Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine disease of the female reproductive system that seriously affects women's health. Berberine (BBR) has many pharmacological properties and is used ...as an insulin sensitizer. This study aimed to investigate the effect of BBR on PCOS and explore its related mechanisms.
Forty-two rats were randomly divided into the following six groups (n = 7 per group): control, control + BBR, PCOS-normal diet (ND), PCOS-ND + BBR, PCOS-high-fat diet (HFD), and PCOS-HFD + BBR. The PCOS rat models were established by injecting rats with dehydroepiandrosterone. Further, the rats were gavaged with BBR (150 mg/kg/d) for 6 weeks. Then, the body weight, HOMA-IR, and testosterone levels of all rats were determined. Cell apoptosis of ovary granulosa cells was determined by a TUNEL assay kit. Real-time quantification PCR (RT-qPCR) and western blotting were utilized to evaluate the expression of TLR4, LYN, PI3K, Akt, NF-kB, TNF-α, IL-1, IL-6, and caspase-3.
BBR reduced the levels of insulin resistance and testosterone in PCOS rats. Additionally, the cell apoptosis rate increased significantly in PCOS rats (P < 0.05) and decreased after BBR treatment (P < 0.05). The results of RT-qPCR and western blotting showed that the expression levels of TLR4, LYN, PI3K, Akt, NF-kB, TNF-α, IL-1, IL-6, and caspase-3 significantly increased in PCOS rats, while BBR suppressed their expression levels.
BBR may relieve PCOS pathology and IR values by inhibiting cell apoptosis and by regulating the expression levels of TLR4, LYN, PI3K, Akt, NF-kB, TNF-α, IL-1, IL-6, and caspase-3.
Neurons in higher cortical areas, such as the prefrontal cortex, are often tuned to a variety of sensory and motor variables, and are therefore said to display mixed selectivity. This complexity of ...single neuron responses can obscure what information these areas represent and how it is represented. Here we demonstrate the advantages of a new dimensionality reduction technique, demixed principal component analysis (dPCA), that decomposes population activity into a few components. In addition to systematically capturing the majority of the variance of the data, dPCA also exposes the dependence of the neural representation on task parameters such as stimuli, decisions, or rewards. To illustrate our method we reanalyze population data from four datasets comprising different species, different cortical areas and different experimental tasks. In each case, dPCA provides a concise way of visualizing the data that summarizes the task-dependent features of the population response in a single figure.
The molecular mechanism controlling the zygotic genome activation (ZGA) in mammals remains poorly understood. The 2-cell (2C)-like cells spontaneously emerging from cultures of mouse embryonic stem ...cells (ESCs) share some key transcriptional and epigenetic programs with 2C-stage embryos. By studying the transition of ESCs into 2C-like cells, we identified developmental pluripotency associated 2 and 4 (Dppa2/4) as important regulators controlling zygotic transcriptional program through directly up-regulating the expression of double homeobox (Dux). In addition, we found that DPPA2 protein is sumoylated and its activity is negatively regulated by small ubiquitin-like modifier (Sumo) E3 ligase protein inhibitor of activated STAT 4 (PIAS4). PIAS4 is down-regulated during ZGA process and during transitioning of ESCs into 2C-like cells. Depleting Pias4 or overexpressing Dppa2/4 is sufficient to activate 2C-like transcriptional program, whereas depleting Dppa2/4 or forced expression of Pias4 or Sumo2-Dppa2 inhibits 2C-like transcriptional program. Furthermore, ectopic expression of Pias4 or Sumo2-Dppa2 impairs early mouse embryo development. In summary, our study identifies key molecular rivals consisting of transcription factors and a Sumo2 E3 ligase that regulate zygotic transcriptional program upstream of Dux.
Novel alginate/melamine/chitosan aerogel with high efficiency and selectivity for Pb(II) ions absorption.
Display omitted
•Novel alginate/melamine/chitosan aerogel for efficient Pb(II) removal.•The ...adsorption capacity for Pb(II) ions with SA/ME/CS beads can reach 1331.6 mg/g.•The absorbents maintain well performance more than eight cycles.•Well selective adsorption ability for Pb(II) among ion competition systems.
Superior mechanical properties, high adsorption capacity, and excellent regeneration property are crucial design criterions to develop a new-type aerogel for adsorptive applications towards heavy metal removal from water. Herein, chitosan and melamine not only introduced abundant functional groups to increase adsorbing sites for lead ions, but also reinforced the three-dimensional network skeleton structure of absorbents to improve the service life in adsorption applications. As-fabricated alginate/melamine/chitosan aerogel can extract Pb (II) from aqueous solution efficiently, i.e., the optimum adsorption quantity of 1331.6 mg/g at pH 5.5, which exhibited excellent and selective adsorption capacity for Pb (II) against the competition of coexisting divalent metal ions. More importantly, alginate/melamine/chitosan aerogel could be regenerated using dilute acidic solution and recovered well after eight adsorption-desorption cycles. This work might offer a new idea for design and preparation of biomass-based aerogel sorbents with promising prospect in the remediation of Pb (II)-contaminated wastewater.
Training in working memory tasks is associated with lasting changes in prefrontal cortical activity. To assess the neural activity changes induced by training, we recorded single units, multi-unit ...activity (MUA) and local field potentials (LFP) with chronic electrode arrays implanted in the prefrontal cortex of two monkeys, throughout the period they were trained to perform cognitive tasks. Mastering different task phases was associated with distinct changes in neural activity, which included recruitment of larger numbers of neurons, increases or decreases of their firing rate, changes in the correlation structure between neurons, and redistribution of power across LFP frequency bands. In every training phase, changes induced by the actively learned task were also observed in a control task, which remained the same across the training period. Our results reveal how learning to perform cognitive tasks induces plasticity of prefrontal cortical activity, and how activity changes may generalize between tasks.
Neochlorogenic acid (nCGA) is a phenolic compound isolated from mulberry leaf (
), which possesses multiple pharmacological activities containing antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. However, ...the role of nCGA in the treatment of acute pneumonia and the underlying molecular mechanism are still unclear. Hence, the aim of study is to investigate the anti-inflammatory properties of nCGA on LPS-stimulated inflammation in A549 cells. In the present study, results reported that nCGA without cytotoxicity significantly reduced the production of TNF-α, IL-6, and NO, and further suppressed the proteins of iNOS, COX2, TNF-α, IL-6 expression. Furthermore, nCGA also inhibited NF-κB activation and blocked MAPKs signaling pathway phosphorylation. In addition, we found nCGA significantly increased the expression of HO-1 via activating the AMPK/Nrf2 signaling pathway to attenuate the inflammatory response, whereas this protective effect of nCGA was reversed by pre-treatment with compound C (C.C, an AMPK inhibitor). Therefore, all these results indicated that nCGA might act as a natural anti-inflammatory agent for the treatment of acute pneumonia.
WRKY transcription factors (TFs) play important roles in stress responses in planta. However, the function of WRKY TFs in the regulation of fruit ripening is unclear. Here, 23 tomato SlWRKYs that are ...similar to ethylene-responsive WRKY genes from other plant species, or show up-regulation during fruit ripening in previous genome-wide study, were selected, and their function in fruit ripening was investigated. Twelve SlWRKYs were found to be responsive to ethylene (SlER-WRKYs), showing expression patterns similar to those of genes related to fruit ripening. Eight SlER-WRKYs-SlWRKY16, 17, 22, 25, 31, 33, 53, and 54, detected in the nuclei-interacted with and activated the promoters of 4 genes related to color change: Pheophytin Pheophorbide Hydrolase (SlPPH), Pheophorbide a Oxygenase (SlPAO), Phytoene Synthase 1 (SlPSY1) and Phytoene Desaturase (SlPDS). Yeast two-hybrid and bimolecular fluorescence complement (BiFC) assays in Arabidopsis protoplasts indicated that protein interactions occurred between SlWRKY17 and SlRIN, SlERF2b or SlERF7; SlWRKY33 and SlERF7; SlWRKY54 and SlERF2b; and SlWRKY16 and SlWRKY17. Suppression of SlWRKY 16, 17, 53 or 54 by virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) retarded the red coloration of the fruit. Our study provides comprehensive molecular evidence that WRKY TFs function in fruit ripening, particularly in color change, and are linked to the intricate regulatory network of other ripening regulators.
Abstract
The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) plays a critical role in spatial working memory and its activity predicts behavioral responses in delayed response tasks. Here, we addressed if ...this predictive ability extends to other working memory tasks and if it is present in other brain areas. We trained monkeys to remember the location of a stimulus and determine whether a second stimulus appeared at the same location or not. Neurophysiological recordings were performed in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and posterior parietal cortex (PPC). We hypothesized that random drifts causing the peak activity of the network to move away from the first stimulus location and toward the location of the second stimulus would result in categorical errors. Indeed, for both areas, in nonmatching trials, when the first stimulus appeared in a neuron’s preferred location, the neuron showed significantly higher firing rates in correct than in error trials; and vice versa, when the first stimulus appeared at a nonpreferred location, activity in error trials was higher than in correct. The results indicate that the activity of both dlPFC and PPC neurons is predictive of categorical judgments of information maintained in working memory, and neuronal firing rate deviations are revealing of the contents of working memory.
Constructing ambient‐stable, single‐atom‐layered metal‐based materials with atomic precision and understanding their underlying stability mechanisms are challenging. Here, stable single‐atom‐layered ...nanoclusters of Pd were synthesized and precisely characterized through electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and single‐crystal X‐ray crystallography. A pseudo‐pentalene‐like Pd8 unit was found in the nanocluster, interacting with two syn PPh units through nonmetal‐to‐metal ‐ring coordination. The unexpected coordination, which is distinctly different from the typical organoring‐to‐metal coordination in half‐sandwich‐type organometallic compounds, contributes to the ambient stability of the as‐obtained single‐atom‐layered nanocluster as revealed through theoretical and experimental analyses. Furthermore, quantum chemical calculations revealed dominant electron transition along the horizontal x‐direction of the Pd8 plane, indicating high photothermal conversion efficiency (PCE) of the nanocluster, which was verified by the experimental PCE of 73.3 %. Therefore, this study unveils the birth of a novel type of compound and the finding of the unusual nonmetal‐to‐metal ‐ring coordination and has important implications for future syntheses, structures, properties, and structure–property correlations of single‐atom‐layered metal‐based materials.
Ambient‐stable, single‐atom‐layered Pd nanoclusters are synthesized and precisely characterized. Nonmetal‐to‐metal‐ ring coordination is reported, which contributes to the exceptional stability of the as‐obtained nanocluster, as revealed through theoretical and experimental analyses. Furthermore, the horizontal electron transition induces superb photothermal conversion efficiency of 73.3 %.
PDF
