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Freshly harvested bamboo (Phyllostachys violascens) shoots were stored for 35 days under various hypobaric conditions (101, 75, 50 and 25 kPa) at 2 ± 1 °C to investigate the effects of hypobaric storage on flesh lignifications. It was found that hypobaric storage at 50 kPa was most effective in preventing the increase in shoots firmness and allied accumulations of lignin and cellulose. Furthermore, the hypobaric storage at 50 kPa inhibited the ethylene production, reduced the rate of O 2 · − production and the accumulation of malondialdehyde (MDA) and H 2 O 2 , and maintained significantly higher activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX), but restrained the activities of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) and peroxidase (POD). These data indicate that the delay in flesh lignification of bamboo shoots by hypobaric storage was due to maintenance of higher antioxidant enzymes activities and reduced ethylene production, leading to less ROS accumulation and better cell-membrane integrity.

To improve the efficiency of expression of reporter transgenes delivered by hydrodynamic injection, we generated expression cassettes carrying different liver-specific regulatory elements using the firefly luciferase gene as a reporter. From our studies the human alpha-antitrypsin promoter together with the apolipoprotein E/C-I and albumin enhancer was the combination of choice for prolonged transgene expression, but reporter gene expression in vivo lasted for no more than 7 weeks. Subsequently, phage phiC31 integrase was introduced as a potential tool to improve further the efficiency of expression of the delivered transgene. Long-term transgene expression in vivo was achieved by specific integration of the target gene into mouse livers. This study demonstrates the use of a combination of phage phiC31 integrase and liver-specific regulatory elements for generation of transgenic mice.

A non-invasive orthotopic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) model was created with human HCC cells (HepG-Luc) constitutively expressing luciferase (Luc) in nude mice. Development of tumor growth and response to anti-tumor therapy combined with 5-fluorouracil and cisplatin was monitored by whole-body bioluminescent imaging (BLI). Luciferase activity in the tumor, determined by BLI, correlated with the tumor volume and weight. The anti-tumor therapy proved effective by BLI monitoring. In conclusion, BLI by luciferase provides a non-invasive method of monitoring tumor activities that can prove useful for therapeutic intervention studies.