[ ABSTRACT] AIM:To investigate the effect of microRNA-132 ( miR-132 ) transfection on the lipopolysaccharide ( LPS)-induced inflammation in rat alveolar macrophages.METHODS:The rat alveolar macrophage NR8383 cultured with-out pyrogen in vitro were divided into blank control group, negative control group and transfected group.The cells in the 3 groups were transfected with phosphate buffer solution ( PBS) , Lipofectamine 2000 and synthesized miR-132 mimic respec-tively.The cell proliferation was detected by Cell Counting Kit-8 ( CCK-8) assay.Real-time PCR was used to detect the ex-pression of miR-132 in the cells.After NR8383 cells were stimulated with LPS for 6 h, the NF-κB DNA-binding activity was measured by electrophoretic mobility shift assay ( EMSA) .The expression of tumor necrosis factor-α( TNF-α) and interleu-kin-6 (IL-6) in NR8383 cells was assayed by Western blotting.RESULTS: After transfection, the expression of miR-132 was significantly higher than that in blank control group and negative control group.The growth of NR8383 cells in transfect-ed group was significantly inhibited compared with blank control group and negative control group ( P<0.05 ) .After the cells were stimulated with LPS, the productions of NF-κB, TNF-αand IL-6 in transfected NR8383 cells were decreased com-pared with blank control group and negative control group (P<0.05).CONCLUSION:Transfection of alveolar macropha-ges with miR-132 significantly suppresses the cell growth, and inhibits inflammatory responses induced by LPS.

Objective:To investigate the diagnostic and prognostic value of the growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) and the procalcitonin (PCT) in sepsis.Methods:A total number of 137 patients with sepsis (considered as the sepsis group) and 59 patients with inflammatory infection but not diagnosed as sepsis (the non-sepsis group) received treatment in intensive care unit of Renming Hospital of Wuhan University were collected from July 2020 to January 2021, and 62 cases of healthy physical examination (control group) were simultaneously chosen as control. Sepsis patients were divided into two groups (death group [ n=48] and survival group [ n=89]) according to their 28-day′s survival. The serum levels of GDF15, PCT, C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) were examined, and the levels of each index, was dynamically monitored on the 1st, 3rd and 7th day after admission. The differences of the two indicators between different groups were compared by non-parametric test. The correlation between GDF15 and PCT was analyzed by Spearman correlation test. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic value of the two indicators for sepsis. Results:The levels of GDF15 in the sepsis group, non-sepsis group and control group were 3.22 (1.39, 6.31) μg/L, 0.84 (0.21, 1.66) μg/L and 0.11 (0.09, 0.13) μg/L, respectively. The levels of PCT were 13.10 (1.99, 50.25) μg/L, 0.24 (0.13, 0.68) μg/L and 0.05 (0.03, 0.10) μg/L, respectively. The levels of CRP were 115.80 (26.40, 184.07) mg/L, 24.20 (11.30, 53.20) mg/L and 0.50 (0.50, 2.76) mg/L, respectively. The levels of IL-6 were 68.26 (21.59, 255.46) ng/L, 33.20 (10.81, 89.27) ng/L and 8.82 (7.33, 11.23) ng/L, respectively. The levels of IL-10 were 11.30 (5.88, 25.50) ng/L, 9.34 (5.65, 16.90) ng/L and 4.94 (4.31, 5.31) ng/L, respectively. The GDF15, PCT, CRP and IL-6 of the sepsis group were significantly higher than those of the non-sepsis group (The U values were 67.681, 86.034, 44.164 and 38.934, respectively, with P values less than 0.05) and the control group (The U values were 136.475, 138.667, 120.701 and 100.886, respectively, with P values less than 0.001). There was no significant difference in IL-10 between sepsis group and nonsepsis group, but it was higher than that of control group ( U=80.221, P<0.001). There was a positive correlation between GDF15 and PCT in patients with sepsis, and the spearman correlation coefficient was 0.234 ( P=0.006). The GDF15 of the death group and the survival group were 5.49 (3.60, 8.25) μg/L and 2.03 (1.06, 3.69) μg/L, and the PCT levels were 26.45 (11.23, 94.25) μg/L and 9.08 (1.33, 22.75) μg/L, respectively. GDF15 and PCT in the death group were significantly higher than those in the survival group ( U values were 3 305.500 and 3 060.000, respectively, and P values were both less than 0.001). The GDF15 and PCT levels in the death group were higher than those in the survival group on the 1st, 3rd and 7th day of dynamic monitoring ( P<0.05), however, the level of CRP and IL-10 were not significantly different ( P>0.05). The level of IL-6 in the death group was not significantly different from that of the death group on 1st day, but was higher than that of the survival group on the 3rd and 7th day ( P<0.05). The area under the curve (AUC) of GDF15, PCT, CRP, IL-6 and IL-10 alone and in the combined diagnosis of sepsis were 0.899, 0.938, 0.874, 0.789, 0.698 and 0.962, respectively. The combined detection of AUC was better than a single index; the GDF15, PCT, CRP, IL-6 and IL-10 alone and combined detection of sepsis prognosis AUC were 0.774, 0.716, 0.522, 0.623, 0.520 and 0.839, respectively, the combined detection of AUC is also better than single index. Conclusions:GDF15 and PCT have good clinical reference value in the differential diagnosis and prognosis of sepsis. The combination of indicators has a higher clinical value. GDF15 may become a biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of sepsis.

To isolate bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) and establish the model of chronic kidney disease (CKD) of Wuzhishan (WZS) mini-pig, and to study the repairment effect of BM-MSCs on CKD-induced renal fibrosis in vitro.
 Methods: Density gradient method was used to isolate and culture BM-MSCs. The cells were verified by morphology, phenotype, differentiation and so on. The left partial ureteral obstruction (LPUUO) was used to establish the CKD model, which was evaluated by B-ultrasound, single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), HE and Masson staining. The cells were divided into 3 groups, the tissue plus BM-MSCs group, the tissue group, and the BM-MSCs group, respectively. Seven days later, the supernatants were collected to observe the changes of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) cumulative release. HE and Masson staining was used to observe the changes of renal tissue.
 Results: The isolated BM-MSCs possessed the features as follow: fibroblast-like adherent growth; positive in CD29 and CD90 expression while negative in CD45 expression; osteogenic induction and alizarin red staining were positive; alcian blue staining were positive after chondrogenic induction. Twelve weeks after the operation of LPUUO, B-ultrasound showed the thin renal cortical with pelvis effusion; SPETCT showed the left kidney delayed filling and renal impairment. The accumulation of HGF in the tissue plus BM-MSCs group was significantly higher than that in the tissue alone group at the 1st, 5th, 6th, 7th day, respectively (P<0.05). HE staining showed the different degree of renal lesions between the tissue plus BM-MSCs+CKD group and the tissue alone group, which was aggravated with the time going. Masson staining showed that the cumulative optical density of blue-stained collagen fibers in tissue plus BM-MSCs group was significantly lower than that in the tissue group at the 5th to 7th day (P<0.05).
 Conclusion: BM-MSCs from WZS mini-pig can inhibit or delay the progress of CKD-induced renal fibrosis through autocrine HGF in vitro.
Animals ; Autocrine Communication ; physiology ; Bone Marrow Cells ; Cells, Cultured ; Fibrosis ; physiopathology ; prevention & control ; Hepatocyte Growth Factor ; metabolism ; Kidney ; drug effects ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Mesenchymal Stem Cells ; drug effects ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic ; complications ; physiopathology ; Swine ; Swine, Miniature ; Ureteral Obstruction ; complications