[Progress in the mechanisms of response to different oxygen concentrations in Caenorhabditis elegans].

Oxygen levels are unequal in different living geographical locations of human and related to normal physiology of health. The reduction of oxygen level in the body can lead to a variety of diseases, such as stroke caused by cerebral ischemia and hypoxia. In the recent years, many studies have elucidated the molecular and cellular mechanisms of organism response to different oxygen concentrations by using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) as model organism. C. elegans can escape hypoxia or hyperoxia and adapt to the ambient oxygen environments, and there are different response and regulation mechanisms in different degrees of hypoxia environment. In this paper, recent advances in the reaction of nematodes to different oxygen concentrations and the underlying mechanism were reviewed.

[Progress in the mechanisms of neural modulation of innate immunity in Caenorhabditis elegans].

The innate immune system is an important defense barrier against invasive microbial threats in plants and animals. The nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans is a classic model to investigate the genetic and cellular mechanisms of the interaction between host and pathogens. In the past years, many studies have elucidated the machinery of host-pathogen interactions using C. elegans. Neurons secrete/release neuropeptides and neurotransmitters such as NLP-20 and dopamine, which in turn mediate microbial recognition, promote pathogen avoidance, activate innate immune response signaling to stimulate antimicrobial peptide expression and kill microbes, and ultimately protect organisms from pathogen infection. In this review, we summarize the recent advances in the mechanisms of neural modulation of innate immunity in C. elegans, which provide important knowledge not only for machinery of functional interaction between nervous and immune system, but also for pathological mechanisms of nervous and immune system related diseases.