Hydrogen sulfide protects Sertoli cells against toxicant Acrolein-induced cell injury.

Acrolein (ACR), a highly toxic α,β-unsaturated aldehyde, is considered to be a common mediator behind the reproductive injury induced by various factors. However, the understanding of its reproductive toxicity and prevention in reproductive system is limited. Given that Sertoli cells provide the first-line defense against various toxicants and that dysfunction of Sertoli cell causes impaired spermatogenesis, we, therefore, examined ACR cytotoxicity in Sertoli cells and tested whether hydrogen sulfide (HS), a gaseous mediator with potent antioxidative actions, could have a protective effect.

Role of BCL2L10 in regulating buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) oocyte maturation.

It has been reported that BCL2L10 is abundantly and specifically expressed in adult human and mouse oocytes and played a very important role in oocytes maturation and early embryonic development. This study is to investigate the expression pattern of BCL2L10 in buffalo ovaries and its effect on the in vitro maturation of buffalo oocytes, so as to dissect mechanism of oocytes maturation and provide theoretical guidance for improvement of the in vitro maturation of buffalo oocytes. The results showed that BCL2L10 gene was enriched in ovary and the expression of BCL2L10 was oocyte specific and up-regulated during oocyte maturation.

[Effects of tillage practices on photosynthetic performance diurnal variation during filling stage and grain yield of winter wheat].

Photosynthesis characteristics of winter wheat under different tillage practices during fil-ling stage are vital for dry matter accumulation, transfer, and yield development. A field experiment, including no-till with residue removal (NT), no-till with residue retention (NTS), rotary tillage with residue removal (RT), rotary tillage with residue retained (RTS), subsoiling with residue removal (DT), subsoiling with residue retained (DTS), plow tillage with residue removal (CT), and plow tillage with residue retained (CTS) was conducted at Wuqiao experimental station of China Agricultural University since October 2008. The diurnal variation of photosynthetic characteristics of flag leaf, photosynthetic response curve, and crop yield under different tillage practices were evaluated during winter wheat filing stage in this study.

Spermatogenesis-associated proteins at different developmental stages of buffalo testicular seminiferous tubules identified by comparative proteomic analysis.

The testicular seminiferous tubules contain Sertoli cells and different types of spermatogenic cells. They provide the microenvironment for spermatogenesis, but the precise molecular mechanism of spermatogenesis is still not well known. Here, we have employed tandem mass tag coupled to LC-MS/MS with the high-throughput quantitative proteomics technology to explore the protein expression from buffalo testicular seminiferous tubules at three different developmental stages (prepuberty, puberty, and postpuberty).

Photochromic hybrid materials of cucurbituril and polyoxometalates as photocatalysts under visible light.

Two isostructural organic-inorganic hybrid solid materials based on cucurbituril derivatives and polyoxometalates, {[K(2)(H(2)O)(2)Na(2)(H(2)O)(2)Na(2)(H(2)O)(6)](P(2)W(18)O(62))(Me(10)Q(5))(2)}·~7H(2)O (1) and {[Rb(2)(H(2)O)(2)Na(2)(H(2)O)Na(2)(H(2)O)(4)](P(2)W(18)O(62))(Me(10)Q(5))(2)}·~8H(2)O (2), which exhibit reversible photochromic properties as well as excellent photocatalytic activities toward the degradation of methyl orange (MO) and rhodamine-B (RB) under visible light irradiation, are reported.