Estradiol Modulates the Expression Pattern of Myosin Heavy Chain Subtypes via an ERα-Mediated Pathway in Muscle-Derived Tissues and Satellite Cells

Background: Muscle-derived satellite cells (MDSCs) express MHC molecules intimately related to muscle function, which is supposed to be affected by local estrogen (E2) levels. However, cellular targets and molecular mechanisms involved are poorly understood. Methods: Genioglossus (GG) muscle tissues and MDSCs were derived from SHAM, ovariectomized or ovariectomized and 17 β-estradiol injected rats (n=10 ⁄ group). ERα, ERβ, MHC expression and underlying regulatory mechanisms were investigated by RT-PCR, western blot and immunohistochemistry, inter alia upon selective antagonist exposure and Si-RNA transfection. MDSC viability and cell cycle were examined by MTT and flow cytometry. Results: E2 upregulated MHC-I and downregulated MHC-IIb expression in MDSCs. E2 mediated effects on these molecules were inhibited by ERα-selective antagonist MPP and si-ERα, whereas they persisted upon exposure to ERβ-selective antagonist PHTPP. ERα was significantly higher expressed in muscle tissues compared to ERβ. ER positive stainings were fewer in the ovariectomized than in the SHAM group. Injection of E2 only increased the positive staining of ERα, but not of ERβ. Conclusion: Results suggest that E2 regulates MHC expression mainly through an ERα-mediated pathway with opposing effects on MHC-I and MHC-IIb. Thus, different hormonal processes that impact muscular pathophysiology presumably govern the functional properties of these molecules

Computational fluid dynamics simulation of changes in the morphology and airflow dynamics of the upper airways in OSAHS patients after treatment with oral appliances.

OBJECTIVES:To explore the changes of morphology and internal airflow in upper airways (UA) after the use of oral appliances (OAs) in patients with obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS), and investigate the mechanisms by which OAs function as a therapy for OSAHS. METHODS:Eight OSAHS patients (all male, aged 37-58, mean age 46.25) underwent CT scans before and after OA use. Then, computational fluid dynamics(CFD) models were built on the base of the CT scans using Mimics and ANSYS ICEM CFD software. The internal airflow of the upper airways was simulated using ANSYS-FLUENT and the results were analyzed using ANSYS-CFD-Post. The data were analyzed to identify the most important changes of biomechanical properties between patients with and without OA intervention. Upper airway morphology and the internal airflow changes were compared using t-tests and Spearman correlation coefficient analysis. RESULTS:The narrowest area of upper airways was found to be located in the lower bound of velopharynx, where the volume and pressure were statistically significantly increased (P<0.05) and the air velocity was statistically significantly decreased (P<0.05) in the presence of the OA(P<0.05). After wearing OA, pharyngeal resistance was significantly decreased (P<0.05), from 290.63 to 186.25Pa/L, and the airflow resistance of the pharynx has reduced by 35.9%. CONCLUSION:The enlargement of the upper airway after wearing the OA changed its airflow dynamics, which decreased the negative pressure and resistance in narrow areas of the upper airways. Thus, the collapsibility of the upper airways was reduced and patency was sustained

Notch1 signaling regulates the proliferation and self-renewal of human dental follicle cells by modulating the G1/S phase transition and telomerase activity

Multipotent human dental follicle cells (HDFCs) have been intensively studied in periodontal regeneration research, yet the role of Notch1 in HDFCs has not been fully understood. The aim of the current study is to explore the role of Notch1 signaling in HDFCs self-renewal and proliferation. HDFCs were obtained from the extracted wisdom teeth from adolescent patients. Regulation of Notch1 signaling in the HDFCs was achieved by overexpressing the exogenous intracellular domain of Notch1 (ICN1) or silencing Notch1 by shRNA. The regulatory effects of Notch1 on HDFC proliferation, cell cycle distribution and the expression of cell cycle regulators were investigated through various molecular technologies, including plasmid construction, retrovirus preparation and infection, qRT-PCR, western blot, RBP-Jk luciferase reporter and cell proliferation assay. Our data clearly show that constitutively activation of Notch1 stimulates the HDFCs proliferation while inhibition of the Notch1 suppresses their proliferation in vitro. In addition, the HDFCs proliferation is associated with the increased expression of cell cycle regulators, e.g. cyclin D1, cyclin D2, cyclin D3, cyclin E1, CDK2, CDK4, CDK6, and SKP2 and the decreased expression of p27 kip1. Moreover, our data show that the G1/S phase transition (indicating proliferation) and telomerase activity (indicating self-renewal) can be enhanced by overexpression of ICN1 but halted by inhibition of Notch1. Together, the current study provides evidence for the first time that Notch1 signaling regulates the proliferation and self-renewal capacity of HDFCs through modulation of the G1/S phase transition and the telomerase activity

A Novel Low-Power-Consumption All-Fiber-Optic Anemometer with Simple System Design

A compact and low-power consuming fiber-optic anemometer based on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) coated tilted fiber Bragg grating (TFBG) is presented. TFBG as a near infrared in-fiber sensing element is able to excite a number of cladding modes and radiation modes in the fiber and effectively couple light in the core to interact with the fiber surrounding mediums. It is an ideal in-fiber device used in a fiber hot-wire anemometer (HWA) as both coupling and sensing elements to simplify the sensing head structure. The fabricated TFBG was immobilized with an SWCNT film on the fiber surface. SWCNTs, a kind of innovative nanomaterial, were utilized as light-heat conversion medium instead of traditional metallic materials, due to its excellent infrared light absorption ability and competitive thermal conductivity. When the SWCNT film strongly absorbs the light in the fiber, the sensor head can be heated and form a “hot wire”. As the sensor is put into wind field, the wind will take away the heat on the sensor resulting in a temperature variation that is then accurately measured by the TFBG. Benefited from the high coupling and absorption efficiency, the heating and sensing light source was shared with only one broadband light source (BBS) without any extra pumping laser complicating the system. This not only significantly reduces power consumption, but also simplifies the whole sensing system with lower cost. In experiments, the key parameters of the sensor, such as the film thickness and the inherent angle of the TFBG, were fully investigated. It was demonstrated that, under a very low BBS input power of 9.87 mW, a 0.100 nm wavelength response can still be detected as the wind speed changed from 0 to 2 m/s. In addition, the sensitivity was found to be −0.0346 nm/(m/s) under the wind speed of 1 m/s. The proposed simple and low-power-consumption wind speed sensing system exhibits promising potential for future long-term remote monitoring and on-chip sensing in practical applications

A Novel Fiber Optic Surface Plasmon Resonance Biosensors with Special Boronic Acid Derivative to Detect Glycoprotein

We proposed and demonstrated a novel tilted fiber Bragg grating (TFBG)-based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) label-free biosensor via a special boronic acid derivative to detect glycoprotein with high sensitivity and selectivity. TFBG, as an effective sensing element for optical sensing in near-infrared wavelengths, possess the unique capability of easily exciting the SPR effect on fiber surface which coated with a nano-scale metal layer. SPR properties can be accurately detected by measuring the variation of transmitted spectra at optical communication wavelengths. In our experiment, a 10° TFBG coated with a 50 nm gold film was manufactured to stimulate SPR on a sensor surface. To detect glycoprotein selectively, the sensor was immobilized using designed phenylboronic acid as the recognition molecule, which can covalently bond with 1,2- or 1,3-diols to form five- or six-membered cyclic complexes for attaching diol-containing biomolecules and proteins. The phenylboronic acid was synthetized with long alkyl groups offering more flexible space, which was able to improve the capability of binding glycoprotein. The proposed TFBG-SPR sensors exhibit good selectivity and repeatability with a protein concentration sensitivity up to 2.867 dB/ (mg/mL) and a limit of detection (LOD) of 15.56 nM

hTERT mRNA expression levels and telomerase activities in different HDFC groups.

<p>The HDFC-C, HDFC-GFP, HDFC-ICN, HDFC-CS and HDFC-NS cells were cultured in DMEM containing 10% FBS. At approximately 80% confluence, the cells were starved for an additional 24 h and harvested for qPCR and telomerase activity assays. (<b>A</b>) qPCR analysis of hTERT transcript levels in different HDFC groups. The data are normalized to β-actin levels and presented as mean values ± SD of three independent experiments. *<i>P</i><0.05, ^#<i>P</i><0.01. (<b>B</b>) Relative telomerase activity by TRAP-ELISA assays in different HDFC groups. The data are presented as mean values ± SD of three independent experiments and the telomerase activity in HDFC-C cells was considered as 100% for comparison with the other four groups. *<i>P</i><0.05, ^#<i>P</i><0.01.</p