Environmental stimulation rescues maternal high fructose intake-impaired learning and memory in female offspring: Its correlation with redistribution of histone deacetylase 4.

Impairment of learning and memory has been documented in the later life of offspring to maternal consumption with high energy diet. Environmental stimulation enhances the ability of learning and memory. However, potential effects of environmental stimulation on the programming-associated deficit of learning and memory have not been addressed. Here, we examined the effects of enriched-housing on hippocampal learning and memory in adult female offspring rats from mother fed with 60% high fructose diet (HFD) during pregnancy and lactation. Impairment of spatial learning and memory performance in HFD group was observed in offspring at 3-month-old. Hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) was decreased in the offspring. Moreover, the HFD group showed an up-regulation of histone deacetylase 4 (HDAC4) in the nuclear fractions of hippocampal neurons. Stimulation to the offspring for 4weeks after winning with an enriched-housing environment effectively rescued the decrease in cognitive function and hippocampal BDNF level; alongside a reversal of the increased distribution of nuclear HDAC4. Together these results suggest that later life environmental stimulation effectively rescues the impairment of hippocampal learning and memory in female offspring to maternal HFD intake through redistributing nuclear HDAC4 to increase BDNF expression.

A tetrahedron from homooxacalix[3]arene, the fifth Platonic polyhedron from calixarenes and uranyl.

A self-assembled tetrahedral cage results from two C 3-symmetry building blocks, namely, homooxacalix[3]arene tricarboxylate and uranyl cation, as demonstrated by X-ray crystallography. In the cage, four metals coordinate at the lower rim with the phenolic and ether oxygen atoms to shape the macrocycle with appropriate dihedral angles for tetrahedron formation, whereas four additional uranyl cations further coordinate at the upper-rim carboxylates to finalize the assembly. Counterions dictate the filling and porosity of the aggregates, whereas potassium induces highly porous structures, and tetrabutylammonium yields compact, densely packed frameworks. The tetrahedron metallo-cage complements our previous report (Pasquale et al., Nat. Commun., 2012, 3, 785) on uranyl-organic frameworks (UOFs) from calix[4]arene and calix[5]arene carboxylates (octahedral/cubic and icosahedral/dodecahedral giant cages, respectively) and completes the assembly of all five Platonic solids from just two chemical components.

Structural diversity in coordination self-assembled networks of a multimodal ligand azacalix[4]pyrazine.

We report herein the synthesis of a new heteracalixaromatic compound, tetramethylazacalix[4]pyrazine (TAPz), and its coordination self-assemblies with metal and metal cluster centers. Structural characterization of TAPz has shown that its conformation is fluxional in solution but exhibits a dominant 1,3-alternate configuration in the crystalline solid state, wherein its convergent chelating coordination sites are orthogonal to the 120°-angled bridging sites, thus forming a unique multimodal ligand. Compound TAPz reacting with silver, zinc metal centers, and Cu(x)I(x) cluster centers leads to the construction of diverse coordination network structures in 1-5 including honeycomb, Kagomé, α-quartz, and cavity-involved two-dimensional layers. The structural diversity of these network structures is conducted by different combination modes between the chelation bonding sites of TAPz and metal or metal cluster centers. This system may afford deeper insight on the fantastic use of macrocyclic compounds on the designed synthesis of coordination network structures through the proper arrangement of their coordination sites.

[A modulation method to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of internal virtual hyperspectrum of body surface].

Virtual internal hyperspectrum of body surface which can express and properly mix the information of skin's composition and structure was expected to apply in the human disease quick-diagnosis, but the weak detected signal was easily impacted by ambient light and dark current from the instrument, so square wave modulated by chopper disk was proposed to resolve this issue. First, we built the experiment platform, and selected both laser and bromine tungsten lamp as the light source, then compared the virtual hyperspectrum of non-modulated and modulated light on human arm in the environment with artificial interference, and demodulated the modulated signal by FFT method. The experiment result showed that modulation method could effectively eliminate the impact brought by environmental light and dark current and improve the signal to noise ratio (SNR), suggesting a new approach to detect human's weak optical signals.

[Study on detection of changes in tissue structure and composition by using virtual internal hyper-spectrum of body surface].

Purposed to achieve the detection of changes in tissue structure and composition simultaneously by virtual internal hyper-spectrum of body surface (VIHBS), we designed the VIHBS system containing modulated light, translation stage device for data acquisition and spectrometer. In the present study, pork meat as the experimental subject was equally divided into three pieces. One piece was used for a control study, and the others were separately embedded with red filter and injected into highly scattering intralipid to imitate the changes in tissue structure and composition. And then, data acquisition of 17 points started at source fiber was taken at intervals of 0.5 mm. The results showed that modulated light can effectively inhibit the influences of ambient light and dark current created by optoelectronic devices. In addition, VIHBS technology achieved the locating of red filter by visible-light and the rapid screening of changes in tissue composition caused by intralipid with near infrared light. The study suggests that it is much feasible to detect the changes in tissue structure and composition by VIHBS. And it is concluded that further research will be likely to provide a new method to realize the early diagnosis and screening of human skin.

miR-3178 as a prognostic indicator and tumor suppressor of gastric cancer.

BACKGROUND: Gastric cancer is a common malignant tumor with an increasing death rate. MicroRNA can serve as a promising biomarker for the progression and prognosis of various cancers. AIMS: The clinical significance and biological function of miR-3178 in gastric cancer was assessed in this study. METHODS: A total of 117 paired tissues were collected from gastric cancer patients. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to detect the expression of miR-3178 in gastric cancer tissues and cells. The association between miR-3178 expression and the clinicopathological features of patients were analyzed by χ2 test. Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox regression were employed to investigate the prognostic value of miR-3178. Finally, the effect of miR-3178 on the cellular process of gastric cancer was investigated by CCK-8 and transwell assay. RESULTS: miR-3178 was downregulated in gastric cancer tissues and cells, which showed a significant association with the TNM stage and lymph node metastasis of patients and a poor prognosis. MiR-3178 and TNM stage were considered as two independent prognostic factors for gastric cancer. Furthermore, the downregulation of miR-3178 promoted cell proliferation, migration, and invasion of gastric cancer by regulating Notch1. CONCLUSION: miR-3178 may be involved in the progression of gastric cancer, which provides new insights into the treatment of gastric cancer.

[Validation of feasibility of virtual hyperspectral technology].

To verify the virtual hyperspectral technology for acquiring the internal composition and structure information, the virtual hyperspectral system, which took apples as the test materials, was built. First, we detected the virtual hyperspectral system of the normal apples and ill apples. Then, the virtual hyperspectral of apple slices and apple slices with a piece of red optical filter embedded was detected. Finally, the reflection spectrum of normal apple, ill apple, apple slice and slice with a piece of red filter embedded was detected. The results showed that virtual hyperspectral, which can gain more information than reflection spectrum, could be used for detecting the variation of internal composition and structure. It is a strong evidence that this technology can be used in human body in the future. Virtual hpyerspectral is a new path applied to detecting the biological information, and it can be used for the multi-information and cross-information detection simultaneously and systematically. More foundation for quick disease check-up in vivo was expected to be provided by this technology.

Comparative transcriptome analysis reveals key genes potentially related to organic acid and sugar accumulation in loquat.

Organic acids and sugars are the primary components that determine the quality and flavor of loquat fruits. In the present study, major organic acids, sugar content, enzyme activities, and the expression of related genes were analyzed during fruit development in two loquat cultivars, 'JieFangZhong' (JFZ) and 'BaiLi' (BL). Our results showed that the sugar content increased during fruit development in the two cultivars; however, the organic acid content dramatically decreased in the later stages of fruit development. The differences in organic acid and sugar content between the two cultivars primarily occured in the late stage of fruit development and the related enzymes showed dynamic changes in activies during development. Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) and mNAD malic dehydrogenase (mNAD-MDH) showed higher activities in JFZ at 95 days after flowering (DAF) than in BL. However, NADP-dependent malic enzyme (NADP-ME) activity was the lowest at 95 DAF in both JFZ and BL with BL showing higher activity compared with JFZ. At 125 DAF, the activity of fructokinase (FRK) was significantly higher in JFZ than in BL. The activity of sucrose synthase (SUSY) in the sucrose cleavage direction (SS-C) was low at early stages of fruit development and increased at 125 DAF. SS-C activity was higher in JFZ than in BL. vAI and sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS) activities were similar in the two both cultivars and increased with fruit development. RNA-sequencing was performed to determine the candidate genes for organic acid and sugar metabolism. Our results showed that the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) with the greated fold changes in the later stages of fruit development between the two cultivars were phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase 2 (PEPC2), mNAD-malate dehydrogenase (mNAD-MDH), cytosolic NADP-ME (cyNADP-ME2), aluminum-activated malate transporter (ALMT9), subunit A of vacuolar H+-ATPase (VHA-A), vacuolar H+-PPase (VHP1), NAD-sorbitol dehydrogenase (NAD-SDH), fructokinase (FK), sucrose synthase in sucrose cleavage (SS-C), sucrose-phosphate synthase 1 (SPS1), neutral invertase (NI), and vacuolar acid invertase (vAI). The expression of 12 key DEGs was validated by quantitative reverese transcription PCR (RT-qPCR). Our findings will help understand the molecular mechanism of organic acid and sugar formation in loquat, which will aid in breeding high-quality loquat cultivars.

Synthesis of diverse N,O-bridged calix[1]arene[4]pyridine-C(60) dyads and triads and formation of intramolecular self-inclusion complexes.

Starting from both the bridging nitrogen atom-functionalized and the upper rim-functionalized N,O-bridged calix[1]arene[4]pyridine reactants, different types of heteracalixaromatics-C(60) dyads and triads of varied spacers were expediently synthesized using mainly the click reaction as the key step. By means of various spectroscopic methods, the heteracalixaromatics-C(60) dyads and triads obtained have been shown to form intramolecular self-inclusion complexes rather than oligomers or polymers in solution because of a flexible spacer in between the heteracalixaromatic ring and C(60) moiety. The current study, coupled with previous investigations, would provide the guideline for the construction of supramolecular fullerene motifs based on molecular design of the dyads and triads.

Phylogenetic relationships and characterization of the complete mitochondrial genome of Eriobotrya japonica in southeast of China.

Eriobotrya japonica is an evergreen fruit tree originating in southeastern China. Its fruit is juicy with a pleasant taste and considerable medical value. However, there is no complete mitochondrial (cmt) genome resource for this species. This is the first report of the cmt genome of Eriobotrya japonica from southeastern China. The whole cmt genome was 434,980 bp in size with 37.80% GC content. The cmt genome of Eriobotrya japonica contains 41 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, and 3 rRNA genes. A phylogenetic maximum-likelihood (ML) tree was constructed based on 22 mitochondrial genomes from plant species. Eriobotrya japonica grouped closely with other Rosaceae species, which provides strong support for the traditional classification.

Immunomodulatory effect of Hibiscus cannabinus extract on macrophage functions.

Hibiscus cannabinus L. (Malvaceae) (known as Kenaf) has long been used as a folk medicine in India and Africa for the treatment of blood and throat disorders, bilious conditions, fever and puerperium. In this study, therefore, we aimed either to demonstrate its ethnopharmacological activity by examining its macrophage function-regulating effects or to expand its therapeutic efficacy into other macrophage-mediated diseases. The total crude extract (EtOH extract) of Hibiscus cannabinus fresh leaves, prepared with 80% ethanol, significantly suppressed TNF-alpha production and the mRNA expression of interleukin (IL)-3 and IL-12 in the RAW264.7 cells, stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 2.5 microg/ml). The secretion of inflammatory mediators (i.e., nitric oxide [NO], reactive oxygen species [ROS] and prostaglandin E(2) [PGE(2)]) was diminished by the EtOH extract. The extract induced the expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) mRNA, a potent cytoprotective molecule. The Kenaf extract suppressed both the phagocytic uptake and the expression of costimulatory molecules (CD80 and CD86) of LPS-activated RAW264.7 cells. It is interesting that Kenaf also down-regulated both the functional activation of beta1-integrin (CD29) and the LPS-induced up-regulation of the surface CD29 level. Taken together, these data suggest that Kenaf may be able to modulate macrophage-mediated responses and that some of the activities may contribute to expand its therapeutic usage.

[Effects of exogenous NO on ascorbate-glutathione cycle in loquat leaves under low temperature stress].

Three-year-old 'Zaozhong No. 6' loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.) seedlings were foliar-sprayed with 0.2, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 mmol x L(-1) of sodium nitroprusside (SNP), subjected to low temperature (-3 degrees) stress for 6 hours, and then cultured at 25 degrees C for four days. The antioxidant metabolites and enzymes in the seedling leaves were determined 0, 1, and 4 days after recovery. Comparing with the control (water spraying), all SNP treatments had a decreased H2O2 content but an increased content of glutathione (GSH) and ascorbic acid (AsA) and increased activity of ascorbate peroxidase (APX), glutathione reductase (GR), dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR) and monodehydroascorbate reductase (MDAR) in the seedling leaves. Four days after recovery, the H2O2 content in the seedling leaves treated with 0.5 mmol x L(-1) of SNP decreased by 75.53%, while the GSH and AsA contents and the APX, GR, DHAR and MDAR activities were increased by 29.12%, 23.40%, 50.0%, 44.4%, 49.53%, and 62.68%, respectively. All of these suggested that appropriate dosage of exogenous NO could enhance the activity of antioxidant system in loquat leaves and alleviated the cell injury of loquat leaves under low temperature stress. In this study, the appropriate dosage of NO was 0.5 mmol x L(-1) of SNP.