1.Exercise Regulates Structural Plasticity and Neurogenesis of Hippocampal Neurons and Improves Memory Impairment in High-fat Diet-induced Obese Mice
Meng-Si YAN ; Lin-Jie SHU ; Chao-Ge WANG ; Ran CHENG ; Lian-Wei MU ; Jing-Wen LIAO
Progress in Biochemistry and Biophysics 2025;52(4):995-1007
ObjectiveObesity has been identified as one of the most important risk factors for cognitive dysfunction. Physical exercise can ameliorate learning and memory deficits by reversing synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus and cortex in diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. In this study, we aimed to determine whether 8 weeks of treadmill exercise could alleviate hippocampus-dependent memory impairment in high-fat diet-induced obese mice and investigate the potential mechanisms involved. MethodsA total of sixty 6-week-old male C57BL/6 mice, weighing between 20-30 g, were randomly assigned to 3 distinct groups, each consisting of 20 mice. The groups were designated as follows: control (CON), high-fat diet (HFD), and high-fat diet with exercise (HFD-Ex). Prior to the initiation of the treadmill exercise protocol, the HFD and HFD-Ex groups were fed a high-fat diet (60% fat by kcal) for 20 weeks. The mice in the HFD-Ex group underwent treadmill exercise at a speed of 8 m/min for the first 10 min, followed by 12 m/min for the subsequent 50 min, totally 60 min of exercise at a 0° slope, 5 d per week, for 8 weeks. We employed Y-maze and novel object recognition tests to assess hippocampus-dependent memory and utilized immunofluorescence, Western blot, Golgi staining, and ELISA to analyze axon length, dendritic complexity, number of spines, the expression of c-fos, doublecortin (DCX), postsynaptic density-95 (PSD95), synaptophysin (Syn), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and the number of major histocompatibility complex II (MHC-II) positive cells. ResultsMice with HFD-induced obesity exhibit hippocampus-dependent memory impairment, and treadmill exercise can prevent memory decline in these mice. The expression of DCX was significantly decreased in the HFD-induced obese mice compared to the control group (P<0.001). Treadmill exercise increased the expression of c-fos (P<0.001) and DCX (P=0.001) in the hippocampus of the HFD-induced obese mice. The axon length (P<0.001), dendritic complexity (P<0.001), the number of spines (P<0.001) and the expression of PSD95 (P<0.001) in the hippocampus were significantly decreased in the HFD-induced obese mice compared to the control group. Treadmill exercise increased the axon length (P=0.002), dendritic complexity(P<0.001), the number of spines (P<0.001) and the expression of PSD95 (P=0.001) of the hippocampus in the HFD-induced obese mice. Our study found a significant increase in MHC-II positive cells (P<0.001) and the concentration of IL-1β (P<0.001) in the hippocampus of HFD-induced obese mice compared to the control group. Treadmill exercise was found to reduce the number of MHC-II positive cells (P<0.001) and the concentration of IL-1β (P<0.001) in the hippocampus of obese mice induced by a HFD. ConclusionTreadmill exercise led to enhanced neurogenesis and neuroplasticity by increasing the axon length, dendritic complexity, dendritic spine numbers, and the expression of PSD95 and DCX, decreasing the number of MHC-II positive cells and neuroinflammation in HFD-induced obese mice. Therefore, we speculate that exercise may serve as a non-pharmacologic method that protects against HFD-induced hippocampus-dependent memory dysfunction by enhancing neuroplasticity and neurogenesis in the hippocampus of obese mice.
2.Mechanism of Shenkang injection in treatment of renal fibrosis based on bioinformatics and in vitro experimental verification
Gao-Quan MENG ; Ming-Liang ZHANG ; Xiao-Fei CHEN ; Xiao-Yan WANG ; Wei-Xia LI ; Dai ZHANG ; Lu JIANG ; Ming-Ge LI ; Xiao-Shuai ZHANG ; Wei-Ting MENG ; Bing HAN ; Jin-Fa TANG
Chinese Pharmacological Bulletin 2024;40(10):1953-1962
Aim To explore the mechanism and mate-rial basis of Shenkang injection(SKI)in the treatment of renal fibrosis(RF)by bioinformatics and in vitro experiments.Methods The differentially expressed genes of RF were screened by GEO database.With the help of CMAP database,based on the similarity princi-ple of gene expression profile,the drugs that regulated RF were repositioned,and then the components of SKI potential treatment RF were screened by molecular fin-gerprint similarity analysis.At the same time,the core targets and pathways of SKI regulating RF were predic-ted based on network pharmacology.Finally,it was verified by molecular docking and cell experiments.Results Based on the GEO database,two RF-related data sets were screened,and CMAP was relocated to three common RF therapeutic drugs(saracatinib,da-satinib,pp-2).Molecular fingerprint similarity analysis showed that RF therapeutic drugs had high structural similarity with five SKI components such as salvianolic acid B and hydroxysafflor yellow A.Molecular docking results showed that salvianolic acid B,hydroxysafflor yellow A and other components had good binding abili-ty with MMP1 and MMP13,which were the core targets of SKI-regulated potential treatment of RF.Network pharmacology analysis suggested that the core targets of SKI were mainly enriched in signaling pathways such as Relaxin and AGE-RAGE.Cell experiments showed that SKI could significantly reduce the mRNA expres-sion levels of AGER,NFKB1,COL1A1,SERPINE1,VEGFC in AGE-RAGE signaling pathway and MMP1 and MMP13 in Relaxin signaling pathway in RF model cells,and significantly increase the mRNA expression level of RXFP1.Conclusions SKI can play a role in the treatment of RF by regulating Relaxin and AGE-RAGE signaling pathways,and its material basis may be salvianolic acid B,hydroxysafflor yellow A and other components.
3.Protein Histidine Methylation
Meng-Ting LI ; Zi-Min TANG ; Sheng-Xiang GE
Chinese Journal of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 2024;40(10):1343-1351
Protein methylation is a common post-translational modification in organisms.For a long time,research on protein methylation mainly focused on arginine and lysine,and there were few reports on histidine methylation.However,recent studies have emphasized that histidine methylation is also a widespread and highly conserved modification,occurring at the Nπ and Nτ sites of the histidine imidazole ring,catalyzed by specific protein histidine methyltransferases(PHMTs).Here,we review the history and significant advances in histidine methylation in recent years,particularly highlighting several known histidine methyltransferases.These methyltransferases,through specific molecular mechanisms,are re-sponsible for precise methylation modifications on histidine residues,playing crucial roles in processes such as cell movement,tumor cell proliferation,and protein translation.Additionally,this article discus-ses the research methods for histidine methylation,especially the application of mass spectrometry,which plays a vital role in advancing histidine methylation research.Although the veil of histidine methylation is gradually being lifted,a complete understanding of this modification and its functional mechanisms still poses challenges.Therefore,this article also presents new insights into the current dilemmas in histidine methylation research and future research priorities,hoping to uncover more secrets of histidine methyla-tion in the future.This could expand the protein methylation modification network and provide new per-spectives and strategies for elucidating disease mechanisms and developing new therapeutic approaches.
4.The Efficacy and Safety of Venetoclax Combined with Azacitidine in the Treatment of Adult Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia Who Are Unfit for Intensive Chemotherapy
Kai-Yue WANG ; Bing-Ru FAN ; Qian-Wen ZHANG ; Meng-Ru HAN ; Xiao-Yan GE
Journal of Experimental Hematology 2024;32(2):342-346
Objective:To observe the clinical efficacy and safety of venetoclax(VEN)combined with azacitidine(AZA)in the treatment of adult acute myeloid leukemia(AML)patients who are unfit for intensive chemotherapy.Methods:The clinical data of 21 adult patients with unfit AML who were treated with VEN combined with AZA in the Second Hospital of Shanxi Medical University from January 2021 to May 2022 were collected,and the efficacy and safety were analyzed retrospectively.Results:After one course of treatment with VEN and AZA,16 out of 21 unfit AML patients reached complete remission(CR)/CR with incomplete hematologic recovery(CRi),2 patients reached partial remission(PR),the overall response rate(ORR)was 85.7%.Among the 16 patients with CR/CRi,13 achieved minimal residual disease(MRD)negativity.Among the 11 patients with adverse prognosis,8 achieved CR/CRi.By the deadline of follow-up,the median overall suivival(OS)of the entire cohort was not reached,with 1-year OS rate of 61.7%.The main adverse events of VEN combined with AZA were myelosuppression,gastrointestinal reactions and infections.There were 13 cases of leukopenia,7 cases of neutropenia,7 cases of anemia,4 cases of thrombocytopenia,and these hematologic adverse events were all grade 3-4.There were 11 cases with gastrointestinal reactions and 7 cases with infections.The above adverse events were controllable and tolerable.No tumor lysis syndrome or infection related death occurred.Conclusion:VEN combined with AZA can quickly achieve deep remission in adult patients with unfit AML,and it shows a good safety profile.
5.Integrated analysis of gene crosstalk in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and athero-sclerosis
Siyu MENG ; Tianyi NI ; Jin GENG ; Peibing GE ; Bingjian WANG
Chinese Journal of Arteriosclerosis 2024;32(7):573-582
Aim To investigate the shared transcriptional characteristics of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD)and atherosclerosis(As)using bioinformatics techniques.The goal is to identify potential mechanisms and key targets of As that are linked to NAFLD through gene crosstalk analysis of both diseases.Additionally,the study will validate the expression levels of these key targets in animal tissues and human serum samples.Methods The gene ex-pression profiles of NAFLD(dataset GSE89632)and As(dataset GSE43292)were obtained from GEO database.Differ-ential gene analysis and weighted gene co-expression network analysis were conducted to identify common genes between the two diseases.These shared genes were further analyzed using the String database for protein interaction analysis and R software.Core genes were identified through calculations in Cytoscape software,validation with external datasets(GSE100927),and machine learning techniques(LASSO regression).Finally,key core genes were determined by crea-ting nonalcoholic fatty liver and As mouse models on a high-fat diet and collecting peripheral serum samples from patients with NAFLD and coronary heart disease(CHD).Results Seventy-five shared genes were identified between the two diseases,with major enrichment pathways including cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction,IL-17 signaling pathway,lipid and atherosclerosis,and NF-κB signaling pathway.Through integration of multiple bioinformatics methods,two core genes(MMP-9 and CCL3)were identified.Subsequent animal experiments demonstrated a significant increase in MMP-9 and CCL3 levels in the liver and aortic sinus of mice fed with high-fat diet,MMP-9 and CCL3 levels in the liver tissue of high-fat diet-fed mice were 2.43 times(P<0.001)and 1.35 times(P<0.01)higher than the control group,in the aortic sinus tissue,MMP-9 and CCL3 levels were 2.10 times(P<0.001)and 1.58 times(P<0.01)higher.Human serum sample verification further supported these findings,showing MMP-9 and CCL3 levels in patients with both NAFLD and CHD to be 1.21 times(P<0.01)and 1.29 times(P<0.01)higher than in patients with CHD alone.Conclusion This study identified MMP-9 and CCL3 may play key roles in NAFLD-related As,providing potential targets for the study of NAFLD-related As.
6.Research advances in FLASH radiotherapy-related clinical trials
Hui LUO ; Yichen MA ; Leijie MA ; Ronghu MAO ; Hongchang LEI ; Han LIU ; Yanping ZHANG ; Meng XU ; Hong GE ; Chengliang YANG
Chinese Journal of Radiological Medicine and Protection 2024;44(10):891-895
FLASH radiotherapy (FLASH-RT) has garnered considerable attention globally in recent years. Compared to conventional radiotherapy, FLASH-RT can deliver the total radiation dose to the target volume in an extremely short time, reducing the radiation-induced damage to normal tissue while maintaining similar anti-tumor effects. FLASH-RT has been in the clinical trial stage, with several clinical research result being reported. Based on the collected global clinical research result of FLASH-RT in recent years, this study systematically reviewed FLASH-RT′s safety, radiation-related side effects, treatment efficacy, opportunities, and challenges in clinical trials.
7.Rudimentary horn pregnancy: clinical analysis of 12 cases and literature review.
Ming Mei LIN ; Yi Meng GE ; Shuo YANG ; Rui YANG ; Rong LI
Chinese Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 2024;59(1):49-55
Objective: To investigate the clinical characteristics, treatments and fertility recovery of rudimentary horn pregnancy (RHP). Methods: The clinical data of 12 cases with RHP diagnosed and treated in Peking University Third Hospital from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. Clinical informations, diagnosis and treatments of RHP and the pregnancy status after surgery were analyzed. Results: The median age of 12 RHP patients was 29 years (range: 24-37 years). Eight cases of pregnancy in residual horn of uterus occurred in type Ⅰ residual horn of uterus, 4 cases occurred in type Ⅱ residual horn of uterus; among which 5 cases were misdiagnosed by ultrasound before surgery. All patients underwent excision of residual horn of uterus and affected salpingectomy. After surgery, 9 patients expected future pregnancy, and 3 cases of natural pregnancy, 2 cases of successful pregnancy through assisted reproductive technology. Four pregnancies resulted in live birth with cesarean section, and 1 case resulted in spontaneous abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy. No uterine rupture or ectopic pregnancy occurred in subsequent pregnancies. Conclusions: Ultrasonography could aid early diagnosis of RHP while misdiagnosis occurred in certain cases. Thus, a comprehensive judgment and decision ought to be made based on medical history, physical examination and assisted examination. Surgical exploration is necessary for diagnosis and treatment of RHP. For infertile patients, assisted reproductive technology should be applied when necessary. Caution to prevent the occurrence of pregnancy complications such as uterine rupture, and application of cesarean section to terminate pregnancy are recommended.
Pregnancy
;
Humans
;
Female
;
Young Adult
;
Adult
;
Cesarean Section/adverse effects*
;
Retrospective Studies
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Pregnancy, Ectopic/surgery*
;
Pregnancy, Cornual/surgery*
;
Uterus/surgery*
;
Uterine Rupture/etiology*
;
Abortion, Spontaneous
8.Correction between hand hygiene product consumption and hand hygiene compliance in intensive care units of 74 medical institutions in Shanghai
Hong-Ping PAN ; Meng-Ge HAN ; Qing-Feng SHI ; Bi-Jie HU ; Xiao-Dong GAO
Chinese Journal of Infection Control 2024;23(3):291-297
Objective To understand the consumption of hand hygiene(HH)products and HH compliance in in-tensive care units(ICUs)of secondary and higher grade medical institutions(MIs)in Shanghai,and provide basis for further monitoring of HH among health care workers(HCWs).Methods Through healthcare-associated infec-tion surveillance system,the consumption of HH products and HH compliance in ICUs from secondary and higher grade MIs in Shanghai in 2017-2021 were analyzed.Results 105 ICUs from 74 MIs were included in analysis,the average consumption of HH products was 79.24(44.88-258.63)mL/(bed·day),with statistically significant difference among different types of ICUs(P<0.001).The average consumption of HH products increased from 65.75 mL/(bed·day)in 2017 to 87.55 mL/(bed·day)in 2021,showing an increasing trend year by year(P<0.001).HCWs'HH compliance rate was 82.13%,with the highest in nurses(86.59%)and the lowest(48.90%)in medical technicians,HH compliance rates of HCWs of different occupations were statistically significant different(P<0.001).Among the implementation modes of HH,39.86%used running water for hand washing,42.27%used alcohol-based hand rub to wipe hands,13.22%didn't take HH measures,and 4.65%didn't take HH mea-sures when wearing gloves,with statistically significant differences among different HH implementation modes of HCWs(P<0.001).There was a positive correlation between the average consumption of HH products per bed·day and HCWs'HH compliance rate(r=0.703,P<0.05).Conclusion The average consumption of HH products per bed·day and HH compliance rate of HCWs in ICUs in Shanghai presents an increasing trend year by year.There are differences in the average consumption of HH products per bed·day and HH compliance rate among different types of ICUs.The implementation of HH can be evaluated by continuously surveillance on the average consumption of HH products per bed·day.
9.Innovation and exploration of medical laboratory animal science teaching on the basis of a smart teaching environment
Zihao YANG ; Han MENG ; Zhaonan ZHANG ; Ping ZHANG ; Changhong SHI ; Xu GE
Chinese Journal of Comparative Medicine 2024;34(2):108-113
Objective In the traditional laboratory zoology lecture environment,there is less teacher-student interaction,less student interest,and less engagement in learning.To improve the teaching quality of laboratory animal science,this teaching and research department was based on different teaching environments of multimedia and intelligent classrooms,theoretical course teaching of Medical Laboratory Animal Science as the research object,the course lecture format,teaching mode,teaching method,and other aspects of innovation and exploration.Methods This study used questionnaires to understand changes in student engagement in learning and preferences for smart classroom use,and NVivo qualitative analysis software was used to code student classroom behavior.Results The smart teaching environment resulted in higher student interest and more frequent teacher-student interaction in the classroom.Students were significantly more engaged in learning than in traditional teaching with higher correct rates on in-class and post-lesson exercises and a better grasp of concepts related to laboratory animal science.Conclusions A smart teaching environment brings students a better feeling and experience,improves their interest in laboratory animal science,increases classroom learning engagement,and achieves good teaching result.
10.Development and design of distal radial artery puncture compression hemostatic device
Xueqing ZHU ; Yang GE ; Meng LI ; Sheng YUAN ; Jingjing WANG ; Zhenyu LIU
China Medical Equipment 2024;21(2):196-199
To research and design a new type of distal radial artery puncture compression hemostatic device,to solve the problem of distal radial artery puncture and compression hemostat that has not been clinically applied in China.The hemostatic device was mainly composed of hemostatic part,pressure regulating part,fixing part and visual window.The hemostatic device can accurately compress the puncture point,and it was convenient for medical staff to observe the wound through the visual window,find out abnormal conditions such as bleeding or hematoma in time,and take measures to deal with them,which greatly improved the hemostatic effect and comfort of the postoperative puncture point.The new hemostatic device has the advantages of reasonable design and simple clinical operation,which is worthy of clinical promotion.

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