AIM:To explore the effects of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) double inhibitor AZD8055 on autophagy and apoptosis of human cholangiocarcinoma cell line HuCCT1. METHODS:The effect of AZD8055 on the viability of HuCCT1 cells was detected by MTT assay. Autophagosome was detected by acridine orange (AO) staining. Af-ter treated with AZD8055, the expression levels of apoptosis-related proteins Bcl-2, Bax and cleaved caspase-3 and auto-phagy marker proteins beclin 1, LC3 and p62 were determined by Western blot. Apoptotic rate was analyzed by flow cyto-metry with Annexin V-FITC/PI double staining. RESULTS:AZD8055 significantly inhibited the viability of HuCCT1 cells (P<0.05). AO staining showed that AZD8055 significantly increased orange granules in the cytoplasm. After treated with AZD8055, compared with the control group, the protein level of beclin 1 and the ratio of LC3-Ⅱ/LC3-Ⅰ were enhanced, while p62 was attenuated (P<0.05). The protein expression level of pro-apoptotic regulator Bax was down-regulated and anti-apoptotic regulator Bcl-2 was increased. The protein level of cleaved caspase-3 was reduced (P<0.05). The results of flow cytometry showed that AZD8055 inhibited cell apoptosis. CONCLUSION:AZD8055 inhibits the viability of cholangiocarcinoma cells, and the mechanism is closely related with autophagy induced by AZD8055.

Biosensor analysis technology is a kind of technology with high specificity that can convert biological reactions into optical and electrical signals. In the development of drugs for Alzheimer's disease (AD), according to different disease hypotheses and targets, this technology plays an important role in confirming targets and screening active compounds. This paper briefly describes the pathogenesis of AD and the current situation of therapeutic drugs, introduces three biosensor analysis techniques commonly used in the discovery of AD drugs, such as surface plasmon resonance (SPR), biolayer interferometry (BLI) and fluorescence analysis technology, explains its basic principle and application progress, and summarizes their advantages and limitations respectively.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease associated with dysfunctions related to thinking, learning, and memory of the brain. AD has multiple pathological characteristics with complicated causes, constructing a suitable pathological model is crucial for the research of AD. Microfluidic chip technology integrates multiple functional units on a chip, which can realize microenvironmental control similar to the physiological environment. It is well applied in the construction of pathological model, early diagnosis as well as drug screening of AD. This paper focuses on the construction of AD microfluidic chips model from the perspective of cell type, culture formats and the chips structure as well as the research progress of microfluidic chips in AD application based on the pathological characteristics of AD, which will provide a reference for further elucidation of AD mechanism and drug development.