Responses of soil nematode community within soil aggregates to tea plantation age.

It is increasingly believed that soil nematodes play an important role in the soil community and have a pronounced influence on the evaluation of soil health and the monitoring of soil food web changes. Soil aggregates provide habitable pore space and resource availability for soil organisms. The distribution of soil nematodes, which are relatively small soil fauna, may be related to the degree of soil aggregates. Soil nematode communities were studied with different soil components: large macro-aggregates (> 2 mm), medium macro-aggregates (2-1 mm), small macro-aggregates (1-0.25 mm), and micro-aggregates (< 0.25 mm) extracted from the same crop variety plantings (Sichuan tea) of different ages (19 years, 26 years, 34 years, and 56 years) in Sichuan province, southwestern China, in 2018. The results showed that the tea plantation with 26 years of cultivation was more suitable for the propagation of nematode communities, and the numbers of total nematodes were highest in the > 2 mm fractions. Compared with other tea plantations, the Margalef index (SR) of 26-year-old tea plantation was significantly higher than that within the large and medium macro-aggregates, and the maturity index (MI) was higher in the large and small macro-aggregates in the 26-year-old tea plantation. In the large macro-aggregates, the value of functional metabolic footprints decreased with the tea plantation age. In addition, the functional metabolic footprints increased with the increase in soil aggregate size. Our finding suggests that nematode communities are limited by resource availability and resource quality played an important role in determining nematode communities. Moreover, the soil food web was degenerated with the age of tea cultivation. Therefore, in the study area, it is necessary to pay attention to the rational allocation and application of organic fertilizer in the late stage of tea planting, so as to maintain the soil fertility and soil food web structure of the tea garden.

Ampelopsin Inhibits Breast Cancer Cell Growth through Mitochondrial Apoptosis Pathway.

Ampelopsin, a flavonoid with a wide variety of biological activities, has been proposed to be a potent antitumor agent. However, the mechanism by which Ampelopsin shows anti-breast cancer activity remains unclear. Therefore, this study will explore the mechanism of Ampelopsin's anti-breast cancer activity by culturing MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) method and plate cloning method were used to detect the proliferation inhibition of breast cancer cells. Fluorescence microscopy was used to detect mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP). 2',7'-Dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA) method was used to determine the content of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). Hoechst 33258 staining was used to detect the apoptotic morphological changes. Transmission electron microscope was used to observe the mitochondrial structure. Western blot was used to detect the protein expression of Bax and Bcl-2. The results showed that Ampelopsin could significantly inhibit the proliferation of breast cancer cells, and promote cells apoptosis. In addition, the occurrence of apoptosis in breast cancer cells was associated with mitochondrial dysfunction, including the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, the production of large amounts of reactive oxygen species, and the up-regulation of Bax/Bcl-2 expression. In conclusion, Ampelopsin-induced mitochondria damage leads to loss of mitochondria membrane potential, overproduction of ROS and activation of Bax, increasing mitochondria membrane permeability and ultimately inducing breast cell apoptosis. These findings provided a new perspective on the role of Ampelopsin in breast cancer prevention and treatment.

Maternal obesity interrupts the coordination of the unfolded protein response and heat shock response in the postnatal developing hypothalamus of male offspring in mice.

Maternal obesity malprograms offspring obesity and associated metabolic disorder. As a common phenomenon in obesity, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress also presents early prior to the development. Here, we investigate metabolic effect of early activated hypothalamic ER stress in offspring exposed to maternal obesogenic environment and the underlying mechanism in ICR mice model. We found higher body weight, hyperphagia and defective hypothalamic feeding-circuit in the offspring born to obese dams, with hypothalamic ER stress, and even more comprehensive cell proteotoxic stress were induced during the early postnatal period. However, neonatal inhibition of hypothalamic ER stress worsened the metabolic end. We believe that the uncoordinated interaction between the unfolded protein response and the heat shock response, regulated by heat shock protein 70, might be responsible for the malformed hypothalamic feeding circuit of the offspring exposure to maternal obesogenic conditions and were linked with deleterious metabolism in adulthood, especially when exposure to high-energy conditions.

[Effects of sulfur on physiological and biochemical indices and nutrition quality of garlic].

The study on the effects of sulfur on physiological and biochemical indices and nutrition quality of garlic showed that when soil sulfur content was 8.41 mg kg(-1), the NR and POD activities, photosynthetic pigment content and photosynthetic parameter (Pn, Gs, E) in garlic leaves were higher. The soluble protein content and CAT activity reached maximum when soil sulfur content was 7.92 mg x kg(-1), while the SOD activity was higher when soil sulfur content was 6.45 mg x kg(-1). When soil sulfur content was 8.41 mg x kg(-1), the allicin, soluble sugar and Vc contents in bulb and the allicin, soluble sugar and soluble protein contents in bolt were increased by 33.67%, 23.75%, 68.82%, 40.95%, 3.45% and 7.45%, respectively. Higher content of soil sulfur (9.48 mg x kg(-1)) increased the contents of Vc and free amino acid in bolt and those of free amino acid and soluble protein in bulb by 15.17%, 20.93%, 6.49% and 8.07%, respectively.