17β-雌二醇对子宫内膜异位症患者在位子宫内膜间质细胞β-catenin mRNA和蛋白表达的影响

目的研究17β-雌二醇(17β-E2)对子宫内膜异位症(内异症)患者在位子宫内膜间质细胞β-catenin mRNA和蛋白表达的影响,探讨Wnt/β-catenin信号通路在介导雌激素促进内异症发生发展的作用。方法体外分离培养内异症患者在位子宫内膜间质细胞。用不同浓度17β-E2处理子宫内膜间质细胞48 h;此后选用10-10mol/L 17β-E2处理子宫内膜间质细胞12、24和48 h,逆转录聚合酶链反应(RT-PCR)和免疫印迹法(Western blotting)检测17β-E2处理前后子宫内膜间质细胞β-catenin mRNA和蛋白的表达水平。同法分析雌激素受体拮抗剂ICI182,780(10-6mol/L)对17β-E2促进β-catenin mRNA和蛋白表达的影响。免疫组织化学染色观察17β-E2作用后β-catenin在子宫内膜间质细胞中的定位。结果17β-E2能明显促进内异症患者在位子宫内膜间质细胞β-catenin mRNA和蛋白的表达,并呈剂量和时间依赖性,于10-10mol/L作用48 h最明显。雌激素受体拮抗剂ICI182,780能明显抑制17β-E2对子宫内膜间质细胞β-catenin mRNA和蛋白的表达。免疫组织化学染色发现17β-E2能促进β-catenin在子宫内膜间质细胞核内的表达。结论雌激素可能通过激活Wnt/β-catenin信号通路促进内异症在位子宫内膜的异位种植。     

血管通透性的调节和游离微血管技术在其研究中的应用

Vascular hyperpermeability is a cardinal feature of inflammation or bum in which an array of inflammatory mediators can cause such changes in the microvessels. The fimctional measures of microvascular exchange that represent the properties of microvascular wails are the permeability coefficients which have been reported from measurements on intact whole organisms (including human subjects}, on perfused tissues and organs, on single perfused microvessels, and on monolayers of cultured microvascular endothelial cells. In this review, we summarize some experiments of vascular permeability in individually isolated perfused microvessels.     

外源性三磷酸腺苷对肾小管上皮细胞增殖的影响

观察外源性三磷酸腺苷（ＡＴＰ）对肾小管上皮细胞株ＬＬＣＰＫ１增殖的影响。方法通过测定３Ｈ－胸腺嘧啶掺入、细胞计数以及细胞内丝裂素活化蛋白激酶活性，并与表皮生长因子（ＥＧＦ）的作用比较。结果发现ＡＴＰ呈浓度依赖性促进细胞的ＤＮＡ合成，并可使细胞计数增加，同时激活细胞内的丝裂素活化蛋白激酶，其作用与ＥＧＦ相似。腺苷与ＡＴＰ有类似作用，但较弱。核苷酸转运蛋白抑制剂对４－硝基苯６－硫基甙并不能抑制ＡＴＰ及腺苷的作用。结论细胞外ＡＴＰ可促进肾小管上皮细胞增殖，并可增强ＥＧＦ的促增殖作用，这一作用可能是通过膜受体介导的细胞内丝裂素活化蛋白激酶活化而实现的     

Singularities explained: Response to Klein.

Klein [Klein, A. S. (2006). Separating transducer nonlinearities and multiplicative noise in contrast discrimination. Vision Research, 46, 4279-4293] questions the existence of intrinsic singularities in two-alternative force-choice (2AFC) Signal Detection Theory (SDT) models, suggesting that the singularities found in Katkov et al. [Katkov, M., Tsodyks, M., & Sagi, D. (2006a). Singularities in the inverse modeling of 2AFC contrast discrimination data. Vision Research, 46, 259-266; Katkov, M., Tsodyks, M., & Sagi, D. (2006b). Analysis of two-alternative force-choice Signal Detection Theory model. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 50, 411-420] are due to discarding higher order terms in the Taylor expansion of d' and/or limited to steep psychometric functions. Here we provide some simple intuitive examples that illustrate the results described in Katkov et al. (2006a, 2006b). We show, for the constant noise model, that singularities exist when exact values of d' are computed and that the singularities are not limited to steep psychometric functions. In these cases the disambiguation of the different models requires millions of trials.     

Advances in processing of surface myoelectric signals: Part 1

During sustained voluntary or electrically elicted muscle contractions the surface myoelectric signal is nonstationary and it undergoes progressive changes reflecting the modifications of the motor unit action potentials and their propagation velocity. In particular, during sustained electrical stimulation, the evoked signals show progressive amplitude, time scaling and shape modification. The quantitative evaluation of these changes is important for non-invasive muscle characterisation and may be performed in either the time or frequency domain using parametric and nonparametric spectral analysis as well as alternative methodologies. The paper introduces the detection techniques, reviews and compares the methods of spectral estimation based on FFT and autoregressive models, and discusses their applications and limitations in extracting information from the surface myoelectric signal with particular regard to myoelectric manifestations of localised muscle fatigue during sustained contractions.     

Pheophytin a, a low molecular weight compound found in the marine brown alga Sargassum fulvellum, promotes the differentiation of PC12 cells

We identified and characterized a neurodifferentiation compound from the marine brown alga Sargassum fulvellum collected from the Japanese coastline. Several instrumental analyses revealed the compound to be pheophytin a. Pheophytin a did not itself promote neurite outgrowth of PC12 cells. However, when PC12 cells were treated with a low concentration of pheophytin a (3.9 microg/ml) in the presence of a low level of nerve growth factor (10 ng/ml), the compound produced neurite outgrowth similar to that produced by a high level of nerve growth factor (50 ng/ml). Pheophytin a also enhanced signal transduction in the mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway, which is also induced by nerve growth factor. The effect of pheophytin a on neurite outgrowth of PC12 cells was completely blocked by U0126, a representative mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase inhibitor. These results suggest that pheophytin a enhances the neurodifferentiation of PC12 cells in the presence of a low level of nerve growth factor and that this effect is mediated by activation of a mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway.     

A rare polymorphism affects a mitogen-activated protein kinase site in synapsin III: possible relationship to schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: Synapsin III plays a role in neuronal plasticity and maps to chromosome 22q12-13, a region suggested to be linked to schizophrenia. To determine if synapsin III plays a role in this disease, we searched for polymorphisms in this gene in patients with schizophrenia and controls. METHODS: The synapsin III gene was initially sequenced from 10 individuals with schizophrenia to identify polymorphisms. Association analysis was then performed using 118 individuals with schizophrenia and 330 population controls. Synapsin III expression was studied by immunoblot analyses, and phosphorylation sites were mapped by sequencing trypsin-digested synapsin III fragments phosphorylated with phosphorus-32. RESULTS: A rare, missense polymorphism, S470N, was identified in the synapsin III gene and appeared more frequently in individuals with schizophrenia than in controls (p =.0048). The site affected by the polymorphism, Ser470, was determined to be a substrate for mitogen-activated protein kinase, a downstream effector of neurotrophin action. Phosphorylation at Ser470 was increased during neonatal development and in response to neurotrophin-3 in cultured hippocampal neurons. CONCLUSIONS: Our observations suggest an association of a rare polymorphism in synapsin III with schizophrenia, but further studies will be required to clarify its role in this disease.     

正常儿童椎体骨髓转换过程中磁共振信号强度的变化

目的:分析椎体骨髓磁共振T1WI信号强度比值(SIR)与年龄、性别的关系,探讨正常儿童椎体骨髓转换的发生规律.方法:回顾性分析105例正常儿童的脊柱磁共振T1加权序列图像,同时选择血液系统疾病患儿共32例作为病例组对照研究.采用GE 0.2T Profile Gold永磁型开放式磁共振扫描仪行脊柱矢状面SE T1WI扫描.测定椎体磁共振SIR,并对所获得的数据与年龄、性别的关系及正常组和病例组间的比较进行统计学处理.结果:椎体SIR值与年龄变化的关系研究表明,颈椎、腰椎骨髓SIR值与年龄呈正相关,统计学具有显著性意义(P＜0.01),而胸椎骨髓SIR值则与年龄无显著相关性(P=0.06);无论是颈椎、胸椎还是腰椎的SIR值与性别均无显著相关性(P＞0.05);病例组患儿椎体T1信号强度较正常组儿童明显减低,各年龄组病例与正常组间的SIR值差异均具有显著性意义(P＜0.01).结论:儿童年龄段(0～17岁)颈椎和腰椎骨髓转换发生较早,5岁后的骨髓信号较前发生明显增高,而且血液系统疾病患者椎体骨髓T1信号较正常显著减低.因此,利用SIR定量测定法对弥漫性骨髓疾病具有更高的敏感性.