• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.344-348
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• 2018

We investigated the application of functional materials by examining a variety of physiological activities of Abelmoschus esculentus extract. A. esculentus extract had a low cytotoxicity against murine melanoma B16F10 cells. At concentrations showing little or no cytotoxicity, A. esculentus extract showed high a DPPH radical scavenging activity ($ID_{50}$, $5.24{\mu}g/mL$), inhibited tyrosinase activity ($ID_{50}$, $102.12{\mu}g/mL$), and decreased melanin content ($ID_{50}$, $17.85{\mu}g/mL$). The treatment of B16F10 cells with A. esculentus extract suppressed the protein expression of tyrosinase in a dose-dependent manner. These findings suggest that A. esculentus extract inhibits melanin synthesis in murine melanoma B16F10 cells by suppressing intracellular tyrosinase expression, as well as directly inhibits tyrosinase activity simultaneously. Additionally, A. esculentus extract promotes the expression of involucrin, which is related to skin barrier protection. These results indicate that A. esculentus extract is an appropriate material for improving skin barrier function.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.553-561
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• 2019

Rab25, a member of the Rab11 small GTPase family, is central to achieving cellular polarity in epithelial tissues. Rab25 is highly expressed in epithelial cells of various tissues including breast, vagina, cervix, the gastrointestinal tract, and skin. Rab25 plays key roles in tumorigenesis, mainly by regulating epithelial differentiation and proliferation. However, its role in skin physiology is relatively unknown. In this study, we demonstrated that Rab25 knock-out (KO) mice show a skin barrier dysfunction with high trans-epidermal water loss and low cutaneous hydration. To examine this observation, we investigated the histology and epidermal differentiation markers of the skin in Rab25 KO mice. Rab25 KO increased cell proliferation at the basal layer of epidermis, whereas the supra-basal layer remained unaffected. Ceramide, which is a critical lipid component for skin barrier function, was not altered by Rab25 KO in its distribution or amount, as determined by immunohistochemistry. Notably, levels of epidermal differentiation markers, including loricrin, involucrin, and keratins (5, 14, 1, and 10) increased prominently in Rab25 KO mice. In line with this, depletion of Rab25 with single hairpin RNA increased the expression of differentiation markers in a human keratinocyte cell line, HaCaT. Transcriptomic analysis of the skin revealed increased expression of genes associated with skin development, epidermal development, and keratinocyte differentiation in Rab25 KO mice. Collectively, these results suggested that Rab25 is involved in the regulation of epidermal differentiation and proliferation.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.251-259
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• 2024

The skin barrier plays an important role in maintaining healthy skin by preventing external irritation and water loss in the body. In the skin, hyaluronic acid (HA) is synthesized by the enzyme hyaluronic acid synthase (HAS), which functions as a natural moisturizing factor and is involved in maintaining water retention and barrier function. Therefore, in this study, the effect of the Prunus yedoensis bark ethyl acetate fraction (PYBEAF) on HA synthesis in HaCaT cells was confirmed. Cytotoxicity evaluation was performed through MTT assay, and the amount of HA synthesis in HaCaT cells was confirmed through ELISA through PYBEAF treatment. The levels of HAS-2, HAS-3 mRNA expression were analyzed using qRT-PCR, and the protein expression level and signaling pathway were confirmed through western blotting. Consequently, PYBEAF was involved in the MAPK and CREB signaling pathways, increasing the amount of HA production through HAS-2 synthesis. This suggests that PYBEAF is effective in improving barrier function by increasing HA synthesis, which plays an important role in moisturizing and maintaining skin moisture.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.196.2-196.2
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• 2015

There are various issues fabricating the successful and efficient solar cell structures. One of the most important issues is band alignment technique. The solar cells make the carrier in their active region over the p-n junction. Then, electrons and holes diffuse by minority carrier diffusion length. After they reach the edge of solar cells, there exist large energy barrier unless the good electrode are chosen. Many various conductor with different work functions can be selected to solve this energy barrier problem to efficiently extract carriers. Tungsten oxide has large band gap known as approximately 3.4 eV, and usually this material shows n-type property with reported work function of 6.65 eV. They are extremely high work function and trap level by oxygen vacancy cause them to become the hole extraction layer for optical devices like solar cells. In this study, we deposited tungsten oxide thin films by sputtering technique with various sputtering conditions. Their electrical contact properties were characterized with transmission line model pattern. The structure of tungsten oxide thin films were measured by x-ray diffraction. With x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, the content of oxygen was investigated, and their defect states were examined by spectroscopic ellipsometry, UV-Vis spectrophotometer, and photoluminescence measurements.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.71-74
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• 2005

The aim of this study was to analyze characteristics of the barrier function of excised porcine buccal mucosa to the test compounds, estradiol, propranolol HCI, melatonin, and mannitol with a wide range of partition coefficient values. The permeability of melatonin was measured through frozen, stored, and fresh porcine buccal mucosa to examine the impact of storage conditions on the permeability of porcine buccal mucosa. The results demonstrated that the ex vivo permeability of the porcine buccal mucosa was greater for more lipophilic solutes, which was consistent with a series of molecules transported by passive transepithelial diffusion. The melatonin permeation profiles through frozen, stored, and fresh mucosa illustrated that damage was incurred by the freezing process of the mucosal tissue, leading to loss of the barrier function and thereby an increased permeation coefficient. It can be observed that the influence of compound lipophilicity on the association of the compounds with buccal mucosa was clear. The relationship between permeation coefficient and Log P values for the four compounds investigated demonstrated a proportional relationship, further confirming the importance of the lipophilicity of a compound to permeate the buccal mucosa. These results showed that the ex vivo porcine buccal mucosa model is a suitable tool to screen oral mucosal permeability.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.153-162
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• 2014

We show that carbon nanotube sensors with gold particles on the single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) network operate as Schottky barrier transistors, in which transistor action occurs primarily by varying the resistance of Au-SWNT junction rather than the channel conductance modulation. Transistor characteristics are calculated for the statistically simplified geometries, and the sensing mechanisms are analyzed by comparing the simulation results of the MOSFET model and Schottky junction model with the experimental data. We demonstrated that the semiconductor MOSFET effect cannot explain the experimental phenomena such as the very low limit of detection (LOD) and the logarithmic dependence of sensitivity to the DNA concentration. By building an asymmetric concentric-electrode model which consists of serially-connected segments of CNTFETs and Schottky diodes, we found that for a proper explanation of the experimental data, the work function shifts should be ~ 0.1 eV for 100 pM DNA concentration and ~ 0.4 eV for $100{\mu}M$.

• BMB Reports
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• v.47 no.10
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• pp.552-557
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• 2014

The main purpose of this study was to investigate whether type 3 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor (M3R) dysfunction induced vascular hyperpermeability. Transwell system analysis showed that M3R inhibition by selective antagonist 4-diphenylacetoxy-N-methylpiperidine methiodide (4-DAMP) and small interfering RNA both increased endothelial permeability. Using coimmunoprecipitation and Western blot assay, we found that M3R inhibition increased VE-cadherin and ${\beta}$-catenin tyrosine phosphorylation without affecting their expression. Using PTP1B siRNA, we found that PTP1B was required for maintaining VE-cadherin and ${\beta}$-catenin protein dephosphorylation. In addition, 4-DAMP suppressed PTP1B activity by reducing cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), but not protein kinase $C{\alpha}$ ($PKC{\alpha}$). These data indicate that M3R preserves the endothelial barrier function through a mechanism potentially maintaining PTP1B activity, keeping the adherens junction proteins (AJPs) dephosphorylation.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.287-298
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• 2007

A two-dimensional treatment of the potential distribution under the depletion approximation is presented for poly-crystalline silicon thin film transistors. Green's function approach is adopted to solve the two-dimensional Poisson's equation. The solution for the potential distribution is derived using Neumann's boundary condition at the silicon-silicon di-oxide interface. The developed model gives insight into device behavior due to the effects of traps and grain-boundaries. Also short-channel effects and drain induced barrier lowering effects are incorporated in the model. The potential distribution and electric field variation with various device parameters is shown. An analysis of threshold voltage is also presented. The results obtained show good agreement with simulated results and numerical modeling based on the finite difference method, thus demonstrating the validity of our model.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.300-306
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• 2021

Chronic ultraviolet (UV) radiation causes photoaging, which represents skin damage, disrupts skin barrier function, and promotes wrinkle formation. We investigated that the polysaccharide extract of an edible basidiomycetous white jelly mushroom, Tremella fuciformis, (TF-Glucan^®) exhibited statistically photoprotective activity by inhibiting matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) and increasing collagen synthesis, and an anti-inflammatory activity by inhibiting nitric oxide and pro-inflammatory cytokines at the concentrations of less than 1000 ㎍/ml, which is not cytotoxic (p < 0.05). Additionally, TF-Glucan^® increased the expression of involucrin and filaggrin to prevent the disruption of UVB-induced barrier function (p < 0.05). TF-Glucan^® was assessed as a safe material by the human primary skin irritation (1, 3, 5%), human repeated insult patch test (no sensitization at 5%), 3T3 NRU phototoxicity assay (no phototoxicity, PIF < 2, MPE < 0.1), eye irritation test test by BCOP (no category, IVIS ≤ 3) and local lymph node assay (negative at 10, 25, 50%) for identifying potential skin sensitizing. These results suggest that TF-Glucan^® may be useful as an anti-photoaging ingredient for developing cosmeceuticals.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.120-125
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• 2014

Use of an apical plug in management of cases with open apices has gained popularity in recent years. Biodentine, a new calcium silicate-based material has recently been introduced as a dentine substitute, whenever original dentine is damaged. This case report describes single visit apexification in a maxillary central incisor with necrotic pulp and open apex using Biodentine as an apical barrier, and a synthetic collagen material as an internal matrix. Following canal cleaning and shaping, calcium hydroxide was placed as an intracanal medicament for 1 mon. This was followed by placement of small piece of absorbable collagen membrane beyond the root apex to serve as matrix. An apical plug of Biodentine of 5 mm thickness was placed against the matrix using pre-fitted hand pluggers. The remainder of canal was back-filled with thermoplasticized gutta-percha and access cavity was restored with composite resin followed by all-ceramic crown. One year follow-up revealed restored aesthetics and function, absence of clinical signs and symptoms, resolution of periapical rarefaction, and a thin layer of calcific tissue formed apical to the Biodentine barrier. The positive clinical outcome in this case is encouraging for the use of Biodentine as an apical plug in single visit apexification procedures.