大、小动脉内皮细胞乙酰胆碱作用靶标药理学特性的比较

目的 :比较大、小动脉内皮细胞乙酰胆碱作用靶标药理学特性的差异。方法 :采用大鼠尾动脉螺旋状血管条和主动脉离体血管环两种组织 ,对比观察乙酰胆碱 (ACh)诱发大、小动脉内皮依赖性舒张反应特征的差异 ,从而进一步研究小动脉内皮细胞乙酰胆碱作用靶标的药理学特性。结果 :氯化钾 (6 0mmol/L)预致血管收缩的尾动脉和主动脉对不同浓度ACh (10 -8～ 10 -4mol/L)产生内皮依赖性舒张反应 ,且呈剂量依赖性。L Nω 硝基精氨酸甲酯 (L NAME :10 -4mol/L)或美蓝 (MB :10 -5mol/L)与吲哚美辛 (Indo :10 -4mol/L)联用仅可部分地阻断ACh诱发尾动脉内皮依赖性舒张反应 ;而L NAME或MB可完全阻断ACh诱发主动脉内皮依赖性舒张反应。结论 :ACh激活大、小动脉上内皮细胞乙酰胆碱作用靶标诱发内皮依赖性舒张反应的药理学性质不同 ,在小动脉上 ,除了NO和PGI2介导外 ,还有一种非NO和非PGI2 的舒血管因子参与 ;在大动脉上 ,内皮依赖性舒张反应主要由NO介导     

Surface charge engineering of PQQ glucose dehydrogenase for downstream processing

The ion-exchange chromatography behavior of recombinant glucose dehydrogenase harboring pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQGDH) was modified to greatly simplify its purification. The surface charge of PQQGDH was engineered by either fusing a three-arginine tail to the C-terminus of PQQGDH (PQQGDH+Arg3) or by substituting three residues exposed on the surface of the enzyme to Arg by site-directed mutagenesis (3RPQQGDH). During cation exchange chromatography, both surface charge-engineered enzymes eluted at much higher salt concentrations than the wild-type enzyme. After the chromatography purification step, both PQQGDH+Arg3 and 3RPQQGDH appeared as single bands on SDS-PAGE, while extra bands appeared with the wild-type protein sample. Although all tested kinetic parameters of both engineered enzymes are similar to those of wild type, both modifications resulted in enzymes with increased thermal stability. Our achievements have resulted in the greater production of an improved quality PQQGDH by a simplified process.     

Expression of angiotensin type 1 and 2 receptors in brain after transient middle cerebral artery occlusion in rats

Angiotensin II (Ang II) type 2 receptors (AT2Rs) have been associated with apoptosis. We hypothesized that AT2Rs are increased in stroke and may contribute effects of stroke to the brain. To test this, we have examined the expression of Ang II type 1 receptor (AT1R), AT2R and Ang II levels in the brain 24 h after transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). The densities of AT1R and AT2R were measured by quantitative autoradiography (n=6). The levels of Ang II were measured by radioimmunoassay (RIA) (n=6) and by immunohistochemistry (n=3). AT1R levels on autoradiography showed a significant decrease (0.87±0.06 to 1.39±0.07 fmol/mg, p<0.01) in the ventral cortex of the stroke side compared to the cortices of non-stroke (NS) rats (n=4). There was no significant difference on ATIR in the contralateral verbal cortex of the stroke rats compared to NS control. In contrast, levels of AT2R in the ventral cortex of both the stroke and the contralateral sides were significantly increased (0.77±0.06, p<0.05 and 0.91±0.05, p<0.01 compared to 0.60±0.03 fmol/mg tissue, respectively). RIA showed that Ang II in the ventral cortex of both the stroke and the contralateral sides were significantly increased (241.63±47.72, p<0.01 and 165.51±42.59, p<0.05 compared to 76.80±4.10 pg/g tissue, respectively). Also, Ang II in the hypothalamus was significantly increased (179.50±17.49 to 118.50±6.65 pg/g tissue, p<0.05). Immunohistochemistry confirmed the increase of Ang II. These results demonstrate that brain Ang II and AT2Rs are increased whereas AT1Rs are decreased after transient MCAO in rats. We conclude that in stroke, Ang II and AT2R are activated and may contribute neural effects to brain ischemia.     

Induction of developmental toxicity in mice treated with Alstonia scholaris (Sapthaparna) In utero

BACKGROUND: The teratogenic effect of hydroalcoholic extract of Alstonia scholaris (ASE) was studied in the pregnant Swiss albino mice administered with 0, 60, 120, 240, 360, and 480 mg/kg ASE on Day 11 of gestation. METHODS: Females were allowed to complete the term and parturiate. The litters were monitored regularly for mortality, growth retardation, congenital malformations, and appearance of physiological markers up to 7 weeks post‐parturition (p.p.). RESULTS: The administration of 60, 120, 180, and 240 mg/kg ASE to the pregnant mice on Day 11 did not induce mortality, congenital malformations, or alter the normal growth patterns. A further increase in the herbal extract dose up to 360 or 480 mg/kg resulted in a dose dependent increase in the mortality, growth retardation, and congenital malformations, characterized mainly by bent tails and syndactyly. The administration of higher doses (360 or 480 mg) of ASE also caused a significant delay in the morphological parameters such as fur development, eye opening, pinna detachment, and vaginal opening. The incisor eruption and testes decent were found to be delayed in litters born to the mothers treated with 240–480 mg/kg ASE. CONCLUSIONS: Our study indicates clearly that ASE treatment caused teratogenic effect only at doses above 240 mg/kg (>20% of LD₅₀). Lower doses had no developmental toxicity. Birth Defects Res B 68:472–478, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

De novo DNA methylation at the CpG island of the zebrafish no tail gene

The zebrafish no tail gene (ntl) is indispensable for the formation of the notochord and the tail structure. Here we showed that de novo DNA methylation occurred at the CpG island of ntl. The methylation started at the segmentation stage and continued after the larval stage. However, it occurred predominantly between 14 and 48 h postfertilization, which overlaps the period in which ntl expression disappears in the notochord and the tailbud. This inverse correlation, together with the methylation-associated formation of an inaccessible chromatin structure at the ntl CpG island region, suggested the involvement of the de novo methylation in ntl repression. Since no changes in methylation patterns were observed at the CpG islands of four other zebrafish genes, there must be a mechanism in zebrafish for specific methylation of the ntl CpG island.     

Improved pulmonary artery buffering function during phenylephrine-induced pulmonary hypertension

The goal of this study was to determine the in vivo pulmonary arterial buffering function (BF) during acute and moderate pulmonary hypertension achieved by phenylephrine-induced smooth muscle activation.Pulmonary pressure (Konigsberg P7) and diameter (sonomicrometry) were measured in nine anesthetized sheep. Transit pulmonary arterial hypertension was induced by mechanical occlusion of the pulmonary artery (HP) and by phenylephrine infusion (5 g/kg/min) (PHE). A viscoelastic Kelvin-Voigt model was used. By increasing the values of the viscous modulus, the pressure-diameter hysteresis area was reduced to a minimum in order to obtain the purely elastic pressure-diameter relationship. The elastic index (E) was calculated as the first derivative of the exponential model of the purely elastic pressure-diameter relationship at the mean pressure point.Systolic, diastolic, mean and pulse pressures were similar during HP and PHE, but significantly higher with regard to control steady state. In HP, E and arterial diameter (both its minimum and maximum values) increased significantly. In contrast, when pulmonary hypertension was induced by VSM activation, E was maintained concomitantly with pulmonary artery vasoconstriction.Pulmonary hypertension produced by occlusion of the pulmonary artery increases elasticity. Smooth muscle activation may offset the deleterious effect of pulmonary hypertension on arterial wall elasticity by reducing E and impeding arterial dilatation and collagen recruitment, maintaining BF during pulmonary hypertension.     

Role of vinculin in the maintenance of cell-cell contacts in kidney epithelial MDBK cells

Microinjection of fluorophore-tagged cytoskeletal proteins has been a useful tool in studies of formation of focal adhesions (FA). We used this method to study the maintenance of adherens junctions (AJ) and tight junctions (TJ) of epithelial Madin-Darby bovine kidney cells. We chose alpha-actinin and vinculin as markers, because they are present both at adherens junctions and focal adhesions and their binding partners have been well characterized. Isolated FITC-labelled chicken alpha-actinin and vinculin were injected into confluent cells where they were rapidly incorporated both in FAs and AJs. The FAs remained unchanged, whereas cell-cell contacts began to fade within an hour after injection and the cells were joined to polykaryons having 5 to 13 nuclei. Short fragments of cell membranes containing injected proteins, actin, beta-catenin, cadherin, claudin, occludin and ZO-1 were visible inside the polykaryons indicating that both AJs and TJs were disintegrated as a single complex. Microinjected FITC-labelled vinculin head domain was also incorporated to both AJs and FAs, but instead of fusions it rapidly induced the detachment of the cells from the substratum probably due to high affinity of vinculin head to talin. Vinculin tail domain had no apparent effect on the cell morphology. Since small GTPases are involved in the building up of AJs, we injected active and inactive forms of cdc42 and rac proteins together with vinculin to see their effect. Active forms reduced the formation of polykaryons presumably by strengthening AJs, whereas inactive forms had no apparent effect. We suggest that excess alpha-actinin and vinculin uncouple the cell-cell adhesion junctions from the intracellular cytoskeleton which leads to fragmentation of junctional complexes and subsequent cell fusion. The results show that cell-cell adhesion sites are more dynamic and more sensitive than FAs to an imbalance in the amount of free alpha-actinin and intact vinculin.     

Correlations of calcium accumulations in arteries, veins, cartilages, ligaments, and bones in single humans

To show the relationships of calcium accumulation in the thoracic aorta to the other tissues, calcium contents were determined with a microwave-induced plasma-atomic emission spectrometer on arteries, veins, cartilages, ligaments, and bones. These tissues were resected from 18 individuals, consisting of 11 men and 7 women who died in the age range 59–91 yr. As thoracic and abdominal aortas are routinely used for radiographic examination of arterial calcification, they appear to be standard tissues of the calcium accumulation. The calcium accumulations were determined in the femoral artery, the superior and inferior venae cavae, the internal jugular vein, cartilages of the articular disk of the temporomandibular joint and the intervertebral disk, both the ligaments of the anterior cruciate ligament and the ligamentum capitis femoris, and the calcaneus, in contrast with the thoracic aorta. As calcium increased in the thoracic aorta, it increased in the femoral artery, the articular disk of the temporomandibular joint, the intervertebral disk, both ligaments of the anterior cruciate ligament, and the ligamentum capitis femoris, but it did not increase in veins, such as the superior and inferior venae cavae and the internal jugular vein. In contrast, it decreased in the calcaneus.     

Transient expression of hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) and human erythropoietin (hEPO) genes in milk after direct introduction into ewe

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