这真是太让咱中国人激动了。印象中模糊记得若干年前中国某所大学进行过一次被认为设计不够严谨有作假嫌疑的气功远程改变物质反应的试验——至今还不被认为是“科学”的实验。现在，在世界著名的美国神经科学年会上居然有美国机构基金支持的气功实验进展报道！如果该实验设计严谨客观，结果真是可靠，那我可以预计这将在生命科学研究领域引发一场革命——试想我们从分子生物学角度找到了中国气功“有效”的证据！我们将摆脱瓶瓶罐罐，坐在那里想，发气，就能改变我们的基因！多么伟大的一件事情啊！
更让我们自豪的是，这将是只能咱中国人“垄断”的实验——老外可是不能深刻理解中国气功的“气”的内涵。连“气”为何物都搞不清楚，又如何练习，提高呢？——无法登峰造极，就不能达到改变基因的层次——这实验就没法做了。嘿嘿，咱中国人终于将有一项世界独一无二的创造，看来离诺贝尔奖也不远了。
突然想起来了，若干年前的气功试验也是严大师唱主角，这次的科学研究，严大师也是第一作者，看来，严大师要用事实证明中国气功是有效的！
唯一让我有点忧虑的是参与这次实验的全是华人（从名字上看），希望咱是脚踏实地，老老实实的。
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Authors:
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X. YAN1,2, H. SHEN2, H. ZHANG3, Y. ZHANG4, J. WANG2, F. LI5, *W. CAO5;
1The Inst. of Chongqing Traditional Chinese Med., Chongqing, China; 2New Med. Sci. Res. Inst., New York, NY; 3Dept. of Neurol., 4The Irving Cancer Res. Ctr., Univ. of Columbia, New York, NY; 5Dept Ophthalmol, Univ. Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, OK |
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A body of substantial experimental studies has been conducted to show the effects of external Qi of Yan Xin Qigong (YXQ-EQ) at atomic, molecular, cellular and microorganism levels (Xin Yan et al., Int J Biochem Cell Biol., 2006). Recently, it was reported that YXQ-EQ exhibited potent neuroprotective effects including promoting long-term neuronal survival (Xin Yan et al., International Journal of Neuroscience, 2002), inhibiting neuronal apoptosis and protecting neuron against oxidative damage using a primary retinal neuronal culture system (Xin Yan et al., Brain Research, 2004). In this study, we continue to use this primary retinal neuronal culture as a model system to examine 1) if YXQ-EQ can alter gene expression, and 2) if the altered genes exhibit a pattern related to neuronal survival, protection and growth. Primary retinal neuronal cultures were generated from retinas of 0-2-day-old Sprague-Dawley rats and grown for one week before exposure to YXQ-EQ. The cultures were directly exposed to external Qi treatment for 10 min. After the YXQ-EQ treatment, the cultures were taken back to an incubator for additional 3 hours. The effect of external Qi on gene expression was investigated using cDNA microarray technology (Atlas Rat 1.2 Array, BD Biosciences Clontech). A total of 125 genes among 1176 genes were significantly altered in response to external Qi treatment, averaged from six independent experiments. Among these 125 genes, the expressions of 50 genes were up-regulated and 75 genes were down-regulated. Gene-class testing analyses using the GO database identified concerted changes in genes controlling neuronal morphogenesis, development, survival, and synaptic transmission. Interestingly, PathwayAssist analysis identified a big network of 47 genes central on MAPK signaling pathways, with genes favorable to neuron survival and growth being up-regulated, and with genes promoting apoptosis and inflammation being down-regulated. The genes which may contribute to the unique functions of the retinal neurons were validated by quantitative real-time-PCR and semiquantitative RT-PCR as well as Western blot analysis. The results demonstrated that YXQ-EQ can regulate multiple gene expression in a comprehensive way by promoting neuronal survival. This study is obviously at its preliminary phase in the understanding of the potential influences of YXQ-EQ on neuronal survival and gene expression. However, these data provide important references to further clarify the mechanisms underlying the neuroprotective effect of YXQ-EQ.
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