Regulation of mouse blastocyst adhesion,outgrowth and secretion of matrix metalloproteinase-2 by cGMP and nitric oxide <Emphasis Type="Italic">in vitro</Emphasis>

Nitric oxide (NO) is a multifunctional messenger molecule produced through oxidation of L-arginine to L-citrulline by enzyme NO synthase (NOS). In the current study, mouse blastocysts were cultured in the different media, and the implantation capacity of blastocyst was evaluated by evaluating the percentage of embryos adhesion and outgrowth after culture for 12, 24 or 48 h. Matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) mRNA was detected by RT-PCR, and MMP-2 protein was detected by gelatin zymography. Inhibition of blastocyst adhesion and outgrowth was observed in embryo cultured with 500 μmol/L NOS inhibitor N^G-mono-methyI-L-arginine (L-NMMA) alone; however, 100 μmol/L S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine (SNAP), a NO donor, and 20μmol/L cGMP analogue, 8-Br-cGMP could block this inhibition. The expression and production of MMP-2 in the blastocysts were suppressed by L-NMMA, and SNAP or 8-br-cGMP could reverse this suppression. These results suggest that NO induces embryo implantation by cGMP signaling pathway.     

Effect of matrix metallo-proteinase-26 (MMP-26) during embryo implantation in the mouse

Matrix metalloproteinase-26 (MMP-26, endometase and matrilysin-2), a novel member of the MMPs family, is detected not only in the placenta and uterus, but is widely expressed in malignant tumors from different sources as well as in diverse tumor cell lines. However, the function of MMP-26 in the reproductive system has never been reported. Expression of MMP-26 in mouse embryos and the function of the MMP-26 antibody during mouse embryo implantation was examined for the first time by injecting the uterine horn, immunohistochemistry,in situ hybridization, co-culture of mouse blastocysts and uterine monolayer epithelial cells, Western blot, RT-PCR, Northern blot and zymography. Our results show that there is strong expression of MMP-26 mRNA and protein in the mouse embryo. Furthermore, the MMP-26 antibody dramatically inhibited mouse embryo implantation and significantly inhibited adhesion and outgrowth of mouse blastocysts onin vitro uterine monolayer epithelial cells. At the same time, the MMP-26 antibody inhibited the expression of integrin αV mRNA and protein in a dose-dependent manner. These data suggest that MMP-26 may play a role in some of the tissue-remodeling events associated with the invasion of the endometrium by trophoblast cells and facilitate successfully embryo implantation.     

Nitric oxide produced by cumulus cells stimulates maturation of mouse oocytes

The effect of sodium nitroprusside (SNP), a donor of nitric oxide, on meiotic maturation of mouse oocytes was studied by injecting N^w-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) intra-peritoneal (ip), a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, or culturing oocytes in the medium supplemented with L-NAME or hypoxanthine (HX) to arrest the spontaneous oocyte maturation in vitro. The results showed that the inhibitory effect of L-NAME by injecting 10 mg/kg ip on extrusion of the first polar body only could be reversed by injecting 2.5 mg/kg SNP with L-NAME simultaneously (P < 0.05). Half an hour later ten mice died when given 10 mg/kg SNP ip. The treatment of some concentrations of SNP (10^–7, 10^–6, 10^–5mol/L) significantly stimulated meiotic maturation to metaphase Ⅱ stages in cumulus enclosed oocytes in the presence of HX. However, other concentrations of SNP (10^–8, 10^–4, 10^–3 mol/L) had no effect on HX-arrested oocyte meiotic maturation. The optimal concentration of SNP on CEOs had no effect on DOs. The dose of 10^–3 mol/LL-NAME demonstrated a significant suppression in formation of PB₁, but not in GVBD. This inhibition was reversed by the addition of SNP. These results indicated that the physiological levels of NO produced by cumulus cells could stimulate meiotic maturation of mouse oocytes both in vivo and in vitro.     

NO对新生大鼠心肌细胞PKC活性的影响

利用培养新生大鼠心肌细胞，检测NO前体L-精氨酸(L-arginine,L-Arg)和NO供体硝普钠(sodium nitroprusside,SNP)对PKC活性的影响，并探讨内、外源性NO在PKC激动剂佛波指(phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate,PMA)激活PKC中的作用.实验结果表明：培养基中加入L-Arg，PKC活性呈剂量依赖性降低；用L-Arg进行预处理，30 min后加入PMA，PKC活性明显降低，与单纯PMA组相比有显著差异；NOS抑制剂L-NAME本身对基础状态PKC活性无明显影响，但可阻断L-Arg对上述2个效应的影响；培养液中加入NO供体SNP，PKC活性呈剂量依赖性降低；用SNP预处理心肌细胞，5 min后加入PMA，PKC活性与单纯PMA组相比有显著性差异.以上结果表明，内、外源性NO均具有剂量依赖性抑制PKC活性的作用，PKC可能是NO对心肌细胞作用的胞内信号传导通路的关键部位或重要信号分子之一；L-Arg通过NOS先生成NO，NO再对PKC起抑制作用.     

Nitric oxide produced by cumulus cells stimulates maturation of mouse oocytes

In recent years, embryo engineering concerning animal cloning, animal transgene and bioreactor technique has been developed rapidly. Since the operation of each of these techniques needs matured mammalian oocytes, the demand for highly qualified oocytes is expanding. On the other hand, various factors existing in follicle might be involved in oocyte meiotic maturation, and the process involved is extremely complex and inadequately defined. As a result, the mechanism of oocyte maturation regula…     

肉苁蓉水提液对猪早期体外发育胚胎中NO浓度含量的影响

目的探讨肉苁蓉水提液对猪早期体外发育胚胎中一氧化氮浓度的影响,以研究肉苁蓉促进猪胚胎发育的药理作用。方法将采集的猪卵母细胞随机分为试验组和对照组,试验组在胚胎培养时在基础液中加入50μg/mL肉苁蓉水提液。将培养至囊胚阶段的胚胎取出,用Griess试剂法测定囊胚细胞中NO含量。结果细胞中NO含量显著低于对照组(P<0.05)。结论肉苁蓉水提液减少了胚胎细胞中NO含量,这可能是其促进细胞体外发育的作用机理之一。     

Interaction between endogenous nitric oxide and carbon monoxide in the pathogenesis of hypoxic pulmonary hypertension

Hypoxic pulmonary hypertension, an important pathophysiological process in the development of a vari-ety of clinical cardiac and pulmonary diseases, has critical influence on the proceeding and prognosis of the dis- eases[1]. It is important to clarify the pathogenesis of the diseases. The discoveries of endogenous gas signal mole-cules, nitric oxide (NO) and carbon monoxide (CO), have been moving the research of hypoxic pulmonary hyper-tension to a very new phase. Our foregoing experiments …     

Protective effects of nitric oxide on salt stress-induced oxidative damage to wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) leaves

The changes of chlorophyll and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents, plasma membrane permeability confirmed that 0.1 and 1 mmol/L sodium nitroprusside (SNP), a donor of nitric oxide (NO) in vivo, could markedly alleviate the oxidative damage to wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) leaves induced by 150 and 300 mmol/L NaCl treatments, respectively. Further results proved that NO significantly enhanced the activities of Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT), both of which separately contributed to the delay of O ₂ ⁻ and H₂O₂ accumulation in wheat leaves under salt stress. Meanwhile, the accumulation of proline was apparently accelerated. Therefore, these results suggested that NO could strongly protect wheat leaves from oxidative damage caused by salt stress.     

Nitric oxide involved in signal transduction of Jasmonic acid-induced stomatal closure of Vicia faba L.

Nitric oxide (NO) and Jasmonic acid (JA) are two key signaling molecules involved in many and diverse biological pathways in plants. Growing evidence suggested that NO signaling interacts with JA signaling. In this work, Our experiment showed that NO exists in guard cell of Vicia faba L., and NO is involved in signal transduction of JAinduced stomata closuring: ( i ) JA enhances NO synthesis in guard cell; ( ii ) both JA and NO induced stomatal closure, and had dose response to their effects; ( iU ) there are synergetic correlation between JA and lower NO concentration in regulation of stomatal movement; (iV) JA-induced stomatal closure was largely prevented by 2-phenyl-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-l-oxyl-3-oxide (PTIO), a specific NO scavenger. An inhibitor of NO synthase (NOS) in mammalian cells, N^G-nitro-L-Arg-methyl eater (L-NAME) also inhibits plant NOS, repressing JA-induced NO generation and JA-induced stomatal closure. We presumed that NO mainly comes from NOS after JA treatment.     

Rearrangements of microtubule cytoskeleton in stomatal closure of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Arabidopsis</Emphasis> induced by nitric oxide

NO （nitric oxide）, known as a key signal molecule in plant, plays important roles in regulation of stomatal movement. In this study, microtubule dynamics and its possible mechanism in the NO signal pathway were investigated. The results were as follows： （i） In vivo stomatsl aperture assays revealed that both vinblastine （microtubule-disrupUng drug） and SNP （exogenous NO donor） prevented stomatsl opening in the light, and vinblastine even could enhance the inhibitory effect of SNP, whereas tsxol （a microtubule-stsbilizing agent） was able to reduce this effect; （ii） microtubules in the opening Arabi-dopsis guard cells expressing GFP：a-tubulin-6 （AtGFP：a-tubulin-6） were organized in parallel, straight and dense bundles, radiating from the ventral side to the dorsal side, and most of them were localized perpendicularly to the ventral wall; （iii） under the same environmental conditions, treated with SNP for 30 min, the radial arrays of microtubules in guard cells began to break down, twisted partially and be- came oblique or exhibited a random pattern; （iv） furthermore, the involvement of cytosolic Ca^2＋ in this event was tested. Stomatal aperture assays revealed that BAPTA-AM （a chelator of Ca^2＋） greatly suppressed the effect of NO on stomatal closure; however, it did not show the same function on stomatal closure induced by vinblastine. When BAPTA-AM was added to the SNP-pretreated solution, the SNP-induced disordered microtubulue cytoskeleton in guard cells underwent rearrangement in a time-dependent manner. After 30 min of treatment with BAPTA-AM, the cortical microtubules resumed the original radial distribution, almost the same as the control. All this indicates that NO may promote rearrangement of microtubule cytoskeleton via elevation of [Ca^2＋]cyt （free Ca^2＋ concentration in the cytoplasm）, finally leading to stomatsl closure.     

晚期糖基化终产物对大鼠阴茎海绵体组织中一氧化氮含量及其合成酶活性的影响

通过观察大鼠阴茎海绵体组织中晚期糖基化终产物(AGEs)含量的变化对一氧化氮(NO)含量及其合成酶(NOS)活性的影响,探讨AGEs在糖尿病性勃起功能障碍(DMED)发生发展中的作用.成年雄性SD大鼠60只,随机取40只用于制作糖尿病模型,造模成功的大鼠分为两组:糖尿病(DM)组和糖尿病 氨基胍给药(DM AG)组;另20只大鼠亦分为两组:正常对照(CONTROL)组和正常对照 氨基胍给药(CONTROL AG)组;氨基胍(AG)给药组大鼠造模后即在其饮水中按1 g/L剂量加入AG.饲养8周后取各组大鼠阴茎海绵体组织,匀浆后检测AGE-肽(AGE-P)含量、NO含量及各型NOS酶活性.DM组阴茎海绵体组织中AGE-P含量、NO含量及诱导型NOS(iNOS)活性明显高于CONTROL组(P＜0.05),而结构型NOS(cNOS)活性则明显低于后者(P＜0.05),而AG则明显减少了DM大鼠阴茎海绵体组织中AGE-P、NO的生成和减弱了iNOS活性,增强了cNOS活性;CONTROL组与CONTROL AG组间比较在各项指标上则无明显差异(P＞0.05).糖尿病状态下AGEs可以引起大鼠阴茎海绵体组织中cNOS活性减弱,iNOS活性增强,过量的NO生成,可能引起阴茎组织细胞的凋亡,导致阴茎勃起功能的损伤.     

Nitric oxide mediates the fungal elicitor-induced Taxol biosynthesis of Taxus chinensis suspension cells through the reactive oxygen species-dependent and -independent signal pathways

Taxol (paclitaxel, NSC-125973), a secondary me- tabolite of the Taxus species, has been recognized as one of the best anticancer drugs emerging in the last decade[1]. The production of Taxol by various Taxus spp. cells in culture has been one of the most …     

Involvement of NO in fungal elicitor-induced activation of PAL and stimulation of taxol synthesis in<Emphasis Type="Italic">Taxus chinensis</Emphasis> suspension cells

Elicitor prepared from the cell walls of Peni-cillium citrinum induces multiple responses of Taxuschinensis cells, including nitric oxide (NO) generation, se-quentially followed by the activation of PAL and synthesis oftaxol. NO scavenger cPITO and nitric oxide synthase (NOS)inhibitor PBITU prevent the latter two reactions, all of whichare triggered in the absence of elicitor by NO donor sodiumnitroprusside (SNP). The elicitor-induced NO release ofTaxus chinensis suspension cells is strongly inhibited byPBITU. These results demonstrate a causal relationship be-tween NO generation and the latter two reactions of Taxus chinensis cells to the elicitor, and also indicate that NO, pro-duced via NOS in Taxus chinensis cells treated with fungalelicitor, might act as an essential signaling molecule for trig-gering the activation of PAL and synthesis of taxol.     

新鲜冰冻血浆（FFP）通过AMPK/Akt/eNOS通路促肺内皮细胞一氧化氮释放及机制研究

探讨新鲜冰冻血浆(FFP)对人肺正常微血管内皮细胞(HPMECs)一氧化氮(NO)释放的影响及其机制.采用NO/Nitrite/Nitrate分析法检测了体外培养内皮细胞HPMECs经FFP处理后不同时间点细胞上清NO含量.结果显示:与培养基空白对照组相比,FFP显著增加内皮细胞NO生成;采用磷酸化蛋白激酶抗体芯片和免疫印迹方法筛选和鉴定FFP处理后内皮细胞相关蛋白激酶磷酸化,结果为FFP显著增加内皮细胞AMPKα1,Akt1和eNOS蛋白的磷酸化.进一步分别采用Compound C(AMPK抑制剂),LY294002(PI3K/Akt抑制剂)或L-NAME(NOS抑制剂)预处理细胞,阻挡AMPKα1/Akt1/eNOS信号转导通路.结果显示上述三种抑制剂均能抑制FFP诱导eNOS激活和NO生成,表明AMPKα1/Akt1/eNOS信号转导通路介导FFP诱导NO分泌参与血管保护.     

The expression and function of VEGF at embryo implantation “window” in the mouse

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is an endothelial cell-specific mitogen that plays a critical role in angiogenesis. Recent reports indicated that VEGF was closely involved in embryo implantation and embryonic vasculogenesis. However, very little information is available about the detailed expression and function of VEGF at implantation “window”. In this work, VEGFs were primarily present on uterine epithelial cell monolayer and blastocysts including the outgrew trophoblasts at implantation window. VEGF antibodies decreased the number of mice embryos implanted and the percentage of blastocysts with attachment and outgrowth in a co-culture model in a dose-dependant manner. These findings demonstrate that VEGF is one of the essential cytokines for embryo implanta-tion in mouse. VEGF may act as a local mediator to regulate the maternal-fetal interaction, and facilitate blastocyst implantation.     

Role of αVβ3 integrin in embryo implantation in the mouse

Integrin, a heterodimeric adhesive molecule composed of α and β subunits, can regulate cell adhesion and trafficking. Recent data have documented that, at the “implantation window” stage, α Vβ 3 integrin participates in the maternal-fetal interaction and becomes a potential marker of uterine receptivity. Furthermore, it can affect invasiveness of embryo. This work made a further study about its action mechanism. Results of indirect immunofluorescence and laser scanning confocal microscopy showed that α Vβ 3 integrin was clearly expressed in the mouse blastocyst. Injection of α Vβ 3 integrin antiserum into a uterine horn of a pregnant mouse on day 3 markedly decreased the number of embryos implanted (P < 0.001). In a co-culture model, α Vβ 3 integrin antisera at 1︰100 and 1︰200 dilutions significantly depressed the attachment and outgrowth reactions of blastocysts on monolayer of uterine epithelial cells. Analysis of correlation manifested that the inhibitory effect of α Vβ 3 integrin antiserum was dosage/dilution-dependent. Thus, α Vβ 3 integrin is an essential factor in the uterine endometrium for embryo implantation in the mouse. This integrin distinctly expressed in the mouse blastocyst at “implantation” stage affected the process of embryo implantation by route of mediating both the attachment and the outgrowth processes of blastocyst on uterine epithelial cells.     

Carbon monoxide-induced adventitious rooting of hypocotyl cuttings from mung bean seedling

Carbon monoxide (CO) and nitric oxide (NO), two diatomic gaseous molecules, belong to mid-valent ox-ide of carbon and nitrogen element, respectively. In fact, CO shares many physical and chemical properties with NO. Recent studies showed that formation of…     

Involvement of nitric oxide in the signal transduction of salicylic acid regulating stomatal movement

The effects and the relationship between sali-cylic acid(SA)and nitric oxide(NO) on Vicia faba L.stomatal movement were studied.The results here showed that exogenous SA and NO induced stomatal closure,100μmol/L SA induced a rapid and striking NO increase in the cytosol of guard cells.This phenomenon was largely prevented by 2000μmol/L 2-phenyl-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-l-oxyl-3-oxide(PTIO),a specific NO scavenger,and 25μmol/L N^G-nitro-L-Arg-methyl eater (L-NAME),an inhibitor of NO synthase(NOS) in mammalian cells that also inhibits plant NOS.In addition,SA-induced stomatal closure was largely prevented by PTIO and L-NAME.These results provide evidence that guard cells generate NO in response to SA via NOS-like activity,and that such NO production is required for full stomatal closure in response to SA.H-(1,2,4)-oxadiazole-[4,3-α]quinoxalin-l-one(ODQ),an inhibitor of guanylate cyclase,and nicotinamide,an antagonist of cADPR production,inhibited the effects of SA-and NO-induced stomatal closure.It suggests that both cGMP and cADPR might mediate the signal transduction of SA and NO-induced stomatal closure.