Transplantation of UC-MSCs on collagen scaffold activates follicles in dormant ovaries of POF patients with long history of infertility

Premature ovarian failure(POF) is a refractory disease for clinical treatment with the goal of restoring fertility. In this study,umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells on a collagen scaffold(collagen/UC-MSCs) can activate primordial follicles in vitro via phosphorylation of FOXO3 a and FOXO1. Transplantation of collagen/UC-MSCs to the ovaries of POF patients rescued overall ovarian function, evidenced by elevated estradiol concentrations, improved follicular development, and increased number of antral follicles. Successful clinical pregnancy was achieved in women with POF after transplantation of collagen/UC-MSCs or UC-MSCs. In summary, collagen/UC-MSC transplantation may provide an effective treatment for POF.

Genome-wide identification, expression analysis of auxin-responsive GH_3 family genes in maize(Zea mays L.) under abiotic stresses

Auxin is involved in different aspects of plant growth and development by regulating the expression of auxin-responsive family genes. As one of the three major auxin-responsive families, GH3 (Gretchen Hagen3) genes participate in auxin homeostasis by catalyzing auxin conjugation and bounding free indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) to amino acids. However, how GH3 genes function in responses to abiotic stresses and various hormones in maize is largely unknown. Here, the latest updated maize (Zea mays L.) reference genome sequence was used to characterize and analyze the ZmGH3 family genes from maize. The results showed that 13 ZmGH3 genes were mapped on five maize chromosomes (total 10 chromosomes). Highly diversified gene structures and tissue-specific expression patterns suggested the possibility of function diversification for these genes in response to environmental stresses and hormone stimuli. The expression patterns of ZmGH3 genes are responsive to several abiotic stresses (salt, drought and cadmium) and major stress-related hormones (abscisic acid, salicylic acid and jasmonic acid). Various environmental factors suppress auxin free IAA contents in maize roots suggesting that these abiotic stresses and hormones might alter GH3-mediated auxin levels. The respon-siveness of ZmGH3 genes to a wide range of abiotic stresses and stress-related hormones suggested that ZmGH3s are involved in maize tolerance to environmental stresses.

SERS-based mercury ion detections:principles,strategies and recent advances

Mercury ion(Hg^(2+)),known as one of the highly toxic and soluble heavy metal ions,is causing serious environmental pollution and irreversible damage to the health.It is urgent to develop some rapid and ultrasensitive methods for detecting trace mercury ions in the environment especially drink water.Surface-enhanced Raman scattering(SERS)is considered as a novel and powerful optical analysis technique since it has the significant advantages of ultra-sensitivity and high specificity.In recent years,the SERS technique and its application in the detection of Hg^(2+)have become more prevalent and compelling.This review provides an overall survey of the development of SERS-based Hg^(2+)detections and presents a summary relating to the basic principles,detection strategies,recent advances and current challenges of SERS for Hg^(2+)detections.

A glutathione activatable pro-drug-photosensitizer for combined chemotherapy and photodynamic therapy

During cancer treatment,chemotherapeutic drugs always result in severe side-effects and drug resistance.Therefore,combining cheomtherapy with other therapeutic modalities,such as photodynamic therapy(PDT)and designing an activable platform is promising for precise and efficient anticancer treatment.Herein,we report a“pro-drug-photosensitizer”agent,LMB-S-CPT,bearing a disulfide bond as the glutathione(GSH)-activatable linker.LMB-S-CPT can be selectively activated by GSH to release activated drug,camptothecin(CPT),for chemotherapy and activated photosensitizer,methylene blue(MB),for PDT.LMB-S-CPT exhibits excellent tumor-activatable performance when injected into tumor-bearing mice,as well as specific cancer therapy with negligible toxic side effects.The activatable pro-drug-photosensitizer offers a new strategy for chemo-photodynamic therapy and displays precise,selective and excellent antitumor effect.

Single-Step Organization of Plasmonic Gold Metamaterials with Self-Assembled DNA Nanostructures

Self-assembled DNA nanostructures hold great promise as nanoscale templates for organizing nanoparticles(NPs)with nearatomistic resolution.However,large-scale organization of NPs with high yield is highly desirable for nanoelectronics and nanophotonic applications.Here,we design fve-strand DNA tiles that can readily self-assemble into well-organized micrometerscale DNA nanostructures.By organizing gold nanoparticles(AuNPs)on these self-assembled DNA nanostructures,we realize the fabrication of one-and two-dimensional Au nanostructures in single steps.We further demonstrate the one-pot synthesis of Au metamaterials for highly amplifed surface-enhanced Raman Scattering(SERS).Tis single-step and high-yield strategy thus holds great potential for fabricating plasmonic metamaterials.

Umbilical cord artery-derived perivascular stem cells for treatment of ovarian failure through CD146 signaling

Dear Editor,Chemotherapy-induced ovarian failure significantly diminishes ovarian blood flow,ovarian size,and follicular development.Angiogenesis plays a vital role in repairing ovarian damage.1 Perivascular stem cells(PSCs),known as mural cells covering the vasculature,are essential for blood vessel formation and postulated as progenitors of mesenchymal stem cells(MSCs).2,3 We previously established umbilical cord artery-derived PSCs(UCA-PSCs)and Wharton’s jelly-derived MSCs(WJ-MSCs)and UCAPSCs display optimal angiogenic capacity in vitro.4 Therefore,we explored the angiogenesis and pro-angiogenesis mechanisms of UCA-PSCs and provided them as an efficient treatment strategy for ovarian failure.