Expression Changes of Early Response Genes in Lung Due to High Volume Ventilation

The expression changes of early response genes due to ventilation with high volume in adult rats in vivo were observed. Forty SD male rats were randomly divided into control and 30, 60, 90 and 120 min ventilation groups, respectively (n=8 in each group). The animals were ventilated with tidal volume of 42 ml/kg and a PEEP level of 0 cmH_2O at a rate of 40 breaths per minute in room air with a ventilator was given to the small animals. The expression of Egr-1, C-jun and IL-1β mRNA and proteins was detected by RT-PCR and immunohistochemical technique, respectively. The pathological changes in lung tissues were examined by HE staining. The results indicated that the expression of Egr-1, C-jun and IL-1β mRNA was detectable at 30th min after overventilation, but there was no significant difference in comparison with that in control group until overventilation for 60 min. However, at 90 and 120 min there was a significent increase as compared with 30 min or control group (P<0.05). The expression of Egr-1, C-jun and IL-1β deteced by immunohistochemical assay also showed a similar tendency of the gradual increase. In the 120 min ventilation group, the expression intensity of Egr-1, C-jun and IL-1β proteins in lung cells was the strongest and the nuclear translocation was increased markedly in comparison with any other groups (P<0.05). HE staining suggested that the degree of lung injury was aggravated gradually with the ventialtion going on and had a similar tendency to the expression of these early response genes and proteins. The current data suggested that overventilation activated and upregulated the expression of early response genes and the expression of these genes may be taken as the early signal to predict the onset and degree of lung injury. These results may demonstrated partially that the expression of early response genes induced by the mechanical stretch is associated with biochamic lung injury.

Bioinformatics Analysis Raises Candidate Genes in Blood for Early Screening of Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson＇s disease （PD） is a typical degenerative disease, which is characterized by the most obvious symptoms of movement dysfunction, including shaking, rigidity, slowness of movement and difficulty in walking and gait. This disease can not be clearly identified through laboratory tests at present, thus application of high-throughput technique in studying the expression profiles of PD helps to find the genetic markers for its early diagnosis. Studies on expression profiles of neurodegenerative diseases have revealed the novel genes and pathways involved in the progress of illness. In this study, the expression profiles of PD in blood were compared, showing that 181 differentially expressed genes （DEG） exhibit a similar expression trend both in patients and in normal controls.

Preconditioning effects on expression of proto-oncogenes c-fos and c-jun after hepatic ischemia/reperfusion in rats

BACKGROUND: Ischemia/reperfusion is the main cause of hepatic damage in liver transplantation. Immediate early genes (IEGs) encode proteins can regulate expression of cellular response genes after injury, and is associated with tissue repair and cell apoptosis. The purpose of this re- search was to investigate the effects of preconditioning on expression of immediate early genes c-fos and c-jun follow- ing hepatic ischemia/reperfusion (IR) and its roles in cellu- lar regeneration and apoptosis. METHODS: Ninety-six Wistar rats were randomly divided into IR group and hepatic ischemic preconditioning (IPC) group, and each group was further divided into eight sub- groups (n =6). The model of partial liver ischemia/reper- fusion was used. The rats were subjected to 60-minute liver ischemia, preceded by 10-minute preconditioning. After 0-, 0.5-, 1-, 2-, 4-, 8-, 12-, 24-hour reperfusion, the se- rum and liver tissue in each group were collected to detect the level of serum ALT/AST, liver histopathology, expres- sion of c-fos, and c-jun mRNA. Flow cytometer was used to detect Ki67 and Sub-G1 as the quantity indicators of cell regeneration and apoptosis respectively. RESULTS: Compared with IR group, IPC group showed a significantly lower ALT/AST level in 0. 5-hour sub-group to 8-hour sub-group (P<0.05). Ki67 elevated significantly at 0.5, 1, 2 hours, but decreased significantly at 24 hours ( P < 0 . 05). Ap index decreased significantly after 1-hour reperfusion(P<0.05). Expressions of c-fos and c-jun mR- NA were low, especially c-jun at 0.5, 1 and 2 hours after reperfusion. CONCLUSION: Ischemic preconditioning can protect liver cells against ischemia/reperfusion injury, and this protec- tive effect may be related to influence transcription levels of c-fos and c-jun.

Identification and Gene Mapping of Completely Dominant Earliness in Rice

The completely dominant earliness was identified in a genie male-sterile and early maturing indica line 6442S-7. F1 progenies from 6442S-7 crossed with thirteen various types of medium- or late-maturing varieties, shared the same heading date as 6442S-7. The segregation of heading date in the F2 and B1F1 populations showed that the earliness of 6442S-7 is mainly controlled by two dominant major genes. The local linkage map of one dominant earliness gene harbored in 6442S-7 was constructed with F2 population and four kinds of molecular marker techniques. The results showed that the gene was located between a RFLP marker C515 and a RAPD marker OPI 11.557 on the terminal region of short arm of rice chromosome 3, 10.9cM and 1.5cM from C515 and OPI11.557, respectively. The genetic distances from the target gene to two SSR markers, RM22 and RM231, and one AFLP marker, PT671, were 3.0, 6.7 and 12.4 cM, respectively. This gene, being identified and mapped first, is designated tentatively as Ef-cd(t). As a new genetic resource of completely dominant earliness, 6442S-7 has splendid future in rice improvement.

Isolation, Identification and Earliness Effect Analysis of Rice Dominant Earliness Gene Ef-cd

Ef-cd gene is a dominant earliness gene located on the short arm of rice chromosome 3. In this paper, through continuous backcross, self-pollination and molecular marker assisted selection, individual Ef-cd gene was isolated and its nearly isogenic lines were constructed by using early-maturing indica line 6442S-7 as the donor parent, and by using latematuring indica line Minghui 63 （MH63）, Shuhui 881 （SH881） and Shuhui 527 （SH527） as the recurrent parents （genetic background）, respectively. Further, it was found out that Ef-cd gene could generally advance rice to head 11-14 d earlier. So, it was considered that Ef-cd gene played an important role in rapid developing early-maturing and super high-yielding rice varieties.

Genetic counseling in post-genomic era: Don't pretend to know the meaning of a gene mutation if you don't know

In this post-genomic era, more and more susceptibility loci of many possible genetic diseases are published. As our knowledge about these susceptibility loci is limited and partial, we should be very careful and responsible when patients seek genetic counseling about these possible genetic diseases. We should apply Confucius' s principle about knowledge and information to genetic conseling, and tell the truth to our patients about what we know and what we do not know. Like many other cancers, breast cancer is a very complicated, multifactorial disease; genetic factors, lifestyles and eating habits, environmental factors, and viral infections might be involved in breast cancer; hence, it is difficult to figure out the real etiology of breast cancer. It is not crystal clear that a person who carries mutations of the breast cancer 1, early onset and/or breast cancer 2, early onset genes would eventually get breast cancer in her/his lifetime. No person should undergo a preventive double mastectomy, unless we know the etiology of breast cancer someday.

Effect of Levodopa Chronic Administration on Behavioral Changes and Fos Expression in Basal Ganglia in Rat Model of PD

To study behavioral character and changes of neuronal activity in the basal ganglia of rat model of levodopa-induced dyskinesia, unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine lesioned rat model of Parkinson disease (PD) was treated with levodopa/benserazide twice daily for 4 weeks and the behavior observed on the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 7th, 9th, 10th, 14th, 21st and 28th day The animals were sacrificed and immunohistochemical technique was used to measure the changes of Fos expression in the caudate putamen (CPU), globus pallidus (GP) and sensorimotor area of cerebral cortex 2 h after the last treatment The results showed that pulsatile treatment with a subthreshold dose of levodopa gradually induced abnormal involuntary movement (AIM), including stereotypy (limb dyskinesia, axial dystonia and masticatory dyskinesia) towards the side contralateral to the dopamine-denervated striatum and increased contraversive rotation The motor pattern of each subtype was highly stereotypic across individual rats, and the proportion of each subtype was not consistent among individual rats Fos positive nuclei in the CPU and GP were increased by levodopa acute administration, and more remarkably in the CPU, but not in the cerebral cortex After repeated levodopa treatment, Fos positive nuclei were reduced remarkably in the CPU, but were increased in the GP and cerebral cortex It was concluded that the neural mechanisms underlying levodopa induced AIM in rat model of PD was very similar to those seen in levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID) in PD patients and MPTP-lesioned monkeys, and increased striatopallidal neuronal activity might be involved in occurrence of LID

Chemotherapy suppresses SHH gene expression via a specific enhancer

Sonic hedgehog(SHH)signaling is a key regulator of embryonic development and tissue homeostasis that is involved in gastrointestinal(GI)cancer progression.Regulation of SHH gene expression is a paradigm of long-range enhancer function.Using the classical chemotherapy drug 5-fluorouracil(5FU)as an example,here we show that SHH gene expression is suppressed by chemotherapy.SHH is downstream of immediate early genes(IEGs),including Early growth response 1(Egr1).A specific 139 kb upstream enhancer is responsible for its down-regulation.Knocking down EGR1 expression or blocking its binding to this enhancer renders SHH unresponsive to chemotherapy.We further demonstrate that down-regulation of SHH expression does not depend on 5FU’s impact on nucleotide metabolism or DNA damage;rather,a sustained oxidative stress response mediates this rapid suppression.This enhancer is present in a wide range of tumors and normal tissues,thus providing a target for cancer chemotherapy and its adverse effects on normal tissues.We propose that SHH is a stress-responsive gene downstream of IEGs,and that traditional chemotherapy targets a specific enhancer to suppress its expression.

Identification of Early Nuclear Target Genes of Plastidial Redox Signals that Trigger the Long- Term Response of Arabidopsis to Light Quality Sh∽ts

Natural illumination conditions are highly variable and because of their sessile life style, plants are forced to acclimate to them at the cellular and molecular level. Changes in light intensity or quality induce changes in the reduction/oxidation （redox） state of the photosynthetic electron chain that acts as a trigger for compen- satory acclimation responses comprising functional and structural adjustments of photosynthesis and metabolism. Such responses include redox-controlled changes in plant gene expression in the nucleus and organelles. Here we describe a strategy for the identification of early redox-regulated genes （ERGs） in the nucleus of the model organism Arabidopsis thaliana that respond significantly 30 or 60 min after the generation of a reduction signal in the photosynthetic electron transport chain. By comparing the response of wild-type plants with that of the acclimation mutant stn7, we could specifically identify ERGs. The results reveal a significant impact of chloroplast redox signals on distinct nuclear gene groups including genes for the mitochondrial electron transport chain, tetrapyrrole biosynthesis, carbohydrate metabolism, and signaling lipid synthesis. These expression profiles are clearly different from those observed in response to the reduction of photosynthetic electron transport by high light treatments. Thus, the ERGs identified are unique to redox imbalances in photosynthetic electron transport and were then used for analyzing potential redox-responsive cis-elements, trans-factors, and chromosomal regulatory hot spots. The data identify a novel redox-responsive element and indicate extensive redox control at transcriptional and chromosomal levels that point to an unprecedented impact of redox signals on epigenetic processes.

Association between interleukin- 1β- 511( C/T) gene polymorphism and early diabetic kidney disease

Objective To investigate the association between interleukin(IL)-1β-511(C/T)gene polymorphism and early diabetic kidney disease(EDKD)in Han population in Luzhou.Methods A total of 548 patients with type 2diabetes(T2DM)were enrolled in this study and divided into two groups:T2DM with normal albuminuria group(NA group,n=286)and T2DM with micro-albuminuria group(MA group,n=262).327 healthy subjects