Promotion Of Regulatory T Cell Induction By Licorice And Its Two Constituents And Haploid Embryonic Stem Cells Shows The Prolonged Mitosis And Its Association With Self-diploidization

Part I:Promotion of regulatory T cell induction by immunomodulatory herbal medicine licorice and its two constituents Regulatory T cells (Treg) play a critical role to control immune responses and to prevent autoimmunity, thus selective increase of Treg cells in vivo has broad therapeutic implications for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Licorice is a well-known herbal medicine used worldwide for over thousands of years, and accumulating evidence has shown its immunomodulatory potential. However, it is not clear whether licorice could regulate the induction and function of Treg cells. Here we found licorice extract could promote Treg cell induction, and then used a rational approach to isolate its functional fractions and constituents. The results showed that two constituents, isoliquiritigenin and naringenin, promoted Treg cell induction both in vitro and in vivo. The effective fractions and two constituents of licorice also enhanced immune suppression of Treg cells, and they further reduced severity of DSS-induced colitis in mice. This study suggested that promotion of regulatory T cell induction could be an underlying mechanism of the historically and widely used herbal medicine licorice and discovered its two effective molecules to regulate Treg cells and to combat autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.Part II: Single cell dynamic analysis of mitosis in haploid embryonic cells shows the prolonged metaphase and its association with self-diploidization Recent establishment of mammalian haploid embryonic stem cells(ESC) provide an opportunity for genetic screening and understanding genome evolution and function.Mitosis plays a critical role in cell cycle and cell function, however, the dynamics of mitosis in haploid ESCs and its difference from diploid ESCs are not clear. Here, we report that mosis is significant longer in haploid ESCs as compared:that of diploid ESCs,especially in metaphase. Prolonging mitosis by chemicals leads to more diploidization of haploid ESCs,while shortening mitosis bilizes haploid ESCs. Taken together, this study suggests that the longer mitosis of haploid ESC is associated with self-diploidization and the dynamics of mitosis in haploid shows some similarities to that of meiosis Ⅱ.