Project description:Periventricular white matter damage (PWMD) is the principal pathological type of brain damage in premature. It causes irreversible damage to the overall function of the central nervous system resulting in cerebral palsy, convulsions, epilepsy, cognitive, motor dysfunction and other late effects. CircRNAs are participate in the biological processes underlying many nervous system diseases. However, the circRNA expression profile of peripheral venous blood of premature infants with PWMD is not completely understood. Three premature with white matter damage (PWMD group) and three infants without brain injury (Normal group) were enrolled. Peripheral venous blood was collected from both groups for extraction of RNA and circRNA sequencing was performed. The RNA-seq technique was used to screen the differentially expressed circRNA in peripheral blood of infants with PWMD. The accuracy of sequencing results was verified by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (q-PCR) to the differentially express partial circRNA in the sequencing results. Bioinformatics analysis of Host genes was performed with differential circRNA. TargetScan and Miranda were used to predict circRNA-binding miRNAs and mapped into a circRNA-miRNA co-expression network. There were 119 significantly different circRNAs as compared with premature without brain injury, along with 1 circRNA was up-regulated and 4 circRNAs were down-regulated expression in the PWMD group. Combined with the existing research results and bioinformatics analysis results after sequencing, it is suggested that circRNA may regulate the occurrence and development of white matter damage in premature infants by interacting with miRNA. This first study of its kind further identified the expression profile of circRNA in peripheral blood of premature with WMD, and provide a novel targets for further investigation about the molecular mechanisms underlying PWMD and potential therapeutic intervention.
Project description:Improper use of antibiotics in swine could reduce commensal bacteria and possibly increase pathogen infections via the gut resistome. This study aimed to compare the metaproteomic profiles of gut resistome and related metabolism in the cecal microbiota of fattening pigs raised under antibiotic-free (ABF) conditions with those of ordinary industrial pigs (CTRL).
Project description:To investigate early blood biomarkers of BPD development, RNA from cord blood cells or peripheral blood cells of premature infants was subjected to RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) and data were analyzed with 9 covariates including gestational age (GA), sex, birth weight (BW), estimated CD4+T cell%, CD8+T cell%, B cell%, monocyte%, granulocyte%, and nucleated red blood cell (NRBC)%. The effect of prolonged oxygen (>14 days O2) treatment in newborn intensive care unit on blood cell transcriptome was determined among nonBPD preterm infants.
Project description:<p class='ql-align-justify'>The gut microbiome has been associated with pathological neurophysiological evolvement in extremely premature infants suffering from brain injury. The exact underlying mechanism and its associated metabolic signatures in infants are not fully understood. To decipher metabolite profiles linked to neonatal brain injury, we investigated the longitudinal fecal and plasma metabolome of 51 extremely premature infants using LC-HRMS-based untargeted metabolomics. This was expanded by an investigation of bile acids and amidated bile acid conjugates in feces and plasma by LC-MS/MS-based targeted metabolomics. The resulting data was integrated with 16S rRNA gene amplicon gut microbiome profiles as well as patient cytokine, growth factor and T-cell profiles. We identified an early onset of differentiation in neuroactive metabolites and bile acids between infants with and without brain injury. We detected several bacterially-derived bile acid amino acid conjugates and secondary bile acids in the plasma already 3 days after delivery, indicating the early establishment of a metabolically active gut microbiome. These results give new insights into the early life metabolome of extremely premature infants.</p>
