Zebrafish embryos/larvae for rapid determination of effects on hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) and hypothalamic-pituitary-interrenal (HPI) axis: mRNA expression

To identify and prioritize chemicals that may affect thyroid and adrenal/interregnal endocrine system and to reduce cost and animal use by conventional toxicity assay, an in vivo screening assay was developed using zebrafish embryos/larvae based on measurement of expression of genes that were suggested to play important roles in hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) and hypothalamic-pituitary-interrenal (HPI) axis. Model chemicals that could modulate HPT and HPI axis in adult fish were selected in assay validation, including anti-thyroid agent 6-Propyl-2-thiouracil (PTU) and cytochrome P450 11B (Cyp11b) enzyme inhibitor metyrapone (MET). Zebrafish embryos were exposed to different concentrations of model chemical from 4 h post-fertilization (hpf) to 5 d post-fertilization (dpf). Exposure to PTU increased mRNA expression of sodium iodide symporter (nis) and thyroglobulin (tg) involved in HPT axis, and MET treatment up-regulated all the mRNA expression tested involved in HPI axis by a compensatory mechanism. These results suggested that HPT and HPI axis were active upon chemical exposure at least at 5 dpf zebrafish. Furthermore, we studied the effects of PTU or MET on the cross-talk between HPT and HPI axis. The results demonstrated that PTU and MET could affect cross-talk responses in zebrafish embryos/larvae.     

牛粪厌氧发酵的载体筛选试验研究

为了提高厌氧发酵装置的效率，人们研究了各种各样的方法和措施，其中应用填料或载体使生物菌能够延长驻留期是其中的方法之一，开展载体筛选及其结构设计在厌氧发酵装置中的试验，有助于对此问题的深入研究以及将其成果应用于生产实践。通过静态载体筛选试验选择了玻璃纤维作为载体、PVC塑料管作为载体骨架制成的装置在动态序批式厌氧发酵装置中进行了试验。结果表明：此载体骨架结构对于牛粪动态厌氧发酵具有明显的提高产气效率、改变产气质量和促进有机物转化为挥发性脂肪酸的作用。