Cellular Construction Research Articles

2151-P: Quantification of Tissue Structure in Human and Mouse Islets

The pancreatic islet is a complex tissue consisting of multiple endocrine cell types, capillaries, and a peri-islet basement membrane. The 3D organization of cells, blood vessels, and basement membrane (BM), enhances islet function by (1) supporting beta cell electrochemical coupling and synchronization through gap junctions between adjacent cells and (2) providing access to nutrients and integrin-mediated signals for beta cell survival and function through contact with capillaries and BM. Though a quantitative understanding of islet structure is lacking, there is strong evidence linking islet structural changes to diabetes progression. Studies of these changes in islet structure will enhance understanding of diabetes-related losses in islet function and lead to the development of new therapeutics for diabetic and prediabetic patients. Here, we present a novel method for quantitative analysis of islet structure in terms of local cell-cell and cell-BM interactions at endocrine cell plasma membrane surfaces. The number and surface area of individual cell-cell and cell-BM interfaces are measured from high-resolution 3D confocal images of human and mouse islets immunolabeled for endocrine cell markers, epithelial cell plasma membranes, and BM. These measurements quantify both cellular interconnectivity and access to signals supporting beta cell survival and function. We report a baseline quantification of structure for healthy adult human and mouse islets. These data both provide a definitive answer to the ongoing debate regarding the differences in structure between human and mouse islets and set the stage for future quantification of islet structure in diabetes. Disclosure O.A. Creasey: None. D. Elnatan: None. J.B. Sneddon: Advisory Panel; Spouse/Partner; Akouos. Advisory Panel; Self; Encellin. Advisory Panel; Spouse/Partner; Encellin. Consultant; Self; Semma Therapeutics, Inc. Z.J. Gartner: Stock/Shareholder; Self; Provenance, Scribe Biosciences. Funding National Institutes of Health; National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program; National Science Foundation; University of California, San Francisco Center for Cellular Construction; University of California, San Francisco Diabetes Research Center

The slurry and physical-mechanical performance of autoclaved aerated concrete with high content solid wastes: Effect of grinding process

In high content solid-wastes autoclaved aerated concrete (HCS-AAC) preparation, the grinding process of raw materials have significant influence on the powder particle size which subsequently shows influence on the slurry uniformity and mechanical properties of HCS-AAC preparation. To clarify the effect of raw material fineness on HCS-AAC, influence of carbide slag and iron tailing fineness on slurry performance and physic-mechanical properties of HCS-AAC were investigated. Furthermore, according to the special raw material system of HCS-AAC, mix grinding process was proposed to promote pretreatment efficiency and slurry uniformity. Meanwhile, effect of mix grinding process on particles characteristics, slurry performance and physic-mechanical properties were discussed. Otherwise, economical and environmental benefits were analyzed to evaluate the environmental safety and social value of HCS-AAC products. The results indicated that raw material fineness has little influence on slurry foaming process. Meanwhile, with finer of iron tailing and carbide slag, the compressive strength of HCS-AAC were improve by 8–13%. Attributed to the non-hydration heat carbide slag, mix grinding technique was conducted to promote grinding efficient and improve compressive strength of HCS-AAC, which increased by 0.15–0.2 MPa than conventional divided grinding. The majority minerals in HCS-AAC were consist of calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) gel and tobermorite besides quartz and sluggishness minerals from raw materials. Additionally, HCS-AAC has significant benefits both in producing cost reduction and environmental conservation. This study provided a lower energy consumption technical route in preparation of high solid-wastes utilization, thermal insulation cellular construction material.

Identification, characterization, and functional investigation of circular RNAs in subventricular zone of adult rat brain.

Adult neural stem cells (NSCs) are able to self-renew and generate new neural cells. Identifying regulators of NSCs is significant for the development of NSC-based therapies for neurodegenerative diseases and brain injuries. Recently, circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been characterized in various cell lines and brain tissues, and found to participate in multiple biological processes. However, the expression pattern of circRNAs in adult NSCs is still unknown. Here, the subventricular zone (SVZ) of the lateral ventricle was isolated as the niche of NSCs in adult rat brain for RNA sequencing and the characteristics of circRNAs profiling in both SVZ and cerebral cortex were also investigated. As a result, 29 049 and 31 975 circRNAs were identified in SVZ and cortex, respectively. Among them, 41 were SVZ-specific and 48 were cortex-specific. 467 circRNAs were also found to express predominately in SVZ, while the cortex had other 423 circRNAs. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses revealed that the SVZ-specific circRNAs have close relationship with the regulation of NSC expansion and NSC-niche interaction, while the other differentially expressed circRNAs might be involved in neural cellular construction and nerve system function. Furthermore, the interactions between circRNAs and microRNAs were also explored, and the result showed that one SVZ-specific circRNA was capable to competitively bind miR-138-5p as a potential derepressive regulator in NSCs proliferation. Hence, our work has laid the foundations to decipher regulation mechanisms of circRNAs in adult NSCs and to develop circRNAs as novel biomarkers for adult NSCs.

Rice Hulls as a Renewable Complex Material Resource

As a result of rice grain processing, a big amount of waste (up to 20%) is produced. It is mainly rice hulls. The main components of rice hulls are cellulose, lignin and mineral ash. The mineral ash quantity in rice hulls varies from 15 up to 20%, by weight of the rice hulls. The mineral ash consists of amorphous silica (opal-type). Due to the high content of silica in rice hulls, the material burns with difficulty under natural conditions, and it is biodegradably destroyed only with difficulty, when composted. Utilization of rice hulls then becomes an ecological problem due to huge rice production and its continuous growth. At the same time, the annual quantity of silica content in rice hulls is comparable with the quantity of amorphous silica produced as a mineral resource. The issue of manufacturing cellular glass silica construction materials from rice hulls as a renewable resource is discussed in this paper. The utilization technology is based on an amorphous silicon oxide with the use of energy from the combustion of the organic component of rice hulls.

Bending strategies of convergently evolved, articulated coralline algae

The evolution of uncalcified genicula in upright calcified corallines has occurred at least three times independently, resulting in articulated corallines within Corallinoideae, Lithophylloideae, and Metagoniolithoideae. Genicula confer flexibility to otherwise rigid thalli, and the localization of bending at discrete intervals amplifies bending stress in genicular tissue. Genicular morphology must, therefore, be balanced between maintaining flexibility while mitigating or resisting stress. Genicula in the three articulated lineages differ in both cellular construction and development, which may result in different constraints on morphology. By studying the interaction between flexibility and morphological variation in multiple species, we investigate whether representatives of convergently evolving clades follow similar strategies to generate mechanically successful articulated fronds. By using computational models to explore different bending strategies, we show that there are multiple ways to generate flexibility in upright corallines but not all morphological strategies are mechanically equivalent. Corallinoids have many joints, lithophylloids have pliant joints, and metagoniolithoids have longer joints-while these strategies can lead to comparable thallus flexibility, they also lead to different levels of stress amplification in bending. Moreover, genicula at greatest risk of stress amplification are typically the strongest, universally mitigating the trade-off between flexibility and stress reduction.

Four domains: The fundamental unicell and Post-Darwinian Cognition-Based Evolution

Contemporary research supports the viewpoint that self-referential cognition is the proper definition of life. From that initiating platform, a cohesive alternative evolutionary narrative distinct from standard Neodarwinism can be presented. Cognition-Based Evolution contends that biological variation is a product of a self-reinforcing information cycle that derives from self-referential attachment to biological information space-time with its attendant ambiguities. That information cycle is embodied through obligatory linkages among energy, biological information, and communication. Successive reiterations of the information cycle enact the informational architectures of the basic unicellular forms. From that base, inter-domain and cell-cell communications enable genetic and cellular variations through self-referential natural informational engineering and cellular niche construction. Holobionts are the exclusive endpoints of that self-referential cellular engineering as obligatory multicellular combinations of the essential Four Domains: Prokaryota, Archaea, Eukaryota and the Virome. Therefore, it is advocated that these Four Domains represent the perpetual object of the living circumstance rather than the visible macroorganic forms. In consequence, biology and its evolutionary development can be appraised as the continual defense of instantiated cellular self-reference. As the survival of cells is as dependent upon limitations and boundaries as upon any freedom of action, it is proposed that selection represents only one of many forms of cellular constraint that sustain self-referential integrity.

Effects of the Cell Cycle on Vacuole Size in S. cerevisiae yeast

Malfunctions in a cell's ability to degrade unnecessary chemicals or proteins may lead to one of fifty distinctive lysosomal storage disorders in humans. Lysosomal storage diseases such as Tay‐Sach's, Salla, or Sialic Acid Storage diseases often lead to premature death in infants. Lysosomes are vital for degrading subcellular proteins no longer needed by the cell. Our research uses a functional homologue of lysosomes, the vacuole in S. cerevisiae yeast as a model system, which also functions in protein degradation.We study vacuoles in S. cerevisiae yeast to understand protein degradation. We investigate whether changes in vacuole size and degradative function are influenced by the progression of the cell cycle. We hypothesize that changes in vacuolar size and specific phases of the cell cycle play an important role in degradative function. To address this, we designed experiments to approach this by linking vacuole size changes to the progression of the cell cycle. We halted the cells at each cell cycle stage to track vacuolar changes as the cell cycle progresses. We did this by incubating the cells with 4 cell cycle inhibition drugs: Tributyltin (G1 phase), Hydroxyurea (S phase), Epothilone B (G2 phase), and Nocodazole (M phase). Vacuoles were fluorescently labelled with VPH1‐GFP, a vacuolar surface protein. We imaged the samples using Spinning Disk Confocal Microscopy. We then analyzed the images with ImageJ and MatLab algorithms to track, compare, and characterize vacuolar change. Thus far, we have found that the vacuoles change in terms of copy number (the number of vacuolar lobes) as the cell cycle progresses. This preliminary evidence suggests that there is a correlation between changes in vacuolar size along with the progression of the cell cycle. Because of this, we hypothesize that vacuole size is influenced by the progression of the cell cycle.In addition, decreases in degradative ability are correlated with enlarged vacuolar phenotypes, hence a logical future direction would be to test whether degradative ability may also be synchronized with the progression of the cell cycle. Characterizing these changes would allow us to predict degradative efficiency based on the phase of the cell cycle. Further research could determine whether protein degradation and vacuolar morphology depend on one another. Overall, our research is significant because it will provide molecular insight on how vacuolar morphology and degradation are regulated, which may lead to new treatments to help those who suffer from lethal lysosomal storage disorders, and those who struggle with inefficiencies in degradative ability.Support or Funding InformationNSF‐Center for Cellular Construction GrantThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Autofluorescence-Free Targeted Tumor Imaging Based on Luminous Nanoparticles with Composition-Dependent Size and Persistent Luminescence.

Optical bioimaging is an indispensable tool in modern biology and medicine, but the technique is susceptible to autofluorescence interference. Persistent nanophosphors provide an easy-to-perform and highly efficient means to eliminate tissue autofluorescence. However, direct synthesis of persistent nanophosphors with tunable properties to meet different bioimaging requirements remains largely unexplored. In this work, zinc gallogermanate (Zn1+xGa2-2xGexO4:Cr, 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.5, ZGGO:Cr) persistent luminescence nanoparticles with composition-dependent size and persistent luminescence are reported. The size of the ZGGO:Cr nanoparticles gradually increases with the increase of x in the chemical formula. Moreover, the intensity and decay time of persistent luminescence in ZGGO:Cr nanoparticles can also be fine-tuned by simply changing x in the formula. In vivo bioimaging tests demonstrate that ZGGO:Cr nanoparticles can efficiently eliminate tissue autofluorescence, and the nanoparticles also show good promise in long-term bioimaging as they can be easily reactivated in vivo. Furthermore, an aptamer-guided ZGGO:Cr bioprobe is constructed, and it displays excellent tumor-specific accumulation. The ZGGO:Cr nanoparticles are ideal for autofluorescence-free targeted bioimaging, indicating their great potential in monitoring cellular networks and construction of guiding systems for surgery.

Hypoxic Three-Dimensional Cellular Network Construction Replicates Ex Vivo the Phenotype of Primary Human Osteocytes.

Osteocytes are deeply embedded in the mineralized matrix of bone and are nonproliferative, making them a challenge to isolate and maintain using traditional in vitro culture methods without sacrificing their inimitable phenotype. We studied the synergistic effects of two microenvironmental factors that are vital in retaining, ex vivo, the phenotype of primary human osteocytes: hypoxia and three-dimensional (3D) cellular network. To recapitulate the lacunocanalicular structure of bone tissue, we assembled and cultured primary human osteocytic cells with biphasic calcium phosphate microbeads in a microfluidic perfusion culture device. The 3D cellular network was constructed by the following: (1) the inhibited proliferation of cells entrapped by microbeads, biomimetically resembling lacunae, and (2) the connection of neighboring cells by dendrites through the mineralized, canaliculi-like interstitial spaces between the microbeads. We found that hypoxia synergistically and remarkably upregulated the mature osteocytic gene expressions of the 3D-networked cells, SOST (encoding sclerostin) and FGF23 (encoding fibroblast growth factor 23), by several orders of magnitude in comparison to those observed from two-dimensional and normoxic culture controls. Intriguingly, hypoxia facilitated the self-assembly of a nonproliferating, osteoblastic monolayer on the surface of the 3D-networked cells, replicating the osteoblastic endosteal cell layer found at the interface between native bone and bone marrow tissues. Our ability to replicate, with hypoxia, the strong expressions of these mature osteocytic markers, SOST and FGF23, is important since these (1) could not be significantly produced in vitro and (2) are new important targets for treating bone diseases. Our findings are therefore expected to facilitate ex vivo studies of human bone diseases using primary human bone cells and enable high-throughput evaluation of potential bone-targeting therapies with clinical relevance.

Morphometric and mechanical characteristics of Equisetum hyemale stem enhance its vibration

Main conclusionThe order of the internodes, and their geometry and mechanical characteristics influence the capability of theEquisetumstem to vibrate, potentially stimulating spore liberation at the optimum stress setting along the stem.Equisetum hyemale L. plants represent a special example of cellular solid construction with mechanical stability achieved by a high second moment of area and relatively high resistance against local buckling. We proposed the hypothesis that the order of E. hyemale L. stem internodes, their geometry and mechanical characteristics influence the capability of the stem to vibrate, stimulating spore liberation at the minimum stress setting value along the stem. An analysis of apex vibration was done based on videos presenting the behavior of an Equisetum clump filmed in a wind tunnel and also as a result of excitation by bending the stem by 20°. We compared these data with the vibrations of stems of the same size but deprived of the three topmost internodes. Also, we created a finite element model (FEM), upon which we have based the ‘natural’ stem vibration as a copy of the real object, ‘random’ with reshuffled internodes and ‘uniform’, created as one tube with the characters averaged from all internodes. The natural internode arrangement influences the frequency and amplitude of the apex vibration, maintaining an equal stress distribution in the stem, which may influence the capability for efficient spore spreading.

Experimental study of defects influence on auxetic behavior of cellular structure with curvilinear elements

In this paper uniaxial tension of two-dimensional auxetic cellular constructions is studied experimentally. Various samples were made by the laser cutting method from nonauxetic polyethylene terephthalate (PET-A amorphous) planes of size 112.5×24×0.7 mm with central area of 28×24×0.7 mm. The transverse size of elements of hexagons was equal to sample thickness. The samples were subjected to monotonous uniaxial tension until the last moment when they still remained plane. Comparison of mechanical properties of the defect-free cellular constructions consisting of concave hexagons with straight elements and concave hexagons in which part of straight elements is replaced with curvilinear elements is given as a result of experimental analysis. Cellular construction with straight elements showed lower value of Poisson’s ratio in comparison with cellular construction with curvilinear elements. Influence of defects on mechanical properties of cellular construction with curvilinear elements is studied. We conclude that for the considered samples of cellular structure with curvilinear elements at uniaxial tension, loss of one horizontal element (near the center of the sample) changes effective mechanical properties much less than for the case of same structure with one vertical element being absent. As a result, tensile force - displacement diagram for four samples was calculated by the experimental data.

Development of Compositions and Technological Parameters for the Synthesis of Cellular Glass Heat-Insulation Construction Materials with Prescribed Density

The possibility of synthesizing heat-insulation construction materials with prescribed density on the basis of cullet, slag from a metallurgical plant, and ash-slag wastes from thermal power plants (TPP) is examined. The effect of the type and amount of pore-formers on the structure and properties of cellular glass heat-insulation construction material is analyzed. The compositions, technological parameters, and temperature – time regimes are worked out for the synthesis of tiles, construction – heat-insulation blocks, and porous fillers from cellular glass based on technogenic raw material for light-weight concretes.

Metal-Directed Design of Supramolecular Protein Assemblies.

Owing to their central roles in cellular signaling, construction, and biochemistry, protein-protein interactions (PPIs) and protein self-assembly have become a major focus of molecular design and synthetic biology. In order to circumvent the complexity of constructing extensive noncovalent interfaces, which are typically involved in natural PPIs and protein self-assembly, we have developed two design strategies, metal-directed protein self-assembly (MDPSA) and metal-templated interface redesign (MeTIR). These strategies, inspired by both the proposed evolutionary roles of metals and their prevalence in natural PPIs, take advantage of the favorable properties of metal coordination (bonding strength, directionality, and reversibility) to guide protein self-assembly with minimal design and engineering. Using a small, monomeric protein (cytochrome cb562) as a model building block, we employed MDPSA and MeTIR to create a diverse array of functional supramolecular architectures which range from structurally tunable oligomers to metalloprotein complexes that can properly self-assemble in living cells into novel metalloenzymes. The design principles and strategies outlined herein should be readily applicable to other protein systems with the goal of creating new PPIs and protein assemblies with structures and functions not yet produced by natural evolution.

Cellular Automata Construction for Novel Routing over Hexagonal Grid for Mobile Ad-hoc Networks

We address the problem of constructing an efficient route algorithm for Mobile Ad-hoc Network setting up QoS routes based on route discovery mechanism of AODV protocol and cellular automata. A Mobile Ad-hoc Network (MANET) consists of mobile nodes which are free to move arbitrarily due to its dynamic nature, adaptive and infrastructure less in nature. It is very tough task to have a snap of a network topology in this dynamic nature. Many research works have done to find a shortest path in MANET, it may give a better solution for finding an optimal path but difficult to augment with QoS constraints and its energy utilization. Here we have proposed an algorithm based on hexagonal cellular automata model for giving an efficient algorithm. This algorithm applies ADOV protocol and Lee's algorithm for constructing a shortest route and it considers energy and delay/bandwidth constraints as its basic metrics. These two metrics give a basic criterion for selecting a path between source and destination nodes through hexagonal cellular automata. Finally it is modeled with a matrix to implement it.

Bioprinting-Based High-Throughput Fabrication of Three-Dimensional MCF-7 Human Breast Cancer Cellular Spheroids

ABSTRACT Cellular spheroids serving as three-dimensional (3D) in vitro tissue models have attracted increasing interest for pathological study and drug-screening applications. Various methods, including microwells in particular, have been developed for engineering cellular spheroids. However, these methods usually suffer from either destructive molding operations or cell loss and non-uniform cell distribution among the wells due to two-step molding and cell seeding. We have developed a facile method that utilizes cell-embedded hydrogel arrays as templates for concave well fabrication and in situ MCF-7 cellular spheroid formation on a chip. A custom-built bioprinting system was applied for the fabrication of sacrificial gelatin arrays and sequentially concave wells in a high-throughput, flexible, and controlled manner. The ability to achieve in situ cell seeding for cellular spheroid construction was demonstrated with the advantage of uniform cell seeding and the potential for programmed fabrication of tissue models on chips. The developed method holds great potential for applications in tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and drug screening.

A Reversible Steganography Scheme of Secret Image Sharing Based on Cellular Automata and Least Significant Bits Construction

Secret image sharing schemes have been extensively studied by far. However, there are just a few schemes that can restore both the secret image and the cover image losslessly. These schemes have one or more defects in the following aspects: (1) high computation cost; (2) overflow issue existing when modulus operation is used to restore the cover image and the secret image; (3) part of the cover image being severely modified and the stego images having worse visual quality. In this paper, we combine the methods of least significant bits construction (LSBC) and dynamic embedding with one-dimensional cellular automata to propose a new lossless scheme which solves the above issues and can resist differential attack and support parallel computing. Experimental results also show that this scheme has the merit of big embedding capacity.

Durability against wetting–drying cycles of sustainable Lightweight Cellular Cemented construction material comprising clay and fly ash wastes

The viability of using waste materials such as clay and fly ash (FA) for developing a sustainable Lightweight Cellular Cemented (LCC) construction material is investigated in this paper. LCC clay has a wide range of applications in infrastructure rehabilitation as well as in the construction of new facilities. The durability against wetting–drying (w–d) cycles is an important parameter for service life design of LCC clay; however, studies on this aspect to date are very limited. The role of cemented soil structure (fabric and cementation bond) on w–d cycle strength of LCC clay are investigated, analyzed and presented in this paper. The strength reduction with increasing number of w–d is attributed to degradation of the cemented structure. The degradation index, qualifying the rate of degradation with number of w–d cycles, is proposed in term of initial soaked strength (without w–d cycle). Using the degradation index, the predictive w–d cycle strength equation at different number of w–d cycles is furthermore proposed. The applicability of the proposed equation is validated using a separate test data. This approach of predicting w–d cycle strength is beneficial from both engineering and economic points of view.

Calcifying tissue regeneration via biomimetic materials chemistry.

Materials chemistry is making a fundamental impact in regenerative sciences providing many platforms for tissue development. However, there is a surprising paucity of replacements that accurately mimic the structure and function of the structural fabric of tissues or promote faithful tissue reconstruction. Methodologies in biomimetic materials chemistry have shown promise in replicating morphologies, architectures and functional building blocks of acellular mineralized tissues dentine, enamel and bone or that can be used to fully regenerate them with integrated cell populations. Biomimetic materials chemistry encompasses the two processes of crystal formation and mineralization of crystals into inorganic formations on organic templates. This review will revisit the successes of biomimetics materials chemistry in regenerative medicine, including coccolithophore simulants able to promote in vivo bone formation. In-depth knowledge of biomineralization throughout evolution informs the biomimetic materials chemist of the most effective techniques for regenerative framework construction exemplified via exploitation of liquid crystals (LCs) and complex self-organizing media. Therefore, a new innovative direction would be to create chemical environments that perform reaction-diffusion exchanges as the basis for building complex biomimetic inorganic structures. This has evolved widely in biology, as have LCs, serving as self-organizing templates in pattern formation of structural biomaterials. For instance, a study is highlighted in which artificially fabricated chiral LCs, made from bacteriophages are transformed into a faithful copy of enamel. While chemical-based strategies are highly promising at creating new biomimetic structures there are limits to the degree of complexity that can be generated. Thus, there may be good reason to implement living or artificial cells in 'morphosynthesis' of complex inorganic constructs. In the future, cellular construction is probably key to instruct building of ultimate biomimetic hierarchies with a totality of functions.

Research advance in remote lung injury induced by renal ischemia/reperfusion

Background Renal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury leads to renal and extrarenal organs injury,and even multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS).The lung,as an organ with large microcapillary network,is highly susceptible to injury caused by renal I/R.Objective To review and summarize the mechanism of lung injury induced by renal I/R and the research development of pulmonary protection.Content This article reviews the cellular basic construction and the mechanism of lung injury induced by renal I/R injury,and the latest methods of pulmonary protection.Trend It is necessary to exploring the pathophysiological process and protective methods of lung injury by renal I/R to reduce the mortality. Key words: Reperfusion injury; Renal insufficiency; Respiratory distress syndrome

Expression and significance of Beclin-1 in vasculogenic mimicry formation of gastric cancer

To explore the effect and mechanism of autophagy specific gene Beclin-1 in gastric cancer cell SGC7901 on vasculogenic mimicry (VM) forming ability. Plasmid vectors with and without integrated shRNA were transfected respectively into SGC7901 cell line (Beclin1-inhibited group and negative control group). Simple SGC7901 cell line was used as blank group. RT-PCR and Western blot were performed to examine the expression of Beclin-1 in 3 groups. Culture was used to construct the VM model in vitro. Different VM forming ability was measured and genes (beclin-1, notch-1) expression of each group was detected before and after VM formation. Beclin-1 and notch-1 expression increased significantly in the process of VM forming. When beclin-1 was inhibited, the formation of VM was limited and VM formative genes expression decreased. As compared to cells of negative control group, those of Beclin1-inhibited group had less number of VM forming cellular tube-like construction (15.4±1.1 vs. 37.8±1.9, P<0.05), shorter length of such construction [(316.8±24.6) mm vs. (385.1±14.2) mm, P<0.05], and less crossing point (11.6±1.1 vs. 27.2±1.1, P<0.05). Beclin-1 can promote VM formation through maintaining stable expression of gastric cancer cell VM regulating genes. Beclin-1 inhibition may be a new target for gastric cancer gene therapy.