As a model organism, zebrafish have many advantages over other animal models and is suitable for studies on establishment of human disease model and mechanism.In zebrafish, there are two phases of endocrine formation during early development, which are directed by concomitant activity of many signaling pathways.Zebrafish pancreas possess similar cell structure with that of other animals, which can express various endocrine hormones including insulin.The main organs required for metabolic control, such as the pancreas, islet, and insulin sensitive tissue (muscle, liver) are conserved in zebrafish, and the mechanisms of glucose regulation in zebrafish is similar to that seen in mammalian models.These render it an excellent model to study glucose metabolism.Hyperglycemia in zebrafish model can be induced by administration of the diabetogenic drug, streptozotocin (STZ), alternatively immersion of the fish in glucose solution and water, or disturbing of signaling pathways associated with glucose metabolism.Glucose levels in adult zebrafish blood or embryo tissue and phenotype of retinal cell layers or retinal vasculature are the commonly used measurement organs in zebrafish diabetic models.

Aim To study the effect of rhein on renal damage induced by aristolochic acid. Methods Ze-brafish model of aristolochic acid nephropathy, genera-ted by treating zebrafish larvae with aristolochic acid for 24 h, was treated with rhein simultaneously . Mor-pholigical changes were observed and the creatinine level in larvae tissue was measured. And mRNA ex-pression levels of inflammatory factor cox2 a and fibrosis factor TGF-β1 in larvae tissue were detected using qPCR. Results Some larvae show periocular edema and circulation system defection e. g. weak heart beat, narrow cardiac vesicle, decreased blood flow and even blockage , with a dose-response relationship after expo-sure to aristolochic acid for 24 h. The creatinine level in larvae tissue of the treated group was significantly higher than that of the control larvae. And the expres-sion levels of cox2 a and TGF-β1 in larvae tissue of the treated group were also significantly increased. Per-centage of abnormal larvae and creatinine level in lar-vae tissue were decreased when treated with rhein sim-ultaneously. And the expression levels of cox2a was down-regulated by rhein compared with the aristolochic acid treated group. But rhein had no effect on TGF-β1 expression. Conclusion To some extent rhein can protect renal from damage induced by aristolochic acid.

Aim To investigate the modeling of breast cancer in zebrafish embryos and its related protein expression. Methods 48hpf wild type AB/ TG(Transgenic) zebrafishs were micro-in-jected with breast cancer cell line: MCF-7,T-47D, MDA-MB-231 respectively, the relationship between the number of tumor and model application was investigated, and the number of sub-intestinal veins(SIVs) was detected under confocal microscope, as well as the metastasis of tumor cells in embryos; then the ze-brafish xenografts of MB-231 were co-cultured with tofacitinib/ptk787 for 48 h, optical density(OD) of the cell survival and subintestinal veins(SIVs) were evaluated under confocal micro-scope, and Western blot(WB) analysis was used to test micro-circumstances related protein. Results When the number of in-oculated cells was more than 200 per embryo, xenograft model rate woule be more than 0. 90;MB-231 xenografts showed metas-tasis feature in zebrafish, which could be inhibited by tofacitinib (P < 0. 01), while the number of xenograft MB-231 cells was reduced significantly(P < 0. 01); in another zebrafish xenografts SIVs assay, the tumor could promote the proliferation of SIVs, and 4 mg·L - 1 PTK787 showed inhibiton effect( P < 0. 01). Western blot showed 4d T-47D xenograft zebrafish got more HER2 expression than AB embryos; VEGFa expression in ze-brafish MB-231 model group was higher, and model zebrafish P53 expressi was higher after treated by tofacitinib. Conclusion A zebrafish xenograft model of human brest cancer can be es-tablished, which demonstrates applicability for screening com-pounds in drug discovery studies.

OBJECTIVETo explore the characteristics of inorganic elements in Erodium stephanianum.

METHODThe content of elements such as Li, B, Na, Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, Br, Rb, Sr, Ba, La, Ce and Rb in ten E. stephanianum samples were determined by means of ICP/MS. The results were used for the development of element distribution diagram. The principal component analysis of SPSS and Q-type cluster analysis were applied for the study of characteristic elements in E. stephanianum.

RESULTFive principal components which accounted for over 91% of the total variance were extracted from the original data. The analysis results showed that Al, Ti, V, Fe, La, Ce, Li, Ga and Ba may be the characteristic elements in E. stephanianum; The results of Q-type cluster analysis showed that the samples could be clustered reasonably into two groups, and the elemental distribution characteristics were related to the ecology and origins of E. stephanianum.

CONCLUSIONThe principal component analysis and Q-type cluster analysis could be used in data processing in inorganic elements.

China ; Geraniaceae ; chemistry ; classification ; Plant Extracts ; analysis ; Principal Component Analysis ; Quality Control ; Trace Elements ; analysis