Browsing by Author "Zhou, Jing"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

BMP-4 Induction of Arrest and Differentiation of Osteoblast-Like Cells via p21(CIP1) and p27(KIP1) Regulation
(2009-11-01)
Chang, Shun-Fu
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Chang, Ting-Kuo
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Peng, Hsin-Hsin
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Yeh, Yi-Ting
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Lee, Ding-Yu
Cell cycle regulation by differentiation signals is critical for eukaryote development. We investigated the roles of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-4, an important stimulator of osteoblast differentiation and bone formation, in regulating cell cycle distribution in four osteoblast-like cell lines and mouse primary osteoblasts, and the underlying mechanisms. In all cells used, BMP-4 induced G(0)/G(1) arrest. The molecular basis of the BMP-4 effect was analyzed, and the presentation on molecular mechanism is focused on human MG63 cells. BMP-4 induced p21(CIP1) and p27(KIP1) expressions and hence cell differentiation but had no effects on the expressions of cyclins A, B1, D1, and E, cyclin-dependent protein kinase-2, -4, and -6. Using specific small interfering RNA (siRNA), we found that BMP-4-induced G(0)/G(1) arrest, and p21(CIP1) and p27(KIP1) expressions were mediated by BMP receptor type IA (BMPRIA)-specific Sma- and Mad-related protein (Smad)1/5. BMP-4 induced transient phosphorylations of ERK; transfection of MG63 cells with ERK2, but not ERK1, -specific siRNA inhibited the BMP-4-induced responses in MG63 cells. Pretreatment of MG63 cells with Arg-Gly-Asp-Ser, which blocks the cell-extracellular matrix interaction, or transfection with beta(3) integrin-specific siRNA inhibited BMP-4-induced ERK and Smad1/5 phosphorylations. BMP-4 induced transient increases in associations of beta(3)-integrin with focal adhesion kinase and Shc, the dominant-negative mutants of which inhibited BMP-4-induced ERK and Smad1/5 phosphorylations. Our results indicate that BMP-4 induces G(0)/G(1) arrest and hence differentiation in osteoblast-like cells through increased expressions of p21(CIP1) and p27(KIP1), which are mediated by BMPRIA-specific Smad1/5. The extracellular matrix/beta(3) integrin/focal adhesion kinase/Shc/ERK2 signaling pathway is involved in these BMP-4-induced responses in osteoblast-like cells. (Molecular Endocrinology 23: 1827-1838, 2009)
Broadband Multifunctional Plasmonic Logic Gates
(2018-07-04)
Sang, Yungang
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Wu, Xiaojia
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Raja, Soniya S.
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Wang, Chun-Yuan
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Li, Haozhi
Plasmonic logic gates provide a promising platform to realize diffraction-unlimited all-optical logic circuits. However, previous plasmonic logic gates suffer from narrow bandwidth and high loss. Here, broadband plasmonic logic gates are proposed and demonstrated using a unique design based on curved silver gratings. These logic gates can maintain a high intensity contrast ratio (29 dB) under front optical illumination. And, the broadband feature is achieved due to the feature of zero optical path difference from different positions of the curved grating to the output port. All the seven fundamental logic gates are demonstrated. In addition, different types of logic gates can be realized using the same device configuration. The possibility of multifunctionality makes these logic gates easy for device fabrication and system integration.
Flow-Dependent Regulation of Kruppel-Like Factor 2 Is Mediated by MicroRNA-92a
(2011-08-02)
Wu, Wei
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Xiao, Han
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Laguna-Fernandez, Andres
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Villarreal, Guadalupe, Jr.
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Wang, Kuei-Chun
Background-Upregulated by atheroprotective flow, the transcription factor Kruppel-like factor 2 (KLF2) is crucial for maintaining endothelial function. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are noncoding small RNAs that regulate gene expression at the posttranscriptional level. We examined the role of miRNAs, particularly miR-92a, in the atheroprotective flow-regulated KLF2. Methods and Results-Dicer knockdown increased the level of KLF2 mRNA in human umbilical vein endothelial cells, suggesting that KLF2 is regulated by miRNA. In silico analysis predicted that miR-92a could bind to the 3' untranslated region of KLF2 mRNA. Overexpression of miR-92a decreased the expression of KLF2 and the KLF2-regulated endothelial nitric oxide synthase and thrombomodulin at mRNA and protein levels. A complementary finding is that miR-92a inhibitor increased the mRNA and protein expression of KLF2, endothelial nitric oxide synthase, and thrombomodulin. Subsequent studies revealed that atheroprotective laminar flow downregulated the level of miR-92a precursor to induce KLF2, and the level of this flow-induced KLF2 was reduced by miR-92a precursor. Furthermore, miR-92a level was lower in human umbilical vein endothelial cells exposed to the atheroprotective pulsatile shear flow than under atheroprone oscillatory shear flow. Anti-Ago1/2 immunoprecipitation coupled with real-time polymerase chain reaction revealed that pulsatile shear flow decreased the functional targeting of miR-92a precursor/KLF2 mRNA in human umbilical vein endothelial cells. Consistent with these findings, mouse carotid arteries receiving miR-92a precursor exhibited impaired vasodilatory response to flow. Conclusions-Atheroprotective flow patterns decrease the level of miR-92a, which in turn increases KLF2 expression to maintain endothelial homeostasis. (Circulation. 2011;124:633-641.)
Neutrino physics with JUNO
(2016-03)
An, Fengpeng
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An, Guangpeng
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An, Qi
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Antonelli, Vito
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Baussan, Eric
The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), a 20 kton multipurpose underground liquid scintillator detector, was proposed with the determination of the neutrino mass hierarchy (MH) as a primary physics goal. The excellent energy resolution and the large fiducial volume anticipated for the JUNO detector offer exciting opportunities for addressing many important topics in neutrino and astro-particle physics. In this document, we present the physics motivations and the anticipated performance of the JUNO detector for various proposed measurements. Following an introduction summarizing the current status and open issues in neutrino physics, we discuss how the detection of antineutrinos generated by a cluster of nuclear power plants allows the determination of the neutrino MH at a 3-4 sigma significance with six years of running of JUNO. The measurement of antineutrino spectrum with excellent energy resolution will also lead to the precise determination of the neutrino oscillation parameters sin(2) theta(12), Delta m(21)(2), and vertical bar Delta m(ee)(2)vertical bar to an accuracy of better than 1%, which will play a crucial role in the future unitarity test of the MNSP matrix. The JUNO detector is capable of observing not only antineutrinos from the power plants, but also neutrinos/antineutrinos from terrestrial and extra-terrestrial sources, including supernova burst neutrinos, diffuse supernova neutrino background, geoneutrinos, atmospheric neutrinos, and solar neutrinos. As a result of JUNO\'s large size, excellent energy resolution, and vertex reconstruction capability, interesting new data on these topics can be collected. For example, a neutrino burst from a typical core-collapse supernova at a distance of 10 kpc would lead to similar to 5000 inverse-beta-decay events and similar to 2000 all-flavor neutrino-proton ES events in JUNO, which are of crucial importance for understanding the mechanism of supernova explosion and for exploring novel phenomena such as collective neutrino oscillations. Detection of neutrinos from all past core-collapse supernova explosions in the visible universe with JUNO would further provide valuable information on the cosmic star-formation rate and the average core-collapse neutrino energy spectrum. Antineutrinos originating from the radioactive decay of uranium and thorium in the Earth can be detected in JUNO with a rate of similar to 400 events per year, significantly improving the statistics of existing geoneutrino event samples. Atmospheric neutrino events collected in JUNO can provide independent inputs for determining the MH and the octant of the theta(23) mixing angle. Detection of the Be-7 and B-8 solar neutrino events at JUNO would shed new light on the solar metallicity problem and examine the transition region between the vacuum and matter dominated neutrino oscillations. Regarding light sterile neutrino topics, sterile neutrinos with 10-(5) eV(2) < Delta m(41)(2) < 10(-2) and a sufficiently large mixing angle theta(14) could be identified through a precise measurement of the reactor antineutrino energy spectrum. Meanwhile, JUNO can also provide us excellent opportunities to test the eV-scale sterile neutrino hypothesis, using either the radioactive neutrino sources or a cyclotron-produced neutrino beam. The JUNO detector is also sensitive to several other beyondthe-standard-model physics. Examples include the search for proton decay via the p -> K++ <(v)over bar> decay channel, search for neutrinos resulting from dark-matter annihilation in the Sun, search for violation of Lorentz invariance via the sidereal modulation of the reactor neutrino event rate, and search for the effects of non-standard interactions. The proposed construction of the JUNO detector will provide a unique facility to address many outstanding crucial questions in particle and astrophysics in a timely and cost-effective fashion. It holds the great potential for further advancing our quest to understanding the fundamental properties of neutrinos, one of the building blocks of our Universe.