Galectin-3 Negatively Regulates Hippocampus-Dependent Memory Formation through Inhibition of Integrin Signaling and Galectin-3 Phosphorylation.

Galectin-3, a member of the galectin protein family, has been found to regulate cell proliferation, inhibit apoptosis and promote inflammatory responses. Galectin-3 is also expressed in the adult rat hippocampus, but its role in learning and memory function is not known. Here, we found that contextual fear-conditioning training, spatial training or injection of NMDA into the rat CA1 area each dramatically decreased the level of endogenous galectin-3 expression.

Hes-1 SUMOylation by protein inhibitor of activated STAT1 enhances the suppressing effect of Hes-1 on GADD45α expression to increase cell survival.

Background: Hairy and Enhancer of split 1 (Hes-1) is a transcriptional repressor that plays an important role in neuronal differentiation and development, but post-translational modifications of Hes-1 are much less known. In the present study, we aimed to investigate whether Hes-1 could be SUMO-modified and identify the candidate SUMO acceptors on Hes-1. We also wished to examine the role of the SUMO E3 ligase protein inhibitor of activated STAT1 (PIAS1) in SUMOylation of Hes-1 and the molecular mechanism of Hes-1 SUMOylation.

Precisely introducing defects into periodic structures by using a double-step laser scanning technique.

We demonstrate a promising method to precisely introduce desired defects into large-area periodic structures by using a double-step laser scanning technique. A multiexposure two-beam interference technique is first used to create 2D periodic structures. A low power femtosecond laser combined with a high numerical aperture objective lens is then used to map the periodic structures to determine the positions and orientations of air holes or material cylinders without intermediate development.

Fabrication of two- and three-dimensional periodic structures by multi-exposure of two-beam interference technique.

A simple and efficient optical interference method for fabricating high quality two- and three-dimensional (2D and 3D) periodic structures is demonstrated. Employing multi-exposure of two-beam interference technique, different types of periodic structures are created depending on the number of exposure and the rotation angle of the sample for each exposure. Square and hexagonal 2D structures are fabricated by a multi-exposure of two-beam interference pattern with a rotation angle of 90 masculine and 60 masculine between two different exposures, respectively.