mg/dl; body mass index, 21-35 kg/m(2)] were given an intravenous infusion of a chylomicron-like TG emulsion (Intralipid; 0.1 g/kg bolus followed by 0.1 g/kg/h infusion) for 75-120 min to prevent the clearance of VLDL(1) by lipoprotein lipase. Multiple blood samples were taken during and after infusion for separation of Intralipid, VLDL(1), and VLDL(2) by ultracentrifugation. VLDL(1)-apolipoprotein B (apoB) and TG production rates were calculated from their linear increases in the VLDL(1) fraction during the infusion. Intralipid-TG clearance rate was determined from its exponential decay after infusion. The production rates of VLDL(1)-apoB and VLDL(1)-TG were (mean +/- SEM) 25.4 +/- 3.9 and 1,076.7 +/- 224.7 mg/h, respectively, and the Intralipid-TG clearance rate was 66.9 +/- 11.7 pools/day. Kinetic data obtained from this method agree with values obtained from stable isotope methods and show the expected relationships with indices of body fatness and insulin resistance (all P < 0.05). The protocol is relatively quick, inexpensive, and transferable to nonspecialist laboratories.     

Hepatitis C virus induces proteolytic cleavage of sterol regulatory element binding proteins and stimulates their phosphorylation via oxidative stress

Hepatic steatosis is a common histological feature of chronic hepatitis C. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) gene expression has been shown to alter host cell cholesterol/lipid metabolism and thus induce hepatic steatosis. Since sterol regulatory element binding proteins (SREBPs) are major regulators of lipid metabolism, we sought to determine whether genotype 2a-based HCV infection induces the expression and posttranslational activation of SREBPs. HCV infection stimulates the expression of genes related to lipogenesis. HCV induces the proteolytic cleavage of SREBPs. HCV core and NS4b derived from genotype 3a are also individually capable of inducing the proteolytic processing of SREBPs. Further, we demonstrate that HCV stimulates the phosphorylation of SREBPs. Our studies show that HCV-induced oxidative stress and subsequent activation of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-K)-Akt pathway and inactivation (phosphorylation) of PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homologue) mediate the transactivation of SREBPs. HCV-induced SREBP-1 and -2 activities were sensitive to antioxidant (pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate), Ca(2+) chelator 1,2-bis(aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid-tetra(acetoxymethyl) ester (BAPTA-AM), and PI3-K inhibitor (LY294002). Collectively, these studies provide insight into the mechanisms of hepatic steatosis associated with HCV infection.     

Mycobacterium leprae inhibits dendritic cell activation and maturation

Leprosy presents with a clinical spectrum of skin lesions that span from strong Th1-mediated cellular immunity and control of bacillary growth at one pole to poor Ag-specific T cell immunity with extensive bacillary load and Th2 cytokine-expressing lesions at the other. To understand how the immune response to Mycobacterium leprae is regulated, human dendritic cells (DC), potent inducers of adaptive immune responses, exposed to M. leprae, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), and Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) were studied for their ability to be activated and to prime T cell proliferation. In contrast with Mtb and BCG, M. leprae did not induce DC activation/maturation as measured by the expression of selected surface markers and proinflammatory cytokine production. In MLR, T cells did not proliferate in response to M. leprae-stimulated DC. Interestingly, M. leprae-exposed MLR cells secreted increased Th2 cytokines as well as similar Th1 cytokine levels as compared with Mtb- and BCG-exposed cells. Gene expression analysis revealed a reduction in levels of mRNA of DC activation and maturation markers following exposure to M. leprae. Our data suggest that M. leprae does not induce and probably suppresses in vitro DC maturation/activation, whereas Mtb and BCG are stimulatory.