Objective To investigate the effect of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep deprivation on spatial memory and hippocampal cellular prion protein (PrPC) expression and to explore the underlying mechanism of cognitive impairment induced by sleep deprivation.Methods Adult Sprague-Dawley rats were sorted by weight,randomly divided into three groups:the cage control (CC) group,the tank control (TC) group,and the sleep deprivation (SD) group.Rats were deprived of REM sleep for 72 h using the modified multiple platform method.The Morris water maze task was used to assess hippocampal-dependent spatial memory.After sleep deprivation,the rats were sacrificed and their brain tissue was analyzed for PrPC protein expression via Western blotting.Hippocampal neuron axon elongation was examined as well after lentivector-mediated RNA interference (RNAi) of PrPC in primary cultured rat hippocampal neurons.Results REM sleep deprivation for 72 h resulted in spatial memory impairment.The number of times of rats passing through the platform was decreased significantly in the SD group (3.17 ±0.95) compared with the CC (7.17 ±0.95) and TC (6.50 ±0.62) groups (Z =2.026 6,Z =2.026 6,P ＜0.05),the mean value of proximity to the platform (mm) was greater for rats of the SD group (711.74 ± 33.99) compared to those of theCC (592.32±31.31) andTC (580.86±11.36) groups (Z=-2.001 6,Z=-2.4820,P ＜ 0.05).REM sleep deprivation for 72 h resulted in reduced PrPC level in the hippocampus (0.33 ± 0.10) compared with the CC (1.01 ±0.33) and TC (0.96 ±0.27) groups (Z=2.152 9,Z=2.152 9,P ＜ 0.05).In primary cultured hippocampal neurons,axon elongation(μm) was inhibited 7 days in infected neurons (326.28 ± 12.53) compared with normal (555.00 ±30.43) or negative control (558.70 ±23.10) cells (Z =4.768 4,Z =4.877 0,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion These findings suggest that PrPC-mediated hippocampal neuron axon elongation inhibition is probably involved in spatial memory impairment induced by sleep deprivation in rats.

This study was aimed to observe the influence on angiogenesis factor and expression of its receptor protein on estrogen-induced uterine fibroids rat models with Y i-Qi Xiao-Zheng (YQXZ) method, in order to explore the mechanism of this method in the inhibition of angiogenesis in the treatment of uterine fibroids. Castration and estro-gen-induced method were used in the establishment of guinea pig uterine fibroids rat model. And then, different doses of Chinese medicine of YQXZ method were given. The immunohistochemical method was used in the detection of microvessel density (MVD) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) protein expression of the uterine tissues. The RT-PCR method was used to detect the expression of VEGFR1 mRNA and VEGFR2 mRNA. Then, statistical analysis was given on indexes mentioned above. The results showed that compared with the normal control group, ex-pression of MVD, VEGF and VEGFR of uterine muscle tissues in the model group was significantly higher (P <0.01). Compared with the model group, Chinese medicine group of different doses showed different reducing. Among them, the high-dose group was the most obvious one. It showed that the high-dose Chinese medicine of YQXZ group was able to significantly inhibit the expression of MVD, VEGF and theirs receptors. It was concluded that YQXZ method can antagonize proliferation of the leiomyoma cell by inhibiting angiogenesis. Therefore, it may be one of the mechanisms of this method in the treatment of uterine fibroids.

Objective: To investigate the association of parental weight related knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) with abdominal obesity among primary and middle school students and to provide evidence for related intervention measures. Methods: In September 2013, the multistage random sampling method was used to select 17 307 primary and secondary school students with normal waist circumference in seven provinces/municipalities in China. After nine month follow up, 14 118 students aged 6-18 years were included in the final analysis. Questionnaires were used to assess parental weight related KAP, and students’ waist circumference was measured objectively at baseline and follow up. Multiple linear regression and multivariate Logistic regression were conducted to analyze the relationship between parents’ KAP with the change of students waist circumference and abdominal obesity, respectively. Results: The nine month cumulative incidence of pre and abdominal obesity among students was 6.67% and 0.85%, respectively. The scoring rates of parents knowledge, attitude and practice were 80.17%, 78.17%, 50.50%, respectively. The score of parents weight related attitude was inversely associated with the changes of waist circumference ( β=-0.18, 95%CI = -0.26- -0.10) and cumulative incidence of pre and abdominal obesity ( OR=0.90, 95%CI =0.82-0.98)( P <0.05). Conclusion Parental positive and correct weight related attitude is inversely associated with the incidence of abdominal obesity among children and adolescents. Interventions targeting establishing parents correct beliefs may be an effective way to prevent abdominal obesity in children and adolescents.

Objective To evaluate the effect and mechanism of cysteine rich protein 61, namely CCN family member 1(CCN1) on the survival of adipose tissues in rats after autologous fat grafting. Methods At 1 week after the establishment of autologous fat grafting rat models, all animals were randomly divided into the CCN1 group (n=20) and control group (n=20). The survival of fat grafts, the morphology of fat graft tissues, the proportion of active adipocytes and the number of new blood vessels of rats were statistically compared between two groups. The levels of differential expressed messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) in the fat graft tissues of rats were compared between two groups by high-throughput sequencing and subsequently subject to cluster analysis. The expression levels of related proinflammatory cytokines of fat graft tissues of rats were statistically compared between two groups. Results The weight retention rate of adipose tissues in the CCN1 group was significantly higher than that in the control group (P < 0.05). In the CCN1 group, the integrity of adipocytes was considerably higher, the degree of vesiculation and vacuolation, the degree of inflammatory cell aggregation and the degree of fibrosis were significantly lower than those in the control group (all P < 0.000 1). Immunofluorescence staining demonstrated that the proportion of active adipocytes with uniform morphology was higher in the CCN1 group, whereas the proportion of active adipocytes was lower and the cells were observed in different sizes accompanied by vesiculation in the control group. Compared with the control group, the quantity of new blood vessels was significantly higher, and the expression levels of platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) and fibroblast growth factor (FGF) mRNA were remarkably higher in the CCN1 group (all P < 0.05). High-throughput sequencing analysis showed that the data at the transcriptome levels significantly differed between two groups. In the CCN1 group, the gene expression levels of cell surface markers, inflammatory cytokines and chemokines related to M1 macrophages tended to decline. Real-time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) revealed that the mRNA expression levels of interleukin (IL)-8, IL-1 and Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 in the CCN1 group were significantly lower than those in the control group (P < 0.01-0.05). Conclusions During autologous fat grafting, supplement of exogenous CCN1 may effectively promote the neovascularization of adipose tissues and improve the survival rate of fat graft probably by mediating the transformation of macrophages into M2 phenotype via down-regulating the TLR2 expression level.

Food-borne pathogens pose great risks to human health and public safety, and the formation of biofilm exacerbates their pathogenicity and antimicrobial resistance. Enzymes can target special substances in the biofilm to disintegrate the biofilm of food-borne pathogens, which has great potential for applications. This review summarized the progress of using enzymes to disintegrate the biofilms of food-borne pathogens, highlighting quorum-quenching enzymes, C-di-GMP metabolic enzymes, as well as extracellular matrix hydrolases. Finally, challenges and perspectives on developing enzymes into effective products for disintegrating the biofilms of food-borne pathogens were discussed.
Biofilms ; Humans ; Quorum Sensing

Biofilm formation is closely related to pathogenicity and antibiotic resistance of bacteria, and plays important roles in a number of chronic and subchronic infections. Animal models are widely used in the research of bacterial biofilm-associated infections, and provide a powerful scientific tool for investigating its pathogenesis and control strategies. This review summarized the application of mammalian models (e.g. mouse, rabbit, and pig) and non-mammalian models (e.g. Drosophila melanogaster, Zebrafish, and Caenorhabditis elegans) in bacterial biofilm studies, and prospects the application of animal models in biofilm. This review may facilitate the selection of suitable animal models in the study of biofilm-associated infections, so as to prevent and control the potential adverse effects.
Animals ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Bacteria ; Bacterial Infections ; Biofilms ; Caenorhabditis elegans ; Disease Models, Animal ; Drosophila melanogaster ; Mammals ; Mice ; Models, Animal ; Rabbits ; Swine ; Zebrafish