Lead Induced Disorders in Hematopoietic and DrugMetabolizing Enzyme System and Their Protection by Ascorbic Acid Supplementation

Effect of vitamin C supplementation in restoring lead induced alterations in hematopoietic system and drug metabolizing enzymes were investigated in male rats. Intraperitoneal administration of 20 mg/kg lead produced a significant inhibition of heme synthesis in blood and liver and drug metabolism in liver. Toxic insult by lead also resulted into a marked decline in tissue thiols and vitamin C levels. Oral supplementation of vitamin C (100 mg/kg for 3 days) completely restored blood delta aminolevulinic acid dehydratase, uroporphyrinogen I synthetase and a few drug metabolizing enzymes. Level of vitamin C and sulfhydryl contents too recovered to a great extent. A marked reduction in blood and liver lead concentration occurred on vitamin C supplementation although renal lead contents were marginally reduced in lead exposed animals. The results, thus, indicate a significant protective action of vitamin C against toxic effects of lead on heme synthesis and drug metabolism.

Effects of Lactobacillus plantarum and fibrolytic enzyme on the fermentation quality and in vitro digestibility of total mixed rations silage including rape straw

The aim of the current study was to investigate the effects of a lactic acid bacteria inoculant（Lactobacillus plantarum, LP）, fibrolytic enzyme（EN）, combination of LP and EN（LP＋EN） on fermentation quality, nutritive characteristics and in vitro digestibility of total mixed ration（TMR） silages containing 0, 7.5 and 15.0%（on dry matter basis） of rape（Brassica campestris L.） straw（RS）（denoted as CTMR, LTMR and MTMR, respectively）. After ensiling for 60 days, TMR silages without additives were well preserved, but MTMR had higher p H than CTMR and LTMR. There were no differences in other parameters of fermentation quality, microbial composition, nutrition and in vitro digestibility between CTMR and LTMR except for yeast and mold number and crude protein（CP） content. CTMR and LTMR silage had higher CP content, in vitro neutral detergent fiber digestibility（IVNDFD） and in vitro acid detergent fiber digestibility（IVADFD）, lower acid detergent fiber（ADF） content than MTMR silage. LP and EN decreased p H and increased dry matter（DM） recovery of TMR silages. LP＋EN improved the fermentation quality, nutritive characteristics and in vitro digestibility of TMR silages, showed by lower p H, ADF content, higher lactic acid content, in vitro dry matter digestibility（IVDMD） and IVNDFD. Therefore, It was suggested that TMR silage contained 7.5% RS on a DM basis and treated with LP＋EN can be as a useful feed for ruminant.

The association between paired basic amino acid cleaving enz yme 4 gene haplotype and diastolic blood pressure

Background In a previously identified locus linked to hypertension on chromosome 15q, we identified three blood pressure candidate genes: insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor gene (IGF1R), myocyte specific enhancer factor 2A gene (MEF2A), and paired basic amino acid cleaving enzyme 4 gene (PACE4). In this study, we te sted their associations with hypertension using haplotype analysis.Methods A total of 288 unrelated individuals, including 163 high diastolic blood pressure (DBP) subjects and 125 normal DBP subjects were enrolled in this case-control study. Twenty single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the three genes were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction followed by restriction enzyme digestion. Haplotype analysis was accomplished in the following stages: (1) pair-wise linkage disequilibrium test among SNPs on the same gene was performed to explore blocks in which recombination is very unlikely to happen; (2) Estimation-Maximization algorithm was applied to estimate haplotype frequencies in each block; (3) the chi-square test was used to examine the specific haplotype difference, and a permutation test was used to examine the overall haplotype profile difference between cases and controls in each block.Results An estimated haplotype “CCCCG” frequency in the haplotype block on the PACE4 gene was significantly higher in high DBP cases than in controls (P<0.01). The overall estimated haplotype profile in this block was also significantly different between the cases and the controls (P<0 .001). This association indicates. Conclusions This study for the first time demonstrated that PAC E4 gene may play an important role in the regulation of DBP. This association indicates that variations influencing DBP resides in or near this genomic region.

Facile and diverse logic circuits based on dumbbell DNA-templated fluorescent copper nanoclusters and S1 nuclease detection

DNA-based logic gates promote the development of molecular computing and show enormous potential in the fields of nanotechnology and biotechnology. Dumbbell oligonucleotides(DNA) with poly-thymine(poly-T) loops and a nicked random double strand have been demonstrated to be an efficient template for the formation of fluorescent copper nanoclusters(Cu NCs) in our previous work. Herein, a new platform technology is presented with which to construct molecular logic gates by employing Cu NCs probe as a basic output generator, coupling of functional nucleases as the inputs. Two dumbbell DNAs are used with the difference in stem length(8 bp and 16 bp, respectively). The degradation of DNA templates can be tuned by various nucleic acid enzymes, single-stranded nuclease(S1), double-stranded specific nuclease(DSN), E. coli DNA ligase, exonucleases Ⅰ and Ⅲ. Briefly, S1 can digest both DNA templates, while the cleavage ability of DSN will be resistant by the short stem of SS-DNA(short-stem DNA). Exonuclease Ⅰ and Ⅲ can degrade these two nicked DNA templates, which are inhibited due to the ligation of E. coli DNA ligase. With this novel strategy, a set of logic gates is successfully constructed at the molecular level,including “YES”, “PASS 0”, “OR”, “INHIBIT”, which take the advantages of no label, easy operation, fast speed, high efficiency and low cost. Furthermore, S1 nuclease, as the biomarker of numerous carcinogens,is selectively detected in the range of 0.05–50 U/m L with the detection limit of 0.005 U/m L(1×10^(−6)U)based on this platform.