Application of near-infrared hyperspectral imaging to discriminate different geographical origins of Chinese wolfberries

<div><p>Near-infrared (874–1734 nm) hyperspectral imaging (NIR-HSI) technique combined with chemometric methods was used to trace origins of 1200 Chinese wolfberry samples, which from Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Sinkiang and Qinghai in China. Two approaches, named pixel-wise and object-wise, were investigated to discriminative the origin of these Chinese wolfberries. The pixel-wise classification assigned a class to each pixel from individual Chinese wolfberries, and with this approach, the differences in the Chinese wolfberries from four origins were reflected intuitively. Object-wise classification was performed using mean spectra. The average spectral information of all pixels of each sample in the hyperspectral image was extracted as the representative spectrum of a sample, and then discriminant analysis models of the origins of Chinese wolfberries were established based on these average spectra. Specifically, the spectral curves of all samples were collected, and after removal of obvious noise, the spectra of 972–1609 nm were viewed as the spectra of wolfberry. Then, the spectral curves were pretreated with moving average smoothing (MA), and discriminant analysis models including support vector machine (SVM), neural network with radial basis function (NN-RBF) and extreme learning machine (ELM) were established based on the full-band spectra, the extracted characteristic wavelengths from loadings of principal component analysis (PCA) and 2nd derivative spectra, respectively. Among these models, the recognition accuracies of the calibration set and prediction set of the ELM model based on extracted characteristic wavelengths from loadings of PCA were higher than 90%. The model not only ensured a high recognition rate but also simplified the model and was conducive to future rapid on-line testing. The results revealed that NIR-HSI combined with PCA loadings-ELM could rapidly trace the origins of Chinese wolfberries.</p></div

Schematic diagram of the primary components of the hyperspectral imaging device.

<p>All primary components were listed.</p

Classification results of discriminant models based on full spectra.

<p>Classification results of discriminant models based on full spectra.</p

Classification results of discriminant models based on characteristic wavelengths.

<p>Classification results of discriminant models based on characteristic wavelengths.</p

Attributes of selected characteristic wavelengths.

<p>Attributes of selected characteristic wavelengths.</p

Mean reflectance spectra of wolfberries from different geographical origins in the range of 972–1609 nm.

<p>The noise from the front and back ends of the spectral curves was removed, and the spectra were pretreated with moving average smoothing (MA).</p

Score images for the first five principal components.

<p>The changes of color represent internal distributions in Chinese wolfberries from four different origins.</p

The Hippo/MST Pathway Member SAV1 Plays a Suppressive Role in Development of the Prehierarchical Follicles in Hen Ovary

<div><p>The Hippo/MST signaling pathway is a critical player in controlling cell proliferation, self-renewal, differentiation, and apoptosis of most tissues and organs in diverse species. Previous studies have shown that Salvador homolog 1 (SAV1), a scaffolding protein which functions in the signaling system is expressed in mammalian ovaries and play a vital role in governing the follicle development. But the exact biological effects of chicken SAV1 in prehierarchical follicle development remain poorly understood. In the present study, we demonstrated that the SAV1 protein is predominantly expressed in the oocytes and undifferentiated granulosa cells in the various sized prehierarchical follicles of hen ovary, and the endogenous expression level of <i>SAV1</i> mRNA appears down-regulated from the primordial follicles to the largest preovulatory follicles (F2-F1) by immunohistochemistry and real-time RT-PCR, respectively. Moreover, we found the intracellular SAV1 physically interacts with each of the pathway members, including STK4/MST1, STK3/MST2, LATS1 and MOB2 using western blotting. And SAV1 significantly promotes the phosphorylation of LATS1 induced by the kinase of STK4 or STK3 in vitro. Furthermore, SAV1 knockdown by small interfering RNA (siRNA) significantly increased proliferation of granulosa cells from the prehierarchical follicles (6–8 mm in diameter) by BrdU-incorporation assay, in which the expression levels of <i>GDF9</i>, <i>StAR</i> and <i>FSHR</i> mRNA was notably enhanced. Meanwhile, these findings were consolidated by the data of SAV1 overexpression. Taken together, the present results revealed that SAV1 can inhibit proliferation of the granulosa cells whereby the expression levels of <i>GDF9</i>, <i>StAR</i> and <i>FSHR</i> mRNA were negatively regulated. Accordingly, SAV1, as a member of the hippo/MST signaling pathway plays a suppressive role in ovarian follicle development by promoting phosphorylation and activity of the downstream LATS1, may consequently lead to prevention of the follicle selection during ovary development.</p></div

Beraprost inhibited Ang II-induced cardiac fibroblasts proliferation.

<p>(A) Neonatal rat cardiac fibroblasts were pre-treated with different concentrations of beraprost for 4 h followed by Ang II (100 nM) stimulation for an additional 24 h. The number of cells was represented as an OD value using a cell count assay. (B) Content of hydroxyproline in cell culture medium was determined. (C) Neonatal rat cardiac fibroblasts were pre-treated with beraprost (10 µM) for different times followed by Ang II (100 nM) stimulation for an additional 24 h. The number of cells was represented as an OD value. (D) Content of hydroxyproline in cell culture medium was determined. Values are expressed as mean ± SEM. Cells treated with culture medium served as a vehicle control (con). ^**<i>P</i><0.01, compared with con, ^#<i>P</i><0.05, ^##<i>P</i><0.01 compared with only Ang II stimulated group. n = 4–5.</p

Primer pairs designed for quantitative real-time PCR.

<p>Primer pairs designed for quantitative real-time PCR.</p