[The mediating effect of perceived social support in the relationship between maternal personality traits and pregnancy-related anxiety].

Objective: Exploring the mediating effect of perceived social support between the maternal personality traits and pregnancy-related anxiety. Methods: Singleton pregnant women who underwent antenatal checkups in the obstetrics department of general hospital affiliated to Ningxia Medical University from July to December 2021 were enrolled in this study to investigate perceived social support, pregnancy-related anxiety and conscious personality traits. Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the association between the maternal personality traits, perceived social support, and pregnancy-related anxiety, and the mediating effect of perceived social support was analyzed using Bootstrap method. Results: A total of 1 259 subjects were included in the study, of which 170 (13.50%) pregnant women felt introverted. The total score of perceived social support was (46.37±8.38), and 31.45% of pregnant women had high perceived social support. The total score of pregnancy-related anxiety was (21.48±5.53). The score of worry about fetal health was (10.09±3.24), and 368 (29.23%) of pregnant women had pregnancy-related anxiety. Maternal personality traits and pregnancy-related anxiety were negatively correlated (r=-0.076, P<0.05) and positively correlated with perceived social support during pregnancy (r= 0.127, P<0.05). Perceived social support during pregnancy and pregnancy-related anxiety were negatively correlated (r=-0.236, P<0.05). Perceived social support partially mediated the relationship between the maternal personality traits and pregnancy-related anxiety, with a relative effect value of 37.50%. Conclusion: The maternal personality traits, level of perceived social support and pregnancy-related anxiety are all related. Perceived social support could mediate the relationship between the maternal personality traits and pregnancy-related anxiety.

[Improvement effect of Lycium barbarum polysaccharide on the intestinal flora of pregnant rats and their offspring under chronic stress].

Objective: To understand the improvement effect of Lycium barbarum polysaccharide (LBP) on the intestinal flora of mother mice during pregnancy and their offspring who experienced chronic stress, and provide new ideas for improving the effect of stress on the intestinal tract. Methods: From July to October 2019, 24 SPF-grade female SD rats were selected and divided into control group, stress group, and stress+LBP group, with 8 rats in each group. A chronic unpredictable mild stimulation model during pregnancy was established (21 days) , and 40 mg/kg LBP solution was administered by gavage on the 8th day of stress. Venous blood from the medial canthus of the female mice was collected on the 1st day before stress and on the 1st, 7th, 14th and 21st days, respectively. Cortisol was measured and corticosterone concentration was calculated. The fresh feces of famale mice after stress and 20-day postnatal offspring mice were collected, and Illumina Miseq sequencing technology, alpha diversity and community composition were used to analyze the diversity and structure of intestinal flora. Results: On the 7th and 14th days of stress, the plasma corticosterone concentration of female mice in the stress group and stress+LBP group was higher than that in the control group (P<0.05) . In the Alpha diversity of female mice, the Ace index of the stress group was lower than that of the control group (P<0.05) . The analysis of intestinal flora structure showed that at the species level, the proportions of Lachnospiraceae and Lactobacillus in the stress+LBP group were higher than those in the stress group and control group. At the order level, the proportion of Clostridiales in the stress+LBP group was higher than that in the stress group and lower than that in the control group, while the proportion of Lactobacillales was higher than that in the stress group and control group. In the Alpha diversity of the offspring group, the Shannon index, Ace index and Chao index of the stress+LBP offspring group were higher than those of the stress offspring group (P<0.05) . The proportion of Lactobacillus in the stress+LBP offspring group was higher than that in the control offspring group and stress offspring group, and the proportions of Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae in the stress+LBP offspring group were higher than those in the stress offspring group, the proportion of Bacteroidales in the stress+LBP offspring group was lower than that in the stress offspring group, and the proportion of Clostridiales in the stress+LBP offspring group was higher than that in the stress and control offspring groups. Conclusion: The intervention of LBP may improve the changes in the intestinal flora diversity, abundance and flora structure of mother mice and offspring caused by pregnancy stress, thereby maintaining the balance of intestinal flora.

[Effects of chronic stress during pregnancy on composition and diversity of intestinal microbiota in female rats and offspring].

Objective: To investigate the effect of chronic stress of pregnant rats on the gut microbiota of female rats and offspring, and explore the role of intestinal microbiota in chronic stress during pregnancy. Methods: In November 2019, SPF-grade healthy adult SD rats were selected. 16 female rats were randomly divided into control group and model group, with 8 in each group; 12 male rats were randomly divided into model mating group (8) and control mating group (4) . A model of chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) during pregnancy was established. Blood samples were collected from the iliac vein of the female rats 1 day before and 1, 7, and 14 days after the CUMS protocol, and measured for plasma corticosterone content by radioimmunoassay. After the stress was completed, fresh feces of the female rats were collected for testing. The offspring's fresh stool samples were collected on postnatal day 20 (PND20) , and they were divided into control offspring group and model offspring group samples. The sequence of 16S rRNAV3-V4 regions of microorganisms in the feces of offspring was determined by Illumina MiSeq technique; and the interaction between microbial community structure and diversity were analyzed. Results: The content of plasma corticosterone in the model group was higher than that in the control group on the 7th and 14th day of stress (P<0.05) . Compared with the control group, the Sobs index, Chao index, ACE index and Shannon index of the model group were decreased (P<0.05) . The number of unique species abundance (OTU) in the control group was 130, and 91 in the model group. The relative abundance of female Firmicutes in the control group (64.87%) was higher than that in the model group, and the relative abundance of Bacteroides (31.72%) was lower than that of the model group (46.35%) . The Sobs index, Chao index, ACE index, Simpson index and Shannon index of the control offspring group were higher than those of the model offspring group (P<0.05) . The number of unique OTUs in the model offspring group was 75, and 93 in the control offspring group. The relative abundance of Firmicutes (60.24%) in the control offspring group was higher than that of the model offspring group (52.95%) . Conclusion: Chronic stress during pregnancy can not only lead to the disorder of intestinal flora in female rats, but also lead to the change of intrauterine environment, thus affecting the diversity of intestinal flora in offspring.

[Proteomic study on the damage of learning and memory ability of rat offspring caused by chronic stress during pregnancy].

Objective: To study the differential protein and signal pathway related to the impairment of learning and memory ability of offspring caused by chronic stress during pregnancy and explore the possible mechanism. Methods: From July to October 2019, sixteen SPF free female SD rats aged 80-90 days, weighing (200±20) g. Twelve SPF grade male SD rats aged 90-100 days, weighing (220±20) g. After a week of adaptive feeding, the female rats were randomly divided into control group and model group (8 rats in each group) , male rats were divided into control mating group (n=8) and model mating group (n=4) . Chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) model was established and stimulated continuously for 21 days. One day before stress, the first, seventh, fourteenth and 21th day after stress, the blood was collected from the inner canthus vein of the female rats, and the content of corticosterone was determined. Morris water maze test was used to detect the spatial learning and memory ability of offspring rats. The morphological changes of hippocampus were observed by HE and Nissl staining. The proteomic correlation analysis of offspring rats' hippocampus was performed by isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ) technique. Results: Compared with the control group, the content of plasma corticosterone in the model group was significantly higher (F=7.717, P<0.05) , and the model was successfully established. In Morris water maze test, compared with the control offspring group, the escape latency was longer, the average swimming speed was lower, the number of crossing platform was less, and the target quadrant run was shorter in the model offspring group (P<0.05) . The pathological results showed that the morphology of cells in the hippocampal tissue of the model offspring group was irregular, the number of neurons was small, Nissl body was unevenly distributed, the volume was small and the number was small. Mass spectrometry analysis showed that a total of 5065 proteins were screened out in the two offspring groups, and 26 proteins were differentially expressed (P<0.05) , of which 19 proteins were up-regulated and 7 proteins were down regulated. The differential proteins were mainly involved in 23 biological processes, 14 cellular components and 9 molecular functions. Kyoto Encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis showed that 57 pathways were enriched, of which 8 signaling pathways were significantly enriched (P<0.05) . There were 5 signaling pathways that might be involved in the impairment of learning and memory ability of offspring, including neuroactive ligand receptor interaction, cGMP-PKG signaling pathway, adhesion and connection, adhesion and connection FoxO signaling pathway and Notch signaling pathway, mainly including tyrosine protein kinase receptor, tyrosine kinase receptor and Notch signaling pathway, and α2A adrenergic receptor, cGMP dependent protein kinase and other differential proteins may be involved in the injury process. Conclusion: The damage of learning and memory ability of offspring may be caused by chronic stress during pregnancy rats. The enriched signal pathway and key differential proteins of proteomics may play an important role in the process of damage.

[Association between 5-hydroxytryptamine 2A receptor gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to occupational stress in oilfield workers].

Objective: To investigate the association between 5-hydroxytryptamine 2A (5-HT2A) receptor gene polymorphisms and occupational stress in oilfield workers. Methods: Cluster sampling was used to select 826 oilfield workers from January to August, 2013. The SNaPshot single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping method was used to determine the genotypes of rs6313, rs1923884, and rs2070040 in 5-HT2A receptor gene, and the Occupational Stress Inventory-Revised Edition was used to analyze occupational stress in these workers. Results: There were no significant differences in occupational stress between groups with different individual characteristics (P>0.05 ) . As for the comparison of occupational stress scores between workers with different genotypes of each SNP of 5-HT2A receptor gene, the workers with CC and CT genotypes of rs6313 had significantly higher role boundary scores than those with TT genotype (P<0.05) , and the workers with CC genotype had a significantly higher vocational stress score than those with CT genotype (P<0.05) ; the workers with CT genotype of rs1923884 had a significantly higher occupational role score than those with CC genotype (P<0.05) and a significantly higher coping resources score than those with CC and TT genotypes (P<0.05) ; the workers with AG genotype of rs2070040 had a significantly higher vocational stress score than those with AA genotype (P<0.05) . The ordinal multinomial logistic regression analysis showed that workers with CT genotype of rs1923884 were susceptible to occupational stress (OR=1.56, 95%CI 1.10~2.20) . Conclusion: CT genotype of rs1923884 in 5-HT2A receptor gene may be associated with the susceptibility to occupational stress in oilfield workers.

Proteomic analysis of sputum in patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis.

The protein composition of sputum most faithfully reflects the state of the lungs. The aim of this study was to determine whether relative qualitative and quantitative differences in protein expression of sputum could be related to active pulmonary tuberculosis. Sputum samples were collected from 65 patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis and 38 healthy controls. Comprehensive proteomic approaches were used to profile the proteome changes of host sputum in response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection using two-dimensional electrophoresis in combination with matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight/time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Mascot software was used to identify proteins from protein databases. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to confirm the proteomic results. A total of 62 differentially expressed proteins were identified, among which, 15 proteins were up-regulated and 47 proteins were down-regulated in the tuberculosis sputum compared with the controls. Bacterial protein UqhC was the most increased protein, whereas serum albumin was the most decreased protein in the tuberculosis sputum compared with the controls. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay analysis was consistent with proteomic data. Bioinformatics analysis suggested that multiple host cell pathways were involved in the tuberculosis infection processes, including acute phase response, signal transduction, cytoskeleton structure, immune response and so on. In all, for the first time, our results revealed that a number of proteins were differentially expressed during active pulmonary tuberculosis infection. These data will provide valuable clues for further investigation of tuberculosis pathogenesis and biomarkers for detection of active pulmonary tuberculosis infection.