甜菜夜蛾田间种群对甲氨基阿维菌素苯甲酸盐和高效氯氰菊酯的代谢抗性机制

甜菜夜蛾Spodoptera exigua(Hübner)云南晋宁、上海奉贤和江苏六合种群对甲氨基阿维菌素苯甲酸盐抗性为45～437倍,对高效氯氰菊酯抗性为211～555倍,对其它药剂抗性不明显。这3个田间种群3龄幼虫多功能氧化酶、谷胱甘肽S-转移酶和酯酶的活力分别为室内敏感种群的2.7～8.4倍、1.9～8.6倍和1.6～5.7倍。多功能氧化酶抑制剂PBO和酯酶抑制剂DEF对甲氨基阿维菌素苯甲酸盐的增效比为1.2～4.3和1.3～7.7;PBO和DEF对高效氯氰菊酯的增效比为1.8～58和3.6～245;谷胱甘肽S-转移酶抑制剂DEM对这2种药剂均无增效作用。上述结果表明,解毒代谢增强可能是甜菜夜蛾田间种群对甲氨基阿维菌素苯甲酸盐和高效氯氰菊酯的重要抗性机理,与酯酶和多功能氧化酶活性升高有关,与谷胱甘肽S-转移酶活性升高无关。本文的研究结果还表明,对于代谢抗性机理复杂的多抗性田间种群,根据不同解毒酶抑制剂对药剂的增效作用判断不同解毒代谢酶在抗性形成中的作用更加可靠。     

骨髓间充质干细胞分化为胰岛细胞治疗糖尿病

糖尿病已成为严重危害人类健康的疾病之一。目前,移植胰岛治疗糖尿病已初见疗效,但由于胰岛来源匮乏和免疫排斥反应而受阻。骨髓间充质干细胞(bonemarrowmesenchymalstemcells,BMMSCs)取材方便,容易进行体外分离、培养和纯化,且具有跨越分化潜能。若将自体BMMSCs诱导分化为胰岛细胞,可望解决细胞来源和免疫排除问题,实现糖尿病的自体细胞治疗。现对体外诱导BMMSCs分化为胰岛细胞治疗糖尿病的研究进展进行综述,并指出了存在问题和今后的研究方向。     

免疫细胞内源性儿茶酚胺的免疫调节作用

机体内儿茶酚胺（catecholamines,CAs）包括去甲肾上腺素（norepinephrine,NE）、肾上腺素（epinephrine,E）和多巴胺（dopamine,DA）。CAs由神经元和内分泌细胞合成和分泌,其主要功能是调节心血管、呼吸和消化等内脏活动。近三十年来的研究说明,CAs也参与调控机体的免疫功能,但CAs的这种免疫调节作用一般视为神经和内分泌系统调节的介导作用。然而,近年来的研究发现,免疫细胞也能合成CAs,这是对传统观念的一种补充和提高。免疫细胞内存在经典的CAs代谢途径,既有合成CAs的酪氨酸羟化酶（tyrosine hydroxylase,TH）又有降解CAs的单胺氧化酶（monoamine oxidase,MAO）和儿茶酚氧位甲基移位酶（catechol-O-methyl transferase,COMT）。免疫细胞合成的内源性CAs可以调控细胞的增殖、分化、凋亡和细胞因子生成等多种免疫功能。CAs的这些作用可能主要通过自分泌或旁分泌途径作用于免疫细胞上相应受体和细胞内环磷酸腺苷（cyclicAMP,cAMP）实现。细胞内氧化应激机制可能也参与免疫细胞内源性CAs的免疫调节作用。此外,一些自身免疫性疾病如多发性硬化、风湿性关节炎可能也与免疫细胞内CAs的代谢异常有关。上述发现不仅为免疫系统有可能成为除神经和内分泌系统以外的第三个CA能系统提供了证据,而且为免疫系统内源性CAs的功能意义拓展了认识。     

L-六碳糖形成机制的研究进展

糖及其衍生物在许多初级或次级代谢过程中发挥着重要作用。糖结构与功能的多样性和糖在疾病诊断与治疗中的重要性推动了糖生物学的快速发展。D型糖,尤其是D-六碳糖在糖中占据着主导地位,L-六碳糖也是许多重要糖蛋白复合物、多糖及抗生素的组成成分。了解L-六碳糖的形成机制有助于理性改造糖的结构并开发其应用价值。L-六碳糖通常由3,5位差向异构酶或5位差向异构酶催化D-六碳糖的C5位异构化形成,这种转变赋予了糖在构型上的多样性,并在许多天然产物中起决定生物活性的作用。对3,5位差向异构酶和5位差向异构酶的功能及晶体结构的研究揭示了L-六碳糖的形成机制。本文综述了L-六碳糖形成过程中不同类型的3,5-位差向异构酶和5-位差向异构酶的催化机制,揭示L-六碳糖在生理和医药领域的重要意义。     

High-Resolution Structural and Functional Assessments of Cerebral Microvasculature Using 3D Gas ΔR2*-mMRA

The ability to evaluate the cerebral microvascular structure and function is crucial for investigating pathological processes in brain disorders. Previous angiographic methods based on blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) contrast offer appropriate visualization of the cerebral vasculature, but these methods remain to be optimized in order to extract more comprehensive information. This study aimed to integrate the advantages of BOLD MRI in both structural and functional vascular assessments. The BOLD contrast was manipulated by a carbogen challenge, and signal changes in gradient-echo images were computed to generate ΔR₂* maps. Simultaneously, a functional index representing the regional cerebral blood volume was derived by normalizing the ΔR₂* values of a given region to those of vein-filled voxels of the sinus. This method is named 3D gas ΔR₂*-mMRA (microscopic MRA). The advantages of using 3D gas ΔR₂*-mMRA to observe the microvasculature include the ability to distinguish air–tissue interfaces, a high vessel-to-tissue contrast, and not being affected by damage to the blood–brain barrier. A stroke model was used to demonstrate the ability of 3D gas ΔR₂*-mMRA to provide information about poststroke revascularization at 3 days after reperfusion. However, this technique has some limitations that cannot be overcome and hence should be considered when it is applied, such as magnifying vessel sizes and predominantly revealing venous vessels.     

生发中心的发生与发展

生发中心（germinal centers, GCs）位于次级淋巴组织（secondary lymphoid organs, SLOs）,是淋巴细胞（lymphocytes）与基质细胞(stromal cells)的短暂聚集地,促进体液免疫过程。在生发中心中,B细胞经历了克隆扩增（clonal expansion）、体细胞高频突变（somatic hypermutation,SHM）、亲和力选择（affinity selection）以及分化为浆细胞（plasma cells, PCs）和记忆B细胞(memory B cells, BMEM)等过程。但在生发中心中,亮区（light zone, LZ）和暗区(dark zone, DZ)各自的功能以及亲和力选择的具体机制仍不清楚。在过去10年中,活体镜检法（intravital microscopy, IVM）使人们可以直接地研究生发中心中进行的的一系列动态反应,并取得了一定的进展。表明在暗区进行体细胞高频突变以及B细胞增殖过程,亮区则发生亲和力选择反应。B细胞在暗区与亮区间发生区域流动（interzonal migration）,滤泡辅助性T细胞（T follicular helper cells, T_fh）在调控B细胞从亮区重新回到暗区,促进亲和力选择过程中发挥着重要作用。本文结合最新的研究进展,对生发中心中发生的一系列动态反应,以及其在疫苗设计和疾病治疗中的作用进行综述。     

Bis(acetylacetonato)-oxidovanadium(IV) and sodium metavanadate inhibit cell proliferation via ROS-induced sustained MAPK/ERK activation but with elevated AKT activity in human pancreatic cancer AsPC-1 cells

In this study, the antiproliferative effect of bis(acetylacetonato)-oxidovanadium(IV) and sodium metavanadate and the underlying mechanisms were investigated in human pancreatic cancer cell line AsPC-1. The results showed that both exhibited an antiproliferative effect through inducing G2/M cell cycle arrest and can also cause elevation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels in cells. Moreover, the two vanadium compounds induced the activation of both PI3K/AKT and MAPK/ERK signaling pathways dose- and time-dependently, which could be counteracted with the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine. In the presence of MEK-1 inhibitor, the degradation of Cdc25C, inactivation of Cdc2 and accumulation of p21 were relieved. However, the treatment of AKT inhibitor did not cause any significant effect. Therefore, it demonstrated that the ROS-induced sustained MAPK/ERK activation rather than AKT contributed to vanadium compounds-induced G2/M cell cycle arrest. The current results also exhibited that the two vanadium compounds did not induce a sustained increase of ROS generation, but the level of ROS reached a plateau instead. The results revealed that an intracellular feedback loop may be against the elevated ROS level induced by vanadate or VO(acac)₂, evidenced by the increased GSH content, the unchanged level at the expression of antioxidant enzymes. Therefore, vanadium compounds can be regarded as a novel type of anticancer drugs through the prolonged activation of MAPK/ERK pathway but retained AKT activity. The present results provided a proof-of-concept evidence that vanadium-based compounds may have the potential as both antidiabetic and antipancreatic cancer agents to prevent or treat patients suffering from both diseases.     

Characterization of the agr2 gene, a homologue of X. laevis anterior gradient 2, from the zebrafish, Danio rerio

We characterized a zebrafish (Danio rerio) anterior gradient 2 homologue (agr2) gene. agr2 contains an open reading frame of 513bp encoding 171 amino acids. Deduced amino acid sequence comparison showed that the zebrafish agr2 protein shares high (80-89%) amino acid sequence similarity with those homologues of anterior gradient 2 (HAGR2, MAgr2, Tagr2, and Sagr2) from the human, mouse, pufferfish, and Atlantic salmon, while sharing less (67-71%) sequence similarity with those anterior gradient 2 genes (XAG-2, XAG-1, XAgr2, MAgr3, and HAGR3) from Xenopus laevis, mouse, and human. Both phylogenetic and syntenic analyses indicate that zebrafish agr2 is the orthologue of human AGR2 and mouse Agr2 genes. Whole-mount in situ hybridization indicated that zebrafish agr2 is expressed in most organs, such as epidermis, olfactory bulbs, otic vesicles, pharynx, esophagus, pneumatic duct, swim bladder, and intestine, which contain mucus-secreting cells. Moreover, semi-quantitative RT-PCR demonstrated agr2 is expressed in the gill, pharynx/esophagus, swim bladder/pneumatic duct, and intestine in the adult fish. In contrast, Xenopus anterior gradient 2 homologues are mainly expressed in ectoderm-derived organs including the cement gland and otic vesicles, while human and mouse anterior gradient 2 orthologues are mainly distributed in endoderm-derived organs including the trachea, lungs, stomach, intestines, and colon.