<Emphasis Type="Italic">In vitro</Emphasis> Enhancement of Lactate Esters on the Percutaneous Penetration of Drugs with Different Lipophilicity

Lactate esters are widely used as food additives, perfume materials, medicine additives, and personal care products. The objective of this work was to investigate the effect of a series of lactate esters as penetration enhancers on the in vitro skin permeation of four drugs with different physicochemical properties, including ibuprofen, salicylic acid, dexamethasone and 5-fluorouracil. The saturated donor solutions of the evaluated drugs in propylene glycol were used in order to keep a constant driving force with maximum thermodynamic activity. The permeability coefficient (K _p), skin concentration of drugs (SC), and lag time (T), as well as the enhancement ratios for K _p and SC were recorded. All results indicated that lactate esters can exert a significant influence on the transdermal delivery of the model drugs and there is a structure-activity relationship between the tested lactate esters and their enhancement effects. The results also suggested that the lactate esters with the chain length of fatty alcohol moieties of 10–12 are more effective enhancers. Furthermore, the enhancement effect of lactate esters increases with a decrease of the drug lipophilicity, which suggests that they may be more efficient at enhancing the penetration of hydrophilic drugs than lipophilic drugs. The influence of the concentration of lactate esters was evaluated and the optimal concentration is in the range of 5∼10 wt.%. In sum, lactate esters as a penetration enhancer for some drugs are of interest for transdermal administration when the safety of penetration enhancers is a prime consideration.     

酸水解蚕蛹制备复合氨基酸的研究

采用硫酸水解法,以蚕蛹制取复合氨基酸产品,得到氨基酸态氮分别为９．０５％和１３．４５％的食用复合氨基粉和精制复合氨基酸粉。食用复合氨基酸粉含有１８种氨基酸,其中必需氨基酸含量为３９．２％。食用复合氨基酸粉的制备方法经工厂小批量生产证实,其工艺简单易行,适合于中小企业采用,该产品的质量优良,生产成本低廉,具有市场竞争力。     

Potential for seed bank formation in seven Great Lakes sand dune species

Seeds of seven dune species were collected from sand dunes of Lakes Erie and Huron and buried to various depths in a natural sand dune habitat along Lake Huron. The seed samples were then retrieved after varying lengths of time and examined for their germinability and dormancy. Results showed that buried seeds remained viable for at least 2.5 years and had the potential to form a persistent seed bank. Seed banks were larger and longer lasting at greater depths of burial than those at shallow burial depths. The results suggested that failure to verify the existence of effective seed banks in previous studies may be due to insufficient number of samples, shallow sample depth, local population variations, and fruiting events. Several species also possessed a temporary, aboveground seed reserve formed by retention of a small proportion of viable seeds on the previous year's inflorescences. In some species, seeds retained aboveground were dormant and thus capable of forming a persistent seed bank when they entered the soil.     

枯草杆菌蛋白酶E的156和165位突变

应用定点突变方法,在M222A突变的枯草杆菌蛋白酶E基因上进行E156S和V165I定点突变. 将突变基因插入大肠杆菌-枯草杆菌穿梭质粒pBE-2中,在碱性和中性蛋白酶缺陷型的枯草杆菌DB104中进行表达,得到突变种(M222A,E156S)和(M222A,E156S,V165I)蛋白酶E. 性质测定表明,E156S突变使蛋白酶比活力增加90%,并不影响酶的热稳定性和抗氧化性. 而V165I突变使蛋白酶比活力降低.     

Parasite reliance on its host gut microbiota for nutrition and survival

Studying the microbial symbionts of eukaryotic hosts has revealed a range of interactions that benefit host biology. Most eukaryotes are also infected by parasites that adversely affect host biology for their own benefit. However, it is largely unclear whether the ability of parasites to develop in hosts also depends on host-associated symbionts, e.g., the gut microbiota. Here, we studied the parasitic wasp Leptopilina boulardi (Lb) and its host Drosophila melanogaster. Results showed that Lb successfully develops in conventional hosts (CN) with a gut microbiota but fails to develop in axenic hosts (AX) without a gut microbiota. We determined that developing Lb larvae consume fat body cells that store lipids. We also determined that much larger amounts of lipid accumulate in fat body cells of parasitized CN hosts than parasitized AX hosts. CN hosts parasitized by Lb exhibited large increases in the abundance of the bacterium Acetobacter pomorum in the gut, but did not affect the abundance of Lactobacillus fructivorans which is another common member of the host gut microbiota. However, AX hosts inoculated with A. pomorum and/or L. fructivorans did not rescue development of Lb. In contrast, AX larvae inoculated with A. pomorum plus other identified gut community members including a Bacillus sp. substantially rescued Lb development. Rescue was further associated with increased lipid accumulation in host fat body cells. Insulin-like peptides increased in brain neurosecretory cells of parasitized CN larvae. Lipid accumulation in the fat body of CN hosts was further associated with reduced Bmm lipase activity mediated by insulin/insulin-like growth factor signaling (IIS). Altogether, our results identify a previously unknown role for the gut microbiota in defining host permissiveness for a parasite. Our findings also identify a new paradigm for parasite manipulation of host metabolism that depends on insulin signaling and the gut microbiota.Subject terms: Animal physiology, Microbial ecology     

自然保护区管理中生态与娱乐属性的权衡:一个选择实验的应用

随着自然保护区多样化的发展以及旅游需求的日益增长,保护区管理者面临着保护生态环境与满足娱乐需求的双重压力,这使得保护区管理者需要更多的信息进行决策。以中国东北部的扎龙国家级自然保护区为例,进行了一项选择实验,选取生物多样性、预期游客数量、景区的环境教育设施、门票价格等4个属性,分别采用多项logit模型、随机参数logit模型和潜在分类模型,探究游客在可能存在冲突的管理优先级之间的偏好。目的是揭示游客如何评价保护区不同的管理属性,以及各属性的边际支付意愿和偏好,并根据这些信息制定有效的保护区管理指南。研究结果表明生物多样性是保护区游客最关注的属性,并且游客对于生态属性的关注度高于娱乐属性。因此,保护区管理者应首先维持并改善生物多样性及其生态环境,在不破坏生态环境的基础上开发具有环境教育作用的娱乐服务。此外,研究发现游客可分为生态友好型和价格敏感型两种类别,不同类型的群体对游览保护区存在不同偏好,女性和年轻的受访者对生态更友好,男性和年长的受访者对价格更敏感。本文的贡献是将某一方面属性价值的描述扩展到涵盖多个管理属性的研究,并为保护区管理中生态与娱乐的权衡问题提供了更具体的见解。     

Uncoupling of Bacterioplankton and Phytoplankton Production in Fresh Waters Is Affected by Inorganic Nutrient Limitation

Pelagic bacterial production is often positively correlated, or coupled, with primary production through utilization of autotrophically produced dissolved organic carbon. Recent studies indicate that inorganic N or P can directly limit both bacterial and phytoplanktonic growth. Our mesocosm experiments, with whole communities from mesotrophic Calder Lake, test whether this apparent bacterial-algal coupling may be the result of independent responses to limiting inorganic nutrients. In systems without N additions, numbers of bacteria but not phytoplankton increased 2- to 2.5-fold in response to P fertilization (0 to 2.0 μmol of P per liter); this resulted in uncoupled production patterns. In systems supplemented with 10 μmol of NH₄NO₃ per liter, P addition resulted in up to threefold increases in bacteria and two- to fivefold increases in total phytoplankton biomass (close coupling). P limitation of pelagic bacteria occurred independently of phytoplankton dynamics, and regressions between bacterial abundance and phytoplankton chlorophyll a were nonsignificant in all systems without added N. We describe a useful and simple coupling index which predicts that shifts in phytoplankton and bacterioplankton growth will be unrelated (Δ bacteria/Δ phytoplankton → either + ∞ or - ∞) in systems with inorganic N/P (molar) ratios of <~40. In systems with higher N/P ratios (>40), the coupling index will approach 1.0 and close coupling between bacteria and phytoplankton is predicted to occur.     

微核技术研究进展

微核试验作为检测染色体损伤最常用而有效的细胞遗传学检测方法之一,经济、简便、快速,在敏感性、特异性和准确性方面,与经典的染色体畸变分析方法基本相当。主要综述国内外微核检测技术的最新研究进展,尤其是微核的自动化检测技术。其中流式细胞仪自动化检测和激光扫描细胞仪自动化检测,以及微核试验高内涵筛选方法由于其特有的优势,应用和发展前景广阔。     

Structure insights into mechanisms of ATP hydrolysis and the activation of human heat-shock protein 90

The activation of molecular chaperone heat-shock protein 90 (Hsp90) is dependent on ATP binding and hydrolysis, which occurs in the N-terminal domains of protein. Here, we have determined three crystal structures of the N-terminal domain of human Hsp90 in native and in complex with ATP and ATP analog, providing a clear view of the catalytic mechanism of ATP hydrolysis by Hsp90. Additionally, the binding of ATP leads the N-terminal domains to be an intermediate state that could be used to partially explain why the isolated N-terminal domain of Hsp90 has very weak ATP hydrolytic activity.     

克鲁斯假丝酵母及其近似种的脉冲电泳核型分析

用钳位均匀电场脉冲电泳(CHEF)系统分析了克鲁斯假丝酵母(Candida krusei),郎比可假丝酵母(C. lambica)和粗状假丝酵母(C. valiad)的模式菌株的电泳核型,发现这三种表型相似的假丝酵母却具有互不相同的染色体DNA分子带型,为其分类学研究提供了可靠的鉴别依据。在常规分类学研究的基础上,测定了AS 2.75(原定种名为(C. incospicua),AS2.1182(原定种名为 C. lambica)和AS 2.1772(未定种)等三株假丝酵母的G+C含量和脉冲电泳核型。通过对已报道的C. inconspicu的G+C含量及上述三种假丝酵母模式菌株的脉冲电泳核型的比较分析证明,AS 2.75和AS 2.1772为粗状假丝酵母(C. valida),AS 2.1182为克鲁斯假丝酵母(C. krusei)。