Publications by authors named "Cheng-Zhen Chen"

It is important to study the bacteria that cause endometritis to identify effective therapeutic drugs for dairy cows. In this study, 20% oxytetracycline was used to treat Holstein cows (n = 6) with severe endometritis. Additional 10 Holstein cows (5 for healthy cows, 5 for cows with mild endometritis) were also selected.

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  • TBX2 is a key transcription factor involved in developmental processes, with its role in bovine cumulus cells previously unexplored.
  • The study used siRNA to knock down TBX2 and assessed its impact on cell functions including proliferation, apoptosis, and energy production through various experimental techniques.
  • Results showed that inhibiting TBX2 disrupted the cell cycle, increased apoptosis, and decreased cell growth and mitochondrial function in bovine cumulus cells.
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  • KRAS is a proto-oncogene that encodes a protein involved in various cellular functions like cytokine secretion and cell survival, but its role in preadipocyte differentiation and lipid accumulation was previously unclear.
  • A study analyzed KRAS inhibition in specific cell lines (3T3-L1 and C2C12) and found that it affects key proteins related to cell growth and fat storage, reducing cell proliferation while promoting differentiation into mature fat cells.
  • Inhibition of KRAS also decreased the activation of several signaling pathways during differentiation, highlighting its unique role in regulating cell behavior related to fat formation and lipid storage.
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Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), which is synthesized and released by the hypothalamus, promotes the synthesis and secretion of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), thereby regulating the growth and reproduction of animals. GnRH analogues have been widely used in livestock production. MiRNAs, which are endogenous non-coding RNAs, have been found to play important roles in hormone regulation and other physiological processes in recent years.

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  • Schisanhenol (SAL), derived from Schisandra plants, has shown various biological activities but its effects on the female reproductive system are not well understood.
  • Previous research indicated SAL has antioxidant properties, leading to the hypothesis that it could enhance porcine embryo development by reducing oxidative stress.
  • The study found that 10 μM SAL improved blastocyst formation rates and mitochondrial activity while decreasing reactive oxygen species (ROS) and apoptosis, alongside downregulating MAPK pathway phosphorylation levels.
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Carnosic acid (CA), a natural catechol rosin diterpene, is used as an additive in animal feeds and human foods. However, the effects of CA on mammalian reproductive processes, especially early embryonic development, are unclear. In this study, we added CA to parthenogenetically activated porcine embryos in an in vitro culture medium to explore the influence of CA on apoptosis, proliferation, blastocyst formation, reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, glutathione (GSH) levels, mitochondrial membrane potential, and embryonic development-related gene expression.

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Cytoplasmic polyadenylation element-binding protein 3 (CPEB3) is a member of the Cytoplasmic polyadenylation element-binding family, which has been found to regulate the translation of dormant and masked mRNA in Xenopus oocytes and plays potential roles in regulating biological functions in cells and tissues. However, its role in cumulus cells is not clear. In this study, the mRNA expression of CPEB3 in bovine cumulus cells was inhibited with small interfering RNA.

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  • Imperatorin (IMP) is a furanocoumarin with various pharmacological benefits, and this study investigates its impact on early pig embryo development and underlying mechanisms.* -
  • Results indicated that adding 40 μM IMP to the culture medium improved blastocyst rates, total cell numbers, and reduced apoptosis in embryos, alongside encouraging gene expression related to pluripotency.* -
  • IMP also decreased reactive oxygen species (ROS), enhanced mitochondrial activity, and inhibited autophagy, suggesting it helps promote healthy preimplantation embryo development by minimizing oxidative stress.*
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Dual-specificity phosphatase 1 () is differentially expressed in cumulus cells of different physiological states, but its specific function and mechanism of action remain unclear. In this study, we explored the effects of DUSP1 expression inhibition on cell cycle progression, proliferation, apoptosis, and lactate and cholesterol levels in cumulus cells and examined reactive oxygen species levels, mitochondrial function, autophagy, and the expression of key cytokine genes. The results showed that inhibition of in cumulus cells caused abnormal cell cycle progression, increased cell proliferation, decreased apoptosis rates, increased cholesterol synthesis and lactic acid content, and increased cell expansion.

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  • The study investigates the role of collagen type I alpha 1 chain (COL1A1) in bovine cumulus cells, focusing on its effects on cell behavior and function.
  • After inhibiting COL1A1 using siRNA, researchers observed significant reductions in cell proliferation, cholesterol synthesis, and increases in apoptosis, along with altered cell cycle dynamics.
  • The findings suggest that COL1A1 is crucial for maintaining normal function in bovine cumulus cells, as its inhibition leads to heightened reactive oxygen species levels and disrupted cellular processes.
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Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a new class of RNA that have a stable structure characterized by covalently closed circular molecules and are involved in invasive pituitary adenomas and recurrent clinically nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas. However, information on circRNAs in the normal pituitary, especially in rats, is limited. In this study, we identified 4123 circRNAs in the immature (D15) and mature (D120) rat anterior pituitary using the Illumina platform, and 32 differentially expressed circRNAs were found.

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The regulatory role of microRNAs (miRNAs) has been explored in ovarian cells, and the effects of miRNAs on gonadal development, apoptosis, ovulation, and steroid production have been reported. In this study, we analyzed the effects of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) on miR-31 and miR-143 expression levels in bovine granulosa cells (GCs). Our results demonstrated that the FSH receptor (FSHR) is a common target gene of miR-31 and miR-143 in bovine GCs.

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Many long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been identified in several types of human pituitary adenomas and normal anterior pituitary, some of which are involved in the pathogenesis of pituitary adenomas. However, a systematic analysis of lncRNAs expressed at different developmental stages of normal pituitary, particularly in rats, has not been performed. Therefore, we contrasted two cDNA libraries of immature (D15) and mature (D120) anterior pituitary in rat that were sequenced on an Illumina HiSeq Xten platform, and a total of 29,568,806,352 clean reads were identified.

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Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) secreted by adenohypophyseal cells plays an important role in the regulation of reproduction, but whether microRNAs (miRNAs) regulate the secretion of FSH remains unclear. In the present study, we predicted and screened miRNAs that might act on the follicle-stimulating hormone beta-subunit (FSHb) gene of rats using the TargetScan program and luciferase reporter assays, and the results identified two miRNAs, miR-21-3p and miR-433. We then transfected these miRNAs into rat anterior adenohypophyseal cells and assessed the FSHb expression levels in and FSH secretion by the transfected cells through quantitative PCR and ELISA.

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MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small, non-coding RNA molecules that act as a negative regulator of most mRNAs. miRNAs influence the gene expression as transcriptional regulators and play an important role in many fundamental biological processes. It is generally acknowledged that miRNAs have a very important affection on mammalian pituitary.

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