Microinjection of a growth factor cocktail affects activated microglia in the neocortex of adult rats

Microglia, as the resident immune cells in the central nervous system, play important roles in regulating neuronal processes, such as neural excitability, synaptic activity, and apoptotic cell clearance. Growth factors can activate multiple signaling pathways in central nervous system microglia and can regulate their immune effects, but whether growth factors can affect the morphological characteristics and ultrastructure of microglia has not been reported. After microinjecting 300 nL of a growth factor cocktail, including 10 μg/mL epidermal growth factor, 10 μg/mL basic fibroblast growth factor, 10 μg/mL hepatocyte growth factor and 10 μg/mL insulin-like growth factor into adult rat cortex, we found that the number of IBA1-positive microglia around the injection area increased significantly, indicating local activation of microglia. All CD68-positive labeling co-localized with IBA1 in microglia. Cell bodies and protrusions of CD68-positive cells were strongly attached to or were engulfing neurons. Characteristic huge phagosomes were observed in activated phagocytes by electron microscopy. The phagosomes generally included non-degraded neuronal protrusions and mitochondria, yet they contained no myelin membrane or remnants, which might indicate selective phagocytosis by the phagocytes. The remnant myelin sheath after phagocytosis still had regenerative ability and formed "myelin-like" structures around phagocytes. These results show that microinjection of a growth factor cocktail into the cerebral cortex of rodents can locally activate microglia and induce selective phagocytosis of neural structures by phagocytes. The study was approved by the Institute of Laboratory Animal Science, Beijing Institute of Basic Medical Sciences(approval No. IACUC-AMMS-2014-501) on June 30, 2014.     

Vicenin 2 isolated from Artemisia capillaris exhibited potent anti-glycation properties

Vicenin 2, isolated from a traditionally used medicinal plant Artemisia capillaris, is a 6,8-di-C-glucoside of apigenin which has been previously reported to possess a wide variety of pharmacological activities including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and hepatoprotective. However, there have not been any reports concerning its anti-diabetic potential until now. Therefore, in the present study, we evaluated the anti-diabetic potential of vicenin 2 via α-glucosidase, protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B), rat lens aldose reductase (RLAR), and advanced glycation end products (AGE) formation inhibitory assays. Vicenin 2 strongly inhibited α-glucosidase, PTP1B, and RLAR in the corresponding assays. In addition, vicenin 2 inhibited the formation of both fluorescent AGE and nonfluorescent AGE, e.g., CML, as well as the level of fructosamine in glucose–fructose-induced bovine serum albumin (BSA) glycation. In the test system, vicenin 2 suppressed glycation-induced protein oxidation by attenuating the formation of protein carbonyl groups as well as by inhibiting the modification of protein thiol groups. Moreover, vicenin 2 was found to be a potent inhibitor of glycation-induced formation of amyloid cross-β structures in BSA. Taken together, vicenin 2 might be a useful lead for the development of multiple target-oriented therapeutic modalities for the treatment of diabetes and diabetes-associated complications.     

The short- and long-term proteomic effects of sleep deprivation on the cortical and thalamic synapses

Acute total sleep deprivation (SD) impairs memory consolidation, attention, working memory and perception. Structural, electrophysiological and molecular experimental approaches provided evidences for the involvement of sleep in synaptic functions. Despite the wide scientific interest on the effects of sleep on the synapse, there is a lack of systematic investigation of sleep-related changes in the synaptic proteome. We isolated parietal cortical and thalamic synaptosomes of rats after 8 h of total SD by gentle handling and 16 h after the end of deprivation to investigate the short- and longer-term effects of SD on the synaptic proteome, respectively. The SD efficiency was verified by electrophysiology. Protein abundance alterations of the synaptosomes were analyzed by fluorescent two-dimensional differential gel electrophoresis and by tandem mass spectrometry. As several altered proteins were found to be involved in synaptic strength regulation, our data can support the synaptic homeostasis hypothesis function of sleep and highlight the long-term influence of SD after the recovery sleep period, mostly on cortical synapses. Furthermore, the large-scale and brain area-specific protein network change in the synapses may support both ideas of sleep-related synaptogenesis and molecular maintenance and reorganization in normal rat brain.     

小鼠DETCs表型及功能的初步研究

目的通过分析小鼠表皮内T淋巴细胞(dendritic epidermal T cells,DETCs)的形态、表型及细胞因子的表达情况,揭示小鼠DETCs活化后能够发挥抗原递呈功能。方法通过免疫荧光的方法观察DETCs的形态,通过流式细胞技术分析DETCs的表型及细胞因子的表达情况。通过DETCs和na觙ve CD4+T细胞进行共培养,观察DETCs对淋巴细胞分化方向的影响。结果 DETCs在形态上表现出抗原递呈细胞的树突状特征,活化后分泌一定水平的IFN-γ,DETCs活化后在体外与na觙ve CD4+T细胞共培养可以诱导该型T细胞向Th1方向分化。结论小鼠DETCs具有抗原递呈细胞的基本特征,是皮肤免疫微环境的重要组成部分。     

Silicone rubber membrane with specific pore size enhances wound regeneration

A porous structure is critically important for wound dressing or tissue engineering scaffolds. However, the influence of the pore sizes on cell proliferation, tissue regeneration and the underlying mechanism remains unclear. In this study, silicone rubber membranes with different pore sizes were prepared using certain constituents of liquid silicone rubber precursor/liquid paraffin/hexane based on our previous studies. It was found that pore size had a significant impact on cell proliferation and wound healing. The CCK8 analysis revealed that the membrane with a certain pore size (110.47 μm, middle pore membrane, MPM) was suitable for cell proliferation compared with the membranes with other pore sizes (218.03 μm, large pore membrane, LPM; 5.27 μm, small pore membrane, SPM; non‐porous membrane, NPM). Further studies demonstrated that the MPM promoted cell proliferation via activating the Wnt/β‐catenin signalling pathway. More importantly, wound healing experiments showed that 7 days post‐wounding, the rate of wound healing was 89.25% with the MPM, which was significantly higher than with LPM, SPM or NPM. The in vivo data indicated that wound healing was accelerated by treatment with a silicone rubber membrane with a pore size of 110.47 μm. Our results strongly suggest that different pore structures might affect cell proliferation and wound healing and that a silicone rubber membrane with a specific pore size could potentially be used as a promising wound dressing. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

单核-巨噬细胞的异质性及其对创面愈合的调控研究进展

单核吞噬细胞系统(MPS)主要由骨髓中单核细胞前体、外周血中的单核细胞、组织中的巨噬细胞和树突状细胞(DC)组成。其中,巨噬细胞和DC分布在机体的多个组织器官,发挥免疫监控和抵御病原体入侵的作用。然而,不同部位的这些细胞在组织形态和功能上存在一定差异,即使是同一器官中的巨噬细胞也不尽相同。皮肤中的单核-巨噬细胞主要包括表皮中的朗格汉斯细胞以及真皮中的巨噬细胞和真皮树突状细胞(dDC),它们共同参与调控创面愈合过程中的炎症反应、肉芽组织生成和组织重塑,达到促进创面愈合的作用。