Mucosa-associated microbiota signature in colorectal cancer.

The aim of this study was to explore the gut microbiota profiles of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients and to examine the relationship between gut microbiota and other key molecular factors involved in CRC tumorigenesis. In this study, a 16S rDNA sequencing platform was used to identify possible differences in the microbiota signature between CRC and adjacent normal mucosal tissue. Differences in the microbiota composition in different anatomical colorectal tumor sites and their potential association with KRAS mutation were also explored.

Serial deletion reveals structural basis and stability for the core enzyme activity of human glutaminase 1 isoforms: relevance to excitotoxic neurodegeneration.

Background: Glutaminase 1 is a phosphate-activated metabolic enzyme that catalyzes the first step of glutaminolysis, which converts glutamine into glutamate. Glutamate is the major neurotransmitter of excitatory synapses, executing important physiological functions in the central nervous system. There are two isoforms of glutaminase 1, KGA and GAC, both of which are generated through alternative splicing from the same gene.

TNF-α promotes extracellular vesicle release in mouse astrocytes through glutaminase.

Background: Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membrane-contained vesicles shed from cells. EVs contain proteins, lipids, and nucleotides, all of which play important roles in intercellular communication. The release of EVs is known to increase during neuroinflammation.

The therapeutic potential of cell identity reprogramming for the treatment of aging-related neurodegenerative disorders.

Neural cell identity reprogramming strategies aim to treat age-related neurodegenerative disorders with newly induced neurons that regenerate neural architecture and functional circuits in vivo. The isolation and neural differentiation of pluripotent embryonic stem cells provided the first in vitro models of human neurodegenerative disease. Investigation into the molecular mechanisms underlying stem cell pluripotency revealed that somatic cells could be reprogrammed to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and these cells could be used to model Alzheimer disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Huntington disease, and Parkinson disease.

Living cell imaging and Rac1-GTP levels of CXCL12-treated migrating neural progenitor cells in stripe assay.

This data article contains three figures and three videos related to the research article entitled "Applications of Stripe Assay in the Study of CXCL12-mediated Neural Progenitor Cell Migration and Polarization" Zhang et al. (2015) [1], which uses stripe assay to study mouse neural progenitor cell (NPC) migration and polarization. The current article describes the neurosphere method used to culture NPCs.

Development of preoperative planning software for transforaminal endoscopic surgery and the guidance for clinical applications.

Purpose: Preoperative planning is of great importance for transforaminal endoscopic techniques applied in percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy. In this study, a modular preoperative planning software for transforaminal endoscopic surgery was developed and demonstrated.

Methods: The path searching method is based on collision detection, and the oriented bounding box was constructed for the anatomical models.

The augmentation of O-GlcNAcylation reduces glyoxal-induced cell injury by attenuating oxidative stress in human retinal microvascular endothelial cells.

It has recently been reported that O-linked β-N-acetyl glucosamine (O-GlcNAc) modification (a simple intracellular serine (Ser)/threonine (Thr)-linked monosaccharide) in human retinal microvascular endothelial cells (HRECs) is related to diabetic retinopathy (DR). During O-GlcNAcylation, O-GlcNAc is added to Ser and Thr residues. As the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is one of the characteristics of advanced glycation end product (AGE) injury, and the most important key pathogenic factor of DR, in the present study, we aimed to investigate the association between O-GlcNAcylation and ROS generation in order to ascertain whether O-GlcNAcylation mitigates cellular injury through the generation of ROS.

Selective Generation of Dopaminergic Precursors from Mouse Fibroblasts by Direct Lineage Conversion.

Degeneration of midbrain dopaminergic (DA) neurons is a key pathological event of Parkinson's disease (PD). Limited adult dopaminergic neurogenesis has led to novel therapeutic strategies such as transplantation of dopaminergic precursors (DPs). However, this strategy is currently restrained by a lack of cell source, the tendency for the DPs to become a glial-restricted state, and the tumor formation after transplantation.

Ligustrazine effect on lipopolysaccharide-induced pulmonary damage in rats.

We investigated the effectiveness of ligustrazine (tetramethylpyrazine, TMP) in alleviating pulmonary damage induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Twenty-four healthy male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups: the blank group, LPS group, and TMP treatment group (TMP group). The LPS group was intraperitoneally injected with LPS (20mg/kg), and the TMP group was intraperitoneally injected with LPS (20mg/kg) and ligustrazine (80mg/kg).

Direct reprogramming of induced neural progenitors: a new promising strategy for AD treatment.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a prominent form of dementia, characterized by aggregation of the amyloid β-peptide (Aβ) plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, loss of synapses and neurons, and degeneration of cognitive functions. Currently, although a variety of medications can relieve some of the symptoms, there is no cure for AD. Recent breakthroughs in the stem cell field provide promising strategies for AD treatment.

Macrophages treated with particulate matter PM2.5 induce selective neurotoxicity through glutaminase-mediated glutamate generation.

Exposure to atmospheric particulate matter PM2.5 (aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 μm) has been epidemiologically associated with respiratory illnesses.

CXCR7 Mediates Neural Progenitor Cells Migration to CXCL12 Independent of CXCR4.

Neural progenitor cell (NPC) migration is an essential process for brain development, adult neurogenesis, and neuroregeneration after brain injury. Stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1, CXCL12) and its traditional receptor CXCR4 are well known to regulate NPC migration. However, the discovery of CXCR7, a newly identified CXCL12 receptor, adds to the dynamics of the existing CXCL12/CXCR4 pair.

Subretinal injection of amyloid-β peptide accelerates RPE cell senescence and retinal degeneration.

Drusen are considered a hallmark characteristic of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In our previous study, we found that amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide, a component of drusen, induced the cells of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE; RPE cells) to enter senescence; however, its effects in vivo remain unknown. Thus, the present study was carried out to explore the in vivo effects of Aβ peptide on RPE cell senescence and senescence-associated inflammation in C57BL/6 mice.

O-GlcNAcylation under hypoxic conditions and its effects on the blood-retinal barrier in diabetic retinopathy.

An increase in O-linked N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) protein modifications has been observerd in db/db mouse retinas. O-GlcNAc-modified proteins in the db/db mouse retina have been shown to be localized in the ganglion cell layer, the inner nuclear layer, the retina pigment epithelium (RPE) layer and the inner plexiform layer, in which hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF1α) has also been shown to be localized. In the current study, we examined whether hypoxia increases O-GlcNAcylation in retinal vascular cells under high glucose conditions and whether HIF1α activation is consistent with the response to and activation of O-GlcNAcylation in retinal lesions in diabetic retinopathy.

Characterization of induced neural progenitors from skin fibroblasts by a novel combination of defined factors.

Recent reports have demonstrated that somatic cells can be directly converted to other differentiated cell types through ectopic expression of sets of transcription factors, directly avoiding the transition through a pluripotent state. Our previous experiments generated induced neural progenitor-like cells (iNPCs) by a novel combination of five transcription factors (Sox2, Brn2, TLX, Bmi1 and c-Myc). Here we demonstrated that the iNPCs not only possess NPC-specific marker genes, but also have qualities of primary brain-derived NPCs (WT-NPCs), including tripotent differentiation potential, mature neuron differentiation capability and synapse formation.