• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.11-16
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• 2008

카드뮴은 환경과 인체 위해도에 큰 영향을 미치는 중요한 환경오염물질로 잘 알려져 있다. 본 연구에서는 토양선충인 Caenorhabditis elegans에 카드뮴을 12시간과 48시간으로 나누어 처리하여 시간에 따른 장, 단기적 독성영향을 알아보고자 하였다. 이때 생리학적 수준으로 성장 및 생식을 조사하고, 분자수준에서 스트레스 관련 유전자들의 시간에 따른 발현 정도를 관찰하였다. 생식에서는 단기노출(12시간) 시 그 영향이 대조군에 비해 크게 나타났으며, mtl-2의 스트레스 관련 유전자가 증가하였다 장기 노출(48시간) 시에는 cyp35a2, ape-1, sod-1, ctl-2 유전자가 대조군에 비해 약 $2{\sim}4$배 가량의 발현 증가 결과를 조사할 수 있었다. 본 연구결과들을 통해 스트레스 관련 유전자의 발현을 조사하는 것이 중요하고 민감한 생체지표가 된다는 것과 토양선충 C. elegans는 환경중 오염물질에 대한 장기, 단기적 영향을 평가하기 위한 좋은 생물학적 모델이 된다는 것을 알 수 있었다.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.263-268
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• 2015

Coelomocytes are specialized cells that continually and nonspecifically scavenge fluid from the body cavity through endocytosis in Caenorhabditis elegans. Our previous study revealed that coelmocytes were specifically required for dietary-restriction-induced longevity in C. elegans. In the present study, we examined the effect of coelomocyte ablation on the response to environmental stressors and reproduction in C. elegans. Coelomocytes were ablated using diphtheria toxin specifically expressed in coelomocytes. After exposing worms to 20 J/cm²/min of ultraviolet irradiation in vivo, the survival of the worms was monitored daily. To examine their response to heat stress, their survival after 10 h of 35℃ heat shock was measured. Oxidative stress was induced using paraquat, and the susceptibility to oxidative stress was compared between wild-type control and coelomocyte-ablated worms. The total number of progeny produced was counted, and the time-course distribution of the progeny was determined. The worms with ablated coelomocytes showed reduced resistance to ultraviolet irradiation, but the ablation of coelomocytes had no effect on their response to heat or oxidative stress. The number of progeny produced during the gravid period was significantly decreased in the coelomocyte-ablated worms. These findings suggest that coelomocytes specifically modulate the response to ultraviolet irradiation and are required for normal reproduction in C. elegans. The findings could contribute to understanding of the mechanisms underlying dietary-restriction-induced longevity.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.670-674
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• 2013

The free radical theory of aging suggests that oxidative damage caused by free radicals plays a key role in normal aging. We measured the anti-oxidant activity of acorns and asked whether it can modulate the aging process in Caenorhabditis elegans. Different concentrations of acorn powder were added to culture medium, followed by the monitoring of fertility and survival under oxidative stress. The anti-oxidant activity of 500 mg/L of acorn powder exhibited significant increases in the resistance to oxidative stress in vivo. Acorn powder also significantly extended both the mean and maximum lifespan of C. elegans (the mean lifespan was increased up to 22.4%). The fertility assay indicates the lifespan extension from acorn does not accompany a reduced reproduction, which is common in long-lived mutants. These findings indicate that acorn has a strong antioxidant activity and can induce longevity without the trade-off of reduced reproduction in C. elegans.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.10
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• pp.1120-1125
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• 2019

The short-lived nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has been used as a model organism for many studies, including lifespan extension. To screen common seaweeds for natural anti-aging agents, the lifespan of C. elegans (N2 wild-type strain) was measured by its hatch rate, growth rate, survival rate, chemotaxis, brood size, and egg-laying time after exposure to nematode growth medium (NGM) containing seaweed extracts. Approximately 30 animals synchronized at the first larval stage were incubated until they reached their adult stages before laying their eggs and were transferred to fresh NGM every 3 days. We also identified the major active compound from the seaweed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and tested its optimal dose for longevity. Of 13 common seaweed species, an ethanol extract of the brown seaweed Hizikia fusiformis showed the greatest effect on hatching, growth, and survival rates. The lifespan of C. elegans was significantly expanded 1.54-fold and 1.23-fold in the presence of the ethanol extract (0.05 mg/ml) and the main active component, fucosterol (0.05 mg/ml), respectively. Exposure to the ethanol extract also increased chemotaxis 1.13-fold, decreased brood size 0.74-fold, and shortened egg-laying time 0.96-fold. These results suggest that the aquaculturable H. fusiformis may be a promising source of a diet supplement to support health care.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.275-281
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• 2014

After harvesting the medicinal parts of Curcuma longa, the remaining underground parts were discarded. From the remaining underground parts of Curcuma longa quercetin-3-O-${\beta}$-D-glucopyranoside-7-O-${\alpha}$-L-rhamnopyranoside (Q37) was isolated. The antioxidant activities in vitro and lifespan-extension effect of Q37 were elucidated using the Caenorhabditis elegans. The 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging effect of Q37 showed similar potent activities in comparison with vitamin C. Q37 also showed potent superoxide quenching activities as measured by the riboflavin- and xanthine-originated superoxide quenching activity tests. Q37 prolonged lifespan of worms under normal culture condition. In terms of protective effect of Q37 on the stress conditions such as thermal and oxidative stresses, Q37-treated worms exhibited enhanced survival rate, as compared to control worms. To know the possible mechanism of Q37-mediated increased lifespan and stress resistance of worms, we examined the activities of Q37on superoxide dismutase (SOD), and invested intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels. The results revealed that Q37 was able to elevate SOD activity of worms and reduce intracellular ROS accumulation in a dose-dependent manner.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.64 no.1
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• pp.166-182
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• 2022

Deer antler velvet is widely used in traditional medicine for its anti-aging, antioxidant, and immunity-enhancing effects. However, few studies have reported on the discovery of probiotic strains for deer antler fermentation to increase functional ingredient absorption. This study evaluated the ability of probiotic lactic acid bacteria to enhance the concentrations of bioactive molecules (e.g., sialic acid and gamma-aminobutyric acid [GABA]) in extracts of deer antler velvet. Seventeen strains of Lactobacillus spp. that were isolated from kimchi and infant feces, including L. sakei, L. rhamnosus, L. brevis, and L. plantarum, and those that improved the life span of Caenorhabditis elegans were selected for evaluation. Of the 17 strains, 2 (L. rhamnosus LFR20-004 and L. sakei LFR20-007) were selected based on data showing that these strains increased both the sialic acid and GABA contents of deer antler extract after fermentation for 2 d and significantly improved the life span of C. elegans. Co-fermentation with both strains further increased the concentrations of sialic acid, GABA, and metabolites such as short-chain fatty acids and amino acids. We evaluated the biological effects of the fermented antler velvet (FAV) on the antibacterial immune response in C. elegans by assessing worm survival after pathogen infection. The survival of the C. elegans conditioned with FAV for 24h was significantly higher compared with that of the control worm group fed only normal feed (non-pathogenic E. coli OP50) exposed to E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella typhi, and Listeria monocytogenes. To evaluate the protective effects of FAV on immune response, cyclophosphamide (Cy), an immune-suppressing agent was treated to in vitro and in vivo. We found that FAV significantly restored viability of mice splenocytes and immune promoting-related cytokines (interleukin [IL]-6, IL-10, inducible nitric oxide synthase [iNOS], interferon [IFN]-γ, and tumor necrosis factor [TNF]-α) were activated compared to non-fermented deer antlers. This finding indicated the protective effect of FAV against Cy-induced cell death and immunosuppressed mice. Taken together, our study suggests that immune-promoting antler velvet can be produced through fermentation using L. rhamnosus LFR20-004 and L. sakei LFR20-007.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.351-356
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• 2012

Food is important to any animal, and a large part of the behavioral repertoire is concerned with ensuring adequate nutrition. Two main nutritional sensations, hunger and satiety, produce opposite behaviors. Hungry animals seek food, increase exploratory behavior and continue feeding once they encounter food. Satiated animals decrease exploratory behavior, take rest, and stop feeding. The signals of hunger or satiety and their effects on physiology and behavior will depend not only on the animal's current nutritional status, but also on its experience and the environment in which the animal evolved. In our novel, nutritionally rich environment, improper control of appetite contributes to diseases from anorexia to the current epidemic of obesity. Despite extraordinary recent advances, genetic contribution to appetite control is still poorly understood partly due to lack of simple genetic model systems. In this review, we will discuss current understanding of molecular and cellular mechanisms by which animals regulate food intake depending on their nutritional status. Then, focusing on relatively less known muscarinic and cGMP signals, we will discuss how the molecular and behavioral aspects of hunger and satiety are conserved in a simple invertebrate model system, Caenorhabditis elegans so as for us to use it to understand the genetics of appetite control.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.228-234
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• 2005

Caenorhabditis elegans him-6 mutants, which show a high incidence of males and partial embryonic lethality, are defective in the orthologue of human Bloom's syndrome protein (BLM). When strain him-6(e1104) containing a missense him-6 mutation was irradiated with ${\gamma}$-rays during germ cell development or embryogenesis, embryonic lethality was higher than in the wild type, suggesting a critical function of the wild type gene in mitotic and pachytene stage germ cells as well as in early embryos. Even in the absence of ${\gamma}$-irradiation, apoptosis was elevated in the germ cells of the him-6 strain and this increase was dependent on a functional p53 homologue (CEP-1), suggesting that spontaneous DNA damage accumulates due to him-6 deficiency. However, induction of germline apoptosis by ionizing radiation was not significantly affected by the deficiency, indicating that HIM-6 has no role in the induction of apoptosis by exogenous DNA damage. We conclude that the C. elegans BLM orthologue is involved in DNA repair in promeiotic cells undergoing homologous recombination, as well as in actively dividing germline and somatic cells.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.142-146
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• 2019

Peroxidasin is a unique member of peroxidase family in that it has extracellular matrix (ECM) motif as well as peroxidase activity. Peroxidasins are involved in consolidation the extracellular matrix during development and in innate immune defense. C. elegans has two functional peroxidasins, PXN-1 and PXN-2, and PXN-2 is known to contribute to innate immune system. However, it is not clear of PXN-1 function in innate immune system. Therefore, this study is focused on the function of PXN-1 and the relationship between PXN-1 and PXN-2 in innate defense system in C. elegans. When pxn-1 was knocked down by RNAi, the worm turned to be more resistant to pathogens, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the enhanced resistance was abolished in pxn-1pxn-2 double knock down. By contrast, pxn-2 knock down showed stronger susceptibility to the pathogens. These results suggest that pxn-2 can contribute the pathogen resistance and pxn-1 can suppress the pathogen resistance. To confirm the idea, overexpression experiments were performed. Overexpression of pxn-1 showed more susceptible to pathogens compared to the control and double overexpression of pxn-1pxn-2 overcame the susceptibility of pxn-1 overexpression to the pathogens. On the other hand, pxn-2 overexpression made the worm more resistant to the pathogens and the resistance was maintained in pxn-1pxn-2 double overexpression. The comparison of the susceptibilities to the bacterial pathogens in above mentioned constructs suggests that PXN-1 suppress the function of PXN-2 in defense against bacterial pathogens in Caenorhabditis elegans.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• summer
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• pp.417-420
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• 2004

Caenorhabditis (C) elegans is often used in genetic analysis in neuroscience because its simple organism; an adult hermaphrodite contains only 302 neuron. So the worm is often used to study of cancer, alzheimer disease, aging, etc. To analysis mutant type of the worm, an experienced observer was able to subjectively before, but requirements for objective analysis are now increasing. For this reason, we use automated tracking systems to extract global movement coordinate of the worm. In this paper, we extract features, which are related on reversal and movement of the worm. Using these features, we quantitatively analysis 6 type mutant by movement and reversal characteristic.