BACKGROUND:Stress-induced damage to hippocampal neurons may underlie abnormalities in neuronal structure and function,ultimately leading to mood disorders.G protein-coupled receptors in brain tissue play an important role in mood regulation.OBJECTIVE:To analyze the mechanism of depression-like behavior in chronic social defeat stress mice based on high-throughput sequencing and bioinformatics analysis.METHODS:C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into control group and model group.There was no special treatment in the control group,while a mouse model of chronic social defeat stress was established in the model group.Depression-like behavior was assessed through the sucrose preference test,tail suspension test,and forced swim test.Anxiety behavior was evaluated using the elevated plus-maze,while social behavior was measured through the social interaction test.Cognitive function was assessed with the Y-maze spontaneous alternation test.Immunofluorescence staining was performed to quantify microglia markers in the mouse hippocampus,and Nissl staining was used to examine neuronal damage in mice.High-throughput sequencing was used to identify differentially expressed genes and gene enrichment in the mouse hippocampus,and qPCR was used to measure the expression of G protein-coupled receptors in the mouse hippocampus.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1)Compared with the control group,chronic social defeat stress mice showed significant behavioral impairments,including increased anxiety,depression,and cognitive deficits.(2)Additionally,the Nissl body light density in hippocampal neurons was significantly reduced in chronic social defeat stress mice.(3)Sequencing results revealed synaptic damage in the neurons after chronic social defeat stress.Microglia activation was also markedly increased in the hippocampus of CSDS mice.Furthermore,the expression of G protein-coupled receptors in the hippocampus was significantly higher in chronic social defeat stress mice compared with the control group.These findings suggest that chronic social defeat stress induces anxiety,depression,and cognitive deficits in mice,accompanied by neuropathological changes in the hippocampus,and that altered G protein-coupled receptors expression may play a key role in these behavioral and neuropathological changes.

BACKGROUND:Stress-induced damage to hippocampal neurons may underlie abnormalities in neuronal structure and function,ultimately leading to mood disorders.G protein-coupled receptors in brain tissue play an important role in mood regulation.OBJECTIVE:To analyze the mechanism of depression-like behavior in chronic social defeat stress mice based on high-throughput sequencing and bioinformatics analysis.METHODS:C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into control group and model group.There was no special treatment in the control group,while a mouse model of chronic social defeat stress was established in the model group.Depression-like behavior was assessed through the sucrose preference test,tail suspension test,and forced swim test.Anxiety behavior was evaluated using the elevated plus-maze,while social behavior was measured through the social interaction test.Cognitive function was assessed with the Y-maze spontaneous alternation test.Immunofluorescence staining was performed to quantify microglia markers in the mouse hippocampus,and Nissl staining was used to examine neuronal damage in mice.High-throughput sequencing was used to identify differentially expressed genes and gene enrichment in the mouse hippocampus,and qPCR was used to measure the expression of G protein-coupled receptors in the mouse hippocampus.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1)Compared with the control group,chronic social defeat stress mice showed significant behavioral impairments,including increased anxiety,depression,and cognitive deficits.(2)Additionally,the Nissl body light density in hippocampal neurons was significantly reduced in chronic social defeat stress mice.(3)Sequencing results revealed synaptic damage in the neurons after chronic social defeat stress.Microglia activation was also markedly increased in the hippocampus of CSDS mice.Furthermore,the expression of G protein-coupled receptors in the hippocampus was significantly higher in chronic social defeat stress mice compared with the control group.These findings suggest that chronic social defeat stress induces anxiety,depression,and cognitive deficits in mice,accompanied by neuropathological changes in the hippocampus,and that altered G protein-coupled receptors expression may play a key role in these behavioral and neuropathological changes.

Lung cancer poses a serious threat to global public health security.Chemotherapy,as the main strategy for cancer treatment,faces challenges such as high toxicity and drug resistance.Anticancer peptides have the potential of being developed into new anticancer drugs due to their advantages of broad-spectrum anticancer activity,rapid action,and difficulty in generating drug resistance,but they also face shortcomings such as weak activity and strong toxic side effects.The weakly acidic microenvironment of tumors(pH 6.5-6.8)provides a good idea for the design of anticancer peptides of high-efficiency and low-toxicity.Previously,we designed the acid-sensitive antibacterial peptide pHly-1 using the wolf spider(Lycosa singoriensis)toxin Lycosin-Ⅰ as a template.In this study,we found that pHly-1 also had acid-sensitive anticancer activity.Further alanine scanning analysis of pHly-1 was carried out,and we ob-tained a mutant pHTP-2 with better acid sensitivity,whose IC50(half maximal inhibitory concentration)against A549 cells was 15.68 μmol/L at pH 6.6 and was greater than 100 μmol/L at pH 7.4.At pH 6.6,pHTP-2 could act on various lung cancer cell lines and induce the death of A549 cells by rapid ly-sis;at pH 7.4,500 μmol/L pHTP-2 had weak toxicity to red blood cells(the hemolysis rate was ap-proximately 38％)and primary myocardial cells(the inhibition rate was 49.7％,with P＜0.05).Analy-sis of its charge,particle size,morphology,and secondary structure showed that at pH 6.6,the histidine in the sequence of pHTP-2 was protonated,increasing the positive charge(P＜0.01),decreasing the hy-drated particle size(P＜0.05)and forming an α-helical structure to induce membrane lysis of A549 cells.At pH 7.4,it was deprotonated,the positive charge decreases,a β-sheet structure was formed and self-aggregation occurred,limiting its effect on the A549 cell membrane and showing weak activity.In summary,pHTP-2 could respond to the weakly acidic microenvironment of tumors to exert selective cyto-toxic activity,effectively overcoming the shortcomings of anticancer peptides such as low efficiency and high toxicity.Our findings suggest that it is a high-quality lead molecule for anticancer drugs.

Aim To investigate the effects of dimethyl-arginine dimethylamino hydrolase 1(DDAH1)on high glucose-induced mitochondrial dysfunction and mitoph-agy in vascular endothelial cells.Methods JC-1 stai-ning was used to detect mitochondrial membrane poten-tial.DCFH-DA fluorescent probe was employed to measure reactive oxygen species(ROS)levels.Ho-echst staining was used to assess cell apoptosis.Real-time PCR was conducted to detect DDAH1 mRNA lev-els.Western blot was performed to analyze the expres-sion of DDAH1,LC3-Ⅰ and LC3-Ⅱ proteins.Mitochon-drial probe Mitotracker and autophagosome marker pro-tein LC3 were used in cell immunofluorescence co-lo-calization to assess mitochondrial autophagy,and high-performance liquid chromatography was utilized to measure the levels of asymmetric dimethylarginine(ADMA)in cell supernatant.Results High glucose treatment for 48 h significantly reduced mitochondrial membrane potential,increased ROS production,and promoted apoptosis in human umbilical vein endothelial cells(HUVECs).High glucose downregulated the ex-pression of LC3-Ⅱ/LC3-Ⅰ proteins,reduced the co-lo-calization of Mitotracker and LC3,and inhibited mito-chondrial autophagy.Autophagy inhibitors 3-MA or CQ exacerbated high glucose-induced mitochondrial dam-age and apoptosis in HUVECs,while autophagy activa-tor RAPA alleviated these effects.High glucose signifi-cantly downregulated DDAH1 protein expression in HUVECs and increased ADMA levels in cell superna-tant.DDAH1 siRNA inhibited mitochondrial autoph-agy,reduced mitochondrial membrane potential,and promoted apoptosis,whereas DDAH1 overexpression enhanced mitochondrial autophagy and alleviated high glucose-induced apoptosis in HUVECs.Conclusion High glucose-induced endothelial mitochondrial dys-function is associated with the suppression of DDAH1 expression,the increase of ADMA levels,and thereduc-tion of mitochondrial autophagy.

Aim To explore the mechanism of the syn-ergistic effect of the ferroptosis inducer erastin com-bined with shikonin in promoting ferroptosis in human hypertrophic scar fibroblasts(HSFBs).Methods Hypertrophic scar tissues provided by the General Hos-pital of Ningxia Medical University were collected,and HSFBs were extracted.HSFBs were identified by HE staining and immunofluorescence.The inhibitory rates of Era and SHK on HSFBs at different concentrations were detected by CCK-8 assay,and the IC50 value was calculated.CompuSyn software was used to calculate the co-use index(CI).Control group,Erastin(Era)group,shikonin(SHK)group and Era+SHK group were set up,and the number and morphological chan-ges of cells were observed after 24 hours of interven-tion.The ability of cell migration and invasion was de-tected by scratch test and Transwell test.The changes of malondialdehyde(MDA),total iron ion and reactive oxygen species(ROS)were detected by corresponding biochemical kits.The expressions of collagen I,α-SMA and GOT1,SLC7A11,GPX4 and FTH1 were detected by Western blot.Results The IC50 value of Era and SHK of primary HSFBs was 2.22 μmol·L-1 and 3.94μmol·L-1 respectively,which was used as the single drug concentration for subsequent experiments.The CompuSyn software was employed to calculate the CI value when the two drugs were used in combination,and the concentrations corresponding to CI=0.39597(Era:1.2 μmol·L-1+SHK:1.5 μmol·L-1)were selected as subsequent combination concentrations(Because when CI was equal to 0.395 97,the concen-tration of each drug was lower than the concentration of single drug,and the inhibition rate of combined drug was greater than 50％).Compared with the monother-apy group,the number of HSFBs in the SHK+Era group was significantly reduced,cell membrane showed breakage and vesiculation,cell wrinkling became smal-ler,and cytoplasm was concentrated.The migration and invasion ability of HSFBs in the SHK+Era group were obviously weakened(P＜0.05),and the expres-sion of fibrosis-related proteins collagen Ⅰ and α-SMA was reduced(P＜0.05);the contents of MDA,total i-ron ions,and ROS in HSFBs of the SHK+Era group increased(P＜0.05),and the protein expression lev-els of SLC7A11,GOT1,GPX4,and FTH1 further de-creased(P＜0.05).Conclusions Erastin in combi-nation with shikonin can synergistically inhibit the pro-liferation,migration and fibrosis levels of HSFBs.The mechanism may be that erastin enhances the inhibition of shikotin on GOT1,increases the levels of cellular i-ron ions,ROS,and lipid peroxides,thereby promoting ferroptosis in HSFBs.

Objective To investigate the role of Toll-like receptor 4(TLR4)in the regulation of homocys-teine(Hcy)-induced ferroptosis in macrophages.Methods Mouse macrophage cells RAW264.7 were cultured and divided into control group,Hcy intervention group(Hcy group),and Hcy plus ferroptosis inhibitor group(Hcy+Fer-1 group).After transfection with interference fragments,macrophages were treated with Hcy,and then divided into control group,Hcy intervention group(Hcy group),TLR4 interference negative control plus Hcy intervention group(si-NC+Hcy group),and TLR4 interference plus Hcy intervention group(si-TLR4+Hcy group).Macrophages were transfected with overexpression lentivirus and treated with Hcy,then were divided into control group,Hcy intervention group(Hcy group),a TLR4 overexpression negative control plus Hcy intervention group(OE-NC+Hcy group),and a TLR4 overexpression plus Hcy intervention group(OE-TLR4+Hcy group).After 48 hours of intervention,real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR and western blot were used to detect the expression levels of TLR4 in macrophages treated with Hcy;western blot was used to detect the expression levels of ferroptosis-related proteins ACSL4,GPX4,and FTH1 in macrophages,and ferrous ion assay kit to detect the concentration of Fe2+in macrophages;reactive oxygen species(ROS)assay kit and laser confocal microscopy were used to detect the content of intracellular reactive oxygen species.Results Compared with those in the control group,the expression level of the pro-ferroptosis protein ACSL4 was increased in the Hcy group(P<0.05),while the expression levels of anti-ferroptosis proteins GPX4 and FTH1 were decreased(P<0.05);the concentration of Fe2+was increased(P<0.05),and the content of ROS was increased.Meanwhile,the protein and mRNA expres-sion levels of TLR4 were both increased in the Hcy group(P<0.05).After macrophages were transfected with TLR4 interference fragments,compared with those in the si-NC+Hcy group,the expression levels of GPX4 and FTH1 were increased(P<0.05);the expression level of ACSL4 was decreased(P<0.05);the concentration of Fe2+was decreased(P<0.05),and the content of ROS was reduced in the si-TLR4+Hcy group.After macro-phages were transfected with TLR4 overexpression lentivirus,compared with those in the OE-NC+Hcy group,the expression levels of GPX4 and FTH1 were decreased(P<0.05),and the expression level of ACSL4 was increased(P<0.05)in the OE-TLR4+Hcy group.Conclusion Hcy induces the occurrence of ferroptosis in macrophages,and Toll-like receptor 4 has a positive feedback regulatory effect on ferroptosis in macrophages.

Objective To explore the relationship between insulin resistance and idiopathic central precocious puberty(ICPP)in girls and the diagnostic value of insulin resistance.Methods Clinical data of 245 girls aged 4 to 7.5 years with low luteinizing hormone(LH)levels(0.2-0.83 IU/L),normal body weight(body mass index standard deviation score between-2 and+2),and early breast development who visited the Department of Pediatric Endocrinology,Henan Provincial Maternal and Child Health Hospital from January 2022 to March 2025 were retrospectively analyzed.According to the Expert Consensus on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Central Precocious Puberty(2022),patients were assigned to an ICPP group(n=123)or a control group(n=122).Correlations between the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance(HOMA-IR)and selected indices were assessed.Multivariable logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between HOMA-IR and ICPP,and the diagnostic performance of various indices for ICPP was evaluated.Results HOMA-IR was higher in the ICPP group than in the control group(P<0.001)and was positively correlated with LH peak(rs=0.467,P<0.05)and the LH peak/FSH peak ratio(rs=0.444,P<0.05).The multivariable logistic regression model including age,BMI,and basal LH showed that HOMA-IR was closely associated with ICPP(OR=2.756,95%CI:1.940-3.913).Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that the areas under the curve for basal LH,HOMA-IR,and their combination in diagnosing ICPP were 0.735,0.735,and 0.805,respectively(P<0.05),and the combined model had a greater area under the curve than either basal LH or HOMA-IR alone(both P<0.05).Conclusions HOMA-IR is closely associated with ICPP in girls with low LH and normal body weight,and combining HOMA-IR with basal LH improves early identification and diagnostic efficiency in this population.

Objective To observe the effect of RAW264.7 cells on calcium sparks in a insulin resistance model of C2C12 cells induced by sodium palmitate.Methods C2C12 cells and RAW264.7 cells were co-cultured to simulate the in vivo state of skeletal muscle.C2C12 cells were cultured in high-glucose medium containing 2%horse serum to induce differentiation into mature myotubes,and then divided into 5 groups:control(RAW264.7 cells),co-culture of C2C12 with RAW264.7,C2C12 alone,co-culture of C2C12 with RAW264.7 plus sodium palmitate(PA),and C2C12 alone with PA.PA of 5 mmol/L was used to induce insulin resistance in C2C12 cells for 24 hours.Revived and expanded RAW264.7 cells were evenly added to C2C12 cells and co-cultured for two days.Subsequently,cells were maintained in modified suspension culture,and both cell types were loaded with the calcium ion fluorescent probe Fluo-4 AM.Finally,Paraxanthine was used to induce intracellular calcium sparks,which was captured and recorded under a laser confocal microscope.Results No significant calcium signal change was observed in the control group.Co-cultured C2C12 cells exhibited rapid and pronounced calcium signal changes,whereas calcium signals in C2C12 cells cultured alone increased slowly throughout the observation period without a sharp decline.The peak calcium signal was reached significantly faster in co-cultured C2C12 cells than that in C2C12 cells cultured alone(P<0.001).With PA induction,calcium signal changes in C2C12 cells were not markedly altered,while distinct calcium fluctuations were still observed in co-cultured C2C12 cells,and the peak calcium signal was reached significantly faster in co-cultured C2C12 cells than that in C2C12 cells cultured alone(P<0.001).Conclusion RAW264.7 cells enhance the dynamic responsiveness of calcium signaling in both normal and PA-stimulated C2C12 cells.

Objective: Accurate evaluation of inflammation severity in ulcerative colitis (UC) can guide treatment strategy selection. The potential value of the pericolic fat attenuation index (FAI) on CT as an indicator of disease severity remains unknown.This study aimed to assess the diagnostic accuracy of pericolic FAI in predicting UC severity. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study enrolled 148 patients (mean age 48 years; 87 males). The fat attenuation on CT was measured in four different locations: the mesocolic vascular side (MS) and opposite side of MS (OMS) around the most severe bowel lesion, the retroperitoneal space (RS), and the subcutaneous area. The fat attenuation indices (FAI MS, FAI OMS, and FAI RS) were calculated as the fat attenuation measured in MS, OMS, and RS, respectively, minus that of the subcutaneous area, and were obtained in the non-enhanced, arterial, and delayed phases. Correlations between the FAI and UC Endoscopic Index of Severity (UCEIS) were assessed using Spearman’s correlation. Predictors of severe UC (UCEIS ≥7) were selected by univariable analysis. The performance of FAI in predicting severe UC was evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Results: The FAIMS and FAI OMS scores were significantly higher than FAI RS in three phases (all P < 0.001). The FAIMS and FAI OMS scores moderately correlated with the UCEIS score (r = 0.474–0.649 among the three phases). Additionally, FAI MS and FAI OMS identified severe UC, with AUC varying from 0.77 to 0.85. Conclusion Increased CT attenuation of pericolic adipose tissue could serve as a noninvasive marker for evaluating UC severity. FAI MS and FAI OMS of three phases showed similar prediction accuracies for severe UC identification.

Objective: Accurate evaluation of inflammation severity in ulcerative colitis (UC) can guide treatment strategy selection. The potential value of the pericolic fat attenuation index (FAI) on CT as an indicator of disease severity remains unknown.This study aimed to assess the diagnostic accuracy of pericolic FAI in predicting UC severity. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study enrolled 148 patients (mean age 48 years; 87 males). The fat attenuation on CT was measured in four different locations: the mesocolic vascular side (MS) and opposite side of MS (OMS) around the most severe bowel lesion, the retroperitoneal space (RS), and the subcutaneous area. The fat attenuation indices (FAI MS, FAI OMS, and FAI RS) were calculated as the fat attenuation measured in MS, OMS, and RS, respectively, minus that of the subcutaneous area, and were obtained in the non-enhanced, arterial, and delayed phases. Correlations between the FAI and UC Endoscopic Index of Severity (UCEIS) were assessed using Spearman’s correlation. Predictors of severe UC (UCEIS ≥7) were selected by univariable analysis. The performance of FAI in predicting severe UC was evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Results: The FAIMS and FAI OMS scores were significantly higher than FAI RS in three phases (all P < 0.001). The FAIMS and FAI OMS scores moderately correlated with the UCEIS score (r = 0.474–0.649 among the three phases). Additionally, FAI MS and FAI OMS identified severe UC, with AUC varying from 0.77 to 0.85. Conclusion Increased CT attenuation of pericolic adipose tissue could serve as a noninvasive marker for evaluating UC severity. FAI MS and FAI OMS of three phases showed similar prediction accuracies for severe UC identification.