1.Research on The Role of Dopamine in Regulating Sleep and Wakefulness Through Exercise
Li-Juan HOU ; Ya-Xuan GENG ; Ke LI ; Zhao-Yang HUANG ; Lan-Qun MAO
Progress in Biochemistry and Biophysics 2025;52(1):88-98
Sleep is an instinctive behavior alternating awakening state, sleep entails many active processes occurring at the cellular, circuit and organismal levels. The function of sleep is to restore cellular energy, enhance immunity, promote growth and development, consolidate learning and memory to ensure normal life activities. However, with the increasing of social pressure involved in work and life, the incidence of sleep disorders (SD) is increasing year by year. In the short term, sleep disorders lead to impaired memory and attention; in the longer term, it produces neurological dysfunction or even death. There are many ways to directly or indirectly contribute to sleep disorder and keep the hormones, including pharmacological alternative treatments, light therapy and stimulus control therapy. Exercise is also an effective and healthy therapeutic strategy for improving sleep. The intensities, time periods, and different types of exercise have different health benefits for sleep, which can be found through indicators such as sleep quality, sleep efficiency and total sleep time. So it is more and more important to analyze the mechanism and find effective regulation targets during sleep disorder through exercise. Dopamine (DA) is an important neurotransmitter in the nervous system, which not only participates in action initiation, movement regulation and emotion regulation, but also plays a key role in the steady-state remodeling of sleep-awakening state transition. Appreciable evidence shows that sleep disorder on humans and rodents evokes anomalies in the dopaminergic signaling, which are also implicated in the development of psychiatric illnesses such as schizophrenia or substance abuse. Experiments have shown that DA in different neural pathways plays different regulatory roles in sleep behavior, we found that increasing evidence from rodent studies revealed a role for ventral tegmental area DA neurons in regulating sleep-wake patterns. DA signal transduction and neurotransmitter release patterns have complex interactions with behavioral regulation. In addition, experiments have shown that exercise causes changes in DA homeostasis in the brain, which may regulate sleep through different mechanisms, including cAMP response element binding protein signal transduction, changes in the circadian rhythm of biological clock genes, and interactions with endogenous substances such as adenosine, which affect neuronal structure and play a neuroprotective role. This review aims to introduce the regulatory effects of exercise on sleep disorder, especially the regulatory mechanism of DA in this process. The analysis of intracerebral DA signals also requires support from neurophysiological and chemical techniques. Our laboratory has established and developed an in vivo brain neurochemical analysis platform, which provides support for future research on the regulation of sleep-wake cycles by movement. We hope it can provide theoretical reference for the formulation of exercise prescription for clinical sleep disorder and give some advice to the combined intervention of drugs and exercise.
2.Study on accumulation of polysaccharide and steroid components in Polyporus umbellatus infected by Armillaria spp.
Ming-shu YANG ; Yi-fei YIN ; Juan CHEN ; Bing LI ; Meng-yan HOU ; Chun-yan LENG ; Yong-mei XING ; Shun-xing GUO
Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica 2025;60(1):232-238
In view of the few studies on the influence of
3.Neuroplasticity Mechanisms of Exercise-induced Brain Protection
Li-Juan HOU ; Lan-Qun MAO ; Wei CHEN ; Ke LI ; Xu-Dong ZHAO ; Yin-Hao WANG ; Zi-Zheng YANG ; Tian-He WEI
Progress in Biochemistry and Biophysics 2025;52(6):1435-1452
Neuroscience is a significant frontier discipline within the natural sciences and has become an important interdisciplinary frontier scientific field. Brain is one of the most complex organs in the human body, and its structural and functional analysis is considered the “ultimate frontier” of human self-awareness and exploration of nature. Driven by the strategic layout of “China Brain Project”, Chinese scientists have conducted systematic research focusing on “understanding the brain, simulating the brain, and protecting the brain”. They have made breakthrough progress in areas such as the principles of brain cognition, mechanisms and interventions for brain diseases, brain-like computation, and applications of brain-machine intelligence technology, aiming to enhance brain health through biomedical technology and improve the quality of human life. Due to limited understanding and comprehension of neuroscience, there are still many important unresolved issues in the field of neuroscience, resulting in a lack of effective measures to prevent and protect brain health. Therefore, in addition to actively developing new generation drugs, exploring non pharmacological treatment strategies with better health benefits and higher safety is particularly important. Epidemiological data shows that, exercise is not only an indispensable part of daily life but also an important non-pharmacological approach for protecting brain health and preventing neurodegenerative diseases, forming an emerging research field known as motor neuroscience. Basic research in motor neuroscience primarily focuses on analyzing the dynamic coding mechanisms of neural circuits involved in motor control, breakthroughs in motor neuroscience research depend on the construction of dynamic monitoring systems across temporal and spatial scales. Therefore, high spatiotemporal resolution detection of movement processes and movement-induced changes in brain structure and neural activity signals is an important technical foundation for conducting motor neuroscience research and has developed a set of tools based on traditional neuroscience methods combined with novel motor behavior decoding technologies, providing an innovative technical platform for motor neuroscience research. The protective effect of exercise in neurodegenerative diseases provides broad application prospects for its clinical translation. Applied research in motor neuroscience centers on deciphering the regulatory networks of neuroprotective molecules mediated by exercise. From the perspectives of exercise promoting neurogenesis and regeneration, enhancing synaptic plasticity, modulating neuronal functional activity, and remodeling the molecular homeostasis of the neuronal microenvironment, it aims to improve cognitive function and reduce the incidence of Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. This has also advanced research into the molecular regulatory networks mediating exercise-induced neuroprotection and facilitated the clinical application and promotion of exercise rehabilitation strategies. Multidimensional analysis of exercise-regulated neural plasticity is the theoretical basis for elucidating the brain-protective mechanisms mediated by exercise and developing intervention strategies for neurological diseases. Thus,real-time analysis of different neural signals during active exercise is needed to study the health effects of exercise throughout the entire life cycle and enhance lifelong sports awareness. Therefore, this article will systematically summarize the innovative technological developments in motor neuroscience research, review the mechanisms of neural plasticity that exercise utilizes to protect the brain, and explore the role of exercise in the prevention and treatment of major neurodegenerative diseases. This aims to provide new ideas for future theoretical innovations and clinical applications in the field of exercise-induced brain protection.
4.The Regulatory Mechanisms of Dopamine Homeostasis in Behavioral Functions Under Microgravity
Xin YANG ; Ke LI ; Ran LIU ; Xu-Dong ZHAO ; Hua-Lin WANG ; Lan-Qun MAO ; Li-Juan HOU
Progress in Biochemistry and Biophysics 2025;52(8):2087-2102
As China accelerates its efforts in deep space exploration and long-duration space missions, including the operationalization of the Tiangong Space Station and the development of manned lunar missions, safeguarding astronauts’ physiological and cognitive functions under extreme space conditions becomes a pressing scientific imperative. Among the multifactorial stressors of spaceflight, microgravity emerges as a particularly potent disruptor of neurobehavioral homeostasis. Dopamine (DA) plays a central role in regulating behavior under space microgravity by influencing reward processing, motivation, executive function and sensorimotor integration. Changes in gravity disrupt dopaminergic signaling at multiple levels, leading to impairments in motor coordination, cognitive flexibility, and emotional stability. Microgravity exposure induces a cascade of neurobiological changes that challenge dopaminergic stability at multiple levels: from the transcriptional regulation of DA synthesis enzymes and the excitability of DA neurons, to receptor distribution dynamics and the efficiency of downstream signaling pathways. These changes involve downregulation of tyrosine hydroxylase in the substantia nigra, reduced phosphorylation of DA receptors, and alterations in vesicular monoamine transporter expression, all of which compromise synaptic DA availability. Experimental findings from space analog studies and simulated microgravity models suggest that gravitational unloading alters striatal and mesocorticolimbic DA circuitry, resulting in diminished motor coordination, impaired vestibular compensation, and decreased cognitive flexibility. These alterations not only compromise astronauts’ operational performance but also elevate the risk of mood disturbances and motivational deficits during prolonged missions. The review systematically synthesizes current findings across multiple domains: molecular neurobiology, behavioral neuroscience, and gravitational physiology. It highlights that maintaining DA homeostasis is pivotal in preserving neuroplasticity, particularly within brain regions critical to adaptation, such as the basal ganglia, prefrontal cortex, and cerebellum. The paper also discusses the dual-edged nature of DA plasticity: while adaptive remodeling of synapses and receptor sensitivity can serve as compensatory mechanisms under stress, chronic dopaminergic imbalance may lead to maladaptive outcomes, such as cognitive rigidity and motor dysregulation. Furthermore, we propose a conceptual framework that integrates homeostatic neuroregulation with the demands of space environmental adaptation. By drawing from interdisciplinary research, the review underscores the potential of multiple intervention strategies including pharmacological treatment, nutritional support, neural stimulation techniques, and most importantly, structured physical exercise. Recent rodent studies demonstrate that treadmill exercise upregulates DA transporter expression in the dorsal striatum, enhances tyrosine hydroxylase activity, and increases DA release during cognitive tasks, indicating both protective and restorative effects on dopaminergic networks. Thus, exercise is highlighted as a key approach because of its sustained effects on DA production, receptor function, and brain plasticity, making it a strong candidate for developing effective measures to support astronauts in maintaining cognitive and emotional stability during space missions. In conclusion, the paper not only underscores the centrality of DA homeostasis in space neuroscience but also reflects the authors’ broader academic viewpoint: understanding the neurochemical substrates of behavior under microgravity is fundamental to both space health and terrestrial neuroscience. By bridging basic neurobiology with applied space medicine, this work contributes to the emerging field of gravitational neurobiology and provides a foundation for future research into individualized performance optimization in extreme environments.
5.Research on suspected cases of Lyme disease in Ji'an City,Jiangxi Province
Zhi-Yun LIU ; Yu ZENG ; Li-Ke DUAN ; Xue-Xia HOU ; Lin ZHANG ; Li-Juan HE ; Qin HAO
Chinese Journal of Zoonoses 2024;40(4):340-345
Confirmed cases of Lyme disease(LD)in Ji'an City,Jiangxi Province and the clinical manifestations and region-al distribution were assessed to provide a basis for timely diagnosis and treatment.In total,133 serum samples were collected from patients with suspected LD in Ji'an Central People's Hospital from December 2021 to August 2022.Serum antibodies a-gainst Borrelia burgdorferi were detected with a two-step testing process.In addition,a specific gene of B.burgdorferi in samples was identified by nested PCR.Sequencing analysis was conducted to confirm the positive samples.Overall,25(18.80%)serum samples were positive for B.burgdorferi nucleic acid and antibodies,which included 20(15.04%)positive for antibodies and 6(4.51%)positive for nucleic acids.The sequences of the 5S-23S rRNA gene spacer of 6 samples were con-sistent with the corresponding sequences of Borrelia yangtzensis and one of the six samples was also positive for antibodies.The 25 positive samples were collected from 9 counties in Ji'an City,with the majority in Jizhou District(44%).All positive patients may experience symptoms related to LD,including joint disorders,neurological disorders,infectious fever,der-matitis,and/or chest pain.The most common symptom was joint disorders(72%).Six cases positive for B.yangtzensis nucleic acids were mainly collected in the Jizhou District,of which four had joint lesions and two had infectious fever.This study confirms the existence of LD in Jiangxi Province,which may be the first confirmation of human infection with B.yan-gtzensis in southern China.Hence,doctors in this region should consider the possibility of LD for cases presenting with related symptoms.Although LD may occur in this region,further investigations and monitoring are warranted.
6.Study on the correlation between healthy lifestyle practices and stroke in elderly people
Yan YANG ; Xiaona ZHANG ; Juan ZHANG ; Tingting HOU ; Xiang WANG ; Yifeng DU ; Siqin DONG
Chinese Journal of Geriatrics 2024;43(10):1260-1264
Objective:To investigate the relationship between lifestyle factors and stroke in the elderly.Methods:Data were obtained from a natural cohort of the Multimodal Intervention to Delay Dementia and Disability in Rural China(MIND-China)study.A total of 5 009 participants aged 60 years and above were enrolled, of whom 954(19.05%)had experienced a stroke.Logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the association between five lifestyle factors(smoking, drinking, physical exercise, social activity and sleep quality)and the incidence of stroke.Results:In model 1, after adjusting for age, sex and education, only social activity( OR=0.783, 95% CI: 0.668-0.917)and good sleep quality( OR=0.731, 95% CI: 0.621-0.860)emerged as protective factors against stroke(both P<0.05).No statistically significant associations were found between other lifestyle factors and stroke.Analysis of a variety of healthy lifestyle practice combinations showed that having 3( OR=0.639, 95% CI: 0.433-0.944), 4( OR=0.620, 95% CI: 0.409-0.941)and 5( OR=0.397, 95% CI: 0.197-0.799)healthy lifestyle practices were protective factors against stroke(all P<0.05).In model 2, after adjusting for age, sex, education, body mass index, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and the APOE genotype, the results were consistent with those of Model 1. Conclusions:Lifestyle factors are significantly associated with the risk of stroke in the elderly population.The healthier lifestyle practices are adopted, the lower the risk of stroke will be.
7.Chemical constituents from the ethanol precipitated sediment of Radix Isatidis and their anti-inflammatory activities
Kai-Hui LIU ; Di WU ; Shi-Min LI ; Qiang XUE ; Juan-Juan WU ; Xue FENG ; Xin HOU ; Xin-Ying CHENG
Chinese Traditional Patent Medicine 2024;46(11):3692-3697
AIM To study the chemical constituents from the ethanol precipitated sediment of Radix Isatidis and their anti-inflammatory activities.METHODS The effects of ethanol precipitated sediment on IL-6 and TNF-α levels were detected by LPS-induced RAW264.7 cell inflammation model and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.The chemical constituents were analyzed by UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS and high performance molecular exclusion method.RESULTS When the concentration of Radix Isatidis ethanol sediment were 200 and 400 μg/mL,it could significantly inhibit the release of IL-6 and TNF-α.The ethanol sediment of Radix Isatidis was mainly composed of polysaccharides and proteins,including trace amounts of lipopeptides,indoles and amino acids,among which polysaccharides were mainly glucans.CONCLUSION The constituents from the ethanol sediment of Radix Isatidis are sugars,alkaloids(indoles),amino acids,and organic acids(fatty acids),and they may exert anti-inflammatory effects by synergistic manner.
8.Role of ARAF mutation in RAF inhibitor resistance in lung cancer cells
Yaoyuan WANG ; Juan CHEN ; Wei HOU
Cancer Research and Clinic 2024;36(10):728-733
Objective:To explore the role of ARAF mutation in RAF inhibitor resistance in lung cancer cells.Methods:The lung cancer cell lines A549 and NCI-H1688 with ARAF gene knockout were constructed using CRISPR-Cas9 method. Overexpression of wild-type ARAF (ARAF WT) and mutant ARAF (ARAF V145L, S214F, S214C, or D429A) in lung cancer cells with ARAF gene knockout was achieved through lentiviral packaging infection method, while the control group consisted of untreated A549 or NCI-H1688 cells with ARAF gene knockout. A549 or NCI-H1688 cells in each group were treated with different concentrations of RAF inhibitor belvarafenib or AZ-628. The CCK-8 method was used to detect cell viability, and the half maximal inhibitory concentration ( IC50) of cells in each group against belvarafenib or AZ-628 was calculated. A549 or NCI-H1688 cells in each group were treated with IC50 (263 nmol/L) of belvarafenib in the ARAF WT group, and the expression levels of key proteins in the ARAF and MEK/ERK/RSK signaling pathways were detected by Western blotting. The 6-8 week old male BALB/c nude mice were selected and subcutaneously injected stable overexpression of ARAF WT or mutant ARAF A549 or NCI-H1688 cell suspension with ARAF gene knockout into the axilla to construct a xenograft tumor model, and 30 mg/kg belvarafenib or AZ-628 solution was administered continuously by gavage per day; tumor volume was compared among the groups at the 16th day. Results:Compared with the ARAF WT group, the IC50 of belvarafenib or AZ-628 in A549 or NCI-H1688 cells of the ARAF D429A group was lower, while the IC50 of the ARAF S214F and ARAF S214C groups was higher, and the differences were statistically significant (all P < 0.05). Compared with the ARAF WT group, the relative expression levels of p-MEK, p-ERK and p-RSK in A549 or NCI-H1688 cells treated with belvarafenib in the ARAF WT and ARAF D429A groups were all lower, and the differences were statistically significant (all P < 0.05), but there were no statistically significant differences in the relative expression levels of ARAF, MEK, ERK, and RSK (all P > 0.05); compared with the ARAF WT group, the ARAF S214F and ARAF S214C groups treated with belvarafenib had higher relative expression levels of p-MEK, p-ERK and p-RSK, and the differences were statistically significant (all P < 0.05), but there were no statistically significant differences in the relative expression levels of ARAF, MEK, ERK, and RSK (all P > 0.05). On the 16th day after gavage with belvarafenib or AZ-628, the tumor volume of nude mice transplanted with A549 or NCI-H1688 cells in ARAF WT and ARAF D429A groups was lower than that in the corresponding ARAF WT and ARAF D429A groups without belvarafenib or AZ-628 intervention, and the tumor volume of nude mice transplanted with A549 or NCI-H1688 cells in ARAF D429A group was lower than that in the corresponding ARAF WT group with belvarafenib or AZ-628 gavage, and the differences were statistically significant (all P < 0.05). On the 16th day after gavage with belvarafenib or AZ-628, the tumor volume of nude mice transplanted with A549 or NCI-H1688 cells in ARAF S214F and ARAF S214C groups was not significantly different from that in ARAF S214F and ARAF S214C groups without belvarafenib or AZ-628 intervention (all P > 0.05), and compared with nude mice transplanted with A549 or NCI-H1688 cells in ARAF WT group with belvarafenib or AZ-628 gavage, there was no significant difference (all P > 0.05). Conclusions:The ARAF D429A mutation increases the sensitivity of lung cancer to RAF inhibitors, while the ARAF S214F and S214C mutations increase the resistance of lung cancer to RAF inhibitors.
9.A Meta-Analysis of Efficacy of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Treating Recurrent Spontaneous Abortion and Regulation of Th17 and Treg Cell Levels in Peripheral Blood
Zitong HOU ; Juan SUI ; Yanhong LI ; Lu XIAO ; Mengxue REN ; Yuling QIN ; Ruixue CHEN
Traditional Chinese Drug Research & Clinical Pharmacology 2024;35(5):741-748
Objective To systematically evaluate the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)in the treatment of recurrent spontaneous abortion and their regulatory effects of levels of peripheral blood Th17 cells and Treg cells.Methods Computer retrieval of CNKI,WanFang,VIP,SinoMed,FMRS,PubMed,Cochrane Library,Embase,Web of science and other databases were carried out.RCTS related to the regulation of Th17 and Treg cells by TCM in the treatment of recurrent spontaneous abortion,published from the establishment of the database to June 2023 were screened.Two reviewers evaluated the quality of the literature according to the Cochrane handbook.RevMan5.4 software was used for Meta-Analysis.Results A total of 10 studies that involved 1 052 patients were included.The Meta-Analysis results showed that compared to the control group,the effective rate[RR=1.20,95%CI(1.11,1.30),P<0.000 01],live birth rate[RR=1.32,95%CI(1.16,1.50),P<0.000 01]and the reduction of adverse drug reactions[RR=0.34,95%CI(0.14,0.83),P=0.02]were significantly improved by the intervention of TCM.After treatment with TCM,the expression of Th17 cells was decreased[MD=-0.71,95%CI(-1.01,-0.41),P<0.000 01],and the expression of Treg cells was increased[SMD=1.21,95%CI(0.80,1.62),P<0.000 01].The ratio of Th17/Treg cells was decreased[SMD=-2.62,95%CI(-4.09,-1.14),P=0.000 5].Conclusion TCM used for post-pregnancy or before and after pregnancy can significantly improve the clinical symptoms and live birth rate of patients with recurrent spontaneous abortion,wihch showed high safety.Moreover,TCM can reduce the expression of Th17 cells,up-regulate the expression of Treg cells and regulate the immune balance of Th17/Treg cells,which is conducive to embryonic development after pregnancy.
10.Study on the Automatic Recommendation Method for Answer Analysis of Pediatric Medical Examination Questions
Juan WANG ; Li HOU ; Yueping SUN ; Jiaming LI ; Li YANG ; Liangguang DONG ; Yunhan LI
Journal of Medical Informatics 2024;45(10):11-17
Purpose/Significance To explore and implement the automated interpretation of pediatric medical exam answers,so as to enhance the efficiency and quality of answer explanation compilation.Method/Process The paper proposes a method that combines latent semantic indexing(LSI),MC-BERT,and the CoSENT model.Initially,multiple candidate answer explanations are extracted from ref-erence documents using the LSI method and the MC-BERT model.Subsequently,the CoSENT model is employed to calculate the simi-larity between the candidate explanations and the question stems as well as the answer options.The candidate explanation with the highest similarity is then selected as the final answer explanation.Result/Conclusion The experimental results show that the method presented in this paper achieves a precision rate of 72.6%.Compared to single methods or models,it significantly improves the recall and precision of answer parsing,effectively enhances the efficiency of compiling question answer explanations,reduces the burden on educators,and pro-vides significant data support for educational research.

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