PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Yan Kong

Publications and source records attributed to Yan Kong.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

[Studies on germination characteristics of Prunella vulgaris seeds].

OBJECTIVE: To understand the effect of illumination, temperature on the germination of the Prunella vulgaris seeds. METHOD: The general germination method. RESULT: Illumination showed no clearly effect on the germination rate of the P. vulgaris seeds under proper temperature condition; However, illumination was the main factor to determine the germination rate of the P. vulgaris seeds when the temperature condition was unsuitable. The germination rate of the P. vulgaris seeds decreased with the time and increased when the marinating time was from 12 to 36 hours. When temperature reached 5-25 9 degrees C, the trend of the germination rate increased at frst and then decreased. CONCLUSION: The optimal germination condition of P. vulgaris seeds is 12 h of marinating time at the temperature of 20 degrees C under illumination.

Germination↗
PubMed2005

The immunopharmacological properties of transforming growth factor beta.

Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) family members are multifunctional molecules, which play pivotal roles in regulating cell proliferation, differentiation, migration, development, tissue remodeling and repair. These events are closely associated with host immune responses and inflammation. Despite some controversies on their function in controlling dendritic and T regulatory cell development and activity, the importance of TGF-betas in the progress of autoimmunity and inflammatory diseases has been well appreciated and new aspects of their contribution continue to be recognized. Since one of the major biological properties of TGF-betas is its capacity to potently suppress immune responses, they are considered as candidates for the development of therapeutic agents to fend off undesirable damage associated with immune and inflammatory conditions.

Alzheimer Disease↗
PubMed2005

Heating behavior and crystal growth mechanism in microwave field.

A simple microwave solid-state reactor was designed on the basis of a domestic microwave oven by using graphite powder as heating medium. The heating behavior of the reactor was studied by using an on-line computer to monitor the real-time temperature during irradiation. It was found that the temperature (T) was related to the time (t) and that microwave power depended on the duty cycle (x) of microwave irradiation. Two empirical equations were proposed and could be applied to the similar microwave solid-state reactors. Four inorganic layered materials, LiV(3)O(8), KNb(3)O(8), KTiNbO(5), and KSr(2)Nb(3)O(10), were successfully synthesized in the designed reactor at a suitable heating rate and temperature that were fully controlled by the empirical equations. Characterization results of X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy, and scanning (SEM) and transmission (TEM) electron microscopy indicated that the phases of samples prepared by traditional and microwave methods were in good agreement; nevertheless, the heating nature and the morphologies of products were quite different. The samples synthesized in the microwave field had crystallographic defects and showed an incompactly stacking structure of nanosheets. Due to the rapid formation of crystallites and different extended growth rate along the crystal axis of the products in microwave field, the crystal growth mechanism of layered metal oxides was not according to that of the traditional method and is briefly discussed.

Crystallization↗
PubMed2004

Novel coassembly route to Cu-SiO2 MCM-41-like mesoporous materials.

A series of mesostructured Cu-SiO2 composites have been synthesized with sodium metasilicate (Na2SiO3) and cuprammonia nitrate (Cu(NH3)4(NO3)2) respectively used as Si and Cu sources. The synthetic procedures were conducted at room temperature, and cetyltrimethylammonia bromide was used as a template. Under our experimental conditions, ordered mesoporous Cu-SiO2 composites could be obtained with a copper content up to 16.8 wt %. Average pore diameters (2.80-3.15 nm), wall thickness (1.30-2.20 nm), and specific surface area (1020-690 m2/g) are found to vary linearly with copper content (0-16.8 wt %). Results of thermal gravimetry-differential thermal analysis reveal the collapse temperature of the order structure starts at approximately 1250 K for mesoporous Cu-SiO2 with 16.8 wt % copper content. As indicated by the outcomes of inductively coupled plasma and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies, copper is mainly incorporated inside the pore wall rather than embedded on the wall surface. Copper species strongly interact with silica, and calcination at high temperatures cannot cause phase separation between silica and copper oxide. Cu status in mesoporous Cu-SiO2 composites is similar to that in copper silicate in neighboring structures. Based on the results, a S+ I- I+ I- mechanism is proposed in which copper entities are surrounded by silicon species during synthesis of the mesostructured composite.

Copper↗
PubMed2004

Development of a sensitive and HTS-compatible reporter gene assay for functional analysis of human adenosine A2a receptors in CHO-K1 cells.

Adenosine A2a receptor, a member of the G protein-coupled receptor superfamily, has been demonstrated to be an important pharmacological target. It couples to stimulatory G protein and activates adenylate cyclase upon agonist stimulation. Here we attempted to stably transfect Chinese hamster ovary (CHO-K1) cells, which lack any known subtypes of adenosine receptors, with recombinant human adenosine A2a receptors (hA2aR). Rapid down-regulation of hA2aR in a clonal cell line, CHOA2a-2, was observed over a short period of time in culture. This is consistent with other groups' findings of low expression and poor G protein coupling of this receptor in several cell systems. To facilitate pharmacological profiling for hA2aR ligand, we introduced a cyclic AMP response element (CRE)-linked beta-galactosidase reporter gene into CHOA2a-2 cells to generate a stable cell line, CHOA2a-2CREbetagal#26. Robust cyclic AMP signal amplification was obtained using a colorimetric assay measuring beta-galactosidase activity. The EC(50) of 5'-N-ethylcarboxamidoadenosine (NECA), a potent A2a agonist, for inducing beta-galactosidase activity was 23.3 +/- 3.5 nM, similar to 22.7 +/- 3.9 nM, which was the NECA EC(50) in the direct measurement of cyclic AMP of CHOA2a-2 cells in early culture. Subsequently we validated this assay for high throughput screening for hA2aR agonists. The Z' factor for robotic assay performance was 0.79 +/- 0.03, the ratio of signal/noise was 157 +/- 36, and the ratio of signal/background was 10.6 +/- 1.2, demonstrating that this assay is well suitable for quality high throughput screening. High throughput screening of Johnson & Johnson libraries uncovered a couple of distinct series of nonadenosine small molecules, in addition to adenosine analogues, as potential hA2aR agonists with EC(50) values of 2-6 microM. Preliminary characterization of those compounds was presented.

Adenosine A2 Receptor Agonists↗
PubMed2003

Virus-based expression systems facilitate rapid target in vivo functionality validation and high-throughput screening.

Target validation is one of rate-limiting steps in the modern drug discovery. The authors developed a strategy of combining adenovirus-mediated gene transfer for efficient target functionality validation, both in vivo and in vitro, with baculovirus expression to produce sufficient quantities of protein for high-throughput screening (HTS). The incorporation of green fluorescent protein (GFP) in the adenovirus vectors accelerates recombinant adenovirus plaque purification, whereas the use of epitope and affinity tags facilitates the identification and purification of recombinant protein. In this generalized scheme, the flexible modular design of viral vectors facilitates the transition between target validation and HTS. In the example presented, functional target validation in vivo was achieved by overexpressing the target gene in cell-based models and in the mouse cortex following adenovirus-mediated gene delivery. In this context, target overexpression resulted in the accumulation of a disease-related biomarker both in vitro and in vivo. A baculovirus-based expressional system was then generated to produce enough target protein for HTS. Thus, the use of these viral expression systems represents a generalized method for rapid target functionality validation and HTS assay development, which could be applied to numerous target candidates being elucidated in gene discovery programs.

Adenoviridae↗
PubMed2003

Validation of a cell-based screen for insulin receptor modulators by quantification of insulin receptor phosphorylation.

Stimulation of a cell with insulin initiates a signal transduction cascade that results in cellular activities that include phosphorylation of the receptor itself. Measurement of the degree of phosphorylation can serve as a marker for receptor activation. Receptor phosphorylation has been measured using Western blot analysis, which is very low throughput and not easily quantifiable. The goal of this project was to develop a cell-based assay to measure receptor phosphorylation in high throughput. This report describes a cell-based assay for insulin receptor phosphorylation that is robust and amenable to high-volume screening in a microwell format.

Animals↗