Search

Abstract Background Cosmetic surgery has a profound impact on health and other aspects. As a means of enhancing physical attractiveness, it is increasingly being considered by female college students in China. However, current knowledge about the determinants of cosmetic surgery consideration among Chinese female college students still needs to be improved due to the lack of systematic perspectives and large-scale representative data sets. This study aimed to contribute to the literature in these two aspects. Methods We framed cosmetic surgery consideration as a function of two broad sets of determinants: socio-cultural and labor-economic. We used data from a large, nationally representative sample of female college students in China (N = 6658, mean age = 20.3 years). Results In terms of socio-cultural oriented factors, we found that family socioeconomic status, peers' cosmetic surgery practices, and media exposure were positively associated with the likelihood of considering cosmetic surgery. In terms of labor-economic oriented factors, we found that self-rated physical appearance, higher grades, and expected income after graduation were positively associated with a higher likelihood of considering cosmetic surgery. Conclusions These findings suggest that the decision-making process for cosmetic surgery among Chinese female college students goes beyond personal factors and is significantly influenced by structural factors.

Summary: Hydrogen generation from boron hydride is important for the development of hydrogen economy. Cobalt (Co) element has been widely used in the hydrolysis of boron hydride. Pyrolysis is a common method for materials synthesis in catalytic fields. Herein, Co-based nanocomposites derived from the pyrolysis of organic metal precursors and used for hydrolysis of boron hydride are summarized and discussed. The different precursors consisting of MOF, supported, metal, and metal phosphide precursors are summarized. The catalytic mechanism consisting of dissociation mechanism based on oxidative addition-reduction elimination, pre-activation mechanism, SN2 mechanism, four-membered ring mechanism, and acid-base mechanism is intensively discussed. Finally, conclusions and outlooks are conveyed from the design of high-efficiency catalysts, the characterization of catalyst structure, the enhancement of catalytic activities, the investigation of the catalytic mechanism, and the catalytic stability of active structure. This review can provide guidance for designing high-efficiency catalysts and boosting development of hydrogen economy.

Abstract Oxygen evolution reaction catalysts capable of working efficiently in acidic media are highly demanded for the commercialization of proton exchange membrane water electrolysis. Herein, we report a Zn-doped RuO2 nanowire array electrocatalyst with outstanding catalytic performance for the oxygen evolution reaction under acidic conditions. Overpotentials as low as 173, 304, and 373 mV are achieved at 10, 500, and 1000 mA cm−2, respectively, with robust stability reaching to 1000 h at 10 mA cm−2. Experimental and theoretical investigations establish a clear synergistic effect of Zn dopants and oxygen vacancies on regulating the binding configurations of oxygenated adsorbates on the active centers, which then enables an alternative Ru−Zn dual-site oxide path of the reaction. Due to the change of reaction pathways, the energy barrier of rate-determining step is reduced, and the over-oxidation of Ru active sites is alleviated. As a result, the catalytic activity and stability are significantly enhanced.

Abstract Background The polyplacophoran mollusks (chitons) possess serially arranged shell plates. This feature is unique among mollusks and believed to be essential to explore the evolution of mollusks as well as their shells. Previous studies revealed several cell populations in the dorsal epithelium (shell field) of polyplacophoran larvae and their roles in the formation of shell plates. Nevertheless, they provide limited molecular information, and shell field morphogenesis remains largely uninvestigated. Results In the present study, we investigated shell field development in the chiton Acanthochitona rubrolineata based on morphological characteristics and molecular patterns. A total of four types of tissue could be recognized from the shell field of A. rubrolineata. The shell field comprised not only the centrally located, alternatively arranged plate fields and ridges, but also the tissues surrounding them, which were the precursors of the girdle and we termed as the girdle field. The girdle field exhibited a concentric organization composed of two circularly arranged tissues, and spicules were only developed in the outer circle. Dynamic engrailed expression and F-actin (filamentous actin) distributions revealed relatively complicated morphogenesis of the shell field. The repeated units (plate fields and ridges) were gradually established in the shell field, seemingly different from the manners used in the segmentation of Drosophila or vertebrates. The seven repeated ridges also experienced different modes of ontogenesis from each other. In the girdle field, the presumptive spicule-formation cells exhibited different patterns of F-actin aggregations as they differentiate. Conclusions These results reveal the details concerning the structure of polyplacophoran shell field as well as its morphogenesis. They would contribute to exploring the mechanisms of polyplacophoran shell development and molluscan shell evolution.

Abstract Mesodermal development is essential to explore the interlineage variations in the development of spiralians. Compared with model mollusks such as Tritia and Crepidula, knowledge about the mesodermal development of other molluscan lineages is limited. Here, we investigated early mesodermal development in the patellogastropod Lottia goshimai, which shows equal cleavage and has a trochophore larva. The endomesoderm derived from the 4d blastomere, that is, the mesodermal bandlets, was situated dorsally and showed a characteristic morphology. Investigations of the potential mesodermal patterning genes revealed that twist1 and snail1 were expressed in a proportion of these endomesodermal tissues, while all of the five genes we investigated (twist1, twist2, snail1, snail2, and mox) were expressed in ventrally located ectomesodermal tissues. Relatively dynamic snail2 expression suggests additional roles in various internalization processes. By tracing snail2 expression in early gastrulae, the 3a211 and 3b211 blastomeres were suggested to be the precursors of the ectomesoderm, which elongated to become internalized before division. These results help to understand the variations in the mesodermal development of different spiralians and explore the different mechanisms by which ectomesodermal cells are internalized, which has important evolutionary implications.

Abstract Ammonia borane (AB), a liquid hydrogen storage material, has attracted increasing attention for hydrogen utilization because of its high hydrogen content. However, the slow kinetics of AB hydrolysis and the indefinite catalytic mechanism remain significant problems for its large‐scale practical application. Thus, the development of efficient AB hydrolysis catalysts and the determination of their catalytic mechanisms are significant and urgent. A summary of the preparation process and structural characteristics of various supported catalysts is presented in this paper, including graphite, metal‐organic frameworks (MOFs), metal oxides, carbon nitride (CN), molybdenum carbide (MoC), carbon nanotubes (CNTs), boron nitride (h‐BN), zeolites, carbon dots (CDs), and metal carbide and nitride (MXene). In addition, the relationship between the electronic structure and catalytic performance is discussed to ascertain the actual active sites in the catalytic process. The mechanism of AB hydrolysis catalysis is systematically discussed, and possible catalytic paths are summarized to provide theoretical considerations for the designing of efficient AB hydrolysis catalysts. Furthermore, three methods for stimulating AB from dehydrogenation by‐products and the design of possible hydrogen product‐regeneration systems are summarized. Finally, the remaining challenges and future research directions for the effective development of AB catalysts are discussed.

Ammonia borane (AB) can be catalytically hydrolyzed to provide hydrogen at room temperature due to its high potentaial for hydrogen storage. Non-precious metal heterogeneous catalysts have broad application in the field of energy catalysis. In this article, catalysts precursor is obtained from Co-Ti-resorcinol-formaldehyde resin by sol–gel method. Co/TiO2@N-C (CTC) catalyst is prepared by calcining the precursor under high temperature conditions in nitrogen atmosphere. Co-CoOx/TiO2@N-C (COTC) is generated by the controllable oxidation reaction of CTC. The catalyst can effectively promote the release of hydrogen during the hydrolytic dehydrogenation of AB. High hydrogen generation at a specific rate of 5905 mL min−1 gCo−1 is achieved at room temperature. The catalyst retains its 85% initial catalytic activity even for its fifth time use in AB hydrolysis. The synergistic effect among Co, Co3O4 and TiO2 promotes the rate limiting step with dissociation and activation of water molecules by reducing its activation energy. The applied method in this study promotes the development of non-precious metals in catalysis for utilization in clean energy sources.

Image super-resolution reconstruction uses a specific algorithm to restore the low resolution blurred image in the same scene to a high resolution image. In recent years, with the vigorous development of deep learning, this technology has been widely used in many fields. In the field of image super-resolution reconstruction, more and more methods based on deep learning have been studied. According to the principle of GAN, a pseudo high-resolution image is generated by the generator, and then the discriminator calculates the difference between the image and the real high-resolution image to measure the authenticity of the image. Based on SRGAN (super resolution general adverse network), this paper mainly makes three improvements. First, it introduces the attention channel mechanism, that is, it adds Ca (channel attention) module to SRGAN network, and increases the network depth to better express high frequency features; Second, delete the original BN (batch normalization) layer to improve the network performance; Third, modify the loss function to reduce the impact of noise on the image. The experimental results show that the proposed method is superior to the current methods in both quantitative and qualitative indicators, and promotes the recovery of high-frequency detail information. The experimental results show that the proposed method improves the artifact problem and improves the PSNR (peak signal-to-noise ratio) on set5, set10 and bsd100 test sets.

The molecular mechanisms underlying larval shell development in mollusks remain largely elusive. We previously found evident filamentous actin (F-actin) aggregations in the developing shell field of the patellogastropod Lottia goshimai, indicating roles of actomyosin networks in the process. In the present study, we functionally characterized nonmuscle myosin II (NM II), the key molecule in actomyosin networks, in the larval shell development of L. goshimai. Immunostaining revealed general colocalization of phosphorylated NM II and F-actin in the shell field. When inhibiting the phosphorylation of NM II using the specific inhibitor blebbistatin in one- or 2-h periods during shell field morphogenesis (6–8 h post-fertilization, hpf), the larval shell plate was completely lost in the veliger larva (24 hpf). Scanning electron microscopy revealed that the nascent larval shell plate could not be developed in the manipulated larvae (10 hpf). Further investigations revealed that key events in shell field morphogenesis were inhibited by blebbistatin pulses, including invagination of the shell field and cell shape changes and cell rearrangements during shell field morphogenesis. These factors caused the changed morphology of the shell field, despite the roughly retained “rosette” organization. To explore whether the specification of related cells was affected by blebbistatin treatments, we investigated the expression of four potential shell formation genes (bmp2/4, gata2/3, hox1 and engrailed). The four genes did not show evident changes in expression level, indicating unaffected cell specification in the shell field, while the gene expression patterns showed variations according to the altered morphology of the shell field. Together, our results reveal that NM II contributes to the morphogenesis of the shell field and is crucial for the formation of the larval shell plate in L. goshimai. These results add to the knowledge of the mechanisms of molluskan shell development.

A radar is an important part of an air defense and combat system. It is of great significance to military defense to improve the effectiveness of radar state monitoring and the accuracy of fault diagnosis during operation. However, the complexity of radar equipment’s structure and the uncertainty of the operating environment greatly increase the difficulty of fault diagnosis in real life situations. Therefore, a Bayesian network diagnosis method based on multi-source information fusion technology is proposed to solve the fault diagnosis problems caused by uncertain factors such as the high integration and complexity of the system during the process of fault diagnosis. Taking a fault of a radar receiver as an example, we study 2 typical fault phenomena and 21 fault points. After acquiring and processing multi-source information, establishing a Bayesian network model, determining conditional probability tables (CPTs), and finally outputting the diagnosis results. The results are convincing and consistent with reality, which verifies the effectiveness of this method for fault diagnosis in radar receivers. It realizes device-level fault diagnosis, which shortens the maintenance time for radars and improves the reliability and maintainability of radars. Our results have significance as a guide for judging the fault location of radars and predicting the vulnerable components of radars.

Due to the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), taking online courses has become a “new normality” for college students. This study paid particular attention to the role of college students’ attitude toward online courses (ATOC) in shaping their psychological distress during the COVID-19 epidemic in China. Participants were from a national panel survey that has been administered before and during the COVID-19 epidemic. Besides bivariate analysis, a multivariate regression model while adjusting for a lagged dependent variable (i.e., pre-COVID distress) was estimated to show the association between ATOC and during-COVID distress. We found that respondents from a disadvantaged family background (i.e., below-college parental education, below-average family economic condition, and rural residence) were more likely to have an “unsupportive” ATOC. Moreover, both bivariate and multivariate analyses confirmed that respondents with a “neutral” or “unsupportive” ATOC had greater during-COVID psychological distress, compared to their counterparts with a “supportive” ATOC. Given the persistent spread of the COVID-19 worldwide and the profound onsite-online transition in course delivery in higher education, students’ perceptions and evaluations of the massive online courses should be carefully considered and integrated into curriculum reforms in both present and post COVID-19 situations.

Flexible, water-resistant, and air-stable hydrogen storage material (named PMMA-LiBH4/GMF), consisting of LiBH4 nanoparticles confined by poly (methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) modified melamine foam (GMF), were prepared by a facile method. PMMA-LiBH4/GMF can recover original shape after compression at the strain of 50% and exhibits highly hydrophobic property (water contact angle of 123°). Owing to the highly hydrophobic property and protection of PMMA, PMMA-LiBH4/GMF demonstrates outstanding water-resistance and air-stability. Significantly, the onset dehydrogenation temperature of PMMA-LiBH4/GMF at first step is reduced to 94°C, which is 149°C less than that of LiBH4/GMF, and the PMMA-LiBH4/GMF desorbs 2.9 wt% hydrogen within 25 min at 250°C, which is obviously more than the dehydrogenation amount of LiBH4/GMF under the same conditions. It's our belief that the flexible, water-resistant and air-stable PMMA-LiBH4/GMF with a simple preparation route will provide a new avenue to the research of hydrogen storage materials.

Background: Conflicting findings were reported about the associations between subjective body image (SBI), body mass index (BMI) and psychological symptoms in China and other countries in the world. In this study, we aim to explore the associations between SBI, BMI, and psychological symptoms based on a large-scale, national wide survey among Chinese adolescents. Methods: The 2014–2015 China Education Panel Survey (CEPS) database, with 8134 middle school students (4137 boys and 3997 girls), was analyzed to explore the association between SBI, BMI and psychological symptoms. SBI was assessed by one question about the perception of own body shape with options “very thin”, “slightly thin”, “average”, “weak heavy”, and “very heavy”. BMI was calculated by the self-reported body weight and height. Psychological symptoms were evaluated by 10 items involving both aspects of depression and anxiety. Results: The results indicated that both boys and girls who perceived weak or very heavy weight were positively associated with psychological symptoms (p < 0.05). For boys, perceiving very thin body image was also in higher risk of psychological symptoms (p < 0.05), after controlling social-demographic variables and BMI. Comparing with normal weight boys or girls, obese boys (β = −2.22, 95% CI −3.37~−1.07) and overweight girls (β = −1.03, 95% CI −2.01~−0.06) were in lower levels of psychological symptoms after controlling for SBI. Other factors associated with psychological symptoms were family economic status, academic performance, and self-rated health status. Conclusions: A deviation from an “average” SBI was positively associated with psychological symptoms, which should be scanned when evaluating the Chinese adolescents’ mental health. These findings provide epidemiological evidence for the association between SBI and psychological symptoms in non-western social contexts.

The microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) is a basic helix-loop-helix-leucine zipper protein that plays a key role in cell proliferation, survival and immune defense through the direct transcriptional control of downstream genes. We have found that MITF participates in the immune response to Vibrio parahaemolyticus infection in the clam Meretrix petechialis. In this study, we focused on how MITF functions in immunity. First, PO, CTSK, and BCL-2 were identified as the target genes of MpMITF in the clam by RNAi. EMSAs showed direct binding between the MpMITF protein and the E-box of the MpPO, MpCTSK, and MpBCL-2 promoters. Yeast one-hybrid assays also suggested that MpMITF could activate the expression of these three downstream genes. These results demonstrated that the transcriptional expression of MpPO, MpCTSK, and MpBCL-2 is directly regulated by MpMITF. Second, we analyzed the roles of MpPO, MpCTSK, and MpBCL-2 in clam immunity. The mRNA expression of MpPO, MpCTSK, and MpBCL-2 increased significantly after V. parahaemolyticus challenge, which implied that these genes might take part in the immune defense against V. parahaemolyticus challenge in clams. The purified recombinant proteins, MpPO and MpCTSK, inhibited the growth of V. parahaemolyticus. Additionally, the apoptosis rate of clam haemocytes rose significantly when the activity of MpBCL-2 was suppressed. These results revealed that MpPO, MpCTSK, and MpBCL-2 are involved in the immune defense against V. parahaemolyticus. This study supports the idea that the MpMITF pathway plays a key role in immune defense through the direct regulation of the downstream genes MpPO, MpCTSK, and MpBCL-2 in the clam, M. petechialis.

Abstract A recently created class of inorganic 2D materials, MXenes, has become a subject of intensive research. Reducing their dimensionality from 2D to 0D quantum dots (QDs) could result in extremely useful properties and functions. However, this type of research is scarce, and the reported Ti3C2 MXene QDs (MQDs) have only shown blue fluorescence emission. This work demonstrates a facile, high‐output method for preparing bright white emitting Ti3C2 MQDs. The resulting product is two layers thick with a lateral dimension of 13.1 nm. Importantly, the as prepared Ti3C2 MQDs present strong two‐photon white fluorescence. Their fluorescence under high pressure is also investigated and it is found that the white emission is very stable and the pressure makes it possible to change from cool white emission to warm white emission. Hybrid nanocomposites are then fabricated by polymerizing Ti3C2 MQDs in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) solution, and the bright white emitting hybrid materials in white light‐emitting diodes are used. This work provides a facile and general approach to modulate various nanoscale MXene materials, and could further aid the wide development of applications for MXene materials in various optical‐related fields.

The hydrogen generated via the water splitting method is restricted by the high level of theoretical potential exhibited by the anode. The work focuses on synthesizing a bifunctional catalyst with a high efficiency, that is, a nickel phosphide doped with the reduced graphene oxide nanosheets supported on the Ni foam (Ni2P/rGO/NF), via the hydrothermal approach together with the calcination approach specific to the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The Raman, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM), as well as elemental mapping, are adopted to study the composition and morphology possessed by Ni2P/rGO/NF. The electrochemical testing is performed by constructing a parallel two-electrode electrolyzer (Ni2P/rGO/NF||Ni2P/rGO/NF). Ni2P/rGO/NF||Ni2P/rGO/NF needs a voltage of only 1.676 V for driving 10 mA/cm2, which is extremely close to Pt/C/NF||IrO2/NF (1.502 V). It is possible to maintain the current density for no less than 30 hours. It can be demonstrated that Ni2P/rGO/NF||Ni2P/rGO/NF has commercial feasibility, relying on the strong activity and high stability.

The morphology tuning of Pd and Pd-M nanoparticles is one of the significant strategies to control the catalytic activity toward oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). In this study, composite Pdx/Co-nanofilms/C electrocatalysts of Pd nanoparticles implanted onto Co nanofilms were synthesized on an immiscible ionic liquid (IL)/water interface for ORR. The Pd nanoparticles implanted onto Co nanofilms show a marked distortion of crystal lattice and surface roughness. These Pdx/Co-nanofilms/C electrocatalysts exhibit enhanced activity for ORR compared with Pd/C and PdxCo/C catalysts in both acid and alkaline solutions, in which the Pd3/Co-nanofilms/C catalyst displays the highest ORR mass activity. The superior ORR mass activities of the fabricated Pdx/Co-nanofilms/C catalysts may be mainly attributed to their larger catalytic areas, which are conferred by the rough surface of Pd nanoparticles with a distorted crystal lattice, and the synergistic effect between the surface Pd atoms and the 2D Co nanofilm substrate. The relationship between ORR mass activity and Pd/Co atom ratio varies in different electrolytes. Furthermore, by using proper heat-treatment methods, the Pdx/Co-nanofilms/C catalysts exhibit improved cycling stability compared with pure Pd/C catalyst after extended potential cycling.

Efficient and instant detection of biological threat-agent anthrax is highly desired in the fields of medical care and anti-terrorism. Herein, a new ratiometric fluorescence (FL) nanoprobe was elaborately tailored for the determination of 2,6-dipicolinic acid (DPA), a biomarker of anthrax spores, by grafting terbium ions (Tb3+) to the surface of carbon dots (CDs). CDs with blue FL were fabricated by a simple and green method using schizochytrium as precursor and served as an FL reference and a supporting substrate for coordination with Tb3+. On account of the absorbance energy transfer emission effect (AETE), green emission peaks of Tb3+ in CDs-Tb nanoprobe appeared at 545 nm upon the addition of DPA. Under optimal conditions, good linearity between the ratio FL intensity of F545/F445 and the concentrations of DPA was observed within the experimental concentration range of 0.5−6 μM with the detection limit of 35.9 nM, which is superior to several literature studies and significantly lower than the infectious dosage of the Bacillus anthracis spores. Moreover, the CDs-Tb nanoprobe could sensitively detect DPA in the lake water sample. This work offers an efficient self-calibrating and background-free method for the determination of DPA.

Survivin has been proposed as a promising prognostic marker in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), but the published data on survivin expression in patients with this condition are controversial. To address this we performed a meta-analysis systematically to assess the clinicopathological and prognostic significance of survivin expression in OSCC.We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Ovid databases for papers investigating the clinicopathological and prognostic significance of survivin expression in OSCC. The pooled odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to determine the relevance of survivin.A total of 15 papers, including 1040 cases in which survivin expression was detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC) or reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), were included. A meta-analysis of clinicopathological variables revealed a correlation between survivin expression and lymph node metastasis (OR = 0.62, 95% CI = 0.44-0.88, p < 0.05) and clinical stage (OR = 0.63, 95% CI = 0.41-0.96, p < 0.05). However, no significant associations were found between survivin expression and tumor differentiation grade (OR = 0.72, 95%CI = 0.26-1.11, p > 0.05), depth of invasion (OR = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.50-1.14, p > 0.05), age (OR = 0.78, 95% CI = 0.48-1.29, p > 0.05) or gender (OR = 1.31, 95% CI = 0.86-2.01, p > 0.05). Subgroup analysis using stratified detection methods showed no significant associations between the expression of survivin protein and clinicopathological variables in OSCC. A correlation between survivin expression and poor prognosis of patients with OSCC (HR = 1.62, 95% CI = 1.23-2.01, p < 0.05) was demonstrated.Survivin is a potential prognostic marker of OSCC. Future studies with larger sample sizes and well-designed inclusion criteria will be needed to dissect the role of survivin expression in determining the clinicopathological features and/or prognosis of OSCC.

Current understandings on the molecular mechanisms underlying bivalve metamorphosis are still fragmentary, and a comprehensive description is required. In this study, using a large-scale label-free proteomic approach, we described and compared the proteomes of competent larvae (CL) and juveniles (JU) of the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas. A total of 788 proteins were identified: 392 in the CL proteome and 636 in the JU proteome. Gene Ontology analysis of the proteome from each sample revealed active metabolic processes in both stages. Further quantitative analyses revealed 117 proteins that were differentially expressed between the two samples. These proteins were divided into eight groups: cytoskeleton and cell adhesion, protein synthesis and degradation, immunity and stress response, development of particular tissues, signal regulation, metabolism and energy supply, transport, and other proteins. A certification experiment using real-time PCR assay confirmed 20 of 30 examined genes exhibited the same trends at the mRNA and protein levels. The differentially expressed proteins may play roles in tissue remodeling, signal transduction, and organ development during and after metamorphosis. Novel roles were proposed for some differentially expressed proteins, such as chymotrypsin. The results of this work provide an overview of metamorphosis and post-metamorphosis development of C. gigas at the protein level. Future studies on the functions of the differentially expressed proteins will help to obtain a more in-depth understanding of bivalve metamorphosis.

BackgroundThe laminin receptors (LRs) play important roles in cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix, certain cell-cell adhesions, and the activation of many intracellular signaling pathways. Studies of LRs have primarily focused on mammals, while few studies of LRs in marine invertebrates have been reported. The functions of LRs in marine bivalve species are still unclear.Methodology/principal findingsIn this study, we cloned and sequenced an LR gene, MmeLR, from the clam Meretrix meretrix. The MmeLR mRNA and protein detected by realtime PCR and western blots were primarily distributed in muscle tissues. Far-western analysis showed a specific interaction between recombinant MmeLR and the LR ligand laminin. The results of the binding assay suggested a role of LR in cell adhesion and apoptosis in cultured primary cells of mantle tissues from M. meretrix. The Bcl-2 mRNA expression level in primary cells cultured in matrigel (mainly laminin) coated plates was significantly higher than in cells cultured in non-coated plates at 48 h of culture, while the p53 mRNA expression pattern was inversely related to that of bcl-2, suggesting that MmeLR is involved in p53-dependent apoptosis, and the binding between MmeLR and laminin inhibits apoptosis during primary cell culture.ConclusionsOur results suggest that MmeLR may be involved in cell adhesion and apoptosis. This study may increase the understanding of the role of laminin receptor in cell adhesion and apoptosis and help to improve the culture of primary cells of marine invertebrates.