• Toxicological Research
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.73-80
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• 1987

Primary cultures of adult rat hepatocytes were used to study the cytotoxicity of D-galactosamine. Hepatocytes were isolated by a collagenase perfusion technique and maintained as monolayers in serum-free medium on collagen-coated culture dishes. Treatment of galactosamine to the culture markedly inhibited the uptake of ${\alpha}$-aminoisobutyric acid (AIB) inducible with glucagon and dexamethasone. At0.1 mM of galactosamine, AIB uptake was inhibited significantly when treated for 12 hr. At higher doses (0.25, 0.5 and 1.0mM), a significant inhibition was noticed after 1 hr exposure. Generally the magnitude of the inhibition was related to the dose and treatment time of galactosamine. Treatment of galactosamine also produced a dose- and treatment time-related suppression of the tyrosine aminotransferase (TAT) induction caused by dexamethasone. Meanwhile, uptake of ouabain was not affected by the treatment of galactosamine. The viability of the hepatocytes was decreased only slightly by the treatment of galactosamine; more than 87% of the cells excluded tryphane blue when treated 1 mM galactosamine for 12 hr. Galactosamine induced depressions of AIB uptake and TAT activity were prevented by the simultaneous addition of uridine to the culture. D-Galactosamine, cytotoxicity, hepatocytes culture, ${\alpha}$-aminoisobutyric acid uptake, tyrosine aminotransferase.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.261-263
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• 1990

The water uptake rates of thirty-four japonica and twenty-five j x indica brown rices at $100^{\circ}C$ were analyzed. The water uptake rates had no correlation with size or volume of brown rice kernel. The regression equations for water uptake rates between brown rice at $100^{\circ}C$(Y) and milled rice at $23^{\circ}C(X)$ for japonica and j x indica varieties were Y = 1.12X-0.34(r = 0.976, p<0.001) and Y = 1.16X-0.54(r = 0.990, p<0.001), respectively (Received August 13, 1990 and accepted September 20,1990).

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.252-257
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• 2011

To remove excess nitrate from the agricultural environments, Enterobacter amnigenus GG0461 has been isolated as a bacterial strain having high capability of nitrate uptake activity. This strain was able to remove nitrate more than 3,000 ppm (50 mM) in the Pseudomonas agar F (PAF) medium. Therefore, it could be a candidate strain for a nitrate scavenger in the various contaminated environments, such as agricultural soils, livestock sewage, and industrial wastewater. In order to develop medium for the large-scale production of the strain GG0461, each component of PAF medium was replaced with the corresponding commercial product and the optimal conditions for bacterial growth and nitrate uptake activity were measured. Glycerol was replaced with the commercially available product and the nitrogen source was substituted with commercial tryptone, yeast extract, soybean meal, and fermented fish extract. Bacterial growth and nitrate uptake activity were maximal in the media containing 2% tryptone, followed by yeast extract, soybean meal, and fermented fish extract. The pH of the growth medium containing 2% tryptone was decreased by the bacterial nitrate uptake, suggesting that the nitrate uptake is mediated by a nitrate/proton antiporter. This result shows that the medium containing commercial tryptone was good enough for the physiological activity of the strain GG0461. Each component of PAF medium was successfully replaced with the corresponding commercial product except peptone. In conclusion, the composition of medium for the cultivation of the strain GG0461 was determined as 2% tryptone, 1% glycerol, plus required salts according to the composition of PAF medium.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.11-15
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• 2005

Salinity of soils in greenhouse has been increased by massive application of fertilizers. Nitrogen fertilizer was most popular, and thus nitrate became the majority of soil salinity. Accumulation of nitrate led to deleterious effects on the growth and development of crops and vegetables. Microbial strains able to utilize nitrate and thus remove excess nitrate from farm land soils were isolated from 15 different soils of greenhouses and plastic film houses. Four strains able to grow in medium containing 50 mM $KNO_3$ were isolated, among which only E0461 showed high capacity of nitrate uptake. Nitrate uptake by E0461 was dependent on culture medium and was increased by addition of tryptone and peptone. Although E0461 was able to grow without tryptone and peptone, growth was slow, and no nitrate uptake was observed. Nitrate appeared to facilitate E0461 growth in the presence of tryptone and peptone. Through kinetic analysis, nitrate uptake was measured at various concentrations of nitrate, and half-life was calculated. Nitrate concentration decreased with increasing incubation period, and plot between half-lives and initial concentrations of nitrate fitted to single exponential function. These results suggest one major factor plays an important role in microbial nitrate uptake.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.328-335
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• 2014

Vehicle toxicity is one of the main obstacles for intracellular delivery of bioactive compounds. Silk fibroin is a natural polymer proven to have high biocompatibility since being used as suture material. In this report, fibroin microspheres were prepared without any chemical modification or cross-linking not to affect its biocompatibility. The microspheres were taken up by more than 90% of 3T3 cells. Cellular uptake continued after medium replenishment with a different-colored fluorescent microsphere, suggesting that simultaneous ingestion and exocytosis occurred. Cellular uptake of fibroin microspheres did not affect cell viability. Intracellular trafficking of the microspheres using lysosome-specific fluorescent dye revealed that fibroin microspheres were localized both in the cytoplasm and in the lysosome. Accordingly, fibroin microspheres can be a potential vehicle for intracytoplasmic delivery of large cargos, such as mixtures of proteins, nutrients or artificial organelles.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.179-191
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• 1990

A central dogma of pharmacology is that only unbound drug is capable of translocation across biological membrane. Thus, hepatic uptake is assumed to be solely determined by the unbound concentration of the diffusible moiety at the surface of the liver cell. However, an increasing number of experimental observations with xenobiotics that are normally very extensively bound to plasma proteins (>99%) appear to be inconsistent with these assumptions. This suggested that in addition to progressive spontaneous dissociation within the liver sinusoids and space of Disse, direct interactions of the albumin-drug complex at the plasma membrane may facilitate dissociation of the complex. To explain this phenomena. called albumin-mediated uptake, 4 mechanisms have been suggested. The validity of such hypotheses needs to be examined by the further study. Because albumin-mediated uptake has also been observed to occur in other plasma proteins, protein-mediated uptake rather than albumin-mediated uptake seems to be acceptable.

• BMB Reports
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.56-64
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• 2023

Nitrogen (N) is an essential macronutrient required for plant growth and crop production. However, N in soil is usually insufficient for plant growth. Thus, chemical N fertilizer has been extensively used to increase crop production. Due to negative effects of N rich fertilizer on the environment, improving N usage has been a major issue in the field of plant science to achieve sustainable production of crops. For that reason, many efforts have been made to elucidate how plants regulate N uptake and utilization according to their surrounding habitat over the last 30 years. Here, we provide recent advances focusing on regulation of N uptake, allocation of N by N transporting system, and signaling pathway controlling N responses in plants.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.29-37
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• 2005

Intra-cellular drug uptake in Xenopus laevis oocyte has been elucidated using localized MR spectroscopy (MRS) and PFG NMR techniques at a 600 $MH_z$(Bruker, 14.1 T) NMR spectrometer. The localized MRS has been done with a homemade probe, and shows the intra-cellular uptake of nicotinamide. The self-diffusion of the molecule in Xenopus oocyte was obtained by PFG NMR technique. The measured data are well fitted with a linear combination of two exponential functions, which shows that there are two types of drug molecules, intra-and extra-cellular molecules. Diffusion coefficients of intra- and extra-cellular drug molecules are 3.7 $\times$ $10^{-11}$ $\m^{2}/s$and 6.4 $\times$ $10^{-10}$ $\m^{2}/s$, respectively. In the weighting factors there is shown that about 5% of drug molecule is inside the cells. These techniques can be used for drug screening in molecule-, cell-, and tissue-based preclinical test.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.79-83
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• 2011

Over-application of nitrogen fertilizer keeps increasing the salinity in the soils of greenhouse in domestic agriculture. In order to remove the excess amounts of soil nitrate, soil microorganisms which have high capacity of nitrate uptake were isolated from the upland soils and their nitrate uptake activities were measured. Strain GS2 was able to remove 50 mM nitrate within 12 h. After sequence comparison analysis of 16S rRNA gene, the strain was identified and named as Bacillus sp. GS2. When the growth and nitrate uptake activities were measured, maximal values were obtained at $30-40^{\circ}C$ and $37^{\circ}C$, respectively; however, both were optimal at pH 6-8. In the media containing 50 mM nitrate, Bacillus sp. GS2 removed 43 mM nitrate which is corresponding to 86% removal. Similar amounts of nitrate removal were observed at the nitrate concentrations up to 300 mM, showing a saturation in nitrate uptake at concentrations above 50 mM. These results imply that Bacillus sp. GS2 can be a good candidate for the microbial remediation of accumulated environmental nitrate because of its excellent growth and nitrate uptake activity.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.198-207
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• 2007

[ $^{18}F$ ]-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake on positron emission tomography (PET) scan has been found to reflect tumor aggressiveness and prognosis in various types of cancer. In this study, the gene expression profiles of glial tumors were evaluated to determine whether glial tumors with high $^{18}F$-FDG uptake have more aggressive biological potential than with low uptake. Surgical specimens were obtained from the 12 patients with glial tumors (4 males and 8 females, age range 42-68 years). The tumor samples were divided into two groups based on the $^{18}F$-FDG uptake PET scan findings: high $^{18}F$-FDG uptake (n=4) and low $^{18}F$-FDG uptake (n=8). The pathological tumor grade was closely correlated with the $^{18}F$-FDG uptake pattern: Glial tumors with high $^{18}F$-FDG uptake were pathologically Edmondson-Steiner grade III, while those with low uptake were grade II. The total RNA was extracted from the frozen tissues of all glial tumors (n=12), and adjacent non-cancerous tissue (n=3). The gene expression profiles were evaluated using cDNA microarray. The glial tumors with high $^{18}F$-FDG uptake showed increase expression of 15 genes compared to those with low uptake (P<0.005). Nine genes were down-regulated. Gene expression is closely related to cell survival, cell-to-cell adhesion or cell spreading; therefore, glial tumors with high $^{18}F$-FDG uptake appear to have more aggressive biological properties than those with low uptake.