A Crucial Role of IL-17 and IFN-γ during Acute Rejection of Peripheral Nerve Xenotransplantation in Mice

Nerve injuries causing segmental loss require nerve grafting. However, autografts and allografts have limitations for clinical use. Peripheral nerve xenotransplantation has become an area of great interest in clinical surgery research as an alternative graft strategy. However, xenotransplant rejection is severe with cellular immunity, and Th1 cells play an important role in the process. To better understand the process of rejection, we used peripheral nerve xenografts from rats to mice and found that mononuclear cells expressing IFN-γ and IL-17 infiltrated around the grafts, and IFN-γ and IL-17 producing CD4+ and CD8+ T cells increased during the process of acute rejection. The changes of IL-4 level had no significant difference between xenotransplanted group and sham control group. The rejection of xenograft was significantly prevented after the treatment of IL-17 and IFN-γ neutralizing antibodies. These data suggest that Th17 cells contribute to the acute rejection process of peripheral nerve xenotransplant in addition to Th1 cells

Synthesis and anticancer activities of diquinazoline diselenides compounds

A series of novel diquinazoline diselenide compounds was designed and synthesized with substituted 4-chloroquinazoline and sodium diselenide. Their structures were confirmed by IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and elemental analyses.The antitumor activity of the new compounds was evaluated by MTT method. Compound 1a, 1c, 1h and 1i were found to have activities against MDA-MB-435, A549,MDA-MB-231, SiHa, and HeLa cells. Moreover, compared with the commercial anticancer drugs Gefitinib, Oxaliplatin,Taxol, 10-Hydroxycamptothec in, and Epirubicin Hydrochloride,1a exerted better antitumor effects on corresponding cell lines at 10 μM

Detection of limited-energy α particles using CR-39 in laser-induced p −11B reaction

Due to the harsh radiation environment produced by strong laser plasma, most of the detectors based on semiconductors cannot perform well. So, it is important to develop new detecting techniques with higher detection thresholds and highly charged particle resolution for investigating nuclear fusion reactions in laser-plasma environments. The Columbia Resin No. 39 (CR-39) detector is mainly sensitive to ions and insensitive to the backgrounds, such as electrons and photons. The detector has been widely used to detect charged particles in laser-plasma environments. In this work, we used a potassium–ethanol–water (PEW) etching solution to reduce the proton sensitivity of CR-39, by raising the detection threshold for the research of laser-induced 11B(p, α)2α reaction. We calibrated the 3–5 MeV α particles in an etching condition of 60°C PEW-25 solution (17% KOH + 25%C2H5OH + 58%H2O) and compared them with the manufacturer’s recommended etching conditions of 6.25 N NaOH aqueous solution at 98°C in our laser-induced nuclear reaction experiment. The results indicate, with the PEW-25 solution, that CR-39 is more suitable to distinguish α tracks from the proton background in our experiment. We also present a method to estimate the minimum detection range of α energy on specific etching conditions in our experiment

Surface interaction of WO3 nanocrystals with NH3. Role of the exposed crystal surfaces and porous structure in enhancing the electrical response

We report on the surface interaction between NH3 and WO3 nanoparticles having different exposed surfaces or different porous structure, to identify the relative importance of exposed crystal surfaces, porous architecture, and specific surface area in the oxide sensing properties. WO3 nanocrystals with tailored morphology and definite prominent surfaces were synthesized by hydrothermal reactions. In parallel, inverted opal macroporous WO3 films have been prepared by a one-step sol–gel procedure, and WO3 hierarchical layers have been obtained by an innovative one-step dual-templating strategy which leads to macropores and mesopores simultaneously. The performances of WO3 samples in NH3 sensing, indicate that high-energy surfaces result in a significant improvement of the electrical response. Enhanced porous structure and high surface area are not enough to produce high electrical response, while their synergistic combination with tailored crystal faceting appears effective. XPS survey performed on shape controlled WO3 nanocrystals demonstrated that, upon interaction with NH3, oxidized nitrogen atoms represent the prevalent species on the surface of rectangular (WO3-RE) nanocrystals with highly exposed high-energy {020} and {002} facets. Conversely, in the case of rectangular platelets (WO3-SS) and square platelets (WO3-RS) with very low surface area of high-energy surfaces, N–H surface groups are predominant. These results suggest that {020} and {002} crystal surfaces provide privileged reactive sites for ammonia oxidation and therefore they play a key role in driving the sensing properties of the WO3 layers

Neuronal Depolarization Induced RNA m5C Methylation Changes in Mouse Cortical Neurons

Neuronal activity is accomplished via substantial changes in gene expression, which may be accompanied by post-transcriptional modifications including RNA cytosine-5 methylation (m5C). Despite several reports on the transcriptome profiling of activated neurons, the dynamics of neuronal mRNA m5C modification in response to environmental stimuli has not been explored. Here, we provide transcriptome-wide maps of m5C modification, together with gene expression profiles, for mouse cortical neurons at 0 h, 2 h, and 6 h upon membrane depolarization. Thousands of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified during the neuronal depolarization process. In stimulated neurons, the majority of early response genes were found to serve as expression regulators of late response genes, which are involved in signaling pathways and diverse synaptic functions. With RNA bisulfite sequencing data, a union set of 439 m5C sites was identified with high confidence, and approximately 30% of them were shared by neurons at all three time points. Interestingly, over 41% of the m5C sites showed increased methylation upon neuronal activation and were enriched in transcripts coding for proteins with synaptic functions. In addition, a modest negative correlation was observed between RNA expression and methylation. In summary, our study provided dynamic transcriptome-wide landscapes of RNA m5C methylation in neurons, and revealed that mRNA m5C methylation is associated with the regulation of gene expression

Neuronal Depolarization Induced RNA m⁵C Methylation Changes in Mouse Cortical Neurons

Neuronal activity is accomplished via substantial changes in gene expression, which may be accompanied by post-transcriptional modifications including RNA cytosine-5 methylation (m5C). Despite several reports on the transcriptome profiling of activated neurons, the dynamics of neuronal mRNA m5C modification in response to environmental stimuli has not been explored. Here, we provide transcriptome-wide maps of m5C modification, together with gene expression profiles, for mouse cortical neurons at 0 h, 2 h, and 6 h upon membrane depolarization. Thousands of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified during the neuronal depolarization process. In stimulated neurons, the majority of early response genes were found to serve as expression regulators of late response genes, which are involved in signaling pathways and diverse synaptic functions. With RNA bisulfite sequencing data, a union set of 439 m5C sites was identified with high confidence, and approximately 30% of them were shared by neurons at all three time points. Interestingly, over 41% of the m5C sites showed increased methylation upon neuronal activation and were enriched in transcripts coding for proteins with synaptic functions. In addition, a modest negative correlation was observed between RNA expression and methylation. In summary, our study provided dynamic transcriptome-wide landscapes of RNA m5C methylation in neurons, and revealed that mRNA m5C methylation is associated with the regulation of gene expression