SOX4 as a potential therapeutic target for pathological cardiac hypertrophy.

Pathological cardiac hypertrophy can lead to heart failure, making its prevention crucial. SOX4, a SOX transcription factor, regulates tissue growth and development, although its role in pathological cardiac hypertrophy is unclear. We found that the SOX4 expression was elevated in hypertrophic hearts and angiotensin II (Ang II)-treated neonatal rat cardiomyocytes (NRCMs), and knocking down the SOX4 expression in NRCMs and mouse hearts significantly reduced the hypertrophic response. Mechanistically, SOX4 can bind to the SIRT3 promoter, inhibit SIRT3 transcription and expression, and thus affect downstream MnSOD acetylation levels, leading to abnormal increases in ROS and oxidative stress levels and promoting the occurrence of cardiac hypertrophy. In conclusion, this study identified a new role for SOX4 in regulating cardiac hypertrophy, and decreasing SOX4 expression may be a potential treatment for pathological cardiac hypertrophy.

Research on the synchronous detection of neuronal signals under a nerve stimulation system control.

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) provides a recognized research intervention for neurological disease currently. However, there is a lack of traditional electrical stimulator to observe neuronal firing activity synchronously. The aim of the present study was to realize concurrent detection of neuronal signals better under a nerve stimulation system control. Herein, we designed an integrated software, which could control not only neuro-stimulator but also detection instrument at the same time. Moreover, the actual stimulation signals applied to the experiment object could be collected back to data acquisition card and in consistent with the electrophysiological signals. As to basic performance of self-building stimulator, the accuracy of output square signal was verified to be greater than 99.05 % with the change of voltage amplitude. Practicably, combined with homemade microelectrode array (MEA) detecting device, medial forebrain bundle (MFB) DBS effects were observed significantly through the changes of electrophysiological signals in caudate putamen (CPu) of Sprague-Dawley (SD) rat, and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) was 5:1 after stimulation. Therefore, the comprehensive nerve stimulation system, which consists of neuro-stimulator and integrated software, could be widely used in the field of neuroscience research with high precision and synchronization.