BackgroundGait deficits are important clinical symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, existing behavioral tests for the detection of motor impairments in rodents with systemic dopamine depletion only measure akinesia and dyskinesia, and data focusing on gait are scarce. We evaluated gait changes in the methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-induced C57BL/6 murine model of PD by using a computer-assisted CatWalk system. Correlations of gait parameters with tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) protein levels in the substantia nigra (SN) were also investigated.ResultsThe gait readouts, including the walking duration, variation of walking speed, step cycle, duty cycle, stance, initial dual stance, terminal dual stance, three- and four-point supports, and the base of support between hind limbs was noted to increase significantly one week after MPTP injection. In contrast, values of the stride length, cadence, swing speed, and diagonal dual support decreased substantially following MPTP treatment (p < 0.05). All of these changes lasted for three weeks after the last MPTP administration. Except for the stance in the fore limbs and the swing speed in the hind limbs, the gait variability in the PD mice showed a closer correlation with the protein levels of TH in the SN than the walking distances in the conventional open field test. Coordination parameters of the regularity index and step pattern were not affected in mice treated with MPTP.ConclusionData of the study suggest that the computer-assisted CatWalk system can provide reliable and objective criteria to stratify gait changes arising from MPTP-induced bilateral lesions in C57/BL6 mice. The extent of gait changes was noted to correlate with the expression of the biomarker for dopaminergic neurons. This novel analytical method may hold promise in the study of disease progression and new drug screening in a murine PD model.

A symmetric somatic hybridization was performed to combine the protoplasts of tall wheatgrass (Agropyron elongatum) and bread wheat (Triticum aestivum). Fertile regenerants were obtained which were morphologically similar to tall wheatgrass, but which contained some introgression segments from wheat. An SDS-PAGE analysis showed that a number of non-parental high-molecular weight glutenin subunits (HMW-GS) were present in the symmetric somatic hybridization derivatives. These sequences were amplified, cloned and sequenced, to deliver 14 distinct HMW-GS coding sequences, eight of which were of the y-type (Hy1-Hy8) and six x-type (Hx1-Hx6). Five of the cloned HMW-GS sequences were successfully expressed in E. coli. The analysis of their deduced peptide sequences showed that they all possessed the typical HMW-GS primary structure. Sequence alignments indicated that Hx5 and Hy1 were probably derived from the tall wheatgrass genes Aex5 and Aey6, while Hy2, Hy3, Hx1 and Hy6 may have resulted from slippage in the replication of a related biparental gene. We found that both symmetric and asymmetric somatic hybridization could promote the emergence of novel alleles. We discussed the origination of allelic variation of HMW-GS genes in somatic hybridization, which might be the result from the response to genomic shock triggered by the merger and interaction of biparent genomes.

BackgroundThe prognosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma is very poor due to local recurrence and metastasis. This study explores the molecular events involved in oral carcinoma with the goal of developing novel therapeutic strategies. The mitotic spindle is a complex mechanical apparatus required for the accurate segregation of sister chromosomes during mitosis. Spindle and kinetochore associated complex subunit 1 (SKA1) is a microtubule-binding subcomplex of the outer kinetochore that is essential for proper chromosome segregation. In recent years, much attention has been focused on determining how SKA proteins interact with each other, as well as their biological role in cancer cells. However, the precise role of SKA1 in oral carcinoma remains unknown.MethodsIn order to investigate the role of SKA1 in oral cancer, we employed lentivirus-mediated shRNA to silence SKA1 expression in the CAL-27 human oral adenosquamous carcinoma cell line.ResultsDepletion of SKA1 in CAL-27 cells significantly decreased cell proliferation, as determined by MTT and colony formation assays. These results strongly demonstrate that reduced SKA1 protein levels may cause inhibition of tumor formation. The shRNA-mediated depletion of SKA1 also led to G2/M phase cell cycle arrest and apoptosis.ConclusionThis is the first report to show that SKA1 plays an important role in the progression of oral adenosqamous carcinoma. Thus, silencing of SKA1 by RNAi might be a potential therapy for this disease.

This study was undertaken to explore the anatomic features and adjacent relationships of the pineal region in thin coronal sections. After CT and MR examination verifying no brain lesions, one normal cadaver head was selected for this study from three Chinese adult male cadavers. After being embedded and frozen, the head was sliced into serial sections at 0.1 mm intervals in the coronal plane with SKC 500 computerized freezing milling machine. Then the serial coronal sections were photographed by a high-resolution digital camera and saved in the computer. Subsequently, the anatomic structures of the pineal region on the thin coronal sections were investigated and correlated with in vivo MR images, which were obtained from ten normal Chinese male adult volunteers by a 3.0 T GE scanner. The base lines of the sectioning and the MR scan were all perpendicular to the AC-PC line. A total of 355 coronal sections and 21-23 in vivo coronal MR images related with the pineal region were obtained, respectively. From anterior to posterior, the shape of the pineal region changed from an inverted triangle to a trapezoid and a triangle gradually, and the anatomic details could be depicted clearly in the thin sectional anatomy images in sub-millimeter. Via the comparison, some micro-anatomic structures of the pineal region that cannot be discriminated clearly or missed in the thick sections or MR images were identified. The contrast of the computerized freezing milling technique with the MRI enhanced our ability to comprehend the complex anatomy of the pineal region and to improve the imaging diagnosis and surgical treatments of minute diseases in this region.

Three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of intrahepatic vessels is very useful in visualizing the complex anatomy of hepatic veins and intrahepatic portal vein. It also provides a 3D anatomic basis for diagnostic imaging and surgical operation on the liver. In the present study, we built a 3D digitized model of hepatic veins and intrahepatic portal vein based on the coronal sectional anatomic dataset of the liver. The dataset was obtained using the digital freezing milling technique. The pre-reconstructed structures were identified and extracted, and then were segmented by the method of manual intervention. The digitized model of hepatic veins and intrahepatic portal vein was established using 3D medical visualization software. This model facilitated a continuous and dynamic displaying of the hepatic veins and intrahepatic portal vein at different orientations, which demonstrated the complicated relationship of adjacent hepatic veins and intrahepatic portal vein realistically in the 3D space. This study indicated that high-quality 2D images, precise data segmentation, and suitable 3D reconstruction methods ensured the reality and accuracy of the digital visualized model of hepatic veins and intrahepatic portal vein.