Construction of SARS-CoV-2 spike-pseudotyped retroviral vector inducing syncytia formation.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is handled in biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) facilities, whereas the antiviral screening of pseudotype virus is conducted in BSL-2 facilities. In this study, we developed a SARS-CoV-2 spike-pseudotyped virus based on a semi-replication-competent retroviral (s-RCR) vector system. The s-RCR vector system was divided into two packageable vectors, each with gag-pol and env genes.

Sulfobetaine methacrylate hydrogel-coated anti-fouling surfaces for implantable biomedical devices.

Background: Zwitterionic molecules have been widely studied as coating materials for preparing anti-fouling surfaces because they possess strong hydration properties that can resist non-specific protein adsorption. Numerous studies on surface modification using zwitterionic molecules have been investigated, such as electrochemically mediated and photoinitiated radical polymerization. However, these methods have some limitations, including multi-step process, difficulties in producing thick and dense layers as well as the requirement of extra facilities.

Sub-0.5 V Highly Stable Aqueous Salt Gated Metal Oxide Electronics.

Recently, growing interest in implantable bionics and biochemical sensors spurred the research for developing non-conventional electronics with excellent device characteristics at low operation voltages and prolonged device stability under physiological conditions. Herein, we report high-performance aqueous electrolyte-gated thin-film transistors using a sol-gel amorphous metal oxide semiconductor and aqueous electrolyte dielectrics based on small ionic salts. The proper selection of channel material (i.

Effects of Trichostatin A on In vitro Development of Porcine Embryos Derived from Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer.

Many different approaches have been developed to improve the efficiency of animal cloning by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), one of which is to modify histone acetylation levels using histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) such as trichostatin A (TSA). In the present study, we examined the effect of TSA on in vitro development of porcine embryos derived from SCNT. We found that TSA treatment (50 nM) for 24 h following oocyte activation improved blastocyst formation rates (to 22.

X-linked gene transcription patterns in female and male in vivo, in vitro and cloned porcine individual blastocysts.

To determine the presence of sexual dimorphic transcription and how in vitro culture environments influence X-linked gene transcription patterns in preimplantation embryos, we analyzed mRNA expression levels in in vivo-derived, in vitro-fertilized (IVF), and cloned porcine blastocysts. Our results clearly show that sex-biased expression occurred between female and male in vivo blastocysts in X-linked genes. The expression levels of XIST, G6PD, HPRT1, PGK1, and BEX1 were significantly higher in female than in male blastocysts, but ZXDA displayed higher levels in male than in female blastocysts.