1.Role of the alkylglycerone phosphate synthase in isoproterenol-induced cardiac hypertrophy
Yijie LIU ; Qiaoman FEI ; Bingyan CAO ; Manman QIU ; Huan HUANG ; Jiaxin SONG ; Bing YANG ; Ling ZHANG
International Journal of Biomedical Engineering 2019;42(4):301-306
Objective To research the effect of alkylation of glycerol phosphate synthase (AGPS) in isoproterenol (ISO) induced rat cardiac hypertrophy. Methods The pathological cardiac hypertrophy rat model was constructed by ISO intraperitoneal injection. Twelve healthy Sprague-Dawley rats (120~150 g) were divided into ISO group and control group randomly. In the ISO group, rats were injected with ISO (3 mg/kg) per day for two consecutive weeks. In the control group, rats were injected with normal saline (3 mg/kg) per day for two consecutive weeks. Changes of left ventricular diastolic diameter, left ventricular posterior wall thickness, left ventricular ejection fraction, left ventricular short-axis shortening rate and left ventricular mass were detected by echocardiography. The cross-sectional area of myocardial cells in rats was measured by hematoxylin-eosin staining. The expression of hypertrophic factors [atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), myosin light chain-2V (MLC-2V), α-myosin heavy chain (α-MHC)] and AGPS were detected by Western Blot and real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR). Results The results of echocardiography showed that the cardiac hypertrophy rat model was successfully constructed. The results of hematoxylin-eosin staining showed that the myocardial cross-sectional area in the ISO group was significantly larger than that of the control group. The Western Blot and qPCR results indicated that the relative expression of protein and mRNA of hypertrophic factor and AGPS in the ISO group were both up-regulated comparing with that of the control group, and the differences were statistical significance (all P<0.05). Conclusions The rat model of pathological cardiac hypertrophy with up-regulated AGPS expression was successfully constructed providing a theoretical basis for further study on the role of AGPS in pathogenesis of pathological cardiac hypertrophy.
2.Construction and identification of LSD1 overexpression and demethylation disfunction plasmids
Lili WU ; Yijie LIU ; Bingyan CAO ; Qiaoman FEI ; Xiujuan ZHAO ; Qian LI ; Yating HAN ; Lei CAO ; Bing YANG ; Ling ZHANG
International Journal of Biomedical Engineering 2018;41(1):26-31,37
Objective To construct rat lysine-specific histone demethylase 1 (LSD1) overexpression plasmids and LSD 1 demethylation fragment disfunction plasmids,and to evaluate their expression levels in HEK293T cells.Methods LSD1 fragments were amplified by PCR,and LSD1 demethylation disfunction fragments were amplified by overlap PCR.Rat-specific LSD1 overexpression plasmids and LSD1 demethylation disfunction plasmids were constructed and verified by agarose gel electrophoresis and sequencing.HEK293T cells were infected using the validated recombinant plasmids and blank vectors,and the stably expressed cells were selected by puromycin.The expression of LSD1 in the stably expressed HEK293T was detected by Western Blot and real-time quantitative PCR.Results The results of agarose gel electrophoresis and sequencing showed that LSD1 overexpression plasmids and LSD1 demethylation disfunction plasmids were successfully constructed.The Western Blot and real-time quantitative PCR results showed that compared with the blank group,the relative expression of LSD1 and mRNA in the LSD1 overexpression group and the LSD1 demethylation disfunction group were up-regulated,and the differences were statistically significant(all P<0.01).Conclusions The constructed LSD1 overexpression plasmids and LSD1 demethylationi disfunction plasmids can achieve overexpression of LSD1 gene in HEK293T cells.This paper lays a foundation for further study of the relationship between LSD 1 gene and related diseases and demethylation of LSD 1.
3.CRISPR-Cas9-based site-directed knock-in of VEGF165 gene in a HEK293T cell
Zaiyu GUO ; Heliang ZHANG ; Qian CHEN ; Yanwei HOU ; Tao SHUI ; Lili WU ; Yijie LIU ; Qiaoman FEI ; Huan HUANG ; Lei LEI ; Yan SUN ; Yu KONG ; Xiujuan ZHAO ; Yating HAN ; Bing YANG ; Ling ZHANG
International Journal of Biomedical Engineering 2019;42(1):39-44
Objective To construct a human renal epithelial cell line HEK293T by CRISPR-Cas9-based site-directed knock-in of vascular endothelial growth factor 165 (VEGF165) gene, and avoid the off-target effect caused by lentivirus infection. Methods The VEGF165 expression vector with homologous arm (pUCm-T-VEGF165 plasmid) and the sgRNA expression vector [pSpCas9(BB)-2A-Puro-sgRNA plasmid] were designed and constructed based on the DNA sequence of the EZH2 gene, and then co-transfected into HEK293T cells. The expression of VEGF165 mRNA was detected by qPCR and the expressions of VEGF165 proteins were detected by Western Blot. Results The qPCR and Western Blot results showed that, comparing with the control, the pUCm-T-VEGF165 plasmid and pSpCas9(BB)-2A-Puro-sgRNA plasmid, the expression of the co-transfection plasmid were significantly increased, i.e. 3.42±0.30 vs. 1.02±0.21, 1.13±0.16 and 0.98±0.18 for the VEGF165 mRNA level (all P<0.01), and 1.13±0.16 vs. 1.02±0.06, 0.88±0.03 and 0.80±0.05 for the VEGF165 protein level (all P<0.01), respectively. Besides, the expression of EZH2 was significantly down-regulated, i.e. 0.14±0.06 vs. 1.08±0.11, 1.02±0.12 and 1.13±0.16 for the EZH2 mRNA level (all P<0.01), and 0.23±0.03 vs. 1.05±0.13, 0.91±0.04 and 0.81±0.06 for the EZH2 protein level (all P<0.01), respectively. This result showed that the VEGF165 was successfully inserted into the EZH2 genome, interfering the EZH2 expression. Conclusions VEGF165 gene can be successfully knocked into HEK293T cells by CRISPR/Cas9 system.