Environmental estrogens (EEs) have been correlated with abnormalities in the male urogenital system. However, the mechanism underlying the effect of these molecules remains unclear. In vitro and in vivo experiments were performed to examine the expression level and mechanism of relaxin family peptide receptor 2 (RXFP2) in the gubernaculum of fetal mice following diethylstilbestrol (DES) treatment. The in vivo results demonstrate that DES treatment increased the stillbirth rate gradually, decreased the gubernacular cone volume significantly, and disrupted the tissue structure, leading to incomplete testicular descent. In vitro experiments reveal that DES administration resulted in abnormal cellular morphology and structural disorder of gubernacular cells, which lost their original morphology in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, DES-induced F-actin rearrangement and stress fiber formation in cultured cells. Protein quantitative analysis showed that the RXFP2 level in each experimental group was significantly lower than that of the normal group. In conclusion, DES affects the morphology and alters the gubernaculum structure, as well as the expression of RXFP2 protein. These data demonstrate that DES is toxic to gubernaculum in fetal mice, and that RXFP2 is associated with the abnormal gubernaculum morphology induced by DES. Taken together, these data suggest that RXFP2 may be a novel potential biomarker for abnormal differentiation of the gubernaculum.
Piezoelectric Fast Steering Mirror (PFSM) is widely used to realize fast and precise pointing in optical systems. To eliminate the nonlinearity, close-loop driving circuit must be used through position sensors such as strain gauge. Since PFSM not only works in static condition, but also needs pointing precisely under dynamic condition, it is necessary to research the pointing performance under shock and random vibration. The platform was established and the experiment was done to verify the deviation angle of PFSM during vibration in this paper. The conclusion is got finally.
To elucidate the possible mechanisms of how basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) influences epidermal homeostasis in a living skin equivalent (LSE) model.Several wound healing-related growth factors were analyzed at protein and mRNA levels for dermal fibroblasts of induced alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA)-positive or α-SMA-negative phenotypes. During culturing an LSE model by seeding normal human keratinocytes on a fibroblast-populated type I collagen gel, bFGF or neutralizing antibody for keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) was added to investigate its effects on fibroblast phenotypes and, subsequently, epidermal homeostasis by histology and immunohistochemistry.The α-SMA-positive phenotype of fibroblasts induced by transforming growth factor beta-1 (TGF-β1) markedly suppressed the expression of KGF and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), and slightly upregulated vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and TGF-β1 at mRNA and protein levels, compared with α-SMA-negative fibroblasts treated with bFGF. α-SMA expression of fibroblasts at the epidermal-mesenchymal junction of the LSEs was suppressed by the addition of bFGF, and a better-differentiated epidermis was presented. The abrogation of KGF from fibroblasts by the addition of the KGF neutralizing antibody disenabled the LSE culturing system to develop an epidermis.bFGF, through affecting the phenotypes and functions of fibroblasts, especially KGF expression, influenced epidermal homeostasis in an LSE model.
Y-branch is an important optical passive component. It can be used as power splitter and mode conversion. In this paper, a variable optical attenuator was designed using an asymmetric Y-branch. The device was simulated by FDBPM (Finite Difference Beam Propagation Method). It has the characteristics of compact size, large scale dynamic attenuation and low power consumption.
Recent studies have shown that lipid metabolism was abnormal during the formation of cleft palate. However, the composition of these lipid species remains unclear.Aims of this study were to identify the lipid species components and reveal the key lipid metabolic disorders in cleft palate formation.The pregnant mice were divided into experimental group exposed to all-trans retinoic acid (RA-treated group) (n = 12) and control group (n = 12) at embryonic gestation day 10.5 (E0.5). The component of the palatal tissue metabolome was analyzed using a LCMS-based nontargeted lipidomics approach. Multivariate statistical analysis was then carried out to assess the differences between the RA-treated group and the control group.Twenty-nine lipid species were found to discriminate between RA-treated and control embryos. Among them, 28 lipid species increased and 1 lipid species decreased in the RA-treated group. Among these lipids, 13 were triglycerides, 9 were PEs, 3 were PCs, 2 were PSs, 2 were DGs. Further analysis of the number of carbons and unsaturated bond of triglycerides showed that TGs with high unsaturated bonds constituted a higher fraction in the RA-treated group. A higher amount of triglycerides containing 52, 54, 56, 58, 60 carbons, and 1 to 8 unsaturated bonds. Of note, under RA treatment, TG 50:1, 52:2, 56:6and 60:8 became the most prominent.Lipid metabolism is significantly different in the formation of cleft palate induced by RA, and the unsaturated triglycerides increased in the RA-treated group may play an important role in the formation of cleft palate.
First, in order to get the low-loss and small-size 2-arc S-shaped bend, the lateral offset between waveguides with different curvature was optimized to reduce the mode mismatch. To get the smoother S-shaped bend, which also has the overall bending loss as small as possible, another S-shaped bend based on functional approximation theory of B-spline was put forward. By this means, the transition loss at the junctions can be completely eliminated and also make the pure bending loss as small as possible. A comparison among sine-generated, cosine-generated, 2-arc and numerical calculated S-shaped bends was also been conducted. Using Beam Propagation Method (BPM) and analytical method, the result was verified and good agreement was got.
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