• Journal of Life Science
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• 제21권7호
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• pp.985-991
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to investigate the biological effect of obesity-induced oxidative damage on neurogenesis and early protein expression. Obesity was induced I thirty 4-week old male Sprague-Dawley rats through a high fat diet for 15 weeks. After one week of environmental adaptation, the rats were divided into 2 groups: high fat diet sedentary group (HDS, n=15) and high fat diet training group (HDT, n=15). Exercise training was performed 5 times a week for 8 weeks, with mild-intensity treadmill running for weeks 1-4 and moderate-intensity treadmill running for weeks 5-8. After the 8 week training period, we analyzed lipid profiles, serum 8-hydroxyguanosine (8-OHdG), liver tissue malondialdehyde (MDA) related to oxidative damage factors, nerve growth factor (NGF), brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), c-fos, c-jun, and extracellular signal regulated kinase (Erk) in the hippocampus. The results of this study are as follows. There were differences between HDS and HDT in triglyceride (TG) and total cholesterol (TC) (p<0.05). In high density lipoprotein (HDL-c), the HDT was higher than HDS after treadmill training (p<0.05). In 8-OHdG, the HDT was lower than HDS after treadmill training (p<0.05). Genetic expressions of c-jun, BDNF and MDA in the HDT were higher than in the HDS after treadmill training in hippocampus (p<0.05). Therefore, we conclude that 8 weeks of treadmill training can improve imbalanced lipid profiles, reduce oxidative damage, and activate neurogenesis in obese rats.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• 제24권1호
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• pp.144-154
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• 1994

Final goal of periodontal treatment is to reconstruct the destructed periodontal tissue as well as to remove the necrotic pathologic elements. The purpose of this study is to investigate on the effect of Zizyphi extract to the inhibitory ability on collagenolytic activity of P gingivalis, biologic activity of gingival fibroblasts, and on the collagen and protein synthesis of gingival fibroblasts. Gingival fibroblast from giniva of first bicuspids from patient for orthodontic treatment were used and cultured. For the measurement of inhibitory ability of collagenolytic activity, crude enzyme was extracted and used on the basis of modified Ono's method. On the inhibition of collagenolytic enzyme from herbal extracts, collagenokit CLN-100 were used. The cellular activity of gingival fibroblast, were studied using MTT solution and measured optical density on 570mm by ELISA reader. To measure the effects on the ability of whole protein and collagen synthesis, cell membrane was destructed with ultrasonic grinder after culturing, centrifuged and counted by liquid scintilation counter. The inhibitory effects on producing of $IL-l{\beta}$ by monocyte, after promotion of producing $IL-l{\beta}$ by LPS, were compared with the mixture of herbal extracts and other drugs using thymocyte stimulation assay. About inhibitory effects of $PGF_2$. by gingival fibroblasts, herbal extract was compared with the addition of the other control groups using enzyme imunoassay. On the inhibition of collagenolytic activity by P. gingivalis, benzene extracts showed the most efficient inhibitory effects among the $19{\mu}g/ml$ of the compared extracts and 40.5% by Tetracycline. On the cellular activity promoting effects, compared extracts showed a bit of more effects than PDGF of $100{\mu}g/ml$ concentration and IGF of $20{\mu}g/ml$ concentration. All of the PDGF, IGF, Zizyphi Fructus extract should increase in collagen synthesis, but especially 70% ethylalcohol extracts of Zizyphi Fructus showed comparably high effects among the compared extracts. Effects on whole protein synthesis were slightly increased on every extract but especially 70% ethylalcohol extract showed significantly effective than any other estract. On the inhibitory effects of Zizyphi Fructus $IL-l{\beta}$ production by monocyte, compared extracts showed 70% of highly inhibitory effect than that of 60% inhibition effects on controlled group and each extracts showed no significant difference. In $PGF_2$ production inhibitroy effect of Zizyphi Fructus gingival fibroblasts, Herbal extracts showed 70% of inhibition comparing with tat of 90.2% of controlled group, but each extracts showed similar effects excluding the $H_2O$ extracts. These results suggested that Zizyphi Fructus might be useful medicine for inhibition of inflammatory mediator including $IL-l{\beta}$ and $PGF_2$.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• 제20권4호
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• pp.472-500
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• 1996

Researches on mineral nutrition, physiology and phyrsiological diseases, . cultivaction methods. brceding. pest control quality management and extension during 1976-1995 in Korea were reviewed Review in brceding and pest control was restricted to the researches directely related to cultivaction. Mineral nulrient up take. partion and varicos factors such as top dreasing. Light intersity etc. and interrelationship between minerals were investigated. Top dressing was not effective due to low minera1 requorement Physiological characteristics on tempelature light and water were well elucidated and applied to assess traditional cultivation method and its inovation. Photosyrnthetic pigments. light harvest proteins and activity of related enzymes were studied. In nitrogen metabolism arginine, praline, ammonium, threonine appeared to have important role in re growth of shoot Saponin metabolism was studied in relation to growth and new ginsenosides were found but physiological role of saponin was not clearly elucidated yet Endogenous growth regulators were reported and various erogenous growth regulators were studied for growth stimulation. short stem and seed pruning etc. Various physiological diseases were investigated for cause and control measures were established. Water culture was little studied Forest culture was studied but not retched the recommendable stage Drip irrigation straw mulching. seasonal shading and soil preparation method including soil fertility adjustment were established for practical application. Shading materials completely changed to polyethylene net and materials of polymers The research on ginseng cultivation in paddy field opened the way to establish the permanent ginseng cultivation plantation Ginseng harvester and seeder were developed in the late 1950s. Transplanted and many other machines were developed in the early 1990s. In ginseng breeding only pure line selection was of practical significance several verities were at the stage of seed propagation at ginseng plantations. Mutation breeding (${\gamma}$-ray. X-ray chemicals) was not successful. The research on plantlet formation through tissue culture was a little progressed but still far behind to vegetative propagation. Disease control research was concentrated in the isolation and identification of pathogans. their ecological charactelistics and biological control and soil humigation. Potato root rot nematodes was found and control method was established. Insect and small animal control research was greatly progresses in identification, ecological investigation, and ecological and physical control. Weed control was less important due to the development of mulching method of ridge and ditch. Quality factors of raw ginseng in relation to red ginseng process were extensively studied. Traditional quality measures were elucidated in accordance with modern analytical chemistry resulting in the importance of peptides in the centrat part rather than ginsenosides For large root production growth promoting rootzone micrcorganisms (PGPRM) were isolated and active compounds were identified. Field test on PGPRM was on going. Varictus methods formality improvement through cultivation were developed. Management research of ginseng production was rare Extension was active throuch official and private organizations and through workshop for the extension specialists, and direct lectures to grower's. Extension services made the researcher to understand the existing problems at grower's fields. Research environment for ginseng production was in prime time only for three years when Korea Ginseng Research Institute was established then gradually aggravated.

• Journal of Life Science
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• 제18권3호
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• pp.344-349
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• 2008

Normal somatic cells proliferate for a limited number of doublings in culture and then enter an irreversible growth-arrest state called replicative senescence. Replicative senescence has been believed a reason for the limited cellular turnover and deterioration of tissue function in aged animals. However, there is no experimental evidence supporting this assumption. Furthermore, cells from aged person have been poorly characterized with an exception of the cases of T cells. In this study, we examined cell biological changes occurring in replicative senescence of fibroblast strains originated from a new-born (NHF-NB) and a 87 year old man (NHF-87). NHF-87 (and the cells from a 75-year old) proliferated to smaller population doublings and with longer doubling times than NHF-NB did. At early passages, NHF-87 exhibited a low senescence-associated ${\beta}-Gal$ (SA ${\beta}-Gal$) activity and lipofuscin level, typical markers for cellular senescence. Furthermore, they maintained low levels of lysosome and reactive oxygen species (ROS). All of these levels increased dramatically in the late passage NHF-87 quite similarly as those in the late passaged NHF-NB did. These results indicate that most cells originated from the aged maintain a phenotype of the cells originated from new-born donors and undergo replicative senescence with the same kinetics as that of the cells from new-born. It is also indicated that not SA ${\beta}-gal$ activity but cell proliferation rate may be qualified as a biomarker for cells aged in vivo.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제24권2호
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• pp.200-209
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• 2007

We generated gene expression data from the tissues of 50 gastric cancer patients, and applied meta-analysis and gene set analysis to this data and three other stomach cancer gene expression data sets to define the gene expression changes in gastric tumors. By meta-analysis we identified genes consistently changed in gastric carcinomas, while gene set analysis revealed consistently changed biological themes. Genes and gene sets involved in digestion, fatty acid metabolism, and ion transport were consistently down-regulated in gastric carcinomas, while those involved in cellular proliferation, cell cycle, and DNA replication were consistently up-regulated. We also found significant differences between the genes and gene sets expressed in diffuse and intestinal type gastric carcinoma. By gene set analysis of cytogenetic bands, we identified many chromosomal regions with possible gross chromosomal changes (amplifications or deletions). Similar analysis of transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs), revealed transcription factors that may have caused the observed gene expression changes in gastric carcinomas, and we confirmed the overexpression of one of these, E2F1, in many gastric carcinomas by tissue array and immunohistochemistry. We have incorporated the results of our meta- and gene set analyses into a web accessible database (http://human-genome.kribb.re.kr/stomach/).

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• 제18권4호
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• pp.429-438
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• 1997

Mechanical valve is one of the most widely used implantable artificial organs of which the reliability is so important that its failure means the death of patient. Therefore early noninvasive detection is essentially required, though mechanical valve failure with thrombosis is the most common. The objective of this paper is to detect the thrombosis formation by spectral analysis and neural network. Using microphone and amplifier, we measured the sound from the mechanical valve which is attached to the pneumatic ventricular assist device. The sound was sampled by A/D converter(DaqBook 100) and the periodogram is the main algorithm for obtaining spectrum. We made the thrombosis models using pellethane and silicon and they are thrombosis model on the valvular disk, around the sewing ring and fibrous tissue growth across the orifice of valve. The performance of the measurment system was tested firstly using 1 KHz sinusoidal wave. The measurement system detected well 1KHz spectrum as expected. The spectrum of normal and 5 kinds of thrombotic valve were obtained and primary and secondary peak appeared in each spectrum waveform. We find that the secondary peak changes according to the thrombosis model. So to distinguish the secondary peak of normal and thrombotic valve quantatively, 3 layer back propagation neural network, which contains 7, 000 input node, 20 hidden layer and 1 output was employed The trained neural network can distinguish normal and valve with more than 90% probability. As a conclusion, the noninvasive monitoring of implanted mechanical valve is possible by analysing the acoustical spectrum using neural network algorithm and this method will be applied to the performance evaluation of other implantable artificial organs.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• 제19권5호
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• pp.389-399
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• 2015

Zinc has been considered as a vital constituent of proteins, including enzymes. Mobile reactive zinc ($Zn^{2+}$) is the key form of zinc involved in signal transductions, which are mainly driven by its binding to proteins or the release of zinc from proteins, possibly via a redox switch. There has been growing evidence of zinc's critical role in cell signaling, due to its flexible coordination geometry and rapid shifts in protein conformation to perform biological reactions. The importance and complexity of $Zn^{2+}$ activity has been presumed to parallel the degree of calcium's participation in cellular processes. Whole body and cellular $Zn^{2+}$ levels are largely regulated by metallothioneins (MTs), $Zn^{2+}$ importers (ZIPs), and $Zn^{2+}$ transporters (ZnTs). Numerous proteins involved in signaling pathways, mitochondrial metabolism, and ion channels that play a pivotal role in controlling cardiac contractility are common targets of $Zn^{2+}$. However, these regulatory actions of $Zn^{2+}$ are not limited to the function of the heart, but also extend to numerous other organ systems, such as the central nervous system, immune system, cardiovascular tissue, and secretory glands, such as the pancreas, prostate, and mammary glands. In this review, the regulation of cellular $Zn^{2+}$ levels, $Zn^{2+}$-mediated signal transduction, impacts of $Zn^{2+}$ on ion channels and mitochondrial metabolism, and finally, the implications of $Zn^{2+}$ in health and disease development were outlined to help widen the current understanding of the versatile and complex roles of $Zn^{2+}$.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• 제86권1호
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• pp.80-86
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• 1997

The objective of this study was to investigate how resistant poplar hybrid makes compensation to ozone stress. Growth, net assimilation rate and initial Rubisco activity were investigated. This study elucidates the physiological mechanisms associated with ozone sensitivity and resistance in 3 selected $F_2$ hybrids, a family originating from a cross between Populus trichocarpa${\times}$P. deltoides. Open-top chambers were used. Ozone concentrations varied from 90 to 115 ppb for 126 days, 6 to 9 hours in a day. This study tested the hypothesis that resistant poplar hybrid maintains the biomass production to ozone exposure via increased net assimilation rate and Rubisco activity. Growth, biomass, net assimilation rate and initial Rubisco activity were generally reduced by ozone treatment. In the tree parts, root under ozone stress was the most sensitive part. Reduced allocation of photosynthates to root growth might be due to increased respiratory demands for maintenance and repair of aboveground tissue damaged by ozone stress. Maintenance or increases remaining leaves in photosynthetic rates and Rubisco activity in resistant clone in response to ozone treatment were the results of biological compensation to ozone stress.

• The KIPS Transactions:PartD
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• 제15D권6호
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• pp.767-776
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• 2008

Microarray technology is extensively being used in experimental molecular biology field. Microarray experiments generate quantitative expression measurements for thousands of genes simultaneously, which is useful for the phenotype classification of many diseases. One of the two major problems in microarray data classification is that the number of genes exceeds the number of tissue samples. The other problem is that current methods generate classifiers that are accurate but difficult to interpret. Our paper addresses these two problems. We performed a direct integration of individual microarrays with same biological objectives by transforming an expression value into a rank value within a sample and generated rank-comparison decision rules with variable number of genes for cancer classification. Our classifier is an ensemble method which has k top scoring decision rules. Each rule contains a number of genes, a relationship among involved genes, and a class label. Current classifiers which are also ensemble methods consist of k top scoring decision rules. However these classifiers fix the number of genes in each rule as a pair or a triple. In this paper we generalized the number of genes involved in each rule. The number of genes in each rule is in the range of 2 to N respectively. Generalizing the number of genes increases the robustness and the reliability of the classifier for the class prediction of an independent sample. Also our classifier is readily interpretable, accurate with small number of genes, and shed a possibility of the use in a clinical setting.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• 제56권1호
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• pp.9-13
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• 2012

We previously reported that the extract of Taraxacum platycarpum (AF-343) had several biological properties such as skin hydration and anti-inflammatory effects, thereby AF-343 be a promising anti-atopic dermatitis agent. However, few studies have been conducted to evaluate its effect on modulation of extracellular matrix proteins in human skin fibroblasts. The purpose of this study was to investigate the expressions of type I collagen, MMP-1, Smad2/3, and TIMP-1 proteins in AF-343-treated human skin fibroblasts. Human skin fibroblasts were treated by various concentrations of AF-343 (0~2 mg/ml). The expressions of type I collagen, matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1), Smad2/3, and TIMP-1 proteins were analyzed by Western blot analysis. In addition, level of type I collagen mRNA was analyzed by CAT assay. Expression of type I collagen protein was increased in AF-343-treated human skin fibroblasts by dose and time-dependent manners. Consistent with this result, the expressions of phospho-Smad2/3 in skin fibroblasts were increased and MMP-1 expression was decreased by AF-343 treatment. TIMP-1 expression was not significantly changed in AF-343 treated skin fibroblasts. Extract of Taraxacum platycarpum (AF-343)-induced up-regulation of type I collagen expression was through increased expression of phospho-Smad2/3. These results were occurred combined with down-regulation of MMP-1 in skin fibroblasts. Taken together, this study indicated that AF-343 has property of the modulation of ECM in tissue as well as skin hydration and anti-inflammation.