Relationship between serum corticosteroid level and telomere length/telomerase activity in spleen cells of Balb/c mice.

• Other Authors: Chiu, Wang Kei.
• Format: Others
• Language: English; Chinese
• Published: 2007
• Subjects: Telomerase; Adrenocortical hormones; Mice as laboratory animals; Spleen > Cytology; Telomerase > blood; Adrenal Cortex Hormones; Mice > physiology; Spleen > cytology
• Online Access: http://library.cuhk.edu.hk/record=b5893247; http://repository.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/en/item/cuhk-326073

Chiu, Wang Kei. === Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. === Includes bibliographical references (leaves 95-110). === Abstracts in English and Chinese. === Abstract --- p.i === 摘要 --- p.iii === Contents --- p.v === Acknowledgements --- p.viii === Abbreviations --- p.ix === List of tables --- p.xii === List of figures --- p.xii === Chapter 1. --- Literature Review --- p.1 === Chapter 1.1 --- Cell cycle and chromosome replication --- p.1 === Chapter 1.2 --- Telomere-associated proteins --- p.4 === Chapter 1.3 --- Telomere repair protein --- p.6 === Chapter 1.4 --- Function of telomere --- p.9 === Chapter 1.5 --- Telomerase --- p.10 === Chapter 1.6 --- Factors affecting telomere length --- p.14 === Chapter 1.7 --- Stress and telomere length --- p.14 === Chapter 1.8 --- Definition of Stress --- p.16 === Chapter 1.9 --- Central nervous system components involved in stress response --- p.17 === Chapter 1.10 --- Glucocorticoid --- p.17 === Chapter 1.11 --- Physiological effects under the activation of stress system --- p.19 === Chapter 1.12 --- Effects of chronic hyperactivation of the stress system --- p.20 === Chapter 1.13 --- Hypothesis --- p.23 === Chapter 2. --- Materials and Methods --- p.24 === Chapter 2.1 --- Materials --- p.24 === Chapter 2.2 --- Experiment animals --- p.25 === Chapter 2.3 --- Methods --- p.26 === Chapter 2.3.1 --- Treatment schedule --- p.26 === Chapter 2.3.2 --- Organ extraction and serum preparation --- p.27 === Chapter 2.4 --- Serum corticosteroid assay --- p.27 === Chapter 2.5 --- Telomere length assay --- p.30 === Chapter 2.5.1 --- Genomic DNA extraction --- p.30 === Chapter 2.5.2 --- Genomic DNA digestion --- p.31 === Chapter 2.5.3 --- Southern blotting procedure --- p.32 === Chapter 2.6 --- Telomeric Repeat Amplification Protocol (TRAP) assay --- p.37 === Chapter 2.6.1 --- Extract preparation and protein concentration quanititation --- p.38 === Chapter 2.6.2 --- Real-time PCR reaction --- p.39 === Chapter 2.6.3 --- Melt Curve --- p.41 === Chapter 2.7 --- Detection of mouse telomerase reverse transcriptase component (mTERT) mRNA expression by reverse transcriptase- polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) --- p.42 === Chapter 2.7.1 --- Total RNA extraction --- p.42 === Chapter 2.7.2 --- RT-PCR --- p.44 === Chapter 2.7.3 --- Agarose gel electrophoresis of RT-PCR products --- p.45 === Chapter 2.8 --- Detection of mouse TERT (mTERT) by Western blotting --- p.46 === Chapter 2.8.1 --- Nuclear protein extraction --- p.46 === Chapter 2.8.2 --- Sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) --- p.47 === Chapter 2.9 --- Statistics --- p.49 === Chapter 3. --- Results --- p.51 === Chapter 3.1 --- Body and spleen weights of study animals --- p.51 === Chapter 3.2 --- Serum corticosterone level --- p.54 === Chapter 3.3 --- Telomere lengths of spleen --- p.54 === Chapter 3.4 --- Telomerase activity of spleen tissue --- p.58 === Chapter 3.5 --- Correlation between serum corticosterone level and telomere length --- p.65 === Chapter 3.6 --- Correlation between serum corticosterone level and telomerase activity --- p.66 === Chapter 3.7 --- Correlation between telomere length and telomerase activity --- p.67 === Chapter 3.8 --- Detection of telomerase reverse transcriptase component (mTERT) mRNA expression by RT-PCR --- p.69 === Chapter 3.9 --- Detection of mTERT by Western blotting --- p.72 === Chapter 3.10 --- Correlation between serum corticosterone level and mTERT mRNA /protein expression --- p.75 === Chapter 4. --- Discussion --- p.77 === Chapter 4.1 --- Serum corticosterone level in mice --- p.78 === Chapter 4.2 --- Mice body weight and spleen weight --- p.80 === Chapter 4.3 --- Telomere lengths in the spleen tissue --- p.83 === Chapter 4.4 --- Telomerase activity in spleens --- p.84 === Chapter 4.5 --- Correlation between serum corticosterone level and telomere length --- p.87 === Chapter 4.6 --- Correlation between serum corticosterone level and telomerase activity --- p.89 === Chapter 4.7 --- Mouse telomerase reverse transcriptase component (mTERT) mRNA expression --- p.89 === Chapter 4.8 --- Expression of mTERT protein --- p.90 === Chapter 4.9 --- Conclusion --- p.92 === Chapter 5. --- References --- p.95 === Chapter 6. --- Appendix --- p.111