First-trimester prenatal diagnosis of hypophosphatasia: Experience with 16 cases

We have carried out first-trimester prenatal diagnosis of hypophosphatasia in 1 6 pregnancies with a 1 in 4 risk of this condition. The liver/bone/kidney isoenzyme of alkaline phosphatase was measured in chorionic villus samples using a specific monoclonal antibody and an enzymatic amplification system. Fifteen of the 16 pregnancies were correctly predicted, while one has been lost to follow up. We suggest that this assay system is likely to be superior to DNA-base methods for the first-trimester prenatal diagnosis of hypophosphatasia.     

Heavy metals detection in river water with cantilever nanobiosensor

Abstract

Heavy metals can be highly toxic depending on the dose and the chemical form. In this context, sensing devices such as nanobiosensors have been presented as a promising tool to monitor contaminants at micro and nanoscale. In this work, cantilever nanobiosensors with phosphatase alkaline were developed and applied to detect heavy metals (Pb, Ni, Cd, Zn, Co, and Al) in river water. The nanobiosensor surface was functionalized by the self-assembled monolayers (SAM) technique using 16-mercaptohexadecanoic acid, N-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-N′-ethylcarbodiimide (EDC) and N- hydroxysuccinimide (NHS), and phosphatase alkaline enzyme. The sensing layer deposited on the cantilever surface presented a uniform morphology, at nanoscale, with 80?nm of thickness. The nanobiosensor showed a detection limit in the ppb range and high sensitivity, with a stability of fifteen days. The developed cantilever nanobiosensor is a simple tool, suitable for the direct detection of contaminants in river water.     

泡囊丛枝菌根对红三叶草根际土壤磷酸酶活性的影响

以三叶草为材料,利用三室隔网培养方法,研究了缺磷土壤上施用植酸时接种３种泡囊丛枝菌根真菌（Ｇｌｏｍｕｓ ｍｏｓｓｅａｅ,Ｇｌｍｏｕｓ ｖｅｒｓｉｆｏｒｍｅ,Ｇｉｇａｓｐｏｒａ ｍａｒｇａｒｉｔａ）对根际土壤酸性磷酸酶和碱性磷酸酶活性的影响。三叶草生长６０ｄ后,收获测定距根表不同距离土壤中的磷酸酶活性,结果表明,接种菌根真菌增加了根际土壤酸性和碱性磷酸酶活性,Ｇｉｇａｓｐｏｒａ ｍａｒｇａｒｉｔａ菌     

Impact of mercury on the activity pattern of a marker enzyme in a freshwater bivalve

Sessile benthic organisms are universally accepted as bio-indicators of environmental pollution and lysosomal membrane is often the target of injury by xenobiotics resulting in destabilization. Effect of mercury on the activity pattern of the marker enzyme, Acid Phosphatase in the gill and hepatopancreas of the freshwater mussel, Lamellidens corrianus (Lea) at 24, 72, and 168 h, post-exposure discussed. ACP activity was determined as given in Sigma Technical Bulletin (No. 104) and μmol of p-nitrophenol liberated/mg protein/h calculated. The work aimed to study the duration of exposure and concentration of the metal influence, the direction of the response of the enzyme in the two tissues studied and results show that the concentration of the metal as well as the period of exposure do influence the enzyme activity and may have predictive value as a biomarker of impending population changes. Higher concentration of the metal is assumed to have induced stress proteins like metallothioneins.     

First-trimester maternal serum biochemical indicators in Down syndrome

A set of 21 early maternal serum samples (19 first-trimester and two at 14 weeks) from pregnancies resulting in a child with Down syndrome was matched for gestation and length of storage with 63 samples from unaffected pregnancies. The concentrations of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), unconjugated oestriol (uE₃), human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG), pregnancy-specific β₁–glycoprotein (SP₁), and placental alkaline phosphatase (PALP) were measured. The ratios of the medians for Down syndrome pregnancies compared with the medians for controls were AFP 0·71, uE₃ 0·67, hCG 1·43, SP₁ 0·79, and PALP 0·92. Although the differences between the medians for affected and unaffected pregnancies were not significant, the trends for AFP, uE₃, and hCG confirm earlier findings on first-trimester samples.     

外来污染物对土壤磷酸酶影响的研究进展

磷酸酶在磷循环中占有重要地位 ,对植物有着非常重要的意义。根据几十年的国内外资料 ,本文概述了重金属、农药、酸沉降以及其他各种外来污染物对土壤磷酸酶的影响 ,并探讨了磷酸酶作为表征土壤污染程度的指标的可行性。土壤磷酸酶与各种污染物的相互作用关系在环境中的应用方面还需进一步研究。     

温石棉致豚鼠肺泡巨噬细胞酸性磷酸酶释放的干预效应研究

为了探讨几种化合物对温石棉致肺泡巨噬细胞（AM）酸性磷酸酶（ACP）释放的干预效应。本研究用不同浓度的柠檬酸铝、混合稀土或亚硒酸钠溶液浸泡温石棉1小时后，再将其与豚鼠肺泡巨噬细胞共同孵育，测定了细胞培养液中酸性磷酸酶的活性。结果显示，随着石棉剂量的增加和作用时间的延长，细胞培养液中酸性磷酸酶的活性逐渐升高，呈明显的剂量依赖性和时间，效应关系。经3种化合物预处理的石棉组，细胞培养液中酸性磷酸酶的活性均明显低于未处理温石棉组。提示，用3种化合物预处理温石棉，均可减轻温石棉对豚鼠肺泡巨噬细胞的毒性作用。     

甲胺磷对土壤中磷酸酶和脱氢酶活性的影响

报道了土壤中施入不同浓度有机磷杀虫剂甲胺磷（ｍｅｔｈａｍｉｄｏｐｈｏｓ）后对土壤磷酸酶和脱氢酶活性的影响。结果表明：甲胺磷对脱氢酶和３种磷酸酶的活性均有不同程度的抑制。其抑制强度和作用时间随浓度升高而加剧和延长，但随着时间的推移，这种抑制作用逐渐消失，并产生微弱的刺激效应。甲胺磷对土壤酸性磷酸酶活性的影响大于中性和碱性磷酸酶。初步讨论了酶活性与微生物生长的变化情况。     

杀虫双对土壤磷酸酶的毒性效应

采用模拟方法，对碱性、中性和酸性3类磷酸酶的杀虫双毒性效应进行了研究。结果显示：杀虫双强烈抑制碱性和酸性酶活性，达到了极显著负相关，表明酸性磷酸酶活可表征土壤杀虫双污染的程度；而中性磷酸酶对杀虫双的反应较为迟钝，生态毒性也较弱；不同生态区土壤的酶特征截然不，土和红壤中的主导酶类分别是碱性和酸性磷酸酶，揭示出生态环境对土壤酶特征具有决定性的影响。图2表4参6     

盐分和淹水增加对河口潮汐淡水沼泽湿地土壤磷形态和磷酸酶活性的影响

选取中国东南沿海闽江河口潮汐淡水沼泽湿地土壤作为研究对象,研究不同盐分(淡水对照、低盐处理、高盐处理)和不同淹水(CK、CK+15 cm、CK+30 cm)交互处理对土壤磷形态和磷酸酶活性的影响.结果表明,在闽江河口潮汐淡水沼泽湿地土壤中,无机磷是土壤总磷的主要赋存形态,约占总磷含量的68%~82%,有机磷含量约占总磷的18%~32%.无机磷以铁铝结合态磷为主(60%~66%),其次为钙结合态磷和闭蓄态磷.淹水处理对磷的总量和形态的影响有限,盐分变化对磷的总量和形态影响显著.低盐处理可增加铁铝结合态磷、闭蓄态磷含量及碱性磷酸酶活性,而高盐处理则对它们表现出抑制作用.随着盐分的增加,土壤总磷含量逐渐降低,土壤中钙结合态磷含量和磷酸盐含量将逐渐升高.相关分析表明,有机磷含量与土壤碱性磷酸酶活性呈负相关,无机磷含量与土壤碱性磷酸酶活性呈正相关.当盐分由淡水变化至低盐时,土壤磷的形态主要由有机磷向无机磷转化;而当盐分由低盐变化至高盐时,无机磷占比降低,有机磷占比增加.研究结果表明,碱性磷酸酶活性在磷形态对盐分和淹水的响应中发挥着重要作用.