Longitudinal Intrinsic Brain Activity Changes in Cirrhotic Patients before and One Month after Liver Transplantation

Yue Cheng,Li-Xiang Huang,Li Zhang,Ming Ma,Shuang-Shuang Xie,Qian Ji,Xiao-Dong Zhang,Gao-Yan Zhang,Xue-Ning Zhang,Hong-Yan Ni,Wen Shen 대한영상의학회 2017 Korean Journal of Radiology Vol.18 No.2

Objective: To evaluate the spontaneous brain activity alterations in liver transplantation (LT) recipients using resting-state functional MRI. Materials and Methods: Twenty cirrhotic patients as transplant candidates and 25 healthy controls (HCs) were included in this study. All patients repeated the MRI study one month after LT. Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) values were compared between cirrhotic patients (both pre- and post-LT) and HCs as well as between the pre- and post-LT groups. The relationship between ALFF changes and venous blood ammonia levels and neuropsychological tests were investigated using Pearson’s correlation analysis. Results: In the cirrhotic patients, decreased ALFF in the vision-related regions (left lingual gyrus and calcarine), sensorimotor-related regions (left postcentral gyrus and middle cingulate cortex), and the default-mode network (bilateral precuneus and left inferior parietal lobule) were restored, and the increased ALFF in the temporal and frontal lobe improved in the early period after LT. The ALFF decreases persisted in the right supplementary motor area, inferior parietal lobule, and calcarine. The ALFF changes in the right precuneus were negatively correlated with changes in number connection test-A scores (r = 0.507, p < 0.05). Conclusion: LT improved spontaneous brain activity and the results for associated cognition tests. However, decreased ALFF in some areas persisted, and new-onset abnormal ALFF were possible, indicating that complete cognitive function recovery may need more time.

2,5-Hexanedione induces apoptosis via a mitochondriamediated pathway in PC12 cells

Yuan Qi,Shuang-yue Li,Feng-yuan Piao,Zhe-min Wang,Ruo-lin Chen,Shuang Liu,Jing-shun Shen 대한독성 유전단백체 학회 2015 Molecular & cellular toxicology Vol.11 No.1

2,5-Hexanedione (HD) is the main active metabolite of n-hexane and mediates the neurotoxicity of the parent compound. Studies suggested that apoptosis involved in HD neurotoxicity. However, the mechanism of HD-induced neuronal apoptosis remains unknown. To explore its underlying mechanism, we treated PC12 cells with 5, 10 and 20 mM HD for 24 h, respectively. We found that HD induced apoptotic death in PC12 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, HD down-regulated Bcl-2 expression, up-regulated Bax expression and Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, promoted the disruption of mitochondrial transmembrane potential, induced the release of cytochrome c from mitochondria, and increased the activity of caspase-3 in PC12 cells, which were all the key regulators of intrinsic apoptotic pathway. These results indicate that HD induces apoptosis via a mitochondria- mediated pathway in PC12 cells.

Expression profiles of circular RNAs in sheep skeletal muscle

Cao, Yang,You, Shuang,Yao, Yang,Liu, Zhi-Jin,Hazi, Wureli,Li, Cun-Yuan,Zhang, Xiang-Yu,Hou, Xiao-Xu,Wei, Jun-Chang,Li, Xiao-Yue,Wang, Da-Wei,Chen, Chuang-Fu,Zhang, Yun-Feng,Ni, Wei,Hu, Sheng-Wei Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2018 Animal Bioscience Vol.31 No.10

Objective: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a newfound class of non-coding RNA in animals and plants. Recent studies have revealed that circRNAs play important roles in cell proliferation, differentiation, autophagy and apoptosis during development. However, there are few reports about muscle development-related circRNAs in livestock. Methods: RNA sequencing analysis was employed to identify and annotate circRNAs from longissimus dorsi of sheep. Reverse transcription followed by real-time quantitative (q) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis verified the presence of these circRNAs. Targetscan7.0 and miRanda were used to analyse the interaction of circRNA-microRNA (miRNA). To investigate the function of circRNAs, an experiment was conducted to perform enrichment analysis hosting genes of circRNAs using gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) pathways. Results: About 75.5 million sequences were obtained from RNA libraries of sheep skeletal muscle. These sequences were mapped to 729 genes in the sheep reference genome. We identified 886 circRNAs, including numerous circular intronic RNAs and exonic circRNAs. Reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) and DNA sequencing analysis confirmed the presence of several circRNAs. Real-Time RT-PCR analysis exhibited resistance of sheep circRNAs to RNase R digestion. We found that many circRNAs interacted with muscle-specific miRNAs involved in growth and development of muscle, especially circ776. The GO and KEGG enrichment analysis showed that hosting genes of circRNAs was involved in muscle cell development and signaling pathway. Conclusion: The study provides comprehensive expression profiles of circRNAs in sheep skeletal muscle. Our study offers a large number of circRNAs to facilitate a better understanding of their roles in muscle growth. Meanwhile, we suggested that circ776 could be analyzed in future study.

Exploring differentially expressed genes related to metabolism by RNA-Seq in porcine embryonic fibroblast after insulin treatment

Yingjuan Liang,Jinpeng Wang,Xinyu Li,Shuang Wu,Chaoqian Jiang,Yue Wang,Xuechun Li,Zhong-Hua Liu,Yanshuang Mu 대한수의학회 2022 Journal of Veterinary Science Vol.23 No.6

Background: Insulin regulates glucose homeostasis and has important effects on metabolism, cell growth, and differentiation. Depending on the cell type and physiological context, insulin signal has specific pathways and biological outcomes in different tissues and cells. For studying the signal pathway of insulin on glycolipid metabolism in porcine embryonic fibroblast (PEF), we used high-throughput sequencing to monitor gene expression patterns regulated by insulin. Objectives: The goal of our research was to see how insulin affected glucose and lipid metabolism in PEFs. Methods: We cultured the PEFs with the addition of insulin and sampled them at 0, 48, and 72 h for RNA-Seq analysis in triplicate for each time point. Results: At 48 and 72 h, 801 and 1,176 genes were differentially expressed, respectively. Of these, 272 up-regulated genes and 264 down-regulated genes were common to both time points. Gene Ontology analysis was used to annotate the functions of the differentially expressed genes (DEGs), the biological processes related to lipid metabolism and cell cycle were dominant. And the DEGs were significantly enriched in interleukin-17 signaling pathway, phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase-protein kinase B signaling pathway, pyruvate metabolism, and others pathways related to lipid metabolism by Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analysis. Conclusions: These results elucidate the transcriptomic response to insulin in PEF. The genes and pathways involved in the transcriptome mechanisms provide useful information for further research into the complicated molecular processes of insulin in PEF.

Dexmedetomidine promotes the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma through hepatic stellate cell activation

Chen Peng,Luo Xiaojun,Dai Guanqi,Jiang Yuchuan,Luo Yue,Peng Shuang,Wang Hao,Xie Penghui,Qu Chen,Lin Wenyu,Hong Jian,Ning Xue,Li Aimin 생화학분자생물학회 2020 Experimental and molecular medicine Vol.52 No.-

Dexmedetomidine (DEX) is an anesthetic that is widely used in the clinic, and it has been reported to exhibit paradoxical effects in the progression of multiple solid tumors. In this study, we sought to explore the mechanism by which DEX regulates hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression underlying liver fibrosis. We determined the effects of DEX on tumor progression in an orthotopic HCC mouse model of fibrotic liver. A coculture system and a subcutaneous xenograft model involving coimplantation of mouse hepatoma cells (H22) and primary activated hepatic stellate cells (aHSCs) were used to study the effects of DEX on HCC progression. We found that in the preclinical mouse model of liver fibrosis, DEX treatment significantly shortened median survival time and promoted tumor growth, intrahepatic metastasis and pulmonary metastasis. The DEX receptor (ADRA2A) was mainly expressed in aHSCs but was barely detected in HCC cells. DEX dramatically reinforced HCC malignant behaviors in the presence of aHSCs in both the coculture system and the coimplantation mouse model, but DEX alone exerted no significant effects on the malignancy of HCC. Mechanistically, DEX induced IL-6 secretion from aHSCs and promoted HCC progression via STAT3 activation. Our findings provide evidence that the clinical application of DEX may cause undesirable side effects in HCC patients with liver fibrosis.

Production of 3-hydroxypropionic acid by recombinant Klebsiella pneumoniae based on aeration and ORP controlled strategy

Jian-Guo Zhu,Xiao-Jun Ji,Jun Du,Shuang Li,Yue-Yue Ding,He Huang 한국화학공학회 2009 Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering Vol.26 No.6

A biosynthetic pathway for the production of 3-hydroxypropionic acid (3-HP) from glycerol was established in recombinant Klebsiella pneumoniae by introducing the aldehyde dehydrogenase gene from Escherichia coli. The activity of aldehyde dehydrogenase, which oxidized 3-hydroxypropionaldehyde (3-HPA) to 3-HP, was detected and 3-HP was produced by the recombinant strains. Three different oxygen supply strategies, associated with measuring the oxidoreduction potential (ORP) during the fermentation under these conditions, were adopted for higher production of 3-HP by the recombinant cells. About 0.8 g/l 3-HP and more 1,3-propanediol production by the recombinant Klebsiella pneumoniae were obtained under completely aerobic conditions. Under micro-aerobic conditions, 3-HP production could be increased to 2.2 g/l and 1,3-propanediol production was almost the same as in the original strain. Under the anaerobic conditions, 1,3-propanediol was the main product and about 1.3 g/l 3-HP was produced. Finally, 3-HP production of the recombinant strain was increased to 2.8 g/l under micro-aerobic condition with a further two-stage ORP controlled strategy.