[Reversal Effect of NVP-BEZ235 on Doxorubicin-Resistance in Burkitt Lymphoma RAJI Cell Line]

OBJECTIVE

To study the reversal effect of NVP-BEZ235 on doxorubicin resistance in Burkitt lymphoma RAJI cell line.

METHODS

The doxorubicin-resistant cell line was induced by treating RAJI cells with a concentration gradient of doxorubicin. The levels of Pgp, p-AKT, and p-mTOR in cells were detected by Western blot. Cell viability was detected by MTT assay. IC50 was computed by SPSS.

RESULTS

The doxorubicin-resistant Burkitt lymphoma cell line, RAJI/DOX, was established successfully. The expression of Pgp and the phosphorylation levels of AKT and mTOR in RAJI/DOX cell line were both higher than those in RAJI cell line. NVP-BEZ235 downregulated the phosphorylation levels of AKT and mTOR in RAJI/DOX cell line. NVP-BEZ235 inhibited the proliferation of RAJI/DOX cell line, and the effect was obvious when it was cooperated with doxorubicin.

CONCLUSION

The constitutive activation of PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway of RAJI/DOX cell line was more serious than RAJI cell line. NVP-BEZ235 reversed doxorubicin resistance of RAJI/DOX cell line by inhibiting the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signal pathway.

[A preliminary study on the classification and prognosis of microcirculation alterations in patients with septic shock]

Objective: To explore the correlation between different types of microcirculation alterations and the prognosis in patients with septic shock. Methods: This research employed a prospective observational study methodology for selecting subjects with septic shock. Side-stream dark field(SDF) was used to monitor the sublingual microcirculation to determine the total vascular density (TVD), perfused vessel density (PVD), the proportion of perfused vessels (PPV), and the microvascular flow index (MFI), heterogeneity index (HI) indicators. At the bedside, patients with microcirculation disorders were divided into four types: stasis, dilution, heterogeneity, and hyperdynamic. The 30-day survival status after enrollment and hemodynamics parameters were recorded. Results: A total of 64 patients with septic shock were selected in the study, including 18 cases of stasis type, 11 of dilution type, 18 of heterogeneous type, and 17 of hyperdynamic type. There were statistical differences in the mean arterial pressure (MAP) [stasis:(77±9) mmHg (1 mmHg=0.133 kPa), dilution:(80±11) mmHg, heterogeneity: (78±12) mmHg, hyperdynamic:(88±12) mmHg], TVD [ stasis:(10.84±3.01) mm/mm², dilution:(9.64±1.72) mm/mm², heterogeneity:(11.39±2.18) mm/mm², hyperdynamic: (11.87±2.67) mm/mm² ], PVD [stasis:(5.93±1.94) mm/mm², dilution:(6.86±1.48) mm/mm², heterogeneity: (8.31±1.78) mm/mm², hyperdynamic:(9.68±2.46) mm/mm²], PPV [stasis:52.45 (46.25, 63.33)%, dilution:73.70 (61.50, 75.20)%, heterogeneity: 71.25 (67.95, 77.00)%, hyperdynamic:80.70 (77.25, 86.45)%], MFI(stasis:1.34±0.45, dilution: 1.70±0.38, heterogeneity:1.82±0.28, hyperdynamic:2.25±0.33), and HI [stasis:0.68 (0.51, 1.87), dilution: 0.57 (0.49, 0.64), heterogeneity:0.70 (0.59, 0.91), hyperdynamic: 0.40 (0.37, 0.52)] of the four types of microcirculation alterations. The cumulative survival rates in stasis, dilution, heterogeneity and hyperdynamic types at 30 day were 7/18, 4/11, 10/18 and 14/17, respectively, which in stasis and dilution types was significantly lower than that of hyperdynamic type (χ²=7.221, P=0.007;χ²=6.764, P=0.009). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed the type of microcirculation alterations (stasis:RR=4.551, 95%CI 1.228-16.864, P=0.023; dilution:RR=4.086, 95%CI 1.011-16.503, P=0.048), acute physiology and chronic health evaluation Ⅱ (RR=1.077, 95%CI 1.006-1.153, P=0.032) were independent prognostic risk factors. Conclusions: Microcirculation alterations are common in patients with septic shock, and it is hard to predict the types of microcirculation alterations with hemodynamics parameters. The prognosis of patients with septic shock is related to the types of microcirculation alterations, suggesting that routine monitoring of microcirculation might be helpful to guide hemodynamic therapy.

Effects of oregano essential oil as an antibiotic growth promoter alternative on growth performance, antioxidant status, and intestinal health of broilers

This experiment was conducted to assess the comparative effects of dietary antibiotics and oregano essential oil (OEO) addition on growth performance, antioxidant status and intestinal health of broilers. A total of 384 one-day-old broilers were randomly allocated to 4 treatments with 6 replicates of 16 broilers each. The 4 treatments were: an antibiotic-free control diet (control), control + 20 mg/kg colistin sulfate and 20 mg/kg virginiamycin (antibiotics), control + 200 mg/kg natural oregano essential oil (NOEO), and control + 200 mg/kg synthetic oregano essential oil (SOEO). The experiment lasted for 42 d. Results showed that birds fed with OEO had greater (P < 0.05) average daily gain (ADG) and lower (P < 0.05) feed conversion ratio (FCR) than those fed with control diet during d 1 to 21. Besides, birds fed with NOEO had the greatest (P < 0.05) ADG in the four groups during d 22 to 42. The serum oxidative stress parameters showed that OEO improved (P < 0.05) the activities of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione reductase (GR) of birds on day 21 and the activity of total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) of birds on d 42. Relative to control, NOEO increased (P < 0.05) the activity of T-AOC in jejunum and decreased (P < 0.05) the level of malondialdehyde (MDA) in serum and jejunum. Moreover, OEO supplementation increased (P < 0.05) the concentrations of sIgA in duodenum and jejunum, Lactobacillus and total anaerobes in cecum, as well as activities of trypsin, chymotrypsin, lipase and amylase in duodenum, but restrained (P < 0.05) the amount of Escherichia coli. The NOEO supplementation increased (P < 0.05) total anaerobes of broilers on d 42 and the villus height to crypt depth ratio (VH/CD) of ileum. These results suggest that OEO improved antioxidant status and intestinal health of broilers which contributed to the growth performance improvement of broilers. Dietary OEO supplementation can be a promising alternative to antibiotic growth promoters for improving poultry production.

[The clinical significance of transcranial Doppler in early diagnosis of sepsis-associated encephalopathy]

Objective: To investigate the clinical significance of transcranial Doppler (TCD) in early diagnosis of sepsis-associated encephalopathy(SAE). Methods: Septic patients admitted to the intensive care unit(ICU) were recruited at Xiangya Hospital, Central South University from July 2015 to March 2016. Clinical data and TCD parameters during 24 hours after admission were collected. All patients were screened for delirium using the confusion assessment method for the intensive care unit (CAM-ICU) twice a day. The gold standard of the diagnosis of SAE was positive CAM-ICU evaluation. Patients were divided into SAE group and the non-SAE group. TCD data including systolic velocity (Vs), diastolic velocity (Vd), mean velocity (Vm), pulsatility index (PI) and resistant index (RI) were analyzed to determine the optimal diagnostic cut-off value. Results: A total of 43 patients were enrolled including 12 in SAE group and 31 in non-SAE group. Vm and Vd were lower in SAE group [Vm: (53.50±12.22) cm/s vs. (61.68±9.63) cm/s, P<0.05; Vd: (33.42±10.87) cm/s vs. (43.16±7.84) cm/s, P<0.01] but PI and RI were significant higher in SAE group[PI:(1.16±0.2) vs. (0.90±0.15), P<0.01;RI:(0.65±0.08) vs. (0.56±0.06), P<0.01] than in non-SAE group. The cut-off values of Vs, Vm, Vd, PI and RI for the diagnosis of SAE were 112cm/s, 55.50cm/s, 34.50cm/s, 1.16, 0.65, respectively, with the relevant sensitivities of 19.4%, 83.9%, 93.5%, 58.3%, 58.3% and the specificities of 100.0%, 50.0%, 58.3%, 96.8%, 96.8%, respectively. The diagnostic AUC of Vd, PI and RI were 0.741, 0.808 and 0.808 respectively. Conclusions: The parameter changes of TCD suggest that the pathogenesis of SAE is related to cerebral hypoperfusion, TCD is a helpful method for the early diagnosis of SAE.

[Effect of neuroglobin on oxygen-glucose deprivation and reoxygenation induced autophagy in a human neuroblastoma cell line]

Objective: To investigate the effect of neuroglobin on oxygen-glucose deprivation and reoxygenation (OGD/R) induced autophagy in a human neuroblastoma cell line (SH-SY5Y). Methods: SH-SY5Y cells were transfected with plasmids (or vector) to establish a stable cell line of NGB overexpression (OE). After treated with OGD/R, cells were collected for the analyses of mRNA (Atg5, Atg7, BECN1 and FUNDC1) and protein levels of LC3. Furthermore, mitochondrial and cytosolic fractions were isolated for protein levels of PINK1 and Parkin. Results: Treatment of OGD/R significantly increased the levels of mRNA of Atg5, Atg7, BECN1 and FUNDC1 (peak levels were 4.90±0.71, 6.72±0.75, 2.71±0.39 and 3.96±0.78 fold, all P<0.05). The protein level of Parkin increased in mitochondria and decreased in cytoplasm after the treatment. Compared with the vector group, Ngb OE group showed a significant higher level of FUNDC1 mRNA (3.96±0.78 versus 6.86±0.63 fold, P<0.05), while Atg5, Atg7 and BECN1 mRNA levels showed no significant difference. Moreover, the mitochondrial or cytosolic protein levels of PINK1 or Parkin showed no significant difference between Ngb OE and vector group. Conclusions: Overexpression of Ngb can not affect autophagy or mitohpagy in OGD/R treated SH-SY5Y cells. Overexpression of Ngb can increase the mRNA level of FUNDC1 and the mechanism needs further study.

[Influences of DNA methylation upon neuroglobin sustained expression in oxygen- glucose deprivation model]

Objective: To investigate the influences of genomic DNA methylation upon neuroglobin sustained expression in oxygen- glucose deprivation model. Methods: With A549 cell strain as the research object, the control group were cultivated in the complete medium containing 10 μmol/L of 5-azacytidine for 4 days, and the control group was cultivated in the complete medium for 4 days.Then carried out oxygen glucose deprivation treatment for 4 h.Detecting neuroglobin expression, DNA methyltransferase expression, cell inhibition ratio and DNA methylation level at different time points. Results: DNA methylation level of the experimental group declined apparently[6 h : (1.0±0.0) vs (2.1±0.3); 12 h: ( 0.9±0.0) vs (1.4±0.0); 24 h: (0.9±0.0) vs (2.6±0.2); 36 h: (0.9±0.0) vs (2.9±0.1)], neuroglobin expression of the experimental group continued and was obviously higher than that of the control group at the same time point[NGB-PCR: 6 h: (3.3±1.1) vs (0.4±0.1); 12 h: (3.2±0.8) vs (0.1±0.1); 24 h: (4.6±0.6) vs (0.2±0.0); 36 h : (5.1±0.3) vs (0.1±0.1)], while the Cell inhibition ratio of the experimental group was obviously lower than that of the control group at the same time point[(6 h: (10.4±0.5) vs (14.1±0.7); 12 h: (22.0±1.3) vs (35.1±0.5); 24 h: (25.7±1.0) vs (40.6±1.3); 36 h: (30.0±0.8) vs (44.4±0.7)], differences had statistical significance (P<0.05).mRNA expression of three methyltransferases of the experimental group was higher than that of the control group at different time points, where, DNMT1 and DNMT3B showed great differences (P<0.05), while differences in DNMT3A of two groups had no statistical significance (P>0.05). Conclusions: In the OGD/R model of A549 cell strain, genomic DNA methylation resulted in unsustained expression of neuroglobin, but neuroglobin expression increased after demethylation inhibitor was used.

Seroprevalence and genotype of Toxoplasma gondii in pigs, dogs and cats from Guizhou province, Southwest China

BACKGROUND

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate, intracellular protozoan that infects almost all warm-blooded animals, including humans, domesticated and wild animals. Recent studies of Toxoplasma gondii isolates from animals in different regions of China have shown a limited genetic diversity with the dominance of the ToxoDB PCR-RFLP genotype #9 named as "Chinese 1". However, there is not much published information regarding its prevalence in domestic animals from Guizhou province, a subtropical region in Southwest China. The objectives of this study were to determine seroprevalence and genetic diversity of T .gondii in pigs, dogs and cats in Guizhou province, Southwest China.

FINDINGS

The anti-T. gondii IgG were detected in 70.0%(49/70) pigs, 20.56%(22/107) dogs and 63.16(12/19) cats. The anti-T. gondii IgM were found in 0.93%(1/107) dogs, 21.53%(4/19) cats, but not in pigs. In addition, the toxoplasma circulating antigen (CAG) were detected in 16.9%18/70)pigs, 13.1% (14/107) dogs and 10.5%(2/19) cats. The T. gondii DNA were detected in 31.5%(22/70) pigs, 3.7%(4/107) dogs and 52.63%(10/19) cats. Five T. gondii isolates were obtained(3 from pigs and 2 from cats). The genotype of these five isolates belonged to the predominant genotype "Chinese 1".

CONCLUSIONS

The high prevalence of T. gondii infection in pigs,cats and dogs indicated that the T. gondii infection is common in Guizhou province. Additionally, the T. gondii genotype "Chinese 1" was dominant in Southwest China.