Abstract:Organisms living on earth are markedly affected by the geomagnetic field (GMF). In this review article, it was firstly introduced of the magnetic fields (MF) and GMF, and then the magnetic response phenomenon of organisms to MF and/or GMF was furtherly reviewed in details. It has been verified that many species of organisms, ranging from migratory birds to anaerobic bacterium etc., have some physiological and behavioral responses to the GMF, that is, resulting of changes in growth, development and reproduction or providing information to guide their migration or diffusion of some migratory animals by using the GMF playing a role as a 'map' or a 'compass'. To date, there are three generally recognized magnetic-response mechanisms (or hypotheses) of organisms, i.e., the magnetic-response mechanism based on iron minerals and depended light and radical pairs’ hypothesis. Moreover, the magnetic-response mechanism based upon the bio-compass of magnetic proteins (including CRY and MagR) reported by our Chinese scientists has aroused widespread concern, while it hasn’t been verified through experiments in vivo. At present, the change in GMF intensity is becoming more and more serious under the background of global change, while it is just beginning to study the magnetic response of organisms worldwidly (especially in China), the relevant research should be carried out in depth in order to providing scientific evidences based on bio-magnetic responses for the dealing with the changes in GMF.

Abstract:Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a process by which epithelial-derived cells experience phenotypic transformation, gain mesenchymal-like cell phenotype under the condition of various physical and chemical factors. Many signaling molecules participate in regulating EMT during the process of embryo development, organ regeneration and tumor development. As the downstream effector of Hippo signal pathway, the role of YAP in EMT has been widely studied. It plays a dominant role in gene expression to control the cell proliferation and apoptosis, and organ development and regeneration. In addition, increasing evidences demonstrate that activity of YAP is closely related to tumor migration and invasion, along with the occurrence of EMT. Here, we reviewed the roles of YAP in EMT in tissue development, organ fibrosis and tumor development, and the progress of related molecular mechanisms, which is expected to broaden a new prospective for EMT studies and provide new molecular targets and diagnostic strategies for the treatment of related diseases.

Abstract:Social pain is a painful experience caused by negative events, such as relationship broken, undervaluation, and social rejection. In this review, we summarized the neurophysiological mechanisms of social pain from perspectives of neuroimaging, neuroendocrine and neuroimmunology. Future studies are warranted to further determine the relationship between physical and social pain, explore the characteristics and neural mechanism of social pain in mental disorders (such as schizophrenia and autism), and investigate the mechanism of memory for social pain.

Abstract:The special Doppler-shift compensation (DSC) behavior of the constant frequency-frequency modulation (CF-FM) bats ensures accurate extraction information of echo. Then how the auditory center of bats to process the echo after DSC behavior, and what is the adaptive physiological mechanism? In this study, we simulated the echolocation signal of the CF-FM bat in the DSC behavior, and studied the response properties and physiological mechanism of the inferior collicular (IC) neurons in processing the DSC information. A total of 117 IC neurons were recorded, and under the CF-FM sound stimulation, these neurons showed two response patterns of single-on (SO, n = 83) and double-on (DO, n = 34), the former type only discharged impulses to the onset of CF-FM sounds, and the latter type discharged impulses to the onset of both CF and FM components of CF-FM sound. The results also showed that whatever the bat processed the positive DSC signal or negative DSC signal, the 50%inter-pulse intervals(50% IPIs, i.e. 50% recovery time of response to echo)of SO and DO neurons were significantly shortened (P < 0.001) and concentrated in the short recovery region when the paired sounds were changed from the uncompensated condition to the best compensated condition. Moreover, the number of SO neurons whose rate of shortening of 50% IPI exceeded 70% was larger than that of DO neurons, and among those IC neurons which preferred positive DSC, the mean DSC selective range of SO neurons was also significantly wider than that of DO neurons. The above results suggested that SO neurons among IC neurons might make better use of bat's DSC behavior than DO neurons do to improve the response to echo so as to obtain the information of prey to the maximum and determine its relative velocity with the prey.

Abstract:The heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) plays an important role in growth and progression of tumor cells through the appropriate folding, conformational maturation and activation of several hundred protein substrates (client proteins). Thus, Hsp90 attracts a great many of interests as a promising target for antitumor drugs which results in more than 20 inhibitors advancing to clinical trials. Here, we designed and synthesized a small molecule inhibitor: FS36 and the X-ray diffraction data of the complex crystal of Hsp90^N-FS36 is collected. High-resolution X-ray crystallography shows that FS36 interacts with Hsp90^N at the ATP-binding pocket and this demonstrates that FS36 possibly substitutes nucleotides to bind to Hsp90^N. The complex crystal structure and the interactions between FS36 and Hsp90^N lay the foundation of the design and majorization of novel antitumor drugs.

Abstract:The aim of present study is to investigate the effects and the mechanism of lncRNA MIR31HG on the proliferation of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) cells. The mRNA levels of MIR31HG were tested by qPCR in specimens of esophageal cancer and para-carcinoma tissues, as well as in esophageal epithelial cell line Het-1A and in ESCC cell lines Eca-109, EC-1 and KYSE30. MIR31HG was overexpressed in Eca-109, EC-1 and KYSE30 cells by using overexpression plasmid pcDNA3.1-MIR31HG. Cell proliferation was then tested by both MTT and SRB methods. Cell cycle progression was detected by using Cell Cycle Assay Kit, and the activity of Caspase3 in cells was tesed by Caspase3 Activity Assay Kit. The mRNA and protein levels of p53, Caspase3 and BCL-2 were measured by qPCR and Western blot. The expression of MIR31HG was significantly decreased in esophagus cancer comparing with para-carcinoma tissues, as well as in Eca-109, EC-1, KYSE30 cells comparing with Het-1A (P < 0.05). Transfection of pcDNA3.1-MIR31HG significantly increased MIR31HG expression in ESCC cell lines(P < 0.01), inhibited cell viability, reduced S-phase cells numbers and increased the G1-phase cells numbers (P < 0.05). These results suggested that MIR31HG may reduce cell viability of ESCC cells though impeding cell cycle. Moreover, MIR31HG overexpression also significantly increased Caspase3 activity, Caspase3 and p53 expression and decreased Bcl-2 expression in ESCC cells (P < 0.05). Taken together, these results suggest that MIR31HG may hinder the development of esophageal cancer by inhibiting the proliferation of ESCC cells, which may provide a new strategy for the diagnosis and treatment of esophageal cancer.

Abstract:C3aR is the receptor for C3a. Emerging evidence suggested that C3aR signaling might be involved in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy (DN), but the exact significance and the underlying mechanisms are unclear. In particular, most of the data thus far have been derived from experimental studies; no study has reported the association of renal C3aR activation with the development of DN in DN patients. By using renal biopsy specimen from patients at different pathological stages, the present study investigated the expression of C3a and C3aR in the renal tissue of DN patients and associated them with the development of the disease. To determine the effect of C3aR activation in podocytes in DN condition, podocytes cultured in medium with high glucose were treated with C3a and the influences of C3aR activation in podocyte cytoskeleton, the expression of synaptopodin and alpha smooth muscle actin, and the permeability of podocyte monolayer were examined. Compared with the normal controls, renal expression of C3aR and C3a increased with the development of DN. C3aR was distributed mainly in tubular epithelial cells and glomerular podocytes. C3aR level in tubules and glomerulus was closely associated with the degree of tubular and glomerular damage, respectively. Activation of C3aR in podocytes induced re-organization of the cytoskeleton, down-regulation of synaptopodin, and increased permeability of the podocyte monolayer. The results indicated that a situation of excessive signaling through C3aR is present in the kidney of DN patients, which might contribute to the progression of DN. In particular, probably through destroying the podocyte characteristic cytoskeleton structure, decreasing the expression of podocyte specific molecules, and increasing the permeability of podocyte, excessive C3aR signaling contributes to the damage of glomerular podocytes.

Abstract:Cryopreservation will cause osmotic damage, toxic damage and ice crystal damage to oocytes, thus it is difficult to improve the quality of the frozen oocytes. In this paper, microfluidic and stepwise cryoprotectant (CPA) loading-unloading protocols were combined with three kinds of cryopreservation devices (OPS, QC and Cryotop) to cryopreserve the porcine oocytes for the first time. Moreover, PDMS-transparent ceramic and PDMS-glass integration microfluidic chips were employed for oocytes cryopreservation for the first time, the survival rate and development rate of cryopreserved oocytes were used to evaluate optimal cryopreservation protocol. Finally, early apoptosis rate, intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and mitochondrial membrane potential of oocytes were analyzed. The results showed that the survival rate and cleavage rate of frozen oocytes by microfluidic loading-unloading of CPAs were significantly higher than traditional loading-unloading group. Microfluidic method could reduce the early apoptosis rate, intracellular ROS and mitochondrial damage, improve the quality of frozen oocytes. The survival rate and cleavage rate of oocytes cryopreserved by PDMS-transparent ceramic integrated chip were not significantly different from traditional OPS method. Microfluidic chip technology provides a new idea for oocytes cryopreservation and has good application prospects.

Abstract:Bladder cancer (BC) is one of the most common urologic diseases. Currently, urinary cytology and urinary cystoscopy are the main clinical diagnostic approaches to BC. However, the sensitivity of urinary cytology test is poor and cystoscopy is an invasive and uncomfortable procedure. Meanwhile, patients with BC are plagued by frequent recurrences, making BC one of the most expensive malignancies to monitor. There is an urgent need for a comfortable and accurate examination method. As urine storage is the main physiological function of the bladder, urine can be exposed to the tumor entity and some of the proteins secreted by tumor are most likely to enter urine. In addition, its sampling is truly non-invasive and most patients are willing to provide urine samples. The development of proteomics technology, especially the rapid development of urine proteomics, can enable us to study urinary bladder cancer easily. This paper summarizes the main technical approaches to urine proteomics researches on BC, and focuses on its application to clinical diagnosis and treatment in order to contribute to the development of urinary bladder proteomics.