Selenium deficiency induced inflammation and apoptosis via NF-κB and MAPKs pathways in muscle of common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.).

Selenium (Se), one of the essential trace elements of fish, regulates immune system function and maintains immune homeostasis. Muscle is the important tissue that generate movement and maintain posture. At present, there are few studies on the effects of Se deficiency on carp muscle. In this experiment, carps were fed with dietary with different Se content to successfully establish a Se deficiency model. Low-Se dietary led to the decrease of Se content in muscle. Histological analysis showed that Se deficiency resulted in muscle fiber fragmentation, dissolution, disarrangement and increased myocyte apoptosis. Transcriptome revealed a total of 367 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened, including 213 up-regulated DEGs and 154 down-regulated DEGs. Bioinformatics analysis showed that DEGs were concentrated in oxidation-reduction process, inflammation and apoptosis, and were related to NF-κB and MAPKs pathways. Further exploration of the mechanism showed that Se deficiency led to excessive accumulation of ROS, decreased the activity of antioxidant enzymes, and also resulted in increased expression of the NF-κB and MAPKs pathways. In addition, Se deficiency significantly increased the expressions of TNF-α, IL-1ß and IL-6, and the pro-apoptotic factors BAX, p53, caspase-7 and caspase-3, while decreased the expressions of anti-apoptotic factors Bcl-2 and Bcl-xl. In conclusion, Se deficiency reduced the activities of antioxidant enzymes and led to excessive accumulation of ROS, which caused oxidative stress and affected the immune function of carp, leading to muscle inflammation and apoptosis.

[Effect of three-step acupuncture combined with small dosage antipsychotic in treating incipient schizophrenia].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical efficacy and safety of three-step acupuncture (TSA) combined with small dosage antipsychotic in treating incipient schizophrenia (IS). METHODS: Sixty IS patients were randomly assigned to the test group and the control group equally. Patients in the test group received the combined therapy of TSA and antipsychotic, while patients in the control group were treated by full-dose antipsychotic, all for 8 weeks. The clinical efficacy was assessed by the positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS), and the adverse reaction was evaluated by treatment emergent symptom scale (TESS). RESULTS: The clinical efficacy in the two groups showed insignificant difference at the end of the 8-week treatment (P > 0.05), but the total scores of PANSS evaluated at the end of the 2nd and 4th week in the test group (74.26 +/- 9.54, 56.33 +/- 10.12) were significantly higher than those in the control group (85.56 +/- 9.73, 70.57 +/- 9.62), respectively (P < 0.05), furthermore, TESS analysis showed that the incidence of adverse reactions in nervous system and autonomic nervous system in the test group were also lesser than in the control group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The combined therapy of TSA and small dose antipsychotic shows an efficacy equivalent to that of full-dose antipsychotic, but with shorter initiation time and less side effects.