Objective To investigate the function of CFTR in ApoE-/- mice with HHcy-induced hepato-cellular injury. Methods Thirty six 5-week old ApoE-/- mice were divided into three groups , including the ApoE-/- group, the HHcy group and the intervention group, (n = 12). Twelve normal C57BL/6J mice were fed with regular mouse diet as the normal control (SPF grade). HL-7702 human liver cells were intervened by Hcy (100 μmol/L) and 100 μmol/L Hcy + folic acid (100 μmol/L Hcy + F). The changes of Hcy, ALT and AST in the serum and the expression of CFTR mRNA and protein in liver and liver cells were detected. The concen-trations of ALT and AST in the liver cell intervened by VX-770 agonist and CFTR(inh)-172 inhibitor were mea-sured by ELISA. Results Compared with the control group , the levels of Hcy , ALT and AST were higher and the levels of CFTR mRNA and protein were lower in the Meth group (P < 0. 05 ) , while the reverse result in the Meth + F group (P < 0.05). Compared with the control group, the levels of CFTR mRNA and protein were de-creased and the levels of ALT and AST were increased in the 100 μmol/L Hcy group (P < 0.05). Compared with the 100 μmol/L Hcy group , the levels of CFTR mRNA and protein were increased and the levels of ALT and AST were decreased in the 100 μmol/L Hcy + F group (P < 0.05). Stimulated with VX-770 can reduce the concentrations of ALT and AST and the vice versa in the CFTR (inh)-17 group the concentration was increased in liver cells. Conclusion CFTR plays an important role in the regulation of hepatocellular injury by HHcy.

Aim To investigate the possible mecha-nisms of the levels of NO decrease induced apoptosis in human placental trophoblast cells. Methods Human placental trophoblast cells ( HTR-8 ) were cultured in 5 ml DMEM-F12 culture medium with 37℃ 5% CO2 . Then, the old culture medium was discarded and re-placed with 10,100,500,1 000 μmol·L-1 L-NAME, and the group without L-NAME was set as the control group, cultured for 48h. The effects of L-NAME on the survival of cells were detected by methylthiazolyldiphe-nyl tetrazolium bromide ( MTT); the content of NO in cells was tested by nitrate reductive enzymatic;trans-mission electron microscopy, flow cytometry analysis and Annexin-V FITC dyeing were used to test the effects of L-NAME on apoptosis in HTR-8 cells;restore Fe3+ colorimetric assay was applied for detection of to-tal antioxidant capacity ( T-AOC ) , xanthine oxidase for detection of superoxide dismutase ( SOD) activity, and thiobarbituric acid colorimetry for determination of content of MDA. Results Compared with the control group, the survival rate of HTR-8 cells and the levels of NO in 100,500,1 000 μmol·L-1 L-NAME group were significantly reduced(P<0.05,P<0.01). Flow analysis and Annexin-V FITC staining showed that L-NAME could induce cell apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. The number of cell apoptosis was negatively correlated with the content of NO ( r = -0.5210 ) in HTR-8 cells. Transmission electron microscopy results showed that compared with the control group, the ex-perimental group's cell nucleus shape was irregular, nuclear pyknosis in irregular shape, the chromatin ag-glutination or side the collection, mitochondrial swell-ing or enrichment, crest fracture or dissolved, even vanished, forming the vacuole, especially in 100 μmol ·L-1 L-NAME group, the apoptotic bodies obviously appeared. At the same time, T-AOC, SOD levels in HTR-8 cells decreased ( P <0.05 ) , and the MDA content increased ( P<0.05 ) . The number of cell ap-optosis was negatively correlated with the level of T-AOC ( r= -0.3212 ) , SOD ( r= -0.2779 ) in HTR-8 cells , while positively correlated with the content of MDA(r=0.2807). Conclusion Oxidative stress may play an important role in the levels of NO decrease in-duced apoptosis in human placental trophoblast cells.

Aim To investigate the role of miR-125 b and its DNA methylation in homocysteine ( Hcy )-in-duced vascular smooth muscle cells( VSMCs) prolifera-tion. Methods VSMCs were stimulated with 0,50, 100, 200, 500 μmol · L-1 Hcy respectively. Then qRT-PCR was used to detect the mRNA levels of miR-125b,and nested-touchdown methylation-specific PCR ( ntMS-PCR) was used to detect the methylation levels of miR-125b. VSMCs were transfected with miR-125b precursor or the inhibitor of miR-125b ,then 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2-5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide ( MTT ) assay was used to reflect the proliferation of VSMCs. The distribution of CpG islands of miR-125b promoter region was analyzed by bioinformatics meth-ods. VSMCs were stimulated with 100 μmol·L-1 Hcy and transfected with or without DNA methylation inhib-itors 5-nitrogen impurity cytidine ( AZC) , then the ex-pression of miR-125b was detected by qRT-PCR. Re-sults The mRNA levels of miR-125 b were decreased in 100,200,500 μmol·L-1 Hcy group compared with 0 μmol·L-1 Hcy group. The precursor of miR-125b could inhibit the proliferation activity and the inhibitor of miR-125 b could increase the proliferation activity of VSMCs cells. Bioinformatics analysis indicated that MiR-125 b promoter region had a CpG island whose length was 792 bp ( 1881-2672 ) . The miR-125 b pro-moter region methylation levels increased after Hcy in-tervention ( P <0. 01 ) . The expression level of miR-125 b increased after AZC intervention ( P <0. 05 ) . Conclusions ① Hcy promotes vascular smooth mus-cle cell proliferation maybe by down-regulating the ex-pression of miR-125b. ② Hcy down-regulates the ex-pression of miR-125 maybe by up-regulating the methy-lation levels of miR-125b promoter region.

Aim To explore the role of ERO1 αand its DNA methylation in homocysteine (Hcy)-induced in-hibition of hepatocytes proliferation.Methods The hepatocytes stimulated with 0 μmol·L -1 Hcy were set as the normal group (NC group)and the hepatocytes stimulated with 1 00 μmol·L -1 Hcy as the experimen-tal group (Hcy group).Methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT)reduction assay was used to reflect the prolifer-ation of the hepatocytes;qRT-PCR and Western blot were used to detect the mRNA and protein levels of ERO1 α;the expression of green fluorescence protein was observed in hepatocytes after the recombinant plas-mid of ERO1 α was constructed,which was used to confirm if the recombinant plasmid into hepatocytes was successful,then the mRNA and protein levels of ERO1 αwere assayed and the proliferation of the hepa-tocytes was also detected;ntMSP was used to detect the change of ERO1 αDNA methylation.Results The mRNA and protein levels of ERO1 αwere decreased in Hcy group compared with NC group,and the prolifera-tion activity of hepatocytes in Hcy group was de-creased.Sequencing result showed that the recombi-nant plasmid of ERO1 αwas constructed successfully. QRT-PCR and Western blot revealed that ERO1 αwas overexpressed. The result of MTT suggested that ERO1 αoverexpression restored hepatocyte proliferation inhibited by Hcy.Hcy caused ERO1 αDNA hyperm-ethylation.Conclusions Hcy inhibits hepatocyte pro-liferation by downregulating the expression of ERO1 α, and methylation of ERO1 αpromoter may play a role in this process.