Protective role of hydroxysteroid sulfotransferase in lithocholic acid-induced liver toxicity

Supplement of 1% lithocholic acid (LCA) in the diet for 5-9 days resulted in elevated levels of the marker for liver damage aspartate aminotransferase and alkaline phosphatase activities in both farnesoid X receptor (FXR)-null and wild-type female mice. The levels were clearly higher in wild-type mice than in FXR-null mice, despite the diminished expression of a bile salt export pump in the latter. Consistent with liver toxicity marker activities, serum and liver levels of bile acids, particularly LCA and taurolithocholic acid, were clearly higher in wild-type mice than in FXR-null mice after 1% LCA supplement. Marked increases in hepatic sulfating activity for LCA (5.5-fold) and hydroxysteroid sulfotransferase (St) 2a (5.8-fold) were detected in liver of FXR-null mice. A 7.4-fold higher 3alpha-sulfated bile acid concentration was observed in bile of FXR-null mice fed an LCA diet compared with that of wild-type mice. Liver St2a content was inversely correlated with levels of alkaline phosphatase. In contrast, microsomal LCA 6beta-hydroxylation was not increased and was in fact lower in FXR-null mice compared in wild-type mice. Clear decreases in mRNA encoding sodium taurocholate cotransporting polypeptide, organic anion transporting polypeptide 1, and liver-specific organic anion transporter-1 function in bile acid import were detected in LCA-fed mice. These transporter levels are higher in FXR-null mice than wild-type mice after 1% LCA supplement. No obvious changes were detected in the Mrp2, Mrp3, and Mrp4 mRNAs. These results indicate hydroxysteroid sulfotransferase-mediated LCA sulfation as a major pathway for protection against LCA-induced liver damage. Furthermore, Northern blot analysis using FXR-null, pregnane X receptor-null, and FXR-pregnane X receptor double-null mice suggests a repressive role of these nuclear receptors on basal St2a expression.     

Oral and intranasal administration of somatostatin DNA vaccine mediated by attenuated Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium to promote growth of piglets

An attenuated strain of Salmonella typhimurium has been used as a carrier for oral and intranasal genetic immunization. Here, we evaluate the efficacy of a vaccine strain of S. typhimurium. CSO22 (pGM-CSF/SS, plasmid granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor/somatostatin) expressing two copies of SS genes. A total of 115 piglets, aged 2 months old, were either orally or intranasally immunized against the vaccine strain CSO22 (pGM-CSF/SS) with three dosages (5 × 10(10) colony forming units (CFU), 5 × 10(9) CFU and 5 × 10(8) CFU). For oral immunization, the specific anti-SS antibodies were detected in the immunized piglets. The levels of SS antibodies in the high-dose immunized group (5 × 10(10) CFU) were significantly higher than that in the phosphate buffered saline immunized group (P < 0.01) and 40% of animals were positive in SS antibodies in the high-dose immunized group. Moreover, the weight gain of the high-dose group was increased by 20.86%, 10.26% and 15.30% during 4, 8 and 12 weeks, respectively, after immunization in comparison to the control. For intranasal immunization, the growth of the low-dose group was increased by 10.23% in the whole test period (12 weeks). In conclusion, our results suggest that the recombinant strain could elicit anti-SS antibodies and improve the growth performance of immunized piglets, and that the oral immunization program is better than the intranasal program.     

Reproducible cancer biomarker discovery in SELDI-TOF MS using different pre-processing algorithms

Background

There has been much interest in differentiating diseased and normal samples using biomarkers derived from mass spectrometry (MS) studies. However, biomarker identification for specific diseases has been hindered by irreproducibility. Specifically, a peak profile extracted from a dataset for biomarker identification depends on a data pre-processing algorithm. Until now, no widely accepted agreement has been reached.

Results

In this paper, we investigated the consistency of biomarker identification using differentially expressed (DE) peaks from peak profiles produced by three widely used average spectrum-dependent pre-processing algorithms based on SELDI-TOF MS data for prostate and breast cancers. Our results revealed two important factors that affect the consistency of DE peak identification using different algorithms. One factor is that some DE peaks selected from one peak profile were not detected as peaks in other profiles, and the second factor is that the statistical power of identifying DE peaks in large peak profiles with many peaks may be low due to the large scale of the tests and small number of samples. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the DE peak detection power in large profiles could be improved by the stratified false discovery rate (FDR) control approach and that the reproducibility of DE peak detection could thereby be increased.

Conclusions

Comparing and evaluating pre-processing algorithms in terms of reproducibility can elucidate the relationship among different algorithms and also help in selecting a pre-processing algorithm. The DE peaks selected from small peak profiles with few peaks for a dataset tend to be reproducibly detected in large peak profiles, which suggests that a suitable pre-processing algorithm should be able to produce peaks sufficient for identifying useful and reproducible biomarkers.     

有机浮渣降解菌株的筛选及初步研究

通过筛选三株能降解烃类菌株及浮渣成分的化学分析,对炼油厂有机浮渣有较好的处理效果。并对其降解最适条件进行了系列研究,结果：将有机浮渣按一定比例稀释,按10%接种量添加混菌溶液,35℃摇瓶培养2d,降解率达90%以上。     

野生与笼养绿孔雀种群的随机扩增多态DNA研究

利用随机扩增多态DNA（RAPD）技术对野生14只和笼养18只绿孔雀（Pavo muticus）个体进行了种群遗传多样性分析。用23个随机引物,野生与笼养绿孔雀分别获得161和166个扩增片段,计算发现野生与笼养绿孔雀的种群内平均相对遗传距离分别是0.0555和0.1355,两种群间的为0.1635;两种群的Shannon多样性指数平均分别是0.4348和1.0163,有显著性差异。以上分析都显示野生绿孔雀的遗传多样性很低。用UPGMA法聚类显示两个种群都是分别来源于两个家系,可据此进行繁育管理。 Abstract:Random-amplified polymorphic DNA(RAPD) was used to investigate the genetic diversity of the population of 14 wild green peafowl and 18 captive green peafowl(pavo muticus).Total of 161 and 166 bands were obtained respectively,and 23 random primers were used to amplify the genomic DNA of the wild and captive green peafowls.The average relative hereditary distance of the wild and captive green peafowls is 0.0555 and 0.1355 respectively;and the Shannon diversity index is 0.4348 and 1.0163 respectively.There is a prominent differentia between the two populations by T-Test of HO.All the analyses above show that the genetic diversity is very low in wild green peafowl.It tells us that the two populations come from two families by using UPGMA,which can be useful in the breeding management in the future.     

槟榔（Areca catechu L.）的民族植物学

本文从民族植物学的观点介绍了我国南方各省嚼槟榔的习俗、历史及演变,分析了这个习俗的形成原因及槟榔的药用价值。作者认为咀嚼槟榔有成瘾性,但是否对人的中枢神经系统有损害,必须进一步研究。作者对这种习俗提出了几点看法和建议,对槟榔的开发利用有重要参考价值。     

人造血干/祖细胞多态性的研究:Ⅺ.人正常骨髓CD34~ 造血细胞周期动力学相关大分子DNA、RNA和PRO含量的分析

DNA、RNA和PRO的合成、积累及相互关系是调控细胞周期动力学最主要的三个参数。同时检测这些组成部分能够更精确细致地评判细胞的周期动力学特征。本文探索了人正常骨髓CD34~ 造血细胞周期动力学相关大分子DNA、RNA和PRO的含量,以便认识CD34~ 造血细胞周期动力学的特征。用新型CIMS-100免疫磁性分离系统高效富集人骨髓CD34~ 造血细胞,经FCM及APAAP鉴定,富集的CD34~ 造血细胞的纯度达90～95%。随之采用碘化丙啶(PI)、派若宁Y(PY)及异硫氰荧光素(FITC)分别进行标记DNA、RNA和PRO并在FCM上检测。结果表明,DNA、RNA和PRO在CD34~ 造血细胞中的含量明显低于单个核细胞,分别仅占后者的34±3%、48±21%及62±14%。结合我们以往的结果,我们认为CD34~ 造血细胞的确是一独特的体细胞群,不仅表现在重建造血与免疫学功能上,而且表现在细胞周期动力学上。据我们所知,这是目前国际上首次有关人CD34~ 造血细胞周期动力学相关大分子的系统分析报道,提供了大多数CD34~ 造血细胞处于静止期的直接证据。     

鲇鱼成鱼和幼鱼中含色素的巨噬细胞集结的诱导发生

通过腹腔注射不同剂量的牛血清白蛋白（ＢＳＡ）或墨汁以刺激巨噬细胞活动,研究了鲇鱼成鱼和幼鱼头肾、肾、脾和肝中含色素的巨噬细胞集结（ＰＭＡ）的发生。鲇鱼淋巴样组织中存在巨噬细胞的不均一性,可分网状／纤维状巨噬细胞,梭状巨噬细胞,圆形红色巨噬细胞,圆形黄红色巨噬细胞和含色素的巨噬细胞。注射ＢＳＡ或墨汁后,头肾、肾,脾和肝中ＰＭＡ和圆形巨噬细胞的数量最终均有不同程度的增加。通过诱导发生实验,表明含色素的