Vaspin protects against lipopolysaccharide-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome in mice by inhibiting inflammation and protecting vascular endothelium via PI3K/Akt signal pathway / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effects of Vaspin on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in mice and explore the possible mechanism.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Forty male C57B/L6 mice were randomized equally into control group, LPS group, Vaspin group and wortmannin group with corresponding treatments. The pathological changes of the lung tissues were evaluated by HE staining, and the severity of pulmonary edema was measured according to the wet/dry ratio (W/D) of the lung tissue. The lung permeability was evaluated by detecting total protein concentrations in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) using bicinchoninic acid (BCA) assay. Myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity in the lung tissue was detected using a MPO assay kit, and the levels of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in the lungs were measured using ELISA. Immunohistochemical staining was performed to detect the expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) and Western blotting was used to detect the protein expressions of cleaved caspase-3 and p-Akt in the lung tissues.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with the control group, the mice in LPS group displayed typical ARDS pathological changes in the lungs with significantly increased W/D, total protein concentrations in BALF, lung MPO activity, levels of IL-1β and TNF-α, and pulmonary expressions of VCAM-1 and cleaved caspase-3 (P<0.05) but decreased expression of p-Akt (P<0.05). These changes induced by LPS were significantly alleviated by the administration of Vaspin (P<0.05). The protective effects of Vaspin against ARDS were obviously attenuated by the PI3K inhibitor wortmannin (P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Vaspin protects against LPS-induced ARDS in mice possibly by inhibiting inflammation and protecting vascular endothelium through upregulation of the PI3K/Akt signal pathway.</p>

Development of the "Third-Generation" Hybrid Rice in China / 基因组蛋白质组与生物信息学报·英文版

Rice is a major cereal crop for China. The development of the "three-line" hybrid rice system based on cytoplasmic male sterility in the 1970s (first-generation) and the "two-line" hybrid rice system based on photoperiod- and thermo-sensitive genic male-sterile lines (second-generation) in the 1980s has contributed significantly to rice yield increase and food security in China. Here we describe the development and implementation of the "third-generation" hybrid rice breeding system that is based on a transgenic approach to propagate and utilize stable recessive nuclear male sterile lines, and as such, the male sterile line and hybrid rice produced using such a system is non-transgenic. Such a system should overcome the intrinsic problems of the "first-generation" and "second-generation" hybrid rice systems and hold great promise to further boost production of hybrid rice and other crops.

Role of interleukin-17 in alveolar fluid clearance in mice with acute lung injury / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the role of interleukin-17 (IL-17) in alveolar fluid clearance in mice with acute lung injury (ALI) and explore the possible mechanism.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sixteen IL-17-knockout mice and 16 wild-type mice were both randomized for intratracheal instillation of PBS (control) on lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to induce ALI. Forty-eight hours after the treatments, the wet-dry ratio (W/D) of the lungs, IL-8 in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and histopathological changes of the lung tissues were examined. The expressions of epithelial sodium channel α subunit (α-ENaC) was detected with Western blotting and liver kinase B1 (LKB1) was detected with immunohistochemistry.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with wild-type mice treated with LPS, IL-17 knockout mice showed significantly decreased W/D of the lungs (9.739∓3.3 vs 5.351∓0.56) and IL-8 level in the BALF (67.50∓7.33 vs 41.00∓3.16 pg/mL) following LPS challenge. Pathological examination revealed reduced alveolar edema fluid aggregations and lower lung injury score in IL-17 knockout mice with also higher expression levels of ENaC and LKB1 compared with the wild-type mice.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Knocking out IL-17 in mice not only alleviates inflammation of the lung tissue following ALI but also reduces the loss of ENaC protein and promotes alveolar fluid clearance, mechanism of which is probably associated with LKB1.</p>

Effect of arginine vasopressin on alveolar fluid clearance in rats with acute lung injury / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effect of arginine vasopressin (AVP) on alveolar fluid clearance (AFC) in acute lung injury (ALI).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Forty-eight healthy adult Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into control group, ALI model group and AVP treatment group. The pathological changes in the lungs, lung water content, alveolar permeability and AFC were observed, and the expressions of alveolar epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) and Na⁺, K⁺-ATPase were measured.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with those in the model group, the rats treated with AVP showed significantly decreased alveolar permeability (0.27 ± 0.15 vs 0.59 ± 0.19) and lung water content (5.01 ± 1.59 vs 8.67 ± 1.79) (P<0.05) and increased AFC (23.56 ± 4.51 vs 8.28 ± 3.57) and of α-ENaC expressions (1.296 ± 0.322 vs 0.349 ± 0.141) and α1-Na⁺, K⁺-ATPase (1.421 ± 0.389 vs 0.338 ± 0.186) (P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>AVP can promote AFC in with ALI possibly by up-regulation of α-ENaC, α1-Na⁺, and K⁺-ATPase.</p>

UV-B-induced photomorphogenesis in Arabidopsis

Ultraviolet-B (UV-B) is a relatively minor component of sunlight, but can induce stress-related physiological processes or UV-B-specific photomorphogenic responses in plants. In the last decade, significant progress has been made in understanding the UV-B photomorphogenic pathway, including identification of the key components in the pathway, molecular characterization of UV-B photoreceptor and perception mechanism, and elucidation of the signal transduction mechanisms from the photoactivated UV-B receptor to downstream gene expression. This review summarizes the key players identified to date in the UV-B photomorphogenic pathway and their roles in mediating UV-B signal transduction.

Genomic basis for light control of plant development

Light is one of the key environmental signals regulating plant growth and development. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms by which light controls plant development has long been of great interest to plant biologists. Traditional genetic and molecular approaches have successfully identified key regulatory factors in light signaling, but recent genomic studies have revealed massive reprogramming of plant transcriptomes by light, identified binding sites across the entire genome of several pivotal transcription factors in light signaling, and discovered the involvement of epigenetic regulation in light-regulated gene expression. This review summarizes the key genomic work conducted in the last decade which provides new insights into light control of plant development.

Rosuvastatin attenuates mucus secretion in a murine model of chronic asthma by inhibiting the gamma-aminobutyric acid type A receptor / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by reversible bronchial constriction, pulmonary inflammation and airway remodeling. Current standard therapies for asthma provide symptomatic control, but fail to target the underlying disease pathology. Furthermore, no therapeutic agent is effective in preventing airway remodeling. A substantial amount of evidence suggests that statins have anti-inflammatory properties and immunomodulatory activity. In this study, we investigated the effect of rosuvastatin on airway inflammation and its inhibitory mechanism in mucus hypersecretion in a murine model of chronic asthma.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>BALB/c mice were sensitized and challenged by ovalbumin to induce asthma. The recruitment of inflammatory cells into bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and the lung tissues were measured by Diff-Quik staining and hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining. ELISA was used for measuring the levels of IL-4, IL-5, IL-13 and TNF-α in BALF. Periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) staining was used for mucus secretion. Gamma-aminobutyric acid type A receptor (GABAAR) β2 expression was measured by means of immunohistochemistry, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blotting.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Rosuvastatin reduced the number of total inflammatory cells, lymphocytes, macrophages, neutrophils, and eosinophils recruited into BALF, the levels of IL-4, IL-5, IL-13 and TNF-α in BALF, along with the histological mucus index (HMI) and GABAAR β2 expression. Changes occurred in a dose-dependent manner.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Based on its ability to reduce the inflammatory response and mucus hypersecretion by regulating GABAAR activity in a murine model of chronic asthma, rosuvastatin may be a useful therapeutic agent for treatment of asthma.</p>

Regulation of epithelial sodium channel α-subunit expression by adenosine receptor A₂a in alveolar epithelial cells / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>The amiloride-sensitive epithelial sodium channel α-subunit (α-ENaC) is an important factor for alveolar fluid clearance during acute lung injury. The relationship between adenosine receptor A(2a) (A(2a)AR) expressed in alveolar epithelial cells and α-ENaC is poorly understood. We targeted the A(2a)AR in this study to investigate its role in the expression of α-ENaC and in acute lung injury.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A549 cells were incubated with different concentrations of A(2a)AR agonist CGS-21680 and with 100 µmol/L CGS-21680 for various times. Rats were treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) after CGS-21680 was injected. Animals were sacrificed and tissue was harvested for evaluation of lung injury by analysis of the lung wet-to-dry weight ratio, lung permeability and myeloperoxidase activity. RT-PCR and Western blotting were used to determine the mRNA and protein expression levels of α-ENaC in A549 cells and alveolar type II epithelial cells.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Both mRNA and protein levels of α-ENaC were markedly higher from 4 hours to 24 hours after exposure to 100 µmol/L CGS-21680. There were significant changes from 0.1 µmol/L to 100 µmol/L CGS-21680, with a positive correlation between increased concentrations of CGS-21680 and expression of α-ENaC. Treatment with CGS-21680 during LPS induced lung injury protected the lung and promoted α-ENaC expression in the alveolar epithelial cells.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Activation of A(2a)AR has a protective effect during the lung injury, which may be beneficial to the prognosis of acute lung injury.</p>

Activation of adenosine receptor A2a up-regulates epithelial sodium channel ?-subunit in cultured alveolar epithelium cells / 第三军医大学学报

Objective To investigate the effects of adenosine receptor A2a on the expression of epithelial sodium channel ?-subunit (?-ENaC) in alveolar epithelium A549 cells and the effects of adenosine receptor A2a in acute lung injury/aute respiratory distress syndrome. Methods After alveolar epithelium A549 Cells were incubated with 0,0.1,1,10 and 100 ?mol/L adenosine receptor A2a agonist CGS-21680 for 8 h or with 100 ?mol/L CGS-21680 for 0,1,4,8,24 and 48 h respectively,the mRNA and protein levels of ?-ENaC were determined by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot analysis respectively. Results After A549 cells were incubated with CGS-21680 at different doses for 8 h,the mRNA and protein levels of ?-ENaC were elevated significantly at 0.1 ?mol/L CGS-21680 treatment compared with the control group (P