Aims. The main treatment for coronary heart disease is percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), and drug-eluting stents are designed to inhibit vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMCs) proliferation and migration causing restenosis by releasing pharmacological agents into the vessel wall. Once drug-eluting stents are deployed, these pharmacological agents exert many biological effects in the coronary circulation, not only inhibition of VSMCs but also extension to vascular endothelial cells (VECs). The purpose of this study was to explore target molecules that inhibit VSMCs proliferation without affecting VECs. Methods. mRNA and protein expressions of transient receptor potential channels (TRPCs) in cultured VSMCs and VECs were determined by western blotting and RT-qPCR. VSMCs and VECs proliferation was evaluated using CCK-8 assays and western blotting of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). Calcium backfilling assays were performed to detect intracellular calcium ion concentration in cultured VSMCs and VECs. Results. The TRPC6 expression was more abundant in VECs than VSMCs, while TRPC4 and TRPC5 expressions were more abundant in VSMCs than VECs. Knockdown of TRPC4 or TRPC5 alone had no remarkable inhibitory effect on VSMC proliferation. Synergistic knockdown of TRPC4 and TRPC5 inhibited the proliferation of VSMCs, declined the expression of the PCNA, and reduced the intracellular calcium ion concentration but not VECs. Conclusion. These data suggest that concurrent inhibition of TRPC4 and TRPC5 inhibits VSMCs proliferation without affecting VECs, thus providing novel targets for developing pharmacological agents for drug-eluting stents.

Low molecular weight glutenin subunits (LWM-GSs) play a crucial role in determining wheat flour processing quality. In this work, 35 novel LMW-GS genes (32 active and three pseudogenes) from three Aegilops umbellulata (2n = 2x = 14, UU) accessions were amplified by allelic-specific PCR. We found that all LMW-GS genes had the same primary structure shared by other known LMW-GSs. Thirty-two active genes encode 31 typical LMW-m-type subunits. The MZ424050 possessed nine cysteine residues with an extra cysteine residue located in the last amino acid residue of the conserved C-terminal III, which could benefit the formation of larger glutenin polymers, and therefore may have positive effects on dough properties. We have found extensive variations which were mainly resulted from single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and insertions and deletions (InDels) among the LMW-GS genes in Ae. umbellulata. Our results demonstrated that Ae. umbellulata is an important source of LMW-GS variants and the potential value of the novel LMW-GS alleles for wheat quality improvement.

In this paper, we report the results of a rapid and room temperature integration approach for the selective and structured deposition of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) into three-dimensional microstructures. The approach exploits electrophoretic deposition (EPD) from an aqueous suspension of CNTs, together with suitably patterned and electrically-energized microstructure-bearing substrates. Uniform 2-D and 3-D micropatterns of CNTs on wafer scale have been achieved in less than 4 minutes with controllable thicknesses ranging from 133nm to several micrometers. Orientation of the deposited CNTs was observed in microstructures with certain dimensions. Surface hydrophobicity of the microstructures was found to be critical in achieving well-defined micropatterning of CNTs. A hydrophobic microstructure surface leads to the selective patterning profiles of CNTs, while a hydrophilic surface induces CNTs assembly over the entire microstructure, with resultant loss of selectivity. This approach can be further extended to fabricate 3-D micropatterns with multilayer materials on flexible substrate through the aid of transfer micromolding techniques.