Browse yield and nutritive value of two Salix species and Dorycnium rectum in New Zealand

The willows Salix matsudana x alba and S. kinuyanagi, and the leguminous shrub Dorycnium rectum, are used for soil conservation in New Zealand and have potential value as browse plants. Two experiments were conducted in the lower North Island to ascertain the effect of selected establishment and cutting practices on their browse yield and nutritive value. A hill site experiment determined the effect of rooted and unrooted stem cuttings on establishment and initial production of the Salix species. A flat site experiment determined the effect of cutting height (0.10–0.30 m, 0.80 m, and 1.20 m above ground) and cutting frequency (once or twice per year) on yield of the Salix species and D. rectum. The establishment and dry matter (DM) yields of the Salix species were unaffected by the type of stem cutting. S. matsudana x alba (1.2 kg DM/tree) plants yielded more edible DM than S. kinuyanagi (0.9 kg DM/tree) and D. rectum (0.4 kg DM/tree). Cutting height had no effect on edible DM yield but affected total DM yield of the Salix species. Nitrogen concentration in edible DM, of all species, was 18–22 g/kg DM. In vitro organic matter digestibility of S. matsudana x alba (648–691 g/kg DM) and D. rectum (664–666 g/kg DM) was greater than S. kinuyanagi (611–615 g/kg DM). The condensed tannin concentration in edible DM of S. kinuyanagi was four-fold higher than in S. matsudana x alba (255 vs. 59 g/kg DM). It was concluded that S. matsudana x alba had the greatest potential as a browse species and D. rectum the least.This revised version was published online in November 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

林木干形变化规律的研究

利用450株桦树标准木和63株落叶松标准木材料对林木的干形进行了研究,旨在探索林木干形的变化规律,为林木材积的测算提供理论依据。结果表明,林木的各干形指标均因径阶的不同而不同,并且胸高形数和胸高形率均随直径的增大而又变小的趋势。     

Comparison of the modified Weibull and Richards growth function for developing site index equations

A site index model based on the Weibull cumulative distribution function was fitted to three stem analysis data sets of black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill) BSP), white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) and aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.). The resulting equations were compared with those based on the modified Richards' (1959) biological growth function (Ek 1971; Payandeh 1977, 1978). The Weibull-type model performed as well as or better than the biological growth function for white spruce and aspen, respectively, but it performed less accurately in the case of black spruce. The Weibull-type model appears to behave better, i.e., it produces more realistic height growth patterns, than the Richards function upon extrapolation particularly at young ages.     

Inducing long-shoot growth for vegetative propagation of western larch

This study evaluated methods to release from suppression both short shoots on lower stems and developing buds on leaders of western larch (Larix occidentalis Nutt.) seedlings, in order to increase the number of long shoots suitable for stem-tip cuttings. Treatments included application of the cytokinin N-6-benzyladenine (BA), horizontal stem bending, and decapitation on container-grown 1.5-year-old seedling ortets. The rate of release of suppressed growth of short shoots on the basal stem segments increased from 15% to 83% after spraying with 200 ppm BA and doubled on unsprayed horizontally-bent stems. Syllepsis on the upper stems increased by 19% following decapitation and by 32% after a combination of decapitation and BA treatments. Although these treatments resulted in large increases in the numbers of long shoots available for stem cuttings, the rootability of BA-treated shoots needs assessing before use in operational programs.     

应用热扩散式探针法对南方红壤丘陵区湿地松人工林耗水量的研究

运用Granier热扩散式探针法对湿地松(Pinus elliottii)树干液流密度进行长期连续测定,并对其周围多个气象要素和土壤要素进行同步测定。湿地松生长旺季不同月份晴天液流密度日变化规律基本一致,但液流启动、到达峰值的时间以及开始升高、开始下降的时间间隔存在差异。样木解析结果表明,处于低龄期的湿地松,整个木质部都可看作边材,边材面积和胸径可用二次函数很好地拟合。方差分析结果表明:不同胸径湿地松树干液流密度不存在显著性差异,与胸径无紧密关系。回归分析结果表明:湿地松日累计液流量与边材面积呈显著的线性相关关系,相关关系的判定系数达0.99。另外,单位边材面积日累计液流量与入选各气象因素的相关性显著,相关程度大小顺序为光合有效辐射>冠层相对湿度>冠层温度。结合边材面积-胸径回归方程和样木胸径调查资料,分别采用2种方法推算整个标准地的耗水量。经比较,2种方法所得结果差别不大,各自适用于一定的范围。     

石榴溃疡病害病原学研究

对石榴溃疡病害3菌株所引起的病害症状、病原菌的形态学特征、培养学特性、生理学特性及分子遗传多样性等方面进行比较研究.结果表明:石榴疮痂病与石榴果实上增生型症状的病原菌具有更近的亲缘关系,应为同一病原菌引起,推测该病原菌首先侵染石榴侵染枝干,然后侵染石榴的花萼和果实;而石榴干腐病病原菌主要侵染枝干,是否侵染果实及引起症状特征需要继续进行研究和鉴定.     

SCINTIGRAPHIC TRACKING OF MESENCHYMAL STEM CELLS AFTER PORTAL,SYSTEMIC INTRAVENOUS AND SPLENIC ADMINISTRATION IN HEALTHY BEAGLE DOGS

Mesenchymal stem cells have been proposed to treat liver disease in the dog. The objective of this study was to compare portal, systemic intravenous and splenic injections for administration of mesenchymal stem cells to target the liver in healthy beagle dogs. Four healthy beagle dogs were included in the study. Each dog received mesenchymal stem cells via all three delivery methods in randomized order, 1 week apart. Ten million fat‐derived allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells labeled with Technetium‐99m (99mTc)‐hexamethyl‐propylene amine oxime(HMPAO) were used for each injection. Right lateral, left lateral, ventral, and dorsal scintigraphic images were obtained with a gamma camera equipped with a low‐energy all‐purpose collimator immediately after injection and 1, 6, and 24 h later. Mesenchymal stem cells distribution was assessed subjectively using all four views. Pulmonary, hepatic, and splenic uptake was quantified from the right lateral view, at each time point. Portal injection resulted in diffuse homogeneous high uptake through the liver, whereas the systemic intravenous injection led to mesenchymal stem cell trapping in the lungs. After splenic injection, mild splenic retention and high homogeneous diffuse hepatic uptake were observed. Systemic injection of mesenchymal stem cells may not be a desirable technique for liver therapy due to pulmonary trapping. Splenic injection represents a good alternative to portal injection. Scintigraphic tracking with 99mTc‐HMPAO is a valuable technique for assessing mesenchymal stem cells distribution and quantification shortly after administration. Data obtained at 24 h should be interpreted cautiously due to suboptimal labeling persistence.     

Na?ve-like conversion enhances the difference in innate in vitro differentiation capacity between rabbit ES cells and iPS cells

Quality evaluation of pluripotent stem cells using appropriate animal models needs to be improved for human regenerative medicine. Previously, we demonstrated that although the in vitro neural differentiating capacity of rabbit induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can be mitigated by improving their baseline level of pluripotency, i.e., by converting them into the so-called “naïve-like” state, the effect after such conversion of rabbit embryonic stem cells (ESCs) remains to be elucidated. Here we found that naïve-like conversion enhanced the differences in innate in vitro differentiation capacity between ESCs and iPSCs. Naïve-like rabbit ESCs exhibited several features indicating pluripotency, including the capacity for teratoma formation. They differentiated into mature oligodendrocytes much more effectively (3.3–7.2 times) than naïve-like iPSCs. This suggests an inherent variation in differentiation potential in vitro among PSC lines. When naïve-like ESCs were injected into preimplantation rabbit embryos, although they contributed efficiently to forming the inner cell mass of blastocysts, no chimeric pups were obtained. Thus, in vitro neural differentiation following naïve-like conversion is a promising option for determining the quality of PSCs without the need to demonstrate chimeric contribution. These results provide an opportunity to evaluate which pluripotent stem cells or treatments are best suited for therapeutic use.     

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.     

Impact of source tissue and ex vivo expansion on the characterization of goat mesenchymal stem cells

Background

There is considerable interest in using goats as models for genetically engineering dairy animals and also for using stem cells as therapeutics for bone and cartilage repair. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been isolated and characterized from various species, but are poorly characterized in goats.

Results

Goat MSCs isolated from bone marrow (BM-MSCs) and adipose tissue (ASCs) have the ability to undergo osteogenic, adipogenic and chondrogenic differentiation. Cytochemical staining and gene expression analysis show that ASCs have a greater capacity for adipogenic differentiation compared to BM-MSCs and fibroblasts. Different methods of inducing adipogenesis also affect the extent and profile of adipogenic differentiation in MSCs. Goat fibroblasts were not capable of osteogenesis, hence distinguishing them from the MSCs. Goat MSCs and fibroblasts express CD90, CD105, CD73 but not CD45, and exhibit cytoplasmic localization of OCT4 protein. Goat MSCs can be stably transfected by Nucleofection, but, as evidenced by colony-forming efficiency (CFE), yield significantly different levels of progenitor cells that are robust enough to proliferate into colonies of integrants following G418 selection. BM-MSCs expanded over increasing passages in vitro maintained karyotypic stability up to 20 passages in culture, exhibited an increase in adipogenic differentiation and CFE, but showed altered morphology and amenability to genetic modification by selection.

Conclusions

Our findings provide characterization information on goat MSCs, and show that there can be significant differences between MSCs isolated from different tissues and from within the same tissue. Fibroblasts do not exhibit trilineage differentiation potential at the same capacity as MSCs, making it a more reliable method for distinguishing MSCs from fibroblasts, compared to cell surface marker expression.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/2049-1891-6-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.