Ovary development is a complex process involving numerous genes. A well-developed ovary is essential for females to keep fertility and reproduce offspring. In order to gain a better insight into the molecular mechanisms related to the process of mammalian ovary development, we performed a comparative transcriptomic analysis on ovaries isolated from infant and adult mice by using next-generation sequencing technology （SOLID）. We identified 15,454 and 16,646 trans- criptionally active genes at the infant and adult stage, respectively. Among these genes, we also identified 7021 differentially expressed genes. Our analysis suggests that, in general, the adult ovary has a higher level of transcriptomic activity. However, it appears that genes related to primordial follicle development, such as those encoding Figla and Nobox, are more active in the infant ovary, whereas expression of genes vital for follicle development, such as Gdj~, Bmp4 and Bmpl5, is upreg- ulated in the adult. These data suggest a dynamic shift in gene expression during ovary development and it is apparent that these changes function to facilitate follicle maturation, when additional func- tional gene studies are considered. Furthermore, our investigation has also revealed several impor- tant functional pathways, such as apoptosis, MAPK and steroid biosynthesis, that appear to be much more active in the adult ovary compared to those of the infant. These findings will provide a solid foundation for future studies on ovary development in mice and other mammals and help to expand our understanding of the complex molecular and cellular events that occur during postnatal ovary development.
Linlin PanWei GongYuanyuan ZhouXiaonuan LiJun YuSongnian Hu
To identify the metabolite and CYP450 isoforms involved in rat liver microsomal metabolism of TM208. The present study investigated the metabolism of TM208 and the effects of selective CYP450 inhibitors on the metabolism of TM208 in rat liver microsomes. Various specific inhibitors of CYP were used to identify the isoforms of CYP involved in the metabolism of TM208. The inhibitor of CYP2D and that of CYP2B had strong inhibitory effects on TM208 metabolism in a concentration-de- pendant manner, the inhibitor of CYP1A had a modest inhibitory effect, and the inhibitor of CYP3A seemed not to have an obvious inhibitory effect on TM208 metabolism. TM208 might mainly be metabolized by CYP2D and CYP2B in rat liver microsomes.
NiO-Ce0.5Zr0.5O2 catalysts were prepared by citrate method and used for hydrogen production from steam reforming of ethanol （SRE）. The effect of nickel content and space velocity on the catalytic performance was investigated. The prepared catalysts were characterized with XRD and thermal analysis techniques. 20%NiO-Ce0.5Zr0.5O2catalyst was very active and selective for hydrogen production via SRE, in which ethanol conversion of 100% could be obtained with feed component of 20% （H2O＋EtOH） and 80% N2, water/ethanol of 3/1 in molar ratio at 350 ℃. Also, the catalyst showed good stability for anti-sintering and carbon-resistance. The XRD illuminated that both NiO and Ce0.5Zr0.5O2 crystal sizes were very small in NiO-Ce0.5Zr0.5O2 catalyst, and Ce0.5Zr0.5O2 solid solution was formed.
As the core part of reciprocating compressor,piston rod is easy to cause a serious accident when abrasion and breakage fault occur to it. Therefore,it is very important to monitor its running state. At present,a small number of reciprocating compressors have been installed on-line monitoring and diagnosis system,most of which can only monitor a single vertical subsidence of piston rod and it can't fully represent the running state of piston rod. Therefore,a method of monitoring the vertical and horizontal displacement of piston rod axis orbit is simultaneously used. In view of the characteristics that the piston rod axis orbit is disordered and difficult to extract features,purification of the axis orbit is carried out based on harmonic wavelet and then features are extracted such as vibration energy,natural frequency and the axis orbit envelope area. After that,a nonlinear local tangent space manifold learning algorithm is used to reduce the dimension of the features and obtain sensitive features. By analyzing the practical cases,the effectiveness of the method for fault monitoring and diagnosis of reciprocating compressor piston rod assembly has been verified. Finally,as BP neural network has the characteristics of solving complex nonlinear problems,the validity of the fault diagnosis method of reciprocating compressor piston rod based on harmonic wavelet and manifold learning is proved by actual case data analysis based on BP neural network.
8-Sphingolipid desaturase is the key enzyme that catalyses desaturation at the C8 position of the long-chain base of sphingolipids in higher plants. There have been no previous studies on the genes encoding AS-sphingolipid desaturases in Brassica rapa. In this study, four genes encoding AS-sphingolipid desaturases from B. rapa were isolated and characterised. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that these genes could be divided into two groups： BrD8A, BrD8C and BrD8D in group I, and BrD8B in group II. The two groups of genes diverged before the separation of Arabidopsis and Brassica. Though the four genes shared a high sequence similarity, and their coding desaturases all located in endoplasmic reticulum, they exhibited distinct expression patterns. Heterologous expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae revealed that BrD8A/B/C/D were functionally diverse AS-sphingolipid desaturases that catalyse different ratios of the two products 8（Z）- and 8（E）-C18-phytosphingenine. The aluminium tolerance of transgenic yeasts expressing BrD8A/B/C/D was enhanced compared with that of control cells. Expression of BrD8A in Arabidopsis changed the ratio of 8（Z）：8（E）-C 18-phytosphingenine in transgenic plants. The information reported here provides new insights into the biochemical functional diversity and evolutionary relationship of AS-sphingolipid desaturase in plants and lays a foundation for further investigation of the mechanism of 8（Z）- and 8（E）-C18- phytosphingenine biosynthesis.
Shu-Fen LiLi-Ying SongWei-Bo Yinyu-Hong ChenLiang ChenJi-Lin LiRichard R.-C.WangZan-Min Hu
The major obstacle in using pancreatic islet transplantation to cure type I and some type II diabetes is the shortage of the donors. One of ways to overcome such obstacle is to isolate and clone pancreatic stem cells as "seed cells" and induce their differentiation into functional islets as an abundant trans-plantation source. In this study, a monoclonal human pancreatic stem cell (mhPSC) line was obtained from abortive fetal pancreatic tissues. Pancreatic tissues were taken from abortive fetus by sterile procedures, and digested into single cells and cell clusters with 0.1% type IV collagenase. Cultured in modified glucose-low DMEM with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS), these single cells and cell clusters adhered to culture dishes, and then primary epidermal-like pancreatic stem cells started to clone. After digesting with 0.25% trypsin and 0.04% EDTA, fibroblasts and other cells were gradually eliminated and epithelioid pancreatic stem cells were gradually purified during generations. Using clone-ring selection, the mhPSCs were obtained. After addition of 10 ng/mL epidermal growth factor (EGF) in cell culture medium, the mhPSCs quickly grew and formed a gravelstone-like monolayer. Continuously proliferated, a mhPSC line, which was derived from a male abortive fetus of 4 months old, has been passed through 50 generations. More than 1×109 mhPSCs were cryo-preserved in liquid nitrogen. Karyotype analysis showed that the chromosome set of the mhPSC line was normal diploid. Immunocytochemistry results demonstrated that the mhPSC line was positive for the pdx1, glucagon, nestin and CK19, and negative for the insulin, CD34, CD44 and CD45 protein expression. RT-PCR revealed further that the mhPSCs expressed transcription factors of the pdx1, glucagon, nestin and CK19. Also, in vitro induced with β-mercaptoethanol, the mhPSCs differentiated into nerve cells that expressed the NF protein. Induced with nicotinamide, the mhPSCs differentiated into functional islet-like clusters, as identified by di-thizone staining, which e
The gut microbiota is mainly composed of a diverse population of commensal bacterial species and plays a pivotal role in the maintenance of intestinal homeostasis, immune modulation and metabofism. The influence of the gut microbiota on solid organ transplantation has recently been recognized. In fact, several studies indicated that acute and chronic allograft rejection in small bowel transplantation （SBT） is closely associated with the alterations in microbial patterns in the gut. In this review, we focused on the recent findings regarding alterations in the microbiota following SBT and the potential roles of these alterations in the development of acute and chronic allograft rejection. We also reviewed important advances with respect to the interplays between the microbiota and host immune systems in SBT. Furthermore, we explored the potential of the gut microbiota as a microbial marker and/or therapeutic target for the predication and intervention of allografl rejection and chronic dysfunction. Given that current research on the gut microbiota has become increasingly sophisticated and comprehensive, large cohort studies employing metagenomic analysis and multivariate linkage should be designed for the characterization of host-microbe interaction and causality between microbiota alterations and clinical outcomes in SBT. The findings are expected to provide valuable insights into the role of gut microbiota in the development of allograft rejection and other transplant-related complications and introduce novel therapeutic targets and treatment approaches in clinical practice.
