Biomedical subjects

Xiwen Zhang

Publications and source records attributed to Xiwen Zhang.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2026

Skin-innervating glutamatergic neurons modulate aging.

Peripheral nerves regulate skin homeostasis by secreting neurotransmitters, but their role during skin aging remains incompletely understood. Here, we report that cutaneous denervation accelerates skin aging, as evidenced by collagen reduction. Neurofilament heavy chain (Nefh) is decreased in aged skin and is predominantly expressed in vesicular glutamate transporter 2-positive (Vglut2+) skin-innervating glutamatergic neurons. Notably, dermal fibroblasts, the primary producers of collagen, frequently contact Nefh+ nerve fibers. Moreover, Nefh deletion in Vglut2+ glutamatergic neurons drives skin fibroblast senescence and collagen loss, whereas additional glutamate improves skin aging phenotypes. Mechanistically, cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) interacts with both Nefh and Vglut2 and maintains glutamate release and collagen homeostasis. Additionally, in skin fibroblasts, solute carrier family 1 member 3 (Slc1a3) governs the collagen-promoting and anti-senescence functions of glutamate. Together, these findings reveal Nefh-mediated glutamatergic neuromodulation of skin aging and provide therapeutic targets for aging-related skin disorders.

Animals↗

PubMed2025

Modulation of Mettl5 alleviates airway allergy by regulating the epigenetic profile of M2 macrophages.

M2 macrophages (M2 cells) are known to be involved in both Th2 responses and immune regulation. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Functional abnormalities in macrophages are associated with airway allergy (AA). The objective of this study was to investigate the role of methyltransferase-like 5 (Mettl5) in macrophages and its potential to alleviate AA. In this study, an airway allergy (AA) mouse model was established using dust mite extracts (DME) as the specific antigen. M2 cells were collected from mice with and without AA. The role of Mettl5 in modulating the immune activities of M2 cells was assessed using both epigenetic and immunological approaches. We found that Mettl5 levels were elevated in airway M2 cells from mice with AA. The presence of Mettl5 in airway M2 cells was positively correlated with airway Th2 polarization in these mice. Airway M2 cells from AA mice exhibited impaired immune-suppressive function, which was resolved by ablating the Mettl5 gene in macrophages. Mettl5 was responsible for the hypermethylation of the Il10 promoter in airway M2 cells of AA mice. Exposure to DME induced Mettl5, which in turn recruited USP21 to deubiquitinate GATA3, thereby boosting IL-4 expression in M2 cells. Inhibiting Mettl5 restored the immune-suppressive capacity of airway M2 cells and mitigated experimental AA. In conclusion, Mettl5 plays a critical role in subverting the immune-regulatory capacity and enhancing IL-4 expression in M2 cells. Inhibition of Mettl5 can mitigate experimental AA by restoring the immune-regulatory functions of M2 cells.

Animals↗

PubMed2006

Extraction of line segments and circular arcs from freehand strokes based on segmental homogeneity features.

The extraction of component line segments and circular arcs from freehand strokes along with their relations is a prerequisite for sketch understanding. Existing approaches usually take three stages to segment a stroke: first identifying segmentation points, then classifying the substroke between each pair of adjacent segmentation points, and, finally, obtaining graphical representations of substrokes by fitting graphical primitives to them. Since a stroke inevitably contains noises, the first stage may produce wrong or inaccurate segmentation points, resulting in the wrong substroke classification in the second stage and inaccurately fitted parameters in the third stage. To overcome the noise sensitivity of the three-stage method, the segmental homogeneity feature is emphasized in this paper. We propose a novel approach, which first extracts graphical primitives from a stroke by a connected segment growing from a seed-segment and then utilizes relationships between the primitives to refine their control parameters. We have conducted experiments using real-life strokes and compared the proposed approach with others. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach is effective and robust.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2005

Soft vesicles formed by diblock codendrimers of poly(benzyl ether) and poly(methallyl dichloride).

The synthesis of a block codendrimer (g3-PBE-b-g3-PMDC), composed of a third-generation poly(benzyl ether) (PBE) monodendron and an aliphatic polyether (PMDC) monodendron is reported. In THF/diiospropyl ether (1:1) the PMDC block functions as a "hydrophilic" block, while the PBE acts as a "hydrophobic" block. The codendrimer can form interdigitated layers leading to vesicle formation. Tapping mode atomic force microscopy (AFM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to characterize the vesicles. The effect of molecular architecture on the formation of the interdigitated layers and vesicles was studied.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2005

Solid base for hydrogen sulfide removal in light oil.

Three solid bases, with three kinds of activated carbon as supporters and alkaline materials as active components, were tested for hydrogen sulfide removal in light oil. The solid bases have high intensity and greater adsorption capacity for hydrogen sulfide removal and are more easily regenerated.

Journal Article↗