AIM To explore the mercury accumulation in KM mice after being given Zuotai at different doses and time.METHODS KM mice were randomly divided into blank group,Zuotai low-,middle-and high-dose (6.07,60.70 and 606.97 mg/kg,42 d;606.97 mg/kg,14 d) groups.The mercury contents in brain (olfactory bulb,cortex,hippocampus,hypothalamus,brain stem,cerebellum),heart,lung,kidney,liver,spleen,serum,muscle of mice were measured after administration.RESULTS Compared with the blank group,Zuotai at low-dose significantly increased the mercury contents in hippocampus,cerebellum,lung,kidney,liver and serum of mice after 42-day treatment;Zuotai at middle-dose markedly increased the mercury contents in olfactory bulb,cortex,hippocampus,brain stem,cerebellum,heart,lung,kidney,liver,spleen and serum of mice after 42-day treatment;the mice treated with high-dose of Zuotai for 42,14 days significantly increased the mercury contents in olfactory bulb,cortex,hippocampus,hypothalamus,brain stem,cerebellum,heart,lung,kidney,liver,spleen,muscle and serum.CONCLUSION Mercury can be accumulated in different tissues of mice after intragastric administration of Zuotai in a dose-and time-dependent manner,which suggests that Zuotai and its compound preparations should not be used in high-dose and long-term.

Aim To investigate the effect of PLK1 on epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)of human e-sophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC)cells TE-1 5 and its relevant molecular mechanisms.Methods PLK1 overexpressed ESCC cells and control vector were used as the experimental cells.The expression of EMT-related protein markers E-cadherin and vimentin were measured by Western blot.vimentin mRNA was measured by Real-time PCR.Total cellular protein and nuclear protein were respectively extracted,and then they were used to detect the expression of β-catenin by Western blot.β-catenin siRNA and non-specific siR-NA were transiently transfected into the cell clones overexpressed PLK1 ,and then vimentin was detected by Western blot.β-catenin protein degradation com-plex was detected by immunoprecipitation and Western blot.Results The mesenchymal marker vimentin was distinctively upregulated and the epithelial marker E-cadherin was distinctively downregulated in the cell clones overexpressed PLK1 ,compared with those in the vector clones.This indicated that EMT occurred in ESCC cells.vimentin mRNA was also markedly in-creased.In the cell clones overexpressed PLK1 ,β-catenin were both elevated from the total cells and the nucleus.The expression of vimentin was reduced whenβ-catenin was knocked down.APC and GSK-3βwere both reduced from Axin immunoprecipitate in the cell clones overexpressed PLK1 .Conclusion PLK1 up-regulates vimentin and promotes EMT in ESCC cells probably by inhibiting the formation of protein degrada-tion complex and stabilizing β-catenin.

Objective To investigate the expressions of aquaporin 4 (AQP4) in the bacterial meningitis in rats and to explore the molecular mechanism for brain edema caused by bacterial meningitis.Methods Totally 40 of 3-week-old-Sprague-Dawley healthy rats,body weight 60-80 g,male or female,were divided into a normal control group(n =10),and infection groups:24 hours after injection(n =10),48 hours after injection(n =10),and 5 days after injection(n =10).The expressions of AQP4 in the brain were detected by immunohistochemistry and Western blot methods respectively after 24 hours,48 hours,5 days of inoculation.Results Mortality rate:no rats in the control group and the infection group after 24 hours were dead.Two rats in the infection group after 48 hours and 4 rats in the infection group after 5 days were dead because of serious sickness,with the mortality rates 20％ and 40％,respectively.AQP4 expression was slightly positive under light microscope,and the positive cells mainly surrounded glial cells and blood vessels,while neurons were not dyed.Immunohistochemical staining showed that AQP4 expression in the model group increased with the severity of edema;compared with the control group,the AQP4 expression in the brain tissues increased in different periods after rats were infected,and the differences between groups were statistically significant (F--91.84,P ＜ 0.01).Western blot analysis showed that after the brain received streptococcus pneumoniae injection,expression of AQP4 began to increase in 24 hours after streptococcal injection,and reached to the peak in 48 hours,but decreased in 5 days,but the expression still remained higher than that of the normal control group.Each group had statistically significant difference(F =14.23,P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions Expression of AQP4 in the models with bacterial meningitis may increase initially and decrease later.It suggests that AQP4 plays a protective role during the development of infectious brain edema.

Objective To observe the clinical curative effect of Chuankezhi Injection atomization inhalation in treating capillary bronchitis.Methods 93 ninety-three children cases of capillary bronchitis were in our hospital from January to December 2015were selected and randomly divided into the treatment group(50 cases) and control group(43 cases) according to the random number table method.The two groups were given the same routine treatment.The treatment group was simuhaneously given 1 mL of Chuankezhi Injection adding into 4 mL of 0.9％ Sodium Chloride Injection,the mixture was inhaled by oxygen atomization at a speed of 4-5 L/s for 10-12 min,with 7 d as one treatment course.The clinical effect,clinical symptom disappearance situation and hospitalization time in the two groups were observed.Results The total effective rate in the treatment group was 98.0％ (49/50),which was higher than 79.1％ (34/43) in the control group;the disappearance time of cough,dyspnea and pulmonary wheezes and crackles and rales,and hospitalizatiorn time in the treatment group were (6.15 ± 1.50)d,(4.5 ± 1.90)d,(4.60 ± 1.70)d,(5.52 ±1.31)d and (6.55±2.30) d respectively,which were significantly better than (7.19 ± 1.85) d,(5.7 ± 2.10) d,(5.81 ± 1.82) d,(6.50 ± 1.83)d and (7.48 ± 2.51) d in the control group,the differences of various indexes between the two groups were statistically significant(P＜0.05).Conclusion Chuankezhi Injection in the assisted treatment of capillary bronchitis has significantly effect and better clinical application value.

Studies on lycopene synthesis in Escherichia coli were not only able to gain the strains with high yield and less by-products, but also able to test functions of genes or gene clusters. In this article, the cDNA sequences of tomato LeGGPS2 and LePSY1 as well as the coding sequence of crtI from Erwinia uredovora, each of which was added a ribosome biding site, were controlled by T7 promoter and terminator alone or combined, and expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3) to induce lycopene synthesis. The results show that only T7::crtI-LeGGPS2-LePSY1 expressed tri-cistronically could produce lycopene, and 2.124 mg/g dry cell weight oflycopene was obtained when fermented for 5 h at 30 degrees C after mixing 80 micromol/L IPTG at the later logarithmic phase while the seed broth of 1:50 (V/V) was inoculated into LB medium (pH 6.8) containing 3% sucrose and cultured for 8 h at 37 degrees C. The results confirmed the function of the prokaryonized LeGGPS2 and LePSY1 and their synergy with crtI, and also laid a foundation to establish an independent lycopene synthetic pathway in the tomato plastid.
Bacterial Proteins ; genetics ; Carotenoids ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Cloning, Molecular ; Erwinia ; genetics ; Escherichia coli ; genetics ; metabolism ; Genetic Engineering ; Plant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics