草原与荒漠植物内生真菌次生代谢产物研究进展

草原与荒漠植物内生真菌是一类特殊生境真菌类群,由于其独特的生存与生态环境,该类真菌在进化的过程中产生出具有不同生态与生物功能的次生代谢产物。相对于其他植物内生真菌而言,该类真菌化学研究相对薄弱与零散,但是目前仍然从这类特殊生境真菌类群中发现了大量结构新颖、活性独特并具有不同化学生态与生物功能的次生代谢产物。本文主要从化学结构角度综述近年来从草原与荒漠植物内生真菌中分离的次生代谢产物(生物碱、聚酮、酚酸、萜类、环肽等5类结构)、药理活性(抗病毒,免疫调节,促进骨髓增殖,细胞毒及Hsp90抑制剂活性等)与化学生态功能活性(杀虫、拒食与动物神经毒活性等),拟为该类特殊生境真菌类群次生代谢产物进一步开发提供研究基础与理论依据,同时对该领域研究存在的问题进行分析与探讨并提出展望。     

GLP-1 receptor agonists and reduction of cardiometabolic risk: Potential underlying mechanisms

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a metabolic condition with an elevated impact on cardiovascular (CV) risk. The innovative therapeutic approaches for T2DM - incretin-based therapies (IBTs), including glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists, have become popular and more widely used in recent years. The available scientific data from clinical studies and clinical practice highlights their beyond glucose-lowering effects, which is achieved without any increase in hypoglycaemia. The former effects include reduction in body weight, lipids, blood pressure, inflammatory markers, oxidative stress, endothelial dysfunction, and subclinical atherosclerosis, thus reducing and potentially preventing CV events. In fact, the introduction of IBTs is one of the key moments in the history of diabetes research and treatment. Such therapeutic strategies allow customization of antidiabetic treatment to each patient's need and therefore obtain better metabolic control with reduced CV risk. The aim of the present paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of the effects of GLP-1RA on various cardiometabolic markers and overall CV risk, with particular attention on recent CV outcome studies and potential mechanisms. In particular, the effects of liraglutide on formation and progression of atherosclerotic plaque and mechanisms explaining its cardioprotective effects are highlighted.     

Pre-existent Asymmetry in the Human Cyclooxygenase-2 Sequence Homodimer

Prostaglandin endoperoxide H synthase-2 (PGHS-2), also known as cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), is a sequence homodimer. However, the enzyme exhibits half-site heme and inhibitor binding and functions as a conformational heterodimer having a catalytic subunit (E_cat) with heme bound and an allosteric subunit (E_allo) lacking heme. Some recombinant heterodimers composed of a COX-deficient mutant subunit and a native subunit (i.e. Mutant/Native PGHS-2) have COX activities similar to native PGHS-2. This suggests that the presence of heme plus substrate leads to the subunits becoming lodged in a semi-stable E_allo-mutant/E_cat-Native∼heme form during catalysis. We examined this concept using human PGHS-2 dimers composed of combinations of Y385F, R120Q, R120A, and S530A mutant or native subunits. With some heterodimers (e.g. Y385F/Native PGHS-2), heme binds with significantly higher affinity to the native subunit. This correlates with near native COX activity for the heterodimer. With other heterodimers (e.g. S530A/Native PGHS-2), heme binds with similar affinities to both subunits, and the COX activity approximates that expected for an enzyme in which each monomer contributes equally to the net COX activity. With or without heme, aspirin acetylates one-half of the subunits of the native PGHS-2 dimer, the E_cat subunits. Subunits having an S530A mutation are refractory to acetylation. Curiously, aspirin acetylates only one-quarter of the monomers of S530A/Native PGHS-2 with or without heme. This implies that there are comparable amounts of two noninterchangeable species of apoenzymes, E_allo-S530A/E_cat-Native and E_allo-Native/E_cat-S530A. These results suggest that native PGHS-2 assumes a reasonably stable, asymmetric E_allo/E_cat form during its folding and processing.     

小球藻的营养及药用价值

微藻因具有丰富的营养价值和产油能力,因而已被广泛研究。小球藻属于单细胞绿藻,分布广泛,种类多达十余种,在食品、医药、饲料、能源和环保等多个领域具有广泛的应用价值。小球藻不仅可以光自养生长,还可以利用有机碳源进行异养生长。小球藻细胞壁坚厚,胞内含有丰富的蛋白质、必需氨基酸、多糖、色素、脂肪酸,并富含多种维生素,以及铁、钙、锌、钾等矿物元素,具有全面而均衡的营养价值。小球藻属中的蛋白核小球藻已被我国卫生部列为新资源食品。小球藻特有的促生长因子（CGF）具有提高免疫力、抗肿瘤等多种特殊功效,近年来研究证明小球藻在临床上可作为治疗多种疾病的辅助药物,被认为是绿色天然的营养保健食品。本文从小球藻的生物学特性、营养价值、药理和保健作用等方面进行了论述。     

Regulation of G protein-coupled receptor export trafficking

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) constitute a superfamily of cell-surface receptors which share a common topology of seven transmembrane domains and modulate a variety of cell functions through coupling to heterotrimeric G proteins by responding to a vast array of stimuli. The magnitude of cellular response elicited by a given signal is dictated by the level of GPCR expression at the plasma membrane, which is the balance of elaborately regulated endocytic and exocytic trafficking. This review will cover recent advances in understanding the molecular mechanism underlying anterograde transport of the newly synthesized GPCRs from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) through the Golgi to the plasma membrane. We will focus on recently identified motifs involved in GPCR exit from the ER and the Golgi, GPCR folding in the ER and the rescue of misfolded receptors from within, GPCR-interacting proteins that modulate receptor cell-surface targeting, pathways that mediate GPCR traffic, and the functional role of export in controlling GPCR signaling.     

Extracellular long-term recordings of the isolated accessory medulla,the circadian pacemaker center of the cockroach <Emphasis Type="Italic">Leucophaea maderae</Emphasis>, reveal ultradian and hint circadian rhythms

In the cockroach Leucophaea maderae transplantation studies located the circadian pacemaker center, which controls locomotor activity rhythms, to the accessory medulla (AMe), ventromedially to the medulla of the brain’s optic lobes. The AMe is densely innervated via GABA- and manyfold peptide-immunoreactive neurons. They express ultradian action potential oscillations in the gamma frequency range and form phase-locked assemblies of synchronously spiking cells. Peptide application resulted in transient rises of extracellularly recorded activity. It remained unknown whether transient rises in spontaneous electrical activity as a possible indication of peptide release occur in the isolated circadian clock in a rhythmic manner. In extracellular glass electrode recordings of the isolated AMe in constant darkness, which lasted at least 12 h, the distribution of daytime-dependent changes in activity independently of the absolute action potential frequency was examined. Rapid, transient changes in activity preferentially occurred at the mid-subjective night, with a minimum at the middle of the subjective day, hinting the presence of circadian rhythms in the isolated circadian clock. Additionally, ultradian rhythms in activity change that are multiples of a fundamental 2 h period were observed. We hypothesize that circadian rhythms might originate from coupled ultradian oscillations, possibly already at the single cell level.     

The Rate- and Species-Dependence of Short-Term Memory in Cardiac Myocytes

Short-term memory is an intrinsic property of paced cardiac myocytes that reflects the influence of pacing history, and not just the immediately preceding diastolic interval (DI), on the action potential duration (APD). Although it is recognized that short-term memory affects the dynamics of cardiac myocytes in general, and the onset of irregular cardiac rhythm in particular, its has never been adequately quantified or measured directly in experiments or numerical simulations, mainly due to the absence of appropriate techniques. As a result, very little is known about the rate- and species dependent behavior of short-term memory. In this study, we introduce a new approach that allows one to estimate how much short-term memory, M _S, is present in the cardiac myocyte at different pacing rates. The new quantification is based on the fact that pacing history affects not only the APD, but the entire dynamics of paced cardiac myocytes, in particular the restitution curve. Using the patch clamp technique and numerical simulations, we measured short-term memory restitution—the dependence of M _S on the cycle length—in isolated rabbit and guinea pig ventricular myocytes. In both species, M _S is rate- and species-dependent, displaying a biphasic behavior as a function of cycle length. Moreover, our results indicate that there is a significant difference in M _S measured between both species at small cycle lengths. Numerical simulations suggest that the kinetics of the rapidly activating delayed rectifier potassium current I _Kr is partially responsible for this difference.     

A tribute to Per Halldal (1922–1986), a Norwegian photobiologist in Sweden

We present here a tribute to Per Halldal (February 2, 1922–March 26, 1986), a leader, an instrumentalist, an expert on phototaxis in algae, and one whom we remember, even after 20 years of his death, as a person who spread joy, enthusiasm and knowledge wherever he went.