Establishment and validation of a neonatal pig model of hemolytic jaundice / 中国当代儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To establish a neonatal pig model of hemolytic jaundice.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Twelve seven-day-old purebred Yorkshire pigs were randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group (n=6 each). Immunization of New Zealand white rabbits was used to prepare rabbit anti-porcine red blood cell antibodies, and rabbit anti-porcine red blood cell serum was separated. The neonatal pigs in the experimental group were given an intravenous injection of rabbit anti-porcine red blood cell serum (5 mL), and those in the control group were given an intravenous injection of normal saline (5 mL). Venous blood samples were collected every 6 hours for routine blood test and liver function evaluation.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The experimental group had a significantly higher serum bilirubin level than the control group at 18 hours after the injection of rabbit anti-porcine red blood cell serum (64±30 μmol/L vs 20±4 μmol/L; P<0.05). In the experimental group, the serum bilirubin level reached the peak at 48 hours (275±31 μmol/L), and decreased significantly at 96 hours after the injection (95±17 μmol/L), but all significantly higher than that in the control group (P<0.05). At 18 hours after the injection, the experimental group had a significantly lower red blood cell (RBC) count than the control group [(4.58±0.32)×10(12)/L vs (5.09±0.44)×10(12)/L; P<0.05]; at 24 hours, the experimental group showed further reductions in RBC count and hemoglobin level and had significantly lower RBC count and hemoglobin level than the control group [RBC: (4.21±0.24)×10(12)/L vs (5.11±0.39)×10(12)/L, P<0.05; hemoglobin: 87±3 g vs 97±6 g, P<0.05]. The differences in RBC count and hemoglobin level between the two groups were largest at 36-48 hours.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The neonatal pig model of hemolytic jaundice simulates the pathological process of human hemolytic jaundice well and provides good biological and material bases for further investigation of neonatal hemolysis.</p>

Diagnostic values of neopterin and S100b for central nervous system infections in children / 中国当代儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the diagnostic values of cerebrospinal concentrations of neopterin (NPT) and S100b for central nervous system infections in children.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to determinate the cerebrospinal concentrations of NPT and S100b in children with central nervous system infections and control children. The two groups of children were compared in terms of the two indicators, and the diagnostic values of the two indicators were evaluated by ROC curve analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Children with viral encephalitis had significantly increased cerebrospinal concentrations of NPT and S100b compared with the control group and children with purulent meningitis (P<0.01); there was no difference in the cerebrospinal concentration of NPT between children with purulent meningitis and the control group, while the concentration of S100b in the purulent meningitis group was significantly higher than in the control group (P<0.01). According to the ROC curves, S100b was more valuable than NPT in the diagnosis of viral encephalitis; when cerebrospinal concentration was more than 0.384 ng/mL, S100b had a sensitivity of 93.3% and a specificity of 97.9%; a combination of the two indicators had a higher diagnostic value for viral encephalitis, with a sensitivity of 96.7% and a specificity of 97.9%.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Both NPT and S100b have certain values in the diagnosis of central nervous system infections in children, and S100b is better than NPT.</p>

Impact of neonatal exposure to different doses of bisphenol A on puberty in female rats / 中国当代儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the effects of neonatal exposure to different doses of bisphenol A (BPA) on the vaginal opening day (VOD), hypothalamic Kiss-1 mRNA expression, and ovarian estrogen receptor (ER) mRNA expression in female rats.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Neonatal female Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into six groups: blank control, vehicle, 17β-estradiol (17β-estradiol, E2, 10 μg/d), low-dose BPA [25 μg(kg·d)], medium-dose BPA [50 μg(kg·d)], and high-dose BPA groups [250 μg(kg·d)]. The rats were subcutaneously injected with respective agents on postnatal days 0-6. The VOD was recorded, and each rat was sacrificed on the same day. The hypothalamus and ovary were taken and weighed, and the organ coefficients of hypothalamus and ovary were calculated. The hypothalamic Kiss-1 mRNA expression and ovarian ERα and ERβ mRNA expression were measured by real-time PCR.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with the control group, the E2 and medium- and high-dose BPA groups had advanced VOD, and the E2 group had significantly reduced hypothalamic Kiss-1 mRNA expression and ovarian ERβ mRNA expression (P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Neonatal exposure to medium- and high-dose BPA[50 and 250 μg/(kg·d)] can induce precocious puberty in rats, but it may not result from the change in hypothalamic Kiss-1 mRNA expression. Neonatal exposure to low-dose BPA [25 μg/(kg·d)] does not induce precocious puberty in rats.</p>

Changes of biological clock protein in neonatal rats with hypoxic-ischemic brain damage / 中国当代儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the effects of biological clock protein on circadian disorders in hypoxic-ischemic brain damage (HIBD) by examining levels of CLOCK and BMAL1 proteins in the pineal gland of neonatal rats.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Seventy-two 7-day-old Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into sham-operated and HIBD groups. HIBD model was prepared according to the modified Levine method. Western blot analysis was used to measure the levels of CLOCK and BMAL1 in the pineal gland at 0, 2, 12, 24, 36 and 48 hours after operation.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Both CLOCK and BMAL levels in the pineal gland increased significantly 48 hours after HIBD compared with the sham-operated group (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in levels of CLOCK and BMAL proteins between the two groups at 0, 2, 12, 24 and 36 hours after operation (P>0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Levels of CLOCK and BMAL1 proteins in the pineal gland of rats increase significantly 48 hours after HIBD, suggesting that both CLOCK and BMAL1 may be involved the regulatory mechanism of circadian disorders in rats with HIBD.</p>

Subcellular localization and identification of hydrogenase isolated from the marine green alga Platymonas subcordiformis using immunoprecipitation and MALDI-TOF MS / 生物工程学报

A marine unicellular green alga, Platymonas subcordiformis, was demonstrated to photobiologically produce hydrogen gas from seawater. The objective of this study was to localize and identify the hydrogenase isolated from P. subcordiformis. Adaptation in the presence of inhibitors of protein biosynthesis indicated that the hydrogenase was much more inhibited by cycloheximide than that by chloramphenicol. The result suggested that the hydrogenase isolated from P. subcordiformis is probably synthesized in cytoplasmic ribosomes. Both Western blot analysis and immunogold electron microscopy demonstrate that the P. subcordiformis hydrogenase is mainly located in the chloroplast stroma. The proteins that reacted specifically with the antibodies against the iron hydrogenase isolated from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii were concentrated by immunoprecipitation. The separated protein bands were cut out of the SDS-PAGE gel, in-gel digested by trypsin, and analyzed by Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). Mascot was employed for analysis of the MALDI data using the public databases NCBInr. The hydrogenase isolated from P. subcordiformis was identified to be the Fe-hydrogenase.

Impact of subculture cycles and inoculum sizes on suspension cultures of Vitis vinifera / 生物工程学报

The commercial application of plant cell cultures is often hindered by the instability of secondary metabolite biosynthesis, where the metabolite yield fluctuates and decline dramatically over subcultures. This study proposed that such instability is due to the fluctuations of culture variables. To validate this hypothesis, the effects of the fluctuations of two culture variables (subculture cycle and inoculum size) on the biomass, anthocyanin biosynthesig, intracellular carbon, nitrogen and phosphate during continuous 10 subculture cycles were investigated. The subculture cycle was fluctuated for 12h in a 7 day cycle (6.5, 7 and 7.5 d), and the inoculum size was fluctuated by 20% on basis of 2.00 g (1.60, 2.00 and 2.40 g). It was found that all the measured culture parameters fluctuated over the 10 subculture cycles. The fluctuation in terms of inoculum sizes had a greater effect on the stability of anthocyanin biosynthesis in suspension cultures of V. vinifera. Among all the subculture conditions investigated, 7d-subculture cycle and 1.60 g-inoculum size was the best one to hold the relatively stable anthocyanin production. The anthocyanin yield presented a negative correlation with intracellular sucrose content or intracellular total phosphate content.

Significant improved anthocyanins biosynthesis in suspension cultures of Vitis vinifera by process intensification / 生物工程学报

The low-production is a ubiquitous problem and has prevented the commercialization of secondary metabolite production in plant cell culture. In order to examine the effective approaches to improvement of secondary metabolite production in plant cell culture, the investigation of anthocyanins accumulation in suspension cultures of Vitis vinifera, as a model system, had been initiated in our laboratory. In this present research, various elicitors and the precursor of phenylalanine were used in combination to enhance the anthocyanins production in suspension cultures of Vitis vinifera. And an integrated process with the combination of elicitation, precursor feeding and light irradiation was reported for rational bioprocess design. Among the combination treatment of phenylalanine feeding and several elicitors (methyl-beta-cyclodextrin, dextran T-40, methyl jasmonate, extracts of Aspergillus niger and Fusarium orthoceras), the combination with methyl jasmonate gave the highest anthocyanins production in suspension cultures of Vitis vinifera. When compared to the controls, the anthocyanins content (CV/g, FCW) and production (CV/L) increased by 2.7-fold and 3.4-fold, respectively. The optimum time for the addition of phenylalanine and methyl jasmonate was 4 days after inoculation. Two cell lines with different anthocyanins-producing capacity responded differently to the optimum combination treatment of 30 micromol/L phenylalanine feeding, 218 micromol/L methyl jasmonate elicitation and 3000 to approximately 4000 1x light illumination. The high-and low-anthocyanins-producing cell lines of VV05 and VV06 produced the maximum of 2975 and 4090 CV/L of anthocyanins that were 2.5- and 5.2-fold of the controls, respectively.

Effect of homogeneity on cell growth and anthocyanin biosynthesis in suspension cultures of Vitis vinifera / 生物工程学报

The instability of secondary metabolite production is a ubiquitous problem in plant cell culture. To understand the instability, the investigation of anthocyanin accumulation in suspension cultures of Vitis vinifera, as a model system, has been initiated in our laboratory. Suspension culture of a relatively homogeneous cell line E of V. vinifera, was established by long-term cell line selection by anthocyanin content differentiation. The aggregate size of E was smaller than that of other cell lines obtained by routine screening method. The variation coefficients of anthocyanin content in suspension cultures of E were 8.7% in long-term subcultures and 5% in repeated flasks, respectively. The effects of elicitor, precursor feeding and light irridiation on biomass and anthocyanin accumulation in suspension cultures of E had been investigated and the results showed that all the variation coefficients were lower than 12% and this indicated the importance of homogeneity on stable production in plant cell culture. With the combination treatment of 30micromol/L phenylalanine and 218micromol/L methyl jasmonate in the dark in suspension cultures of E, the anthocyanin content and production in suspension culture of E was 5.89-fold and 4.30-fold of the controls, respectively, and all the variation coefficients of biomass and anthocyanin accumulation were lower than those of the controls in 5 successive subcultures.