Dissecting the neurovascular unit in physiology and Alzheimer's disease: Functions, imaging tools and genetic mouse models.

The neurovascular unit (NVU) plays an essential role in regulating neurovascular coupling, which refers to the communication between neurons, glia, and vascular cells to control the supply of oxygen and nutrients in response to neural activity. Cellular elements of the NVU coordinate to establish an anatomical barrier to separate the central nervous system from the milieu of the periphery system, restricting the free movement of substances from the blood to the brain parenchyma and maintaining central nervous system homeostasis. In Alzheimer's disease, amyloid-ß deposition impairs the normal functions of NVU cellular elements, thus accelerating the disease progression. Here, we aim to describe the current knowledge of the NVU cellular elements, including endothelial cells, pericytes, astrocytes, and microglia, in regulating the blood-brain barrier integrity and functions in physiology as well as alterations encountered in Alzheimer's disease. Furthermore, the NVU functions as a whole, therefore specific labeling and targeting NVU components in vivo enable us to understand the mechanism mediating cellular communication. We review approaches including commonly used fluorescent dyes, genetic mouse models, and adeno-associated virus vectors for imaging and targeting NVU cellular elements in vivo.

Biochemical Insights into a Novel Family 2 Glycoside Hydrolase with Both ß-1,3-Galactosidase and ß-1,4-Galactosidase Activity from the Arctic.

A novel GH2 (glycoside hydrolase family 2) ß-galactosidase from Marinomonas sp. BSi20584 was successfully expressed in E. coli with a stable soluble form. The recombinant enzyme (rMaBGA) was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity and characterized extensively. The specific activity of purified rMaBGA was determined as 96.827 U mg-1 at 30 °C using ONPG (o-nitrophenyl-ß-D-galactopyranoside) as a substrate. The optimum pH and temperature of rMaBGA was measured as 7.0 and 50 °C, respectively. The activity of rMaBGA was significantly enhanced by some divalent cations including Zn2+, Mg2+ and Ni2+, but inhibited by EDTA, suggesting that some divalent cations might play important roles in the catalytic process of rMaBGA. Although the enzyme was derived from a cold-adapted strain, it still showed considerable stability against various physical and chemical elements. Moreover, rMaBGA exhibited activity both toward Galß-(1,3)-GlcNAc and Galß-(1,4)-GlcNAc, which is a relatively rare occurrence in GH2 ß-galactosidase. The results showed that two domains in the C-terminal region might be contributed to the ß-1,3-galactosidase activity of rMaBGA. On account of its fine features, this enzyme is a promising candidate for the industrial application of ß-galactosidase.

Construction of a Stable Expression Cell Line of Human Phospholamban. / 人源性受磷蛋白稳定表达细胞系的构建.

OBJECTIVES: To construct a cell line that can stably express human phospholamban(PLN) and initially explore its application in the study of myocardial toxicity mechanism. METHODS: FastCloning method was used to insert the open reading frame sequence of target gene PLN into eukaryotic expression vector pcDNA5/FRT/TO(hereinafter referred to as pDFT) to construct the pDFT-PLN-Flag plasmid. The Flp-InTM T-RExTM 293 cells were generated by cotransfection of the constructed plasmid and pOG44 plasmid to express the target gene. Successfully recombined monoclonal cell lines were screened by hygromycin B resistance. Western blot and indirect immunofluorescence (IFA) were used to examine the expression of the target protein in recombinant cells. After the cell line was exposed to aconitine, it was verified by Western blot to detect changes in PLN protein phosphorylation. RESULTS: After PCR amplification of the recombinant plasmid and DNA electrophoresis, the length of the amplified product is the same as the known PLN gene fragment, which is consistent with the open reading frame (ORF) sequence of the human PLN gene after sequencing. IFA and Western blot showed that the constructed proliferation cell line can stably express high levels of human PLN under induction and regulation. Preliminary results showed that the phosphorylation level of Thr17-PLN decreased after two hours of exposure to 1 µmol/L aconitine. CONCLUSIONS: This human cell line can stably express PLN and can be used to study the mechanism of action of aconitine on the cell at molecular level.

Preparation of magnesium ferrite nanoparticles by ultrasonic wave-assisted aqueous solution ball milling.

Magnesium ferrite, MgFe2O4 nanoparticles with high saturation magnetization were successfully synthesized using ultrasonic wave-assisted ball milling. In this study, the raw materials were 4MgCO3·Mg(OH)2·5H2O and Fe2O3 powders and the grinding media was stainless steel ball. The average particle diameter of the product MgFe2O4 powders was 20 nm and the saturation magnetization of them reached 54.8 emu/g. The different results of aqueous solution ball milling with and without ultrasonic wave revealed that it was the coupling effect of ultrasonic wave and mechanical force that played an important role during the synthesis of MgFe2O4. In addition, the effect of the frequency of the ultrasonic wave on the ball milling process was investigated.