Objective To determine the spatio-temporal expression of p70S6k activation in hippocampus in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. Methods Temporal lobe epilepsy model was established by stereotaxically unilateral and intrahip-pocampal injection of kainite acid (KA) in adult male C57BL/6 mice. Latent and chronic epileptogenesis were represented by mice 5 days after KA injection (n=5) and mice 5 weeks after KA injection (n=8), respectively. Control mice (n=5) were injected with saline. Immunohistochemical assays were performed on brain sections of the mice. Results Hippocampus both ipsilateral and contralateral to the KA injection displayed significantly up-regulated pS6 immunoreactivity in dispersed granule cells in 5-day and 5-week model mice. Conclusion The activation of p70S6k is mainly located in the dentate gyrus in KA-induced mouse model of temporal lobe epilepsy, indicating that the activation may be related with the disperse degree and hypertrophy of granule cells.
Objective To study the association between the epidermal growth factor(EGF) gene and intelligence in patients with major depression.Methods Intelligence measurement using Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale(WAIS) was perfor-med on 120 unrelated patients with major depression and 46 control subjects.Blood was collected from all subjects for extraction of genomic DNA.Four single nucleotide polymorphisms(SNPs) in the EGF gene were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism(PCR-RFLP) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry(MALDI-TOF-MS).Results Mean scores of both score lang and score task,two subtests in WAIS,differed significantly between major depression patients and controls(P<0.0001).Quantitative trait analysis showed that the genetype of rs2250724 was closely associated with score lang and score task in major depression patients.The associations were still significant after 10 000 permutations.Conclusions Although preliminary,our results provide evidence for association between the EGF gene and intelligence in patients with major depression.Genetic variation in the EGF gene may increase the susceptibility of major depression.
Objective To study the association of DTNBP1 gene with some symptom factors of schizophrenia.Methods A total of 285 unrelated schizophrenic individuals were recruited from December 2004 to January 2009 for genetic analysis,and their symptom factors were assessed based on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale(PANSS).The quantitative trait test was performed by the UNPHASED program(version 3.0.12) to investigate the association between scored positive and negative symptoms and the single nucleotide polymorphisms(SNPs) in DTNBP1 gene.Results The quantitative trait test showed allelic association of rs909706 with the excitement symptom of schizophrenia(P<0.05,adjusted by 10 000 permutations),while the genotype C/G of rs2619539 with a negative symptom,lack of spontaneity and flow of conversation(P<0.05,adjusted by 10 000 permutations).Conclusion DTNBP1 variations are possibly associated with some symptoms of schizophrenia,which could partly explain the relationship between the susceptibility gene DTNBP1 and that disease.
