Association of single nucleotide polymorphism in melatonin receptor 1A gene with egg production traits in Yangzhou geese.

In the present study the melatonin receptor 1A gene (MTNR1A) was proposed to be a candidate gene for egg production in Yangzhou geese. A total of 210 goose blood samples were collected to investigate the association of the MTNR1A gene with the number of eggs produced. Using a direct sequencing method, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP; g.177G>C) was detected in the 5' regulatory region of the MTNR1A gene (Genbank ss1985399687). Two alleles (G and C) and three genotypes were identified. Association analysis results showed that the g.177G>C SNP significantly affected the level of egg production within a 34-week egg-laying period (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the geese with the GG genotype produced significantly more eggs compared to the geese with the CC genotype. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis showed that the MTNR1A gene was highly expressed in small intestine, granulosa cell and ovary compared to other examined tissues. In addition, the mRNA expression level of MTNR1A in ovary indicated that significantly higher expression levels were recorded for geese with the GG genotype compared to those with the CC genotype. Moreover, a luciferase reporter assay showed that the CC genotype had significantly lower promoter activity than did GG. These results suggest that the identified SNP in the MTNR1A gene may influence the number of eggs produced and mRNA expression levels in Yangzhou geese and could be considered as a useful molecular marker in goose selection and improvement, especially for egg production.

Myostatin inhibits porcine intramuscular preadipocyte differentiation in vitro.

This study assessed the effect of myostatin on adipogenesis by porcine intramuscular preadipocytes. Intramuscular preadipocytes were isolated from the longissimus dorsi muscle of newborn pigs. Myostatin inhibited intramuscular preadipocyte differentiation in a dose-dependent manner. Myostatin treatment during preadipocyte differentiation significantly (P < 0.05) inhibited the expression of the adipogenic marker genes CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein ß, CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein α, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ, sterol regulatory element-binding protein-1c, fatty acid-binding protein, and adiponectin. Myostatin also significantly (P < 0.05) reduced the release of glycerol and decreased both adipose triglyceride lipase and hormone-sensitive lipase expression in intramuscular adipocytes. Our study suggests that myostatin acts as an extrinsic regulatory factor in regulating intramuscular adipogenesis.

[Combined therapy for 121 cases of advanced cancer of the maxillary sinus].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the possibility of combined therapy (chemotherapy + surgery) for advanced cancer of maxillary sinus. METHOD: Pre-operative radiation + surgery for 61 cases and preoperative chemotherapy + operation for 60 cases were performed. Radiotherapy referred to the use of linear accelerator and/or 60 Co with the dosage of 40-60 Gy. Chemotherapy referred to the administration of CDDP. VCR, and pingyangmycin. RESULT: The survival rate observed in the 61 cases treated with radiation operation was 36.1%; while the other 60 cases treated by chemotherapy + operation had a survival rate of 31.1%. CONCLUSION: The better way to treat advanced cancer of the maxillary sinus is pre-operative chemotherapy + surgery. In addition, repeated application of chemotherapy can raise the effect of surgical treatment.

[Analysis of 19 cases adenoid cystic carcinoma of the nasal cavity].

OBJECTIVE: To study the biological features of adenoid cystic carcinoma of the nasal cavity in order to provide a basis for its clinical treatment. METHOD: A retrospective analysis was made to 19 cases which were treated with operation combined with preoperative chemotherapy and radiation. RESULT: 5, 8, and 10 years' follow-ups conducted post treatment showed the local recurrence rates were 5.3%, 21.1%, and 31.6% respectively. CONCLUSION: Adenoid cystic carcinoma of the nasal cavity is highlighted because of high-degree local infiltration, the specific anatomy of the cavity, and the difficulty of wide-ranging surgical resection. Preoperative chemotherapy combined with radiation has the advantages of extinguishing the recessive cancerous foci, inhibiting the primary foci and lowering local recurrences and cancerous metastases. Thus it constitutes an effective way to deal with this malignancy.

Geraniol, an inhibitor of mevalonate biosynthesis, suppresses the growth of hepatomas and melanomas transplanted to rats and mice.

Farnesyl-pyrophosphate is required for the posttranslational modification of G proteins including p21 ras, prelamin A and lamin B, each of which plays an essential role in cell proliferation. As a consequence, competitive inhibitors of mevalonate synthesis, the rate-limiting substrate for the synthesis of the prenyl-pyrophosphates, arrest cultured cells at the G1/S interface of the cell cycle and initiate apoptotic cell death. Geraniol, an acyclic monoterpenoid alcohol, suppresses 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase activity and concomitantly arrests the growth of cultured tumor cells. We evaluated the impact of dietary geraniol on the growth of two tumors. In the first study, geraniol (23 mmol/kg diet, 350 mumol/d) was fed to male buffalo rats for 14 d before and for 42 d after the transplant of Morris 7777 hepatomas. Tumor growth was suppressed (P < 0.001). In the second study, the dose-dependent impact of geraniol on the growth of B16 melanomas was assessed. Dietary geraniol (0.65, 6.5 and 65 mmol/kg diet) was fed to female C57BL mice for 14 d before and for 21 d after tumor transplant. Tumor growth was suppressed (P < 0.02) by 6.5 and 65 mmol geraniol/kg diet.

The chemoprevention of cancer by mevalonate-derived constituents of fruits and vegetables.

Anutritive isoprenoid constituents of fruits, vegetables, cereal grains and essential oils exhibit a spectrum of anticarcinogenic activities. The induction of hepatic Phase II detoxifying activities by dietary isoprenoids appears to underlie their blocking action. The second anticarcinogenic action of the dietary isoprenoids, suppression of the growth of chemically initiated and transplanted tumors is, we suggest, secondary to the inhibition of mevalonate pathway activities. Mevinolin, a competitive inhibitor of 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase activity, depletes cells of the intermediate products of the pathway that are required for the posttranslational modification of proteins, a process giving the proteins lipophilic anchors that bind to membranes. As a consequence, nuclear lamins and ras oncoproteins remain in nascent states, and cells do not proliferate. gamma-Tocotrienol, perillyl alcohol, geraniol and d-limonene suppress hepatic HMG-CoA reductase activity, a rate-limiting step in cholesterol synthesis, and modestly lower serum-cholesterol levels of animals. These isoprenoids also suppress tumor growth. The HMG-CoA reductase of neoplastic tissues differs from that of sterologenic tissues in being markedly resistant to sterol feedback inhibition. Our review suggests that the mevalonate pathway of tumor tissues is uniquely sensitive to the inhibitory actions of the dietary isoprenoids.

Evidence for two different Rieske iron-sulfur proteins in the cytochrome bf complex of spinach chloroplast.

Spinach thylakoids, grana vesicles, stroma lamellae vesicles and also isolated cytochrome bf complex, were analysed by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis employing isoelectric focusing in the first dimension and sodium dodecyl-sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the second dimension. About 100 thylakoid membrane proteins were resolved. In all cases the Rieske FeS protein separated into two polypeptide spots having the isoelectric points of 5.1 and 5.4, respectively. The Rieske FeS protein was identified by immunoblot analysis and by microsequences of the first 23 N-terminal amino acids. The intensity of the Coomassie brilliant blue stain of the two spots was stronger for the Rieske FeS protein of the grana vesicles than for that of the stroma lamellae vesicles.

Two dimensional electrophoresis of thylakoid membrane proteins and its application to microsequencing.

A procedure of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis adapted for application on membrane proteins from the thylakoids is described. It involves isoelectric focusing in the first dimension and size dependent electrophoresis in the second dimension. About 100 polypeptides are clearly separated with relatively little streaking. About 20 polypeptides are identified by immunoblotting or location in the gel. They are the polypeptides of the PS I core, the 64 kDa protein, the α and ß subunits of CF1 ATPase, cytochrome f, Rieske iron-sulfur protein, the 23 kDa and 33 kDa polypeptides of the oxygen evolving complexes, CP29, CP24, CP27 and CP25 (last two proteins belong to LHCII). Some proteins give rise to two or more separate spots indicating a separation of different isoforms of these proteins. Among them, the LHCII polypeptides (27 kDa and 25 kDa) were each resolved into at least three spots in the pH range 4.75-5.90; the Rieske FeS protein, as published elsewhere (Yu et al. 1994), was separated into two forms having different isoelectric points (pI 5.1 and 5.4), each of them was also microsequenced; the 64 kDa protein claimed to be a LHCII-kinase was found to be multiple forms appearing in at least two isoforms with pI 6.2 (K1) and 6.0 (K2) respectively, furthermore, K1 can be resolved into two subpopulations.The lateral distribution of these proteins in the thylakoid membrane was determined by analysing the vesicles originating from different parts of the thylakoids. The data obtained from this analysis can be partially used as markers for different thylakoid domains.This procedure for sample solubilization and 2-D electrophoresis is useful for the analysis of the polypeptide composition of vesicles originating from the thylakoid membrane and for microsequences of individual polypeptides isolated from the 2-D gel.

[Role of induction chemotherapy in advanced carcinoma of the larynx].

Results of comprehensive therapy for 43 cases of advanced carcinoma of the larynx are reported in this paper. Methods adopted were preoperative induction chemotherapy and surgical resection. The chemotherapy protocol was composed of Cis-Di-aminodichloroplatinum+Vincristine+Pingyangmycin and Pingyangmycin+Dexamethasone the 3- and 5-year survival rates of these patients were 62.8% and 54.2% respectively. In our opinion, induction chemotherapy can play a better role in raising the resection and survival rates for this kind of malignancy.

Characterization of a non-detergent PS II-cytochrome b/f preparation (BS).

A non-detergent photosystem II preparation, named BS, has been characterized by countercurrent distribution, light saturation curves, absorption spectra and fluorescence at room and at low temperature (-196°C). The BS fraction is prepared by a sonication-phase partitioning procedure (Svensson P and Albertsson P-Å, Photosynth Res 20: 249-259, 1989) which removes the stroma lamellae and the margins from the grana and leaves the appressed partition region intact in the form of vesicles. These are closed structures of inside-out conformation. They have a chlorophyll a/b ratio of 1.8-2.0, have a high oxygen evolving capacity (295 µmol O2 per mg chl h), are depleted in P700 and enriched in the cytochrome b/f complex. They have about 2 Photosystem II reaction centers per 1 cytochrome b/f complex.The plastoquinone pool available for PS II in the BS vesicles is 6-7 quinones per reaction center, about the same as for the whole thylakoid. It is concluded, therefore, that the plastoquinone of the stroma lamellae is not available to the PS II in the grana and that plastoquinone does not act as a long range electron transport shuttler between the grana and stroma lamellae.Compared with Photosystem II particles prepared by detergent (Triton X-100) treatment, the BS vesicles retain more cytochrome b/f complex and are more homogenous in their surface properties, as revealed by countercurrent distribution, and they have a more efficient energy transfer from the antenna pigments to the reaction center.

Composition of photosynthetic pigments in thylakoid membrane vesicles from spinach.

Thylakoid membranes from spinach were fragmented mechanically and separated into vesicles originating from grana and stroma-exposed lamellae (Andreasson et al. (1988) Biochim Biophys Acta 936: 339-350). The grana vesicles were further fragmented and separated into smaller vesicles originating from different parts of the grana (Svensson and Albertsson (1989) Photosynth Res 20: 249-259). All vesicles so obtained were analyzed with respect to chlorophyll and carotenoid composition by reverse phase HPLC. For all fractions the following relations (mole/mole) were found: 1 carotenoid per 4 chlorophyll (a+b), 2 lutein per 5 chlorophyll b and 5 violaxanthin per 100 chlorophyll (a + b). The contents of lutein and neoxanthin were each linearly related to chlorophyll b and ß-carotene was linearly related to chlorophyll a.

[Innovation in the one-man technique of injection sterilization of vas deferens].

PIP: Chemical occlusion of vas deference, as a new method of male sterilization, has been accepted extensively. A further innovation has been made recently where a vas blocking clamp is used so that 1 person alone would be able to conduct the surgical procedure instead of 2 that were needed in the standard procedure. The clamp is first used to fix the position of the vas deference together with the scrotal skin so that a puncture can be made on the vas for injection of the adhesive. The tightness of the clamp is also regulated with a screw to prevent the injected adhesive from going into prolonged section of the vas so that only a expected length of vas is blocked. The clamp does not hurt scrotal skin, and it is more accurate than the hands of assistant surgeon in controlling the length of chemical occlusion. The shortened section of occlusion will facilitate the recanalization procedure should there be such need in the future. The 3 year follow-up study showed a failure rate of 2.3% which was 10 pregnancies out of 441 procedure recipients. This new method of operation is satisfactory, more economical and has an increased chances of reversibility.^ieng