Choline and trimethylamine N-oxide supplementation in normal chow diet and western diet promotes the development of atherosclerosis in Apoe -/- mice through different mechanisms.

Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), a gut microbiota-dependent metabolite, has been shown to aggravate cardiovascular disease. However, the mechanisms of TMAO in the setting of cardiovascular disease progress remain unclear. Here, we aim to investigate the effects of TMAO on atherosclerosis (AS) development and the underlying mechanisms.

Ermin is a p116 -interacting protein promoting oligodendroglial differentiation and myelin maintenance.

Myelin sheaths, which insulate the axons and ensure saltatory conduction of the nerve impulse, are generated and maintained via largely uncharacterized mechanisms. Ermin is an oligodendrocyte-specific protein associated with the cytoskeleton, but how it regulates cytoskeletal remodeling during oligodendrocyte differentiation and its role in myelin maintenance are not clear. To address this, we generated mice constitutively deficient for Ermn, the Ermin-coding gene.

Research progress on 5hmC and TET dioxygenases in neurodevelopment and neurological diseases.

The development of the nervous system is coordinately regulated by multiple interacting factors. If a certain factor is altered or mutated, the coordinated developmental processes could be disrupted, resulting in neurological diseases. The 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) is an intermediate product of the DNA demethylation processes.

miR-342-5p Regulates Neural Stem Cell Proliferation and Differentiation Downstream to Notch Signaling in Mice.

Notch signaling is critically involved in neural development, but the downstream effectors remain incompletely understood. In this study, we cultured neurospheres from Nestin-Cre-mediated conditional Rbp-j knockout (Rbp-j cKO) and control embryos and compared their miRNA expression profiles using microarray. Among differentially expressed miRNAs, miR-342-5p showed upregulated expression as Notch signaling was genetically or pharmaceutically interrupted.

Nicotinic acid supplementation in diet favored intramuscular fat deposition and lipid metabolism in finishing steers.

Nicotinic acid (NA) acting as the precursor of NAD(+)/NADH and NADP(+)/NADPH, participates in many biochemical processes, e.g. lipid metabolism.

[Advances on the profiling of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine].

5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) is a naturally existing component in mammalian genomic DNA and is regarded as the sixth DNA base. Accumulating studies have revealed the essential role of 5hmC in embryonic development, brain function and cancer research. Compared to another well-known cytosine methylation derivate, 5-methylcytosine (5mC), the detection of 5hmC is difficult for its lower lever existing in most tissues.

Loss of microRNA-124 expression in neurons in the peri-lesion area in mice with spinal cord injury.

MicroRNA-124 (miR-124) is abundantly expressed in neurons in the mammalian central nervous system, and plays critical roles in the regulation of gene expression during embryonic neurogenesis and postnatal neural differentiation. However, the expression profile of miR-124 after spinal cord injury and the underlying regulatory mechanisms are not well understood. In the present study, we examined the expression of miR-124 in mouse brain and spinal cord after spinal cord injury using in situ hybridization.

Daidzein enhances intramuscular fat deposition and improves meat quality in finishing steers.

An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of soy isoflavone daidzein on carcass characteristics, fat deposition, meat quality, and blood metabolites in finishing steers. Fourteen crossbred steers were used in a 120-d finishing study. These steers were stratified by weight into groups and randomly allotted by group to one of two dietary treatments: (1) control and (2) daidzein (500 mg/kg concentrate).

Development of an electrochemical micromachining instrument for the confined etching techniques.

This study proposes an electrochemical micromachining instrument for two confined etching techniques, namely, confined etchant layer technique (CELT) and electrochemical wet stamping (E-WETS). The proposed instrument consists of a granite bridge base, a Z-axis coarse/fine dual stage, and a force sensor. The Z-axis coarse/fine dual stage controls the vertical movement of the substrate with nanometer accuracy.

The effect of simvastatin on chemotactic capability of SDF-1α and the promotion of bone regeneration.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the cooperative effects of simvastatin (SIM) and stromal cell-derived factor-1α (SDF-1α) on the osteogenic and migration capabilities of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), and construct a cell-free bone tissue engineering system comprising SIM, SDF-1α and scaffold. We found that 0.2 μm SIM significantly increased alkaline phosphatase activity (P < 0.

Two monoclonal antibodies recognising aa 634-668 and aa 1026-1055 of NogoA enhance axon extension and branching in cultured neurons.

In a previous study, we generated two monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) in mice, aNogoA-N and aNogo-66 mAb, which were raised against recombinant N-terminal fragments of rat NogoA and Nogo-66, respectively. When compared with the commercial rabbit anti-rat NogoA polyclonal antibody (pAb), which can specifically recognise NogoA, the two mAbs were also specific for the NogoA antigen in immunofluorescence histochemical (IHC) staining and Western blot (WB) analysis. Serial truncations of NogoA covering the N-terminal region of NogoA (aa 570-691) and Nogo-66 (aa 1026-1091) were expressed in E.

The protective effects of inosine against chemical hypoxia on cultured rat oligodendrocytes.

Inosine is a purine nucleoside and is considered protective to neural cells including neurons and astrocytes against hypoxic injury. However, whether oligodendrocytes (OLs) could also be protected from hypoxia by inosine is not known. Here we investigated the effects of inosine on primarily cultured rat OLs injured by rotenone-mediated chemical hypoxia, and the mechanisms of the effects using ATP assay, MTT assay, PI-Hoechst staining, TUNEL, and immunocytochemistry.

[Identification of six kinds of monoclonal antibodies against rat Nogo-A molecule in the immunofluorescent histochemical staining].

Aim: To detect and characterize of 6 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against different epitopes of rat Nogo-A molecule in immunohistochemistry to decide their applications in futrue. Four mAbs against Nogo66 fragment are named Nogo66-1, Nogo66-2, Nogo66-3 and Nogo66-4. The rest of 2 mAbs against N-termial 570-691aa fragment are named NogoN-1 and NogoN-2.

Improved biological performance of microarc-oxidized low-modulus Ti-24Nb-4Zr-7.9Sn alloy.

Ti-24Nb-4Zr-7.9Sn (TNZS) is a newly developed beta-titanium alloy with low modulus and it has been considered as good material for dental or orthopedic implant. The purpose of the current study is to evaluate the effect of micro-arc oxidation (MAO) treatment on the biological performance of TNZS surface.

[A comparative study on the reliability of grating projection measuring system in three-dimensional reconstruction of dental cast].

Objective: To investigate the reliability of a newly developed grating projection system 3DSS-STD-II by three-dimensional reconstruction of dental cast, so as to offer some evidence for dental computer aided design and computer aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM).

Methods: Five groups' data of mandibular dentition cast from different angle: Occlusion, right lateral dentition, anterior dentition, left lateral dentition and posterior of the cast were scanned and acquired by 3DSS-STD-II new measuring system. The five groups of acquired data were then under simplification and combination process and the digital dental cast was finally reconstructed by the reverse engineering software Geomagic 6.

Analysis of probenazole-responsiveness of rice RPR1 upstream fragments.

RPR1 (rice probenazole-responsive) is a rice gene, the expression of which is responsive to probenazole (PBZ), a synthetic compound that may act as a plant defense activator. It has been shown that RPR1 gene may be involved in disease resistance responses. In this study, a series of amplified fragments from the rice RPR1 promoter region, including 2,416 bp, 1,574 bp, 819 bp, 568 bp and 208 bp fragments upstream to the ATG translation start site, were prepared and linked to the coding region of beta-glucuronidase (GUS) gene.

Inactivation of glycogen synthase kinase-3beta and up-regulation of LINGO-1 are involved in LINGO-1 antagonist regulated survival of cerebellar granular neurons.

LINGO-1 has been critically implicated in the central regulation of CNS axon regeneration and oligodendrocyte maturation. We have recently demonstrated that pretreatment with LINGO-1 antagonist (LINGO-1-Fc) inhibited low potassium-induced cerebellar granular neurons (CGNs) apoptosis. In the present study, we examined the neuroprotective mechanism of LINGO-1-Fc by Western blot and in situ GST pull-down assay.

An in vitro study on the involvement of LINGO-1 and Rho GTPases in Nogo-A regulated differentiation of oligodendrocyte precursor cells.

Nogo-A has been considered as one of the most important myelin-associated axonal regeneration inhibitors in the central nervous system. Recent studies have demonstrated various additional physiological roles of Nogo family members. To understand the possible effect of Nogo-A on the differentiation of oligodendrocytes, antibodies against distinct extracellular domains of Nogo-A were applied in cell cultures.