Auricular Vagal Nerve Stimulation Inhibited Central Nerve Growth Factor/Tropomyosin Receptor Kinase A/Phospholipase C-Gamma Signaling Pathway in Functional Dyspepsia Model Rats With Gastric Hypersensitivity.

OBJECTIVE: Functional dyspepsia (FD), which has a complicated pathophysiologic process, is a common functional gastrointestinal disease. Gastric hypersensitivity is the key pathophysiological factor in patients with FD with chronic visceral pain. Auricular vagal nerve stimulation (AVNS) has the therapeutic effect of reducing gastric hypersensitivity by regulating the activity of the vagus nerve. However, the potential molecular mechanism is still unclear. Therefore, we investigated the effects of AVNS on the brain-gut axis through the central nerve growth factor (NGF)/ tropomyosin receptor kinase A (TrkA)/phospholipase C-gamma (PLC-γ) signaling pathway in FD model rats with gastric hypersensitivity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We established the FD model rats with gastric hypersensitivity by means of colon administration of trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid on ten-day-old rat pups, whereas the control rats were given normal saline. AVNS, sham AVNS, K252a (an inhibitor of TrkA, intraperitoneally), and K252a + AVNS were performed on eight-week-old model rats for five consecutive days. The therapeutic effect of AVNS on gastric hypersensitivity was determined by the measurement of abdominal withdrawal reflex response to gastric distention. NGF in gastric fundus and NGF, TrkA, PLC-γ, and transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) in the nucleus tractus solitaries (NTS) were detected separately by polymerase chain reaction, Western blot, and immunofluorescence tests. RESULTS: It was found that a high level of NGF in gastric fundus and an upregulation of the NGF/TrkA/PLC-γ signaling pathway in NTS were manifested in model rats. Meanwhile, both AVNS treatment and the administration of K252a not only decreased NGF messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) and protein expressions in gastric fundus but also reduced the mRNA expressions of NGF, TrkA, PLC-γ, and TRPV1 and inhibited the protein levels and hyperactive phosphorylation of TrkA/PLC-γ in NTS. In addition, the expressions of NGF and TrkA proteins in NTS were decreased significantly after the immunofluorescence assay. The K252a + AVNS treatment exerted a more sensitive effect on regulating the molecular expressions of the signal pathway than did the K252a treatment. CONCLUSION: AVNS can regulate the brain-gut axis effectively through the central NGF/TrkA/PLC-γ signaling pathway in the NTS, which suggests a potential molecular mechanism of AVNS in ameliorating visceral hypersensitivity in FD model rats.

A Fibrosis-Independent Hepatic Transcriptomic Signature Identifies Drivers of Disease Progression in Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a heterogeneous cholangiopathy characterized by progressive biliary fibrosis. RNA sequencing of liver tissue from patients with PSC (n = 74) enrolled in a 96-week clinical trial was performed to identify associations between biological pathways that were independent of fibrosis and clinical events. APPROACH AND RESULTS: The effect of fibrosis was subtracted from gene expression using a computational approach. The fibrosis-adjusted gene expression patterns were associated with time to first PSC-related clinical event (e.g., cholangitis, hepatic decompensation), and differential expression based on risk groups and Ingenuity Pathway Analysis were performed. Baseline demographic data were representative of PSC: median age 48 years, 71% male, 49% with inflammatory bowel disease, and 44% with bridging fibrosis or cirrhosis. The first principle component (PC1) of RNA-sequencing data accounted for 18% of variance and correlated with fibrosis stage (ρ = -0.80; P < 0.001). After removing the effect of fibrosis-related genes, the first principle component was not associated with fibrosis (ρ = -0.19; P = 0.11), and a semisupervised clustering approach identified two distinct patient clusters with differential risk of time to first PSC-related event (P < 0.0001). The two groups had similar fibrosis stage, hepatic collagen content, and α-smooth muscle actin expression by morphometry, Enhanced Liver Fibrosis score, and serum liver biochemistry, bile acids, and IL-8 (all P > 0.05). The top pathways identified by Ingenuity Pathway Analysis were eukaryotic translation inhibition factor 2 (eIF2) signaling and regulation of eIF4/p70S6K signaling. Genes involved in the unfolded protein response, activating transcription factor 6 (ATF6) and eIF2, were differentially expressed between the PSC clusters (down-regulated in the high-risk group by log-fold changes of -0.18 [P = 0.02] and -0.16 [P = 0.02], respectively). Clinical events were enriched in the high-risk versus low-risk group (38% [12/32] vs. 2.4% [1/42], P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Removing the contribution of fibrosis-related pathways uncovered alterations in the unfolded protein response, which were associated with liver-related complications in PSC.

Serological Survey of Zika Virus in Humans and Animals in Dejiang Prefecture, Guizhou Province, China.

OBJECTIVE: The current outbreak of Zika virus (ZIKV) poses a severe threat to human health. Two ZIKV strains were isolated from mosquitoes collected from the Dejiang prefecture in China in 2016, which was the first isolation of ZIKV in nature in China. METHODS: In this study, serum samples were collected from 366 healthy individuals and 104 animals from Dejiang prefecture in 2017, and the plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT) was used to evaluate the seroprevalence of ZIKV. RESULTS: None of the 366 residents from whom the samples were collected were seropositive for ZIKV. None of the 11 pigs from whom the samples were collected were seropositive for ZIKV, while 1 of 63 (1.59%) chickens and 2 of 30 (6.67%) sheep were seropositive for ZIKV. CONCLUSION: The extremely low seropositivity rate of ZIKV antibodies in animals in the Dejiang prefecture, Guizhou province in this study indicates that ZIKV can infect animals; however, there is a low risk of ZIKV circulating in the local population.

Effects and mechanisms of auricular vagus nerve stimulation on high-fat-diet--induced obese rats.

OBJECTIVE: Obesity is a major public health problem. Regulating food intake and promoting metabolism of fat are two important options for treating obesity. Auricular vagus nerve stimulation (AVNS) is considered as an alternative approach to vagal nerve stimulation. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of AVNS and its mechanisms on obesity in obese rats. METHODS: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed either a high-fat diet (HFD) or a normal diet for 8 wk. Qualified HFD rats were randomly divided into three groups: the HFD group, the AVNS group, and the sham group for 6 wk treatment. Body weight and daily energy intake were recorded weekly. The rats were sacrificed for measurement of weight of bilateral perirenal, epididymal white adipose tissue (WAT), dorsal brown adipose tissue (BAT), and gastric emptying. Serum cholecystokinin (CCK), peptide YY3 to 36 (PYY3-36) and norepinephrine (NE) were assayed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to assess the mRNA expressions of CCK subtype receptor a (CCKa) in the antrum, PYY3-36 receptor in the distal ileum, ß3-adrenoceptor, and uncoupling protein gene 1 (UCP1) in the BAT. RESULTS: Compared with HFD group, AVNS significantly reduced body weight and epididymal WAT and increased BAT weight, serum NE, mRNA expressions of ß3-adrenoceptors, and UCP1 of the BAT, but had no effect on daily energy intake, perirenal WAT weight, gastric emptying, serum levels of CCK and PYY, or mRNA expressions of CCKa receptor and PYY3-36 receptor in the relevant tissues. The sham group, as a comparison group for AVNS, saw less effect in any of the indexes compared with the HFD group. AVNS had more effect on weight loss, reduction of perirenal WAT, and increase of NE, ß3-adrenoceptor, and UCP1 than sham. CONCLUSIONS: AVNS was more effective in reducing body weight and causing visceral fat loss. Biochemical tests found more NE released in the serum and more ß3-adrenoceptor and UCP1 expression in the BAT. All of these features suggested that energy expenditure might play an important role in obesity management by AVNS.

[Analysis on molecular epidemiological features of enterovirus type 71 in Guizhou Province, 2008-2011].

To study the genotype and molecular epidemiological features of enterovirus type 71 (EV71) in Guizhou Province. The hand-foot-mouth disease(HFMD) patients since 2008 in Guizhou Province were surveyed. EV71 RNA positive samples, including mild cases, death cases and cases of serious conditions, were used for subsequent cell culture and sequencing of VP1 complete gene. Genotypes were compared between domestic and foreign epidemic strains. The results showed that the main pathogenwas EV71 subtype C4a in 2008, 2009 and 2011. The nucleotide homology was 95. 3 - 99. 7% among 109 sequenced strains isolated in Guizhou Province. Guizhou strains were more similar to the representative strains from neighbor Province or City, including Shandong, Shanghai, Nanjing, Jilin and Ningbo. There was no distinct sequence difference among the isolates from either of death, mild case or case of serious condition at the nucleotide and amino acid levels. The diversity of nucleotide sequence of isolates was less within same region and year than those trans-regional strains or strains in different year.

[Analysis of the genetic differences in the nucleoprotein between rabies virus and its vaccine strains in Guizhou province from year 2005 to 2010].

OBJECTIVE: This study was to explore the differences in the nucleoprotein gene between rabies virus (RABV) and its vaccine strains in Guizhou province from year 2005 to 2010. METHODS: Samples from 4 rabies patients and cerebral tissue samples of 28 rabies infected dogs were collected from different districts in Guizhou province between year 2005 and 2010. Direct Immunofluorescence Assay (DFA) and RT-nested PCR assay were applied to detect the overall length of N gene sequence. Meanwhile, based on the comparison between the homology and phylogenetic tree, the differences in N gene sequence between the prevalent RABV and the RABV vaccine strains collected from NCBI database in these years. RESULTS: According to DFA and RT-nested PCR assay, the antigen and nucleic acid of the 21 dogs and 4 human samples were both confirmed positive; whose full length of N gene sequences were both 1353 bp. The homological analysis showed that the 25 strains of RABV virus and the RABV type I virus stored by GenBank database shared a high homology in N gene nucleotide and amino acid sequences, which were 89%-100% and 98%-100%, respectively. Besides, the homology between the 25 strains of RABV virus and its vaccines in nucleotide and amino acid sequences were separately 86%-95% and 96%-100%. The N gene of vaccines for livestock shared the highest homology with HEP-Flury strain in the nucleotide and amino acid, which were 88%-89% and 98%-99%, respectively. The vaccines for human use showed its greatest homology with the CTN strain in nucleotide (86%-100%) and amino acid (96%-100%). The phylogenetic tree analysis indicated that the 25 strains of RABV virus, RABV type I virus and the CTN vaccine strains constituted one individual cluster, which was least different from the CTN vaccine for human use. CONCLUSION: The prevalent RABV virus, the vaccine HEP-Flury for livestock and the vaccine CTN for human use were found to be highly similar in N gene expression in Guizhou province from 2005 to 2010.

Genetic characterization of hantaviruses isolated from Guizhou, China: evidence for spillover and reassortment in nature.

To gain more insights into the epidemiology of hantaviruses in the Guizhou province, China, rodents were captured in Guizhou during the period from 2001 to 2003. In addition, serum sample was collected from one patient. Virus isolation was attempted from human serum and rodent samples. Four hantaviruses were isolated successfully in cell culture from one human, two A. agrarius, and one R. norvegicus. The nucleotide sequences for the entire S and M and partial L segment were determined from these four isolates as well as six viruses isolated in 1980s. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the S segment from all isolates belong to the Hantaan virus (HTNV) clade, regardless of the sources from which they were derived. According to the S sequences, these viruses could be divided into three distinct phylogroups, showing geographical clustering. Analysis of the entire M and the partial L segment sequences demonstrated that 8 out of the 10 isolates belong to the HTNV clade. However, two isolates (CGRn8316 and CGRn9415) isolated from R. norvegicus belong to the Seoul virus (SEOV) clade. In addition, these two isolates were distinct from other known members of SEOV clade. Together, the data suggest that at least three groups of HTNV are co-circulating and one new variant of SEOV may be present in Guizhou. Our results also suggest that HTNV from A. agrarius spilled over to R. norvegicus and natural reassortment between HTNV and SEOV occurred during or after the spillover.

Investigation of the role of healthy dogs as potential carriers of rabies virus.

To investigate whether healthy animals are potential carriers of rabies virus in China, 153 domestic dogs were collected from a rabies enzootic area, Anlong county in Guizhou Province, and monitored for 6 months. Initially, findings of rabies virus antigen in the saliva of 15 dogs by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test suggested they might be carriers. These 15 dogs were kept under observation for 6 months. None of the dogs showed any clinical signs of rabies during the observation period. Moreover, using the ELISA test alone, detection of rabies virus antigen in saliva of some animals was not consistent during the observation period. However, none of the saliva samples collected either at the time of acquisition or during the observation period was found to be positive for rabies virus RNA by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Furthermore, neither viral antigen nor viral RNA was detected in the brain samples collected at the time of euthanasia. These results do not provide support for the contention that healthy dogs act as carriers in rabies. Caution is urged when preliminary and nondefinitive tests, such as ELISA, are used to infer clinical status related to rabies.