Akt1 is a serine-threonine protein kinase that has been implicated in the control of cellular metabolism,survival and growth.Elevated expression of Akt1 has been noted in a significant percentage of human tumors,promoting cellular metastasis.Conversely,some studies have revealed hyperactivated Akt1 inhibited the invasiveness and metastasis of breast cancer cells.To clarify the definite effect of Akt1 on tumorigenesis and development,Akt1 was silenced by RNAi in the highly metastatic murine breast cancer 4T1 cells.Akt1 silencing didn't affect the proliferation of breast cancer cells in MTT assay,while reduced the migration in Transwell assay.Consistent with the above results,Akt1 silencing didn't change the primary tumor weight,but significantly suppressed lung metastasis of 4T1 cells.These observations indicated Akt1 plays an important role in murine breast cancer metastasis,and suggested that Akt1 might be a therapeutic target for breast cancer metastasis.

By using Zinc nitrate as precursor and hydraZine hydrate as reducing agent, polydiallyl dimethyl ammonium chloride modified reduced graphene oxide/Zinc oxide composite materials ( PDDA-rGO/ZnO) were prepared by simultaneous reduction of graphene oxide ( GO) and Zinc nitrate.The composite materials were characteriZed by Fourier transform infrared ( FTIR ) spectroscopy, X-ray diffractometer ( XRD ) and transmission electron microscopy ( TEM) , and their electrochemical catalytic activity for uric acid was studied by cyclic voltammetry ( CV ) and linear sweep voltammetry ( LSV ) measurements.The result showed that PDDA-rGO/ZnO modified glassy carbon electrode prepared here was sensitive, reproducible and stable, and had significant electrocatalytic activity for UA.When using linear sweep voltammetry for detection of UA, the responses of modified electrode were linear with UA concentration in the ranges of 0.02-0.1 mmol/L and 0.1-1.0 mmol/L respectively, with detection limit of 15.9 nmol/L (S/N=3).

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of nifedipine of therapeutic dosage on the plasma membrane functional integrity and osmosensitive calcium influx in human sperm in vitro.

METHODSSperm samples were aseptically obtained from 10 healthy fertile men by masturbation and prepared by swim-up technique to produce a spermatozoal solution of high motility. The solution was then incubated with nifedipine of 20, 100 and 20 x 10(3) ng/ml respectively at 37 degrees C in vitro. The hypo-osmotic swelling (HOS) test was done to assess the sperm function. Intracellular calcium concentration was measured by fluorescent probe fura-2/AM before and after sperm medium dilution in distilled water.

RESULTSThe 20 x 103 ng/ml group showed significantly lower HOS scores than the control (P < 0.01). The 20, 100 and 20 x 10(3) ng/ml groups all showed significantly lower Ca2+ fluorescence D-value than the control (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONNifedipine can modify plasma membrane functional integrity and inhibit osmosensitive calcium influx in human sperm and affect male fertility in vitro in therapeutic dose.

Adult ; Calcium ; metabolism ; Cell Membrane ; Humans ; In Vitro Techniques ; Male ; Nifedipine ; pharmacology ; Osmotic Pressure ; Spermatids ; drug effects ; metabolism ; physiology

Iron, an important cofactor for heme, mitochondrial respiratory chain complexes, and various biologically important enzymes, participates in biological processes including oxygen transport, redox reactions, and metabolite synthesis. Ferritin is an iron storage protein that maintains iron homeostasis in the body by sequestering and releasing iron. Ferritinophagy is a selective type of autophagy that mediates ferritin degradation, releasing free iron when increased intracellular iron level is needed. Moderate rates of iron autophagy maintain intracellular iron content homeostasis. Excessive ferritinophagy will release a large amount of free iron, causing lipid peroxidation and cell damage via reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced by the Fenton reaction. Therefore, ferritinophagy plays a vital role in maintaining cellular iron homeostasis. Nuclear receptor co-activator 4 (NCOA4) acts as a key regulator of ferritinophagy by targeting ferritin binding and delivery to lysosomes for degradation, leading to release of free iron. Thus, NCOA4-mediated ferritinophagy is an important contributor to iron metabolism. Recent research reveals that NCOA4 is regulated by factors including iron content, autophagy, lysosomes, and hypoxia. NCOA4-mediated ferritin degradation is related to ferroptosis (an autophagic cell death process) . Ferritinophagy acts as an upstream mechanism driving ferroptosis by regulating cellular iron homeostasis and ROS production, which are closely correlated with the occurrence and development of anemia, neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, ischemia / reperfusion injury, and other diseases. In this study, the functional characteristics of NCOA4-mediated ferritinophagy in ferroptosis and the role of NCOA4 in these diseases were reviewed, which may provide new avenues for the treatment of related diseases.

Anemia of chronic disease (ACD), complicated by various chronic inflammatory diseases, is the second most prevalent type of anemia after iron deficiency anemia in the world. ACD significantly reduces the life quality of patients with chronic diseases, and represents an independent poor prognostic factor in certain chronic diseases. A large body of studies has demonstrated that most of anemia is related to abnormal iron metabolism. In the past decade, hepcidin, as a key factor in regulating iron metabolism, has attracted enormous attention due to its important role in the pathogenesis of ACD. This article reviews the research progress on the role and underlying regulatory mechanisms of hepcidin in ACD. We also discuss the potential of hepcidin as an effective therapeutic target for ACD treatment, in order to provide a new maneuver for improving the quality of ACD patients' life.
Anemia ; Anemia, Iron-Deficiency/pathology* ; Chronic Disease ; Hepcidins ; Humans ; Iron/metabolism*

Neuroimaging technique is a kind of significant means to explore the mechanism of cerebral plasticity after stroke. Diffusion tensor imaging can be used to describe the structure of white matter fiber bundles and evaluate the degree of damage, but it cannot reflect the functional connections between different brain regions. Task-state functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) can detect the activation of corresponding brain regions caused by specific tasks, but the test design is complex and demanding for subjects. Resting-state fMRI can analyze complex brain networks and reflect functional connections in different brain regions, but the method of data analysis is complex. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is another non-invasive method to reflect the functional activation of brain regions, in which temporal resolution is better than fMRI, but the spatial resolution is slightly lower. The combination of multiple detection methods may be an important research direction in the future.