LM-Jelly: Liquid Metal Enabled Biomimetic Robotic Jellyfish.

Jellyfish have attracted worldwide attention owing to their fantastic moving styles, which also inspired development in soft robotics to meet the demands of underwater surveillance. In this study, a soft robotic jellyfish integrated liquid metal coil, and magnetic field is proposed for the first time to mimic the soft rowing propulsion of oblate jellyfish. The soft robotic jellyfish is actuated by the entirely soft electromagnetic actuators that enabled the gentle motion. Through conceptual experiments and computational fluid dynamics simulations, we systematically interpreted the mechanism of this robotic jellyfish and various factors to dominate its movement behaviors, which involve vortex formation and ascending modalities. Besides, underwater monitoring and bio-friendliness of robotic jellyfish were also demonstrated to illustrate its potential application scenarios and gentle motion characteristics. This study will help to broaden the vistas for liquid metal enabled bionic robotics in a wide range of underwater applications.

Silencing the triacylglycerol lipase (TGL) gene decreases the number of apyrene sperm and inhibits oviposition in Sitotroga cerealella.

Triacylglycerol lipase (TGL) is an essential lipid metabolism enzyme that also plays a critical role in energy metabolism; however, how it regulates other life processes is unknown. To investigate the functional role of TGL in moth reproduction, males Sitotroga cerealella were used as a model. The TGL gene was cloned and analysed. The results showed that the open reading frame of TGL was 1968 bp long and contained three conserved regions. TGL gene expression was higher in the larval and early adult stages than in the pupal stage, with the highest levels observed in the fat body, testis and accessory glands during the early adult stage. Moreover, after TGL in male adults was silenced through RNAi, the protein content in male accessory glands remained unchanged, and the spermatophore transferred into females mated with TGL-silenced males became small and empty; meanwhile, the number of apyrene sperm in the spermatophore was significantly reduced due to the reduction of apyrene sperm in males, which eventually led to the significant reduction of egg-laying amount. All of the findings suggest that TGL regulates the amount of sperm in male moths as well as the morphology and quality of spermatophores transferred to females after mating with treated males, implying that TGL is critical for Sitotroga cerealella's reproductive process.

Effects of Diallyl Trisulfide, an Active Substance from Garlic Essential Oil, on Energy Metabolism in Male Moth Sitotroga cerealella (Olivier).

This study investigated the effects of diallyl trisulfide (DAT), an active substance from garlic essential oil, on the metabolism of the main energy substances of pre- and postmating males of Sitotroga cerealella. Males at 12 h postemergence were fumigated with DAT at a concentration (LC10 = 0.010 µL/L) in a glass jar for 7 h. The main energy metabolites from pre- and postmating males were determined, including protein, triglyceride, glycogen, total soluble sugar, trehalose, and trehalase. The contents of total protein and total soluble sugar and the trehalase activity of premating males were significantly increased following DAT treatment, whereas the contents of protein from the accessory gland, triglyceride, glycogen, and trehalose were significantly decreased after treatment. Additionally, after mating, the total protein and soluble sugar contents were significantly increased and the glycogen content was significantly decreased in the treatment group relative to the levels in controls, but there was no significant difference observed in triglyceride, accessory gland proteins, trehalose content, or trehalase activity between the treatment and control groups. Furthermore, the changes in the main energy substances between pre- and postmating in males after the DAT treatment (∆DAT) were smaller than those in the control group (∆CK). This result indicated that DAT can accelerate the rate of metabolism in males at LC10, leading to the accumulation of greater levels of total soluble sugar to support life activities and to the increased synthesis of proteins to resist an adverse environment.

Co-culture of oligodendrocytes and neurons can be used to assess drugs for axon regeneration in the central nervous system.

We present a novel in vitro model in which to investigate the efficacy of experimental drugs for the promotion of axon regeneration in the central nervous system. We co-cultured rat hippocampal neurons and cerebral cortical oligodendrocytes, and tested the co-culture system using a Nogo-66 receptor antagonist peptide (NEP1-40), which promotes axonal growth. Primary cultured oligodendrocytes suppressed axonal growth in the rat hippocampus, but NEP1-40 stimulated axonal growth in the co-culture system. Our results confirm the validity of the neuron-oligodendrocyte co-culture system as an assay for the evaluation of drugs for axon regeneration in the central nervous system.