The stress produced by the coupling of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) has been explored extensively, but little is known regarding their roles in the early development of mammalian embryos. Here, we demonstrated that the early development of in vitro-produced (IVP) bovine embryos was governed by the cooperative action between ROS and ER stress. Compared with the tension produced by 5% O2, 20% O2 significantly decreased the blastocyst formation rate and cell survival, which was accompanied by increases in ROS and in levels of sXBP-1 transcript, which is an ER stress indicator. In addition, treatment with glutathione (GSH), a ROS scavenger, decreased ROS levels, which resulted in increased blastocyst formation and cell survival rates. Importantly, levels of sXBP-1 and ER stress-associated transcripts were reduced by GSH treatment in developing bovine embryos. Consistent with this observation, tauroursodeoxycholate (TUDCA), an ER stress inhibitor, improved blastocyst developmental rate, trophectoderm proportion, and cell survival. Moreover, ROS and sXBP-1 transcript levels were markedly decreased by supplementation with TUDCA, suggesting a possible mechanism governing the mutual regulation between ROS and ER stress. Interestingly, knockdown of XBP-1 transcripts resulted in both elevation of ROS and decrease of antioxidant transcripts, which ultimately reduced in vitro developmental competence of bovine embryos. Based on these results, in vitro developmental competence of IVP bovine embryos was highly dependent on the coupled response between oxidative and ER stresses. These results increase our understanding of the mechanism(s) governing early embryonic development and may improve strategies for the generation of IVP embryos with high developmental competence.

IntroductionSleep deprivation has a potentially deleterious effect on postoperative recovery. The aim of our prospective study was to identify the factors contributing to postoperative sleep deprivation and disturbance in order to recommend improvements in postoperative care.Methods102 consecutive patients attending for elective general and orthopaedic surgery were interviewed preoperatively (baseline) and postoperatively on their duration of sleep, number of wakenings during the night, factors contributing to sleep loss and the use of analgesia and night sedation.ResultsPatients woke up a median of 5 times in the first postoperative night compared to a median of 3 times preoperatively (p = 0.01). Pain was the predominant factor preventing sleep, affecting 39% of patients preoperatively and 48% of patients on the first postoperative day. Other factors included noise from other patients and nursing staff, and using the toilet. Analgesia was taken by more than 90% of patients in the first two days, this number gradually reducing over the postoperative period. On the other hand, in the first two postoperative days, only about 5% of patients had night sedation.Discussion and conclusionsApart from highlighting the need for effective pain management postoperatively, we believe that our study supports the drive towards single bed bays, where steps can be taken to minimize the impact of environmental factors on sleep.

Nonhuman primate models are valuable in biomedical research. However, reference data for clinical pathology parameters in cynomolgus and rhesus monkeys are limited. In the present study, we established hematologic and biochemical reference intervals for healthy cynomolgus and rhesus monkeys anesthetized with ketamine hydrochloride. A total of 142 cynomolgus monkeys (28 males and 114 females) and 42 rhesus monkeys (22 males and 20 females) were selected and analyzed in order to examine reference intervals of 20 hematological and 16 biochemical parameters. The effects of sex were also investigated. Reference intervals for hematological and biochemical parameters were separately established by species (cynomolgus and rhesus) and sex (male and female). No sex-related differences were determined in erythrocyte-related parameters for cynomolgus and rhesus monkey housed in indoor laboratory conditions. Alkaline phosphatase and gamma glutamyltransferase were significantly lower in females than males in both cynomolgus and rhesus monkeys aged 48-96 months. The reference values for hematological and biochemical parameters established herein might provide valuable information for researchers using cynomolgus and rhesus monkeys in experimental conditions for biomedical studies.

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We propose a light shutter device using dichroic-dye-doped liquid crystals (LCs) whose Bragg reflection wavelength is set to be infrared by controlling the pitch of cholesteric liquid crystals (ChLCs). A dye-doped long-pitch ChLC cell is switchable between the dark planar state and the transparent homeotropic state. It has the advantages of high transmittance, low operation voltage, and an easy fabrication process relative to previous LC light shutter devices. The proposed light shutter device is expected to achieve high visibility for transparent organic light-emitting diode displays and emerging smart windows, which can be used in airplanes, cars, and other similar applications.

While a critical role of autophagy in mammalian early embryogenesis has been demonstrated, few studies have been conducted regarding the role of autophagy in in vitro maturation (IVM) of immature oocytes. In the present study we investigated the effect of rapamycin, a chemical autophagy inducer, on the nuclear and cytoplasmic maturation of porcine oocytes. Rapamycin treatment led to increased expression of LC3-II, an autophagy marker. Compared with the control group, as well as the 5 and 10nM rapamycin treatment groups, the rate of MII oocyte production was higher in the 1nM rapamycin treatment group, indicating improvement in nuclear maturation. In the analyses of cytoplasmic maturation, we found that the level of p34(cdc2), a cytoplasmic maturation marker, and the monospermic fertilisation rate were higher in the 1nM rapamycin treatment group than in the other groups. Moreover, the beneficial effect of 1nM rapamycin on cytoplasmic maturation of MII oocytes was further evidenced by increases in blastocyst formation rate, total cell number and cell survival. In the blastocyst embryos, anti-apoptotic Bcl-xL transcript levels were elevated in the 1nM rapamycin-treated group, whereas pro-apoptotic Bax transcript levels were decreased. Collectively, these results suggest that induction of autophagy during IVM contributes to enhancement of the nuclear and cytoplasmic maturation of porcine oocytes.

Long terminal repeats (LTRs) of human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) have been reported to serve as alternative promoters in functional genes. The GSDML (gasdermin-like protein) gene located on human chromosome 17q21 has been found to be an oncogenomic recombination hotspot. Here, we identified the LTR element of HERV-H with reverse orientation as an alternative promoter of the GSDML gene and analyzed its expression pattern in human tissues and cancer cells. A reporter gene assay of the promoter activity of the LTR on the GSDML gene in human cancer cell lines (HCT-116 and HeLa) and a kidney cell line (Cos7) of African green monkey indicated that the LTR promoter with reverse orientation had stronger promoter activity than forward one. The transcripts of this LTR-derived promoter were widely distributed in various human tissues and cancer cells, whereas the transcripts of the cellular promoter were found only in stomach tissues and some cancer cells (HCT116, MCF7, U937, C-33A, and PC3). These findings suggest that the LTR element on the GSDML gene was integrated into the hominoid lineage and acquired the role of transcriptional regulation of human tissues and cancer cells.

The objective of the present study was to investigate the role of delta(1)-opioid receptors in mediating cardioprotection in isolated chick cardiac myocytes and to investigate whether protein kinase C and mitochondrial ATP-sensitive K(+) (K(ATP)) channels act downstream of the delta(1)-opioid receptor in mediating this beneficial effect. A 5-min preexposure to the selective delta(1)-opioid receptor agonist (-)-TAN-67 (1 microM) resulted in less myocyte injury during the subsequent prolonged ischemia compared with untreated myocytes. 7-Benzylidenenaltrexone, a selective delta(1)-opioid receptor antagonist, completely blocked the cardioprotective effect of (-)-TAN-67. Naltriben methanesulfonate, a selective delta(2)-opioid receptor antagonist, had only a slight inhibitory effect on (-)-TAN-67-mediated cardioprotection. Nor-binaltorphimine dihydrochloride, a kappa-opioid receptor antagonist, did not affect (-)-TAN-67-mediated cardioprotection. The protein kinase C inhibitor chelerythrine and the K(ATP) channel inhibitors glibenclamide, a nonselective K(ATP) antagonist, and 5-hydroxydecanoic acid, a mitochondrial selective K(ATP) antagonist, reversed the cardioprotective effect of (-)-TAN-67. These results suggest that the delta(1)-opioid receptor is present on cardiac myocytes and mediates a potent cardioprotective effect via protein kinase C and the mitochondrial K(ATP) channel.