NCBP1 Improves Cognitive Function in Mice by Reducing Oxidative Stress, Neuronal Loss, and Glial Activation After Status Epilepticus.

Status epilepticus (SE) is a severe manifestation of epilepsy which can cause neurologic injury and death. This study aimed to identify key proteins involved in the pathogenesis of epilepsy and find a potential drug target for SE treatment. Tandem mass tag (TMT)-based quantitative proteomic analysis was applied to screen differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in epilepsy. The adeno-associated virus was employed to overexpress candidate DEP in mice, and kainic acid (KA) was used to generate a mouse model of epilepsy. Then histopathological examination of the hippocampal tissue was performed, and the inflammatory factors levels in serum and hippocampus were measured. The IP-MS analysis was carried out to identify the interacting protein of nuclear cap-binding protein 1 (NCBP1). The results were that NCBP1 was downregulated in the epileptic hippocampus. NCBP1 overexpression alleviated KA-induced cognitive impairment in mice and reduced the apoptosis and damage of hippocampal neurons. Additionally, overexpressed NCBP1 increased the expression of NeuN and reduced the expression of GFAP and IBA-1 in the hippocampus of the mice. Further study indicated that NCBP1 overexpression inhibited the expression of IL-6, IL-1ß, and IFN-γ in serum and hippocampus as well as MDA and LDH in the hippocampus, whereas it increased the SOD levels, suggesting that overexpression of NCBP1 could diminish KA-induced inflammatory responses and oxidative stress. The IP-MS analysis identified that ELAVL4 was the NCBP1-interacting protein. In conclusion, this finding suggests that NCBP1 may potentially serve as a drug target for the treatment of epilepsy.

Effects of orientation and structure on solar radiation interception in Chinese solar greenhouse.

In order to further improve the utilization of solar energy in Chinese Solar Greenhouse (CSG), this paper systematically studied the effects of orientation and structure on solar radiation interception in CSG. A solar radiation model has been developed based on the previous research, which taking solar motion law, meteorological data, and optical properties of materials into consideration. The established model was used to optimize the orientation and structure of CSG. The analysis of structure considered two major structural parameters, which are the ridge height and the horizontal projection of the rear roof. Moreover, the widely used Liao-Shen type Chinese solar greenhouse (CSG-LS) has been taken as the prototype in the present research, and the measured data of the typical clear day was used for the model validation. The results showed that the ridge height has a remarkable influence on the solar energy captured by CSG-LS. Compared with the optimization of a single factor, the comprehensive optimization of orientation and structure can increase the solar radiation interception of the rear wall by 3.95%. Considering the limiting factor of heat storage-release capacity and the shading effect on the greenhouse structure, the optimal lighting construction of the CSG-LS (with a span of 9.0 m) was specified as 7~9° from south to west of azimuth angle, 4.5~4.7 m ridge height, and 1.4~1.6 m horizontal projection of the rear roof at 42°N latitude. The proposed solar radiation model can provide scientific guidance for the CSG-LS construction in different areas.

Application of intelligent algorithm in the optimization of novel protein regulatory pathway: Mechanism of action of gastric carcinoma protein p42.3.

AIMS: This purpose of the study was to optimize the regulatory mechanism of p42.3 novel protein molecule in gastric cancer and also verified it by the use of intelligent algorithms. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Threading method was employed to analyze structural domain characteristics of p42.3 protein. Referential proteins were gathered and formed by domain homology and function similarity. Afterwards, the possible regulatory network of p42.3 was established by analyzing the acting pathways of the referential proteins. Spherical polar coordinates stratification and stratified multi-parameter weight were used for calculation of the similarity between the referential proteins and p42.3 protein, the result of which was taken as the prior probability of the initial node in Bayes network, thus the probability of occurrence of each pathway was figured out by using conditional probability formula, and the one with the biggest probability was considered as the possible pathway of p42.3. At last, molecular biological experiments were conducted to verify it. RESULTS: The acting pathway with the maximum probability predicted by Bayesian probability optimizing calculation was "S100A11" - RAGE - P38 - MAPK - Microtubule-associated protein - Spindle protein-Centromere protein - Cell proliferation" which was the most likely acting pathway participated by p42.3, and has been validated by biological experiments. CONCLUSIONS: By the theoretical analysis and experimental verification, this study confirmed that assumptions that p42.3 protein was related to the occurrence and development of gastric carcinoma, predicted and verified the acting pathways of p42.3, which will provide a new research direction of the relationship between p42.3 and gastric cancer, as well as the target therapy of gastric cancer. The algorithm in predicting the acting pathway of the protein also offers a new thought in studying new functional proteins.

Effects of salvianolic acid B on in vitro growth inhibition and apoptosis induction of retinoblastoma cells.

AIM: To observe the effects of salvianolic acid B (SalB) on in vitro growth inhibition and apoptosis induction of retinoblastoma HXO-RB44 cells. METHODS: The effects of SalB on the HXO-RB44 cells proliferation in vitro were observed by MTT colorimetric method. The morphological changes of apoptosis before and after the treatment of SalB were observed by Hoechst 33258 fluorescent staining method. Apoptosis rate and cell cycle changes of HXO-RB44 cells were detected by flow cytometer at 48 hours after treated by SalB. The expression changes of Caspase-3 protein in HXO-RB44 cells were detected by Western Blot. RESULTS: SalB significantly inhibited the growth of HXO-RB44 cells, while the inhibition was in a concentration-and time-dependent manner. The results of fluorescent staining method indicated that HXO-RB44 cells showed significant phenomenon of apoptosis including karyorrhexis, fragmentation and the formation of apoptotic bodies, etc. after 24, 48 and 72 hours co-culturing of SalB and HXO-RB44 cells. The results of flow cytometer showed that the apoptosis rate and the proportion of cells in S phase were gradually increased at 48 hours and 72 hours after treated by different concentrations of SalB. Western Blot strip showed that the expression of Caspase-3 protein in HXO-RB44 cells was gradually increased with the increase of the concentration of SalB. CONCLUSION: SalB can significantly affect on HXO-RB44 cells growth inhibition and apoptosis induction which may be achieved through the up-regulation of Caspase-3 expression and the induction of cell cycle arrest.

Clinical evaluation of oral Fructus bruceae oil combined with radiotherapy for the treatment of esophageal cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the therapeutic efficacy and side effects of oral Fructus bruceae oil combined with radiotherapy in the treatment of esophageal cancer. METHODS: A total of 80 patients with esophageal cancer were equally and randomly divided into two groups. The patients in Group A were treated with radiotherapy (60-65 Gy, 6-7 weeks) and oral Fructus bruceae oil (20 mL, 3 times per day for 12 weeks), while the patients in Group B were treated with radiotherapy alone. The short-term effect was evaluated by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) and quality of life (QOL) was evaluated by the Karnofsky scoring (KFS). The outcome measures included complete remission (CR) rate, partial remission (PR) rate, effective rate as CR+PR, patients' QOL and adverse effects. RESULTS: After 12-week treatment, the CR and CR+PR were significantly higher in Group A than those in Group B (P <0.05). There was an improvement in esophageal obstruction of 87.5% and 60.0%, respectively, and in KFS of 84.6% and 43.9%, respectively, in Groups A and B. CONCLUSION: Oral medication with oral Fructus bruceae oil could effectively improve the efficacy of radiotherapy in esophageal cancer, including a reduction in esophageal obstruction, and also reduce the side effects of radiotherapy; thus it would be very promising for clinical application.