热风干燥过程中山药水分状态的变化研究

为了解山药的水分赋存状态的变化，以襄阳道地山药为材料，分别在60、70、80、90、100 ℃条件下进行热风干燥，采用低场核磁共振（LF-NMR）和差式量热扫描（DSC）技术，每隔15 min测定山药在热风干燥过程中的水分状态及迁移规律。结果表明，在60~90 ℃条件下，温度越高，干基含水率的降速越快。山药的T2弛豫图谱有3个较为明显的吸收峰，随干燥进程的延续，各峰面积均明显减少，其中自由水所在峰的面积降幅最大，表明干燥过程中自由水散失最多，而且自由水逐渐向半结合水和结合水迁移，冷冻峰和解冻峰也随之变小。但在100 ℃下干燥时，样品可能因表面板结导致干基含水率、低场核磁吸收峰升高，冷冻和解冻峰面积增加。因此，在实际干燥过程中，山药的热风干燥温度不宜高至100 ℃。     

两种弧菌对菲律宾蛤仔代谢途径影响的比较研究

采用基于核磁共振波谱技术的代谢组学技术,探索菲律宾蛤仔在受到鳗弧菌和灿烂弧菌感染的代谢物变化特征,构建菲律宾蛤仔对弧菌感染后的代谢网络调控图谱,并比较两种弧菌毒性效应的差异。试验结果表明,3种代谢物葡萄糖、谷氨酸、苏氨酸在两种弧菌感染时均发生了变化,表征鳗弧菌感染的代谢物为牛磺酸、精氨酸、酪氨酸、苯丙氨酸、赖氨酸、亮氨酸、异亮氨酸、缬氨酸;而表征灿烂弧菌污染的代谢物为甜菜碱、二甲基甘氨酸、胆碱、谷氨酸、亚牛磺酸。     

鱼类生殖细胞移植的研究进展及应用前景

生殖细胞移植是指将供体的生殖细胞移植到同种或异种受体体内,供体生殖细胞嵌合到受体性腺,经过增殖、分化并最终发育为功能性配子的过程。作为辅助生殖技术,它不仅为珍稀濒危动物的繁育和保护提供了新途径,同时也为生殖干细胞的功能研究提供了有效手段。鱼类生殖细胞移植研究首先在模式鱼类斑马鱼中开展,经过十多年的发展,取得了一系列突破性的进展:主要包括先后建立了以胚胎、仔鱼和成鱼为受体的生殖细胞移植体系,精原和卵原干细胞的发现拓宽了供体生殖细胞的选择,受体的选择与制备方法的完善。该技术在缩短鱼类性成熟周期、性控育种、珍稀濒危鱼类保护等方面具有巨大的应用前景,已成功在多种淡水和海水鱼类中开展了研究和应用。本文结合作者的研究实践和经验,系统地梳理和总结了鱼类生殖细胞移植的研究进展,指出了该技术实践应用的关键问题,并探讨了其应用前景。     

Male sterility in soybean: Occurrence,molecular basis and utilization

In plants, male sterility (MS) is a specific breeding target trait. With the advancements in agriculture, utilization of heterosis breeding in hybrid production through MS lines has become the main breeding tool of various cross‐pollinated and even self‐pollinated crops. Soybean is an essential source of oil and protein; however, the low yield is a major factor limiting its development. Soybean MS mainly comprises cytoplasmic‐nuclear MS and nuclear/genic MS (NMS/GMS), which can effectively utilize heterosis to improve soybean yield. This review outlines the recent research progress on the development of new genetically MS lines, exploring the underlying molecular mechanism of MS, identification and cloning of MS and fertility restoration genes, and the application of MS lines. We further discussed and prospected the future developmental scenario direction of the soybean MS, based on the previous studies of other crops sterility system. Moreover, this review also provides comprehensive information for better application of MS to soybean breeding programme.     

Characterization of an intravenous lipopolysaccharide inflammation model in calves with respect to the acute-phase response

Our objective was to develop a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) inflammation model in calves to evaluate the acute-phase response with respect to the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines and acute-phase proteins, fever development and sickness behaviour. Fourteen 4-week-old male Holstein Friesian calves were included and randomly assigned to a negative control group (n = 3) and an LPS-challenged group (n = 11). The latter received an intravenous bolus injection of 0.5 μg of LPS/kg body weight. Blood collection and clinical scoring were performed at 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12, 18, 24, 28, 32, 48, 54 and 72 h post LPS administration (p.a.). In the LPS group, the following clinical signs were observed successively: tachypnoea (on average 18 min p.a.), decubitus (29 min p.a.), general depression (1.75 h p.a.), fever (5 h p.a.) and tachycardia (5 h p.a.). Subsequent to the recovery from respiratory distress, general depression was prominent, which deteriorated when fever increased. One animal did not survive LPS administration, whereas the other animals recovered on average within 6.1 h p.a. Moreover, the challenge significantly increased plasma concentrations of tumour necrosis factor-α, interleukin 6, serum amyloid A and haptoglobin, with peaking levels at 1, 3.5, 24 and 18 h p.a., respectively. The present LPS model was practical and reproducible, caused obvious clinical signs related to endotoxemia and a marked change in the studied inflammatory mediators, making it a suitable model to study the immunomodulatory properties of drugs in future research.     

Propofol attenuates LPS-induced tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6 and nitric oxide expression in canine peripheral blood mononuclear cells possibly through down-regulation of nuclear factor (NF)-κB activation

Sepsis is a major cause of mortality in intensive care medicine. Propofol, an intravenous general anesthetic, has been suggested to have anti-inflammatory properties and able to prevent sepsis induced by Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria by down-regulating the gene expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines. However, propofol’s anti-inflammatory effects upon canine peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) have not yet been clarified. Here, we isolate canine PBMCs and investigate the effects of propofol on the gene expressions of both lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and upon the production of nitric oxide (NO). Through real-time quantitative PCR and the Griess reagent system, we found that non-cytotoxic levels of propofol significantly inhibited the release of NO and IL-6 and TNF-α gene expression in LPS-induced canine PBMCs. Western blotting revealed that LPS does significantly increase the expression of inducible NO synthase (iNOS) protein in canine PBMCs, while pretreatment with propofol significantly decreases the LPS-induced iNOS protein expression. Propofol, at concentration of 25 µM and 50 µM, also significantly inhibited the LPS-induced nuclear translocation of nuclear factor (NF)-κB p65 protein in canine PBMCs. This diminished TNF-α, IL-6 and iNOS expression, and NO production was in parallel to the respective decreased NF-κB p65 protein nuclear translocation in the LPS-activated canine PBMCs pretreated with 25 µM and 50 µM propofol. This suggests that non-cytotoxic levels of propofol pretreatment can down-regulate LPS-induced inflammatory responses in canine PBMCs, possibly by inhibiting the nuclear translocation of the NF-κB p65 protein.     

Cell-free extract from porcine induced pluripotent stem cells can affect porcine somatic cell nuclear reprogramming

Pretreatment of somatic cells with undifferentiated cell extracts, such as embryonic stem cells and mammalian oocytes, is an attractive alternative method for reprogramming control. The properties of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are similar to those of embryonic stem cells; however, no studies have reported somatic cell nuclear reprogramming using iPSC extracts. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of porcine iPSC extracts treatment on porcine ear fibroblasts and early development of porcine cloned embryos produced from porcine ear skin fibroblasts pretreated with the porcine iPSC extracts. The Chariot^TM reagent system was used to deliver the iPSC extracts into cultured porcine ear skin fibroblasts. The iPSC extracts-treated cells (iPSC-treated cells) were cultured for 3 days and used for analyzing histone modification and somatic cell nuclear transfer. Compared to the results for nontreated cells, the trimethylation status of histone H3 lysine residue 9 (H3K9) in the iPSC-treated cells significantly decreased. The expression of Jmjd2b, the H3K9 trimethylation-specific demethylase gene, significantly increased in the iPSC-treated cells; conversely, the expression of the proapoptotic genes, Bax and p53, significantly decreased. When the iPSC-treated cells were transferred into enucleated porcine oocytes, no differences were observed in blastocyst development and total cell number in blastocysts compared with the results for control cells. However, H3K9 trimethylation of pronuclear-stage-cloned embryos significantly decreased in the iPSC-treated cells. Additionally, Bax and p53 gene expression in the blastocysts was significantly lower in iPSC-treated cells than in control cells. To our knowledge, this study is the first to show that an extracts of porcine iPSCs can affect histone modification and gene expression in porcine ear skin fibroblasts and cloned embryos.     

抗流感病毒药物研究进展

季节性和爆发性流感引起了高发病率和死亡率,不仅严重危害人体健康,还影响社会稳定和经济发展。目前对抗流感的主要措施是预防接种,然而流感病毒变异速度非常快,使得现有的疫苗对新变异的流感病毒无效或者预防效果不好。因此,抗病毒药物的研究显得非常必要,而被深入研究的流感病毒的生命周期和病毒结构蛋白也推进了抗流感病毒药物设计的进展。本文将对抗流感药物设计靶向进行概述,旨在为今后研究开发出更高效、更理想的多靶向抗流感病毒药物提供借鉴。