Tetrandrine Suppresses Human Brain Glioblastoma GBM 8401/luc2 Cell-Xenografted Subcutaneous Tumors in Nude Mice In Vivo

Tetrandrine (TET), a bisbenzylisoquinoline (BBI) alkaloid, is isolated from the plant Stephania tetrandra S. Moore and has a wide range of biological activity, including anticancer properties in vitro and in vivo. At first, we established a luciferase-expressing stable clone that was named GBM 8401/luc2 cells. Herein, the primary results indicated that TET reduced the total cell viability and induced cell apoptosis in GBM 8401/luc2 human glioblastoma cells. However, there is no available information showing that TET suppresses glioblastoma cells in vivo. Thus, we investigated the effects and mechanisms of TET on a GBM 8401/luc2 cell-generated tumor in vivo. After the tumor volume reached 100–120 mm³ in subcutaneously xenografted nude mice, all of the mice were randomly divided into three groups: Group I was treated with phosphate-buffered solution (PBS) containing 0.1% dimethyl sulfoxide, Group II with 25 mg/kg of TET, and Group III with 50 mg/kg of TET. All mice were given the oral treatment of PBS or TET by gavage for 21 days, and the body weight and tumor volumes were recorded every 5 days. After treatment, individual tumors, kidneys, livers, and spleens were isolated from each group. The results showed that TET did not affect the body weights, but it significantly decreased the tumor volumes. The TET treatment at 50 mg/kg had a two-fold decrease in tumor volumes than that at 25 mg/kg when compared to the control. TET decreased the total photon flux, and treatment with TET at 50 mg/kg had a lower total photon flux than that at 25 mg/kg, as measured by a Xenogen IVIS imaging system. Moreover, the higher TET treatment had lower tumor volumes and weights than those of the lower dose. The apoptosis-associated protein expression in the tumor section was examined by immunohistochemical analysis, and the results showed that TET treatment reduced the levels of c-FLIP, MCL-1, and XIAP but increased the signals of cleaved-caspase-3, -8, and -9. Furthermore, the hematoxylin and eosin (H & E) staining of kidney, liver, and spleen tissues showed no significant difference between the TET-treated and control groups. Overall, these observations demonstrated that TET suppressed subcutaneous tumor growth in a nude-mice model via the induction of cell apoptosis.     

Bio‐orthogonal AIE Dots Based on Polyyne‐Bridged Red‐emissive AIEgen for Tumor Metabolic Labeling and Targeted Imaging

In this work, we aim to develop cancer cell‐targeting AIE dots based on a polyyne‐bridged red‐emissive AIEgen, 2TPE‐4E, through the combination of metabolic engineering and bio‐orthogonal reactions. Azide groups on a tumor were efficiently produced by intravenous injection of Ac4ManNAz and glycol‐metabolic engineering. These bio‐orthogonal azide groups could facilitate the specific targeting of DBCO‐AIE dots to the tumor cells undergoing metal‐free click reaction in vivo. The efficiency of this targeting strategy could be further improved with the development of new bio‐orthogonal chemical groups with higher reactivity and a large amount of AIEgens could be delivered to the tumor for diagnosis.     

STZ诱导大鼠1型糖尿病进行性脑萎缩的磁共振成像及组织化学研究

1型糖尿病(T1DM)是一种慢性代谢疾病,主要表现为胰岛素分泌量较正常情况下降,会对人体的多个器官和系统造成持续性的损伤．关于糖尿病的横向研究发现糖尿病患者相比于正常人存在着显著的脑萎缩,但关于糖尿病引起的脑萎缩随时间发生进行性改变的研究比较少见．实验采用腹腔注射链脲佐菌素(STZ)来诱导建立大鼠的1型糖尿病模型,运用磁共振成像(MRI)的方法对萎缩的脑区进行定位并在造模后12周和20周两个时间点对脑萎缩的程度进行对比分析,然后运用组织化学染色的方法观察在MRI上出现进行性萎缩的脑区中的神经元所发生的病理改变．MRI的结果表明：STZ诱导的T1DM大鼠相比于正常对照组大鼠出现了显著性的全脑体积、灰质体积和白质体积的萎缩,并且在多个白质脑区和灰质脑区均出现了萎缩程度随着病程的延长而逐渐加重．组织化学染色的结果发现,STZ诱导的T1DM大鼠相对于正常对照组大鼠在体感皮层、运动皮层和海马CA3区,均出现明显的神经元萎缩现象．     

Extreme softness of brain matter in simple shear

We show that porcine brain matter can be modelled accurately as a very soft rubber-like material using the Mooney–Rivlin strain energy function, up to strains as high as 60%. This result followed from simple shear experiments performed on small rectangular fresh samples (2.5 cm³ and 1.1 cm³) at quasi-static strain rates. They revealed a linear shear stress–shear strain relationship $(R^2>0.97)$, characteristic of Mooney–Rivlin materials at large strains. We found that porcine brain matter is about 30 times less resistant to shear forces than a silicone gel. We also verified experimentally that brain matter exhibits the positive Poynting effect of non-linear elasticity, and numerically that the stress and strain fields remain mostly homogeneous throughout the thickness of the samples in simple shear.     

A Simple HPLC/DAD Method Validation for the Quantification of Malondialdehyde in Rodent’s Brain

In the present study, a HPLC/DAD method was set up to allow for the determination and quantification of malondialdehyde (MDA) in the brain of rodents (rats). Chromatographic separation was achieved on Supelcosil LC-18 (3 μm) SUPELCO Column 3.3 cm × 4.6 mm and Supelco Column Saver 0.5 μm filter by using a mobile phase acetonitrile (A) and phosphate buffer (20 mM, pH = 6) (B). Isocratic elution was 14% for (A) and 86% for (B). The injection volume (loop mode) was 100 μL with an analysis time of 1.5 min. Flow rate was set at 1 mL/min. The eluted compound was detected at 532 nm by a DAD detector by keeping the column oven at room temperature. The results indicated that the method has good linearity in the range of 0.2–20 μg/g. Both intra- and inter-day precision, expressed as RSD, were ≤15% and the accuracies ranged between ±15%. The lower limit of quantification (LLOQ), stability, and robustness were evaluated and satisfied the validation criteria. The method was successfully applied in a study of chronic toxicology following different treatment regimens with haloperidol and metformin.     

Enhancing the discrimination accuracy between metastases, gliomas and meningiomas on brain MRI by volumetric textural features and ensemble pattern recognition methods

Three-dimensional (3D) texture analysis of volumetric brain magnetic resonance (MR) images has been identified as an important indicator for discriminating among different brain pathologies. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of 3D textural features using a pattern recognition system in the task of discriminating benign, malignant and metastatic brain tissues on T1 postcontrast MR imaging (MRI) series. The dataset consisted of 67 brain MRI series obtained from patients with verified and untreated intracranial tumors. The pattern recognition system was designed as an ensemble classification scheme employing a support vector machine classifier, specially modified in order to integrate the least squares features transformation logic in its kernel function. The latter, in conjunction with using 3D textural features, enabled boosting up the performance of the system in discriminating metastatic, malignant and benign brain tumors with 77.14%, 89.19% and 93.33% accuracy, respectively. The method was evaluated using an external cross-validation process; thus, results might be considered indicative of the generalization performance of the system to "unseen" cases. The proposed system might be used as an assisting tool for brain tumor characterization on volumetric MRI series.     

Elliptical magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging with GRAPPA for imaging brain tumors at 3 T

Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging (MRSI) is a technique for imaging spatial variation of metabolites and has been very useful in characterizing biochemical changes associated with disease as well as response to therapy in malignant pathologies. This work presents a self-calibrated undersampling to accelerate 3D elliptical MRSI and an extrapolation-reconstruction algorithm based on the GRAPPA method. The accelerated MRSI technique was tested in three volunteers and five brain tumor patients. Acceleration allowed larger spatial coverage and consequently, less lipid contamination in spectra, compared to fully sampled acquisition within the same scantime. Metabolite concentrations measured from the accelerated acquisitions were in good agreement with measurements obtained from fully sampled MRSI scans.     

代谢组学方法分析鸡胚胎发育过程中脑代谢物

本文应用高分辨魔角旋转核磁共振（HR-MAS NMR）方法对发育过程中（孵化12天至出壳后1天）鸡胚胎大脑、小脑和视叶3种脑组织中的代谢物含量进行了测定,并利用模式识别方法对整体代谢特征进行了归类分析. 结果表明：胚胎发育过程中不同脑区的代谢物组成存在差异,可能与这些脑区的功能及发育特征等的不同有关. 在NMR方法检测到的多种小分子代谢物中,γ-氨基丁酸、N-乙酰天冬氨酸、牛磺酸、肌醇以及胆碱等在鸡胚胎脑组织中的分布有区域性差异,这些差异也是区分大脑、小脑和视叶组织的特征性代谢物.     

鼠脑组织中6-羟基-1-甲基-1,2,3,4-四氢-β-咔啉及其相关生物胺的高效液相色谱-电化学检测

建立了大鼠脑组织中6-羟基-1-甲基-1,2,3,4-四氢-β-咔啉(6-OH-MTHβC)、5-羟色胺(5-HT)和5-羟吲哚乙酸(5-HIAA)含量的高效液相色谱-库仑阵列电化学检测(HPLC-ECD)方法。采用的色谱柱为DiscoveryHS F5柱(250 mm×4.6 mm,5 μm),流动相为缓冲液（40 mmol/L柠檬酸+20 mmol/L磷酸氢二钠+0.3 mmol/L乙二胺四乙酸二钠,pH 4.0）-甲醇（体积比为78∶22）混合液,流速为1 mL/min。6-OH-MTHβC、5-HT、5-HIAA在1.0～500.0 μg/L范围内线性关系良好(r>0.9992),检出限分别为0.56,0.26,0.53 μg/L,日内和日间精密度(以相对标准偏差表示)均低于6.1%,回收率分别为87.1%～98.2%,87.0%～95.3%,90.1%～97.7%。用该方法检测新生7 d的SD胎鼠脑内6-OH-MTHβC及5-HT、5-HIAA的含量,发现SD胎鼠在急性酒精中毒8 h后6-OH-MTHβC显著上升(P<0.05);而5-HT和5-HIAA的含量有所下降,但无显著性差异。该法简便、稳定、灵敏度高,适用于测定鼠脑组织中6-OH-MTHβC和5-HT,5-HIAA含量的相关研究。     

A new strategy utilizing electrospray ionization-quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometry for the qualitative determination of GnRH peptides

Numerous forms of the neurotransmitter GnRH have been discovered in vertebrates and invertebrates. Methods used for identification of these peptides are laborious and often require the application of multiple, confirmatory techniques. In this study, we investigate whether HPLC-MS/MS and de novo sequencing techniques applied to whole peptide analysis can provide a simpler approach to GnRH characterization. Experiments were performed with six GnRH forms (chicken I, chicken II, lamprey III, mammalian, salmon and seabream) to determine whether MS/MS spectra would be dominated by proline-directed fragmentation to the detriment of obtaining sufficient fragmentation for sequencing. While the expected b8 fragment was prominent, sufficient ion series were obtained for the six GnRH peptides to provide sequence identification. On the basis of the patterns observed for six model peptides, similar fragmentation patterns are expected for other GnRH forms. To confirm the applicability of the method, extracts from Sprague-Dawley rat brains were examined. These experiments confirm the presence of mammalian GnRH and a posttranslationally modified form of mammalian GnRH, hydroxyproline9 GnRH, in Sprague-Dawley rat brains and demonstrate that ESI-MS/MS techniques provide a valuable addition to existing qualitative methods.