Objective We aimed to explore the mechanism of Ziyin Mingmu Formula in improving retinitis pigmentosa.Methods Twenty SD rats were randomly divided into the blank serum group and the Ziyin Mingmu Formula containing serum group using a random number table method,with 10 rats in each group.The rats in the Ziyin Mingmu Formula containing serum group were given Ziyin Mingmu Formula(46.875 g/kg),while the rats in the blank serum group were given distilled water.The Ziyin Mingmu Formula containing serum and blank serum were prepared.Analysis of chemical components in Ziyin Mingmu Formula containing serum using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry technology.Adult retinal pigment epithelial cell line-19(ARPE-19)cells were treated with tunicamycin to induce endoplasmic reticulum stress injury model.The optimal volume fraction of Ziyin Mingmu Formula containing serum was screened by CCK-8.ARPE-19 cells were divided into the blank group,the model group,the blank serum group,the Ziyin Mingmu Formula containing serum group and the tauroursodeoxycholic acid group,each group is intervened separately.After 24 hours of intervention,the morphological observation of cells was performed using a multi-time dynamic cell function analysis system,cell survival rate was detected by CCK-8,cell apoptosis rate was detected by Annexin V-FITC/PI,and protein and mRNA expressions of 78 kDa glucose regulated protein(GRP78),inositol-requiring enzyme 1(IRE1)and activating transcription factor 6(ATF6)were detected by Western blotting and ddPCR.Results The main chemical components in Ziyin Mingmu Formula containing serum were obtained by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis,such as arbutin,salicylic acid,luteolin,Salvianolic acid A,erysovine,taurine,quercetin,maltol,baicalin,and danshensu.Compared with the model group,the number of cells in Ziyin Mingmu Formula containing serum group increased,the growth was more uniform,and the floating dead ARPE-19 cells and fragments decreased.The cell survival rate of Ziyin Mingmu Formula containing serum group and taursodeoxycholic acid group increased,and the cell apoptosis rate decreased(P<0.05).The protein expressions of GRP78,IRE1,and ATF6 in Ziyin Mingmu Formula containing serum group were decreased,and IRE1 and ATF6 in taursodeoxycholic acid group were decreased(P<0.05).The mRNA expressions of GRP78,IRE1,and ATF6 in Ziyin Mingmu Formula containing serum group and tauroursodeoxycholic acid group were decreased(P<0.05).Conclusion Ziyin Mingmu Formula can reduce the cell apoptosis of ARPE-19 cells induced by endoplasmic reticulum stress,and its molecular mechanism is related to down-regulating the expression of GRP78,IRE1,ATF6 and inhibiting the endoplasmic reticulum stress response.

Objective To study the properties and antimicrobial activity of the novel self-assembled antimicrobial peptide(AMP)CR-16,and to provide experimental evidence for the treatment of bacterial infections.Methods CR-16 was designed and synthesized based on the structure of antimicrobial peptides Buforin Ⅱ and LfcinB.Dynamic light scattering(DLS),transmission electron microscopy(TEM),and X-ray diffraction(XRD)were used to characterize CR-16.Based on the results of critical micelle concentration(CMC),the self-assembled properties of CR-16 were investigated using atomic force microscopy(AFM)and circular dichroism(CD).The minimum inhibitory concentration(MIC)was used to study the inhibitory effect of CR-16 while transmission electron microscopy(TEM)was adopted to observe the interactions between CR-16 and the outer membrane of bacteria.Results AMP CR-16 was prepared as self-assemblies,which were regularly spherical in shape and stable in activity.CR-16 could inhibit both the growth of Escherichia coli and,more importantly,the growth of NDM-1-producing carbapenem-resistant Escherichia coli,promising good prospects in treating infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria.Conclusion CR-16 can be self-assembled and deliver antibacterial effects against Escherichia coli.

Objective To enhance the photostability of colchicine(COL)for sustained-release COL pellets.Methods The degradation was investigated by studying the photochemical degradation kinetics of COL.The impact of such physical properties of the photostabilizers as the type,color,dosage,and position on the photostability of COL in sustained-release pellets was also evaluated.Results The contents of photochemical degradation products did not increase after 10 days of light exposure to sustained-release COL pellets with red iron oxide of 4％(w/w)as the protective layer.Conclusion The findings of this study indicate that use of iron oxide as a photostabilizer in sustained-release COL pellets can significantly reduce the photochemical degradation of COL in the pellets.

Autophagy is a highly conserved mechanism for material degradation and recycling in eukaryote cells, and plays important roles in growth, development, stress tolerance and immune responses. ATG10 plays a key role in autophagosome formation. To understand the function of ATG10 in soybean, two homologous GmATG10 genes, namely GmATG10a and GmATG10b, were silenced simultaneously by bean pod mottle virus (BPMV) induced gene silencing. The carbon starvation induced by dark treatment and Western blotting analysis of GmATG8 accumulation level indicated that concurrent silencing GmATG10a/10b resulted in the impairment of autophagy in soybean; disease resistance and kinase assays demonstrated that GmATG10a/10b participated in the immune responses by negatively regulating the activation of GmMPK3/6, indicating that GmATG10a/10b plays a negative regulatory role in immune response in soybean.
Soybeans/genetics* ; Immunity

Objective:To evaluate the test-retest reliability of MRI criteria in the 2019 Bosniak classification of cystic renal masses (CRMs) and to analyze the impact of lesions′ property, size and readers′ experience on the test-retest reliability.Methods:From January 2009 to June 2019, 207 patients with 207 CRMs were included in this retrospective study. All of them underwent renal MRI and surgical-pathologic examination. According to Bosniak classification, version 2019, all CRMs were independently classified twice by eight radiologists with different levels of experience. All radiologists were blinded to the pathology of the lesions. By using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), test-retest reliability was evaluated for all CRMs and for subgroups with different pathological properties (benign and malignant) and different sizes (≤40 mm and>40 mm). The test-retest reliability of 4 senior readers (≥10 years of experience) and 4 junior readers (<10 years of experience) were evaluated respectively. The comparison of ICC was performed using Z test. Results:The 207 CRMs included 111 benign lesions (83 benign cysts, 28 benign tumors) and 96 malignant tumors. There were 87 lesions with maximum diameter ≤40 mm and 120 with maximum diameter>40 mm. The test-retest reliability (ICC) of each reader for all lesions was 0.776-0.888, the overall ICC was 0.848 (95%CI 0.821-0.872). The ICCs of senior and junior readers were 0.853 (95%CI 0.824-0.880) and 0.843 (95%CI 0.811-0.871) respectively, without significant difference between the two groups ( Z=0.85, P=0.374). The ICC of all readers was 0.827 for benign lesions and 0.654 for malignant lesions, showing significant difference ( Z=2.80, P=0.005). The ICC was 0.770 for lesions ≤40 mm and 0.876 for lesions>40 mm, which was significantly different ( Z=-2.36, P=0.018). For CRM subgroups with different pathological properties and different sizes, there was no significant difference in test-retest reliability between senior and junior readers (all P>0.05). Conclusion:The test-retest reliability of MRI criteria in the 2019 Bosniak classification of CRMs is excellent and unaffected by readers′ experience. The reliabilities are not consistent among CRMs of different pathological properties and different sizes, but all reached the level of good and above.

BACKGROUND: Liver disease is one of the top causes of death globally. Although liver transplantation is a very effective treatment strategy, the shortage of available donor organs, waiting list mortality, and high costs of surgery remain huge problems. Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that can differentiate into a variety of cell types. Scientists are exploring the possibilities of generating hepatocytes from stem cells as an alternative for the treatment of liver diseases. METHODS: In this review, we summarized the updated researches in the field of stem cell-based therapies for liver diseases as well as the current challenges and future expectations for a successful cell-based liver therapy. RESULTS: Several cell types have been investigated for liver regeneration, such as embryonic stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells, liver stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells, and hematopoietic stem cells. In vitro and in vivo studies have demonstrated that stem cells are promising cell sources for the liver regeneration. CONCLUSION: Stem cell-based therapy could be a promising therapeutic method for patients with end-stage liver disease, which may alleviate the need for liver transplantation in the future.
Cause of Death ; Embryonic Stem Cells ; Hematopoietic Stem Cells ; Hepatocytes ; Humans ; In Vitro Techniques ; Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells ; Liver Diseases ; Liver Regeneration ; Liver Transplantation ; Liver ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; Methods ; Mortality ; Stem Cells ; Tissue Donors ; Waiting Lists

Dynamic variations of the cell microenvironment can affect cell differentiation, cell signaling pathways, individual growth, and disease. Optogenetics combines gene-encoded protein expression with optical controlling, and offers a novel, reversible, non-invasive and spatiotemporal-specific research tool to dynamically or reversibly regulate cell signaling pathways, subcellular localization and gene expression. This review summarizes the types of optogenetic components and the involved cellular signaling pathways, and explores the application and future prospects of the light-controlled cell signaling pathways.
Cell Differentiation ; Light ; Optogenetics ; Proteins ; Signal Transduction

Liver cancer is a common type of malignant tumor in digestive system. At present, computed tomography (CT) plays an important role in the diagnosis and treatment of liver cancer. Segmentation of tumor lesions based on CT is thus critical in clinical diagnosis and treatment. Due to the limitations of manual segmentation, such as inefficiency and subjectivity, the automatic and accurate segmentation based on advanced computational techniques is becoming more and more popular. In this review, we summarize the research progress of automatic segmentation of liver cancer lesions based on CT scans. By comparing and analyzing the results of experiments, this review evaluate various methods objectively, so that researchers in related fields can better understand the current research progress of liver cancer segmentation based on CT scans.

Objective To establish assay methods for the determination of dissolution,content and related substances of vita-min K1 self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery system(VK1-SNEDDS),and investigate the physico-chemical properties of the preparation. Methods The UV method was established to determine the dissolution of VK1-SNEDDS. The content and related substances were de-termined by HPLC. The appearance,self-emulsification time,micro-morphology,droplet size and zeta potential were also investigat-ed. Results The linearity range of established UV and HPLC methods was 0.85-20.4 and 2.16-216μg/ml,respectively,and all the recovery,precision,specificity and sensitivity met requirements. VK1-SNEDDS could disperse quickly after dilution. The transmission electron microscope(TEM)image of the optimized liquid SNEDDS showed that most of the emulsion droplets were of uniform size with no signs of coalescence. Droplet size of optimal formulation was revealed as 47.74 nm with polydispersibility index(PDI)of 0.248,and zeta potential was found to be-20.53 mV. Conclusion VK1-SNEDDS could form homogeneous and stable nanoemulsion when dilut-ed with aqueous phase and increase the dissolution of lipophilic drug. The methods are reliable,accurate and suitable for quality con-trol of VK1-SNEDDS.

Objective To study the protection of glutathione (GSH) on renal oxidative damage to mice which caused by mi‐crocystin‐LR(MC‐LR) .Methods Forty healthy KM mice were divided into five groups by randomly sampling ,which were saline control group ,GSH control group ,MC‐LR group ,low dose GSH +MC‐LR group and high dose GSH +MC‐LR group ,and the ex‐periment was lasting 15 days by intraperitoneal injection .Then we took out the kidney for pathological observation and detected the activity of CAT ,SOD ,GSH‐Px and the content of GSH ,MDA .Results Compared with control group ,the MC‐LR increased the content of MDA[(2 .31 ± 0 .22)nmol/mg prot ,P=0 .000] and decreased the content of GSH[(0 .68 ± 0 .02)mg/g prot] .The activi‐ty of CAT[(320 .54 ± 38 .99)nmol/mg prot] ,SOD[(180 .93 ± 15 .30)U/mg prot] ,GSH‐Px[(295 .11 ± 42 .40)U/mg prot](P<0 .05) .However ,after GSH was given ,compared with MC‐LR group ,MDA content[(1 .94 ± 0 .12)nmol/mg prot]of high dose GSH+MC‐LR group significantly decreased (P<0 .05) ,GSH content[(1 .01 ± 0 .08)mg/g prot ,(1 .08 ± 0 .16)mg/g prot]and CAT activity[(383 .46 ± 21 .98)nmol/mg prot ,(428 .50 ± 28 .61)nmol/mg prot] of both GSH groups significantly increased (P<0 .05) ,the activity of SOD[(222 .01 ± 11 .51)U/mg prot] and GSH‐Px[(358 .37 ± 20 .29)U/mg prot] of high dose GSH +MC‐LR group significantly increased (P<0 .05) .Conclusion MC‐LR may cause renal oxidative damage through promoting the lipid perox‐idation on renal cells .The GSH may reach a certain protective effect on kidney by reducing the lipid peroxidation ,improving the an‐tioxidant activity ,and removing oxygen free radicals .