一氧化氮增加常氧和缺氧豚鼠心室肌细胞持续性钠电流

运用全细胞膜片钳记录缺氧条件下豚鼠心室肌持续性钠电流(INa.P)的变化及施加药物对其的影响,以探讨 INa.P 的本质及缺氧增大 INa.P 的机制。结果显示:(1)在常氧条件下,一氧化氮(NO)前体 L- 精氨酸(L-Arg)和供体硝普钠(SNP)浓度依赖性地增大INa.P; (2)INa.P 随缺氧时间延长而增大, 缺氧15 min 后施加 NO 合酶(NOS)抑制剂L- 硝基精氨酸甲酯(L-NAME), 不能使增大的INa.P 明显回复[(1.344 ±0.320) vs (1.301 ±0.317) pA/pF, P>0.05, n=5]; (3)缺氧时含L-NAME 的灌流液可使INa.P 明显减小,与单纯缺氧相比有显著差异[(0.914 ± 0.263), n=5 vs (1.344 ± 0.320) pA/pF, n=6, P<0.05], 但仍比常氧条件下增大[(0.914 ±0.263) vs (0.497 ±0.149) pA/pF, P<0.05, n=5]; (4)还原剂1,4-二硫代苏糖醇(DTT)不但可使L-Arg 及缺氧后施加SNP 增大的 INa.P 回复[(1.449 ± 0.522) vs (0.414 ± 0.067) pA/pF, P<0.01, n = 6 和(0.436 ± 0.141) vs (1.786 ± 0.636) pA/pF,P<0.01, n=5],而且使正常的 INa.P 减小[(0.396 ± 0.057) pA/pF vs (0.442 ± 0.056) pA/pF, P<0.01, n=6]。本实验结果表明缺氧可增大心室肌细胞的INa.P, 其作用机制可能是缺氧时心肌产生的NO 通过氧化细胞膜上钠通道蛋白所致,正常INa.P 的产生     

Five New Guaiane Sesquiterpenes from the Endophytic Fungus Xylaria sp. YM 311647 of Azadirachta indica

Five new guaiane sesquiterpenes, 1 – 5 , were isolated from the culture broth of the endophytic fungus Xylaria sp. YM 311647, isolated from Azadirachta indica A. Juss . The structures of these compounds were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic analyses, and their inhibitory activities against five pathogenic fungi were evaluated. All guaiane sesquiterpenes showed moderate or weak antifungal activities in a broth microdilution assay.     

Abnormal methylation of p16/CDKN2A AND p14/ARF genes GpG Islands in non-small cell lung cancer and in acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Multiplex methylation-sensitive PCR and methylation-specific PCR were employed in studying the methylation of CpG islands in the p16/CDKN2A and p14/ARF promoter and the first exon regions in non-small cell lung cancer (54 samples) and acute B-cell lymphoblastic leukemia (61 samples). Differences in methylation were detected between types of neoplasia as well as between CpG islands studied within the same types of tumors. High level of the p16/CDKN2A first exon CpC island methylation was revealed in non-small cell lung cancer (68%) and in acute B-cell lymphoblastic leukemia (55%) and the CpG island of p14/ARF first exon was nonmethylated in these types of tumors. The methylation of CpG-rich fragments of genes p16/CDKN2A and p14/ARF promoters was analysed. As was found out, CpG islands located in 5' areas of one and the same gene can differ in methylation frequencies. The comparison of sensitivity between methylation-specific PCR and methylation-sensitive PCR used in the methylations studies was carried out.     

Genome-wide comparative analysis of DNAJ genes and their co-expression patterns with HSP70s in aestivation of the sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus

Functional & Integrative Genomics - DNAJ proteins function as co-chaperones of HSP70 and play key roles in cell physiology to promote protein folding and degradation, especially under...     

3D-QSAR studies of checkpoint kinase 1 inhibitors based on molecular docking and CoMFA

Three-dimensional quantitative structure–activity relationship (3D-QSAR) studies were performed on a series of substituted 1,4-dihydroindeno[1,2-c]pyrazoles inhibitors, using molecular docking and comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA). The docking results from GOLD 3.0.1 provide a reliable conformational alignment scheme for the 3D-QSAR model. Based on the docking conformations and alignments, highly predictive CoMFA model was built with cross-validated q ² value of 0.534 and non-cross-validated partial least-squares analysis with the optimum components of six showed a conventional r ² value of 0.911. The predictive ability of this model was validated by the testing set with a conventional r ² value of 0.812. Based on the docking and CoMFA, we have identified some key features of the 1,4-dihydroindeno[1,2-c]pyrazoles derivatives that are responsible for checkpoint kinase 1 inhibitory activity. The analyses may be used to design more potent 1,4-dihydroindeno[1,2-c]pyrazoles derivatives and predict their activity prior to synthesis.     

Molecular Cloning of Novel Cellulase Genes <Emphasis Type="Italic">cel</Emphasis>9A and <Emphasis Type="Italic">cel</Emphasis>12A from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bacillus licheniformis</Emphasis> GXN151 and Synergism of Their Encoded Polypeptides

A thermophilic bacterial strain GXN151 which could degrade Avicel efficiently was isolated and identified as Bacillus licheniformis. A genomic library of GXN151 was constructed and two novel endoglucanase genes designated cel9A and cel12A were isolated by screening the library on carboxylmethyl cellulase indicator plates. The analysis of amino acid sequences deduced from the genes indicated that Cel9A consisted of a catalytic domain belonging to glycosyl hydrolase family 9, a linker domain, and a carbohydrate binding module family 3 from N-terminal to C-terminal; Cel12A had only one catalytic domain belonging to glycosyl hydrolase family 12. The combinations of Cel9A and Cel12A produced by the recombinant E. coli exhibited synergistic action against substrates of carboxylmethyl cellulose as well as Avicel.     

Stress-induced RNASET2 overexpression mediates melanocyte apoptosis via the TRAF2 pathway in vitro

The recent genome-wide association study identified a link between vitiligo and genetic variants in the ribonuclease T2 (RNASET2) gene; however, the functional roles of RNASET2 in vitiligo pathogenesis or in melanocyte apoptosis have yet to be determined. The current study was designed to investigate the vitiligo-related expression pattern of RNASET2 and its molecular function involving apoptosis-related signaling proteins and pathways. The results showed overexpression of RNASET2 in epidermis specimens from 40 vitiligo patients compared with that from matched healthy controls. In addition, in vitro analyses indicated that overexpression of RNASET2 was inducible in cultured primary human melanocytes and keratinocytes by stress conditions, that is, exposure to UV irradiation, hydrogen peroxide, and inflammatory factors, respectively, and led to increased cell apoptosis via the tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 2 (TRAF2)–caspases pathway through the physical interaction of RNASET2 with TRAF2. Thus, RNASET2 may contribute to vitiligo pathogenesis by inhibiting TRAF2 expression and, as such, RNASET2 may represent a potential therapeutic target of vitiligo.