Research on identification method of peanut pests and diseases based on lightweight LSCDNet model.

Timely and accurate identification of peanut pests and diseases, coupled with effective countermeasures, are pivotal for ensuring high-quality and efficient peanut production. Despite the prevalence of pests and diseases in peanut cultivation, challenges such as minute disease spots, the elusive nature of pests, and intricate environmental conditions often lead to diminished identification accuracy and efficiency. Moreover, continuous monitoring of peanut health in real-world agricultural settings demands solutions that are computationally efficient. Traditional deep learning models often require substantial computational resources, limiting their practical applicability. In response to these challenges, we introduce LSCDNet (Lightweight Sandglass and Coordinate Attention Network), a streamlined model derived from DenseNet. LSCDNet preserves only the transition layers to reduce feature map dimensionality, simplifying the model's complexity. The inclusion of a sandglass block bolsters features extraction capabilities, mitigating potential information loss due to dimensionality reduction. Additionally, the incorporation of coordinate attention addresses issues related to positional information loss during feature extraction. Experimental results showcase that LSCDNet achieved impressive metrics with an accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score of 96.67%, 98.05%, 95.56%, and 96.79%, respectively, while maintaining a compact parameter count of merely 0.59M. When compared to established models such as MobileNetV1, MobileNetV2, NASNetMobile, DenseNet-121, InceptionV3, and Xception, LSCDNet outperformed with accuracy gains of 2.65%, 4.87%, 8.71%, 5.04%, 6.32%, and 8.2% respectively, accompanied by substantially fewer parameters. Lastly, we deployed the LSCDNet model on Raspberry Pi for practical testing and application, achieving an average recognition accuracy of 85.36%, thereby meeting real-world operational requirements.

Simultaneous removal of nitrogen, phosphorus and COD in an integrated OCO reactor.

An integrated OCO reactor with two side-ditch separators based on the anaerobic/anoxic/oxic (A2/O) process was developed for municipal wastewater treatment in this study. The effects of dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration, hydraulic retention time (HRT) and the ratio of chemical oxygen demand (COD) to total nitrogen (C/N) in the influent were investigated for optimization, in order to achieve the removal of total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and COD in the reactor simultaneously. When the DO concentration of 2.0 mg/L in the aerobic zone, HRT of 12 h and C/N ratio of 8:1 were applied in the reactor, the superior removal efficiencies of COD, TN and TP reached 96%, 81% and 92%, respectively. The modification in integrated OCO system was characterized by the mixing of the liquid refluxed from anoxic and aerobic zones with the influent in the anaerobic zone. And the risk of activated sludge bulking was decreased successfully by enhancing phosphorus removal without any chemical auxiliary methods. Quite precise prediction results with the correlation coefficients (R) of 0.9584-0.9948 were forecasted by the back-propagation neural network model. All the results indicated that the integrated OCO process is able to remove TN, TP and COD in a reactor simultaneously.

Metabolic Mechanism of Bacillus sp. LM24 under Abamectin Stress.

Abamectin (ABM) has been recently widely used in aquaculture. However, few studies have examined its metabolic mechanism and ecotoxicity in microorganisms. This study investigated the molecular metabolic mechanism and ecotoxicity of Bacillus sp. LM24 (B. sp LM24) under ABM stress using intracellular metabolomics. The differential metabolites most affected by the bacteria were lipids and lipid metabolites. The main significant metabolic pathways of B. sp LM24 in response to ABM stress were glycerolipid; glycine, serine, and threonine; and glycerophospholipid, and sphingolipid. The bacteria improved cell membrane fluidity and maintained cellular activity by enhancing the interconversion pathway of certain phospholipids and sn-3-phosphoglycerol. It obtained more extracellular oxygen and nutrients to adjust the lipid metabolism pathway, mitigate the impact of sugar metabolism, produce acetyl coenzyme A to enter the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, maintain sufficient anabolic energy, and use some amino acid precursors produced during the TCA cycle to express ABM efflux protein and degradative enzymes. It produced antioxidants, including hydroxyanigorufone, D-erythroascorbic acid 1'-a-D-xylopyranoside, and 3-methylcyclopentadecanone, to alleviate ABM-induced cellular and oxidative damage. However, prolonged stress can cause metabolic disturbances in the metabolic pathways of glycine, serine, threonine, and sphingolipid; reduce acetylcholine production; and increase quinolinic acid synthesis.

Simvastatin protects osteoblast against H2O2-induced oxidative damage via inhibiting the upregulation of Nox4.

Statins, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors, have been used clinically as a cholesterol-lowering drug to treat hyperlipidemia. In recent years, accumulating evidence indicates the possible beneficial effect of statins on osteoporosis. However, the underlying molecular mechanism remains to be elucidated. In the present study, we investigated the therapeutic effects of simvastatin on cell viability, apoptosis, and alkaline phosphatase activity in murine osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells treated by hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2), 100 µM). It was shown that simvastatin suppressed H(2)O(2)-induced oxidative stress and attenuated H(2)O(2)-induced cell injury including increasing osteoblastic viability, inhibiting apoptosis, and promoting differentiation. Then, we examined the effects of simvastatin (10(-7) M) on Nox1, Nox2, and Nox4 expressions in osteoblastic cells treated by H(2)O(2) (100 µM). We found that in MC3T3-E1 cells, H(2)O(2)-induced upregulation of Nox4 expression was inhibited by simvastatin, which was restored by farnesyl pyrophosphate (5 µM) as well as geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate (5 µM). RNAi approach was used to reduce Nox4 protein levels in osteoblastic cells to explore its biological effects against H(2)O(2)-induced oxidative damage. When Nox4 expression was reduced in osteoblastic cells, H(2)O(2)-induced cell injury was attenuated markedly. We concluded that simvastatin protected osteoblast against H(2)O(2)-induced oxidative damage, at least in part, via inhibiting the upregulation of Nox4.

The steric effect of aromatic pendant groups and electrical bistability in π-stacked polymers for memory devices.

In order to investigate the steric effect of aromatic pendant groups and the electrical bistability in nonconjugated polymers potentially for memory device applications, two π-stacked polymers with different steric structures are synthesized and characterized. They exhibit two conductivity states and can be switched from an initial low-conductivity (OFF) state to a high-conductivity (ON) state. Additionally, they demonstrate nonvolatile write-once-read-many-times (WORM) memory behavior with an ON/OFF current ratio up to 10(4), and flash memory behavior with an ON/OFF current ratio of approximately 10(5). Both steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopies are used to examine the conformational change of the polymers responding to an applied external electrical voltage. The results provide useful information on different steric effects of pendant groups in polymer chains, resulting in various electrical behaviors. The possibility in realizing an "erasable" behavior through breaking π-stacked structures of pendant groups by a reversal of the electric field was also discussed on the basis of temperature-dependent fluorescence spectroscopy investigation. These results may thus offer a guideline for the design of practical polymer memory devices via tuning steric structure of π-stacked polymers.

Application of Pd-Sn modified Ru-Ir electrode for treating high chlorine ammonia-nitrogen wastewater.

Electro-catalytic technology is a promising approach for wastewater treatment, owing to its easy operation, minimal generation of secondary pollution, small foot-print and rapid start-up. In this work, the chlorine evolution potential of the Pd-Sn modified ruthenium(Ru)-iridium(Ir) electrode was investigated for the electro-catalytic treatment of high chlorine ammonia-nitrogen wastewater. The effect of reaction conditions on the removal of ammonia-nitrogen, kinetics and apparent activation energy of ammonia-nitrogen removal were studied. The possible denitrification process of high chlorine ammonia-nitrogen wastewater was discussed. The results indicated that the chlorine evolution potential of the Pd-Sn modified Ru-Ir electrode was 1.0956 V(vs. SCE). The electro-catalytic treatment of high chlorine ammonia-nitrogen conformed to zero-order kinetic law, and the apparent activation energy of removal process was 14.089 kJ/mol. With a current was 0.5 A, the removal efficiency of ammonia-nitrogen could achieve 100% at a reaction time of 40 min. Indirect oxidation played an essential role in the electro-catalytic ammonia-nitrogen removal using the Pd-Sn modified Ru-Ir electrode. This paper demonstrated that the electro-catalytic technology was a promising approach for efficiently treating the high chlorine ammonia-nitrogen wastewater.

Response of vegetation variation to climate change and human activities in semi-arid swamps.

Vegetation is a sensitive factor in marsh ecosystems, which can provide nesting sites, foraging areas, and hiding places for waterfowl and can affect their survival environment. The Jilin Momoge National Nature Reserve, which consists of large areas of marshes, is located in the semi-arid region of northeast China and is an important stopover site for the critically endangered species of the Siberian Crane (Grus leucogeranus). Global climate change, extreme droughts and floods, and large differences in evaporation and precipitation in this region can cause rapid vegetation succession. In recent years, increased grain production and river-lake connectivity projects carried out in this area to increase grain outputs and restore wetlands have caused significant changes in the hydrological and landscape patterns. Therefore, research on the response of variation trends in vegetation patterns to the main driving factors (climate change and human activities) is critical for the conservation of the Siberian Crane. Based on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform, we obtained and processed the Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data of the study area during the peak summer vegetation period for each year from 1984 to 2020, estimated the annual vegetation cover using Maximum value composites (MVC) method and the image dichotomy method, calculated and analyzed the spatial and temporal trends of vegetation cover, explored the response of vegetation cover change in terms of climate change and human activities, and quantified the relative contribution of both. The results revealed that first, from the spatial and temporal changes, the average annual growth rate of regional vegetation was 0.002/a, and 71.14% of the study area was improved. The vegetation cover showed a trend of degradation and then recovery, in which the percentage of high vegetation cover area decreased from 51.22% (1984-2000) to 28.33% (2001-2005), and then recovered to 55.69% (2006-2020). Second, among climate change factors, precipitation was more correlated with the growth of vegetation in the study area than temperature, and the increase in precipitation during the growing season could promote the growth of marsh vegetation in the Momoge Reserve. Third, overall, human activities have contributed to the improvement of vegetation cover in the study area with the implementation of important ecological projects, such as the return of farmland to wetlands, the return of grazing to grass, and the connection of rivers and lakes. Fourth, climate change and human activities jointly drive vegetation change, but the contribution of human activities in both vegetation improvement and degradation areas (85.68% and 78.29%, respectively) is higher than that of climate change (14.32% and 21.71%, respectively), which is the main reason for vegetation improvement or degradation in the study area. The analysis of vegetation pattern change within an intensive time series in semi-arid regions can provide a reference and basis for studying the driving factors in regions with rapid changes in vegetation and hydrological conditions.

2D/2D Phosphorus-Doped g-C3N4/Bi2WO6 Direct Z-Scheme Heterojunction Photocatalytic System for Tetracycline Hydrochloride (TC-HCl) Degradation.

Bi2WO6-based heterojunction photocatalyst for antibiotic degradation has been a research hotspot, but its photocatalytic performance needs to be further improved. Therefore, 2D/2D P-doped g-C3N4/Bi2WO6 direct Z-scheme heterojunction photocatalysts with different composition ratios were prepared through three strategies of phosphorus (P) element doping, morphology regulation, and heterojunction, and the efficiency of its degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride (TC-HCl) under visible light was studied. Their structural, optical, and electronic properties were evaluated, and their photocatalytic efficiency for TC-HCl degradation was explored with a detailed assessment of the active species, degradation pathways, and effects of humic acid, different anions and cations, and water sources. The 30% P-doped g-C3N4/Bi2WO6 had the best photocatalytic performance for TC-HCl degradation. Its photocatalytic rate was 4.5-, 2.2-, and 1.9-times greater than that of g-C3N4, P-doped g-C3N4, and Bi2WO6, respectively. The improved photocatalytic efficiency was attributed to the synergistic effect of P doping and 2D/2D direct Z-scheme heterojunction construction. The stability and reusability of the 30% P-doped C3N4/Bi2WO6 were confirmed by cyclic degradation experiments. Radical scavenging experiments and electron spin resonance spectroscopy showed that the main active species were •O2- and h+. This work provides a new strategy for the preparation of direct Z-scheme heterojunction catalysts with high catalytic performance.

In situ fabrication of I-doped Bi2O2CO3/g-C3N4 heterojunctions for enhanced photodegradation activity under visible light.

Iodine-doped Bi2O2CO3/g-C3N4 heterojunctions consisting of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) and iodine-doped bismutite (Bi2O2CO3) components were successfully in situ synthesized by a one-pot hydrothermal method. Characterizations such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) demonstrated iodine was favorably doped into the Bi2O2CO3 component, of which the {001} facets grew in situ from {002} facets of g-C3N4 for the heterostructure construction of I-doped Bi2O2CO3/g-C3N4 (IB/CN). The photocatalytic activity of catalysts was evaluated by the degradation efficiency of 1,5-dihydroxynaphthalene under visible light. 1.5-IB/CN with a reasonable iodine doping amount (Bi: I molar ratio = 1.0: 1.5) exhibited the superior photodegradation performance compared to Bi2O2CO3, achieving an 85.5% removal ratio after 100 min illumination. The enhanced activity of 1.5-IB/CN was attributed to both of the heterostructure that promoted the separation of photoinduced carriers and iodine doping that tuned the bandgap for sufficient visible-light harvesting. The degradation intermediates of 1,5-dihydroxynaphthalene in the system were determined and its possible photodegradation pathway was proposed in detail. This study provides a rational approach for enhancing the visible-light catalytic activity of wide-bandgap Bi2O2CO3, and reveals a new perspective on the removal mechanism of organic pollutants.

MicroRNA-181 Functions as an Antioncogene and Mediates NF-κB Pathway by Targeting RTKN2 in Ovarian Cancers.

MicroRNA (miR)-181 has been reported to participate in carcinogenesis and tumor progression in several malignant cancers, but its expression and biological functions in ovarian cancer have remained largely unclarified. Here, we first measured miR-181 expression in clinical ovarian cancers and found the expression levels of miR-181 were significantly lower in ovarian cancer tissues than that in adjacent tissues. Next, we screened and identified a direct miR-181 target, Rhotekin2 (RTKN2). A correlation between miR-181 and RTKN2 expression was also confirmed in clinical samples of ovarian cancers. Upregulation of miR-181 would specifically and markedly suppress RTKN2 expression. The miR-181-overexpressing subclones showed significant cell growth inhibition by cell apoptosis induction and significant impairment of cell invasiveness in SKOV3 and HO8910 ovarian cancer cells. To identify the mechanisms, we investigated the NF-κB pathway and found that nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB), B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were suppressed, whereas IκBα was promoted in miR-181-overexpressing cells. These findings indicate that miR-181 functions as a tumor suppressor and plays a substantial role in inhibiting the tumorigenesis and reversing the metastasis of ovarian cancer through RTKN2-NF-κB signaling pathway in vitro. Taken together, we believe that miR-181 may be a promising therapeutic target for treating malignant ovarian cancers.

Selective oxidation of glycerol to tartronic acid over Pt/N-doped mesoporous carbon with extra framework magnesium catalysts under base-free conditions.

N-Doped mesoporous carbons (NMCs) with extra framework magnesium were prepared by a one-pot method and used as supports for Pt catalysts. The surface basicity of NMC improved in the presence of extra framework magnesium (e.g., -Ph-O-Mg), meanwhile, the electron density of Pt was enriched by the electron transfer from graphitic N in NMC to Pt. As a result, the catalytic activity of the supported Pt catalyst was improved to be able to selectively oxidize glycerol (GLY) to tartronic acid (TA) under base-free conditions.

A facile phase transformation strategy for fabrication of novel Z-scheme ternary heterojunctions with efficient photocatalytic properties.

With increasing pollution of water resources and demand for hydrogen energy, photocatalysis, as a "green chemistry" technology, has attracted great attention. To meet the practical application requirements, photocatalysts should possess enhanced efficiency and be of low cost. Here, a novel Z-scheme ternary ZnTiO3/Zn2Ti3O8/ZnO heterojunction has been prepared by a solvothermal-calcination process. The phase transformation process of the sample can be defined as two processes, dehydration and thermal decomposition (ZnTiO3 → Zn2Ti3O8 + ZnO). The ZnTiO3/Zn2Ti3O8/ZnO heterojunction produced in this facile phase transformation strategy displayed highly efficient photocatalytic performance in water splitting for hydrogen production and pollutant removal, e.g. phenol, dye, and heavy metal Cr(vi). On the basis of the PL spectra, photocurrent response, radical trapping experiments and ESR tests, we found that a nontraditional transport of photoinduced carriers created by a single Z-scheme mechanism played a significant role in the efficient removing of target pollutants and hydrogen generation. This work provides a facile phase transformation approach to construct a Z-scheme semiconductor heterostructure system with high efficiency for hydrogen production and water pollution treatment.

Effects of copper ions on removal of nutrients from swine wastewater and on release of dissolved organic matter in duckweed systems.

High concentration of Cu2+ in swine wastewater raises concerns about its potential adverse effects on nutrient removal by aquatic plants like duckweed. In this work, the effects of copper ions on nutrient removal and release of dissolved organic matter (DOM) were investigated in duckweed systems. Results showed that the removal performance of ammonia nitrogen (NH3N) and total phosphorus (TP) increased at 0.1-1.0 mg/L of Cu2+, while dropped at 2.0-5.0 mg/L of Cu2+. A novel kinetic model in which Cu2+ was taken into account was then developed which was used to optimize Cu2+ concentration at 0.96 mg/L for nutrient removal in duckweed systems. NADH, detected in DOM by the parallel factor (PARAFAC) analysis, exhibited high capacities of binding copper ions, so it played an important role on the decrease of Cu2+ concentrations in duckweed systems. The principle component analysis (PCA) showed that the dominant DOM were lower molecular weight compounds at 1.0 mg/L of Cu2+ and higher molecular weight compounds at 2.0-5.0 mg/L of Cu2+. The bonds of CH (humic-like), NO (NO3-) and ArH (tyrosine) in DOM were responsible for not only the fastest binding with Cu2+ from the result of the two-dimensional Fourier transform infrared correlation spectroscopy (2D-FTIR-CoS) but also the variations of DOM conformations at a critical concentration of 0.5 mg/L Cu2+ from the perturbation correlation moving window two-dimensional (PCMW2D) analysis. These findings lead to a better understanding on the environmental behaviors and mechanisms of Cu2+ in duckweed systems.

Evaluation of performance and microbial community successional patterns in an integrated OCO reactor under ZnO nanoparticle stress.

An integrated OCO reactor was used to investigate the performance and microbial community successional changes under long-term exposure to relatively low levels of ZnO nanoparticles (NPs). Relatively higher concentrations of ZnO NPs (1.5 mg L-1) could adversely affect the nitrogen and phosphorus removal in the reactor. The diversity and richness of the microbial communities chronically declined with an increasing concentration of ZnO NPs higher than 1.5 mg L-1. With the elevated ZnO NPs, the phyla abundances of Proteobacteria, Firmicutes and Actinobacteria decreased slightly, whereas those of Bacteroidetes and Acidobacteria increased. Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria were the predominant phyla in each phase (with a variation in abundance), together with some common taxa responses to ZnO NP stress as revealed by Venn diagram analysis. Some genera associated with the removal of nitrogen and phosphorus, such as Acinetobacter, Stenotrophomonas and Pseudomonas, decreased significantly. The present results are significant for expanding our understanding of the functional performance and microbial community successions of activated sludge which has experienced long-term exposure to environmentally relevant concentrations of ZnO NPs.

Cannabidiol administration reduces sublesional cancellous bone loss in rats with severe spinal cord injury.

Patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) undergo severe loss of bone mineral below the level of lesion, and data on available treatment options after SCI is scarce. The aim of this work was to investigate the therapeutic effect of cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive cannabis, on sublesional bone loss in a rat model of SCI. The adult male rats were exposed to surgical transection of the cord and treated with CBD for consecutive 14 days. It was found that CBD treatment elevated the serum levels of osteocalcin, reduced the serum levels of collagen type I cross-linked C-telopeptide, and enhanced bone mineral density of tibiae and femurs. Treatment of SCI rats with CBD enhanced bone volume, trabecular thickness, and trabecular number, and reduced trabecular separation in proximal tibiae, and increased ultimate compressive load, stiffness, and energy to max force of femoral diaphysis. Treatment of SCI rats with CBD upregulated mRNA expression of alkaline phosphatase and osteoprotegerin and downregulated mRNA expression of receptor activator of NF-κB ligand and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase in femurs. Furthermore, treatment of SCI rats with CBD enhanced mRNA expression of wnt3a, Lrp5 and ctnnb1 in femurs. In conclusion, CBD administration attenuated SCI-induced sublesional cancellous bone loss.

Biodegradation of Phenol by Bacteria Strain Acinetobacter Calcoaceticus PA Isolated from Phenolic Wastewater.

A phenol-degrading bacterium strain PA was successfully isolated from the effluent of petrochemical wastewater. Based on its morphological, physiological and biochemical characteristics, the strain PA was characterized as a Gram-negative, strictly aerobic, nonmotile and short rod-shaped bacterium that utilizes phenol as a sole carbon and energy source. 16S rDNA sequence analysis revealed that this strain is affiliated to Acinetobacter calcoaceticus in the group of Gammaproteobacteria. The strain was efficient in removing 91.6% of the initial 800 mg ∙ L(-1) phenol within 48 h, and had a tolerance of phenol concentration as high as 1700 mg ∙ L(-1). These results indicated that A. calcoaceticus possesses a promising potential in treating phenolic wastewater.

[Comparison of pain thresholds of acupoints on the leg in healthy volunteers].

OBJECTIVE: To detect the pain threshold of acupoints on the leg in healthy volunteers so as to analyze the sensory specificity of different acupoints. METHODS: A total of 66 healthy volunteers (34 male and 30 female) aged from 19 to 64 years were recruited in the present study. Pain thresholds of acupoints on the lower leg were detected by using an Electronic Von Frey Anesthesiometer after constructing an anthropometric diagram about the cutaneous division of the lower leg. RESULTS: 1) Among acupoints Shugu (BL 65), Jinggu (BL 64), Kunlun (BL 60), Chengshan (BL 57) of the Bladder Meridian from the heel to the popliteal fossa, and non-acupoint (1cun lateral to BL 60), no significant differences were found among these acupoint regions in the pain threshold (P > 0.05), while that of the non-acupoint was significantly higher in comparison with these acupoint regions (P < 0.05). 2) At the Zusanli (ST 36) level, no significant differences were found among the Yanglingquan (GB 34), Zusanli (ST 36) and Yinlingquan (SP 9) regions in the pain threshold (P > 0.05) and the pain threshold was obviously higher in the non-acupoint (1 cun lateral to ST36) than in the GB34, ST36 and SP 9 regions (P < 0.05). 3) At the Xiajuxu (ST39) level, no significant differences were found among the Xiajuxu (ST39), Waiqiu (GB 36), Yangjiao (GB35), Feiyang (BL58) and Lougu (SP7) regions in the pain threshold (P > 0.05), but the non-acupoint (1 cun lateral to ST39) showed a higher threshold than those of the above-mentioned 5 acupoints (P < 0.05). 4) Among the 5 Xing-spring acupoints Dadu (SP2), Xingjian (LR2), Neiting (ST44) and Xiaxi (GB 43) distributing in the interdistal region, the pain threshold was lowest in the Neiting (ST 44) and highest in the Xiaxi (GB 43) regions (P < 0.05). 5) Among the acupoints Shuiquan (KI 5), Taixi (KI 3), Zhubin (KI 9) and Lougu (SP7) on the lower leg, the pain threshold was lowest in the Zhubin (KI 9) and highest in the Lougu (SP 7) regions (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: In healthy subjects, the pain threshold is generally higher in the non-acupoint region and also shows a sparse lower sensory threshold in some acupoints as Neiting (ST 44), Zhubin (KI 9), etc. The specificity of acupoints needs being studied further.

[Effects of acupuncture on the expression of Cx43 in different acupoints of rats].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the differences of the expression of Cx43 in rats' acupoints and sham-acupoint when needled blocks, and explore the relatively specificity of acupoints. METHOD: Twenty Wistar rats were randomly divided into two groups: an acupuncture group and a control group, ten in each group. The rats in the control group were not treated and sacrificed directly to by air embolism; the rats in the acupuncture group were needled at "Neiguan (PC 6)", "Zusanli (ST 36)", "Dazhui (GV 14)" and "Guanyuan (CV 4)", Sham-acupoints were on 1 cm next to each of the above acupoints and "Yongquan (KI 1)" were needled by hand manipulation, retented needles for 30 min, then all the rats were sacrificed by air embolism. With the rats fixed, the tissue blocks at the acupoints and sham-acupoints were collected, then quick-frozen and cut into sections. The sections were stained by immunohistochemical method (Cx43). RESULTS: The expression of the rats' Cx43 at the acupoints was significantly higher than that at the non-points in both groups (all P < 0.01). The expression of Cx43 at the acupoints in the acupuncture group was significantly higher than that in the control group (all P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The expression of Cx43 at acupoints and non-points is significantly different, which indicates that the acupoints are actually existed and have relatively specificity.