The mitochondrial function was impaired in APP knockout mouse embryo fibroblast cells

The amyloid precursor protein (APP) is recognized as the source of Aβ, which plays an important role in Alzheimer’s disease. However, the biological function of APP is obscure. Previous studies showed that mitochondria could be a target of APP. In this work, APP knockout mouse embryo fibroblast (MEF) cells were used to test if APP plays any role in maintaining the mitochondrial function. As the result, APP knockout MEF cells (APP-/- cells) showed the abnormal mitochondrial function, including slower cell pr...     

Targeting of cell-surface beta-amyloid precursor protein to lysosomes: alternative processing into amyloid-bearing fragments.

Progressive cerebral deposition of the amyloid beta-peptide is an early and invariant feature of Alzheimer's disease. The beta-peptide is released by proteolytic cleavages from the beta-amyloid precursor protein (beta APP), a membrane-spanning glycoprotein expressed in most mammalian cells. Normal secretion of beta APP involves a cleavage in the beta-peptide region, releasing the soluble extramembranous portion and retaining a 10K C-terminal fragment in the membrane. Because this secretory pathway precludes beta-amyloid formation, we searched for an alternative proteolytic processing pathway that can generate beta-peptide-bearing fragments from full-length beta APP. Incubation of living human endothelial cells with a beta APP antibody revealed reinternalization of mature beta APP from the cell surface and its targeting to endosomes/lysosomes. After cell-surface biotinylation, full-length biotinylated beta APP was recovered inside the cells. Purification of lysosomes directly demonstrated the presence of mature beta APP and an extensive array of beta-peptide-containing proteolytic products. Our results define a second processing pathway for beta APP and suggest that it may be responsible for generating amyloid-bearing fragments in Alzheimer's disease.     

Degeneration in vitro of post-mitotic neurons overexpressing the Alzheimer amyloid protein precursor.

A pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease is the deposition of amyloid fibrils in the brain. The principal component of amyloid fibrils is beta/A4 amyloid protein, which can be generated by the aberrant processing of a large membrane-bound glycoprotein, the beta/A4 amyloid protein precursor (APP)3. To test whether overexpression of APP generates abnormally processed derivatives that affect the viability of neurons, we stably transfected full-length human APP complementary DNA into murine embryonal carcinoma P19 cells. These cells differentiate into post-mitotic neurons and astrocytes after exposure to retinoic acid. When differentiation of the APP cDNA-transfected P19 cells was induced, all neurons showed severe degenerative changes and disappeared within a few days. The degenerating neurons contained large amounts of APP derivatives that were truncated at the amino terminus and encompassed the entire beta/A4 domain. These results suggest that post-mitotic neurons are vulnerable to overexpressed APP, which undergoes aberrant processing to generate potentially amyloidogenic fragments.     

蝉花提取物促进酿酒酵母寿命延长的机制研究

本实验探究蝉花提取物(Cordyceps cicadae extracts,CCE)促进酿酒酵母抵抗H_2O_2诱导的氧化胁迫并延长其时序性寿命的机制.实验使用不同浓度的CCE处理酿酒酵母细胞,检测细胞的时序性寿命.然后通过H_2O_2诱导酿酒酵母细胞氧化胁迫,检测CCE处理组和不加药对照组的抗氧化胁迫能力以及细胞内的活性氧(ROS)水平的变化.酿酒酵母细胞经CCE处理后,通过实时荧光定量实验在mRNA水平检测抗氧化基因SOD2、GPX2、CTT1的表达量.结果显示CCE能够延长酿酒酵母时序性寿命,并且其作用随CCE浓度的增加而增强.此外,在H_2O_2诱导的氧化应激下,CCE预处理的细胞抗氧化胁迫能力增强,细胞内ROS水平显著降低.这些结果表明CCE延长了酿酒酵母的时序性寿命并通过上调CTT1和SOD2从而抵抗H_2O_2诱导的氧化胁迫.     

Characterization of Arabidopsis calreticulin mutants in response to calcium and salinity stresses

As an important calcium-binding protein,calreticulin plays an important role in regulating calcium homeostasis in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of plants.Here,we identified three loss-of-function mutants ofcalreticulin genes in Arabidopsis to demonstrate the function of calreticulin in response to calcium and salinity stresses.There are three genes encoding calreticulin in Arabidopsis,and they are named AtCRT1,2,and 3,respectively.We found that both single mutant of crt3 and double mutant of crtl crt2 were more sensitive to low calcium environment than wild-type Arabidopsis.Moreover,crt3 mutant showed more sensitivity to salt treatment at germination stage,but tolerance to salt stress at later stage compared with wild-type plant.However,there was no obvious growth difference in the mutant crt1 and crt2 compared with wild-type Arabidopsis under calcium and salt stresses.These results suggest that calreticulin functions in plant responses to calcium and salt stresses.     

面向计算化学研究的网格科研协同工作环境

为了促进处在不同地域的计算化学家能有效地进行协同研究,以中国教育网格公共支撑平台CGSP为网格平台开发了化学协同工作环境(CCE)系统,CCE为化学家提供了化学领域即时通信、分子可视化和脚本编辑环境等工具.提出了基于CGSP的化学协同工作环境的系统架构,扩展了Jabber/XMPP协议,从而解决了复杂二维、三维化学结构的封装解析以及网络传输问题.以抗艾滋病药物设计为实验,展示了CCE系统向CGSP提交网格作业的步骤.实验说明CCE系统在支持计算化学家之间的协同工作,以及提交网格作业等方面可以满足计算化学研究的需要.     

Photoactivated gamma-secretase inhibitors directed to the active site covalently label presenilin 1

Cleavage of amyloid precursor protein (APP) by the beta- and gamma-secretases generates the amino and carboxy termini, respectively, of the A beta amyloidogenic peptides A beta40 and A beta42--the major constituents of the amyloid plaques in the brain parenchyma of Alzheimer's disease patients. There is evidence that the polytopic membrane-spanning proteins, presenilin 1 and 2 (PS1 and PS2), are important determinants of gamma-secretase activity: mutations in PS1 and PS2 that are associated with early-onset familial Alzheimer's disease increase the production of A beta42 (refs 4-6), the more amyloidogenic peptide; gamma-secretase activity is reduced in neuronal cultures derived from PS1-deficient mouse embryos; and directed mutagenesis of two conserved aspartates in transmembrane segments of PS1 inactivates the ability of gamma-secretase to catalyse processing of APP within its transmembrane domain. It is unknown, however, whether PS1 (which has little or no homology to any known aspartyl protease) is itself a transmembrane aspartyl protease or a gamma-secretase cofactor, or helps to colocalize gamma-secretase and APP. Here we report photoaffinity labelling of PS1 (and PS2) by potent gamma-secretase inhibitors that were designed to function as transition state analogue inhibitors directed to the active site of an aspartyl protease. This observation indicates that PS1 (and PS2) may contain the active site of gamma-secretase. Interestingly, the intact, single-chain form of wild-type PS1 is not labelled by an active-site-directed photoaffinity probe, suggesting that intact wild-type PS1 may be an aspartyl protease zymogen.     

壳聚糖涂膜和复方丁香提取物处理对采后夏黑葡萄保鲜效果的影响

以九成熟的夏黑葡萄果实为试材,探讨不同质量分数(1.0%、1.5%、2.0%和2.5%)的壳聚糖涂膜和复方丁香提取物处理对采后葡萄贮藏保鲜效果的影响.结果表明:1.0%～2.5%壳聚糖和复方丁香提取物涂膜处理后均能有效延缓采后葡萄果实中可滴定酸、维生素C和多酚含量的下降,并在一定的贮藏时间内可抑制纤维素酶的活性.壳聚糖涂膜相对于复方丁香提取物处理在保持果实品质方面的效果较好,尤其是1.5%左右的壳聚糖涂膜处理效果最佳.     

热应激对果蝇早老素突变体钙电流的影响

为研究与淀粉样前体蛋白(am y lo id precursorprote in,APP)无关的早老素引发阿尔茨海默氏病(A lzhe im er’s d isease,AD)的致病机理,用双电极电压钳方法记录果蝇体壁肌肉细胞的钙通道。结果显示:在几种早老素突变体果蝇中,无论是正常条件下培养还是将幼虫暴露在持续稳定的高温下,电压激活的C a2 电流都没有受到影响。而撤去高温条件后,C a2 尾电流失活速度明显变慢,但其他过程不受影响。说明在正常或应激条件下并不需要早老素来维持C a2 通道的功能,但是在撤去应激条件后的一段时期内,早老素对于C a2 通道的正常功能是必要的。提示早老素对于细胞在波动环境中维持正常功能起重要作用。     

Spontaneous Neurotransmitter Release Depends on Intracellular Rather than ER Calcium Stores in Cultured Xenopus NMJ

Introduction During development, many cell types exhibit sponta-neous neurotransmitter release, with synaptic transmis-sions crucial for normal nervous system activity. Syn-aptic transmissions are initiated when an action poten-tial triggers the neurotran…     

锯缘青蟹对病原菌感染的急性反应功能蛋白质组

为研究锯缘青蟹对常见重要病原菌的急性反应蛋白质组．将锯缘青蟹随机分为四组．分别注射生理盐水、副溶血弧菌、鳗弧菌和嗜水气单胞菌．继而提取肌肉蛋白进行双向电泳．通过比较各组肌肉蛋白的双向电泳图谱获得三个差异表达的蛋白．对这三个差异蛋白进行肽质量指纹图谱及其生物信息分析．鉴定为Calexeitin、无翅蛋白片断、速激肽相关肽．这些结果对研究锯缘青蟹的抗病蛋白及其机理具有重要意义．     

Probing sporadic and familial Alzheimer's disease using induced pluripotent stem cells

Our understanding of Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis is currently limited by difficulties in obtaining live neurons from patients and the inability to model the sporadic form of the disease. It may be possible to overcome these challenges by reprogramming primary cells from patients into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Here we reprogrammed primary fibroblasts from two patients with familial Alzheimer's disease, both caused by a duplication of the amyloid-β precursor protein gene (APP; termed APP(Dp)), two with sporadic Alzheimer's disease (termed sAD1, sAD2) and two non-demented control individuals into iPSC lines. Neurons from differentiated cultures were purified with fluorescence-activated cell sorting and characterized. Purified cultures contained more than 90% neurons, clustered with fetal brain messenger RNA samples by microarray criteria, and could form functional synaptic contacts. Virtually all cells exhibited normal electrophysiological activity. Relative to controls, iPSC-derived, purified neurons from the two APP(Dp) patients and patient sAD2 exhibited significantly higher levels of the pathological markers amyloid-β(1-40), phospho-tau(Thr?231) and active glycogen synthase kinase-3β (aGSK-3β). Neurons from APP(Dp) and sAD2 patients also accumulated large RAB5-positive early endosomes compared to controls. Treatment of purified neurons with β-secretase inhibitors, but not γ-secretase inhibitors, caused significant reductions in phospho-Tau(Thr?231) and aGSK-3β levels. These results suggest a direct relationship between APP proteolytic processing, but not amyloid-β, in GSK-3β activation and tau phosphorylation in human neurons. Additionally, we observed that neurons with the genome of one sAD patient exhibited the phenotypes seen in familial Alzheimer's disease samples. More generally, we demonstrate that iPSC technology can be used to observe phenotypes relevant to Alzheimer's disease, even though it can take decades for overt disease to manifest in patients.     

微胶囊化山梨醇磷酸酯三聚氰胺盐阻燃聚丙烯的研究

首先研究了聚磷酸铵/季戊四醇/三聚氰胺/聚丙烯(APP/PER/MEL/PP)膨胀型阻燃体系(IFR)的物料配比对PP阻燃性能和抗拉强度的影响,获得了优化配方.然后将优化配伍的APP/PER/MEL/PP与自制的"三位一体"膨胀型阻燃剂微胶囊化山梨醇磷酸酯三聚氰胺盐(MSDM)阻燃PP(MSDM/PP)进行了比较.结果表明,MSDM对PP的阻燃效果优于APP/PER/MEL,这与MSDM中C、N、P、Cl的协效作用有关.MSDM微胶囊对PP的抗拉强度也有促进作用,这可归因于阻燃剂的微胶囊化增强了MSDM的稳定性以及MSDM与PP的相互作用.     

Membrane-anchored aspartyl protease with Alzheimer's disease beta-secretase activity

Mutations in the gene encoding the amyloid protein precursor (APP) cause autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease. Cleavage of APP by unidentified proteases, referred to as beta- and gamma-secretases, generates the amyloid beta-peptide, the main component of the amyloid plaques found in Alzheimer's disease patients. The disease-causing mutations flank the protease cleavage sites in APP and facilitate its cleavage. Here we identify a new membrane-bound aspartyl protease (Asp2) with beta-secretase activity. The Asp2 gene is expressed widely in brain and other tissues. Decreasing the expression of Asp2 in cells reduces amyloid beta-peptide production and blocks the accumulation of the carboxy-terminal APP fragment that is created by beta-secretase cleavage. Solubilized Asp2 protein cleaves a synthetic APP peptide substrate at the beta-secretase site, and the rate of cleavage is increased tenfold by a mutation associated with early-onset Alzheimer's disease in Sweden. Thus, Asp2 is a new protein target for drugs that are designed to block the production of amyloid beta-peptide peptide and the consequent formation of amyloid plaque in Alzheimer's disease.     

三种磷酸盐类阻燃剂对脲醛树脂固化过程的影响

用差示扫描量热法（ＤＳＣ）研究了三种磷酸盐类阻燃剂（磷酸二氢胺ＭＡＰ、磷酸氢二铵ＤＡＰ和聚磷酸铵ＡＰＰ）对脲醛树脂胶粘剂（ＵＦ）固化反应起始温度、反应速度以及最终固化程度的影响。结果表明：（１）ＡＰＰ和ＭＡＰ可以降低阻燃胶粘剂的ｐＨ值，而ＤＡＰ则使ｐＨ值升高；（２）ＡＰＰ和ＭＡＰ可以降低ＵＦ胶固化反应活化能，使固化反应在较低的温度下开始，但相应的阻燃ＵＦ胶最终固化程度低于不加阻燃剂的ＵＦ胶；（３）     

B群脑膜炎球菌lpxL2基因敲除突变株的构建及初步鉴定

 应用基因敲除技术的方法和原理,通过PCR扩增B群脑膜炎球菌lpxL2基因及载体pGBK T7上的Kan抗性片段,lpxL2片段与puc-18载体连接得到重组质粒msb-puc,以重组质粒msb-puc为基础,分别通过反向PCR和酶切2种方法构建lpxL2基因中间片段的缺失,并在缺失位点连入Kan抗性表达盒,从而得到重组质粒mpK,mpK转化B群脑膜炎球菌,并用PCR的方法对转化子进行初步筛选鉴定,初步确定突变株1株.本研究通过基因敲除MenB中LPS合成途径相关基因lpxL2的方法,降低LPS毒性,为B群脑膜炎球菌OMV疫苗的研发做了铺垫.     

Purification and cloning of amyloid precursor protein beta-secretase from human brain

Proteolytic processing of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) generates amyloid beta (Abeta) peptide, which is thought to be causal for the pathology and subsequent cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease. Cleavage by beta-secretase at the amino terminus of the Abeta peptide sequence, between residues 671 and 672 of APP, leads to the generation and extracellular release of beta-cleaved soluble APP, and a corresponding cell-associated carboxy-terminal fragment. Cleavage of the C-terminal fragment by gamma-secretase(s) leads to the formation of Abeta. The pathogenic mutation K670M671-->N670L671 at the beta-secretase cleavage site in APP, which was discovered in a Swedish family with familial Alzheimer's disease, leads to increased beta-secretase cleavage of the mutant substrate. Here we describe a membrane-bound enzyme activity that cleaves full-length APP at the beta-secretase cleavage site, and find it to be the predominant beta-cleavage activity in human brain. We have purified this enzyme activity to homogeneity from human brain using a new substrate analogue inhibitor of the enzyme activity, and show that the purified enzyme has all the properties predicted for beta-secretase. Cloning and expression of the enzyme reveals that human brain beta-secretase is a new membrane-bound aspartic proteinase.     

EG与APP协同阻燃硬质聚氨酯泡沫塑料燃烧及热降解机理研究

将可膨胀石墨（EG）与聚磷酸铵（APP）复合用于阻燃硬质聚氨酯泡沫（RPUF）,采用极限氧指数及锥形量热仪研究了EG/APP对RPUF燃烧性能的影响;通过扫描电镜、热失重分析及X射线光电子能谱表征了RPUF/EG/APP残炭的微观形貌、热降解行为及化学组成. 结果表明,添加质量分数20%、质量比为7:3的EG/APP阻燃RPUF的协同效果最好,氧指数可达36.0%,热释放速率最小,有一定的抑制产烟和CO释放的作用. 在阻燃RPUF燃烧过程中,EG热解残炭虽松散,但燃烧初期抑制烟气效果突出;APP残炭连续致密,但热稳定性不足,且易于生烟;而RPUF/EG/APP残炭隔热效果显著、抑制烟气效果较好. 其作用机理与多磷酸渗入EG残炭,增加了炭层的耐热性及炭层表面N/C、P/C元素摩尔比的增加有关.      

The GTP-binding protein, Go, regulates neuronal calcium channels

In neuronal cells, opioid peptides and opiates inhibit neurotransmitter release, which is a calcium-dependent process. They also inhibit adenylyl cyclase, presumably via the membrane signal-transducing component, Gi, a guanine nucleotide-binding protein (G-protein). No causal relationship between these two events has yet been demonstrated. Besides Gi, membranes of neuronal tissues contain large amounts of Go, a G-protein with unknown function. Both G-proteins are heterotrimers consisting of alpha-, beta- and gamma-subunits; the alpha-subunits can be ADP-ribosylated by an exotoxin from Bordetella pertussis (PT), which modification inhibits receptor-mediated activation of the G-protein. It was recently shown that noradrenaline, dopamine and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) inhibit the voltage-dependent calcium channels in dorsal root and sympathetic ganglia; this inhibition is mimicked by intracellular application of guanine nucleotides and blocked by PT, suggesting the involvement of a G-protein. Here we report an inhibitory effect of the opioid D-Ala2, D-Leu5-enkephalin (DADLE) on the calcium current (ICa) in neuroblastoma X glioma hybrid cells (N X G cells). Pretreatment with PT almost completely abolishes the DADLE effect. The effect is restored by intracellular application of Gi and Go. As the alpha-subunit of Go (with or without beta-gamma complex) is 10 times more potent than Gi, we propose that Go is involved in the functional coupling of opiate receptors to neuronal voltage-dependent calcium channels.     

膨胀型阻燃剂阻燃聚丙烯的研究

采用聚磷酸铵(APP)和Deflam(敌火龙)分别对聚丙烯(PP)进行了填充改性,研究了两者对PP力学性能、阻燃性能、结晶性能的影响。结果表明:在PP中分别加入APP和De-flam,都可改善PP的阻燃性能,并且后者对PP的阻燃效果更好。在阻燃性能改善的同时,复合体系的弯曲模量和弹性模量明显提高,但抗拉强度和冲击强度降低。APP和Deflam在PP中都具有成核剂作用,可使PP的结晶过程在较高温度下进行,但Deflam对PP的成核效果不如APP.