Zearalenone induces apoptosis and autophagy by regulating endoplasmic reticulum stress signalling in porcine trophectoderm cells

Zearalenone(ZEA),a mycotoxin produced mainly by fungi belonging to Fusarium species in foods and feeds,causes a serious hazard to humans and animals.Numerous studies have revealed that ingesting ZEA can disrupt the reproductive function and impair the reproductive process in animals.This experiment was to investigate the toxicological effect and the mechanism of ZEA exposure on reproduction in pigs during early stages of pregnancy.In the present study,we treated with 0 to 80μmol/L ZEA for 12 or 24 h in trophoblast ectoderm(pTr)cells.The results showed that ZEA had significantly decreased cell proliferation(P<0.05),which was accompanied by DNA damage-related cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase,activation of the apoptosis and endoplasmic reticulum(ER)stress,as well as impairment of barrier function(P<0.05).Western blot analysis and transmission electron microscopy(TEM)showed that exposure to ZEA can activation of autophagy in pTr cells.Importantly,pretreatment with chloroquine(CQ)or 3-methyladenine(3-MA)led to increased apoptosis in pTr cells.Interestingly,pTr cells pretreated with 4-phenylbutyric acid(4-PBA),an inhibitor of ER stress,resulted in reduced cell death in pTr cells,indicating a critical role for ER stress in the activation of autophagy.In conclusion,these results reveal that ZEA-triggered ER stress is critical for the cell fate decision of pTr cells during early porcine embryonic development.Application of small molecules with ability of blocking ER stress might be therapeutic option to reduce the deleterious effect of ZEA in pregnant animals.

Global finite-time attitude regulation using bounded feedback for a rigid spacecraft

This paper investigates the problem of global attitude regulation control for a rigid spacecraft under input saturation. Based on the technique of finite-time control and the switching control method, a novel global bounded finite-time attitude regulation controller is proposed. Under the proposed controller, it is shown that the spacecraft attitude can reach the desired attitude in a finite time. In addition, the bound of a proposed attitude controller can be adjusted to any small level to accommodate the actuation bound in practical implementation.