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Achyranthes bidentata polysaccharides (ABPS) are the active components of Radix Achyranthis Bidentatae (AB), which has been extensively used in Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA). Our previous study provided evidence that ABPS regulated the G1/S transition to promote chondrocyte proliferation. However, the precise mechanisms involved remain to be elucidated. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the effects of ABPS on the Wnt/β‑catenin signaling pathway in chondrocytes. Chondrocytes, obtained from the knee cartilage of Sprague-Dawley rats, were identified by type II collagen immunohistochemistry. ABPS upregulated the expression of Wnt-4, Frizzled-2, β-catenin and cyclin D1, and downregulated the expression of glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK-3β), as shown by reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) and western blot analysis. Using immunofluorescence, we also found that ABPS induced β-catenin nuclear translocation. Importantly, the expression of β-catenin and cyclin D1 was partly inhibited by Dickkopf-1 (DKK-1), an inhibitor of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. In addition, we found that ABPS increased the expression of type II collagen in chondrocytes. These results suggest that ABPS promote chondrocyte proliferation by activating the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.

Light is a major environmental signal for insect circadian. In this study, we isolated two cryptochrome (cry) genes from Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and RACE-PCR strategies, designated as Ha-cryl (GenBank accession GQ896502) and Ha-cry2 (GenBank accession GQ896503). Ha-CRY1 encoded a fly-like protein of 548 amino acids, while Ha-CRY2 encoded a mammal-like protein of 657 amino acids. Both of these proteins had two conserved domains: a DNA photolyase domain and a flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) binding seven domain, and alignment of the amino acid sequence indicated that there was a high degree of homology between the CRYs of H. armigera and other insects. Real-time polymerase chain reaction revealed that: 1) Ha-cry1 and Ha-cry2 mRNA expressions were neither organ-specific nor developmental-stage-specific. 2) Under the light-dark cycle (16:8 L:D), Ha-cry1 abundance tended to increase during the day, then decrease in the night, whereas the expression pattern of Ha-cry2 was opposite. 3) The cyclings of Ha-cry1 and Ha-cry2 expression were disturbed by constant light and darkness. Our study has significant importance for the further study of the functions of the Ha-cry genes and potential control of the cotton bollworm.

Severe acute lung injury (ALI) can cause death, and the survivals may develop acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) due to fibrotic repair of the lung. Alveolar macrophages play a demonstrative role during the pathogenesis of ALI, and the timing and degree of differentially polarization of macrophages determine the severity of disease and outcome. Exosomes are important mediators of cellular communication and play critical roles during macrophage differentiation, proliferation and function. Nevertheless, the exact effects of alveolar macrophage-derived exosomes on ALI remain unknow. Here, we used lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to induce ALI in mice and analyzed the exosome population in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) from macrophages, neutrophils and epithelial cells at different time points after treatment. Our data showed that macrophages were the major secretors for early secreted pro-inflammatory cytokines in the BALF-exosomes, which likely activated neutrophils to produce a variety of pro-inflammatory cytokines and IL-10. IL-10 by neutrophils in BALF-exosomes likely in turn polarized macrophages to M2c, which may be responsible for post-ALI fibrosis. Our study thus reveals a previous non-acknowledged role of BALF-exosomes as a mediator of inflammatory response and cell crosstalk during ALI.