• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.5-12
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• 2000

The control of food intake is a complex phenomenon caused by interactions between central and peripheral control mechanisms. The hypothalamic and brain stem regions have been identified as centers for food intake and energy expenditure in animals and humans. Of these, the ventromedial and lateral hypothalamic areas are involved in the control of food intake. Also, large amounts of neurotransmitters known to be involved in feeding are present in the hippocampus. Paricularly, tryptophan hydroxylase(TPH), known as a factor in the control of food intake, is present in high levels in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus and the hippocampus. In this study, TPH expression levels in the hypothalamic and hippocampal regions of fasting, anorexia mutant, and control mice were compared using RT-PCR and immunohistochemical methods. Differences in body weight among the fasting, anorexia mutant, and control groups wire observed. No statistical significance was noted in the number of TPH-immunoactivity in the hypothalamic nuclei, but relatively higher populations of such fibers were observed in the fasting group : the control group yielded samples with an overall value of 170.3${\pm}$3.5 in terms of immunoreactivity-induced optical density, whereas the fasting group yielded a value of 168.3${\pm}$2.6, and the anorexia mutant group 171.3${\pm}$0.8(lower values represent higher immunoreactivity), In fasting mice, stained neuronal bodies were observed in the CA3 and dentate gyrus regions of the hippocampus, which was different from the hippocampal regions of the control and anorexia mutant mice. The RT-PCR procedures were performed using whole brains, precluding any statistically noticeable findings in relation to specific regions, although the fasting and anorexia mutant groups showed 123.3% and 102.9%, respectively, of the TPH mRNA level in the control. The overall results present evidences of the role of TPH in the decrease in food intake during fasting caused by exogenic factors and in genetically acquired anorexia. (Korean J Nutrition 33(1) : 5-12, 2000)

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.279-284
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• 2007

Two bacterial strains isolated from soil (Bacillus subtilis strains: PS2 and RFO41) were evaluated to determine their promoting effect on the growth of tomato seedling under axonic and pot conditions. The production of phytohormone, such as indole-3-acetic acid, indole-3-butyric acid, gibberellin and zeatin by these two strains was investigated as possible mechanisms for plant growth stimulation. Both PS2 and RFO41 were shown to produce various phytohormones, and. the production of phytohormones was stimulated by the addition of peptone-rich brain heart broth medium. In addition, these bacteria exhibited high levels of phosphatase activity, which ranged from 2.18 to $2.7\;{\mu}\;{\rho}-nitrophenol/ml/hr$. PS2 and RFO41 were applied to the pot test for growth of tomato seed with phosphate. Root and shoot lengths of germinated tomato after 15 days were 45.5% and 36.5% longer than that of control in RFO41 treated samples, respectively. Baciller sp. PS2 and RFO41 may have a potential for biofertilizer in the agriculture.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.65-69
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• 2012

Objectives : Much is still unknown about the neurophysiological mechanisms or dynamics of the sleep onset process. Detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) is a new tool for the analysis of electroencephalography (EEG) that may give us additional information about electrophysiological changes. The purpose of this study is to analyze long-range correlations of electroencephalographic signals by DFA and their changes in the sleep onset process. Methods : Thirty channel EEG was recorded in 61 healthy subjects (male:female=34:27, age=$27.2{\pm}3.0$ years). The scaling exponents, alpha, were calculated by DFA and compared between four kinds of 30s sleep-wakefulness states such as wakefulness, transition period, early sleep, and late sleep (stage 1). These four states were selected by the distribution of alpha and theta waves in O1 and O2 electrodes. Results : The scaling exponents, alpha, were significantly different in the four states during sleep onset periods, and also varied with the thirty leads. The interaction between the sleep states and the leads was significant. The means (${\pm}$ standard deviation) of alphas for the states were 0.94 (${\pm}0.12$), 0.98 (${\pm}0.12$), 1.10 (${\pm}0.10$), 1.07 (${\pm}0.07$) in the wakefulness, transitional period, early sleep and late sleep state respectively. The mean alpha of anterior fifteen leads was greater than that of posterior fifteen leads, and the two regions showed the different pattern of changes of the alpha during the sleep onset periods. Conclusions : The characteristic findings in the sleep onset period were the increasing pattern of scaling exponent of DFA, and the pattern was slightly but significantly different between fronto-temporal and parieto-occipital regions. It suggests that the long-range correlations of EEG have a tendency of increasing from wakefulness to early sleep, but anterior and posterior brain regions have different dynamical process. DFA, one of the nonlinear analytical methods for time series, may be a useful tool for the investigation of the sleep onset period.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2012

The mechanism of psychotherapy is explained by the recent developments in neuroscience and neuroimaging. The purpose of this study is to understand the nature of psychotherapy and to discuss the future of psychotherapy improvement with the help of advances of the neurobiological findings in psychotherapy. For this study, we investigated a wide range of materials. We searched for various researches on psychotherapy, brain, and neurobiology. In addition to the conventional psychodynamic psychotherapy, we investigated research findings on cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). Moreover, based on the actual experiences of treating patients, we speculated the neurobiological mechanisms of the process and results of psychotherapy. With the development of neuroscience, we are now able to understand the personal consciousness, unconsciousness and developmental process. Also subdividing the disease is made possible. Personalized treatment has become available, and we are able to predict the prognosis of patients. Our memories are composed by implicit memory and explicit memory. By psychotherapy, we can consciously remember explicit memory, and it becomes easier to explore implicit memory through free association. Through psychotherapy, we will also be able to learn the effect of acquired environment and experience. Psychotherapy is able to correct human behaviors by modifying the memories. Through the regulation of emotions, it becomes possible to modify the memories and correct the behaviors. In this process, doctor-patient relationship is the main factor which cause positive treatment effects. Furthermore imagination therapy or unconscious, non-verbal stimuli could bring about positive treatment effects. Now psychotherapy could be explained and studied by neuroscientific researches. In this sense, we could provide the direction of future advances in neuroscience by the neurobiological understanding of psychotherapy.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.969-973
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• 2009

Samul-tang (SMT), which was firstly described in (Hwajegukbang) Song dynasty, is well known remedy for blood diseases in Oriental medicine. SMT is traditional herbal-remedy composed of Rehmanniae Radix Preparat, Angelicae Gigantis Radix, Cnidii Rhizoma and Paeoniae Radix. Recently, SMT has known to have anti-oxidative action. However, the reports on anti-oxidantic action in neuroglial cells are rare. In addition, the exact mechanisms are unclear. For these reasons, we investigated the protective effects of SMT on cell death induced by oxidative stress using C6 glioma cells. In our results, SMT accelerated proliferation rates of C6 cells in vitro. In addition, levels of LDH release induced by oxidative stress were lowered by treatment with SMT. Finally, protective effects on cell death induced by chemicals such as paraquat and rotenone were observed. In conclusion, these results suggest the possibility to protect brain cell or neuronal cell from damage induced by oxidative stress.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.88-96
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• 2020

Stauntonia hexaphylla (SH) and Vaccinium bracteatum (VB) are herbal extracts widely used in food and traditional herbal medicine, and have the ability to perform a wide range of biological activities. We aimed to investigate the effects of the SH and VB combination (SHVB) on mice models of chronic restraint stress (CRS) and pentobarbital-induced sleeping behaviors to elucidate its possible mechanisms of action. CRS-exposed mice treated with SHVB showed significantly decreased immobility time, increased swimming and climbing times in the forced swim test (FST), and increased locomotor activity in the open field test (OFT). SHVB decreased serum CORT levels, but enhanced brain monoamine neurotransmitters. SHVB significantly decreased the sleep latency and increased total sleep duration in pentobarbital-induced sleeping behavior in mice. SHVB showed inhibitory effect on 5-HT_2A receptor-mediated ERK1/2 phosphorylation. These results suggest that SHVB has antidepressant and hypnotic effects by regulating the 5-HT_2A receptor.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.383-389
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• 2017

Dexmedetomidine is an ${\alpha}2$-adrenergic receptor agonist that exhibits a protective effect on ischemia-reperfusion injury of the heart, kidney, and other organs. In the present study, we examined the neuroprotective action and potential mechanisms of dexmedetomidine against ischemia-reperfusion induced cerebral injury. Transient focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury was induced in Sprague-Dawley rats by middle cerebral artery occlusion. After the ischemic insult, animals then received intravenous dexmedetomidine of $1{\mu}g/kg$ load dose, followed by $0.05{\mu}g/kg/min$ infusion for 2 h. After 24 h of reperfusion, neurological function, brain edema, and the morphology of the hippocampal CA1 region were evaluated. The levels and mRNA expressions of interleukin-$1{\beta}$, interleukin-6 and tumor nevrosis factor-${\alpha}$ as well as the protein expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase, cyclooxygenase-2, nuclear factor-${\kappa}Bp65$, inhibitor of ${\kappa}B{\alpha}$ and phosphorylated of ${\kappa}B{\alpha}$ in hippocampus were assessed. We found that dexmedetomidine reduced focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats by inhibiting the expression and release of inflammatory cytokines and mediators. Inhibition of the nuclear factor-${\kappa}B$ pathway may be a mechanism underlying the neuroprotective action of dexmedetomidine against focal cerebral I/R injury.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.120-125
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• 2006

Phenytoin is an anti-epileptic. It works by slowing down impulses in the brain that cause seizures. The recent microarray technology enables us to understand possible mechanisms of genes related to compounds which have toxicity in biological system. We have studied that the effect of a compound related to hepatotoxin in vitro system using a rat whole genome microarray. In this study, we have used a rat liver epithelial cell line WB-F344 and phenytoin as a hepatotoxin. WB-F344 was treated with phenytoin for 1 to 24 hours. Total RNA was isolated at times 1, 6 and 24h following treatment of phenytoin, and hybridized to the microarray containing about 22,000 rat genes. After analysis with clustering methods, we have identified a total of 1,455 differentially expressed genes during the time course. Interestingly, about 1,049 genes exhibited differential expression pattern in response to phenytoin in early time. Therefore, the identification of genes associated with phenytoin in early response may give important insights into various toxicogenomic studies in vitro system.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.205-211
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• 2007

The fruits and stems of Opuntia ficus-indica var. saboten have been reported to exhibit a variety of pharmacological actions, including antioxidant, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and anti-ulcer effects. In the present study, we evaluated effects of the butanol fraction (SK OFB901) prepared from the 50% ethanol extract of the stems on various types of neuronal injuries induced by oxidative stress, excitotoxins, and amyloid ${\beta}\;(A_{\beta})$ in primary cultured rat cortical cells. Its antioxidant and radical scavenging activities were also evaluated by cell-free bioassays. We found that SK OFB901 strongly inhibited the oxidative neuronal damage induced by $H_2O_2$ or xanthine/xanthine oxidase. In addition, it exhibited marked inhibition of the excitotoxic neuronal damage induced by glutamate, N-methyl-D-aspartic acid, or kainate. Furthermore, the $A_{\beta(25-35)}$-induced neurotoxicity was also significantly attenuated by SK OFB901. It was found to inhibit lipid peroxidation initiated by $Fe^{2+}$ and L-ascorbic acid in rat brain homogenates and scavenge 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl free radicals. These results indicate that the butanol fraction prepared from the stems of Opuntia ficus-indica var. saboten exerts potent antioxidant and neuroprotective effects through multiple mechanisms, implying its potential applications for the prevention or management of neurodegenerative disorders associated with oxidative stress, excitotoxicity, and $A{\beta}$.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.75-83
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• 2000

Cyclic vomiting syndrome(CVS) is a disorder of unknown etiology that is characterized by its clinical pattern of intermittent episodes of severe vomiting, similar in time of onset and duration, with no symptoms during the intervening period. By definition, CVS is an idiopathic disorder that requires exclusionary laboratory testing. Not only can it be mimicked by many specific disorders, eg, surgical, neurologic, endocrine, metabolic, renal, but within idiopathic CVS there may be specific subgroups that have different mechanisms. It has been reported that CVS usually begins in toddlers and resolves during adolescence. Migraine is also self-limiting episodic condition of children and the clinical features of migraine and CVS show considerable similarity. It is proposed that CVS is a condition related to migraine. This paper reports clinical courses of long term follow-up and reversible EEG changes in three patients whose history included CVS. Clinical situations of attack interval, duration and associated symptoms had changed variablely in each patients through long term follow-up period. Cyclic vomiting subsided in two cases. Abnormal delta activity was seen during episodes and resolved at follow-up, when the patient asymptomatic. The brain wave changes support the interpretation of CVS as a migraine variant.