The cannabinoid 1 receptor (CB1R) is the most abundant G protein‐coupled receptor in the brain and plays crucial roles in emotion and behavior by modulating or mediating synaptic transmission and plasticity. Differences in CB1R density between male and female rodents may be associated with distinct behavioral phenotypes. In the rat brain, CB1R expression is significantly lower in the prefrontal cortex and amygdala of estrus females than in males. However, differences in CB1R distribution due to sex over the whole mouse brain are still largely unknown. Here, we systemically investigated the expression of CB1R mRNA in the brains of both male and female adult C57BL/6J mice using fluorescence in situ hybridization. There were significantly more CB1R positive cells in males than in females in the orbital cortex, insular cortex, cingulate cortex, piriform cortex, secondary visual cortex, caudate putamen (striatum), and ventral hippocampal CA1. There were significantly more CB1R mRNA cells in females than males in the fornix and dorsal hypothalamus. However, in some regions, strong hybridization signals without sex differences were detected, such as in the motor cortex, septum, medial habenular nucleus, and inferior colliculus. Moreover, female mice displayed different CB1R mRNA expression patterns in the medial amygdala, basolateral amygdala, and parabrachial nucleus during different phases of the estrous cycle. These findings provide a basis for understanding sexual dimorphism in physiological and pathological brain functions related to CB1R.

A field study was conducted to clarify the effect of rhizosphere processes on the accumulation and partitioning of heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Cu, Cr, Cd and Ni) in mangrove sediments. Metals were fractionated by a sequential extraction procedure into three chemically distinct fractions: water soluble, exchangeable and carbonate bound (B1), Fe-Mn oxide bound (B2), and organic and sulfide bound (B3). Results indicate that rhizosphere processes tend to increase the metal concentrations in the rhizosphere sediments. However, plant uptake may result in the decrease of the metal concentrations in the rhizosphere sediments when the metal concentrations are relatively low in the bulk sediments. Compared with the bulk sediments, the rhizosphere sediments have low concentrations of heavy metals in the B1 and B2 fractions and high concentrations in the B3 fraction. Either an increase or decrease in the residual fraction of heavy metals in the rhizosphere sediments may appear, depending on whether the formation of the refractory metal-organic compounds or the activation of the residual fractions dominates.Results also indicate that mangrove plants absorb and store non-essential metals in the perennial tissues, thus reducing the export of non-essential metals via leaf litter transport. Mangrove plants are excellent candidates for phytostabilization of heavy metals in intertidal substrates.

Background: Although the changed lipid environment of the pilosebaceous unit and the growth of lipophilic Cutibacterium acnes (C. acnes) during puberty has long been considered as the trigger of acne vulgaris, the involvement of the interaction between the epidermal barrier integrity and the skin microbiome in this disease has not been fully elucidated. Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the differences in the epidermal barrier and skin microbiota in patients with acne vulgaris and their correlation. Methods: The skin microbial samples and epidermal barrier data from 74 acne patients and 19 healthy subjects were collected in this cross-sectional study. The microbial diversity was analyzed based on a high-throughput sequencing approach that targets the V3-V4 region of the bacteria 16S ribosomal RNA genes. Results: Compared with healthy controls, acne patients had significantly increased transepidermal water loss (TEWL), pH levels, sebum, porphyrins, and red areas, and reduced skin microbiome diversity according to the goods coverage diversity index (p = 0.021), Shannon diversity index (p = 0.037), and Simpson diversity index (p = 0.023). Moreover, the diversity gradually decreased with the increase in acne grading. Based on the principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) analysis plot, the skin microbiota of acne patients and healthy controls could be divided into two different sets, which could not be used to separate acne patients with different disease severity. Finally, this study found that both TEWL and sebum were negatively associated with the Shannon and Simpson diversity index. Meanwhile, the taxa Enhydrobacter and Stenotrophomonas were positively associated with TEWL, stratum corneum hydration, respectively. Conclusion:This study demonstrated that acne vulgaris exists in patients with both damaged epithelial barriers and associated microbiota dysbiosis; the findings will help improve the understanding of the disease and may contribute to the development of better treatment options.

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Sixteen microsatellite markers were developed for the critically endangered giant salamander Andrias davidianus to examine its population genetic structure and parentage across central China. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 4 to 10 (mean of 7.4) when tested on 36 individuals from two cultivated populations (LY, TB). The average observed and expected heterozygosities in LY (n = 19) and TB (n = 17) were 0.83 ± 0.02 and 0.79 ± 0.01, 0.70 ± 0.03 and 0.67 ± 0.02 respectively.Keywords Andrias davidianus Á Microsatellite Á Mating system Á Population genetic structure Chinese giant salamander (CGS) Andrias davidianus is the world's largest amphibian species and it is classified as critically endangered in the Chinese Red Book of Amphibians and Reptiles and on the IUCN Red List. Its current distribution is highly fragmented and some wild populations are already extirpated (Wang et al. 2004). Because of its biological, medical, and nutritional value, it has been cultured widely in many provinces of China for more than 30 years without reports of its mating system. Here we described 16 microsatellite loci for A. davidianus, which will enable investigation of the mating system and population genetic structure of this species.A total of 36 samples of larvae were collected in two cultivated farms of CGS that located in Lueyang County (33.343 N, 106.353 E, 600 m a.s.l.) and Taibai County (33.725 N, 107.429 E, 850 m a.s.l.), respectively. Genomic DNA was extracted from muscle tissues using TransGen EasyPure Genomic DNA Extraction Kit. An enriched partial genomic library for the repeat motifs (GATA) n were obtained following essentially the Fast Isolation by AFLP of Sequences Containing Repeats (FIASCO) protocol (Zane et al. 2002). One hundred and ninety clones were sequenced, of which 88 ones had simple repeating motifs and adequate flanking regions and could be used to create primer pairs. A total of 16 loci were successfully amplified in the 36 individuals and the forward primers were labeled with fluorescent dye FAM, HEX, TAM or ROX. The amplification reaction used 10 lL PCR mixture containing approximately 0.7 ng of genomic DNA, 0.4 lM of each primer and 4 lL EasyTaq PCR SuperMix, and performed using the following cycling profiles: initial denaturation at 94°C for 3 min; followed by 35 cycles at 94°C for 30 s, at annealing temperature (T a ) for 40 s (Electronic supplementary material, Table 1), at 72°C for 1 min; and then a final elongation step at 72°C for 12 min.PCR-products were run on an ABI-3730 sequencer. Microsatellite alleles were scored with GeneMarker v1.85 (SoftGenetics LLC). Basic descriptive statistics were estimated for each locus using GENAIEX ver. 6.5 (Peakall and Smouse 2012) and tested for significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) at each locus, and for linkage disequilibrium between all loci.One locus (CIBad02) was found to deviate significantly from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE, p \ 0.05) in the LY population while four loci (CIBad01, CIBad04, Electronic supple...