Analysis of trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (TPS) gene family suggests the formation of TPS complexes in rice

Trehalose-6-phosphate (T6P), an intermediate in the trehalose biosynthesis pathway, is emerging as an important regulator of plant metabolism and development. T6P levels are potentially modulated by a group of trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (TPS) and trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase (TPP) homologues. In this study, we have isolated 11 TPS genes encoding proteins with both TPS and TPP domains, from rice. Functional complement assays performed in yeast tps1 and tps2 mutants, revealed that only OsTPS1 encodes an active TPS enzyme and no OsTPS protein possesses TPP activity. By using a yeast two-hybrid analysis, a complicated interaction network occurred among OsTPS proteins, and the TPS domain might be essential for this interaction to occur. The interaction between OsTPS1 and OsTPS8 in vivo was confirmed by bimolecular fluorescence complementation and coimmunoprecipitation assays. Furthermore, our gel filtration assay showed that there may exist two forms of OsTPS1 (OsTPS1a and OsTPS1b) with different elution profiles in rice. OsTPS1b was particularly cofractionated with OsTPS5 and OsTPS8 in the 360 kDa complex, while OsTPS1a was predominantly incorporated into the complexes larger than 360 kDa. Collectively, these results suggest that OsTPS family members may form trehalose-6-phosphate synthase complexes and therefore potentially modify T6P levels to regulate plant development.     

LDL coating pVEGF/polyethylenimine complex enhances vascular endothelial growth factor expression

The major limitations to non-viral gene delivery are relatively low efficiency and cytotoxicity, which need to be addressed in the design of new vectors. In this study, negatively charged low density lipoproteins (LDL) were coated onto positively charged pVEGF/PEI complexes to form pVEGF/PEI/LDL terplexes by a two-step procedure. The biocompatible LDL was introduced to reduce the cytotoxicity of the gene delivery system and increase its affinity to cells. The successful formation of pVEGF/PEI/ LDL terplexes was confirmed by their near-neutral and slightly negative surface charges. The pVEGF/PEI/LDL terplexes were well-defined sub-micron spherical particles. On the cell viability assay, both of the PEI/LDL combined vector and pVEGF/PEI/LDL terplexes exhibited much lower cytotoxicity to HeLa cells and HUVE cells than those of PEI and pVEGF/PEI complexes, attributed to the shielding effect of the LDL. pEGFP/PEI/LDL terplexes showed significantly higher transfection efficiency in comparison to pEGFP/PEI complexes in serum-containing medium. pVEGF/PEI/LDL terplexes at their optimal N/P ratio and LDL/PEI weigh ratio induced higher expression levels of VEGF protein in HUVE cells than those of pVEGF/PEI complexes. Therefore, the pVEGF/PEI/LDL terplexes could be used as a promising gene delivery system to enhance VEGF protein expression.     

Human endothelial cell growth and phenotypic expression on three dimensional poly(lactide-co-glycolide) sintered microsphere scaffolds for bone tissue engineering

Bone tissue engineering offers promising alternatives to repair and restore tissues. Our laboratory has employed poly(lactide-co-glycolide) PLAGA microspheres to develop a three dimensional (3-D) porous bioresorbable scaffold with a biomimetic pore structure. Osseous healing and integration with the surrounding tissue depends in part on new blood vessel formation within the porous structure. Since endothelial cells play a key role in angiogenesis (formation of new blood vessels from pre-existing vasculature), the purpose of this study was to better understand human endothelial cell attachment, viability, growth, and phenotypic expression on sintered PLAGA microsphere scaffold. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) examination showed cells attaching to the surface of microspheres and bridging the pores between the microspheres. Cell proliferation studies indicated that cell number increased during early stages and reached a plateau between days 10 and 14. Immunofluorescent staining for actin showed that cells were proliferating three dimensionally through the scaffolds while staining for PECAM-1 (platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule) displayed typical localization at cell-cell contacts. Gene expression analysis showed that endothelial cells grown on PLAGA scaffolds maintained their normal characteristic phenotype. The cell proliferation and phenotypic expression were independent of scaffold pore architecture. These results demonstrate that PLAGA sintered microsphere scaffolds can support the growth and biological functions of human endothelial cells. The insights from this study should aid future studies aimed at enhancing angiogenesis in three dimensional tissue engineered scaffolds.     

Top-down modulations from dorsal stream in lexical recognition: an effective connectivity FMRI study

Both the ventral and dorsal visual streams in the human brain are known to be involved in reading. However, the interaction of these two pathways and their responses to different cognitive demands remains unclear. In this study, activation of neural pathways during Chinese character reading was acquired by using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technique. Visual-spatial analysis (mediated by the dorsal pathway) was disassociated from lexical recognition (mediated by the ventral pathway) via a spatial-based lexical decision task and effective connectivity analysis. Connectivity results revealed that, during spatial processing, the left superior parietal lobule (SPL) positively modulated the left fusiform gyrus (FG), while during lexical processing, the left SPL received positive modulatory input from the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and sent negative modulatory output to the left FG. These findings suggest that the dorsal stream is highly involved in lexical recognition and acts as a top-down modulator for lexical processing.     

siRNA干扰HIF-1α表达对高糖高胰岛素诱导的肥大心肌细胞的影响

目的 研究胰岛素受体底物1(insulin receptor substrate 1,IRS1)和缺氧诱导因子1a(hypoxia inducible factor 1a,HIF-1a)在高糖高胰岛素诱导的肥大心肌细胞中的表达及其之间的关系;观察siRNA沉默HIF-1a基因对高糖高胰岛素诱导的心肌细胞肥大的影响.方法 新生大鼠心肌细胞培养48h后,换用无血清DMEM培养液并分别加入高糖高胰岛素、高糖高胰岛素+HIF-1a-siRNA培养48h,未加入任何药物的心肌细胞在无血清DMEM培养液中继续培养48h作为对照.通过心肌细胞表面积、总蛋白含量指标检测心肌细胞肥大,并利用Real time PCR检测转染前后HIF-1a mRNA表达变化及免疫细胞化学方法检测HIF-1a及IRS1蛋白水平的表达.结果 高糖高胰岛素可增加心肌细胞表面积、总蛋白含量、HIF-1a mRNA以及HIF-1a表达,并降低IRS1表达.转染siRNA后使HIF-1a基因的表达下降,能部分抑制心肌细胞的肥大,降低心肌细胞表面积和总蛋白含量,但对IRS1表达的影响不明显.在对正常对照组和高糖高胰岛素组中IRS1表达量与HIF-1a表达量进行相关分析表明,两者的表达量成负相关.结论 通过siRNA技术对HIF-1a的有效沉默可明显地抑制高糖高胰岛素诱导大鼠乳鼠心肌细胞肥大,并且这种作用可能是通过作用于IRS1/PI3K/ Akt/MTOR途径来实现的.     

miR-10a Regulates Proliferation of Human Cardiomyocyte Progenitor Cells by Targeting GATA6

microRNAs (miRNAs) play essential roles in cardiogenesis. The altered expression of miRNAs can result in cardiac malformations by inducing abnormalities in the behavior of cardiac cells. However, the role of miR-10a in the regulation of cardiomyocyte progenitor cells (CMPCs) remains undetermined. In the present study, we found that up- or down-regulation of miR-10a inhibited or promoted the proliferation of human CMPCs, respectively, without affecting their differentiation toward cardiomyocytes. miR-10a bound to GATA6 directly and reduced GATA6 expression. Over-expression of GATA6 greatly attenuated the miR-10a-mediated inhibitory effect on the proliferation of human CMPCs. Thus, our results indicate that miR-10a could effectively modulate the proliferation of human CMPCs by targeting GATA6. The finding provides novel insights into the potency of miR-10a during heart development.     

Cell death induced by Pteris semipinnata L. is associated with p53 and oxidant stress in gastric cancer cells

In this study, we demonstrated that Ent-11alpha-hydroxy-15-oxo-kaur-16-en-19-oic-acid (5F) had stronger cytotoxicity against MKN-45, a gastric cancer cell line bearing wild-type p53 than MKN-28, another gastric cancer cell line containing missense mutation in p53. The rapid increase of ROS level was involved in the mechanism of cytotoxicity. Classical features of apoptosis induced by 5F were observed in MKN-45 cells only or more significant in MKN-45 cells than MKN-28 cells. Translocation of Bax from cytosol to mitochondria, reduction of delta psi m and DNA fragmentation were induced by 5F in the p53-dependent manner. We conclude that the expression of Bax and its downstream molecules requires the presentation of a wild-type p53 in the cells treated by 5F.