Lipid peroxidation is a free radical oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids such as linoleic acid or arachidonic acid. This process has been related with various pathologies and disease status mainly because of the oxidation products formed during the process. The oxidation products include reactive aldehydes such as malondialdehyde and 4-hydroxynonenal. These reactive aldehydes can form adducts with DNAs and proteins, leading to the alterations in their functions to cause various diseases. This review will provide a short summary on the implication of lipid peroxidation on cancer, atherosclerosis, and neurodegeneration as well as chemical and biochemical mechanisms by which these adducts affect the pathological conditions. In addition, select examples will be presented where antioxidants were used to counteract oxidative damage caused by lipid peroxidation. At the end, isoprostanes are discussed as a gold standard for the assessment of oxidative damages.

Coffee has been known to have both beneficial and harmful effects upon health. Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages, worldwide. Dementia/Alzheimer's disease (AD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) are public health problems that are rapidly increasing in the aging population. Due to the high consumption of coffee, even small effects on an individual's health could have a large effect on public health. The aim of this review article is to provide an overview of previously published studies of coffee consumption on health. Herein, we focus on epidemiological and experimental findings to investigate whether coffee-drinking habits, and/or the quantity of coffee consumption, have any relationship to CVD, dementia/AD, and other chronic diseases. Although the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood, when comparing coffee drinkers with non-drinkers, moderate doses of caffeine showed protective effects against CVD and AD. We hypothesized that caffeine may be a novel therapy to treat CVD and dementia/AD.

The present study investigated the anti-inflammatory effects of dichloromethane extract of Auricularia auricula-judae. Dichloromethane extract of Auricularia auricula-judae inhibited Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced nitric oxide (NO) production significantly in a dose-dependent manner in the concentration ${\geq}\;10\;{\mu}g/ml$ (p < 0.05). Furthermore, RT-PCR results of this study indicated that the extract markedly reduced the expressions of inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, TNF-$\alpha$ and IL-$1{\beta}$) mRNA in LPS-treated murine RAW 264.7 macrophages, which could possibly ameliorate the inflammation. Nevertheless, dichloromethane extract of Auricularia auricula-judae did not show complete inhibition of IL-6 mRNA expression. The inhibition of IL-$1{\beta}$ cytokine at protein level was also observed in a dose dependent manner. In conclusion, the current study revealed the previously unknown effect of dichloromethane ethyl extract of Auricularia auricula-judae inhibitions of the production of NO, IL-6, TNF-$\alpha$ and IL-$1{\beta}$ in LPS-stimulated macrophages.

The toxicities of phenanthrene (PH) and pyrene (PY) are less than benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), but both compounds are found in higher concentrations in the air, feed, and food. Most PAHs are metabolized to hydroxylated compounds by the hepatic cytochrome P450 monooxigenases system. Metabolites are excreted into urine and feces. We determined concentrations of PH, PY and BaP in muscle and hydroxylated metabolites, 3-OH-PH, 1-OH-PY, and 3-OH-BaP, respectively, in urine from dairy cattle (n = 24). We also evaluated the relationship between parent compounds in muscle and their metabolites in urine. Concentrations of PH and PY in muscle ranged from 0.7~4.8 ng/g ($1.8{\pm}1.7$) and 0.4~4.1 ng/g ($1.2{\pm}1.2$), respectively. Concentrations of 3-OH-PH and 1-OH-PY in urine ranged from 0.1~5.9 ng/ml ($2.9{\pm}3.7$) and 0.5~3.6 ng/ml ($1.9{\pm}2.3$), respectively. Correlation coefficient for PY concentration in muscle versus 1-OH-PY in urine was 0.657 and for PH concentration in muscle versus 3-OH-PH in urine was 0.579. Coefficient determination for PY and PH concentrations in muscle was 0.886 and for 1-OH-PY and 3-OH-PH in urine was 0.834. This study suggests that 1-OH-PY and 3-OH-PH could be used as biomarkers for PAHs exposure in dairy cattle.

It has been proposed that acute phase response can be a mechanism by which inhaled particles exert adverse effects on the cardiovascular system. Although some of the human acute phase proteins have been widely studied as biomarkers of systemic inflammation or cardiovascular diseases, there are only a few studies that investigated the role of serum amyloid P (SAP), a major acute phase protein in mice. In this study, we investigated the changes in SAP, following inhalation exposure to nickel hydroxide nanoparticles (nano-NH). We conducted 1) acute (4 h) exposure to nano-NH at 100, 500, and $1000\;{\mu}g/m^3$ and 2) sub-acute (4h/d for 3d) exposure at $1000\;{\mu}g/m^3$, then measured serum SAP protein levels along with hepatic Sap mRNA levels. The results show that inhaled nano-NH can induce systemic acute phase response indicated by increased serum SAP levels and hepatic Sap mRNA levels. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study showing induction of SAP in response to repeated particle exposure, and the results suggest that SAP can be used as a biomarker for systemic inflammation induced by inhaled particles.

The cytochrome P450 (P450, CYP) are the superfamily of heme-containing monooxygenase enzymes, found throughout all nature including mammals, plants, and microorganisms. Mammalian P450 enzymes are involved in oxidative metabolism of a wide range of endo- and exogenous chemicals. Especially P450s involved in drug metabolisms are important for drug efficacy and polymorphisms of P450s in individuals reflect differences of drug responses between people. To study the functional differences of CYP2A6, CYP2D6, and CYP4A11 variants, we cloned the four CYP2A6, three CYP2D6, and three CYP4A11 variants, which were found in Korean populations, in mammalian expression vector pcDNA by PCR and examined their expressions in COS-7 mammalian cells using immunoblots using P450 specific polyclonal antibodies. Three of four CYP2A6, two of three CYP4A11, and two of three CYP2D6 variants showed expressions in COS-7 cells but the relative levels of expressions are remarkably different in those of each variants. Our findings may help to study and explain the differences between functions of CYP variants and drug responses in Korean populations.

The methanol extract of 12 medicinal plants were evaluated for its antibacterial activity against Gram-positive (5 strains) and Gram-negative bacteria (10 strains) by assay for minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bacterial concentration (MBC). The antibacterial activity was determined by an agar dilution method (according to the guidelines of Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute). All the compounds (12 extracts) of the 8 medicinal plants (leaf or root) were active against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. Gram-negative showed a more potent action than Gram positive bacteria. The MIC concentrations were various ranged from $0.6\;{\mu}g/ml$ to $5000\;{\mu}g/ml$. The lowest MIC ($0.6\;{\mu}g/ml$) and MBC ($1.22\;{\mu}g/ml$) values were obtained with extract on 4 and 3 of the 15 microorganisms tested, respectively.

This study investigated the antioxidative action of Corni Fructus aqueous extract on kidneys of diabetic mice. The electron donating abilities of Corni Fructus aqueous extract and its antioxidant activities (XO, SOD, CAT, GST, eNOS) in kidneys of C57BL/6 or db/db mice were evaluated. For in vivo study, seven week-old male mice were divided into normal control group (NC, C57BL/6 mice), diabetic control group (DC, db/db mice) and Corni Fructus (500 mg/kg/day for 8 weeks) treated diabetic group (DCF, db/db mice). The electron donating abilities of Corni Fructus aqueous extract exhibited 7%, 24.4%, and 42.7% at concentrations of 100, 500, and $1000\;{\mu}g/ml$, respectively. The activity of XO in the DCF group was significantly lower than the DC group by 35% (p < 0.05). The SOD activity was significantly higher in the DCF group than the DC group by 26% (p < 0.05). The activities of CAT and GST were lowered in the DCF group than the DC group by 26% (p < 0.05) and 7.6%, respectively. The mRNA expression of eNOS in kidneys was lower in the DCF group than the DC group by 24%. These results indicate that Corni Fructus reduced oxidation stress as evidenced by the restoration of the enzymatic antioxidative defense system in renal tissues of db/db mice. It is suggested that these antioxidative actions of Corni Fructus on renal tissues in db/db mice could contribute to its renoprotective effects on diabetic nephropathy.

Even though exposure to benzene has been linked to a variety of cancers including leukemia, the detailed molecular mechanisms relevant to benzene-induced carcinogenesis remain to be clearly elucidated. In this study, we evaluated the effects of benzene on differential gene expression in a leukemia cell line. The K562 leukemia cell line used in this study was cultured for 3 h with 10 mM benzene and RNA was extracted. To analyze the gene expression profiles, a 41,000 human whole genome chip was employed for cDNA microarray analysis. We initially identified 6,562 genes whose expression was altered by benzene treatment. Among these, 3,395 genes were upregulated and 3,167 genes were downregulated by more than 2-fold, respectively. The results of functional classification showed that the identified genes were involved in biological pathways including transcription, cell proliferation, the cell cycle, and apoptosis. These gene expression profiles should provide us with further insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying benzene-induced carcinogenesis, including leukemia.

The aim of this study is to investigate how many leiomyoma patients are exposed to bisphenol-A (BPA), an endocrine disruptor, and whether the serum concentration of BPA is related to leiomyoma growth. Initially, 128 patients were divided into one control and three leiomyoma groups (mild, moderate and severe) according to the size of the leiomyomas. Serum BPA concentrations were measured by liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (LC/MS). Nearly two-thirds of leiomyoma patients were exposed to BPA and the range of BPA was from non-detection to 2.603 ng/ml. The mean BPA concentrations in the groups were $1.015{\pm}0.775\;ng/ml$ (control), $0.774{\pm}0.834\;ng/ml$ (mild), $1.261{\pm}0.797\;ng/ml$ (moderate) and $1.244{\pm}0.860\;ng/ml$ (severe) (p = 0.158). After recombination into two group, Group 1 (control plus mild) vs. Group 2 (moderate plus severe), higher level was found in Group 2 even with no statistical significance (p = 0.06). In conclusion, about two-thirds of leiomyoma patients were exposed to BPA, but it may not have growth promoting effect on leiomyoma.