Antioxidative and immunological effects of Cyclocarya paliurus polysaccharides on the spleen injury of diabetic rat.

OBJEVTIVE: To investigate the effects of Cyclocarya paliurus (C. paliurus) polysaccharides on the spleen injury of diabetic rats. METHODS: Animals were divided into 6 groups, including normal group, model group, control group, low-dose group of C. paliurus polysaccharides treatment, middle-dose group of C. paliurus polysaccharides treatment and high-dose group of C. paliurus polysaccharides treatment. Histological analysis of spleen was analyzed using hematoxilin and eosin. Levels of biological parameters and anti-oxidative enzymes were determined by spectrophotometry. Interleukin-7 (IL-7) and IL-10 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: Compared with that of model group, superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase level increased 78.63% (P < 0.05), 51.76% (P < 0.05), 2.95 times (P < 0.01) and 41.11% (P < 0.05) in the high-dose group of C. paliurus polysaccharides treatment, respectively. IL-7 and IL-10 increase 1.66 (P < 0.01) and 1.21 times (P < 0.01) in the high-dose group of C. paliurus polysaccharides treatment, respectively. CONCLUSION: It is suggested that C. paliurus polysaccharides may play a protecting role for spleen injury of diabetic rats by enhancing the antioxidative ability and evaluating the immunity.

[Optimization and characterization of a novel FGF21 mutant].

Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) is a member of FGF family. It has been demonstrated that FGF21 is an independent, safe and effective regulator of blood glucose levels in vivo. In order to improve the activity of FGF21, we exchanged the beta10-beta12 domain of the human FGF21 with that of the mouse FGF21 to construct a novel FGF21 gene (named hmFGF21), and then subcloned hmFGF21 gene into the SUMO expression vector to create pSUMO-hmFGF21 and transformed it into E. coli Rosetta for expression of the fusion protein SUMO-hmFGF21. Both in vitro and in vivo glucose regulation activity of hmFGF21 was evaluated. The SDS-PAGE result showed that compared with wild-type hFGF21, the soluble expression of hmFGF21 increased about 2-fold. HmFGF21 was more potent in stimulation of glucose uptake in HepG2 cells in vitro. The results of anti-diabetic effect on db/db mice demonstrated that hmFGF21 had better efficacy on controlling the blood glucose of the db/db diabetic animals than wild-type hFGF21. These results suggest that the biological properties of FGF21 are significantly improved by optimization.

[Polymorphisms of inhibin α gene exon 1 in buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), gayal (Bos frontalis) and yak (Bos grunniens)].

To elucidate the genetic characteristics of the bovine Inhibin α subunit (INHA) gene, the polymorphisms in exon 1 of INHA and its bilateral sequences were assayed using PCR with direct sequencing in buffalo, gayal and yak. A comparative analysis was conducted by pooled the results in this study with the published data of INHA on some mammals including some bovine species together. A synonymous substitution c.73C>A was identified in exon 1 of INHA for buffalo, which results in identical encoding product in river and swamp buffalo. In gayal, two non-synonymous but same property substitutions in exon 1 of INHA, viz. c.62 C>T and c.187 G>A, were detected, which lead to p. P21L, p. V63M changes in INHA, respectively. In yak, nucleotide substitution c.62C> T, c.129A>G were found in exon 1 of INHA, the former still causes p. P21L substitution and the latter is synonymous. For the sequence of the 5'-flanking region of INHA examined, no SNPs were found within the species, but a substitution, c. -6T>G, was found. The nucleotide in this site in gayal, yak and cattle was c. -6G, whereas in buffalo it was c. -6T. Meanwhile, a 6-bp deletion, namely c. 262+31_262+36delTCTGAC, was found in the intron of buffalo INHA gene. For this deletion, wild types (+/+) account for main part in river buffalo while mutant types (-/-) are predominant in swamp buffalo. This deletion was not found in gayal, yak and cattle, though these all have another deletion in the intron of INHA, c. 262+78_262+79delTG. The results of sequence alignment showed that the substitutions c. 43A and c. 67G in exon 1 of INHA are specific to buffalo, whereas the substitutions c. 173A and c. 255G are exclusive to gayal, yak and cattle, and c. 24C, c. 47G, c. 174T and c. 206T are specific to goat. Furthermore, there are few differences among gayal, yak and cattle, but there relatively great differences between buffalo, goat and other bovine species regarding the sequences of INHA exon 1.