An Evolutionarily Conserved Region in the Second lntron of the Human Nestin Gene Directs Gene Exmession to CNS Progenitor Cells and to Early Neural Ciest Cells

Central nervous system (CNS) progenitor cells transiently proliferate in the embryonic neural tube and give rise to neurons and glial cells. A characteristic feature of the CNS progenitor cells is expression of the intermediate filament nestin and it was previously shown that the rat nestin second intron functions as an enhancer, directing gene expression to CNS progenitor cells. In this report we characterize the nestin enhancer in further detail. Cloning and sequence analysis of the rat and human nestin second introns revealed local domains of high sequence similarity in the 3' portion of the introns. Transgenic mice were generated with the most conserved 714 bp in the 3' portion of the intron, or with the complete, 1852 bp, human second intron, coupled to the reporter gene lacZ. The two constructs gave a very similar nestin-like expression pattern, indicating that the important control elements reside in the 714 bp element. Expression was observed starting in embryonic day (E)7.5 neural plate, and at E10.5 CNS progenitor cells throughout the neural tube expressed lacZ. At E12.5, lacZ expression was more restricted and confined to proliferating regions in the neural tube. An interesting difference, compared to the rat nestin second intron, was that the human intron at E10.5 mediated lacZ expression also in early migrating neural crest cells, which is a site of endogenous nestin expression. In conclusion, these data show that a relatively short, evolutionarily conserved region is sufficient to control gene expression in CNS progenitor cells, but that the same region differs between rodents and primates in its capacity to control expression in neural crest cells.     

Frequency of T-Cell Progenitors in Nude Mice

The hypothesis that prothymocytes are distinct from and regulated independently of multilineage hemopoietic progenitors was tested by enumeration of these two cell populations in normal versus congenitally athymic (nude) mice. The absence of a thymus and of peripheral T cells in nude mice had no effect on the frequency of either multilineage progenitors (day 12 CFU-S) or prothymocytes (CFU-T), suggesting that there is no feedback regulation of CFU-T frequency. Thymus seeding from the bone marrow is therefore likely to be regulated by the availability of niches for prothymocyte maturation, rather than by feedback control of prothymocyte production.     

Models of Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a heterogenous disease likely to be caused by more than one specific aetiological factor. In rare familial cases of PD with similar clinical features to the idiopathic form of the disease, the underlying genetic cause has been identified. These PD-associated genes have been manipulated to create animal and cell culture models of the disease that have helped to further our understanding of the pathogenesis of PD, particularly concerning causes of the selective loss of dopaminergic neurons at the molecular level. In addition, these models will aid the future development of rational therapeutic strategies. This study briefly reviews toxin-induced models and the genetics of PD. It focuses on recently developed animal models of PD, as well as in vitro approaches to model the disease.     

人白血病细胞裸鼠异种移植模型的建立

我们成功地将人T淋巴细胞白血病细胞（MOLT－4）、人早幼粒细胞白血病细胞（HL-60）移植到裸鼠体内。裸鼠经环磷酰胺（2.5mg／只）预处理后分别将（5～10）×10~6MOLT-4细胞及（2～4）×10~7HL－60细胞移植到动物皮下能形成实体瘤，该肿瘤呈进行性生长。MOLT－肿瘤在裸鼠间连续传代4次，移植成功率为69.2％，HL-60肿瘤连续传代3次，成功率为100％。肿瘤染色体分析属于人体细胞核型，细胞学研究显示裸鼠体内MOLT-4、HL-60细胞与体外培养的细胞具有良好的一致性，故裸鼠体内MOLT-4、HL-60肿瘤模型的建立对于研究人白血病提供了有用工具。     

胃癌单克隆抗体在裸鼠移植瘤中的免疫定位和显像

本文采用Ｉｏｄｏｇｅｎ法将鼠抗人胃癌单克隆抗体ＲＳＦ９（ＩｇＭ）予以１３１Ｉ标记，研究ＲＳＦ９在荷人胃癌裸鼠中的定位和显像能力。结果表明，ＲＳＦ９在体内能特异性地与肿瘤组织结合，Ｔ／ＮＴ比值随时间延长逐渐升高，９６ｈＴ／ＮＴ比值均大于２．５，瘤／血比值为２．６９，肿瘤定位指数达５．１８，ＳＰＥＣＴ得到清晰的肿瘤图像。ＲＳＦ９具有良好的体内导向定位能力。ＩｇＭ型单抗也可用于肿瘤显像。     

小剂量氯化汞对小鼠脂质过氧化物的影响

本观察小剂量１ｍｇ／ｋｇ）ＨｇＣｌ２对小鼠肝，脑组织中脂质过氧化物（ＬＰＯ）的影响，发现小剂量ＨｇＣｌ２可使肝组织中ＬＰＯ含量明显增高，与对照组比，差异有显性（Ｐ〈０．０２５），而脑组织中ＬＰＯ含量未见明显影响（Ｐ〉０．０５）。     

人基因工程重组超氧化物歧化酶对骨髓造血干细胞的辐射防护作用

用照射小鼠的骨髓造血干细胞(CFU-S)外源性脾结节形成法,评价人基因工程重组SOD(rhSOD),聚乙二醇(PEG)修饰的长半衰期重组SOD(PEG-SOD)对CFU-S的辐射防护作用.结果显示:rhSOD和PEG-SOD均能明显提高CFU-S产率,其中rh SOD在照射前1h给药效果好,而PEG-SOD在照射前2～3h给药作用更为明显,化学修饰后SOD血浆半衰期延长,将使给药时机及药物作用持续时间得到改善.