• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• 제43권4호
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• pp.230-234
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• 2000

A new method to assay the capsaicinoid synthetase (CS) activity was developed by utilizing NADHcoupled enzyme systems involving pyruvate kinase and lactate dehydrogenase. CS activities in Capsicum placenta, depending upon the kinetics of the NADH oxidation, revealed almost the same profile as compared with those shown using an HPLC-based method. When the substrates, 8-methyl nonanoic acid and vanillylamine, for the CS enzyme were employed separately or simultaneously, it appeared that the two-step reaction, acyl-CoA formation and condensation with vanillyla~ne, of the CS enzyme was a coupled reaction. Thus, this assay method of the CS enzyme can be considered as an alternative to the HPLC-based method, since it has the advantages of rapidity and simplicity as well as reliability when compared with the existing method.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제29권7호
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• pp.1117-1123
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• 2019

Control of pine wilt disease, which is caused by pine wilt nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, is heavily dependent on the use of chemicals such as abamectin. Although such chemicals are highly effective, demands for alternatives that are derived preferentially from natural sources, are increasing out of environmental concerns. One of the challenges to discovery of alternative control agents is lack of fast and efficient screening method that can be used in a high-throughput manner. Here we described the development of colorimetric assay for the rapid and accurate screening of candidate nematicidal compounds/biologics targeting B. xylophilus. Contrary to the conventional method, which relies on laborious visual inspection and counting of nematode population under microscope, our method utilizes a redox dye that changes its color in response to metabolic activity of nematode population in a given sample. In this work, we optimized parameters of our colorimetric assay including number of nematodes and amount of redox dye, and tested applicability of our assay for screening of chemicals and biologics. We demonstrated that our colorimetric assay can be applied to rapid and accurate quantification of nematode viability/mortality in a nematode population treated with candidate chemicals/biologics. Application of our method would facilitate high-throughput endeavors aiming at finding environment-friendly control agents for deadly disease of pine trees.

• Toxicological Research
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• 제33권1호
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• pp.43-48
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• 2017

With ultraviolet and visible light exposure, some pharmaceutical substances applied systemically or topically may cause phototoxic skin irritation. The major factor in phototoxicity is the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as singlet oxygen and superoxide anion that cause oxidative damage to DNA, lipids and proteins. Thus, measuring the generation of ROS can predict the phototoxic potential of a given substance indirectly. For this reason, a standard ROS assay (ROS assay) was developed and validated and provides an alternative method for phototoxicity evaluation. However, negative substances are over-predicted by the assay. Except for ultraviolet A (UVA), other UV ranges are not a major factor in causing phototoxicity and may lead to incorrect labeling of some non-phototoxic substances as being phototoxic in the ROS assay when using a solar simulator. A UVA stimulator is also widely used to evaluate phototoxicity in various test substances. Consequently, we identified the applicability of a UVA simulator to the ROS assay for photoreactivity. In this study, we tested 60 pharmaceutical substances including 50 phototoxins and 10 non-phototoxins to predict their phototoxic potential via the ROS assay with a UVA simulator. Following the ROS protocol, all test substances were dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide or sodium phosphate buffer. The final concentration of the test solutions in the reaction mixture was 20 to $200{\mu}M$. The exposure was with $2.0{\sim}2.2mW/cm^2$ irradiance and optimization for a relevant dose of UVA was performed. The generation of ROS was compared before and after UVA exposure and was measured by a microplate spectrophotometer. Sensitivity and specificity values were 85.7% and 100.0% respectively, and the accuracy was 88.1%. From this analysis, the ROS assay with a UVA simulator is suitable for testing the photoreactivity and estimating the phototoxic potential of various test pharmaceutical substances.

• 분석과학
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• 제27권3호
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• pp.161-166
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• 2014

국가공정서 중 하나인 대한민국약전외의약품기준에는 세프록사딘 캡슐의 정량법으로 유해시약인 사염화탄소를 사용하는 산화환원분석법이 수재되어 있다. 세프록사딘 캡슐의 환경 친화적인 대체 시험법으로 보다 안전하고 효율적인 친환경용매를 사용하는 HPLC 분석법을 개발하고, 이를 검증하였다. 직선성은 상관계수($r^2$)가 0.999이상으로 우수하였다. 일내 정밀도는 상대표준편차 0.30~0.69%, 일간 정밀도는 0.47~0.82%로, 회수율은 100.20~100.56%로 나타났다. 개발한 시험법을 이용하여 시중 유통 중인 세프록사딘 캡슐 중 세프록사딘의 함량측정에 응용하였다. 개발된 시험법은 대한민국약전외의약품기준의 개정에 기여가 될 것이다.

• Toxicological Research
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• 제18권2호
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• pp.175-181
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• 2002

Allergic contact dermatitis (skin sensitization) may be caused by a wide variety of chemicals. A murine local lymph node assay (LLNA) has been developed as an alternative to guinea pig models for assessing the contact sensitization potential of chemical. This study was carried out to evaluate the skin sensitization potential for chemicals in Balb/c mice by LLNA. Contact allergen, dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB), respiratory allergen, toluene diisocyanate (TDI) and a weak allergen, $\alpha$-hexlycinnamaldehyde (HCA) were wed as positive chemicals and irritant, sodium lauryl sulfate(SLS) also wed as a reference chemical in this study. The weights of lymph node in the mice treated with DNCB, TDI, and HCA were increased compared to vehicle control. There was a significant increase in lymph node weight of mice treated with high concentration of SLS compared to vehicle control. The stimulation index (SI) of Lymph node cell in the mice treated with DNCB, TDI, and HCA revealed over three-fold increase compared to vehicle control by $3^H$-thymidine uptake. All allergens correctly identified in this LLNA study wing Balb/c mice. These results suggest that LLNA wing Balb/c mice could be a useful method for screening the allergenic potential of chemicals. The expression of IL-2 mRNA was slightly increased in draining auricular lymph node cell of the mice treated with TDI and HCA by RT-PCR. However the IL-2 levels in DNCB and SLS of treated animals were not significantly changed.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제22권11호
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• pp.1575-1579
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• 2012

Paenibacillus polymyxa is known to be a plant-growth-promoting rhizobacterium. The present study describes a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay for the specific detection and quantitation of P. polymyxa using a primer pair based on the sequence of a membrane-fusion protein for the amplification of a 268 bp DNA fragment. This study reports that the qPCR-based method is applicable for the rapid and sensitive detection of P. polymyxa and can be used as an alternative method for agricultural soil monitoring.

• 한국독성학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국독성학회 2001년도 International Symposium on Dietary and Medicinal Antimutgens and Anticarcinogens
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• pp.194-194
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• 2001

Preclinical test methods for allergenic potential chemicals has been widely used to assess human risks and has been developed. Recently, the murine local lymph node assay (LLNA) has been proposed as a prospective method to identify contact allergens and to replace conventional the guinea pig maximization test (GPMT). The objective of this study was to establish LLNA and to evaluate allergenicity of chemicals by LLNA. (omitted)

• 한국해양생명과학회지
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• 제9권1호
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• pp.9-21
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• 2024

마비성 패류 독소(Paralytic shellfish poisoning, PSP)는 유해 조류에 의해 생성되며, 독소에 노출된 수산물을 섭취하였을 때 중독이 발생한다. 수산물 중 PSP를 검출하는 표준 시험법인 Mouse bioassay (MBA)는 낮은 검출한계와 동물 윤리 문제로 대체 시험법의 개발 필요성이 대두되고 있다. 이러한 대체 시험법 중, PSP가 신경 세포막의 Na⁺ 채널을 차단하는 기전을 이용한 마우스 뇌신경 모세포종 세포 기반 시험법(Neuro-2a assay)의 표준화를 위한 노력이 대두되고 있다. Neuro-2a assay의 원리는 Neuro-2a 세포주에 Na⁺/K⁺ ATPase 억제제인 Ouabain(O)과 Na⁺ 채널 활성화제인 Veratridine (V)을 처리하여 과도한 Na⁺ 유입으로 인한 세포사멸을 유도한 상태에서, Na⁺ 채널 억제제인 PSP를 처리하게 되면 Na⁺ 유입이 차단되어 세포가 생존하는 것을 측정하는 것이다. 본 연구에서는 PSP 검출을 위한 Neuro-2a assay를 국내 연구 환경에 맞게 다양한 매개변수를 개선하여 최적 시험법을 확립하고자 하였다. 고려한 매개변수들은 세포밀도, 배양 조건 및 PSP 처리 조건 등으로, 그 결과는 아래와 같다. 초기 세포밀도는 40,000 cells/well로, 세포 배양시간 및 처리시간은 각각 24시간으로 설정하였다. 또한 최적 O/V 농도는 500/50 μM로 설정하였다. 본 연구에서 PSP 중 Saxitoxin (STX)에 대해서 O/V 처리가 된 상태에서 S자형 용량-반응 그래프가 도출되는 8가지 농도(368~47,056 fg/μl)를 확인하였고, Neuro-2a assay의 실험실 간 변동성 비교를 통해, 실험의 적정성 확인을 위한 5가지 Quality Control Criteria와 실험 데이터의 신뢰가능 범위(Data Criteria) 6가지를 설정하였다. 확 립된 조건으로 Neuro-2a assay를 진행한 결과 반수영향농도(EC₅₀) 값은 약 1,800~3,500 fg/μl로 나타났다. 실험실 간 변동성 비교 결과, Quality Control Criteria 값 및 Data criteria 값의 변동계수(coefficients of variation (CVs))가 1.98~29.15% 범위로 산출되어 실험의 적정성 및 재현성이 확인되었다. 본 연구를 통해 우리나라에서 활용할 수 있는 PSP 검출용 Neuro-2a assay 시험법의 최적 조건 및 5가지 Quality control 기준을 제시하였고, PSP 중 대표적인 독소인 STX을 대상으로 Neuro-2a assay를 실시한 결과 유의한 EC₅₀ 값을 산출할 수 있었으며, 향후 국내 수산물을 대상으로 MBA를 대체할 수 있는 PSP 검출법으로 활용될 것으로 기대된다.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제26권3호
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• pp.588-595
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• 2016

IFN-γ release assays (IGRAs) have been developed as viable alternative diagnostic tools for detecting latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI). A customized homogeneous sandwich luminescent oxygen channeling immunoassay (LOCI) was used to quantify IFN-γ levels in IGRAs. Samples were collected from healthy volunteers (n = 40) who were T-Spot-negative and T-Spot-positive patients (n = 32) at rest. Then the amount of IFN-γ in the supernatant of IGRAs was measured by LOCI. The results demonstrated a low background, and high sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and reproducibility, and a short assay time (only 30 min) with LOCI for IFN-γ. The recovery range was 81.63-102.06%, the coefficients of variation were below 5%, and the limit of detection was 19.0 mIU/ml. Excellent agreement between LOCI IFN-γ and the T-SPOT.TB test was obtained (97.2% agreement, κ = 0.94). The LOCI IFN-γ concentrations were significantly higher in T-Spot-positive patients than in the healthy group (p < 0.001). Moreover, as observed for the comparative LOCI IFN-γ assay, IFN-γ concentrations were related to the numbers of T-SPOT.TB spots. We have established an in vitro blood test for LTBI diagnosis, defined as LOCI IFN-γ. A high level of agreement between the LOCI IFN-γ method and T-SPOT.TB assay was observed in clinical studies that showed the LOCI IFN-γ method could determine LTBI. This study shows acceptable performance characteristics of the LOCI IFN-γ assay to diagnose LTBI.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• 제3권3호
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• pp.242-244
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• 1995

In vitro cell culture system has been proposed as a promising alternative model to in vivo skin irritation test. These studies were performed to screen the cytotoxicity effects of surfactants using normal human skin fibroblasts. Cell membrane integrity assessed by the leakage of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and mitochondrial integrity by MTT [3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromides reduction test were affected in a dose dependent manner. The irritation potential of surfactants to human skin patch test, and the changes of capillary permeability by rabbit intradermal safety test were assessed as in vivo methods. Our results suggest that LDH leakage assay and MTT reduction test using cultured human fibroblasts could be predictive for the irritancy of various surfactants in human, and LDH assay is superior correlated with in vivo test (r=0.886) to MTT test with in vivotest (r=0.757).