Probing the production of amidated peptides following genetic and dietary copper manipulations

Amidated neuropeptides play essential roles throughout the nervous and endocrine systems. Mice lacking peptidylglycine α-amidating monooxygenase (PAM), the only enzyme capable of producing amidated peptides, are not viable. In the amidation reaction, the reactant (glycine-extended peptide) is converted into a reaction intermediate (hydroxyglycine-extended peptide) by the copper-dependent peptidylglycine-α-hydroxylating monooxygenase (PHM) domain of PAM. The hydroxyglycine-extended peptide is then converted into amidated product by the peptidyl-α-hydroxyglycine α-amidating lyase (PAL) domain of PAM. PHM and PAL are stitched together in vertebrates, but separated in some invertebrates such as Drosophila and Hydra. In addition to its luminal catalytic domains, PAM includes a cytosolic domain that can enter the nucleus following release from the membrane by γ-secretase. In this work, several glycine- and hydroxyglycine-extended peptides as well as amidated peptides were qualitatively and quantitatively assessed from pituitaries of wild-type mice and mice with a single copy of the Pam gene (PAM(+/-)) via liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry-based methods. We provide the first evidence for the presence of a peptidyl-α-hydroxyglycine in vivo, indicating that the reaction intermediate becomes free and is not handed directly from PHM to PAL in vertebrates. Wild-type mice fed a copper deficient diet and PAM(+/-) mice exhibit similar behavioral deficits. While glycine-extended reaction intermediates accumulated in the PAM(+/-) mice and reflected dietary copper availability, amidated products were far more prevalent under the conditions examined, suggesting that the behavioral deficits observed do not simply reflect a lack of amidated peptides.     

杜仲细胞悬浮培养产黄酮及其动力学研究

本文应用正交设计对杜仲细胞悬浮培养的基本培养基和植物生长物质浓度进行了筛选,并对影响杜仲细胞悬浮培养和总黄酮含量的不同因素进行了考察。结果表明,B5培养基+0.5mg/L NAA+0.6mg/L 6-BA、蔗糖30g/L、初始pH 5.0-5.5、接种量20g(FW)/L以及摇床转速110r/min为杜仲细胞悬浮培养的适宜条件。通过对杜仲悬浮细胞生长和代谢动力学的分析表明：杜仲细胞悬浮培养生长符合Logistic生长模型,最大比生长速率( m)为0.417d-1;细胞基于蔗糖的真正比生长得率(YG)与维持系数(m)分别为0.619g/g和0.0206g/(g·d-1);黄酮合成属部分生长耦联型,可用Luedeking-Piret模型进行描述。研究结果为杜仲细胞大规模悬浮培养生产天然活性成分奠定了基础。     

胰酶对皮肤角质细胞分离和传代的影响

考察不同的胰酶浓度及其作用时间对角质细胞分离和传代的影响。实验发现在胰酶浓度 0.25%时作用5min可获得的总活细胞量和有克隆形成能力的细胞量均优于其它培养条件 ;而在胰酶浓度0.05%时作用 5min可获得最大的原代角质细胞贴壁率。随着胰酶浓度的提高 ,传代角质细胞的贴壁率和贴壁速率常数以及克隆形成率均随之增加 ,因此在传代培养时使用 0.25%胰酶浓度进行消化较为适宜.     

不同光照强度下植物电信号变化特征及其与空气负离子的关系

空气负离子(NAI)是衡量一个地区空气清洁度的重要指标,对人体的心理健康和生理机能具有重要的调节作用.植被光合过程中光电效应是NAI产生的重要来源和影响因素,但光电效应极其微弱而难以直接监测,而植物电信号是间接反映光电效应的重要指标,以往研究多侧重在不同森林群落中NAI的时空变化特征及其与气象因素的关系,目前关于NAI...     

肺隐球菌病41例临床分析

目的总结分析41例肺隐球菌病患者的临床特点。方法回顾性分析我院(2003年1月～2006年10月)41例肺隐球菌病的临床、影像学表现,免疫学检查、病理及抗真菌治疗疗效。结果①41例肺隐球菌病,男28例,女13例,有基础疾病者18例,有临床症状者22例,影像学表现为结节肿块型27例,肺炎型8例,混合型6例。②有基础疾病的18例患者中有临床症状者15例;影像学表现为肺炎型8例,混合型4例,结节肿块型6例;并发隐球菌脑膜炎2例。无基础疾病患者23例,多无临床症状或临床症状较轻,多表现为结节肿块型(21例),无并发症,预后较好。③抗真菌药物治疗36例,治愈34例,好转2例(有效率100%)。都使用氟康唑治疗,疗程2周～2年不等。结论免疫功能正常的肺隐球菌病患者病变局限,多为结节肿块型,并发症少,预后好;免疫功能异常者多表现为肺炎型或混合型,易出现全身播散。肺隐球菌病单用氟康唑抗真菌治疗效果好,应为首选。     

长期不同植被覆盖对黑土团聚体内有机碳组分的影响

为探究黑土团聚体内土壤有机碳(SOC)的“分馏”特征, 揭示不同植被覆盖下土壤团聚体的固碳机制, 该文以中国科学院海伦农业生态系统国家野外综合研究站内不同植被覆盖(草地、农田和裸地)长期定位实验的土样为研究对象, 利用团聚体湿筛分组、有机碳物理和化学分组相结合的方法, 研究了黑土团聚体及其内部的碳密度和腐殖质组分的碳分配特征。研究发现, 黑土经过不同植被覆盖31年后, 长期草地覆盖使土壤表层SOC、全氮(TN)含量显著增加, 农田和无植被覆盖的裸地SOC含量减少, 且在裸地显著降低。3种处理中, 2-0.25 mm (含2 mm, 下同)粒级团聚体均为优粒级。土壤团聚体的稳定性顺序为草地>农田>裸地。草地覆盖使土壤大团聚体的比例和有机碳库增加, 微团聚体和粉黏粒所占比例和碳库均减少, 说明草地覆盖促进了土壤大团聚体形成, 土壤固碳能力显著增强。而农田和裸地因外源碳投入少, 有机碳含量均是微团聚体>大团聚体>粉黏粒, SOC主要分布在微团聚体中。不同植被覆盖处理对土壤团聚体内密度组分和腐殖质各组分碳的富集“分馏”作用很明显, 与农田和裸地相比, 长期草地植被覆盖处理>2 mm和2-0.25 mm粒级团聚体中轻组碳含量富集的较多, 2-0.25 mm粒级团聚体中富里酸、胡敏酸和胡敏素的碳富集均最高, 而农田和裸地促进了微团聚体内腐殖质碳的富集。草地覆盖显著增加了大团聚体内活性有机碳组分, 来源于植物的碳首先进入到大粒径的团聚体中, 使土壤团聚结构显著改善, 农田和无植被覆盖的裸地土壤中轻组碳含量显著降低, 团聚体内有机碳以重组碳和胡敏素为主, 稳定化程度更高。     

玉米及马齿苋叶片SOD活性诱导研究

以玉米幼苗及马齿苋作材料,通过甘露醇、H2O2、臭氧和强光等胁迫后,用NBT光化还原抑制法测定叶中SOD活性的变化。臭氧和强光能诱导玉米叶片SOD活性增加。0.5mol／L甘露醇处理玉米叶片12h,SOD活性上升,至48h后下降;在该甘露醇溶液中另外加入10^-2mol/L H2O2;处理12h后SOD活性基本不变。对玉米叶片单独用10^-2mol/L H2O2诱导,30min内SOD活性上升到最高值,随着处理时间的延长又逐渐下降。用耐强光、耐干旱的野生马齿苋作为材料,与玉米相比,其叶片SOD基础活性低于后者;若予以正午强光结合渗透胁迫2h,其叶中SOD活性增幅超过玉米,从种间比较的角度旁证了SOD在抗逆性中的作用。推测植物中存在比活性氧更为直接的物理诱导机制。     

植物KCO基因密码子使用特性

以植物钾离子外排通道（K’channeloutward．rectifier,KCO）基因为研究对象,运用CodonW软件分析了75个植物KCO基因密码子的使用模式,探讨密码子的使用模式和影响密码子使用的各种可能因素。结果表明：碱基组成差异（r=0．961,P〈0．01）和自然选择（r=0．568,P〈0．01）是影响密码子使用的主要因素,并且高表达的基因强烈偏爱使用以G或C结尾的密码子。确定了UUC、CUC等26个均以G／C结尾的密码子为植物KcD基因的高表达优越密码子。     

Oxidative stress and NF-κB signaling are involved in LPS induced pulmonary dysplasia in chick embryos

Inflammation or dysbacteriosis-derived lipopolysaccharides (LPS) adversely influence the embryonic development of respiratory system. However, the precise pathological mechanisms still remain to be elucidated. In this study, we demonstrated that LPS exposure caused lung maldevelopment in chick embryos, including higher embryo mortality, increased thickness of alveolar gas exchange zone, and accumulation of PAS⁺ immature pulmonary cells, accompanied with reduced expression of alveolar epithelial cell markers and lamellar body count. Upon LPS exposure, pulmonary cell proliferation was significantly altered and cell apoptosis was inhibited as well, indicating a delayed progress of pulmonary development. LPS treatment also resulted in reduced CAV-1 expression and up-regulation of Collagen I, suggesting increased lung fibrosis, which was verified by Masson staining. Moreover, LPS induced enhanced Nrf2 expression in E18 lungs, and the increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production was confirmed in MLE-12 cells in vitro. Antioxidant vitamin C restored the LPS induced down-regulation of ABCA3, SP-C and GATA-6 in MLE-12 cells. Furthermore, LPS induced activation of NF-κB signaling in MLE-12 cells, and the LPS-induced decrease in SP-C expression was partially abrogated by blocking NF-κB signaling with Bay-11–7082. Bay-11–7082 also inhibited LPS-induced increases of ROS and Nrf2 expression. Taken together, we have demonstrated that oxidative stress and NF-κB signaling are involved in LPS induced disruption of pulmonary cell development in chick embryos.