Fragile X mental retardation protein is required for chemically-induced long-term potentiation of the hippocampus in adult mice

Fragile X syndrome (FXS), a common form of inherited mental retardation, is caused by the lack of fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP). The animal model of FXS, Fmr1 knockout mice, have deficits in the Morris water maze and trace fear memory tests, showing impairment in hippocampus-dependent learning and memory. However, results for synaptic long-term potentiation (LTP), a key cellular model for learning and memory, remain inconclusive in the hippocampus of Fmr1 knockout mice. Here, we demonstrate that FMRP is required for glycine induced LTP (Gly-LTP) in the CA1 of hippocampus. This form of LTP requires activation of post-synaptic NMDA receptors and metabotropic glutamateric receptors, as well as the subsequent activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) 1/2. However, paired-pulse facilitation was not affected by glycine treatment. Genetic deletion of FMRP interrupted the phosphorylation of ERK1/2, suggesting the possible role of FMRP in the regulation of the activity of ERK1/2. Our study provide strong evidences that FMRP participates in Gly-LTP in the hippocampus by regulating the phosphorylation of ERK1/2, and that improper regulation of these signaling pathways may contribute to the learning and memory deficits observed in FXS.     

水产废弃物胶原蛋白的提取

以水产废弃物为原料,利用酶法提取有价值的胶原蛋白。以胃蛋白酶为胶原蛋白提取用酶,鱼鳍和鱼鳞作为提取的原料,提取工艺为原料粉碎、脱钙、提取、纯化。鱼鳞和鱼鳍的胶原蛋白提取率分别达8．1％和6．6％。该方法对提高水产废弃物的综合利用具有重要的意义。     

成年沙田柚树试管嫁接及微繁殖的研究

分别以两类沙田柚侧芽为接穗、酸柚为砧木进行了试管嫁接,结果表明:不同嫁接方式、接穗大小以及不同激素处理均直接影响到试管嫁接成活率.对大田侧芽而言,接穗大小以茎尖为宜,1.0mg/LGA3或0.5mg/L6-BA处理效果较佳,嫁接成活率分别达50%和30%;对侧枝沙培萌发的侧芽而言,接穗大小以茎尖 1个节间为宜,2.0mg/LGA3或0.5mg/L6-BA处理效果较佳,嫁接成活率分别达90%和80%.在相同条件下,后者的嫁接成活率一般明显高于前者.两种沙田柚嫁接苗的试管微繁殖没有明显区别,在MS 6-BA0.1mg/L培养基上均可分化不定芽,继代的嫁接成活率可达90%以上.     

文心兰原球茎液体增殖培养研究

以茎尖诱导形成的原球茎(protocorm-like bodies,PLBs)为外殖体,采用液体培养方式比较了不同浓度的激素配比、蔗糖浓度和添加不同量的新鲜椰汁对文心兰PLBs增殖的影响,并比较了相同培养基成分时液体培养PLBs增殖、分化成苗和固体培养PLBs增殖和分化成苗的差异。试验结果表明:不同浓度的外源激素及其配比对文心兰PLBs增殖生长影响较大,6-BA0.5 mg/L Ad 0.05 mg/L NAA0.05 mg/L的激素组合比较适合文心兰PLBs增殖;蔗糖浓度对文心兰PLBs增殖的影响也较大,适合文心兰PLB在液体培养条件下增殖的蔗糖浓度为7.5 g/L;添加5%新鲜椰汁不仅对文心兰PLBs增殖有促进作用,而且能改善PLBs的质量;适合文心兰PLBs增殖的培养基为MS 6-BA0.5 mg/L Ad 0.05 mg/L NAA0.05 mg/L 5%椰汁 蔗糖7.5 g/L。文心兰PLBs在5周内的增殖生长曲线呈倒"V"字形,第3周的增殖速度达最高峰,而固体培养基PLBs增殖速度较慢,生长曲线几乎成直线。液体增殖的PLBs分化成苗较固体培养增殖的PLBs差。     

Candidate Markers That Associate with Chemotherapy Resistance in Breast Cancer through the Study on Taxotere-Induced Damage to Tumor Microenvironment and Gene Expression Profiling of Carcinoma-Associated Fibroblasts (CAFs)

Recently, emerging evidence has suggested that carcinoma-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) could contribute to chemotherapy resistances in breast cancer treatment. The aim of this study is to compare the gene expression profiling of CAFs before and after chemotherapy and pick up candidate genes that might associate with chemotherapy resistance and could be used as predictors of treatment response. CAFs were cultured from surgically resected primary breast cancers and identified with immunohistochemistry (IHC) and Flow cytometry (FCM). MDA-MB-231 cells were cultured as the breast cancer cell line. Cell adhesion assay, invasion assay, and proliferation assay (MTT) were performed to compare the function of MDA-MB-231 cells co-cultured with CAFs and MDA-MB-231 cells without co-culture, after chemotherapy. Totally 6 pairs of CAFs were prepared for microarray analysis. Each pair of CAFs were obtained from the same patient and classified into two groups. One group was treated with Taxotere (regarded as after chemotherapy) while the other group was not processed with Taxotere (regarded as before chemotherapy). According to our study, the primary-cultured CAFs exhibited characteristic phenotype. After chemotherapy, MDA-MB-231 cells co-cultured with CAFs displayed increasing adhesion, invasiveness and proliferation abilities, compared with MDA-MB-231 cells without CAFs. Moreover, 35 differentially expressed genes (absolute fold change >2) were identified between CAFs after chemotherapy and before chemotherapy, including 17 up-regulated genes and 18 down-regulated genes. CXCL2, MMP1, IL8, RARRES1, FGF1, and CXCR7 were picked up as the candidate markers, of which the differential expression in CAFs before and after chemotherapy was confirmed. The results indicate the changes of gene expression in CAFs induced by Taxotere treatment and propose the candidate markers that possibly associate with chemotherapy resistance in breast cancer.     

Hdac2 regulates the cardiac hypertrophic response by modulating Gsk3 beta activity

In the adult heart, a variety of stresses induce re-expression of a fetal gene program in association with myocyte hypertrophy and heart failure. Here we show that histone deacetylase-2 (Hdac2) regulates expression of many fetal cardiac isoforms. Hdac2 deficiency or chemical histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibition prevented the re-expression of fetal genes and attenuated cardiac hypertrophy in hearts exposed to hypertrophic stimuli. Resistance to hypertrophy was associated with increased expression of the gene encoding inositol polyphosphate-5-phosphatase f (Inpp5f) resulting in constitutive activation of glycogen synthase kinase 3beta (Gsk3beta) via inactivation of thymoma viral proto-oncogene (Akt) and 3-phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase-1 (Pdk1). In contrast, Hdac2 transgenic mice had augmented hypertrophy associated with inactivated Gsk3beta. Chemical inhibition of activated Gsk3beta allowed Hdac2-deficient adults to become sensitive to hypertrophic stimulation. These results suggest that Hdac2 is an important molecular target of HDAC inhibitors in the heart and that Hdac2 and Gsk3beta are components of a regulatory pathway providing an attractive therapeutic target for the treatment of cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure.     

Recent advances in synthesis and surface modification of lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles for biomedical applications

Lanthanide (Ln)-doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) with appropriate surface modification can be used for a wide range of biomedical applications such as bio-detection, cancer therapy, bio-labeling, fluorescence imaging, magnetic resonance imaging and drug delivery. The upconversion phenomenon exhibited by Ln-doped UCNPs renders them tremendous advantages in biological applications over other types of fluorescent materials (e.g., organic dyes, fluorescent proteins, gold nanoparticles, quantum dots, and luminescent transition metal complexes) for: (i) enhanced tissue penetration depths achieved by near-infrared (NIR) excitation; (ii) improved stability against photobleaching, photoblinking and photochemical degradation; (iii) non-photodamaging to DNA/RNA due to lower excitation light energy; (iv) lower cytotoxicity; and (v) higher detection sensitivity. Ln-doped UCNPs are therefore attracting increasing attentions in recent years. In this review, we present recent advances in the synthesis of Ln-doped UCNPs and their surface modification, as well as their emerging applications in biomedicine. The future prospects of Ln-doped UCNPs for biomedical applications are also discussed.