Developmental plasticity of glandular trichomes into somatic embryogenesis in Tilia amurensis

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: In Tilia amurensis, two types of trichomes (hairy and glandular) develop from epidermal surfaces of cotyledons and hypocotyls of zygotic embryos soon after germination. Here, it is demonstrated that glandular trichome initials develop directly into somatic embryos when treated in vitro with 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). METHODS: Zygotic embryos of Tilia amurensis were cultured on Murashige and Skoog medium with 3 % sucrose and various concentrations (0, 2.2, 4.4 and 8.8 microm) of 2,4-D. Morphological development of trichomes and somatic embryos was analysed by scanning electron microscope and light microscope after histological sectioning. KEY RESULTS: In zygotic embryos cultured on medium with 4.4 microM 2,4-D, formation of hairy trichomes was completely suppressed but formation of glandular trichome initials increased. That some filamentous trichome initials developed directly into somatic embryos was confirmed by histological and scanning electron microscope observation. When explants with different stages of trichome initials (two-, four- and eight-celled filamentous and fully mature trichomes) were temporally pre-treated with 4.4 microM 2,4-D for 24 h and transferred into hormone-free medium, two-celled and four-celled filamentous trichome initials were the effective stage of trichomes for somatic embryo induction. CONCLUSIONS: It is suggested that early developing filamentous trichome initials have developmental plasticity and that with 2,4-D treatment these trichome initials develop directly into somatic embryos.     

Disialoganglioside GD3-synthase over expression inhibits survival and angiogenesis of pancreatic cancer cells through cell cycle arrest at S-phase and disruption of integrin-β1-mediated anchorage

Gangliosides play important roles in the development, differentiation and proliferation of mammalian cells. They bind to other cell membrane components through their terminal sialic acids. Different gangliosides influence cellular functions based on the positions and linkages of sialic acids. Expression of gangliosides mainly depends on the status of sialic acid-modulatory enzymes, such as different types of sialyltransferases and sialidases. One such sialyltransferase, disialoganglioside GD3 synthase, is specifically responsible for the production of GD3. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, making up more than 90% of pancreatic cancers, is a fatal malignancy with poor prognosis. Despite higher sialylation status, the disialoganglioside GD3 level is very low in this cancer. However, the exact status and function of this disialoganglioside is still unknown. Here, we intended to study the intracellular mechanism of disialoganglioside GD3-induced apoptosis and its correlation with the adhesion and angiogenic pathways in pancreatic cancer. We demonstrated that disialoganglioside GD3 synthase-transfected cells showed enhanced apoptosis and it caused the arrest of these cells in the S-phase of the cell cycle. Integrins, a family of transmembrane proteins play important role in cell–cell recognition, invasion, adhesion and migration. disialoganglioside GD3 co-localised with integrin-β1 and thereby inhibited it's downstream signalling in transfected cells. Transfected cells exhibited inhibition of cell adhesion with extracellular matrix proteins. Enhanced GD3 expression down regulated angiogenesis-regulatory proteins and inhibited epidermal growth factor/vascular endothelial growth factor-driven angiogenic cell growth in these cells. Taken together, our study provides support for the GD3-induced cell cycle arrest, disruption of integrin-β1-mediated anchorage, inhibition of angiogenesis and thereby induced apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells.     

林蛙卵收缩因子的进一步纯化(简报)

大家承认动物细胞的胞质分裂是由收缩环的微丝束收缩而引起的。那么微丝束又是在什么物质作用下诱发产生的呢?两栖类卵的第一次胞质分裂是单侧卵裂(unilateral cleavage),即先在动物极出现分裂沟,沟两端逐渐向下延     

RP-HPLC法测定怀槐中染料木素和芒柄花黄素含量

怀槐(Maackia amurensis Rupr.et Maxim.)广泛分布于中国东北三省及内蒙古等地,尤以黑龙江省为多.怀槐作为民间药,其茎、枝可治疗风湿性关节炎; 叶、枝皮可治疗肿瘤; 内皮可治疗深度伤口及久不愈合的溃疡.另外,怀槐树皮在民间还作为祛风湿、消炎、镇痛、健胃、止血等药广泛应用,疗效甚佳.从怀槐的根、枝、叶、果实和心材中分别分得异黄酮、生物碱、NC442类化合物,据报道,其中的异黄酮类化合物表现出对心血管系统的复合作用和明显的抗肿瘤活性[1].作者在对怀槐进行系统的化学成分研究过程中,分离鉴定了9个异黄酮类化合物[2,3],并进行了抑制肿瘤细胞增殖作用研究[4],其中,染料木素(genistein)对胃腺癌细胞(BGC)增殖有一定程度的抑制作用,芒柄花黄素(formononetin)则对白血病细胞(HL-60)增殖有一定的抑制作用.染料木素和芒柄花黄素作为马鞍树属(Maackia Rupr.)植物中普遍存在的2个异黄酮类化合物,其活性研究日益受到重视.采用HPLC法测定染料木素等异黄酮类化合物含量在大豆等其他植物中曾有文献报道[5].为了尽早开发怀槐资源,同时为其资源的综合利用提供科学依据,本文采用HPLC法对怀槐不同部位的染料木素和芒柄花黄素2个有效成分进行了含量测定.