心肌细胞间的电耦联

心脏是由无数个独立的心肌细胞通过缝隙连接形成的一个功能性合胞体。心肌细胞间的电耦联是心脏“全或无”性动作电位传导和机械收缩的先决条件。缺氧、缺血、药物、细胞内外离子浓度的改变以及激素等因素可直接或间接地影响心肌细胞间的电耦联,从而导致心脏功能的改变。     

向日葵离体孤雌生殖的超微结构研究

本文是研究未受精胚珠培养诱导的孤雌生殖过程超微结构变化的首次报道。向日葵(Heliaanthus annuus L.)的卵细胞在离体条件下被激活,发生细胞核移位、极性丧失、细胞器增多并转变成活动状态、液泡化程度增大、合点端形成细胞壁等一系列变化,预示即将启动孤雌生殖。孤雌生殖的原胚具有若干显著特征,如极性颠倒、有自体吞噬活动、壁的自由生长、游离核分裂等。对这些现象作了初步的讨论。     

Label-retaining cells reside in the bulge area of pilosebaceous unit: implications for follicular stem cells, hair cycle, and skin carcinogenesis

Inconsistent with the view that hair follicle stem cells reside in the matrix area of the hair bulb, we found that label-retaining cells exist exclusively in the bulge area of the mouse hair follicle. The bulge consists of a subpopulation of outer root sheath cells located in the midportion of the follicle at the arrector pili muscle attachment site. Keratinocytes in the bulge area are relatively undifferentiated ultrastructurally. They are normally slow cycling, but can be stimulated to proliferate transiently by TPA. Located in a well-protected and nourished environment, these cells mark the lower end of the "permanent" portion of the follicle. Our findings, plus a reevaluation of the literature, suggest that follicular stem cells reside in the bulge region, instead of the lower bulb. This new view provides insights into hair cycle control and the possible involvement of hair follicle stem cells in skin carcinogenesis.     

Initiation of minus-strand RNA synthesis by the brome mosaicvirus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase: use of oligoribonucleotide primers.

Various DNA- and RNA-dependent RNA polymerases have been reported to use oligoribonucleotide primers to initiate nucleic acid synthesis. For the brome mosaic virus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), we determined that in reactions performed with limited GTP concentrations, minus-strand RNA synthesis can be stimulated by the inclusion of guanosine monophosphate or specific oligoribonucleotides. Furthermore, guanylyl-3',5'-guanosine (GpG) was incorporated into minus-strand RNA and increased the rate of minus-strand RNA synthesis. In the presence of GpG, RdRp's Km for GTP decreased from 50 microM to approximately 3 microM while the Kms for other nucleotides were unaffected. These results have implications for the mechanism of initiation by RdRp.     

A single tryptophan on M2 of glutamate receptor channels confers high permeability to divalent cations.

Ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGluRs) of the alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionate/kainate subtype display lower permeability to Ca2+ than the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) subtype. The well-documented N/Q/R site on the M2 transmembrane segment (M2) is an important determinant of the distinct Ca2+ permeability exhibited by members of the non-NMDA receptor subfamily. This site, however, does not completely account for the different permeation properties displayed by non-NMDA and NMDA receptors, suggesting the involvement of other molecular determinants. We have identified additional molecular elements on M2 of the alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionate/kainate receptor GluR1 that specify its permeation properties. Higher permeability to divalent over monovalent cations is conferred on GluR1 by a tryptophan at position 577, whereas blockade by external divalent cations is imparted by an asparagine at position 582. Hence, the permeation properties of ionotropic glutamate receptors appear to be primarily specified by two distinct determinants on M2, the well-known N/Q/R site and the newly identified L/W site. These findings substantiate the notion that M2 is a structural component of the pore lining.     

Evidence for ion chain mechanism of the nonlinear charge transport of hydrophobic ions across lipid bilayers.

The conductivity across a lipid bilayer by tetraphenylborate anion is increased 10-fold on the photoformation of lipophilic porphyrin cations. The cations alone have negligible conductivity. This nonlinear photogenerated increase of ion conductivity is termed the photogating effect. Substitution of H by Cl in the para position of tetraphenylborate leads to a 100-fold enhancement of conductivity, whereas the dark conductivities for this and other substituted borates are the same. Moreover, the halo-substituted borates show a large enhancement of conductivity in the low concentration range (10(-8) M), whereas that of tetraphenylborate is small and space charge is negligible. The enhanced ion conductivity has great structural sensitivity to the structure of the anion, the cation, and the lipid, whereas the partition coefficient of all the borates and the concentration of photoformed cations are only slightly affected. The photogated ion transport has a twofold larger activation energy than transport in the dark. Time-resolved photocurrents and voltages demonstrate that the translocation rate of the porphyrin cation is also enhanced 100-fold by the Cl-borate anion but only 10-fold by the H-borate anion. For these reasons the nonlinear gating effect cannot be explained by electrostatics alone, but requires an ion chain or ion aggregate mechanism. Kinetic modeling of the photoinduced current with a mixed cation-anion ion chain can fit the data well. The photogating effect allows the direct study of ion interactions within the bilayer.     

Characterization of a Kinesin-Related Gene ATSV, within the Tuberous Sclerosis Locus (TSC1) Candidate Region on Chromosome 9Q34

In the search for candidate genes for the tuberous sclerosis (TSC1) disease locus on chromosome 9q34, we have isolated an overlapping series of 22 plasmid and phage cDNA clones covering nearly 7 kb and with an open reading frame of 5070 bp encoding a protein of 1690 amino acids. The putative protein product is a member of the kinesin superfamily and is homologous to the mouse KIF1A and theCaenorhabditas elegansunc-104 genes. Both KIF1A and unc-104 function in the anterograde axonal transport of synaptic vesicles. The human homolog is therefore termed H-ATSV (axonal transporter of synaptic vesicles, HGMW-approved nomenclature ATSV) Screening of DNA from 107 tuberous sclerosis patients and 80 unaffected individuals with H-ATSV cDNA probes by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis/Southern blotting following digestion by rare-cutting methylation-sensitive restriction enzymes showed variant banding patterns in three patients with tuberous sclerosis. However, further analysis indicated that these variant fragments represent a rare polymorphism probably associated with methylation of clustered restriction sites. There is no evidence to support H-ATSV as a candidate gene for TSC1.     

紫外激光消融过程的等效模型研究

本文引用等效模型,对激光消融过程进行了推导与计算,和实验结果比较表明,所得公式与实验结果能较好相符,可用于描述紫外激光消融过程。     

Cloning and functional characterization of LCR-F1: a bZIP transcription factor that activates erythroid-specific,human globin gene expression.

DNase I hypersensitive site 2 (HS 2) of the human beta-globin Locus Control Region (LCR) directs high level expression of the beta-globin gene located 50 kilobases downstream. Experiments in cultured cells and in transgenic mice demonstrate that duplicated AP1-like sites in HS 2 are required for this powerful enhancer activity. A cDNA clone encoding a basic, leucine-zipper protein that binds to these sites was isolated and designated Locus Control Region-Factor 1 (LCR-F1). This protein is a member of a new family of regulatory factors that contain a 63 amino acid ''CNC domain'' overlapping the basic region. This domain is approximately 70% identical in the Drosophila Cap N Collar (CNC) protein, NF-E2 and LCR-F1. LCR-F1 transactivates an HS 2/gamma-globin reporter gene over 170-fold in transient transfection experiments specifically in erythroid cells. These results suggest that LCR-F1 may be a critical factor involved in LCR-mediated, human globin gene expression.