Mechanism of nephrotoxicity induced by chronic exposure of bisphenol A in mice based on oxidative stress and cell apoptosis / 生物工程学报

Bisphenol A (BPA) is widely used to produce epoxy resin and polycarbonate plastic products. In severe cases, these plastics may release BPA, which then infiltrates into the environment. Various concentrations of BPA have been found in most biological fluid. Its presence has been well shown to be closely related to many chronic diseases, including chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, little is known regarding the adverse effects of BPA exposure and its succedent cellular events on CKD. Hence, in the current in vivo study, we aimed to assess the effects of chronic exposure to BPA on animal nephrotoxicity through investigating oxidative stress and apoptosis. Upon exposure to BPA at 0.01, 0.1, and 1 mg/L via drinking water for four weeks, the mated and pregnant females were continuously exposed to BPA until weaning. Subsequently, three weeks old F1-male neonates were also orally challenged with the same three doses of BPA for ten weeks. The results showed that the kidneys of 0.1 and 1 mg/L BPA-treated mice were seriously damaged; the contents of serum renal function indexes and lipid peroxidation products were significantly increased, including urea nitrogen, creatinine, uric acid, and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances; the morphological structure of mouse kidneys was impaired; the expressions of antioxidant-related genes at mRNA and protein levels from mouse kidneys were markedly diminished, including glutathione-S-transferase, superoxide dismutase, and catalase; the expressions of genes and proteins related to apoptosis index (ratio of Bax/Bcl-1 and Caspase-3) were significantly enhanced. The data manifested that cumulative oxidative stress and apoptosis might play an essential role in the animal nephrotoxicity induced by chronic exposure to BPA.

Exploration of an online and offline mixed teaching mode for "Protein Engineering" based on BOPPPS+flipped classroom / 生物工程学报

Protein Engineering is a core compulsory course of biotechnology major, which is the first-class undergraduate major being constructed in Shanxi Province. In view of the problems of single teaching mode of Protein Engineering, such as insufficient students' participation, short teaching time, and expensive experiment cost, the course team carried out the reform and practice of teaching mode for this course, and put forward a new teaching strategy. Under the guidance of the "Golden Course" standard for advancement, innovation and challenge, the course team developed the materials for massive open online courses (MOOC), and carried out the online and offline mixed teaching of Protein Engineering based on BOPPPS+flipped classroom by using the Chao-Xing Fan-Ya network teaching platform. Through this, a comprehensive, systematic and dynamic new teaching system of Protein Engineering was developed. Using the teaching mode based on BOPPPS+flipped classroom, the offline classroom teaching was combined with students' online self-study and homework completion, chapter test and discussion, and this mixed teaching mode was fully integrated into the flipped classroom. After three rounds of teaching practice, the course team had developed a complete, reproducible, scientific and reasonable online and offline mixed teaching mode, which included course materials preparation, exploring experiment guidance, classroom discussion design and course performance evaluation. The online and offline mixed teaching mode of Protein Engineering based on BOPPPS+flipped classroom was helpful for students to improve their autonomous learning ability, to be deeply engaged in the whole teaching process, and to develop a comprehensive and profound understanding of Protein Engineering. This teaching mode improved the teaching quality of Protein Engineering, and facilitated students to learn other follow-up professional courses. Moreover, it provides a reference for the course teaching reform.

Analysis of exogenous gene and protein digestion and absorption of SD rats (Rattus norvegicus) fed roundup ready soybean meal / 生物工程学报

Metabolism and deposition of exogenous gene and protein from transgenic glyphosate herbicide-tolerant soybean meal in SD rats were studied in the experiment. The transgenic soybean GTS40-3-2 meal and its non-transgenic counterpart (parent A5403) were fed to the generation and the second generation Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats (Rattus norvegicus). The study added the genetically modified (GM) soybean meal and its non-transgenic control soybean meal (parent A5403) in a ratio of 20% respectively to the feeds. By using qualitative, quantitative PCR and ELISA methods to detect transgenic soybean residues of metabolism ingredients in rats, the safety and influence of GM soybean were evaluated. The results showed that the intestinal fecal and cecum contents of rats were detected with residues of GM ingredients, intestinal flora and organs were not found related genes and protein. These results indicated that transgenic glyphosate herbicide-tolerant soybean GTS40-3-2 meal was as safe as its non-GM soybean meal in long-term feeding study.

Detection of transgenic components in animal feeds on Shanxi markets / 生物工程学报

To assess the presence of genetically modified (GM) maize and soybean in a range of commercialized feed in Shanxi province of China in 2015, improved hexadecyltrimethy ammonium bromide (CTAB) method was used to extract DNA. The screening of packed feeds was carried out by qualitative PCR. Then positive feeds were unpacked and detected by the CaMV 35S promoter, NOS terminator, zSSIIb, Lectin and CryIA (b) genes. The identified maize and soybean events were confirmed by event-specific MON810 and GTS40-3-2. Results showed that 83.3% of the feeds was tested positive for GMOs, in which positive rates of maize, soybean, pig and layer feeds were 6.67%, 100%, 93.3% and 73.3%, respectively. The results of real-time PCR were consistent with qualitative PCR. These results indicated that commercialized GM feed had a wide positive product scope in Shanxi province of China. Further studies are necessary to study effects of feeding livestock and poultry with feed containing GM ingredients on animals and their products.

The Positive Effect of Phospholipids on Some Biochemical Indices of Trained Mice / 中国运动医学杂志

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of phospholipids supplementation on nutritional status and antioxidant status of trained mice. The results indicate that: 1)In phospholipids supplementation groups concentrations of Hb and serum phospholipid increase significantly, serum Alb concentration tends to increase.Phospholipids supplementation can also help the recovery of Hb which is decreased after exhaustive exercise.2)Phospholipids supplementation can improve antioxidative status in some tissue .3)The activity of SOD is highest in quadriceps while the activity of GPX is highest in liver, and concentration of MDA is lowest in kidney.Different kinds of tissue show different levels of SOD, GPX and MDA, indicating their different abilities of antioxidation.4) Phospholipids supplementation have no effect on body weights of trained mice.