• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.135-141
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• 1982

Two rice cultivars, Jinju and Iri 348, were used to compare the changes in the contents of some organic metabolites and ions and in some enzyme levels under water-and salt-stressed conditions. The water loss and proline accumulation under water and salt stresses were accelerated more in the salt-sensitive cultivar Iri 348 than in the salt-tolerant Jinju. The contents of crude protein, total free amino acids, proline and polyphenols increased under water-or salt-stressed rice, but that of reducing sugar increased under water stress only. The water-and salt-stresses induced the high ratio of low molecular organic solutes to crude protein in Jinju but not in Iri 348. The ratio of total free amino acids to crude protein increased under the stressed conditions was likely due to high protease activity. The contents of $Na^+$ and $Cl^-$ were higher in Iri 348 than in Jinju. Iri 348 had higher values of $Na^+/Ca^{2+}$ and monovalent/divalent of cations, but lower of $K^+/Na^+$ than Jinju Rice. The further studies should emphasize to set the correlations between these ratios and tolerance to water and salt stresses among rice cultivars.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.146-156
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• 1988

This study was carried out to investigate the change of endosperm substance and seedling growth in rice seedlings for machine transplanting with use of two rice varieties, which Samgangbyeo (Indica${\times}$Japonica) and Dogjinbyeo (Japonica) were sown on May 8 with five levels of seeding density. 1. The total dry matter weight, leaf area, length of the longest root, number and length of new roots were negatively correlated with seeding density, and the plant height had the similar tendency to them from 20 days after sowing(DAS). 2. The rooting ability was negatively correlated with seeding density and decreased from 35 DAS in Dongjinbyeo. 3. The endosperm substance were exhausted at 25 to 30 DAS in Samgangbyeo and at 25 DAS in Dongjinbyeo. 4. The leaf area was more useful than the ratio of plant height to dry matter weight for judging the constitution of seedlings. 5. The reducing sugar contents in the endosperm were the greatest among parts of rice seedlings followed by leaf and root. The contents in leaf, root and endosperm reached maximal at 10 DAS, and varied with plant parts, seedling growth and varieties in different levels of seeding density. 6. The protein contents in leaf and root of rice seedlings became decreased with seedling growth., and were minimal values at 15 DAS. The content in endosperm was decreased soon after seeding, and minimal at 4 DAS with showing some fluctuation of protein content after then.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.159-166
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• 2011

This experiment was carried out to evaluate the effects of top dressing of nitrogen and harvest time on the growth, feed value and anthocyanin content for developing functional feed of colored barley. A colored barley cultivar, Boanchalbori, was tested in this experiment. Top dressing was applied at seven separate growth stages, regeneration time (RT), and intervals of 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70 days after RT, and harvested at different time from 20 days after heading (DAH) to 40 DAH with 10 days interval in split plot design with three replications. Plant height was increasing with earlier top dressing, but not affected by harvest time. Percent dry matter was increasing with earlier top dressing and later harvests. Protein content was increased with later top dressing and harvests, but percent NDF, ADF and TDN was not significant. Total anthocyanin content was increased with earlier top dressing, included increasing C3G (cyanidin-3-glucoside) and delphinidin. The C3G and delphinidin were detected from 25 DAH and P3G (pelargonidin-3-g1ucoside), cyanidin and perlagonidin from 30 DAH. Their contents were increased significantly as harvest was delayed. This experiment provides some interesting results with respects to optimum top dressing and harvest time for the functional feed production of the colored barley.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.37-47
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• 2001

In order to investigate a pathogenesis of liver damage induced by skin burn, thermal injury was induced by scald burn on entirely dorsal surface in rats (total burn surface area $20\sim25\%$) except for inhalated injury. At 5 and 24 h after scald burn, biochemical assay and morphological changes in serum and liver tissue were examined. Skin burn increased liver weight (% of body weight, p<0.05) and the activity of serum aniline amino-transferase (ALT, p<0.05), in addition, the activity of xanthine oxidase (XO), an enzyme of oxygen free radical generating system, was elevated (p<0.01) in serum, but not in skin and in liver. Postburn treatment of allopurinol intraperitoneally decreased liver weight, serum ALT activity and serum XO activity. Scald burn induced ultrastructurally swelling of endoplasmic reticulum, ribosome detachment, accumulation of lipid, dilatation of bile canaliculi and intercellular space, neutrophil infiltration, activation of Kupffer's cells and degeneration of hepatocytic microvilli. Futhermore , thermal injury decreased not only the protein concentration in plasma but also the number of intravascular leukocytes, that indicates induction of edema formation with protein exudation and inflammation by neutrophil infiltration into the internal organs. However allopurinol injection after burn inhibited post burn ultrastructural changes. These data suggest that acute dermal scald burn injury leads to liver damage, that is related to elevation of xanthine oxidase activity in serum. Xanthine oxidase may be a key role in the pathogenesis of liver damage induced by skin burn.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.253-259
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• 1996

Ammonia microdiffusion method and colorimetric measurement are described for the nitrogen determination. The diffusion of ammonia could be successfully induced by using a microdiffusion cell. It is a simple and rapid technique, which is suitable for transforming the nitrogen in digests into $NH_4CI$ for the colorimetric N determination with ammonia color reagent. Above 99% of N recovery were obtained with microdiffusion up to 15 hours. The coloration method of collected $NH_4CI$ for the colorimetric N determination was also estabilshed with a scanning in U.V. spectrophotometer. Under the proposed coloration method (0.5 mL of sample digest, 4.0 mL of $H_2O$ and 0.5 mL of ammonia color reagent), a maximal absorbance was observed at 410 nm. The kinetic measurement of absorbance showed a high stability from 5 to 45 minutes after color development. Absorbance was directly proportional to the amount of $NH_4^+-N$ present. The microdiffusion-ammonia coloration method was successfully applied to the nitrogen determination in the forms of protein-N or total -N in plant tissue. Comparing with Kjeldahl distillation method, the values obtained with described method were slightly higher and more reliable.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.291-295
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• 2004

Rooibos (Aspalathus linearis) (RB) is a leguminous shrub native to the mountainous areas of the northwestern Cape Province in South Africa. RB tea infusions are the fermentation products of its leaves and fine sterns, and known to have a high antioxidative activity due to the presence of flavonoids and phenolic acids. We investigated the effects of RB tea on the alleviation of oxidative stress on cultured rat cortical neurons in a hypoxic model. Measurement of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) released into culture media revealed that RB increased cell viabilities in both normoxia (6-18%) and hypoxia (2-24%) dose-dependently (10-100 $\mu\textrm{g}$/ml) on 16 days in vitro (3 days after treatment). Visualization of cell morphology by expression of GFP-Hsc70 fusion protein showed that RB (50 $\mu\textrm{g}$/ml) reduced the average vacuolated soma from 55.4$\pm$4.59% (no RB addition) to 40.9$\pm$6.3% (RB addition) on 5 days after hypoxia. Our results proves efficacy of RB in the neuroprotection of hypoxic neurons and extend application for RB into the prevention and/or treatment of neuronal damages.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.8-16
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• 2016

Reactive oxygen species (ROS), at appropriate concentrations, mediate various normal cellular functions, including defense against pathogens, signal transduction, cellular growth, and gene expression. A recent study demonstrated that ROS and ROS-generating NADPH oxidase (Nox) are important in self-renewal and neuronal differentiation of subventricular zone (SVZ) neural stem cells in adult mouse brains. In this study, we found that endogenous ROS were detected in SVZ neural stem cells cultured from postnatal mouse brains. Nox4 was predominantly expressed in cultured cells, while the levels of the Nox1 and Nox2 transcripts were very low. In addition, the Nox4 gene was highly upregulated (by up to 10-fold) during neuronal differentiation. Immunocytochemical analysis detected the Nox4 protein mainly in neurons positive for the neuronal specific tubulin Tuj1. After differentiation, endogenous ROS were detected exclusively in neuron-like cells with processes. In addition, perturbation of the cellular redox state with N-acetyl cysteine, a ROS scavenger, during neuronal differentiation greatly inhibited neurogenesis. Lastly, knockdown of Nox4 using short hairpin RNA decreased neurogenesis. These findings suggest that Nox4 may be a major ROS-generating enzyme in postnatal SVZ neural stem cells, and Nox4-mediated ROS generation may be important in their neuronal differentiation.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.923-931
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• 2011

In the present study, we investigated the effect of indole-3-carbinol (I3C), a natural compound present in vegetables, on the cell migration and invasion of OVCAR-3 ovarian cancer cells. Our results indicated that I3C inhibited the proliferation of OVCAR-3 cells, a process which was associated with inhibition of cell motility as determined by wound healing experiments and cell invasion studies. I3C treatment increased the tightness of the tight junctions (TJs), which was demonstrated by an increase in transepithelial electrical resistance and a decrease in paracellular permeability. The RT-PCR and immunoblotting results indicated that I3C repressed the levels of claudin-3 as well as claudin-4, proteins that comprise a major part of TJs and play a key role in the control and selectivity of paracellular transport. Furthermore, the activities of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 were also decreased by treatment with I3C, which was connected with the down-regulation of their mRNAs and protein expression. The results suggest that I3C may be expected to inhibit cancer cell metastasis and invasion by restoring TJs and decreasing MMP activity in ovarian cancer cell line OVCAR-3.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.92-97
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• 2014

Cordycepin, an active component originally isolated from the traditional medicine Cordyceps militaris, is a derivative of the nucleoside adenosine, which has been shown to possess a number of pharmacological properties, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, immunological stimulation, and antitumor effects. This study was conducted on cultured human prostate carcinoma LNCap cells to elucidate the possible mechanisms by which cordycepin exerts its anticancer activity, which, until now, has remained poorly understood. Cordycepin treatment of LNCap cells resulted in dose-dependent inhibition of cell growth and the induction of apoptotic cell death as detected by an MTT assay, cleavage of poly ADP-ribose polymerase, and annexin V-FITC staining. Flow cytometric analysis revealed that cordycepin resulted in G2/M arrest in cell cycle progression and downregulation of cyclin B1 and cyclin A expression in a concentration-dependent manner. Moreover, the incubation of cells with cordycepin caused a striking induction in the expression of the cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor p21Waf1/Cip1 without affecting the expression of the tumor suppressor p53. It also resulted in a significant increase in the binding of CDK2 and CDC2 to p21. These findings suggest that cordycepin-induced G2/M arrest and apoptosis in human prostate carcinoma cells is mediated through p53-independent upregulation of the CDK inhibitor p21.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.7
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• pp.750-756
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• 2014

Citrus, yield of which is the highest among fruits produced in Korea, is extensively consumed for processed food items. The amount of by-products of citrus produced from the processing within a short period after the harvest is tremendous. These by-products are mostly dumped into land or neglected because of cost involved in processing them. The aim of the present study was to explore the usefulness of the by-products as a new material by examining the anti-inflammatory activity of fermented extracts of citrus peels. The peels of 'unshu' (Citrus unshiu) was fermented with Aspergillus niger and their extracts before or after fermentation were analyzed using HPLC. The analysis showed that neohesperidin level considerably increased and the two new compounds were synthesized after fermentation. The anti-inflammatory activity of the fermented extracts was examined on RAW 264.7 murine macrophage cells stimulated with lipopolysaccharide. Fermented unshu extracts significantly enhanced the decrease of nitric oxide (NO) production, iNOS and COX-2 expression, comparing with those of unfermented extracts. Also TNF-${\alpha}$ and IL-6 production, both of which are pro-inflammatory cytokine, were more inhibited in fermented extracts. These results showed that the fermentation and promotion of the function of the by-products of citrus peels will help find a new application.