Vildagliptin improves high glucose‐induced endothelial mitochondrial dysfunction via inhibiting mitochondrial fission

The dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitor vildagliptin (VLD), a widely used anti‐diabetic drug, exerts favourable effects on vascular endothelium in diabetes. We determined for the first time the improving effects of VLD on mitochondrial dysfunction in diabetic mice and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) cultured under hyperglycaemic conditions, and further explored the mechanism behind the anti‐diabetic activity. Mitochondrial ROS (mtROS) production was detected by fluorescent microscope and flow cytometry. Mitochondrial DNA damage and ATP synthesis were analysed by real time PCR and ATPlite assay, respectively. Mitochondrial network stained with MitoTracker Red to identify mitochondrial fragmentation was visualized under confocal microscopy. The expression levels of dynamin‐related proteins (Drp1 and Fis1) were determined by immunoblotting. We found that VLD significantly reduced mtROS production and mitochondrial DNA damage, but enhanced ATP synthesis in endothelium under diabetic conditions. Moreover, VLD reduced the expression of Drp1 and Fis1, blocked Drp1 translocation into mitochondria, and blunted mitochondrial fragmentation induced by hyperglycaemia. As a result, mitochondrial dysfunction was alleviated and mitochondrial morphology was restored by VLD. Additionally, VLD promoted the phosphorylation of AMPK and its target acetyl‐CoA carboxylase in the setting of high glucose, and AMPK activation led to a decreased expression and activation of Drp1. In conclusion, VLD improves endothelial mitochondrial dysfunction in diabetes, possibly through inhibiting Drp1‐mediated mitochondrial fission in an AMPK‐dependent manner.     

三种淋巴瘤细胞CD52抗原呈现稳定性研究及其应用

评估淋巴瘤细胞MC/CAR、HUT78和RAMOS的CD52抗原呈现稳定性,并比较三种细胞用于抗CD52单抗活性检测中的优劣性。采用免疫荧光法检测淋巴瘤细胞MC/CAR、HUT78和RAMOS的CD52抗原呈现率,分析MC/CAR、HUT78和RAMOS传代培养5~20代CD52抗原呈现稳定性。分别以MC/CAR、HUT78和RAMOS作为抗CD52单抗结合活性和补体依赖细胞毒性的靶细胞进行检测,并比较其优劣性。结果显示,MC/CAR、RAMOS和HUT78的CD52抗原呈现率分别为95.5%、63.2%和38.3%。MC/CAR传代培养5~20代CD52抗原呈现率均大于90%。RAMOS传代培养5~13代CD52抗原呈现率介于60%~67%,第14~15代CD52抗原呈现率介于50%~60%,第16~20代细胞CD52抗原呈现率介于40%~50%。HUT78传代培养5~20代CD52抗原呈现率介于26.7%~38.9%。淋巴瘤细胞MC/CAR在抗CD52单抗的结合活性检测中呈现出更好的剂量依赖曲线。淋巴瘤细胞RAMOS在抗CD52单抗的补体依赖细胞毒性检测中呈现出更好的剂量效应曲线。CD52抗原呈现率方面MC/CAR>RAMOS>HUT78。结果表明,MC/CAR更适用于抗CD52单抗的结合活性的检测,RAMOS适用于抗CD52单抗的补体依赖细胞毒性检测。     

不同土壤水分和养分条件下喜旱莲子草与同属种生长状况的比较研究

喜旱莲子草(Alternanthera philoxeroides)入侵已在中国造成巨大的生态和经济损失。为揭示喜旱莲子草成功入侵的生态机制并预测其种群扩张趋势及其与环境因子的关系, 作者比较了喜旱莲子草与其同属的外来弱入侵种刺花莲子草(A. pungens)以及土著种莲子草(A. sessilis)在不同土壤水分、养分条件下的生长状况。结果显示: 在高水高肥条件下, 喜旱莲子草的生物量要高于刺花莲子草和莲子草, 而在低水低肥条件下却不如这两个同属种; 弱入侵种刺花莲子草在低水条件下的生物量要高于强入侵种喜旱莲子草和土著种莲子草, 说明植物的入侵性受环境条件的影响。另外, 强入侵种喜旱莲子草形态学性状的可塑性较高, 在各种条件下都具有较高的比叶面积, 暗示这两个指标可作为莲子草属外来植物入侵性的预测指标。     

Quantitative determination of helicid in rat biosamples by liquid chromatography electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

A simple liquid chromatography electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (LC–ESI–MS) method with highly improved sensitivities for the determination of helicid in rat bile, urine, feces and most tissues was developed. The tissues and feces were firstly homogenized mechanically using deionized water as the media. Bile, urine, tissues and feces homogenates were extracted by liquid–liquid extraction with n-butyl alcohol for sample preparation. The subsequent analysis procedures were performed on a Shimadzu LCMS2010A system (electrospray ionization single quadrupole mass analyzer). A Luna C₁₈ column (150 mm × 2.00 mm, 5 μm) was used as the analytical column, while a mixture of acetonitrile and ammonium chloride water solution was used as the mobile phase. The proportions of mobile phase were changed timely according to gradient programs. Chlorinated adducts of molecular ions [M+Cl]^? at m/z 319.00 and 363.05 were used to quantify helicid and bergeninum (internal standard), respectively. The method was validated to be accurate, precise and rugged with good linearity. The proposed method was successfully applied to the preclinical tissue distribution and excretion studies of helicid in rats.     

Deg2蛋白酶在拟南芥光损伤D1降解及光保护中的作用

已有研究表明叶绿体内有200种蛋白酶,然而,多数蛋白酶的作用机制尚不清楚,尤其哪些蛋白酶参与了D1蛋白周转.其中Deg2蛋白酶体外实验证明,其参与了光损伤D1蛋白的的初步剪切.为了进一步研究Deg2蛋白酶在植物体内的作用机制,我们筛选了拟南芥Deg2蛋白酶功能缺陷型突变体.在120 μmol·m-2·s-1光照生长条件下,deg2突变体与野生型的生长曲线基本一致;在进一步的高光胁迫(1 800 μmol·m-2·s-1)处理及相同的光胁迫处理条件下,无论林可霉素存在与否,突变体PSⅡ的最大光化学效率(Fv/Fm)都和野生型没有区别;利用蛋白免疫印迹实验同样证明了光损伤D1蛋白的降解速度在deg2突变体和野生型之间也没有明显区别.我们认为Deg2蛋白酶在光抑制情况下对于光损伤D1蛋白的降解以及PSⅡ的修复不是必需的.     

灰仓鼠重要内脏器官生长指数及其变化

对室内培育的灰仓鼠进行同一季节不同年龄段和同一年龄段不同季节某些器官的测量。结果显示, 在初生至25 d 的高速生长期, 体重与肝脏、心脏、肺、脾脏和肾的生长非常接近Huxley 的相对生长公式Y = b x^k , 其回归方程分别为: 肝脏Y = 0.013 47 x^{1.515 9} ; 心脏Y = 0.000 18 x^2.163 ; 肺Y = 0.028 48 x^{0.798 2} ; 脾脏Y = 0.000 24 x^{1.583 6} ; 肾脏Y = 0.000 2418 x^{2.310 4} , 并高度相关。睾丸的回归方程在60 日内与Y = b x^k公式非常拟合, Y = 0.000 0108 x^{3.049 4} , r = 0.989 9。除性腺外, 肝脏、心脏、肺、脾脏和肾脏的比值最高值均在25 d 之前。在性成熟期不同年龄段, 性腺比值较稳定, 其它器官比值在性别和年龄段有显著性差异, 雌性普遍高于雄性。在10 月龄不同季节, 只有体重和睾丸比值有显著性差异(7 月最高) , 表示在不同季节利用相近体重比较器官指数差异应将年龄因素作为重要参考依据。     

关于几种避孕植物药的药理初筛及成份预试

本文对云南滇西地区民间用于避孕和绝育秘方中的槌果藤,野花椒寄生、花椒寄生、螃蟹树寄生、鸡矢藤及野花椒的醇提取物进行了小鼠最大耐受量测定及小鼠抗生育实验,结果表明,花椒寄生、螃蟹树寄生的醇提取物具有明显抗生育活性,槌果藤也具有一定的抗生育作用。此外,还对槌果藤、野花椒寄生进行了化学成份预试。     

Alteration in gene expression profile and biological behavior in human lung cancer cell line NL9980 by nm23-H1 gene silencing

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women. Tumor metastasis is an essential aspect of lung cancer progression. nm23-H1 is a metastasis suppressor gene. The molecular mechanism by which nm23-H1 suppresses the metastasis is still unclear. Here, we compared the gene expression profile of human large cell lung cancer cell line NL9980 by nm23-H1 gene silencing with that of negative control cells to comprehensively investigate nm23-H1-mediated changes in gene expression of NL9980 cells. Microarray assay revealed that expression of 733-known genes (1.9%, 733/38,500) were altered in response to nm23-H1 gene silencing, including 466 upregulated genes and 267 downregulated. real-time PCR assay of the expression changes indicated that 81.82% (45/55) of verified genes were consistent with that observed in microarray assay. The upregulated genes included MMP-1, -2, SNAI2, CXCL1, 2, 3, PAI-2, while the downregulated genes included cystatin B, TIMP-2, E-cadherin, centrin-2, all of which have been associated with tumor metastasis. Furthermore, we confirmed by Western blot that the expression of MMP-1 and -2 were significantly increased while that of cystatin B was dramatically decreased in NL9980-nm23-H1 silencing cells. The NL9980-nm23-H1 silencing cells exhibited significantly more S phase growth and invasive ability. Thus, silencing of nm23-H1 gene caused metastasis-related gene expression changes in lung cancer cells. The knockdown of nm23-H1 expression may change the lung cancer cells to a more invasive phenotype through alteration in the expression of a set of genes.     

Integrated analysis of multiple data sources reveals modular structure of biological networks

It has been a challenging task to integrate high-throughput data into investigations of the systematic and dynamic organization of biological networks. Here, we presented a simple hierarchical clustering algorithm that goes a long way to achieve this aim. Our method effectively reveals the modular structure of the yeast protein-protein interaction network and distinguishes protein complexes from functional modules by integrating high-throughput protein-protein interaction data with the added subcellular localization and expression profile data. Furthermore, we take advantage of the detected modules to provide a reliably functional context for the uncharacterized components within modules. On the other hand, the integration of various protein-protein association information makes our method robust to false-positives, especially for derived protein complexes. More importantly, this simple method can be extended naturally to other types of data fusion and provides a framework for the study of more comprehensive properties of the biological network and other forms of complex networks.