Effect of Acupuncture on Ovary Morphology and Function in DHEA-Induced Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Model Rats.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of acupuncture on ovary morphology and function in dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)-induced polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) model rats. METHODS: A total of 40 adult female Wistar rats were randomly allocated to 4 groups by a random number table, including control, model, metformin and acupuncture groups, 10 rats in each group. PCOS rat model was developed by injecting with DHEA (6 mg/100 g body weight) in 0.2 mL of oil subcutaneously. Electrical stimulation (2 Hz, 3 mA) was applied to Guanyuan (CV 4), Zigong (EX-CA1) and Qihai (CV 6) acupoints for 30 min daily in the acupuncture group, and metformin (200 mg/kg) was given to rats in the metformin group, both once per day for 21 consecutive days, and rats in the normal group was fed with normal saline and fed regularly. After 21 days of administration, the rat blood samples were collected for detecting the reproductive hormonal levels [luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), estradiol (E2), progesterone (P), testosterone (T)] and inflammatory factors (visfatin, IL-6) analysis. Ovary tissue was used for histopathological analysis. RESULTS: Compared with the model group, rats in the acupuncture and metformin groups were significantly lower in weight gain, FSH, LH and T levels, and E2 and P levels significantly increased (alll P<0.05). Meanwhile, LH and FSH levels were significantly decreased, and P, T and E2 levels significantly increased in the acupuncture group, compared with the metformin group (P<0.05). Compared with the model group, IL-6 and visfatin levels were significantly decreased in the acupuncture and metformin groups (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in IL-6 and visfatin levels between the acupuncture and metformin groups (P>0.05). Ovarian diameter in the acupuncture and metformin groups were smaller than the model group (P<0.05). However, there were no significant differences in ovarian diameters between the acupuncture and metformin groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Acupuncture might improve ovary morphology and its function in DHEA-induced PCOS model rats.

Attractiveness-related recognition bias captures the memory of the beholder.

Earlier electroencephalographic studies have compared attractive and unattractive faces and between faces with other objects, such as flowers, without revealing if a recognition memory bias toward faces and flowers exists or whether humans exhibit enhanced specific components toward all attractive objects or only toward attractive faces. For objects with similar degrees of attractiveness, we sought to determine if the N170, P1, and N250 reflect upon the attractiveness of faces and flowers and demonstrated by comparing event-related potentials of humans' different perceptual mechanisms recognizing high attractive faces and high attractive flowers. The repeated high attractive faces tended to elicit a larger N170. Simultaneously, the P1 was preferentially associated with the repeated high attractive flowers, but both indicated that the repetitive enhancement effect only occurred on repeated attractive faces. Thus, differences existed in the perceptual mechanisms for processing repeated high attractive faces and repeated high attractive flowers. However, there was no significant difference in N250 between repeated faces and repeated flowers or between high attractive faces and high attractive flowers. Consequently, high attractive faces and high attractive flowers capture the beholder's memory bias in different processing stages. The N170 and P1 components are affected by attractiveness, thereby demonstrating the differences between human perceptual mechanisms in recognizing high attractive faces and objects.

Application of GP5 protein to develop monoclonal antibody against porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus.

In this study, a panel of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus(PRRSV), named as 8C9 and4B4, were produced by fusing SP2/0 myeloma cells and spleen cells of BALB/c mice immunized with the PRRSV (TCID(50)=5.5), screened by the indirect ELISA and subjected to several limiting dilutions. mAbs were then identified by biological characterization. Among the two fusion cell strains, 8C9 belonged to the IgG1 subclass and 4B4 belonged to the IgG2a subclass. The titers in cell culture supernatant and abdomen liquor reached to 1:10(4)and 1:10(5), respectively. The specificity test indicated that the two cells had specific reactions for the PRRSV and GP5 protein respectively, and no reaction with Classical swine fever virus (CSFV) or Swine vesicular disease virus (SVDV). The molecular weights of the heavy chain and light chain were about 45.0 kDa and 25.0 kDa, respectively. In neutralization activity tests, the results showed that the prepared mAb 4B4 can protect 50% of cells with no CPE in dilution up to 1:512, but mAB 8C9 has no neutralization activities to PRRSV.