Arctigenin attenuated spatial memory impairment in pR5 mice by regulating mitochondrial energy metabolism.

OBJECTIVES: Arctigenin (ATG) is a natural product with a variety of biological activity, which can improve the pathological changes of Alzheimer's disease (AD) model mice through multiple mechanisms. This study aims to further elucidate the potential mechanism by which ATG improves memory impairment in AD mice. METHODS: Here, we used pR5 mice as an experimental model, and ATG was administered continuously for 90 days. Novel object recognition, Y-maze, and Morris water maze were used to evaluate the therapeutic effect of ATG on memory impairment in AD mice. Immunohistochemical and immunofluorescence analyses were used to evaluate the effects of ATG on tau hyperphosphorylation and neuroinflammation, respectively. Finally, proteomics techniques were used to explore the possible mechanism of ATG. KEY FINDINGS: ATG significantly improved memory impairment in pR5 mice and inhibited tau phosphorylation in the hippocampus and neuroinflammation in the cortex. According to the proteomic analysis, the altered cognitive function of ATG was associated with the proteins of the tricarboxylic acid cycle and the electron transport chain. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that ATG is a potential therapeutic agent for diseases related to aberrant energy metabolism that can treat AD by improving mitochondrial function.

Low-Dose Copper Exposure Exacerbates Depression-Like Behavior in ApoE4 Transgenic Mice.

Depression is one of the most common neuropsychiatric disorders. Although the pathogenesis of depression is still unknown, environmental risk factors and genetics are implicated. Copper (Cu), a cofactor of multiple enzymes, is involved in regulating depression-related processes. Depressed patients carrying the apolipoprotein ε4 allele display more severe depressive symptoms, indicating that ApoE4 is closely associated with an increased risk of depression. The study explored the effect of low-dose Cu exposure and ApoE4 on depression-like behavior of mice and further investigates the possible mechanisms. The ApoE4 mice and wild-type (WT) mice were treated with 0.13 ppm CuCl2 for 4 months. After the treatment, ApoE4 mice displayed obvious depression-like behavior compared with the WT mice, and Cu exposure further exacerbated the depression-like behavior of ApoE4 mice. There was no significant difference in anxiety behavior and memory behavior. Proteomic analysis revealed that the differentially expressed proteins between Cu-exposed and nonexposed ApoE4 mice were mainly involved in the Ras signaling pathway, protein export, axon guidance, serotonergic synapse, GABAergic synapse, and dopaminergic synapse. Among these differentially expressed proteins, immune response and synaptic function are highly correlated. Representative protein expression changes are quantified by western blot, showing consistent results as determined by proteomic analysis. Hippocampal astrocytes and microglia were increased in Cu-exposed ApoE4 mice, suggesting that neuroglial cells played an important role in the pathogenesis of depression. Taken together, our study demonstrated that Cu exposure exacerbates depression-like behavior of ApoE4 mice and the mechanisms may involve the dysregulation of synaptic function and immune response and overactivation of neuroinflammation.

A modified technique for esophagojejunostomy or esophagogastrostomy after laparoscopic gastrectomy.

OBJECTIVE: Reconstruction of the digestive tract involving esophageal anastomosis after laparoscopic gastrectomy is a surgically difficult procedure. In this study, a newly developed transoral pretilted circular anvil, a "the oral to the abdomen" method, was proven to be effective. METHOD: A total of 34 consecutive patients underwent esophageal anastomosis using the OrVil in our hospital from July 2009 to February 2011. The esophagus was transected and a small hole was then made in the esophageal stump through which the nasogastric tube of the OrVil was passed to insert the anvil into the abdominal cavity. After fixation with a stapler and a glove at the jejunal loop or the remnant stomach, the abdominal cavity was entered through the minilaparotomy. Pneumoperitoneum and airtightness were reestablished after the glove edge was turned over to seal off the protector. Eventually, intracorporeal esophagojejunostomy or esophagogastrostomy was accomplished under the guidance of laparoscopy. RESULTS: There were 34 patients in the study: 1 with Zollinger-Ellison syndrome, 7 with stromal tumors in cardia, 23 with adenocarcinoma in the stomach, and 3 with cardia adenocarcinoma involving the lower esophagus. The surgical margins for all tumor patients were negative for tumor cells. The mean operative time was 175.0 minutes (90 to 240 min) and the mean intraoperative blood loss was 195.6 mL (50 to 800 mL). The 34 patients underwent successful laparoscopic surgeries with no open conversions. For 32 patients, there were no technological complications in the transoral insertion of the anvil to the esophageal stump. There were no anastomotic leaks after the surgery. CONCLUSIONS: The use of the OrVil device, a "the oral to the abdomen" method, changes the direction of the anvil insertion and significantly decreases both difficulty and duration of the laparoscopic surgery. More importantly, if the mass is at a higher position, this approach can achieve a higher surgical margin compared with the hand-sewn purse-string suture technique, thus avoiding the need to undergo a thoracotomy (Supplemental Digital Content 1, http://links.lww.com/SLE/A83).

Photoinduced ordering and anchoring properties of azo-dye films.

We study both theoretically and experimentally the anchoring properties of photoaligning azo-dye films in contact with a nematic liquid crystal depending on the photoinduced ordering of azo-dye molecules. In the mean field approximation, we found that the bare surface anchoring energy depends linearly on the azo-dye order parameter and the azimuthal anchoring strength decays to zero in the limit of vanishing photoinduced ordering. From the absorption dichroism spectra measured in azo-dye films that are prepared from an azo-dye derivative with polymerizable terminal groups we obtain the dependence of the dichroic ratio on the irradiation dose. We also measure the polar and azimuthal anchoring strengths in nematic liquid crystal (NLC) cells aligned by the azo-dye films and derive the anchoring strengths as functions of the dichroic ratio, which is proportional to the photoinduced order parameter. Although linear fitting of the experimental data for both anchoring strengths gives reasonable results, it, predicts vanishing of the azimuthal anchoring strength at some nonzero value of the azo-dye order parameter, in contradiction with theory. By using a simple phenomenological model we show that this discrepancy can be attributed to the difference between the surface and bulk order parameters in the films. The measured polar anchoring energy is found to be an order of magnitude higher than the azimuthal strength. Our theory suggests that the quadrupole term of the spherical harmonics expansion for the azo-dye-NLC intermolecular potential might be of importance for the understanding of this difference.

Diffusion model of photoaligning in azo-dye layers.

The model of the rotational diffusion of the azo-dye molecules under the action of polarized uv light was used to explain the formation of the photoinduced order in azo-dye layers. We consider both the approximations of negligible and strong molecular interaction during the process of the reorientation under the field of a polarized light. We constructed an experimental setup, based on a photoelastic modulator, that allows accurate in situ measurements of the phase retardation delta of thin film as a function of the exposure time t(exp) and exposure power W (W/ cm(2) ). A good agreement with experiment was observed. Fitting the experimental curves delta ( t(exp) ) for different power values W, we can estimate the coefficient of rotational diffusion D, azo-dye order parameter S ( t(exp) ), and other parameters of the rotational diffusion model.

Design of polarizing color filters with double-liquid-crystal cells.

A method of designing polarization rotators with double-liquid-crystal (LC) cells is presented. When placed between a polarizer and an analyzer, the polarization rotator becomes a polarizing color filter. Any required color can be generated by optimization of the parameters of the double-LC layers. One specific example of a green filter is given. This filter is analyzed in terms of the optical performance, including transmission spectrum, color coordinates, and viewing angle. A sample green polarizing color filter was made and compared with the theoretical results.