• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.183-191
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• 2016

Marine bacteria have represented unique physiologies and products which are not discovered from terrestrial organisms. There has been great interest to utilize and develop marine bacteria in many industrial sectors. Recently, we isolated and characterized anaerobic bacteria from various marine environments in Korea to search organic acids fermenting strains. From our enrichment performed under anaerobic condition, 65 strains were isolated and identified by the 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. Among them, eleven strains were selected for phylogenetical and biochemical analysis. All tested strains were affiliated with Class Clostridia except one with Class Bacteroidia. Most of strains produce acetate (6 strains) with butyrate (2 strains) and/or formate (4 strains). Strain MCWD5 transformed 40% of glucose to extracellular polymeric substances. These results indicate that many novel anaerobic microorganisms which have great potential in commercial application are distributed in the marine environments of Korean Peninsula.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.100-106
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• 2011

Strain BCNU 5011 was isolated from forest soil samples collected in the Taebaek mountain in the Gangwon province, Korea. The biochemical, physiological and 16S rRNA sequence analysis strongly indicated that this isolate was most closely related to Paenibacillus polymyxa. A maximum production level of antimicrobial substances of Paenibacillus sp. BCNU 5011 was achieved under aerobic incubation at $30^{\circ}C$ for 3 days in SST broth.Paenibacillus sp. BCNU 5011 showed a broad spectrum of activity against Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria, including methicllinresistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Paenibacillus sp. BCNU 5011 was also shown to inhibit the growth of different potential human pathogenic bacteria and fungi in vitro. Peptide extract showed better antimicrobial activity than solvent extracts. But active antimicrobial compounds might be included in both peptide extract and solvent extracts. Further separation, purification and identification of active principles leads project to develop antimicrobial agents and anti-MRSA agents.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.79-83
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• 2006

We evaluated therapeutic and preventive properties of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), a weak androgenic steroid, against isoproterenol-induced cardiomyopathy. The cardiomyopathy was induced by daily i.p. administration of isoproterenol to rats for five days. One group of rats were given with daily s.c. for 5 days during isoproterenol and the other group with daily s.c. DHEA for total 10 days, including 5 days before and during isoproterenol. The animals were killed after each treatment, and cardiac muscle failure was evaluated using histopathologic examination and biochemical indices. DHEA was found to reduce the damaged area and inhibit the elevation in the serum levels of glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), skeletal muscle creatine kinase (CK) and heart creatine kinase (CK-MB) induced by isoproterenol. We also assayed widely used oxidative stress parameters, including thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase and glutathion peroxidase (GPx). DHEA decreased the escalated level of TBARS and enhanced the anti oxidant defense reaction with an increase in Mn-SOD and Cu/Zn-SOD. On the other hand, the treatment with DHEA did not affect catalase and GPx activity. The present study indicates that DHEA has a therapeutic and preventive effect against isoproterenol-induced cardiomyopathy and its effects may depend largely on the increase in SOD activity.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.343-355
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• 2023

After the implementation of the total pollution load control system, the effect of improving river water quality by expanding investments in basic environmental facilities, inducing operational efficiency, and reducing the load of various pollutants was clear. However, since the implementation of the system, the management of non-point pollutants has been neglected; management focused on specific substances (biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and total phosphorus (T-P)) and lacked specific cause analysis and action plans, failed to establish a relationship between water quality and pollution load, failed to reflect stakeholder demands for river water quality management, and failed to apply technical conditions. Therefore, to overcome the limitations raised and achieve a practical and efficient advanced total pollution system, the current system was partially improved and will continue to be improved. This study analyzed the performance and limitations of the total pollution system and introduced recent improvements and the contents that are being improved. The main contents included reducing emissions and reduction monitoring, using water quality tele-monitoring system (TMS) data and self-measurement data, adding population-inducing facilities, and adjusting regional development projects from 20 to 30 multi-family housing units, currentizing each pollutant source according to the roadmap. If the system is improved in a developmental direction and responds to various changes, it will be a more practical and effective policy.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.1B
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• pp.53-60
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• 2010

A wetland is an ecosystem which has high species diversity, rich nutritional substances and high productivity. In this study we used the HGM(Hydrogeomorphic) approach among various evaluation models for the assessment of the Hwapo riverine wetland function. HGM is a method which estimates the functional index of a study wetland by comparing it with a reference wetland. In this study the Woopo wetland which is registered in the Ramsar Convention was selected as a reference wetland to assess the functional index of the Hwapo wetland. As the results, we obtained the functional index values over 0.6 for most indices of the Hwapo riverine wetland. Therefore we found that the Hwapo riverine wetland shows relatively high functional index values comparing with the Woopo wetland and it has valuable hydrological, biochemical, plant habitat, and animal habitat functions.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.415-422
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• 2023

In veterinary medicine for mammals, studies are being conducted to confirm the effects of antioxidants using pathological toxicity model studies, and are also used to confirm the effect of mitigating liver or kidney toxicity of specific substances. It was considered necessary to study such a toxicity model for domestic farmed fish, so thioacetamide (TAA), a toxic substance that causes tissue damage by mitochondrial dysfunction, was injected into rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), a major farmed freshwater fish species in Korea. The experiment was conducted with 40 rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) weighting 53 ± 0.6 g divided into two groups. Thioacetamide(TAA) 300mg/kg of body weight was intraperitoneally injected into rainbow trout and samples were taken 1, 3, 5, 7 days after peritoneal injection. As a result, in serum biochemical analysis, AST levels related to liver function decreased 3 and 5 days after intraperitoneal injection and increased after 7 days, and ALT levels also increased after 7 days. In addition, creatinine related to renal malfunction increased 3 and 5 days after TAA injection. In histopathological analysis, pericholangitis and local lymphocyte infiltration were observed in the liver from 1 day after intraperitoneal injection of TAA, and hepatic parenchymal cell necrosis was also observed from 3 days after intraperitoneal injection. Hyaline droplet in renal tubular epithelial cell was observed from 1 day after TAA injection, and acute tubular damage such as tubular epithelial cell necrosis appeared from 3 days after TAA injection. Accordingly, it is thought that it will be able to contribute to studies that require a toxicity model.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.356-361
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• 2007

Cyanobacteria are a very old group of prokaryotic organisms that produce very diverse secondary metabolites, especially non-ribosomal peptide and polyketide structures. Although some cyanobacteria produce lethal toxins such as microcystins and anatoxins, some may be useful either for development into commercial drugs or as biochemical tools. Detection of unknown secondary metabolites was carried in the present study by a screening of 98 cyanobacterial strains from Cyanobiotech GmbH in order to establish a screening process, isolate pure substances and determine their bioactivities. A degenerated polymerase chain reaction technique as molecular approaches has been used for general screening of NRPS gene and PKS gene in cyanobacteria. A putative PKS gene was detected by DKF/DKR primer in 38 strains (38.8%) and PCR amplicons resulted from a presence of NRPS gene were showed by MTF2/MTR2 primer in 30 strains (30.6%), respectively. A screening of interesting strains was performed by comparing PCR screening results with HPLC analyses of extracts. HPLC analysis for a detection of natural products was performed in extracts from biomass. 5 strains were screened for further scale-up processing. 7 pure substances were isolated from the scale-up cultures and tested for bioactivities under consideration to purity, amount and molecular weight of substances. One substance isolated from CBT 635 showed cytotoxic activity. This substance may be regarded as Microcystin LR.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.359-369
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• 2018

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are a serious problem for public health and fisheries industries, thus there exists a need to investigate the possible ways for effective control of HABs. In the present study, we investigated the algicidal effects of a newly developed GreenTD against the HABs (Chattonella marina, Heterosigma akashiwo, Cochlodinium polykriokides, and Heterocapsa circularisquama) and non-HABs (Chaetoceros simplex, Skeletonema sp. and Tetraselmis sp.), which is focused on the different population density and concentration gradients of algicidal substances. The time series viability of target alga was assessed based on the activity of Chl. a photosynthetic efficiency in terms of $F_v/F_m$, and in vivo fluorescence (FSU). Effective control of Raphidophyta, C. marina and H. akashiwo was achieved at a GreenTD concentration of $0.5{\mu}gL^{-1}$ and $0.2{\mu}gL^{-1}$, respectively, and regrowth of both the species was not observed even after 14 days. The inhibitory ratio of the dinoflagellate, C. polykriokides was more than 80% at $0.2{\mu}gL^{-1}$ of GreenTD. H. circularisquama was constantly affected in the presence of $0.2{\mu}gL^{-1}$ of GreenTD in the high- and low-population density experimental groups. On the other hand, diatoms, C. simplex, and Skeletonema sp. were not significantly affected even in the presence of $0.2{\mu}gL^{-1}$ of GreenTD and exhibited re-growth activity with the passage of incubation time. In particular, green alga Tetraselmis sp. remained unaffected even in the presence of the highest concentration of GreenTD ($1.0{\mu}gL^{-1}$), implying that non-HABs were not greatly influenced by the algicidal substances. As a result, the algicidal activity of GreenTD on the harmful and nonharmful algae was as follows: raphidophyte>dinoflagellates>diatoms>green alga. Consequently, our results indicate that inoculation of GreenTD substances into natural blooms at a threshold concentration ($0.2{\mu}gL^{-1}$) can maximize the algicidal activity against HABs species. If we consider the dilution and diffusion rate in the field application, it is hypothesized that GreenTD will demonstrate economic efficiency, thus leading to effective control against the target HABs in the closed bay.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.868-873
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• 2004

Renal dysfunction could be developed as the secondary disease of liver cirrhosis. Delayed or suppresed lipid peroxidation by the treatment with physiological active substances could be explained as the antioxidative and protective effect in tissue damage. In this study, we investigated an antioxidative effect and renal function improvement of Hovenia dulcis in liver fibrosis(cirrhosis) induced rats. The female Sprague-Dawley rats (180∼210 g) were divided into 3 groups (Normal, AC: CCl₄ mixture treated group, AC-HV: CCl₄ mixture+ Hovenia dulcis treated group) and renal damage was developed by CCl₄ mixture administration in 4 weeks (0.8 ㎖/rat). The tissue of kidney and liver and sera were used for quantitative measurement of enzyme activity, MDA and Hyp. The histological change and gene expression of collagen α1(III) mRNA and a1(IV) mRNA were observed by Masson's trichrome staining and RT-PCR. As a result, the clinical biochemical parameters of liver function (AST and ALT) in sera of AC-HV group showed significantly 46.4% and 104.8% lower (p<0.005), and the level of ALP and BUN as the parameter of protein urine and azotemia showed 17.8 % and 25.8 % lower than in AC group. In AC-HV group, the concentration of MDA in kidney and liver was decreased significantly 15.8% and 21.3% when compared with AC group (p<0.01 -0.005). The content of Hyp in kidney of AC-HV group is merely higher than in AC group, in contrast to liver tissue. The expression of collagen α1(III) mRNA and collagen α1(IV) mRNA was decreased in AC, but both of collagen mRNA in normal and AC-HV group expressed fast similar. More massive lipid droplets, thicker collagen fiber bundles in portal triads and more formation of portal central septum were observed in the liver of AC group than in AC-HV group. In conclusion, CCl₄ mixture intoxication could be developed not only liver fibrosis(cirrhosis) but also renal dysfunction by the massive lipid peroxidation and suppression of interstitial collagen and basement membrane collagen synthesis. And the water extract of Hovenia dulcis may be possessed the antioxidative and protective effect and improvement of kidney function in renal dysfunction induced rats.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.347-350
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• 2011

Biofilms are surface-attached microbial communities with phenotypic and biochemical properties distinct from free-living planktonic cells. Biofilm bacteria show much greater resistance than planktonic counterparts and much higher concentration of biocide is needed to treat biofilms compared to the dosage used for planktonic bacteria. As a result, alternative strategies or more effective agents exhibiting activity against biofilm-producing micro-organisms are of great interest. Therefore, we turned our attention to control of biofilm of S. aureus. The aims of this research are to investigate substances which inhibit the formation of biofilm by S. aureus and to suggest effective materials for controlling skin problems. We coated slide glasses with human placental collagen and the coverslip was incubated with test materials and bacteria. The coverslip was stained with crystal violet and we measured optical density of each sample. The biofilm inhibitory activity was calculated by crystal violet staining degrees. In this study, S. aureus ATCC 6538 was used as test organism. Our results show that both water soluble and insoluble Hinoki cypress polysaccharide strongly inhibited biofilm formation. Whereas, green tea and sunset hibiscus root extract promoted biofilm. Xylitol showed a concentration dependent effect; high concentration (3 % and 5 %) of xylitol reduced biofilm while promoted biofilm formation at a concentration of 1 %. These results support that Hinoki cypress polysaccharide and xylitol have ability to suppress biofilm formation.