Optogenetics in taste research: A decade of enlightenment.

The electrophysiological function of the tongue involves complicated activities in taste sense, producing the perceptions of salty, sweet, bitter, and sour. However, therapies and prevention of taste loss arising from dysfunction in electrophysiological activity require further fundamental research. Optogenetics has revolutionized neuroscience and brought the study of sensory system to a higher level in taste. The year 2022 marks a decade of developments of optogenetics in taste since this technology was adopted from neuroscience and applied to the taste research. This review summarizes a decade of advances that define near-term translation with optogenetic tools, and newly-discovered mechanisms with the applications of these tools. The main limitations and opportunities for optogenetics in taste research are also discussed.

Correlation Analysis of Chaige Qinlian Decoction and Acupuncture Combined Intervention on Prognosis of Children with Pneumonia.

Background: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment is of great importance to improve the clinical symptoms of children with pneumonia, and this study was conducted in this context. Methods: The clinical data of 82 child patients with pneumonia admitted to our hospital from February 2019 to February 2020 were retrospectively analyzed, and the patients were divided into the conventional group and the combined group according to the parity of their admission numbers, with 41 cases each. Conventional Western medicine therapy was given to children in the conventional group, and on this basis, acupuncture combined with Chaige Qinlian decoction was performed on children in the combined group, so as to evaluate the clinical application value of combined treatment and analyze its relationship with prognosis by recording the recovery time of each symptom, serum indicators, and immune indicators. Results: Children in the combined group had significantly shorter recovery time of each symptom and lower mean CPIS scores after treatment than the conventional group (P < 0.001); the TCM symptom scores at T1 (1 d after treatment), T2 (3 d after treatment), T3 (7 d after treatment), and T4 (10 d after treatment) of children in the combined group were significantly higher than those in the conventional group (P < 0.05); various immune indicators of the combined group before and after treatment were significantly different (P < 0.001), and after treatment, the combined group obtained significantly higher IgG levels and lower IgA, complement C3, and complement C4 levels than the conventional group (P < 0.001); and there was a positive correlation between the CPIS scores and serum IL-8, IL-6, and CRP levels at the first day (r = 0.706, 0.712, 0.734, P < 0.001). Conclusion: Acupuncture combined with Chaige Qinlian decoction can effectively shorten the course of disease, reduce the levels of serum inflammatory factors, and improve the immune function of body for child patients with pneumonia. Serum IL-8, IL-6, and CRP levels in child patients can reflect the clinical prognosis, with higher levels indicating worse prognosis.

Apatinib promotes apoptosis of the SMMC-7721 hepatocellular carcinoma cell line via the PI3K/Akt pathway.

The present study investigated the inhibitory effects of apatinib on the proliferation of the SMMC-7721 hepatocellular carcinoma cell line to explore the possible mechanism. The MTT assay was used to detect the inhibitory effects of the different concentrations of apatinib on the proliferation of SMMC-7721 cells. Annexin V/PI double staining was performed to investigate the effects of apatinib on the apoptosis of SMMC-7721 cells. Expression of the apoptosis-related genes Bcl-2, Bax and caspase-9 after apatinib treatment was detected by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) and western blot analysis. Expression of the PI3K, p-PI3K, Akt and p-Akt proteins after apatinib treatment was detected using western blot analysis. The MTT results showed that apatinib inhibited the in vitro proliferation of SMMC-7721 cells. Annexin V/PI double staining showed that apatinib induced the apoptosis of SMMC-7721 cells in a concentration-dependent manner. Results of RT-qPCR and western blot analysis showed that apatinib was able to induce the expression of pro-apoptotic genes Bax and caspase-9 and inhibited the expression of anti-apoptotic gene Bcl-2. In addition, the western blot analysis revealed that p-PI3K and p-Akt was significantly decreased following apatinib treatment, while no significant differences were found in the total protein levels of PI3K and Akt. The results of the present show that apatinib is capable of promoting the apoptosis of SMMC-7721 cells by inhibiting the PI3K/Akt signal transduction pathway, upregulating the expression of pro-apoptotic genes Bax and caspase-9, and downregulating the expression level of the anti-apoptotic gene Bcl-2.