Adverse effect of DEHP exposure on the serum insulin level of Balb/c mice

Jing Wang,Jinquan Li,Kashif Rafiq Zahid,Kun Wang,Yan Qian,Ping Ma,Shumao Ding,Xu Yang,Xianliang Wang,Xianliang Wang,Xu Yang 대한독성 유전단백체 학회 2016 Molecular & cellular toxicology Vol.12 No.1

Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) is a common indoor pollutant in the world, which may cause lots of harmful effects in human including diabetes according to epidemiological studies. To explore the underlying role of DEHP in diabetes-like symptoms, Balb/c mice were chose to be the experimental animals in this paper. They were separated as eight groups as follows: (1) saline+normal diet (vehicle control), (2) 10 mg/kg.day DEHP+normal diet, (3) 50 mg/kg.day DEHP+normal diet, (4) 250 mg/kg.day DEHP+normal diet, (5) streptozotocin (STZ)+high fat diet (diabetes model), (6) 10 mg/kg.day DEHP+ STZ+high fat diet, (7) 50 mg/kg.day DEHP+STZ +high fat diet, (8) 250 mg/kg.day DEHP+STZ+high fat diet. The biomarkers of this experiment include four groups: (1) general indicates: body weight and drinking water, (2) blood biomarkers: serum insulin and fasting glucose, (3) pathological examination: pancreas section and kidney section, and (4) biomarkers of oxidative stress: reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde (MDA) in liver cells. Our study results demonstrate that: (1) at our treatment levels DEHP cannot directly induce diabetes, but reduce serum insulin level in DEHP-exposed non-STZ-treated animals, (2) pathological examination finds that these is a dose-dependent damage in the pancreas in DEHP- exposed STZ-treated groups, and (3) the oxidative mechanism may be involved in this pathological process.

Comprehensive analysis of TCR repertoire of COVID-19 patients in different infected stage

Wang Guangyu,Wang Yongsi,Jiang Shaofeng,Fan Wentao,Mo Chune,Gong Weiwei,Chen Hui,He Dan,Huang Jinqing,Ou Minglin,Hou Xianliang 한국유전학회 2022 Genes & Genomics Vol.44 No.7

Background: The current pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), transmitted person-to-person by the severe acute respiratory syndrome of coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), poses a threat to global public health. Objective: In this study, we performed the comprehensive analysis of the T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire may contribute to a more in-depth understanding of the pathogenesis of COVID-19. Methods: A comprehensive immunological analysis was performed to explore the features of the TCR repertoire and identified TCR sequences correlated with SARS-CoV-2 viral antigens. Results: we analyzed the COVID-19 patients' TCR repertoires in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) which obtained before (baseline), during (acute), and after rehabilitation (convalescent) by ImmunoSEQ-technology, and found that repertoire features of TCRβ-chain (TCRβ) complementary-determining region 3 (CDR3) in COVID-19 patients were remarkable difference, including decreased TCR diversity, abnormal CDR3 length, difference of TRBV/J gene usage and higher TCR sequence overlap. Besides, we identified some COVID-19 disease-associated TCRβ clones, and the abundance of them changed with the progression of the disease. Importantly, these disease-associated TCRβ clones could be used to distinguish COVID-19 patients from healthy controls with high accuracy. Conclusions: We provide a clear understanding of the TCR repertoire of COVID-19 patients, which lays the foundation for better diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 patients.

Effective removal of arsenide from aqueous solutions using mesoporous CoFe2O4/graphene oxide nanocomposites assisted by artificial intelligence

Wu Xianliang,Hu Jiwei,Wang Xingfu,Xin Ling,Li Caifang,Wei Xionghui 한국탄소학회 2021 Carbon Letters Vol.31 No.6

This study investigated the arsenide removal by using mesoporous CoFe2O4/graphene oxide nanocomposites based on batch experiments optimized by artifcial intelligence tools. These nanocomposites were prepared by immobilizing cobalt ferrite on graphene oxide and then characterized using various techniques, including small angle X-ray difraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Artifcial intelligence tools associated with response surface methodology were employed to optimize the conditions of the arsenide removal process. The results showed that back propagation neural network combined with genetic algorithm was suitable for the arsenide removal from aqueous solutions by the nanocomposites based on the minimum average values of absolute errors and the value of R2 . The optimal values of the four variables (operating temperature, initial pH, initial arsenide concentration, and contact time) were found to be 25.66 °C, 7.58, 10.78 mg/L and 46.41 min, and the predicted arsenide removal percentage was 84.78%. The verifcation experiment showed that the arsenide removal percentage was 86.62%, which was close to the predicted value. Three evaluation methods (gradient boosted regression trees, Garson method and analysis of variance) all demonstrated that the temperature was the most important explanatory variable for the arsenide removal. In addition, the arsenide removal process can be depicted with pseudo-second-order kinetics model and Langmuir isotherm, respectively. The thermodynamics investigation disclosed that the adsorption process was of a spontaneously endothermic nature. In summary, this study showed that ANN-GA was an efcient and feasible method in determining the optimum conditions for arsenic removal by CoFe2O4/graphene oxide nanocomposites.

Age quadratically affects intestinal calcium and phosphorus transporter gene expression in broiler chickens

Lv, Xianliang,Hao, Junfang,Wu, Lihua,Liu, Mengyuan,He, Lei,Qiao, Yingying,Cui, Yanyan,Wang, Guan,Zhang, Chunmei,Qu, Hongxia,Han, Jincheng Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2022 Animal Bioscience Vol.35 No.12

Objective: This research aimed to evaluate the effects of age on growth, tibia development, and intestinal calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P) transporter gene expressions in broiler chickens. Methods: A total of 224 male Arbor Acres broilers were fed with nutrient-adequate diets and reared in eight cages (28 broilers per cage). Eight broilers (one broiler per cage) were selected and killed at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40 days of age, respectively. Results: Body weight continuously increased with age of broiler chickens from 5 to 40 days. The bone weight, ash weight, diameter, and length of the tibia also increased with broiler age. By contrast, the tibia ash, Ca, and P percentages quadratically changed with age (p<0.001), and the highest values of mineral contents were observed at 20, 25, and 25 days of age, respectively. The mRNA abundances of calcium-binding protein 28-kDa (CaBP-D28k), sodium-calcium exchanger 1 (NCX1), and plasma membrane ATPase 1b (PMCA1b) increased from 5 to 25 days and then decreased up to 40 days. Similar results were noted in the mRNA abundances of IIb sodium-phosphate cotransporter (NaPi-IIb), inorganic phosphate transporter 1 (PiT-1), inorganic phosphate transporter 2 (PiT-2), nuclear vitamin D receptor (nVDR), and membrane vitamin D receptor (mVDR). The mRNA abundances of Ca and P transporters and VDRs were the highest at 25 days of age. Conclusion: These data indicate that age quadratically affects intestinal Ca and P transporter gene expression and mineral absorption capacity in broiler chickens.

An experimental study on two-phase fl ow resistances and interfacial drag in packed porous beds

Liangxing Li,Kailin Wang,Shuangbao Zhang,Xianliang Lei 한국원자력학회 2018 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.50 No.6

Motivated by reducing the uncertainties in quantification of debris bed coolability, this paper reports anexperimental study on two-phase flow resistances and interfacial drag in packed porous beds. The experimentsare performed on the DEBECO-LT (DEbris BEd COolability-Low Temperature) test facilitywhich is constructed to investigate the adiabatic single and two phase flow in porous beds. The pressuredrops are measured when air-water two phase flow passes through the porous beds packed withdifferent size particles, and the effects of interfacial drag are studied especially. The results show that, fortwo phase flow through the beds packed with small size particles such as 1.5 mm and 2 mm spheres, thecontribution of interfacial drag to the pressure drops is weak and ignorable, while the significant effectsare conducted on the pressure drops of the beds with bigger size particles like 3 mm and 6 mm spheres,where the interfacial drag in beds with larger particles will result in a descent-ascent tendency in thepressure drop curves along with the fluid velocity, and the effect of interfacial drag should be consideredin the debris coolability analysis models for beds with bigger size particles.

Intestinal segment and vitamin D3 concentration affect gene expression levels of calcium and phosphorus transporters in broiler chickens

Jincheng Han,Lihua Wu,Xianliang Lv,Mengyuan Liu,Yan Zhang,Lei He,Junfang Hao,Li Xi,Hongxia Qu,Chuanxin Shi,Zhiqiang Li,Zhixiang Wang,Fei Tang,Yingying Qiao 한국축산학회 2023 한국축산학회지 Vol.65 No.2

Two experiments were conducted in this research. Experiment 1 investigated the spatial expression characteristics of calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P) transporters in the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum of 21-day-old broilers provided with adequate nutrient feed. Experiment 2 evaluated the effects of dietary vitamin D3 (VD3) concentration (0, 125, 250, 500, 1,000, and 2,000 IU/kg) on growth performance, bone development, and gene expression levels of intestinal Ca and P transporters in 1–21-day-old broilers provided with the negative control diet without supplemental VD3. Results in experiment 1 showed that the mRNA levels of calcium- binding protein 28-kDa (CaBP-D28k), sodium-calcium exchanger 1 (NCX1), plasma membrane calcium ATPase 1b (PMCA1b), and IIb sodium-phosphate cotransporter (NaPi-IIb) were the highest in the broiler duodenum. By contrast, the mRNA levels of inorganic phosphate transporter 1 (PiT-1) and 2 (PiT-2) were the highest in the ileum. Results in experiment 2 showed that adding 125 IU/kg VD3 increased body weight gain (BWG), feed intake (FI), bone weight, and percentage and weight of Ca and P in the tibia and femur of 1–21-day-old broilers compared with the negative control diet (p < 0.05). The rise in dietary VD3 levels from 125 to 1,000 IU/kg further increased the BWG, FI, and weights of the bone, ash, Ca, and P (p < 0.05). No difference in growth rate and leg bone quality was noted in the broilers provided with 1,000 and 2,000 IU/kg VD3 (p > 0.05). Supplementation with 125–2,000 IU/kg VD3 increased the mRNA abundances of intestinal Ca and P transporters to varying degrees. The mRNA level of CaBP-D28k increased by 536, 1,161, and 28 folds in the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum, respectively, after adding 1,000 IU/kg VD3. The mRNA levels of other Ca and P transporters (PMCA1b, NCX1, NaPi-IIb, PiT-1, and PiT-2) increased by 0.57–1.74 folds by adding 1,000–2,000 IU/kg VD3. These data suggest that intestinal Ca and P transporters are mainly expressed in the duodenum of broilers. Moreover, the addition of VD3 stimulates the two mineral transporter transcription in broiler intestines.

Genome‑wide association analysis of salt tolerance QTLs with SNP markers in maize (Zea mays L.)

Yonghong Xie,Yan Feng,Qi Chen,Feike Zhao,Shuijuan Zhou,Ying Ding,Xianliang Song,Ping Li,Baohua Wang 한국유전학회 2019 Genes & Genomics Vol.41 No.10

Background Salt-tolerant breeding of maize has great significance to the development and utilization of saline–alkaline soil and the maintenance of grain security. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) has been widely used in maize genetics and breeding. Objective To discover new salt-tolerant genes in maize by association analysis, which can provide technical supports for the innovation and genetic improvement of salt-tolerant germplasm resources in maize. Methods Totally 150 maize inbred lines were genotyped with a high-density chip. GWAS was carried out to identify the significant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) which were associated with maize salt tolerance. Totally 34,972 SNPs with high quality and diversity were selected from 56,110 SNP markers, which were distributed on 10 chromosomes of maize. The GLM algorithm in TASSEL5.2 was used to analyze the five traits related to salt tolerance. Results Using a strict LOD threshold of 4.5, totally 7 SNP loci were identified, which were significantly correlated with plant height change rate and fresh weight change rate. The high density fingerprints of 150 inbred lines were clustered by TASSEL5.2 software to construct genetic clustering map to estimate the genetic distance and the subgroups. The 150 maize inbred lines were divided into two groups: SS group and NSS group, and the SNP loci of the salt-tolerant index showed difference in chromosome distribution. Based on previous studies, we screened 8 candidate genes for salt tolerance in maize and four of them were further validated by real-time quantitative PCR. Conclusion Totally 7 SNP loci and 8 candidate genes related to salt tolerance in maize were identified, which will be of special value in molecular breeding of salt-tolerant maize.