Immobilization of cellulases on the reversibly soluble polymer Eudragit S‐100 for cotton treatment

Cellulases can penetrate into the fiber, causing tensile strength loss of the cellulosic fibers or fabrics. To minimize the tensile strength loss, we have immobilized cellulases on Eudragit S‐100. The characteristics of covalent Eudragit cellulase were evaluated using gel filtration analysis and UV spectra. Gel filtration analysis revealed that the cellulases were covalently bound to the polymer. Covalent Eudragit cellulase was loaded with the enzyme of about 40% and had a relative activity about 80% at a Eudragit S‐100 concentration of 15 g/L. When cellulase is bound to the polymer, the solubility profile becomes similar to the one of Eudragit. In addition, the effects of the enzyme on the cotton yarns and fabric using cellulases have been investigated. Native and immobilized cellulases caused improvements in whiteness and wrinkle recovery angle of the fabric in comparison to the control samples. The bending stiffness results show that native and immobilized cellulase treated cotton fabric has an improved softness than the control samples. It was found that using the immobilized cellulase reduced the weight and tensile strength, because the hydrolytic attack is only limited to the surfaces of cotton fibers.     

Ibuprofen Exerts Antiepileptic and Neuroprotective Effects in the Rat Model of Pentylenetetrazol-Induced Epilepsy via the COX-2/NLRP3/IL-18 Pathway

Neurochemical Research - Epilepsy is one of the most common diseases of the central nervous system. Recent studies have shown that a variety of inflammatory mediators play a key role in the...     

蛇毒类凝血酶calobin在毕赤酵母中的表达

蛇毒类凝血酶是临床上防治血栓栓塞性疾病的有效药物。参照朝鲜蝮蛇(Agkistrodon caliginosus,Korean Viper)类凝血酶calobin基因序列(GenBank AccessionNo.U32937.1),将人工合成的calobin基因克隆到酵母表达载体pPICZαA,于毕赤酵母中表达,得到了分子量约为32kD的重组calobin蛋白,经甲醇诱导培养,表达产物可获得3.5g/L的高表达量。重组蛋白经过阴离子交换柱Q-Sepharose Fast Flow和分子筛Sephacryl-S-100凝胶过滤层析等纯化步骤进行了初步纯化。纯化后的重组calobin可以在纤维蛋白原平板上形成水解圈,经SDS-PAGE实验显示,重组蛋白能水解纤维蛋白原的Aα链,产生一条约40kD左右的降解带。在实验中未能发现重组calobin对纤维蛋白原的凝固作用。     

Transport functions and expression analysis of vacuolar membrane aquaporins in response to various stresses in rice

The vacuole, a multifunctional organelle of most plant cells, has very important roles in space filling, osmotic adjustment, storage and digestion. Previous researches suggested that aquaporins in the tonoplast were involved in vacuolar functions. The rice genome contains 33 aquaporin genes, 10 of which encode tonoplast intrinsic proteins (TIPs). However, the function of each individual TIP isoform and the integrated function of TIPs under various physiological conditions remain elusive. Here, five rice TIP members were characterized with water and/or glycerol transport activities using the Xenopus oocyte expression system. OsTIP1;2, OsTIP2;2, OsTIP4;1 and OsTIP5;1 possessed water transport activity. OsTIP1;2, OsTIP3;2 and OsTIP4;1 were demonstrated with glycerol transport activity. Rice TIP expression patterns under various abiotic stress conditions including dehydration, high salinity, abscisic acid (ABA) and during seed germination were investigated by real-time PCR. OsTIP1s (OsTIP1;1 and OsTIP1;2) were highly expressed during seed germination, whereas OsTIP3s (OsTIP3;1 and OsTIP3;2) were specifically expressed in mature seeds with a decrease in expression levels upon germination. The results of this research provided a functional and expression profiles of rice TIPs.     

Synthesis and Activity Evaluation of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Inhibitors Based on 6‐(Pyrimidin‐4‐yl)‐1H‐indazole

Human nasopharyngeal carcinoma is a common head and neck malignancy with high incidence in Southeast Asia and Southern China. It is necessary to develop safe, effective and inexpensive anticancer agents to improve the therapeutics of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. A series of small molecular compounds based on 6‐(pyrimidin‐4‐yl)‐1H‐indazole were synthesized and evaluated for antiproliferative activities against human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell lines SUNE1. Compounds 6b , 6c , 6e and 6l showed potent antiproliferative activities similar to positive control drug cisplatin in vitro with lower nephrotoxicity than it. N‐[4‐(1H‐Indazol‐6‐yl)pyrimidin‐2‐yl]benzene‐1,3‐diamine ( 6l ) was selected for further study. It was found that 6l induced mitochondria‐mediated apoptosis and G₂/M phase arrest in SUNE1 cells. Furthermore, compound 6l at 10 mg/kg can suppress the growth of an implanted SUNE1 xenograft with a TGI% (tumor growth inhibition) value of 50 % and did not cause serious side effects in BALB/c nude mice. This study suggests that 6‐(pyrimidin‐4‐yl)‐1H‐indazole derivatives are a series of small molecule compounds with anti‐nasopharyngeal carcinoma activities.     

Spindlin1, a novel nuclear protein with a role in the transformation of NIH3T3 cells

spindlin1, a novel human gene recently isolated by our laboratory, is highly homologous to mouse spindlin gene. In this study, we cloned cDNA full-length of this novel gene and send it to GenBank database as spindlin1 (Homo sapiens spindlin1) with Accession No. AF317228. In order to investigate the function of spindlin1, we studied further the subcellular localization of Spindlin1 protein and the effects of spindlin1 overexpression in NIH3T3 cells. The results showed that the fusion protein pEGFP-N1-spindlin1 was located in the nucleus and the C-terminal is correlated with nuclear localization of Spindlin1 protein. NIH3T3 cells which could stably express spindlin1 as a result of RT-PCR analysis compared with the control cells displayed a complete morphological change; made cell growth faster; and increased the percentage of cells in G2/M and S phase. Furthermore, overexpressed spindlin1 cells formed colonies in soft agar in vitro and formed tumors in nude mice. Our findings provide direct evidence that spindlin1 gene may contribute to tumorigenesis.     

Effects of Different Sources and Levels of Zinc on H2O2-Induced Apoptosis in IEC-6 Cells

Zinc has been shown to be an inhibitor of apoptosis for many years. The present study was designed to investigate effects of three zinc chemical forms on H₂O₂-induced cell apoptosis in IEC-6 cells via analysis of cell vitality, LDH activity, apoptosis percentage, caspase-3 activity, and Bcl-2, Bax, and caspase-3, -8, and -9 gene expression. Cells were divided into H₂O₂ and zinc sources+H₂O₂ groups, and there are three different zinc sources [zinc oxide nanoparticle (nano-ZnO), zinc oxide (ZnO), and zinc sulfate (ZnSO₄)] and three concentrations (normal = 25 μM, medium = 50 μM, and high = 100 μM) used in this article. In the present study, we found the striking cytotoxicity of H₂O₂ higher than 200 μM on cell vitality, LDH activity, and apoptosis percentage in the cells using five different concentrations (50, 100, 200, 400, and 800 μM) of H₂O₂ for 4 h. Moreover, we observed that cell vitality was increased, LDH activity and apoptotic percentage were decreased, and gene expression level of Bax and caspase-3 and -9 was markedly reduced, while gene expression level of Bcl-2 and ratio of Bcl-2/Bax were increased in normal concentration groups of nano-ZnO and ZnSO₄ compared with H₂O₂ group, but no significant difference was observed in caspase-8 gene expression. Furthermore, medium or, more intensely, high concentrations of nano-ZnO and ZnSO₄ enhanced H₂O₂-induced cell apoptosis. Compared with nano-ZnO and ZnSO₄, ZnO showed weakest protective effect on H₂O₂-induced apoptosis at normal concentration and was less toxic to cells at high level. Taken together, we proposed that preventive and protective effects of zinc on H₂O₂-induced cell apoptosis varied in IEC-6 cells with its chemical forms and concentrations, and maybe for the first time, we suggested that nano-ZnO have a protective effect on H₂O₂-induced cell apoptosis in IEC-6 cells.     

Kisspeptins在孕早期血浆和胎盘组织中的表达及其意义

目的:研究kisspeptins在孕早期血浆和胎盘组织中的表达,拟探讨其来源及其在妊娠中意义.方法:采用酶联免疫吸附法(ELISA),检测40例孕早期妇女和35例正常未妊娠妇女血浆kisspeptins的表达水平,且分析其与hCG的相关性;采用免疫组织化学方法进行其组织学定位.结果:(1)kisspeptins在妊娠组...