Progress in self-powered health monitoring and physiological function regulation devices / 生物工程学报

Nanogenerator (triboelectric nanogenerator and piezoelectric nanogenerator) has experienced a rapid development since it was proposed. This technique can covert various mechanical energies into electric energy, including human motion energy, wind energy, acoustic energy and ocean energy. The converted electricity can be used for health monitoring and physiological function regulation, such as pulse detection, bioelectrical stimulation and cardiac pacing. This review summarizes the structure, working mechanism, output performance of nanogenerator and its latest progress in circulatory system, nervous system, biological tissue, sleep and rescue system. Additionally, a further analysis was also made on the application challenge of nanogenerator in clinical treatment. In the future, nanogenerator is expected to be an auxiliary power source, or even to replace battery to power medical electronic device and realize the self-powered health monitoring and physiological function regulation of human body.

Establishment and function of tissue-resident innate lymphoid cells in the skin

Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are a newly classified family of immune cells of the lymphoid lineage. While they could be found in both lymphoid organs and non-lymphoid tissues, ILCs are preferentially enriched in barrier tissues such as the skin, intestine, and lung where they could play important roles in maintenance of tissue integrity and function and protection against assaults of foreign agents. On the other hand, dysregulated activation of ILCs could contribute to tissue inflammatory diseases. In spite of recent progress towards understanding roles of ILCs in the health and disease, mechanisms regulating specific establishment, activation, and function of ILCs in barrier tissues are still poorly understood. We herein review the up-to-date understanding of tissue-specific relevance of ILCs. Particularly we will focus on resident ILCs of the skin, the outmost barrier tissue critical in protection against various foreign hazardous agents and maintenance of thermal and water balance. In addition, we will discuss remaining outstanding questions yet to be addressed.

Microvesicle-delivery miR-150 promotes tumorigenesis by up-regulating VEGF, and the neutralization of miR-150 attenuate tumor development

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) mostly exhibit M2-like (alternatively activated) properties and play positive roles in angiogenesis and tumorigenesis. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a key angiogenic factor. During tumor development, TAMs secrete VEGF and other factors to promote angiogenesis; thus, anti-treatment against TAMs and VEGF can repress cancer development, which has been demonstrated in clinical trials and on an experimental level. In the present work, we show that miR-150 is an oncomir because of its promotional effect on VEGF. MiR-150 targets TAMs to up-regulate their secretion of VEGF in vitro. With the utilization of cell-derived vesicles, named microvesicles (MVs), we transferred antisense RNA targeted to miR-150 into mice and found that the neutralization of miR-150 down-regulates miR-150 and VEGF levels in vivo and attenuates angiogenesis. Therefore, we proposed the therapeutic potential of neutralizing miR-150 to treat cancer and demonstrated a novel, natural, microvesicle-based method for the transfer of nucleic acids.

Study on the long-term change of calcium homeostasis and kinetics in chronic epilepsy model / 中华神经科杂志

Objective To study the role of calcium homeostatic and kinetics in the epileptogenesis activity. Methods Hippocampal neurons were acutely isolated from controls and status epilepticus (SE) models induced by lithium-pilocarpine at different time point. The [Ca2+]i levels were detected by laser scanning confocal microscope. And the ability to restore resting [Ca2+]i levels after a brief exposure to 5 μmol/L glutamate in control and epileptic neurons were evaluated. Results The [Ca2+]i level of acute separated hippocampal neurons in the control rats was (95.4±22. 1) nmol/L After injection of lithium pilocarpine, the [Ca2+]i level in hippecampal neurons increased dramatically to (867.6±35.2) nmol/L, and decreased to (292.8 ± 18.3) nmol/L on the 7th day, lasting for about 30 days ((220. 8± 17.6) nmol/L), it is higher than that in the control group (t = 12. 55, P < 0.01). The distribution of neuronal [Ca22+]i showed that 92% of control neurons were in the normal range of [Ca2+]i level (25-150 nmol/L) ; After 6 hours, however [Ca2+]i levels of all SE neurons increased, and 85% of which were higher than 500 nmol/L; After 7, 14 and 30 days, there were 75%, 60% and 52% of SE neurons still manifested an elevated [Ca22+]i level, but less than 500 nmol/L. After the exposure to 5 μmol/L glutamate treatment for 2 minutes, [Ca2+]i of the control neurons restored to baseline values in (9. 5±3.4) minutes, whereas the SE rats of acute, latent and chronic phases did not (t = 5.08, 4. 56, 4. 21, all P < 0. 01). Conclusion Lithium-pilocarpine induced epilepsy causes a long-term alteration of calcium homeostatic mechanisms of hippocampus neurons, which may play an important role in the development and maintenance of spontaneous recurrent seizures.

Effect of electropumcture at Jiaji acupoint on anti-inflammation, analgesia and immunoloregulation / 中国组织工程研究

BACKGROUND: Clinical observation has been proved that acupuncture has effect on antiinflammation and immunoloregulation, which is the basis for preventing and curing immune disturbance and active chronic inflammation. OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of electropumcture on antiinflammation, analgesia and subgroup of T cells of adjuvant-arthrosis rats at Jiaji acupoint.DESIGN: Completely randomized grouping and controlled study.SETTING: Basic Laboratory of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. MATERIALS: A total of 30 Wistar rats were selected in this study. Five days after feeding, all rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: normal control group, model group and electropumcture group with 10 in each group. METHODS: ① The experiment was completed at Basic Laboratory of Acupuncture and Moxibustion of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine from January to May 2005. Freund's complete adjuvant (FCA) was used to establish adjuvant-arthrosis models in model group and electropumcture group. On the modeling day, the 3rd and the 5th Jiaji acupoints of bilateral lumbar vertebrae of rats in electropumcture group were acupunctured with 28-sized stainless-steel milli-needle of 0.5 inch.The needle was stimulated 0.3 cm from the 3rd and the 5th spinous process of lumbar vertebra which was counected to G6805-2A multiple functional electropumcture meter for sparse-tight waves (frequency of sparse wave: 4 Hz, frequency of tight wave: 60 Hz, intensity: t mA) 30 minutes each time,once a day for 7 days. Rats in normal group and model group were fixed with the same way for 7 days. (Rats were fixed with cloth-rope at fixing apparatus.) ② Pain threshold was measured before modelling, 1 and 7 days after modelling. Foot pad was exposured with strong light by hot-pain stimulation meter, and paw withdrawal latency was regarded as pain threshold. ③ Right hindfoot bulk of rats was assayed with foot bulk determinator (bulk draining method) before modelling, 1 and 7 days after modelling to calculate swelling rate (％) [(foot bulk after modelling-foot bulk before modelling)/ foot bulk before modelling × 100％ ]. ④ Expressional rates of serum CD4+ and CD8+ were assayed with FACSCalibur flow cytometer and the ratio between CD4+ and CD8+ was calculated 8 days after modelling. ⑤ Average value of multiple samples were compared with single-factor analysis of variance and t test.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Effect of electropumcture at Jiaji acupoint on pain threshold, swelling rate and subgroup of serum T cells of adjuvant-arthrosis rats.RESULTS: A total of 30 rats were involved in the final analysis. ① One day after modeling, bulk of right hindfoot in model group and electropumcture group was bigger than that in normal control group and that before modeling (P ＜ 0.01), and swelling rate was higher than that in normal control group (P ＜ 0.01); 7 days after modeling, bulk and swelling of right hindfoot in model group were higher than those in normal control group (P ＜ 0.01), and bulk was bigger than that before modeling (P ＜ 0.01);bulk and swelling of right hindfoot in electropumcture group were lower than those in model group (P ＜ 0.05). ② Pain threshold of both rear feet of normal rats were not changed after modelling. One day after modelling,pain threshold at inflammatory side was decreased in model group and electropumcture group (P ＜ 0.01) and it was lower than that in normal control group (P ＜ 0.01); 7 days after modeling, pain threshold at inflammatory side was still lower than that before inflammation (P ＜ 0.05),and it in electropumcture group was higher than that in model group (P＜ 0.05). ③ Percentages of CD4+ T lymphocyte and CD8+ T lymphocyte in model group were lower than those in normal control group (P ＜ 0.01), and ratio of CD4+/CD8+ was also higher than that in normal control group (P＜ 0.05). Percentage of CD4+ in electropumcture group was higher than that in model group, but there was no significant difference. Percentage of CD8+ in electropumcture group was higher than that in model group (P ＜ 0.01),but ratio of CD4+/CD8+ was lower than that in model group (P ＜ 0.05).CONCLUSION: Electropumcture at Jiaji acupoint has obvious effect on anti-inflammation and analgesia, and can also regulate cellular immunity of adjuvant-arthrosis rats.