Microfluidic-Based Cationic Cholesterol Lipid siRNA Delivery Nanosystem: Highly Efficient In Vitro Gene Silencing and the Intracellular Behavior

Safe and efficient delivery of small interfering RNA (siRNA) is essential to gene therapy towards intervention of genetic diseases. Herein, we developed a novel cationic cholesterol lipid derivative (CEL) in which cholesterol hydrophobic skeleton was connected to L-lysine cationic headgroup via a hexanediol linker as the non-viral siRNA delivery carrier. Well-organized CEL/siRNA nanocomplexes (100–200 nm) were prepared by microfluidic-assisted assembly of CEL and siRNA at various N/P ratios. The CEL and CEL/siRNA nanocomplexes have lower cytotoxicity compared with bPEI25k. Delightfully, we disclosed that, in Hela–Luc and H1299–Luc cell lines, the micro-fluidic-based CEL/siRNA nanocomplexes exhibited high siRNA transfection efficiency under both serum-free condition (74–98%) and low-serum circumstances (80–87%), higher than that of lipofectamine 2000. These nanocomplexes also showed high cellular uptake through the caveolae/lipid-raft mediated endocytosis pathway, which may greatly contribute to transfection efficiency. Moreover, the time-dependent (0–12 h) dynamic intracellular imaging demonstrated the efficient delivery to cytoplasm after lysosomal co-localization. The results indicated that the microfluidic-based CEL/siRNA nanosystems possessed good stability, low cytotoxicity, high siRNA delivery efficiency, rapid cellular uptake and caveolae/lipid raft-dependent internalization. Additionally, this study provides a simple approach for preparing and applying a “helper lipid-free” cationic lipid siRNA delivery system as potential nanotherapeutics towards gene silencing treatment of (tumor) diseases.     

摇青机械力对乌龙茶脂肪族类香气形成的影响

做青是乌龙茶香气品质形成的核心工艺,为明确做青过程中摇青机械力对茶叶脂肪族类香气形成的影响,以乌龙茶品种毛蟹（Camellia sinensis cv. Maoxie）的鲜叶、摇青叶及未摇青等时间摊放叶（简称摊放叶）为供试材料,采用超高效液相色谱-串联质谱法对脂肪族香气前体物质亚油酸、亚麻酸及愈伤酸进行检测,结果表明,摇青机械力能显著降低鲜叶中的亚麻酸及亚油酸含量（P＜0.05）,摊放处理仅能显著降低鲜叶中亚油酸的含量（P＜0.05）,摊放叶中愈伤酸的含量虽然较鲜叶有所降低,但仍旧显著高于摇青叶（P＜0.05）。通过顶空气相色谱-质谱联用法检测脂肪族类香气物质,结果表明,摇青叶的C6醛类相对含量明显降低,C6醇类和叶醇酯类衍生物相对含量增多;而摊放叶中C6醛类、C6醇类和叶醇酯类的衍生物相对含量均远低于摇青叶。实时荧光定量聚合酶链式反应结果表明,LOX1、ADH基因在摇青叶中表达量最高,LOX2、LOX3、HPL基因在摊放叶中表达量最高。相关性分析表明,不同叶态中LOX1基因的表达水平与C6醛类含量间存在极显著的负相关性（P＜0.01）,与C6醇、叶醇酯类衍生物含量间均存在显著正相关性（P＜0.05）,ADH基因表达水平与叶醇酯类衍生物含量间均存在极显著的正相关性（P＜0.01）,而LOX2、HPL基因表达水平与脂肪族类香气含量间相关性均未达显著水平（P＞0.05）。LOX1、ADH基因在做青过程中的上调表达可能与乌龙茶花果香的形成密切相关。     

L-酪氨酸代谢工程研究进展

L-酪氨酸属于芳香氨基酸,广泛应用于食品、医药以及化工等领域。由于天然微生物合成积累L-酪氨酸的能力很低,近几年利用代谢工程的方法进行途径改造和全局代谢途径优化取得了显著成效。解除反馈抑制、增加前体供应、阻断竞争途径以及调控转运等代谢改造策略非常有效地提高了L-酪氨酸的产量。而模块化工程、全局转录装置工程、小RNA工程等新技术使L-酪氨酸产量更上一个水平。L-酪氨酸代谢途径是多基因和多调控方式协同控制的复杂代谢网络,随着生物技术的发展,重新合理设计、人工合成和全局优化将是未来L-酪氨酸代谢工程发展的方向。     

果蔬中多酚类化合物双向调控Nrf2/Keap1信号通路的研究进展

果蔬中含有丰富的多酚类化合物,其含有的酚羟基中邻位酚羟基极易被氧化,有较强捕捉活性氧等自由 基的能力,因此能够清除自由基和淬灭活性氧。Nrf2（NF-E2-related factor 2）信号通路是增强机体抗氧化功能最 重要的保护性信号途径,在细胞抵御氧化应激机制中有着重要的地位,是抗氧化研究领域的热点。本文通过阐述 Nrf2/Keap1（Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1）信号通路及其调节方式,讨论Nrf2在肿瘤化学预防和促进癌症发 生中的双重作用,重点介绍和归纳了果蔬中几种典型的多酚类物质对Nrf2/Keap1信号通路双向调控作用的分子机 制,以期为利用果蔬多酚开发健康绿色食品和药品提供一定的理论依据。     

Drosophila as a Model System for Studying of the Evolution and Functional Specialization of the Y Chromosome

The Y chromosome is one of the sex chromosomes found in males of animals of different taxa, including insects and mammals. Among all chromosomes, the Y chromosome is characterized by a unique chromatin landscape undergoing dynamic evolutionary change. Being entirely heterochromatic, the Y chromosome as a rule preserves few functional genes, but is enriched in tandem repeats and transposons. Due to difficulties in the assembly of the highly repetitive Y chromosome sequence, deep analyses of Y chromosome evolution, structure, and functions are limited to a few species, one of them being Drosophila melanogaster. Despite Y chromosomes exhibiting high structural divergence between even closely related species, Y-linked genes have evolved convergently and are mainly associated with spermatogenesis-related activities. This indicates that male-specific selection is a dominant force shaping evolution of Y chromosomes across species. This review presents our analysis of current knowledge concerning Y chromosome functions, focusing on recent findings in Drosophila. Here we dissect the experimental and bioinformatics data about the Y chromosome accumulated to date in Drosophila species, providing comparative analysis with mammals, and discussing the relevance of our analysis to a wide range of eukaryotic organisms, including humans.     

人参、甘草、五味子复合醋提物对老年小鼠急性炎性肝损伤保护作用的研究

目的:本研究旨在通过脂多糖(Lipopolysaccharide,LPS)诱导肝损伤小鼠考察复合醋提物(MVE)对老年小鼠炎性肝损伤的保护效果.方法:将小鼠随机分为正常对照组、MVE组、LPS组、LPS+MVE组.通过苏木精-伊红染色评估肝组织病理情况和免疫组织化学染色判断髓过氧化物酶的表达变化.同时,检测肝组织中白介...     

Transformation of Free and Dipeptide‐Bound Glycated Amino Acids by Two Strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae transforms branched‐chain and aromatic amino acids into higher alcohols in the Ehrlich pathway. During microbiological culturing and industrial fermentations, this yeast is confronted with amino acids modified by reducing sugars in the Maillard reaction (glycation). In order to gain some preliminary insight into the physiological “handling” of glycated amino acids by yeasts, individual Maillard reaction products (MRPs: fructosyllysine, carboxymethyllysine, pyrraline, formyline, maltosine, methylglyoxal‐derived hydroimidazolone) were administered to two strains of S. cerevisiae in a rich medium. Only formyline was converted into the corresponding α‐hydroxy acid, to a small extent (10 %). Dipeptide‐bound pyrraline and maltosine were removed from the medium with concomitant emergence of several metabolites. Pyrraline was mainly converted into the corresponding Ehrlich alcohol (20–60 %) and maltosine into the corresponding α‐hydroxy acid (40–60 %). Five specific metabolites of glycated amino acids were synthesized and characterized. We show for the first time that S. cerevisiae can use glycated amino acids as a nitrogen source and transform them into new metabolites, provided that the substances can be transported across the cell membrane.     

直接注射-多级质谱全扫描法快速分析枸杞子化学成分组

由于色谱分离需要耗费大量的时间,导致传统LC-MS研究中药成分的分析通量较低,而多级质谱全扫描（MS/MSALL）采用了气态分段技术（GPF）,可以在直接注射（DI）模式下,采集每个表观质量数MS1信号的MS2图谱,实现MS1-MS2数据列表的高通量构建。为快速表征枸杞子化学成分组,本研究采用DI-MS/MSALL全面采集枸杞子提取物中各化学成分的多级质谱数据,根据高分辨MS1和MS2碎片离子信息推导质谱裂解途径,结合数据库检索以及相关文献,从枸杞子中初步鉴定了38个化学成分,包括1个氨基酸类、19个有机酸类、2个糖脂类、6个苯丙素类、1个黄酮类、6个生物碱类以及3个酰胺类化合物。DI-MS/MSALL可作为中药等复杂体系快速全面定性分析的有力工具。