Estrogen promotes the onset and development of idiopathic scoliosis via disproportionate endochondral ossification of the anterior and posterior column in a bipedal rat model

Shuhui Zheng,Hang Zhou,Bo Gao,Yongyong Li,Zhiheng Liao,Taifeng Zhou,Chengjie Lian,Zizhao Wu,Deying Su,Tingting Wang,Peiqiang Su,Caixia Xu 생화학분자생물학회 2018 Experimental and molecular medicine Vol.50 No.-

This study aimed to verify the effects of estrogen on the onset and development of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis and the mechanisms associated with these effects by constructing a pubescent bipedal rat model. Experiments were conducted to investigate whether scoliosis progression was prevented by a Triptorelin treatment. One hundred twenty bipedal rats were divided into female, OVX (ovariectomy), OVX + E2, Triptorelin, sham, and male groups. According to a spinal radiographic analysis, the scoliosis rates and curve severity of the female and OVX + E2 groups were higher than those in the OVX, Triptorelin, and male groups. The measurements obtained from the sagittal plane of thoracic vertebrae CT confirmed a relatively slower growth of the anterior elements and a faster growth of the posterior elements between T11 and T13 in the female and OVX + E2 groups than in the OVX and Triptorelin groups. Histomorphometry and immunohistochemistry revealed a significantly longer hypertrophic zone of the vertebral cartilage growth plates that expressed more type X collagen and less type II collagen in the OVX and Triptorelin groups than in the female and OVX + E2 groups. Ki67 immunostaining confirmed an increase in the proliferation of vertebral growth plate chondrocytes in the OVX group compared with the female and OVX + E2 groups. In conclusion, estrogen obviously increased the incidence of scoliosis and curve severity in pubescent bipedal rats. The underlying mechanism may be a loss of coupling of the endochondral ossification between the anterior and posterior columns. Triptorelin decreased the incidence of scoliosis and curve magnitudes in bipedal female rats. Introduction Adolescent

Electroacupuncture-Modulated MiR106b-5p Expression Enhances Autophagy by Targeting Beclin-1 to Promote Motor Function Recovery After Spinal Cord Injury in Rats

Shuhui Guo,Jianmin Chen,Ye Yang,Xiaolu Li,Yun Tang,Yuchang Gui,Jianquan Chen,Jianwen Xu 대한척추신경외과학회 2023 Neurospine Vol.20 No.3

Objective: Electroacupuncture (EA) has a definite effect on the treatment of spinal cord injuries (SCIs), but its underlying molecular mechanism remains unclear. Meanwhile, MiR-106b-5p is an autophagy- and apoptosis-related microribonucleic acid, but whether it regulates the progression of autophagy and apoptosis in SCIs is yet undetermined. As such, this study aimed to elucidate the involvement of miR-106b-5p in the EA treatment of an SCI. Methods: The miR-106b-5p level was detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. In vitro, SH-SY5Y cells were transfected with miR-106b-5p mimics or inhibitors to regulate the miR-106b-5p expression, while in vivo, SCI rats were treated with EA for 7 days at the bilateral Zusanli (ST36) and Jiaji (EX-B2) acupoints. The motor function was evaluated using the Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan (BBB) criteria. Further, autophagic vacuoles, pathological damage, and neuronal cell morphology were observed by transmission electron microscopy, as well as by hematoxylin and eosin and Nissl staining, respectively. Results: The miR-106b-5p level, which can interact directly with Beclin-1 by influencing its expression, as well as the expressions of P62, Caspase-3, and Bax, was upregulated after an SCI, but it decreased after EA. Moreover, the ratio of LC3-II to LC3-I was upregulated after EA. EA can enhance autophagy, reduce neuronal apoptosis, and minimize motor dysfunction and histopathological deficits after an SCI. More importantly, however, all the above effects induced by EA can be reversed after an injection of miR-106-5p agomir to produce an overexpression of miR-106b-5p. Conclusion: EA treatment could downregulate miR-106b-5p to alleviate SCI-mediated injuries by promoting autophagy and inhibiting apoptosis.

Salp swarm algorithm with iterative mapping and local escaping for multi-level threshold image segmentation: a skin cancer dermoscopic case study

Hao Shuhui,Huang Changcheng,Heidari Ali Asghar,Chen Huiling,Li Lingzhi,Algarni Abeer D.,Elmannai Hela,Xu Suling 한국CDE학회 2023 Journal of computational design and engineering Vol.10 No.2

If found and treated early, fast-growing skin cancers can dramatically prolong patients’ lives. Dermoscopy is a convenient and reliable tool during the fore-period detection stage of skin cancer, so the efficient processing of digital images of dermoscopy is particularly critical to improving the level of a skin cancer diagnosis. Notably, image segmentation is a part of image preprocessing and essential technical support in the process of image processing. In addition, multi-threshold image segmentation (MIS) technology is extensively used due to its straightforward and effective features. Many academics have coupled different meta-heuristic algorithms with MIS to raise image segmentation quality. Nonetheless, these meta-heuristic algorithms frequently enter local optima. Therefore, this paper suggests an improved salp swarm algorithm (ILSSA) method that combines iterative mapping and local escaping operator to address this drawback. Besides, this paper also proposes the ILSSA-based MIS approach, which is triumphantly utilized to segment dermoscopic images of skin cancer. This method uses two-dimensional (2D) Kapur’s entropy as the objective function and employs non-local means 2D histogram to represent the image information. Furthermore, an array of benchmark function test experiments demonstrated that ILSSA could alleviate the local optimal problem more effectively than other compared algorithms. Afterward, the skin cancer dermoscopy image segmentation experiment displayed that the proposed ILSSA-based MIS method obtained superior segmentation results than other MIS peers and was more adaptable at different thresholds.

Genome-wide identification and characterization of the RIO atypical kinase family in plants

Qingsong Gao,Shuhui Xu,Xiayuan Zhu,Lingling Wang,Zefeng Yang,Xiangxiang Zhao 한국유전학회 2018 Genes & Genomics Vol.40 No.6

Members of the right open reading frame (RIO) atypical kinase family are present in all three domains of life. In eukaryotes, three subfamilies have been identified: RIO1, RIO2, and RIO3. Studies have shown that the yeast and human RIO1 and RIO2 kinases are essential for the biogenesis of small ribosomal subunits. Thus far, RIO3 has been found only in multicellular eukaryotes. In this study, we systematically identified members of the RIO gene family in 37 species representing the major evolutionary lineages in Viridiplantae. A total of 84 RIO genes were identified; among them, 41 were classified as RIO1 and 43 as RIO2. However, no RIO3 gene was found in any of the species examined. Phylogenetic trees constructed for plant RIO1 and RIO2 proteins were generally congruent with the species phylogeny. Subcellular localization analyses showed that the plant RIO proteins were localized mainly in the nucleus and/or cytoplasm. Expression profile analysis of rice, maize, and Arabidopsis RIO genes in different tissues revealed similar expression patterns between RIO1 and RIO2 genes, and their expression levels were high in certain tissues. In addition, the expressions of plant RIO genes were regulated by two drugs: mycophenolic acid and actinomycin D. Function prediction using genome-wide coexpression analysis revealed that most plant RIO genes may be involved in ribosome biogenesis. Our results will be useful for the evolutionary analysis of the ancient RIO kinase family and provide a basis for further functional characterization of RIO genes in plants.

Curcumin Ameliorates Reserpine-Induced Gastrointestinal Mucosal Lesions Through Inhibiting IκB-α/NF-κB Pathway and Regulating Expression of Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide and Gastrin in Rats

Lingli Long,Jingnan Wang,Ningning Chen,Shuhui Zheng,Lanying Shi,Yuxia Xu,Canqiao Luo,Yubin Deng 한국식품영양과학회 2016 Journal of medicinal food Vol.19 No.6

The objective of our study was to investigate whether curcumin protects against reserpine-induced gastrointestinal mucosal lesions (GMLs) in rats and to explore the mechanism of curcumin’s action. Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups: control group, reserpine-treated group, reserpine treatment group with curcumin at high dose (200 mg/kg), and reserpine treatment group with curcumin at low dose (100 mg/kg). Rats in reserpine-treated group were induced by intraperitoneally administered reserpine (0.5 mg/kg) for 28 days. TUNEL staining and hematoxylin and eosin staining were used to evaluate the apoptotic cells and morphologic changes. In addition, to explore the mechanism of curcumin in protecting GMLs, we used serum of experimental rats to assess the level of vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), gastrin, interleukin-6, interleukin-10, tumor necrosis factor-α and interferon-γ by ELISA and radioimmunoassay. The protein levels of NF-κB, p-IκB-α, IκB-α, Bcl-2, Bax, and cleaved-caspase-3 were examined by western blot analysis. Data were analyzed with SPSS 19.0 software package. Curcumin treatment prevented tissue damage and cell death in the reserpinetreated rats and effectively decreased inflammatory response and balanced the expression of VIP and gastrin in the reserpinetreated rats. NF-κB, p-IκB-α, Bax, and cleaved-caspase-3 were increased in the reserpine group, but the curcumin high-dose group inhibited them. Curcumin can target the IκB-α/NF-κB pathway to inhibit inflammatory response and regulate the level of VIP and gastrin in reserpine-induced GML rats.

Significant Underestimation of Gaseous Methanesulfonic Acid (MSA) over Southern Ocean

Yan, Jinpei,Jung, Jinyoung,Zhang, Miming,Xu, Suqing,Lin, Qi,Zhao, Shuhui,Chen, Liqi American Chemical Society 2019 Environmental science & technology Vol.53 No.22

<P>Methanesulfonic acid (MSA), derived from the oxidation of dimethylsulfide (DMS), has a significant impact on biogenic sulfur cycle and climate. Gaseous MSA (MSA<SUB>g</SUB>) has been often ignored in previous studies due to its quick conversion to particulate MSA (MSA<SUB>p</SUB>) and low concentrations. MSA<SUB>g</SUB>, MSA<SUB>p</SUB>, and nss-SO<SUB>4</SUB><SUP>2-</SUP> were observed simultaneously for the first time with high-time-resolution (1 h) in the Southern Ocean (SO). The mean MSA<SUB>g</SUB> level reached up to 3.3 ± 1.6 pptv, ranging from ∼24.5 pptv in the SO, contributing to 31% ± 3% to the total MSA (MSA<SUB>T</SUB>). A reduction of the MSA to nss-SO<SUB>4</SUB><SUP>2-</SUP> ratios by about 30% was obtained when MSA<SUB>g</SUB> was not accounted for in the calculation, indicating that MSA<SUB>g</SUB> was very important in the assessment of the biogenic sulfur contributions in the atmosphere. Mass ratios of MSA to nss-SO<SUB>4</SUB><SUP>2-</SUP> increased first and then decreased with the temperature from −10 to 5 °C, with a maximum value at the temperature of −3 °C. Positive correlations between MSA<SUB>g</SUB> to MSA<SUB>T</SUB> ratios and temperature were presented, when the temperature was higher than 5 °C. This study highlights the importance of MSA<SUB>g</SUB> for understanding the atmospheric DMS oxidation mechanism and extends the knowledge of MSA formation in the marine atmosphere.</P> [FIG OMISSION]</BR>