RNA-seq analysis identifies differentially expressed gene in different types of donkey skeletal muscles.

The main component of donkey meat is skeletal muscle, and different muscle fibers have been found to be associated with meat quality. However, RNA-seq technology has yet to be used to profile the transcriptomic changes of different muscles of the donkey. In this study, the characterizations of different muscles on the gene expression profiles of Dezhou donkey were obtained, the aim was to identify the important genes in donkey muscles, and aid in improving donkey meat quality via RNA-seq. In the donkey gluteus (DG) and donkey longissimus dorsi (DL) group, GO enrichment indicated that DEGs were mainly involved in the biological regulation and metabolic process, and KEGG analysis shows that a total of 427 DEGs were mapped to 216 KEGG pathways and 23 KEGG pathways were significantly enriched such as the ribosome, glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, glucagon signaling pathway and biosynthesis of amino acids pathways. Meanwhile, 504 DEGs were mapped to 223 KEGG pathways, in which 17 were significantly enriched including cardiac muscle contraction and oxytocin signaling pathway in donkey hamstring muscles (DH) and DL group. In addition, the tenderness in donkey meat might involve muscle fiber type and glucose metabolism, which might profit from the DEGs including MYH1, MYH7, TNNC1, TNNI3, TPM3, ALDOA, ENO3, and PGK1. The genes found in this study will provide some ideas for further understanding the molecular mechanism of donkey meat quality.

Functional Electrochemistry: On-Nerve Assessment of Electrode Materials for Electrochemistry and Functional Neurostimulation.

Emerging therapies in bioelectronic medicine highlight the need for deeper understanding of electrode material performance in the context of tissue stimulation. Electrochemical properties are characterized on the benchtop, facilitating standardization across experiments. On-nerve electrochemistry differs from benchtop characterization and the relationship between electrochemical performance and nerve activation thresholds are not commonly established. This relationship is important in understanding differences between electrical stimulation requirements and electrode performance. We report functional electrochemistry as a follow-up to benchtop testing, describing a novel experimental approach for evaluating on-nerve electrochemical performance in the context of nerve activation. An ex-vivo rat sciatic nerve preparation was developed to quantify activation thresholds of fiber subtypes and electrode material charge injection limits for platinum iridium, iridium oxide, titanium nitride and PEDOT. Finally, we address experimental complexities arising in these studies, and demonstrate statistical solutions that support rigorous material performance comparisons for decision making in neural interface development.

The construction of an individually addressable cell array for selective patterning and electroporation.

In basic cell biology research and drug discovery, it is important to rapidly introduce genes, proteins or drug compounds into cells without permanent damage. Here, we report a three dimensional SU-8 micro-well structure sandwiched with an indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode-covered slide from the top and an individually addressable array of microelectrodes on the bottom to allow parallel delivery of exogenous molecules into various cells in a spatially specific manner. A positive dielectrophoretic force was selectively applied by energizing appropriate electrodes to capture the dispersed cells at the bottom electrode, while the micro-wells were designed to confine cells in situ when the positive dielectrophoretic force is removed. The combination of spatial positive dielectrophoresis (pDEP) and micro-wells made it possible to construct cell microarrays with specific patterns. Once the cells become attached to the electrodes, different plasmids can be introduced sequentially for selective electroporation. The present cell arraying-assisted electroporation chip integrates a pDEP-assisted cell positioning function with selective electroporation to provide a simple and efficient method for gene transfer. This platform is ideal for high throughput screening of compounds in parallel and thus holds promise for applications in cellular and molecular research.

A contact lens with embedded sensor for monitoring tear glucose level.

We report the design, construction, and testing of a contact lens with an integrated amperometric glucose sensor, proposing the possibility of in situ human health monitoring simply by wearing a contact lens. The glucose sensor was constructed by creating microstructures on a polymer substrate, which was subsequently shaped into a contact lens. Titania sol-gel film was applied to immobilize glucose oxidase, and Nafion® was used to decrease several potential interferences (ascorbic acid, lactate, and urea) present in the tear film. The sensor exhibits a fast response (20s), a high sensitivity (240 µA cm(-2) mM(-1)) and a good reproducibility after testing a number of sensors. It shows good linearity for the typical range of glucose concentrations in the tear film (0.1-0.6 mM), and acceptable accuracy in the presence of interfering agents. The sensor can attain a minimum detection of less than 0.01 mM glucose.