Objective:To detect differentiallyexpressed microRNAs (miRNAs)in plasma of schizophrenia and explore biomarker for diagnosis of schizophrenia.Methods:The discovery cohort tincluded 6 patients with schizophrenia meeting diagnostic criteria of schizophrenia of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disor-der,Fourth Edition (DSM-IV),as well as 6 healthy control subjects,whose age and gender were matched to pa-tients.The expression of 754 miRNAs (Sanger human miRBase v14)in the discovery cohort was investigated by Taqman Array (Human MicroRNA A +B Cards Set v3.0).Then the quantitative reverse-transcription polymor-phism chain reaction (qRT-PCR)assay was conducted to validate differentially expressed miRNAs in an independ-ent replication cohort,which included 25 schizophrenia patients and 18 healthy control subjects.The student's t-tests were used to analyze the differential expression of miRNA between schizophrenia patients and controls.All analyses were performed in Significance Analysis of Microarrays (SAM)software.Results:Twenty down-regulated miRNAs were observed in discovery cohort.Four miRNAs,hsa-miR-15b-5p were down-regulated in both discovery and rep-licated cohorts.Conclusion:The present study suggests that aberrant expression of miRNA might be of potential im-portance as biomarkers in the diagnosis of schizophrenia.

Aim To observe the neuron nitric oxide synthase(nNOS) expression in the distal cerebrospinal fluid contacting neurons(CSF-CNs) of rat brain parenchyma, and investigate the role of CSF-CNs in the development of morphine dependence and withdrawal.Methods Male adult Sprague-Dawley rats, weighed 260?20 g,were experimented with A 3 ?l volume of 30% cholera toxin subunit B with horseradish peroxidase(CB-HRP) was injected into one of the rats′lateral ventricles to trace and locate the distal CSF-CNs of rat brain parenchyma 48 hours before the animals were killed. All animals were perfused and the relative tissue of rats′brain was removed.Frozen serial coronal sections (40 ?m) were cut. Then TMB-ST reaction procedure was used to stain the CB-HRP positive neurons,followed by immunohistochemistry double-labeling of the nNOS with CB-HRP positive neurons. The withdrawal symptoms were observed and scored. The numbers of the CB-HRP, and CB-HRP/nNOS positive neurons on the same segmental brain sections were counted.Results The withdrawal symptoms of the withdrawal group were significant, scores of all signs were significantly higher than those of the dependence groups and control group(P

Objective The ultrastructure of the distal CSF-contacting neurons in the dorsal raphe and the relationships with their surrounding tissues were observed and a new morphological evidence for their functional significance was offered. Methods We combined CB-HRP tracing with electron microscopic techniques and observed the ultrastructure of the distal CSF-contacting neurons in the dorsal raphe and the relationships with their surrounding tissues. Results 1.The CSF-contacting neurons have the general cytological structure of neurons; 2.CB-HRP mainly is localized in the trans face of the Golgi apparatus and lysosomes;3.There are two kinds of contrary direction synaptic relationships between the distal CSF-contacting neurons and the non-CSF-contacting neurons.Conclusions 1.There are no obvious differences between the CSF-contacting neurons and other neurons in ultrastructure;2.The Golgi apparatus and the lysosomes may exist the special function in take and transport the material from CSF;3.The CSF-contacting neurons can not only transport the material or deliver the information from the dorsal raphe to CSF,but also from CSF to the dorsal raphe.

Objective To explore the growth and developmental parameters and behavioral characteristics of rhesus monkeys during the first year of birth and to establish the background data.Methods A total of 18 (♂=11,♀=7 ) infant rhesus monkeys born from individually caged mothers and with known genetic background and postnatal days were monitored monthly for body weight, body height, head circumference, chest circumference, forelimb length, hind limb length, crown-rump length, tail length and anal-genital distance from postnatal day ( PND) 1 to 360, while hematology, blood chemistry and lymphocyte subsets were examined on PND 28, 175 and 360, and finger maze test was carried out on PND 208.Results The body weight showed linear growth with no significant difference between genders (P>0.05). Except for the anal-genital distance of male infants was significantly greater than that of female infants ( P<0.01 ) , no significant differences were observed between sexes in other morphological parameters.No significant differences of hematology were seen between genders (P >0.05).Compared with that at PND28, TP and BUN were significantly increased (P<0.01) while ALP decreased with no significant difference (P>0.05) at PND 175 and 360.Compared with that at PND28, CD4 +and CD4 +/CD8 +were significantly decreased ( P<0.01) while CD8+significantly increased ( P<0.01) at PND175 and 360.The number of sessions to solve task 2 in learning test was significantly greater than other tasks with females significantly less than males ( P<0.05) .The females had higher correct rate than males in the 2-day random memory test (P<0.05).Conclusions Body weight and morphological parameters show a linear growth.The PND.The RBC, HGB, LYMPH, TP, BUN, ALP, CD4 +, CD8 +and CD4 +/CD8+in hematology, blood chemistry and lymphocyte subsets show relevant changes to the growth and development of organs and systems in infants, which should be highly concerned in drug evaluation.The finger maze test indicates that female infants have better reversal learning and long-term memory than male infants.Background data and behavioral characteristics of infant rhesus monkeys during the first 12 months of birth are established in this study, which provide useful reference and support the evaluation of developmental and reproductive toxicity of drugs in rhesus monkeys.