Search

At present, the physiological roles of various hormones in fish glucose metabolism have been elucidated. Spexin, a 14-amino acids polypeptide, is highly conserved in many species and has functions such as reducing body weight and improving insulin resistance. In this paper, the open reading frame (ORF) of spx2 1 in grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) was cloned, and the tissue distribution of spx1 and spx2 , their direct and indirect regulatory effects on glucose metabolism of grass carp were investigated. The ORF of spx2 gene in grass carp was 279 bp in length. Moreover, spx1 was highly expressed in the adipose tissue, while spx2 was highly expressed in the brain. In vitr o, SPX1 and SPX2 showed opposite effects on the glycolytic pathway in the primary hepatocytes. In vivo , intraperitoneal injection of SPX1 and SPX2 significantly reduced serum glucose levels and increased hepatopancreas glycogen contents. Meanwhile, SPX1 and SPX2 promoted the expression of key genes of glycolysis (pk) and glycogen synthesis (gys) in the hepatopancreas at 3 h post injection. As for indirect effects, 1000 nM SPX1 and SPX2 significantly increased insulin-mediated liver type phosphofructokinase (pfkla) mRNA expression and enhanced the inhibitory effects of insulin on glucose-6-phosphatase (g6pase), phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (pepck), glycogen phosphorylase L (pygl) mRNA expression. Our results show that SPX1 and SPX2 have similar indirect effects on the regulation of glucose metabolism that enhance insulin activity, but they exhibit opposite roles in terms of direct effects. [Display omitted] • SPX1 and SPX2 showed opposite effects on the glycolytic pathway in vitro. • SPX1/2 play a hypoglycemic role in vivo in grass carp. • SPX1 promotes glycolysis and glycogen synthesis, and inhibits gluconeogenesis in vivo. • SPX2 promotes glycolysis and glycogen synthesis in vivo. • SPX1/2 promote insulin-induced glycolysis and glycogen synthesis, inhibit gluconeogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The photoperiodic flowering pathway is one of the most important regulatory networks controlling flowering time in rice ( Oryza sativa L.). Rice is a facultative short-day (SD) plant; flowering is promoted under inductive SD conditions and delayed under non-inductive long-day (LD) conditions. In rice, flowering inhibitor genes play an important role in maintaining the trade-off between reproduction and yield. In this study, we identified a novel floral inhibitor, OsCOL15 , which encodes a CONSTANS-like transcription factor. Consistent with a function in transcriptional regulation, OsCOL15 localized to the nucleus. Moreover, OsCOL15 had transcriptional activation activity, and the central region of the protein between the B-box and CCT domains was required for this activity. We determined that OsCOL15 is most highly expressed in young organs and exhibits a diurnal expression pattern typical of other floral regulators. Overexpression of OsCOL15 resulted in a delayed flowering phenotype under both SD and LD conditions. Real-time quantitative RT-PCR analysis of flowering regulator gene expression suggested that OsCOL15 suppresses flowering by up-regulating the flowering repressor Grain number , plant height and heading date 7 ( Ghd7 ) and down-regulating the flowering activator Rice Indeterminate 1 ( RID1 ), thus leading to the down-regulation of the flowering activators Early heading date 1 , Heading date 3a , and RICE FLOWERING LOCUS T1 . These results demonstrate that OsCOL15 is an important floral regulator acting upstream of Ghd7 and RID1 in the rice photoperiodic flowering-time regulatory network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) were prepared by biocompatible and biodegradable solid-phase lipids. β-elemene is a safe natural essential oil with broad-spectrum anti-tumor activity. However, its clinical application has been adversely affected by its poor water solubility and limited bioavailability. SLN incorporation is a potential strategy to bypass the blood-brain barrier, the most important factor limiting the bioactivity of neurotherapeutics. The SLNs-β has the same efficacy as commercially available elemene in vitro and an enhanced brain drug accumulation in vivo. The survival rate data was promising and acute toxicity experiment proved its safety. All these data suggested that SLN-β is a safe and effective drug delivery system, especially for brain tumor therapy, and warrants further development. • Solid lipid nanoparticle is potential and espically for brain drug delivery system. • Solid lipid nanoparticle has the advantage of improving blood–brain barrier permeability of loaded drugs. • Different types of models were selected to test the ability of increasing drug accumulation in brain. • The solid lipid nanoparticle loaded with β-elemene which we prepared had a better performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]