• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.696-703
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• 2014

Clostridium difficile causes mucosal damage and diarrhea by releasing two exotoxins: toxin A and toxin B. C. difficile colitis is associated with alterations in bowel flora and the failure to mount an effective antibody response. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether antitoxin sera prevent toxin-A-induced apoptosis, cytoskeletal disaggregation, cell detachment, and tight junction loss in cultured colonic epithelial cells. Serum samples were isolated from mice that survived a C. difficile infection following antibiotic treatment, and the antitoxin effects of these samples were investigated in toxin-A-exposed HT29 colonic epithelial cells and a toxin-A-induced animal model of gut inflammation. Unchallenged mice did not produce IgG against toxin A, whereas serum (antiserum) from C. difficile-challenged mice showed significant IgG responses against toxin A. Treatment with the antiserum markedly inhibited mucosal damage and inflammation in the toxin-A-treated mouse model. In contrast to control mouse serum, the antiserum also markedly inhibited toxin-A-induced DNA fragmentation, dephosphorylation of paxillin and Epo receptor (EpoR), deacetylation of tubulin, and upregulation of p21(WAF1/CIP1) and p53. Taken together, these results reveal that the generated antitoxin serum has biotherapeutic effects in preventing various C. difficile toxin-A-induced cellular toxicities.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.50-56
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• 2009

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor has been used to detect many biochemical reactions, because this label-free sensor has high sensitivity and rapid response. The reactions are monitored by refractive index changes of the SPR biosensor. Iprovalicarb is protective, curative, and eradicative systemic fungicide introduced by Bayer AG in 1999. It has potential far control of downy mildew infesting onion, cucumber, grape and melon, late blight infesting tomato and potato, and anthracnose infesting watermelon and pepper. It is strictly limited to the maximum residue limit. In this study, the applicability of a portable SPR biosensor (Spreeta, Texas instrument, TX, USA) to detect the iprovalicarb residue was examined. The sensor chip was adopted to detect the reaction of iprovalicarb to immobilized iprovalicarb-antibody. The binding of the iprovalicarb onto the biosensor surface was measured by change of the refractive index (RI). Characteristics of the sensor chip including specificity, sensitivity, stability, and reusability were analyzed. In calibration test for seven levels of iprovalicarb concentration (0.32 to 5,000 mg/L) with three replications, a Sigmoidal model with Hill function was obtained between relative RI value and the iprovalicarb concentration with R-square of 0.998. It took 30 minutes to complete a set of detecting assay with the SPR biosensor.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.1180-1184
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• 2006

The capsule that surrounds Yersinia pestis cells is composed of a protein-polysacchride complex; the purified protein component is fraction I (F1) antigen. We report the cloning of the cafl gene and its expression in Escherichia coli using the vector pETl02/D-TOPO and the F1-specific monoclonal antibody. The recombinant F1 (rF1) antigen had a molecular size of 17.5 kDa, which was identical to that of the F1 antigen produced by Y. pestis. Recombinant F1 protein was found to react to polyclonal antiserum to Y. pestis Fl. Recombinant F1 was purified by ProBond purification system and induced a protective immune response in BALB/c mice challenged with up to 10$^5$ virulent Y. pestis. Purified rF1 protein was used in an ELISA to evaluate the ability of a method to detect antibodies to Y. pestis in animal sera. These results strongly indicated that the rF1 protein is a suitable species-specific immunodiagnostic antigen and vaccine candidate.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.248-254
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• 2008

Candida magnoliae, an osmotolerant and erythritol producing yeast, prefers D-fructose to D-glucose as carbon sources. For the investigation of the fructophilic characteristics with respect to sugar transportation, a sequential extraction method using various detergents and ultracentrifugation was developed to isolate cellular membrane proteins in C. magnoliae. Immunoblot analysis with the Pma1 antibody and two-dimensional electrophoresis analysis coupled with MS showed that the fraction II was enriched with membrane proteins. Eighteen proteins out of 36 spots were identified as membrane or membrane-associated proteins involved in sugar uptake, stress response, carbon metabolism, and so on. Among them, three proteins were significantly upregulated under the fructose supplying conditions. The hexose transporter was highly homologous to Ght6p in Schizosaccharomyces pombe, which was known as a predominant transporter for the fructose uptake of S. pombe because it exhibited higher affinity to D-fructose than D-glucose. The physicochemical properties of the ATP-binding cassette transporter and inorganic transporter explained their direct or indirect associations with the fructophilic behavior of C. magnoliae. The identification and characterization of membrane proteins involved in sugar uptake might contribute to the elucidation of the selective utilization of fructose to glucose by C. magnoliae at a molecular level.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.139-147
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• 2013

Lysolipids such as LPA, S1P and SPC have diverse biological activities including cell proliferation, differentiation, and migration. We investigated signaling pathways of LPA-induced contraction in feline esophageal smooth muscle cells. We used freshly isolated smooth muscle cells and permeabilized cells from cat esophagus to measure the length of cells. Maximal contraction occurred at $10^{-6}M$ and the response peaked at 30s. To identify LPA receptor subtypes in cells, western blot analysis was performed with antibodies to LPA receptor subtypes. LPA1 and LPA3 receptor were detected at 50 kDa and 44 kDa. LPA-induced contraction was almost completely blocked by LPA receptor (1/3) antagonist KI16425. Pertussis toxin (PTX) inhibited the contraction induced by LPA, suggesting that the contraction is mediated by a PTX-sensitive G protein. Phospholipase C (PLC) inhibitors U73122 and neomycin, and protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor GF109203X also reduced the contraction. The PKC-mediated contraction may be isozyme-specific since only $PKC{\varepsilon}$ antibody inhibited the contraction. MEK inhibitor PD98059 and JNK inhibitor SP600125 blocked the contraction. However, there is no synergistic effect of PKC and MAPK on the LPA-induced contraction. In addition, RhoA inhibitor C3 exoenzyme and ROCK inhibitor Y27632 significantly, but not completely, reduced the contraction. The present study demonstrated that LPA-induced contraction seems to be mediated by LPA receptors (1/3), coupled to PTX-sensitive G protein, resulting in activation of PLC, PKC-${\varepsilon}$ pathway, which subsequently mediates activation of ERK and JNK. The data also suggest that RhoA/ROCK are involved in the LPA-induced contraction.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.965-974
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• 2017

The single-chain variable fragment (scFv) against lectin-like oxidized low-density lipoprotein receptor-1 (LOX-1) is a promising molecule for its potential use in the diagnosis and immunotherapy of atherosclerosis. Producing this scFv in several milligram amounts could be the starting point for further engineering and application of the scFv. In this study, the abundant expression of the anti-LOX-1 scFv was attempted using Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Brevibacillus choshinensis (B. choshinensis). The scFv had limited soluble yield in E. coli, but it was efficiently secreted by B. choshinensis. The optimized fermentation was determined using the Plackett-Burman screening design and response surface methodology, under which the yield reached up to 1.5 g/l in a 5-L fermentor. Moreover, the properties of the scFvs obtained from the two expression systems were different. The antigen affinity, transition temperature, and particle diameter size were 1.01E-07 M, $55.2{\pm}0.3^{\circ}C$, and 9.388 nm for the scFv expressed by B. choshinensis, and 4.53E-07 M, $52.5{\pm}0.3^{\circ}C$, and 13.54 nm for the scFv expressed by E. coli. This study established an efficient scale-up production methodology for the anti-LOX-1 scFv, which will boost its use in LOX-1-based therapy.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.50-60
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• 2005

Objective : We have studied to know effects of Ligigeopoongsan(LGS, 理氣祛風散) on mechanical allodynia, cold allodynia and c-Fos protein expression in the model of neuropathic pain of rats. Methods : The model of neuropathic pain was made by injured tibial nerve and sural never while common peroneal never was maintained. After 2weeks, we performed behavioral test for 7 days to try out mechanical allodynia using von frey filament and cold allodynia using acetone, which are calculated by counting withdrawal response on foot. Rat brains removed and sliced on 8th days. Serial sections were immunohistochemically reacted with polyclonal c-Fos antibody. The numbers of c-Fos protein immunoreactive neurons in the central gray were examined using scion image program. Results : 1. Mechanical allodynia in LGS-2, LGS-3 groups were significantly diminished compared with the control group. 2. Cold allodynia in LGS-3 group was significantly diminished compared with the control group. 3. c-Fos protein expression on the central gray LGS-2, LGS-3 groups were significantly lower than that of control group. conclusions : We have noticed that LGS(理氣祛風散) diminished mechanical and cold allodynia in the model of neuropathic pain compared with the control group. c-Fos protein expression in the central gray of that group was also decreased compared with the control group. Pain control group were LGS was accumulated time goes by. This study can be used as a basic resource on a study and a treatment of pain.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.689-696
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• 2003

Canine sarcoptic mite (Sarcoptes scabiei var. canis) burrow usually in the stratum corneum of the skin of dogs and rabbits. Antigens from the burrowing mites induce cutaneous inflammatory reaction and humoral and cell-mediated immune response in the host. The effect of immunization induced by somatic antigens of house dust mite (Dermatophagoides spp.) has been evaluated to control the canine sarcoptic mite in this experiment. Twelve common antigens (187, 142, 126, 120, 109, 92, 80, 68, 51, 30, 25, 17 kDa) were found using SDS-PAGE with silver staining and Western blot between canine sarcoptic mite and house dust mite. In order to evaluate the immunologic effect of these common antigens 10 New Zealand white rabbits were divided as 4 groups such as negative control (group I), positive challenged control (group II), vaccinated (group III), and vaccinated-challenged (group IV) groups. Group II was artificially infested with about 1,000 canine sarcoptic mites and group III and IV were immunized with somatic antigens of house dust mite. In addition group IV was artificially infested with about 1,000 canine sarcoptic mites and group II, IV were treated with ivermectin. At the 8 weeks of the vaccination with common antigen, the antibody titers of all groups of II, III and IV had been increased. Both infestation score and live canine sarcoptic mite counts of group IV were lower than group III. Infestation score of group II become 0 by 2 weeks and group IV by 4 weeks after infestation. These results suggest that house dust mite, which is easy to culture in vitro, can be a vaccine candidate for protection of canine sarcoptic mite infestation.

• BMB Reports
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.519-523
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• 1998

We have previously reported that anti-glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) serum raised against native G6PD (nG6PD) enzyme recognized nG6PD antigen poorly in competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (Kim, 1997). In the present study, we investigated whether anti-G6PD serum raised against nG6PD can react with denatured G6PD effectively in competitive ELISA. We used partially active G6PD (paG6PD) by repeated freeze-thawing or SDS-denatured G6PD (SDS-G6PD) as both immobilized and soluble antigens, and anti-G6PD serum raised against nG6PD for competitive ELISA. The polystyrene cuvettes coated with either paG6PD or SDS-G6PD were challenged with a mixture of a limiting amount of anti-G6PD serum and various doses of paG6PD or SDS-G6PD as competitors, followed by incubation with alkaline phosphatase-anti-IgG conjugate. The competitive ELISA with paG6PD or SDS-G6PD antigen exhibited the sigmoidal dose-response curve characteristic of competition immunoassays. Furthermore, Triton-denatured G6PD (Triton-G6PD) was used in competitive ELISA. The paG6PD, SDS-G6PD, or Triton-G6PD used as competitors increased the inhibition of antibody binding to immobilized either of nG6PD or denatured G6PD compared with nG6PD competitor. The inhibition by denatured G6PD competitors was more pronounced at high competitor concentrations than at low counterparts. We conclude that anti-G6PD serum raised against nG6PD can effectively react with denatured G6PD in competitive ELISA and that our anti-G6PD serum recognizes denatured enzymes better than active enzymes.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.299-321
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• 1996

Experimental studies were done to research the effects of the Ursi fel and the UDCA on the anti-allergic effects. The results were obtained as follows: 1) In the experimental effects of the Ursi fel and the UDCA on the vascular permeability responses to intradermal Serotonin, though both of the Ursi fel and UDCA revealed the significant effect, the Ursi fel had stronger effect than the UDCA. 2) In the provocative effects of the Ursi fel and the UDCA on the vascular permeability responses to intradermal Histamin, though both of the Ursi powfel and UDCA showed the significant effect, the Ursi fel had moreerful effect than the UDCA. 3) In the 48 hours homologous passive cutaneous anaphylaxis provoked by the IgE-like antibody against white egg albumin, though both of the Ursi fel and UDCA revealed significant effect, the Ursi fel had stronger effect than the UDCA. 4) In the delayed type hypersensitivity response to Picryl Chlorede, though both of the Ursi fel and UDCA were proved to be effective significantly the Ursi fel showed stronger effect. 5) In the delayed type hypersensitivity responses to Sheep red blood cell, the Ursi fel revealed the significant effect, though the UDCA has no significant effect. According to above results, the Ursi fel was approved it could be used widely as antiallergic drug for immediate and delayed type allergic diseases. Although the UDCA revealed efficacy in immediated type allergic diseases, it had less powerful effects than the Ursi fel and it showed no effects in some experiment of delayed type allergy, so it would be difficult to be used clinically.