• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.756-763
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• 2002

We have previously demonstrated that repeated injections of nicotine produced an increase in locomotor activity, dopamine(DA), release and c-Fos expression in the nucleus accumbens, one of the major projection areas of the central DA system. Acupuncture as a therapeutic intervention is widely used for the treatment of many functional disorders such as substance abuse and mental dysfunction. And many studies have shown that Coptidis Rhizoma has a suppressive effect on the central nervous system (CNS) and can affect the neurotransmitter systems in the CNS. In order to investigate whether acupuncture and Coptidis Rhizoma have an influence on nicotine-induced reinforcing and behavioral effects, we examined the effect of zusanli(ST36) and Coptidis Rhizoma on repeated nicotine-induced locomotor activity, and zusanli(ST36) on c-Fos expression as an important maker of postsynaptic neuronal activity in nucleus accumbens. Male SD rats received Coptidis Rhizoma (100mg/kg, p.o.) 30 min before injections of nicotine (0.4 mg/kg, s.c.) for 7 days. Rats were followed withdrawal for 3 days and one challenge for 1 day. Systemic challenge with nicotine produced a much larger increase in locomotor activity. Pretreatment with acupuncture at zusanli(ST36, 100Hz) and Coptidis Rhizoma decreased in nicotine-induced locomotor activity. These results demonstrated that reduction in locomotor activity by acupuncture at zusanli(ST36, 100Hz) and Coptidis Rhizoma may be mediated by reduction of dopamine release. Our results suggest that acupuncture at zusanli(ST36, 100Hz) and Coptidis Rhizoma may have therapeutic effect on nicotine addiction.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.256-262
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• 1999

Because chronic pain disorder may has multiple causes or contributing factors, including physical, psychological, and socio-environmental variables, the treatment of patients with the disorder requires biopsychosocial approaches in a multidisciplinary setting. In treating chronic pain, it is important to address functioning as well as pain, and treatment should be to increase functional capacity and manage the pain as opposed to curing it. Therefore treatment goal should be adaptation to pain or minimizing pain with corresponding greater functioning. Treatment begins with the initial assessment, which includes evaluation of psychophysiologic mechanisms, operant mechanisms, and overt psychiatric comorbidity. Psychiatric treatment of the patients requires adherence to sound pharmacologic and behavioral principles. There are four categories of drugs useful to psychiatrist in the management of chronic pain patients : 1) narcotic analgesics, 2) nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, 3) psychotropic medications, and 4) anticonvulsants, but antidepressants are the most valuable drugs in pharmnacotherpy for them. Psychological treatments tend to emphasize behavioral and cognitive-behavioral modalities, which are divided into self-management techniques and operant techniques. Psychodynamic and insight-oriented therapies are indicated to some patients with long-standing interpersonal dysfunction or a history of childhood abuse.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 2012

Schizophrenia is a devastating psychiatric illness that afflicts 1% of the population worldwide, resulting in substantial impact to patients, their families, and health care delivery systems. For many years, schizophrenia has been felt to be associated with dysregulated dopaminergic neurotransmission as a key feature of the pathophysiology of the illness. Although numerous studies point to dopaminergic abnormalities in schizophrenia, dopamine dysfunction cannot completely account for all of the symptoms seen in schizophrenia, and dopamine-based treatments are often inadequate and can be associated with serious side effects. More recently, converging lines of evidence have suggested that there are abnormalities of glutamate transmission in schizophrenia. Glutamatergic neurotransmission involves numerous molecules that facilitate glutamate release, receptor activation, glutamate reuptake, and other synaptic activities. Evidence for glutamatergic abnormalities in schizophrenia primarily has implicated the NMDA and AMPA subtypes of the glutamate receptor. The expression of these receptors and other molecules associated with glutamate neurotransmission has been systematically studied in the brain in schizophrenia. These studies have generally revealed region- and molecule-specifi c changes in glutamate receptor transcript and protein expression in this illness. Given that glutamatergic neurotransmission has been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia, recent drug development efforts have targeted the glutamate system. Much effort to date has focused on modulation of the NMDA receptor, although more recently other glutamate receptors and transporters have been the targets of drug development. These efforts have been promising thus far, and ongoing efforts to develop additional drugs that modulate glutamatergic neurotransmission are underway that may hold the potential for novel classes of more effective treatments for this serious psychiatric illness.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.462-470
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• 2015

This study examined for which socio-economic difference effects on brain function and Problem behavior syndrome in children. About a children with no disorders, diseases or cognitive dysfunction-30 were from LIC children and another 30, from MC ones, the study was conducted by measuring and analyzing the data using brain function analysis and K-CBCL from January to April, 2013. The results of the study are as follows. First, it was found that the ratio of LIC's theta(${\Theta}$) and SMR waves and that of delta(${\delta}$), high beta(${\beta}h$), alpha(${\alpha}$) and low beta(${\beta}l$) waves showed significantly higher values than MC children. Second, concerning the symptoms of child behavioral problems, LIC showed significantly higher values than MC children in symptoms of the body, depression and anxiety, social immaturity, thinking problems, attention problems, aggression, internalization, externalization, overall behavioral problems, and emotional instability. MC children showed significantly higher values than LIC chidren in symptoms of social, academic-performance, total social skills. In conclusion, the significant difference of the brain functions and the symptoms of child behavioral problems between LIC and MC children showed that the socio-ecnomic difference has an influence on the same functions and symptoms above.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.134-154
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• 1998

This paper first reviewed the definition, criteria, and neurological theories concerning the etiology of AD/HD, and the empirical studies dealing with the comorbidity of AD/HD with other psychiatric disorders. Secondly, results of studies using various neuropsychological tests for assessing the cognitive and behavioral problems in AD/HD children were examined, which suggest the possibility that dysfunction may exist in neural pathways involving many areas of the brain in AD/HD. However, because most of neuropsychological test used in Korea for ADHD children had been developed abroad, further study involving AD/HD, normal control, and other psychiatric control groups is needed to obtain developmental norms for interpreting the results, and to make more accurate diagnosis, and to clarify comorbidity of AD/HD with other disorders.

• Journal of mucopolysaccharidosis and rare diseases
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.39-41
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• 2021

Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a rare genetic neurodevelopmental disorder of hyperphagia leading to severe obesity, intellectual deficits, compulsivity, and other behavioral problems. PWS is caused by the inactivation of contiguous genes on chromosome 15q11-q13, which complicates the development of targeted, effective therapeutics. Various preclinical studies have been conducted by developing mouse models that exhibit phenotypes similar to PWS. Oxytocin deficiency in PWS is associated with hyperphagia with impaired satiety and, food-seeking and behavior disorders. Here, we summarize the oxytocin study of ingestion behavior tested in the PWS mouse model and published data from clinical trials that have evaluated treatment effectiveness on ingestion behavior and social dysfunction in patients with PWS.

• CELLMED
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• v.13 no.14
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• pp.14.1-14.9
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• 2023

Administration of Scopolamine can be considered a psychopharmacological model of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We made an animal model of Alzheimer's disease (AD) by administering Scopolamine to Blab/c mice. In this study, we investigated the effects of Resplex Alpha on memory impairment and cognitive function in mice in a mouse animal model of Scopolamine-induced memory impairment. Through Y-mazed and passive avoidance behavioral assays, we observed that Resplex Alpha recovered Scopolamine-induced short-term memory and cognitive functions. The results of our study imply that Resplex Alpha may be beneficial in the prevention of Alzheimer's disease (AD).

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.9
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• pp.1154-1167
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• 2022

In this study, we investigated the anti-amnesic effect of Korean red pine (Pinus densiflora) bark extract (KRPBE) against amyloid beta_1-42 (Aβ_1-42)-induced neurotoxicity. We found that treatment with KRPBE improved the behavioral function in Aβ-induced mice, and also boosted the antioxidant system in mice by decreasing malondialdehyde (MDA) content, increasing superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities, and reducing glutathione (GSH) levels. In addition, KRPBE improved the cholinergic system by suppressing reduced acetylcholine (ACh) content while also activating acetylcholinesterase (AChE), regulating the expression of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), postsynaptic density protein-95 (PSD-95), and synaptophysin. KRPBE also showed an ameliorating effect on cerebral mitochondrial deficit by regulating reactive oxygen species (ROS), mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and ATP levels. Moreover, KRPBE modulated the expression levels of neurotoxicity indicators Aβ and phosphorylated tau (p-tau) and inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, p-IκB-α, and IL-1β. Furthermore, we found that KRPBE improved the expression levels of neuronal apoptosis-related markers BAX and BCl-2 and increased the expression levels of BDNF and p-CREB. Therefore, this study suggests that KRPBE treatment has an anti-amnestic effect by modulating cholinergic system dysfunction and neuroinflammation in Aβ_1-42-induced cognitive impairment in mice.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.53-60
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• 2005

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder affecting $1\%$ of the population above the age of 65 and is characterized by a selective loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta. Although the underlying cause of dopaminergic cell death or the mechanism by which these cells degenerate is still not clearly understood, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and protein misfolding are thought to play important roles in the dopaminergic degeneration in PD. Tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) is synthesized exclusively in the monoaminergic, including dopaminergic, cells and serves as an endogenous and obligatory cofactor for syntheses of the potential oxidative stressors dopamine and nitric oxide. In addition to its contribution toward the syntheses of these two potentially toxic molecules, BH4 itself can directly generate oxidative stress. BH4 undergoes oxidation during the hydroxylation reaction as well as nonenzymatic autooxidation to produce hydrogen peroxide and superoxide radical. We have previously suggested BH4 as an endogenous molecule responsible for the dopaminergic neurodegeneration. BH4 exerts selective toxicity to dopamine-producing cells via generation of oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and apoptosis. BH4 also induces morphological, biochemical, and behavioral characteristics associated with PD in vivo. BH4 as well as enzyme activity and gene expression of GTP cyclohydrolase I, the rate-limiting enzyme in BH4 synthesis pathway, are readily upregulated by cellular changes such as calcium influx and by various stimuli including stress situations. This points to the possibility that cellular availability of BH4 might be increased in aberrant conditions, leading to increased extracellular BH4 subsequent degeneration. The fact that BH4 is specifically and endogenously synthesized in dopaminergic cells, Is readily upregulated, and generates oxidative stress-related cell death provides physical relevance of this molecule as an attractive candidate with which to explain the mechanism of pathogenesis of PD.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.10-25
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• 1999

Children above age of two are able to have sexual excitement, and they actively seek the pleasure actively or passively through touch and masturbation. In late $60_s$ and early $70_s$, Masters, obstetrician, and Johnson, social worker, illustrated four phases of human sexual responses, namely excitement, plateau, orgasmic and resolution phases in both sexes, and multiple orgasms in the female. Their treatment principles of sexual dysfunctions were largely based on behavioral model, introducing the concepts of sensate focus, dual therapy and sex education. Following Masters and Johnson, Kaplan, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, in the early and mid-$70_s$ introduced new sex therapy which was based on the combination of analytically-oriented psychotherapy and behavior therapy, and classified sexual dysfunctions into three categories such as desire excitement and orgasmic phase disorders. Since $1980_s$ other medical fields joined the stream, putting the concentrated effort on the treatment of the impotence in the male. They have developed penile prosthesis, local injection therapy, and the administration of oral medications. Nowadays Sildenafil(Viagra) seems the best choice for the treatment of the impotence in the male.