Sex differences in morphine-induced behavioral sensitization and social behaviors in ICR mice

Gender and genetic strain are two prominent variants that influence drug abuse. Although certain sexrelated behavioral responses have been previously characterized in ICR mice, little is known about the effects of sex on morphine-induced behavioral responses in this outbred strain. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the sex differences of morphine-induced locomotion, anxiety-like and social behaviors in ICR mice. After morphine or saline exposure for four consecutive days(twice daily), increased locomotion, more time spent in the central area, as well as attenuated rearing and self-grooming behaviors were found in morphine-treated females in an open field; no differences were found in locomotion and the time spent in the central area between male and female controls. When interacting with the samesex individuals, female controls were engaged in more social investigation, following, body contacting and self-grooming behaviors than controls; morphine exposure reduced contacting and self-grooming behaviors in females; in contrast, these effects were not found in males. These results indicate that female ICR mice are more prosocial and are more susceptible to morphine exposure than males.     

3个桉树无性系过氧化氢酶活性及同工酶比较研究

本文研究杂交桉树(Eucalyptus urophylla×Eucalyptus camaldulensis)LH21无性系、LH22无性系和尾叶桉(Eucalyptus urophylla)U6无性系的过氧化氢酶(CAT)活性及同工酶的差异。结果表明,3个桉树无性系同一器官的CAT活性存在差异,同一个无性系中不同器官的CAT活性差异很显著。采用聚丙烯酰胺不连续凝胶垂直板电泳比较分析CAT同工酶,发现3个无性系的CAT同工酶存在着一定的差异,其中LH21和LH22叶片有相同的谱带,但根的谱带与叶片有差异;而U6各器官的CAT谱带与LH21和LH22有差异。3个无性系的CAT同工酶都在一定程度上具有器官的特异性。     

海州湾近岸海域的微生物群落结构和抗生素抗性基因时空变化

【背景】近岸海域抗生素抗性基因(antibiotic resistance genes, ARGs)的污染和累积将直接影响海产品质量和安全,海州湾作为江苏省的四大渔场之一,是江苏渔业发展的主要载体,有多条大小河流注入,沿岸为重要农业区,对公众健康产生重大影响。【目的】对海州湾夏秋季的水样及沉积物展开微生物及ARGs检测。【方法】基于宏基因组测序技术开展海州湾夏秋两季近岸6个站点中水体和沉积物中ARGs种类和相对丰度以及微生物群落的组成研究。【结果】变形菌门(Proteobacteria)和放线菌门(Actinobacteria)是夏秋季度两种介质中最优势的门类,水样中优势的科级细菌为红细菌科(Rhodobacteraceae),沉积物样品中为脱硫杆菌科(Desulfobacteraceae);夏季水样中的ARGs相对丰度要明显高于秋季,但沉积物中不同季节的ARGs相对丰度未表现出明显的变化趋势;在水样中主要门级微生物群落的抗性机制主要是抗生素靶位替换和抗生素靶位保护,沉积物样品则以抗生素灭活机制为主,而主要科级微生物群落的抗性机制更加多样;冗余分析(redundancyanalysis...     

FGF1 improves functional recovery through inducing PRDX1 to regulate autophagy and anti‐ROS after spinal cord injury

Fibroblast growth factor 1 (FGF1) is thought to exert protective and regenerative effects on neurons following spinal cord injury (SCI), although the mechanism of these effects is not well understood. The use of FGF1 as a therapeutic agent is limited by its lack of physicochemical stability and its limited capacity to cross the blood‐spinal cord barrier. Here, we demonstrated that overexpression of FGF1 in spinal cord following SCI significantly reduced tissue loss, protected neurons in the ventricornu, ameliorated pathological morphology of the lesion, dramatically improved tissue recovery via neuroprotection, and promoted axonal regeneration and remyelination both in vivo and in vivo. In addition, the autophagy and the expression levels of PRDX1 (an antioxidant protein) were induced by AAV‐FGF1 in PC12 cells after H₂O₂ treatment. Furthermore, the autophagy levels were not changed in PRDX1‐suppressing cells that were treated by AAV‐FGF1. Taken together, these results suggest that FGF1 improves functional recovery mainly through inducing PRDX1 expression to increase autophagy and anti‐ROS activity after SCI.     

Genetic variations in a PTEN/AKT/mTOR axis and prostate cancer risk in a Chinese population

Backgroud

Genetic variations in a PTEN/AKT/mTOR signaling axis may influence cellular functions including cell growth, proliferation and apoptosis, and then increase the individual’s risk of cancer. Accordingly, we explore the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of these genes and prostate cancer (PCa) in our Chinese population.

Methods

Subjects were recruited from 666 PCa patients and 708 cancer-free controls, and eight SNPs in the PTEN/AKT/mTOR axis were determined by the TaqMan assay. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were evaluated by logistic regression.

Results

We observed significant associations between PCa risk and mTOR rs2295080 [P = 0.027, OR = 0.85, 95%CI = 0.74–0.98], and AKT2 rs7254617 (P = 0.003, OR = 1.35, 95%CI = 1.11–1.64). When estimated these two SNPs together, the combined genotypes with 2–4 risk alleles (rs2295080 T and rs7254617 A alleles) were associated with an increased risk of PCa compared with 0–1 risk alleles, which was more pronounced among subgroups of age >71 years, smokers, drinkers and no family history of cancer. Results of stratified analyses by cliniopathological parameters revealed that the frequencies of the combined genotypes with 2–4 risk alleles in advanced stage were significantly higher than in localized stage(P = 0.022), but there was no significant association in Gleason score and PSA level.

Conclusion

Our results indicate, for the first time that the two variants in AKT2 and mTOR, particularly the joint genotypes with 2–4 risk alleles may influence PCa susceptibility and progression in Chinese, and the association appeared to be more strong in the subgroup of smokers and drinkers.     

The association of cerebrospinal fluid pressure with optic nerve head and macular vessel density

Science China Life Sciences - The present study aims to investigate the effect of temporary cerebrospinal fluid pressure (CSFP) reduction on optic nerve head (ONH) and macular vessel density (VD)...     

New Insight on Tuning Electrical Transport Properties via Chalcogen Doping in n‐type Mg3Sb2‐Based Thermoelectric Materials

n‐type Mg₃Sb_1.5Bi_0.5 has recently been discovered to be a promising thermoelectric material, yet the effective n‐type dopants are mainly limited to the chalcogens. This may be attributed to the limited chemical insight into the effects from different n‐type dopants. By comparing the effects of different chalcogen dopants Q (Q = S, Se, and Te) on thermoelectric properties, it is found that the chalcogen dopants Q become more efficient with decreasing electronegativity difference between Q and Mg, which is mainly due to the increasing carrier concentration and mobility. Using density functional theory calculations, it is shown that the improving carrier concentration originates from the increasing doping limit induced by the stabilizing extrinsic defect. Moreover, the increasing electron mobility with decreasing electronegativity difference between Q and Mg is attributed to the smaller effective mass resulting from the enhancing chemical bond covalency, which is supported by the decreasing theoretical density of states. According to the above trends, a simple guiding principle based on electronegativity is proposed to shed new light on n‐type doping in Zintl antimonides.     

PKB/ Akt 在高脂诱导鼠肾脏损害中的作用

目的:通过建立高脂血症大鼠模型,探讨单纯高脂对肾脏的损伤机制以及胰岛素传导通路中的关键酶PKB/Akt(丝氨酸/苏氨酸激酶)在高脂所致肾脏损害中的变化和意义。方法:高脂高胆固醇喂养Wistar雄性大鼠,建立胰岛素抵抗模型。分别在4周、8周、12周测定大鼠的肾功,包括血尿素蛋(BUN),肌酐(CREA);16周时测定甘油三酯(TG),胆固醇(TC),以及血糖(FBS)和胰岛素(FINS)。8周时行胰岛素增敏剂文迪雅(3mg/kg)灌胃干预四周,并行肾脏病理检查,应用免疫组化法监测PKB/Akt在肾脏的表达。结果:高脂喂饲大鼠4周后,进食量开始减少,体重增加减慢;血BUN、血CREA在4周时已升高,至8周时增加更明显(p<0.001)。文迪雅灌胃四周后肾功改善,但仍高于正常组(p<0.05)。血TG和血TC较正常组升高显著,统计学差异显著(p<0.05)。血胰岛素升高,但胰岛素敏感性降低,胰岛素抵抗指数增加显著,提示胰岛素抵抗形成。肾脏免疫组化PKB/Akt的表达呈现为在肾小球和肾小管分布不均,出现PKB/Akt在损伤较重的肾小球不表达,而在损伤较轻的肾小管表达减弱的现象。结论:饮食诱导的高脂血症可导致健康大鼠产生脂质肾毒性损害以及肾功的降低,并可产生胰岛素抵抗。胰岛素传导通路的损害在肾小球和肾小管表达不同,说明其可能是产生肾脏损伤及胰岛素抵抗的又一原因。胰岛素增敏剂可改善胰岛素抵抗及肾功。     

Low genetic variation detected within the widespread mangrove species Nypa fruticans (Palmae) from Southeast Asia

Genetic diversity within and among six natural populations of Nypa fruticans from China, Vietnam, and Thailand was assessed using SSR and ISSR analysis. Our results showed an extremely low level of genetic diversity of N. fruticans (at the species level, P = 11.76% and 2.88%, He = 0.0279 and 0.0113, I = 0.0470 and 0.0167 by SSRs and ISSRs, respectively) across a total of 183 individuals. No genetic variation was detected within any population except for the Thailand population by SSRs (P = 11.76%, He = 0.0417; I = 0.0622). The bottlenecks during glacial epochs, founder effects, and propagation pattern may be responsible for the extremely low level of genetic diversity of N. fruticans.     

新疆准噶尔盆地芳3井晚白垩世孢粉组合的发现及其地质意义

准噶尔盆地腹部芳3井紫泥泉子组所夹灰色泥岩中产丰富的盘星藻、葡萄藻等藻类、疑源类化石及一定数量的孢粉化石。孢粉化石计75属160种,并首次在新疆地区发现了可靠的鹰粉型化石Aquilapollenites以及在我国主要产于松辽盆地和广东三水盆地上白垩统的“大孢子”化石Balmeisporites,建立Schizaeoisporites grandus-Parcisporites parvisaccus-Liliacidites creticus(GPC)组合。通过对部分孢粉属种已知地质分布的分析以及与国内外部分地区晚白垩世孢粉组合的对比,将GPC组合的时代确定为晚白垩世坎潘期至马斯特里赫特期。根据紫泥泉子组的沉积特点及孢粉组合特征,认为晚白垩世准噶尔盆地应归属西北-东南孢粉植物区,局部层段沉积时期气候比较湿润,孢粉组合具有我国东北孢粉植物区与西北-东南孢粉植物区的过渡特点。