AIM: To investigate the antifibrotic effects of bone morphogenetic protein-7 (BMP-7) on Schistosoma japonicum (S. japonicum )-induced hepatic fibrosis in BALB/C mice. METHODS: Sixty BALB/C mice were randomly divided i...AIM: To investigate the antifibrotic effects of bone morphogenetic protein-7 (BMP-7) on Schistosoma japonicum (S. japonicum )-induced hepatic fibrosis in BALB/C mice. METHODS: Sixty BALB/C mice were randomly divided into three groups, including a control group (group A, n = 20), model group (group B, n = 20) and BMP-7 treated group (group C, n = 20). The mice in group B and group C were abdominally infected with S. japonicum cercariae to induce a schistosomal hepatic fibrosis model. The mice in group C were administered human recombinant BMP-7. Liver samples were extracted from mice sacrificed at 9 and 15 wk after modeling. Hepatic histopathological changes were assessed using Masson's staining. Transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-β1), alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), phosphorylated Smad2/3 (pSmad2/3) and Smad7 protein levels and localization were measured by Western blotting and immunohistochemistry, respectively, and their mRNA expressions were detected by reverse transcriptionpolymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). RESULTS: The schistosomal hepatic fibrosis mouse model was successfully established, as the livers of mice in group B and group C showed varying degrees of typical schistosomal hepatopathologic changes such as egg granuloma and collagen deposition. The degree of collagen deposition in group C was higher than that in group A (week 9: 22.95±6.66vs 2.02±0.76; week 15: 12.84±4.36 vs 1.74±0.80; P<0.05), but significantly lower than that in group B (week 9: 22.95±6.66 vs 34.43±6.96; week 15: 12.84±4.36 vs 18.90±5.07;P<0.05) at both time points. According to immunohistochemistry data, the expressions of α-SMA, TGF-β1 and pSmad2/3 protein in group C were higher than those in group A (α-SMA: week 9: 21.24±5.73 vs 0.33±0.20; week 15: 12.42±4.88 vs 0.34±0.27; TGF-β1: week 9: 37.00±13.74 vs 3.73±2.14; week 15: 16.71±9.80 vs 3.08±2.35; pSmad2/3: week 9: 12.92±4.81 vs 0.83±0.48; week 15: 7.87±4.09 vs 0.90±0.45; P<0.05), but significantly lower than those in group B (α-SMA: week 9: 21.24±5.73 vs 34.39±5.74; week 15: 12.42±4.88 vs 25.90±7.01; TGF-β1: week 9: 37.00±13.74 vs 55.66±14.88; week 15: 16.71±9.80 vs 37.10±12.51; pSmad2/3: week 9: 12.92±4.81 vs 19.41±6.87; week 15: 7.87±4.09vs 13.00±4.98;P<0.05) at both time points; the expression of Smad7 protein in group B was higher than that in group A and group C at week 9 (8.46±3.95 vs 1.00±0.40 and 8.46±3.95 vs 0.77±0.42; P<0.05), while there were no differences in Smad7 expression between the three groups at week 15 (1.09±0.38 vs 0.97±0.42 vs 0.89±0.39; P>0.05). Although minor discrepancies were observed, the results of RT-PCR and Western blotting were mainly consistentwith the immunohistochemical results. CONCLUSION: Exogenous BMP-7 significantly decreased the degree of hepatic fibrosis in both the acute and chronic stages of hepato-schistosomiasis, and the regulatory mechanism may involve the TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway.展开更多
AIM:To investigate the pathophysiological role of C/EBP homologous protein(CHOP)in severe acute pancreatitis and associated lung injury.METHODS:A severe acute pancreatitis model was induced with 6 injections of cerule...AIM:To investigate the pathophysiological role of C/EBP homologous protein(CHOP)in severe acute pancreatitis and associated lung injury.METHODS:A severe acute pancreatitis model was induced with 6 injections of cerulein(Cn,50μg/kg)at 1-h intervals,then intraperitoneal injection of lipopolysaccharide(LPS,7.5 mg/kg)in CHOP-deficient(Chop-/-)mice and wild-type(WT)mice.Animals were sacrificed under anesthesia,3 h or 18 h after LPS injection.Serum amylase,lipase,and cytokines[interleukin(IL)-6 and tumor necrosis factor(TNF)-α],pathological changes,acute lung injury,and apoptosis in the pancreas were evaluated.Serum amylase and lipase activities were detected using a medical automatic chemical analyzer.Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits were used to evaluate TNF-αand IL-6 levels in mouse serum and lung tissue homogenates.Apoptotic cells in sections of pancreatic tissues were determined by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTPbiotin nick-end labeling(TUNEL)analysis.The mouse carotid arteries were cannulated and arterial blood samples were collected for PaO2analysis.The oxygenation index was expressed as PaO2/FiO2.RESULTS:Administration of Cn and LPS for 9 and 24 h induced severe acute pancreatitis in Chop-/-and WT mice.When comparing Chop-/-mice and WT mice,we observed that CHOP-deficient mice had greater increases in serum TNF-α(214.40±19.52 pg/mL vs 150.40±16.70 pg/mL;P=0.037),amylase(4236.40±646.32U/L vs 2535.30±81.83 U/L;P=0.041),lipase(1678.20±170.57 U/L vs 1046.21±35.37 U/L;P=0.008),and IL-6(2054.44±293.81 pg/mL vs 1316.10±108.74pg/mL;P=0.046)than WT mice.The histopathological changes in the pancreases and lungs,decreased PaO2/FiO2ratio,and increased TNF-αand IL-6 levels in the lungs were greater in Chop-/-mice than in WT mice(pancreas:Chop-/-vs WT mice,hemorrhage,P=0.005;edema,P=0.005;inflammatory cells infiltration,P=0.005;total scores,P=0.006;lung:hemorrhage,P=0.017;edema,P=0.017;congestion,P=0.017;neutrophil infiltration,P=0.005,total scores,P=0.001;PaO2/FiO2ratio:393±17.65 vs 453.8,P=0.041;TNF-α:P=0.043;IL-6,P=0.040).Results from TUNEL analysis indicated increased acinar cell apoptosis in mice following the induction of acute pancreatitis.However,Chop-/-mice displayed significantly reduced pancreatic apoptosis compared with the WT mice(201.50±31.43vs 367.00±47.88,P=0.016).CONCLUSION:These results suggest that CHOP can exert protective effects against acute pancreatitis and limit the spread of inflammatory damage to the lungs.展开更多
AIM:To investigate osteopontin expression and its association with hepatopathologic changes in BALB/C mice infected with Schistosoma japonicum.METHODS:The schistosomal hepatopathologic mouse model was established by a...AIM:To investigate osteopontin expression and its association with hepatopathologic changes in BALB/C mice infected with Schistosoma japonicum.METHODS:The schistosomal hepatopathologic mouse model was established by abdominal infection with schistosomal cercaria.Liver samples were obtained from mice sacrif iced at 6,8,10,14,and 18 wk after in-fection.Liver histopathological changes were observed with hematoxylin-eosin and Masson trichrome staining.The expression of osteopontin was determined with im-munohistochemistry,reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction,and Western blotting.The expressionof α-smooth muscle actin(α-SMA)and transforming growth factor-β1(TGF-β1)were determined by im-munohistochemistry.Correlations of osteopontin ex-pression with other variables(α-SMA,TGF-β1,hepato-pathologic features including granuloma formation and degree of liver f ibrosis)were analyzed.RESULTS:Typical schistosomal hepatopathologic changes were induced in the animals.Dynamic changes in the expression of osteopontin were observed at week 6.The expression increased,peaked at week 10(P<0.01),and then gradually decreased.Positive correla-tions between osteopontin expression and α-SMA(r=0.720,P<0.01),TGF-β1(r=0.905,P <0.01),granu-loma formation(r=0.875,P<0.01),and degree of liver f ibrosis(r=0.858,P<0.01)were also observed.CONCLUSION:Osteopontin may play an important role in schistosomal hepatopathology and may promote granuloma formation and liver fi brosis through an un-explored mechanism.展开更多
Recently,steganalytic methods based on deep learning have achieved much better performance than traditional methods based on handcrafted features.However,most existing methods based on deep learning are specially desi...Recently,steganalytic methods based on deep learning have achieved much better performance than traditional methods based on handcrafted features.However,most existing methods based on deep learning are specially designed for one image domain(i.e.,spatial or JPEG),and they often take long time to train.To make a balance between the detection performance and the training time,in this paper,we propose an effective and relatively fast steganalytic network called US-CovNet(Universal Steganalytic Covariance Network)for both{the}spatial and JPEG domains.To this end,we carefully design several important components of{US-CovNet}that will significantly affect the detection performance,including the high-pass filter set,the shortcut connection and the pooling{layer}.Extensive experimental results show that compared with the current best steganalytic networks(i.e.,SRNet and J-YeNet),{US-CovNet}can achieve the state-of-the-art results for detecting spatial steganography and have competitive performance for detecting JPEG steganography.For example,the detection accuracy of US-CovNet is at least 0.56%higher than that of SRNet in the spatial domain.In the JPEG domain,US-CovNet performs slightly worse than J-YeNet in some cases with the degradation of less than 0.78%.However,the training time of US-CovNet is significantly reduced,which is less than 1/4 and 1/2 of SRNet and J-YeNet respectively.展开更多
文摘AIM: To investigate the antifibrotic effects of bone morphogenetic protein-7 (BMP-7) on Schistosoma japonicum (S. japonicum )-induced hepatic fibrosis in BALB/C mice. METHODS: Sixty BALB/C mice were randomly divided into three groups, including a control group (group A, n = 20), model group (group B, n = 20) and BMP-7 treated group (group C, n = 20). The mice in group B and group C were abdominally infected with S. japonicum cercariae to induce a schistosomal hepatic fibrosis model. The mice in group C were administered human recombinant BMP-7. Liver samples were extracted from mice sacrificed at 9 and 15 wk after modeling. Hepatic histopathological changes were assessed using Masson's staining. Transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-β1), alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), phosphorylated Smad2/3 (pSmad2/3) and Smad7 protein levels and localization were measured by Western blotting and immunohistochemistry, respectively, and their mRNA expressions were detected by reverse transcriptionpolymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). RESULTS: The schistosomal hepatic fibrosis mouse model was successfully established, as the livers of mice in group B and group C showed varying degrees of typical schistosomal hepatopathologic changes such as egg granuloma and collagen deposition. The degree of collagen deposition in group C was higher than that in group A (week 9: 22.95±6.66vs 2.02±0.76; week 15: 12.84±4.36 vs 1.74±0.80; P<0.05), but significantly lower than that in group B (week 9: 22.95±6.66 vs 34.43±6.96; week 15: 12.84±4.36 vs 18.90±5.07;P<0.05) at both time points. According to immunohistochemistry data, the expressions of α-SMA, TGF-β1 and pSmad2/3 protein in group C were higher than those in group A (α-SMA: week 9: 21.24±5.73 vs 0.33±0.20; week 15: 12.42±4.88 vs 0.34±0.27; TGF-β1: week 9: 37.00±13.74 vs 3.73±2.14; week 15: 16.71±9.80 vs 3.08±2.35; pSmad2/3: week 9: 12.92±4.81 vs 0.83±0.48; week 15: 7.87±4.09 vs 0.90±0.45; P<0.05), but significantly lower than those in group B (α-SMA: week 9: 21.24±5.73 vs 34.39±5.74; week 15: 12.42±4.88 vs 25.90±7.01; TGF-β1: week 9: 37.00±13.74 vs 55.66±14.88; week 15: 16.71±9.80 vs 37.10±12.51; pSmad2/3: week 9: 12.92±4.81 vs 19.41±6.87; week 15: 7.87±4.09vs 13.00±4.98;P<0.05) at both time points; the expression of Smad7 protein in group B was higher than that in group A and group C at week 9 (8.46±3.95 vs 1.00±0.40 and 8.46±3.95 vs 0.77±0.42; P<0.05), while there were no differences in Smad7 expression between the three groups at week 15 (1.09±0.38 vs 0.97±0.42 vs 0.89±0.39; P>0.05). Although minor discrepancies were observed, the results of RT-PCR and Western blotting were mainly consistentwith the immunohistochemical results. CONCLUSION: Exogenous BMP-7 significantly decreased the degree of hepatic fibrosis in both the acute and chronic stages of hepato-schistosomiasis, and the regulatory mechanism may involve the TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway.
基金Supported by A research grant from the National Science Council of Taiwan,No.NSC97-2320-B-002-020-MY3
文摘AIM:To investigate the pathophysiological role of C/EBP homologous protein(CHOP)in severe acute pancreatitis and associated lung injury.METHODS:A severe acute pancreatitis model was induced with 6 injections of cerulein(Cn,50μg/kg)at 1-h intervals,then intraperitoneal injection of lipopolysaccharide(LPS,7.5 mg/kg)in CHOP-deficient(Chop-/-)mice and wild-type(WT)mice.Animals were sacrificed under anesthesia,3 h or 18 h after LPS injection.Serum amylase,lipase,and cytokines[interleukin(IL)-6 and tumor necrosis factor(TNF)-α],pathological changes,acute lung injury,and apoptosis in the pancreas were evaluated.Serum amylase and lipase activities were detected using a medical automatic chemical analyzer.Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits were used to evaluate TNF-αand IL-6 levels in mouse serum and lung tissue homogenates.Apoptotic cells in sections of pancreatic tissues were determined by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTPbiotin nick-end labeling(TUNEL)analysis.The mouse carotid arteries were cannulated and arterial blood samples were collected for PaO2analysis.The oxygenation index was expressed as PaO2/FiO2.RESULTS:Administration of Cn and LPS for 9 and 24 h induced severe acute pancreatitis in Chop-/-and WT mice.When comparing Chop-/-mice and WT mice,we observed that CHOP-deficient mice had greater increases in serum TNF-α(214.40±19.52 pg/mL vs 150.40±16.70 pg/mL;P=0.037),amylase(4236.40±646.32U/L vs 2535.30±81.83 U/L;P=0.041),lipase(1678.20±170.57 U/L vs 1046.21±35.37 U/L;P=0.008),and IL-6(2054.44±293.81 pg/mL vs 1316.10±108.74pg/mL;P=0.046)than WT mice.The histopathological changes in the pancreases and lungs,decreased PaO2/FiO2ratio,and increased TNF-αand IL-6 levels in the lungs were greater in Chop-/-mice than in WT mice(pancreas:Chop-/-vs WT mice,hemorrhage,P=0.005;edema,P=0.005;inflammatory cells infiltration,P=0.005;total scores,P=0.006;lung:hemorrhage,P=0.017;edema,P=0.017;congestion,P=0.017;neutrophil infiltration,P=0.005,total scores,P=0.001;PaO2/FiO2ratio:393±17.65 vs 453.8,P=0.041;TNF-α:P=0.043;IL-6,P=0.040).Results from TUNEL analysis indicated increased acinar cell apoptosis in mice following the induction of acute pancreatitis.However,Chop-/-mice displayed significantly reduced pancreatic apoptosis compared with the WT mice(201.50±31.43vs 367.00±47.88,P=0.016).CONCLUSION:These results suggest that CHOP can exert protective effects against acute pancreatitis and limit the spread of inflammatory damage to the lungs.
基金Supported by Grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China,No.81072038/H1617
文摘AIM:To investigate osteopontin expression and its association with hepatopathologic changes in BALB/C mice infected with Schistosoma japonicum.METHODS:The schistosomal hepatopathologic mouse model was established by abdominal infection with schistosomal cercaria.Liver samples were obtained from mice sacrif iced at 6,8,10,14,and 18 wk after in-fection.Liver histopathological changes were observed with hematoxylin-eosin and Masson trichrome staining.The expression of osteopontin was determined with im-munohistochemistry,reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction,and Western blotting.The expressionof α-smooth muscle actin(α-SMA)and transforming growth factor-β1(TGF-β1)were determined by im-munohistochemistry.Correlations of osteopontin ex-pression with other variables(α-SMA,TGF-β1,hepato-pathologic features including granuloma formation and degree of liver f ibrosis)were analyzed.RESULTS:Typical schistosomal hepatopathologic changes were induced in the animals.Dynamic changes in the expression of osteopontin were observed at week 6.The expression increased,peaked at week 10(P<0.01),and then gradually decreased.Positive correla-tions between osteopontin expression and α-SMA(r=0.720,P<0.01),TGF-β1(r=0.905,P <0.01),granu-loma formation(r=0.875,P<0.01),and degree of liver f ibrosis(r=0.858,P<0.01)were also observed.CONCLUSION:Osteopontin may play an important role in schistosomal hepatopathology and may promote granuloma formation and liver fi brosis through an un-explored mechanism.
基金The work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No.61972430the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province of China under Grant No.2019A1515011549the Guangdong Natural Science Key Field Project under Grant No.2019KZDZX1008.
文摘Recently,steganalytic methods based on deep learning have achieved much better performance than traditional methods based on handcrafted features.However,most existing methods based on deep learning are specially designed for one image domain(i.e.,spatial or JPEG),and they often take long time to train.To make a balance between the detection performance and the training time,in this paper,we propose an effective and relatively fast steganalytic network called US-CovNet(Universal Steganalytic Covariance Network)for both{the}spatial and JPEG domains.To this end,we carefully design several important components of{US-CovNet}that will significantly affect the detection performance,including the high-pass filter set,the shortcut connection and the pooling{layer}.Extensive experimental results show that compared with the current best steganalytic networks(i.e.,SRNet and J-YeNet),{US-CovNet}can achieve the state-of-the-art results for detecting spatial steganography and have competitive performance for detecting JPEG steganography.For example,the detection accuracy of US-CovNet is at least 0.56%higher than that of SRNet in the spatial domain.In the JPEG domain,US-CovNet performs slightly worse than J-YeNet in some cases with the degradation of less than 0.78%.However,the training time of US-CovNet is significantly reduced,which is less than 1/4 and 1/2 of SRNet and J-YeNet respectively.
