• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.1406-1413
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• 2007

This study was performed to investigate the effect of ethanol extract of Pimpinella brachycarpa(PBE) on chronically ethanol-induced hepatotoxicity in rat liver. Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 90-130 g were divided into 5 groups; normal group(NOR), ethanol(35%, 10 ml/kg) treated group(CON), PBE 200 mg/kg treated group(P1), PBE 200 mg/kg and ethanol treated group(P2), and PBE 400 mg/kg and ethanol treated group(P3). PBE was also fractionated by the following solvent: n-hexane, chloroform, ethylacetate and n-butanol. The antioxidative capacity of the n-hexane fraction was the highest among fractions and was similar to that of butylated hydroxytoluene(BHT). The body weight gain and feed intake of the rats were decreased by ethanol administration, but were gradually increased to the similar levels of the NOR group by administering PBE. The AST activity in serum elevated by ethanol was significantly decreased by administering the high dosage of PBE, but exerted no significant change on serum ALT activity. It was also observed that the hepatic activities of xanthine oxide(XO), catalase and glutathione peroxidase(GSH-Px) increased by ethanol were markedly decreased in the combined ethanol and PBE administered groups(P2 and P3), but not in the activity of superoxide dismutase(SOD) as compared with the CON group. The glutathione(GSH) contents were decreased by ethanol adminstration, however, increased after administering PBE. These results suggest that ethanol extract of Pimpinella brachycarpa has a possible positive effect on the liver function in hepatotoxicity-induced rats by ethanol administration.

• Clean Technology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.112-118
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• 2018

Thermo-responsive polymers that exhibit phase transition in response to temperature change can be used as materials for smart windows because they can control solar light transmission depending on the outside temperature. The development of thermo-responsive polymers for smart windows that can be used over a wide temperature range is desirable. To obtain high performance smart windows materials, three-dimensional thermo-responsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAm) gels were prepared by free radical polymerization from monomer N-isopropylacrylamide, N, N'-methylenebis acrylamide (MBAm) as a crosslinking agent, ammonium persulfate (APS) as a strong oxidizing agent/tetramethylene diamine as a catalyst, and a mixture of two solvents (water/glycerol). This study examined the effect of glycerol content on the lower critical solution temperature (LCST), freezing temperature and the solar light transmittance of crosslinked PNIPAm gel films. The LCST and freezing temperature of PNIPAm gel films were found to be significantly decreased from 34.3 and $6.3^{\circ}C$ to 28.2 and $-6.5^{\circ}C$ with increasing glycerol content from 0 wt% to 10 wt%, respectively. It was found that the transparent PNIPAm gel films at $25^{\circ}C$ (temperature < LCST) were converted to translucent gels at higher temperature ($45^{\circ}C$) (temperature > LCST). These results suggested that the crosslinked PNIPAm gel materials prepared in this study could have high potential for application in smart glass materials.