Effects of zearalenone on the localization and expression of the growth hormone receptor gene in the uteri of post-weaning piglets

Min Zhou,Li Jie Yang,Wei Ren Yang,Li Bo Huang,Xue Mei Zhou,Shu Zhen Jiang,Zai Bin Yang 아세아·태평양축산학회 2018 Animal Bioscience Vol.31 No.1

Objective: In this study, we investigated the adverse effects of dietary zearalenone (ZEA) (0.5 to 1.5 mg/kg diet) on the localization and expression of the growth hormone receptor (GHR) in the uteri of post-weaning gilts and explored alternative mechanism of the reproductive toxicity of ZEA on piglets. Methods: A total of forty healthy piglets (Duroc×Landrace×Large White) aged 28 d were selected for study. Piglets were transferred to single cages after 10 days’ adaptation on an obstetric table. The animals were allocated to one of four treatments: a normal basal diet supplemented with 0 (Control), 0.5 (ZEA0.5), 1.0 (ZEA1.0), or 1.5 (ZEA1.5) mg/kg purified ZEA, and fed for 35 d after the 10-d adaptation. Analyzed ZEA concentrations in the diets were 0, 0.52±0.07, 1.04±0.03, and 1.51±0.13 mg/kg, respectively. At the end of the feeding trial, piglets were euthanized after being fasted for 12 h. Two samples of uterine tissue from each pig were rapidly collected, one of which was stored at –80°C for analysis of the relative mRNA and protein expression of GHR, and the second was promptly fixed in Bouin’s solution for immunohistochemical analysis. Results: The relative weight of the uteri and thickness of the myometrium and endometrium increased linearly (p<0.001) and quadratically (p<0.001) with an increasing level of ZEA. The results of immunohistochemical analysis indicated that GHR immunoreactive substance was mainly localizated in the cytoplasm of uterine smooth muscle, glandular epithelial, luminal epithelial, stromal, and vascular endothelial cells. In contrast, nuclear staining was rarely observed. The immunoreactive integrated optic density of GHR in the myometrium, luminal epithelium, glandular epithelium, and whole uteri of weaning gilts increased linearly (p<0.001) and quadratically (p<0.05) with an increasing level of ZEA. The mRNA and protein expression of GHR in the uteri of weaning gilts increased linearly (p<0.001) and quadratically (p<0.05) with an increasing level of ZEA. Conclusion: In conclusion, ZEA at a concentration of 0.5 mg/kg was sufficient to significantly thicken the myometrium and endometrium, and at a concentration of 1.0 mg/kg induced a high level of GHR expression to promote growth and development of the uteri. This revealed an alternative molecular mechanism whereby ZEA induces growth and development of the uteri and provides a theoretical basis for the revision of Chinese feed hygiene standards.

Vitexicarpin Induces Apoptosis in Human Prostate Carcinoma PC-3 Cells through G2/M Phase Arrest

Meng, Fan-Min,Yang, Jing-Bo,Yang, Chun-Hui,Jiang, Yu,Zhou, Yong-Feng,Yu, Bo,Yang, Hong Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2012 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.13 No.12

Vitexicarpin (3', 5-dihydroxy-3, 4', 6, 7-tetramethoxyflavone), a polymethoxyflavone isolated from Viticis Fructus (Vitex rotundifolia Linne fil.), has long been used as an anti-inflammatory herb in traditional Chinese medicine. It has also been reported that vitexicarpin can inhibit the growth of various cancer cells. However, there is no report elucidating its effect on human prostate carcinoma cells. The aim of the present study was to examine the apoptotic induction activity of vitexicarpin on PC-3 cells and molecular mechanisms involved. MTT studies showed that vitexicarpin dose-dependently inhibited growth of PC-3 cells with an $IC_{50}{\sim}28.8{\mu}M$. Hoechst 33258 staining further revealed that vitexicarpin induced apoptotic cell death. The effect of vitexicarpin on PC-3 cells apoptosis was tested using prodium iodide (PI)/Annexin V-FITC double staining and flow cytometry. The results indicated that vitexicarpin induction of apoptotic cell death in PC-3 cells was accompanied by cell cycle arrest in the G2/M phase. Furthermore, our study demonstrated that vitexicarpin induction of PC-3 cell apoptosis was associated with upregulation of the proapoptotic protein Bax, and downregulation of antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2, release of Cytochrome c from mitochondria and decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential. Our findings suggested that vitexicarpin may become a potential leading drug in the therapy of prostate carcinoma.

Construction of a Protein-Protein Interaction Network for Chronic Myelocytic Leukemia and Pathway Prediction of Molecular Complexes

Zhou, Chao,Teng, Wen-Jing,Yang, Jing,Hu, Zhen-Bo,Wang, Cong-Cong,Qin, Bao-Ning,Lv, Qing-Liang,Liu, Ze-Wang,Sun, Chang-Gang Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.13

Background: Chronic myelocytic leukemia is a disease that threatens both adults and children. Great progress has been achieved in treatment but protein-protein interaction networks underlining chronic myelocytic leukemia are less known. Objective: To develop a protein-protein interaction network for chronic myelocytic leukemia based on gene expression and to predict biological pathways underlying molecular complexes in the network. Materials and Methods: Genes involved in chronic myelocytic leukemia were selected from OMIM database. Literature mining was performed by Agilent Literature Search plugin and a protein-protein interaction network of chronic myelocytic leukemia was established by Cytoscape. The molecular complexes in the network were detected by Clusterviz plugin and pathway enrichment of molecular complexes were performed by DAVID online. Results and Discussion: There are seventy-nine chronic myelocytic leukemia genes in the Mendelian Inheritance In Man Database. The protein-protein interaction network of chronic myelocytic leukemia contained 638 nodes, 1830 edges and perhaps 5 molecular complexes. Among them, complex 1 is involved in pathways that are related to cytokine secretion, cytokine-receptor binding, cytokine receptor signaling, while complex 3 is related to biological behavior of tumors which can provide the bioinformatic foundation for further understanding the mechanisms of chronic myelocytic leukemia.

Semantic Similarity Computation Based on Multi-Features Fusion

Bo Ma,Yating Yang,Fan Zhao,Rui Dong,Xi Zhou 보안공학연구지원센터 2015 International Journal of Hybrid Information Techno Vol.8 No.5

Semantic similarity is a core technique of many NLP research fields. However, state-of-the-art metrics for semantic similarity computation often operate at different levels, e.g., words or sentences. In this paper, semantic similarity computation metrics are firstly introduced and the quality is measured in order to determine their advantages and limitations; then a new semantic similarity metric based on multi-features fusion is proposed. Distributed representations of words are used for alignment-based disambiguation operation, and Wikipedia tags are used to enhance the performance of our approach. The proposed metric is unsupervised, and can be applied at different levels e.g., single words or entire documents. The metric is evaluated on both English and Chinese datasets, it is shown that the precision and recall scores are higher than metrics which simply using knowledge base or distributed representation of words.

Two new species of <i>Trivalvaria</i> ( Annonaceae ) from northern Myanmar

Yang, Bin,Zhou, Shi-Shun,Ding, Hong-Bo,Li, Ren,Maung, Kyaw Win,Tan, Yun-Hong Pensoft Publishers 2018 PhytoKeys Vol.94 No.-

<P>Abstract</P><P><I>Trivalvariarubra</I> and <I>Trivalvariacasseabriae</I>, two new species of Annonaceae from Putao, Kachin State, Myanmar, are here described and illustrated. They are morphologically similar to <I>T.costata</I> and <I>T.macrophylla</I>. The major differences between them are outlined and discussed. A diagnostic key to the species of <I>Trivalvaria</I> is provided.</P>

A flexible piezoelectric-triboelectric hybrid nanogenerator in one structure with dual doping enhancement effects

Yang Xiude,Li Ping,Wu Bo,Li Hongwei,Zhou Guangdong 한국물리학회 2021 Current Applied Physics Vol.32 No.-

For achieving more effective mechanical energy conversion, based on low-cost and flexible polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) polymer film as triboelectric and piezoelectric function layer respectively, a polymer-based hybrid piezoelectric-triboelectric nanogenerator (PT-NG) with a structure of Al/ PVDF/Cu-PDMS/indium tin oxide (ITO)/polyethylene terephthalate (PET) has been demonstrated. The device has realized the simultaneous triboelectric and piezoelectric conversions in one structure. In addition, when PDMS and PVDF are further modified by graphene quantum dot (GQD) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles respectively, both triboelectric and piezoelectric outputs of the modified device are greatly enhanced synchronously. The experimental results have indicated that the increase of triboelectric output is due to the improvement of dielectric properties of PDMS film doped with conductive GQDs as well as the enhancement of the effective contact caused by the change of PDMS surface microstructure. While the promotion of piezoelectric output is mainly attributed to the fact that PVDF film after TiO2 modification induces more polarized β phase with a polarization-free process. Accordingly, the modified device converts mechanical energy into electricity more effectively, which shows a promising prospect in the fields of flexibility display, electronic skin, wearable electronic products and self-powered sensors.

Heat stress protection in Aspen sp1 transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana

( Bo Zhu ),( Ai Sheng Xiong ),( Ri He Peng ),( Jing Xu ),( Jun Zhou ),( Jin Tao Xu ),( Xiao Fen Jin ),( Yang Zhang ),( Xi Lin Hou ),( Quan Hong Yao ) 생화학분자생물학회 2008 BMB Reports Vol.41 No.5

Effect of L-carnitine on sperm quality during liquid storage of boar semen

Yang Kang,Wang Na,Guo Hai-Tao,Wang Jing-Ran,Sun Huan-Huan,Sun Liang-Zhen,Yue Shun-Li,Zhou Jia-Bo 아세아·태평양축산학회 2020 Animal Bioscience Vol.33 No.11

Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the effect of L-carnitine on the pig semen characteristics during storage. Methods: Spermatozoa samples were examined for spermatozoa quality and then randomly divided into 5 groups: 0 (control), 12.5, 25, 50, and 100 mM L-carnitine. Sperm motility, plasma membrane integrity and antioxidant parameters (total reactive oxygen species, total antioxidant capacity, and malondialdehyde) were evaluated after 0, 3, 5, and 10 day cooled-storage at 17°C. Moreover, ATP content, mitochondria activity as well as sperm-binding and in vitro fertilizing ability of preserved boar sperm were also investigated. Results: Supplementation with 50 mM L-carnitine could effectively maintain boar sperm quality parameters such as sperm motility and membrane integrity. Besides, we found that L-carnitine had positive effects on boar sperm quality mainly through improving antioxidant capacities and enhancing ATP content and mitochondria activity. Interestingly, by assessing the effect of L-carnitine on sperm fertility and developmental potential, we discovered that the extender containing L-carnitine could improve sperm quality and increase the number of sperms bounding to zona pellucida, without improving in vitro fertility and development potential. Conclusion: These findings suggested that the proper addition of L-carnitine to the semen extender improved boar sperm quality during liquid storage at 17°C.

D-RADA16-RGD-Reinforced Nano-Hydroxyapatite/Polyamide 66 Ternary Biomaterial for Bone Formation

Bo Qiao,Bin He,Ao Zhou,Yuling Li,Xiaojun Chen,Qiming Yang,Beike Chen,Bo Qiao,Dianming Jiang 한국조직공학과 재생의학회 2019 조직공학과 재생의학 Vol.16 No.2

BACKGROUND: Nano-hydroxyapatite/polyamide 66 (nHA/PA66) is a composite used widely in the repair of bone defects. However, this material is insufficient bioactivity. In contrast, D-RADA16-RGD self-assembling peptide (DRADA16- RGD sequence containing all D-amino acids is Ac-RADARADARADARADARGDS-CONH2) shows admirable bioactivity for both cell culture and bone regeneration. Here, we describe the fabrication of a favorable biomaterial material (nHA/PA66/D-RADA16-RGD). METHODS: Proteinase K and circular dichroism spectroscopy were employed to test the stability and secondary structural properties of peptide D-RADA16-RGD respectively. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to characterize the surface of these materials. Confocal laser scanning (CLS), cell counting kit-8 tests (CCK-8), alizarin red S staining, cell immunofluorescence analysis and Western blotting were involved in vitro. Also biosafety and bioactivity of them have been evaluated in vivo. RESULTS: Proteinase K and circular dichroism spectroscopy demonstrated that D-RADA16-RGD in nHA/PA66 was able to form stable-sheet secondary structure. SEM and TEM showed that the D-RADA16-RGD material was 7–33 nm in width and 130–600 nm in length, and the interwoven pore size ranged from 40 to 200 nm. CLS suggests that cells in nHA/PA66/ D-RADA16-RGD group were linked to adjacent cells with more actin filaments. CCK-8 analysis showed that nHA/PA66/ D-RADA16-RGD revealed good biocompatibility. The results of Alizarin-red S staining and Western blotting as well as vivo osteogenesis suggest nHA/PA66/D-RADA16-RGD exhibits better bioactivity. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that our nHA/PA66/D-RADA16-RGD composite exhibits reasonable mechanical properties, biocompatibility and bioactivity with promotion of bone formation.

Molecular Biology and Omics : Cloning and Characterization of a Novel α-Amylase from a Fecal Microbial Metagenome

( Bo Xu ),( Fu Ya Yang ),( Cai Yun Xiong ),( Jun Jun Li ),( Xiang Hua Tang ),( Jun Pei Zhou ),( Zhen Rong Xie ),( Jun Mei Ding ),( Yun Juan Yang ),( Zun Xi Huang ) 한국미생물 · 생명공학회 2014 Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol.24 No.4

To isolate novel and useful microbial enzymes from uncultured gastrointestinal microorganisms, a fecal microbial metagenomic library of the pygmy loris was constructed. The library was screened for amylolytic activity, and 8 of 50,000 recombinant clones showed amylolytic activity. Subcloning and sequence analysis of a positive clone led to the identification a novel gene (amyPL) coding for α-amylase. AmyPL was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) and the purified AmyPL was enzymatically characterized. This study is the first to report the molecular and biochemical characterization of a novel α-amylase from a gastrointestinal metagenomic library.