洞察景观环境影响蜜蜂之新视角: 肠道微生物

作为生态服务提供者的传粉蜜蜂与景观生态息息相关, 而以农田为主的景观组成显著降低了传粉蜜蜂的多样性。目前调查研究显示, 农田的扩张与蜜蜂多样性下降相关, 且农药残留对蜜蜂损害严重。景观中的开花植物决定了蜜蜂的食物(营养)组成, 其中花粉蛋白含量与蜜蜂的生长发育紧密相关。尽管研究已证实景观环境会显著影响蜜蜂蜂群的发展和个体的生长繁殖能力, 但未来还需要加强景观组成变化直接作用于蜜蜂的机制研究。另一方面, 大量研究表明蜜蜂肠道共生菌是影响宿主健康的重要因素: 可促进宿主吸收营养和抵抗病原菌。作为传粉者, 蜜蜂接触到的主要外部环境——花粉和花蜜都含有特殊的微生物, 很多研究暗示花源微生物是蜜蜂肠道菌来源之一。研究表明景观环境相关的食物(营养)、农药残留以及环境微生物都会显著影响肠道微生物。现有少量的研究证明不同景观的蜜蜂肠道微生物有差异, 景观环境可能通过作用于蜜蜂肠道微生物进而影响蜜蜂健康。然而不同景观环境中的微生物, 尤其是花源微生物和蜜蜂肠道菌之间的关联有待证明。景观对蜜蜂肠道微生物的影响值得研究, 希望可以从肠道菌的视角鉴别对蜜蜂友好的景观环境, 进而指导土地合理利用和蜜蜂保护。     

不同酸水解酪蛋白对W135群和Y群脑膜炎奈瑟菌荚膜多糖产量的影响

目的 探索不同酸水解酪蛋白对W135群与Y群脑膜炎奈瑟菌(脑膜炎球菌)荚膜多糖产量的影响。方法 分别以NaCl质量分数为37%和14%的酸水解酪蛋白作为有机氮源配制改良半综合高盐培养基和低盐培养基,利用全自动细菌发酵罐分别在两种培养基里培养W135群和Y群脑膜炎球菌,比较这两种菌株在两种培养基中的生长时间、收获液菌密度( A 600 nm 值)、收获液去菌体后与去复合多糖后上清中的荚膜多糖含量,以及纯化后的精糖产量;比较高盐培养基收获液及其2倍稀释液中不同终含量的十六烷基三甲基溴化铵(cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, CTAB)溶液对多糖沉淀效果的影响。结果 W135群与Y群脑膜炎球菌在两种培养基中的培养时间差异无统计学意义( P >0.05),但高盐培养基收获液的菌密度、收获液去菌体后上清液中的多糖含量均高于低盐培养基收获液,差异有统计学意义( P < 0.05),而高盐培养基收获液纯化后的精糖产量低于低盐培养基,差异有统计学意义( P <0.05)。高盐培养液2倍稀释后,在CTAB终体积分数为0.04%时,W135群与Y群脑膜炎球菌多糖全部沉淀,而未稀释高盐培养液即使CTAB终体积分数提高到0.14%,依然也不能完全沉淀 W135群与Y群脑膜炎球菌多糖。结论 不同酸水解酪蛋白对W135群和Y群脑膜炎球菌的生长密度和荚膜多糖产量有影响,用CTAB溶液沉淀荚膜多糖时需控制收获液盐含量。     

人嗅黏膜间充质干细胞来源外泌体的分离鉴定及生物学特性研究

外泌体是指释放到细胞外微环境中的直径约50～130 nm的纳米级的膜性囊泡。嗅黏膜间充质干细胞（olfactory mucosa mesenchymal stem cells,OM-MSCs）作为一类新发现的间充质干细胞,在许多疾病中均具有治疗作用,且其内在机制与其旁分泌的外泌体密切相关,但OM-MSCs外泌体的分离、鉴定及生物学特性的研究尚未见报道。本研究采用超速离心法提取OM-MSCs培养液中的外泌体,应用流式细胞术及免疫荧光进行细胞鉴定后,分别用透射电子显微镜、纳米粒径分析及Western印迹对外泌体形态、颗粒大小和表面的特异性分子标志进行分析鉴定。采用CCK8增殖实验,Western印迹和划痕实验,分析其对人脑微血管内皮细胞增殖和迁移的影响。电镜、Western 印迹和纳米粒径分析的结果显示：OM-MSCs来源外泌体形态多为圆形,直径约为40～150 nm;表达外泌体标记物CD63,CD81;CCK-8法检测显示：不同浓度的OM-MSCs源外泌体可提高人脑微血管内皮细胞的增殖活性,且其增殖促进作用具有浓度依赖性（P<0.05）。Western 印迹检测结果显示：相比空白对照组,OM-MSCs源外泌体可显著提高内皮细胞的增殖细胞核抗原蛋白质水平表达（P<0.01）,细胞划痕实验结果显示,OM-MSCs源外泌体可增强内皮细胞的迁移能力,且高于对照组（P<0.01）。本研究表明：通过超速离心法可以分离纯化获得OM-MSCs源外泌体,且该外泌体具有促进人脑微血管内皮细胞迁移和增殖的作用。     

Probiotic Clostridium butyricum Improves the Growth Performance,Immune Function,and Gut Microbiota of Weaning Rex Rabbits

Probiotics could promote animal growth and enhance immune function. This study investigated the effects of Clostridium butyricum (CB) on the growth performance, intestinal immune, and gut microbiota of weaning rex rabbits. A total of 60 healthy female rabbits (5-month-old) were divided equally into four groups and mated on the same day: control group (CTRL, fed with basal feed), low-dose group (LDG, fed with basal feed + 1.0 × 10³ CFU/g CB), middle-dose group (MDG, fed with basal feed + 1.0 × 10⁴ CFU/g CB), and high-dose group (HDG, fed with basal feed + 1.0 × 10⁵ CFU/g CB). Then, 30 weaning rex rabbits (35-day-old) were collected from each group for this experiment, and they were offered the same feeds as their mother. The results demonstrated that high-dose CB treatment significantly increased average daily weight gain of weaning rex rabbits. Further studies suggested that CB enhanced small intestinal digestive enzyme activity and improved mucosal morphology and antioxidant status. Supplemented with CB, small intestinal barrier function was maintained with the upregulation of mRNA levels of ZO-1, claudin, and occludin as well as the increase of sIgA production. Moreover, the relative expressions of MyD88, TLR2, and TLR4 were elevated in HDG; simultaneously, pro-inflammatory cytokines including IL-6, INF-γ, and TNF-α were decreased after CB administration. In addition, CB showed beneficial effects in improving weaning rex rabbit intestinal microflora via increasing the abundance of beneficial bacteria. Therefore, our results indicated CB can promote rex rabbit growth, which is likely to the enhancement of immune function and the improvement of intestinal microbiota.

     

Muscle oxygenation dynamics in response to electrical stimulation as measured with near‐infrared spectroscopy: A pilot study

Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) is used for preventing muscle atrophy and improving muscle strength in patients and healthy people. However, the current intensity of NMES is usually set at a level that causes the stimulated muscles to contract. This typically causes pain. Quantifying the instantaneous changes in muscle microcirculation and metabolism during NMES before muscle contraction occurs is crucial, because it enables the current intensity to be optimally tuned, thereby reducing the NMES‐induced muscle pain and fatigue. We applied near‐infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to measure instantaneous tissue oxygenation and deoxygenation changes in 43 healthy young adults during NMES at 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35 mA. Having been stabilized at the NIRS signal baseline, the tissue oxygenation and total hemoglobin concentration increased immediately after stimulation in a dose‐dependent manner (P < 0.05) until stimulation was stopped at the level causing muscle contraction without pain. Tissue deoxygenation appeared relatively unchanged during NMES. We conclude that NIRS can be used to determine the optimal NMES current intensity by monitoring oxygenation changes.      

Spatial patterns and interspecific associations among trees at different stand development stages in the natural secondary forests on the Loess Plateau,China

Quercus wutaishansea populations on the Loess Plateau are currently becoming more dominant in natural secondary forests, whereas Pinus tabulaeformis is declining. In the present paper, the diameter class (instead of age) was used to classify the different growth stages as juvenile, subadult, or adult, and the univariate function g(r) was used to analyze the dynamic changes in spatial patterns and interspecific associations in three 1‐ha tree permanent plots on the Loess Plateau, NW China. Our results suggested that the niche breadth changed with the development stage. The diameter distribution curve was consistent with the inverted “J” type, indicating that natural regeneration was common in all three plots. There was a close relationship between the spatial pattern and scale, which showed significant aggregation at small distances, and became more random as distance increased, but in the Pinus + Quercus mixed forests, the whole species were aggregated at distances up to 50 m. The degree of spatial clumping decreased from juvenile to subadult and from subadult to adult. The spatial pattern also differed at different growth stages, likely due to strong intraspecific competition. Associations among different growth stages were positively correlated at small scales. Our study is important to the understanding of the development of the Q. wutaishansea forests; thus, the spatial dynamic change features should be received greater attention when planning forest management and developing restoration strategies on the Loess Plateau.