Betaine suppressed Aß generation by altering amyloid precursor protein processing.

Betaine was an endogenous catabolite of choline, which could be isolated from vegetables and marine products. Betaine could promote the metabolism of homocysteine in healthy subjects and was used for hyperlipidemia, coronary atherosclerosis, and fatty liver in clinic. Recent findings shown that Betaine rescued neuronal damage due to homocysteine induced Alzheimer's disease (AD) like pathological cascade, including tau hyperphosphorylation and amyloid-ß (Aß) deposition. Aß was derived from amyloid precursor protein (APP) processing, and was a triggering factor for AD pathological onset. Here, we demonstrated that Betaine reduced Aß levels by altering APP processing in N2a cells stably expressing Swedish mutant of APP. Betaine increased α-secretase activity, but decreased ß-secretase activity. Our data indicate that Betaine might play a protective role in Aß production.

[Comparison of serological detection effects of ELISA using rTpN17 or rTpN47 of Treponema pallidum as antigen with that of TPHA and TRUST].

OBJECTIVE: To clone tpn17 and tpn47 genes of Treponema pallidum and then construct their prokaryotic expression systems,to establish ELISAs based on rTpN17 and rTpN47 as antigens and to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of the ELISAs for detection of serological diagnosis of syphilis. METHODS: The whole length of tpn17 and tpn47 genes was amplified by PCR and then their prokaryotic expression systems were constructed. SDS-PAGE was used to measure the expression of the target recombinant proteins rTpN17 and rTpN47. Ni-NTA affinity chromatography was applied to extract rTpN17 and rTpN47, while Western blot was performed to determine the specific immunoreactivity of rTpN17 and rTpN47. By using rTpN17 and rTpN47 as the coated antigen, respectively, ELISAs (rTpN17-ELISA and rTpN47-ELISA) were established to detect serum samples from 200 healthy individuals, 25 RA patients, 17 SLE patients and 211 syphilis patients. The detection effects of the ELISAs were compared to those of TRUST and TPHA. RESULT: The sequence similarity of the cloned tpn17 and tpn47 genes was 100 % compared with the corresponding sequences in GenBank. The expression outputs of rTpN17 and rTpN47 were approximately 37.2 % and 26.8 % of the total bacterial proteins, respectively. Both the extracted rTpN17 and rTpN47 could take place remarkable conjugation reactions to the sera with positive antibody against Treponema pallidum.The positive detection rate of TPHA (99.1%) was the highest (P<0.001). The positive detection rates of rTpN17-ELISA (85.3 %) and rTpN47-ELISA (84.3 %) were similar (P>0.05). The positive detection rates of TRUST (72.5 %) was lower than that of rTpN17-ELISA (P=0.001) but similar to that of rTpN47-ELISA (P=0.014). The detection results of all the serum samples from healthy individuals, RA patients and SLE patients were negative, whereas 7.1 % (3/42) of the samples from RA or SLE patients were positive. CONCLUSION: rTpN17 and rTpN47 are still maintaining their original immunoreactivity. The ELISAs using rTpN17 or rTpN47 as the antigen are rapid, simple and convenient, higher sensitivity and specificity methods for serological screening and detection of syphilis.

[Expression of tyrosine phosphatase containing C-src homology SH-2 in benign prostate hyperplasia].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the expression of tyrosine phosphatase containing C-src homology SH-2 (SHP-1 and SHP-2) in benign prostate hyperplasia. METHODS: With En Vision two-step method, the expression of SHP-1 and SHP-2 was detected in 10 cases of normal prostate tissue, 30 cases of BPH, 20 cases of PIN, 20 cases of high differential Pca and 20 cases of low differential Pca. RESULT: The expression of SHP-2 in normal group was mainly distributed in the cytoplasm of secretive cells and basal cells, and a little part in the nucleu. In BPH it was distributed equally in the plasm and nucleu. In PIN, high differential Pca and low differential Pca, SHP-2 expressed mainly in nucleu. The average dyeing index of SHP-2 in each group is 0.4, 1.7, 2.1, 2.2 and 2.6. SHP-1 positive expression in normal prostate, BPH, PIN and high differential Pca showed differentiating layer staining in the cytoplasm of secretive cells and basal cells, while not in low differential Pca. The average dyeing index of SHP-1 in each group is 1.8, 1.8, 1.5, 1.2 and 0.4. CONCLUSION: There are transformation in signal transduction relation with SHP-1 and SHP-2 in the progress of prostate cell proliferation, differentiation and malignant. The abnormal activation and distribution of SHP-2 might induce prostate reconstruction and hyperplasia, even carcinoma.