The homeostasis of extracellular glutamate concentration is critically regulated by glutamate transporters(GTs).Malfunction or decreased expression of GTs has been implicated in the pathogenesis of various nervous system diseases.And among the GTs,glutamate transporter 1(GLT-1)plays a critical role as "glutamate pump".Recent research also finds some GLT-1 variants which alternate C-terminal splicings.Altered expression of proteins encoded by splice variants of GLT-1 has been noted in a number of disease states.Maintaining a physiological range of extracellular glutamate through regulating GTs expression or function may improve some pathological conditions.Many drugs are reported that can regulate GTs.For example,ceftriaxone,phencyclidine,citicoline,riluzole,AKT,thrombosin can up-regulate the expression or function of glutamate transporters;etomidate,clozapine,aspartic acid analogs,endothelin can down-regulate the expression or function of glutamate transporters.In this paper,the drugs which effect GTs will be summarized in order to provide a new insight into the drug design and clinical treatment of neurological diseases.

Objective To investigate the distribution and expression of adiponectin receptors in different tissues of normal Wistar rats. Methods The rats were euthanized and the total RNA was extracted from equal weight tissue samples of cardiac muscle, skeletal muscle, liver, kidney, testicle and fat. RT-PCR was employed to amplify the isolated cDNA, and the expression of adiponectin receptors in different tissues was semi-quantitatively analyzed. Results AdipoR1 was observed in rat cardiac muscle, skeletal muscle, liver, kidney, testicle and fat, with the highest expression in testicle and fat (P

Objective To investigate rats reared in social isolation as a model of behavioral symptoms of neurodevelop-mental psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia.Methods Male rat pups were housed in individual cages from post-weaning to adulthood.Locomotor activity detection, Morris water maze test and social interaction test were performed. Results Compared with controls, the social isolation-reared rats got more body mass, showed locomotor hyperactivity and increased social interaction, but significant spatial learning changes were not observed in Morris water maze test.Conclu-sion Exposing rats to social isolation can profoundly affect behavior in adulthood, which can be used to build animal mod-els of neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia.

Objective To explore the multiple risk factors for family lifestyle of children with congenital heart defects (CHDs) in Shaanxi Province, China. children and their parents. The univariate and multivariable logistic regression models were used to analyze the influence of risk factors related to parents' lifestyle on CHDs. Results Several possible risk factors were found for CHDs, including fever (OR=4.465, P=0.017), pesticides contact (OR=2.234, P=0.083), passive smoking during pregnancy (OR=20.529, P=0.007) and father's smoking (OR=3.342, P=0.005); fever (OR=2.428, P=0.012) and passive smoking during pregnancy (OR=1.201, P=0.037) were also correlated with ventricular sepal defect (VSD). Conclusion Fever, pesticides contact and passive smoking are associated with CHDs during pregnancy. We should focus our attention on health care during pregnancy to avoid the above-mentioned risk factors and call on parents to hold on to a good healthy lifestyle.

AIM　The purpose is to study the anti-arrhythmic effects of extracts from cultured Cordyceps sinensis. METHODS　Aconitine and barium chloride were used to induce experimental arrhythmia models in rats. RESULTS　The results showed that PE was more potent than other ingredients. Pretreatment with PE by oral administration significantly antagonized arrhythmia induced by aconitine. PE significantly prolonged the onset of arrhythmia, decreased the duration and diminished the degree of severity. And in barium chloride-induced arrhythmia model, PE had some anti-arrhythmia effect，which could diminish the degree of severity effectively to some extent. CONCLUSION　PE is an active component to antagonize arrhythmia induced by aconitine and barium chloride.

Nuclear factor erythroid-2 related factor 2 ( Nrf2 ) is an important nuclear transcription factor which protects cells a-gainst oxidative stress injury. Upon exposure to reactive oxygen species ( ROS) or electrophilic stress, Nrf2 can translocate into the nucleus, and then bind to the antioxidant response element ( ARE) , regulating the expression of several antioxidant enzymes and phase Ⅱ detoxifying enzymes which aimed at the detoxifica-tion and elimination of harmful exogenous chemicals, resulting in the facilitation of hepatoprotection. Oxidative stress is the com-mon pathogenesis of many liver diseases, while the Nrf2-ARE signaling pathway is extremely important in the prevention and progression of many liver diseases. Nrf2 has more recently been implicated as a new therapeutic target in treating liver diseases. Here, we focus on the most common liver diseases and the devel-opment of these conditions where activation of Nrf2 may alleviate disease progression, so as to provide reference for related re-search in the future.

A 880 bp cDNA localized to the putative NS5 region of HGV genome was expressed in E.coli BL21(DE3). The cDNA fragment was inserted into a plasmid pGEX-5X-1,at the downstream of the DNA sequence encoding Schistosoma japonicum glutathione S- transferase(GST),in the same reading frame with the gene of GST. A 60KD GST-NS53 fusion protein was expressed at 37℃ in a form of inclusion bodies amounting to 30 percent of total host protein whereas at 20℃ mainly in a form of soluble protein . The fusion protein was extracted and purified to homologue. The purified GST-NS53 fusion protein could be specifically recognized with either the sera from the patient infected by HGV or the antisera directed against GST.

Background Investigating the association of blue light-induced damage of retinal pigmenepithelial (RPE) cellwith intracellulaCa2+ conteniimportanfounderstanding the mechanism of retinal disorders.Objective Thistudy wato establish blue light-induced damage model of human RPE celland explore the relationship between the damage of RPE cell and intracellulaCa2+ content.MethodHuman RPE cellwere cultured and passaged.Cell vitality waassayed by trypan blue staining.Fourth-generation cellwere used in these experiments.The cellwere exposed to blue lighwith an intensity of (2000±500)lx fo3,6,9 o12 hours,and the rate of apoptosiwaassayed by TUNEL to assesthe optimal irradiation time focellcultured.The cellwere then randomized into the withouirradiation group,irradiation only group,nifedipine group,ligh+ nifedipine group,(-) BayK8644 group and ligh+ (-) BayK8644 group.The laseconfocal microscope waused to determine the fluorescence intensity of intracellulafree Ca2+ aan excitation wavelength of 488 nm and an emission wavelength of 505 nm.The cell imagewere analyzed using computesoftware.The differenceof fluorescence intensity among the differengroupwere compared by one-way analysiof variance.ResultTrypan blue staining showed thathe viability of RPE cellwamore than 90％ afteculturing and passaging.No apoptoticell waseen aftelighexposure fo3 hours.However,differennumberof apoptoticellappeared aftelighexposure fo6,9 and 12 hours.The fluorescence intensity of intracellulafree Ca2+ in the nifedipine group wasignificantly lowethan thaof the withouirradiation group othe ligh+ nifedipine group(both aP=0.000).Lasescanning confocal microscopy showed thathe fluorescence intensitieof intracellulafree Ca2+ in the irradiation only group,(-) BayK8644 group,ligh+ (-)BayK8644 group were highethan thaof the withouirradiation group,with statistical significancebetween them(all P=0.000).No significandifferencewere found in the fluorescence intensity of intracellulafree Ca2+ between the ligh+ nifedipine group and withouirradiation group awell abetween the (-)BayK8644 group and the ligh+(-) BayK8644 group(P =0.339,P =0.410).ConclusionThe optical conditionfoblue light-induced RPE cell damage were exposure of blue-ligha(2000± 500) lx fo6 hourand culturing the cellfo24 hours.Blue lighexposure can induce damage of human RPE cellprobably by triggering the increase of intracellulafree Ca2+ concentration.

Questionnaire survey and semi-structured interview were done in December 2005 and April 2006 to explore the reasons why foreign and minority medical students failed in course examinations last year.It is found that many factors affect their studying such as proficiency in Chinese,original foundation,studying and living habits,familiarity to the regulations of educational affairs,time and effort spent for self-studying and the attitude in which the teachers treat them.And also the correspondent countermeasures are given according to the survey and interview.

Schizophrenia, described as the worst disease affecting mankind, is a severe and disabling mental disorder. Schizophrenia is characterized by complicated symptoms and still lacks a diagnostic neuropathology, so developing schizophrenia animal models which have quantifiable measures tested in a similar fashion in both humans and animals will play a key role in new therapeutic approaches. According to the symptoms of cognitive impairment and emotional disorder, the N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA)-receptor antagonist MK-801 was applied to induce schizophrenia-like behavior in mice. Locomotor activity and prepulse inhibition (PPI) were selected as indices and the effect of clozapine was also investigated in this model. The results showed that compared with the normal group, MK-801-treated mice exhibited significantly increased locomotor activity and impaired PPI, and pre-exposure to clozapine could ameliorate the abnormality and make it back to normal level. These findings suggest that the model we established could be a useful tool for antipsychotic drug screening.