• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.63-72
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• 2022

To elucidate the neurochemical characteristics of the midbrain periaqueductal gray (PAG), the distribution patterns of several neuroanatomical markers within the PAG were compared. Immunohistochemical staining for the intracellular calcium binding proteins including calbindin, calretinin, and parvalbumin and histochemical staining for cytochrome oxidase, acetylcholinesterase, and NADPH-diaphorase were performed in. Each chemical substance were localized in the specific subregions within PAG. Calbindin- immunoreactivity were selectively distributed in the dorsolateral PAG, the ventral half of lateral PAG, the ventralateral PAG, and supraoculomotor cap (Su3C) nucleus. Distribution of calretinin-immunoreactivity were generally similar with that of clabindin, but showed relatively low subregional selectivity. Parvalbumin-immunoreactivity was very poor within the PAG. High reactivity of cytochrome oxidase were found in the dorsomedial PAG and the lateral half of lateral PAG, in which calbindin- and calretinin-immunoreactive perikarya were scarcely observed. Acetylcholinesterase distribution was similar with that of cytochrome oxidase, and the difference was in the additional marking of of Su3C with acetylcholinesterase. Results of the present study provides data for the further subdivisions of the territory of the PAG compared to the presently accepted subregions within the PAG.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.43.1-43.12
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• 2022

Osteoclasts (OCs) are clinically important cells that resorb bone matrix. Accelerated bone destruction by OCs is closely linked to the development of metabolic bone diseases. In this study, we screened novel chemical inhibitors targeting OC differentiation to identify drug candidates for metabolic bone diseases. We identified that 1,3-dibenzyl-5-fluorouracil, also named OCI-101, is a novel inhibitor of osteoclastogenesis. The formation of multinucleated OCs is reduced by treatment with OCI-101 in a dose-dependent manner. OCI-101 inhibited the expression of OC markers via downregulation of receptor activator of NF-κB ligand and M-CSF signaling pathways. Finally, we showed that OCI-101 prevents ovariectomy-induced bone loss by suppressing OC differentiation in mice. Hence, these results demonstrated that OCI-101 is a good drug candidate for treating metabolic bone diseases.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.45-63
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• 2019

In view of the growing industrial use of Bacterial cellulose (BC), and taking into account that it might become airborne and be inhaled after industrial processing, assessing its potential pulmonary toxic effects assumes high relevance. In this work, the murine model was used to assess the effects of exposure to respirable BC nanofibrils (nBC), obtained by disintegration of BC produced by Komagataeibacter hansenii. Murine bone marrow-derived macrophages ($BMM{\Phi}$) were treated with different doses of nBC (0.02 and 0.2 mg/mL, respectively 1 and $10{\mu}g$ of fibrils) in absence or presence of 0.2% Carboxymethyl Cellulose (nBCMC). Furthermore, mice were instilled intratracheally with nBC or nBCMC at different concentrations and at different time-points and analyzed up to 6 months after treatments. Microcrystaline $Avicel-plus^{(R)}$ CM 2159, a plant-derived cellulose, was used for comparison. Markers of cellular damage (lactate dehydrogenase release and total protein) and oxidative stress (hydrogen peroxidase, reduced glutathione, lipid peroxidation and glutathione peroxidase activity) as well presence of inflammatory cells were evaluated in brochoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluids. Histological analysis of lungs, heart and liver tissues was also performed. BAL analysis showed that exposure to nBCMC or CMC did not induce major alterations in the assessed markers of cell damage, oxidative stress or inflammatory cell numbers in BAL fluid over time, even following cumulative treatments. $Avicel-plus^{(R)}$ CM 2159 significantly increased LDH release, detected 3 months after 4 weekly administrations. However, histological results revealed a chronic inflammatory response and tissue alterations, being hypertrophy of pulmonary arteries (observed 3 months after nBCMC treatment) of particular concern. These histological alterations remained after 6 months in animals treated with nBC, possibly due to foreign body reaction and the organism's inability to remove the fibers. Overall, despite being a safe and biocompatible biomaterial, BC-derived nanofibrils inhalation may lead to lung pathology and pose significant health risks.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.343-353
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• 2012

Objectives: This aim of this study was to effectively isolate mesenchymal stem cells (hSMSCs) from human submandibular skin tissues (termed hSMSCs) and evaluate their characteristics. These hSMSCs were then chemically induced to the neuronal lineage and analyzed for their neurogenic characteristics in vitro. Materials and Methods: Submandibular skin tissues were harvested from four adult patients and cultured in stem cell media. Isolated hSMSCs were evaluated for their multipotency and other stem cell characteristics. These cells were differentiated into neuronal cells with a chemical induction protocol. During the neuronal induction of hSMSCs, morphological changes and the expression of neuron-specific proteins (by fluorescence-activated cell sorting [FACS]) were evaluated. Results: The hSMSCs showed plate-adherence, fibroblast-like growth, expression of the stem-cell transcription factors Oct 4 and Nanog, and positive staining for mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) marker proteins (CD29, CD44, CD90, CD105, and vimentin) and a neural precursor marker (nestin). Moreover, the hSMSCs in this study were successfully differentiated into multiple mesenchymal lineages, including osteocytes, adipocytes, and chondrocytes. Neuron-like cell morphology and various neural markers were highly visible six hours after the neuronal induction of hSMSCs, but their neuron-like characteristics disappeared over time (24-48 hrs). Interestingly, when the chemical induction medium was changed to Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM) supplemented with fetal bovine serum (FBS), the differentiated cells returned to their hSMSC morphology, and their cell number increased. These results indicate that chemically induced neuron-like cells should not be considered true nerve cells. Conclusion: Isolated hSMSCs have MSC characteristics and express a neural precursor marker, suggesting that human skin is a source of stem cells. However, the in vitro chemical neuronal induction of hSMSC does not produce long-lasting nerve cells and more studies are required before their use in nerve-tissue transplants.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.95-104
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine whether increasing the Ti6Al4V surface oxide negative charge through heat ($600^{\circ}C$) or radiofrequency plasma glow discharge (RFGD) pretreatment, with or without a subsequent coating with fibronectin, stimulated osteoblast gene marker expression in the MC3T3 osteoprogenitor cell line. Methods: Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to measure changes over time in the mRNA levels for osteoblast gene markers, including alkaline phosphatase, bone sialoprotein, collagen type I (${\alpha}1$), osteocalcin, osteopontin and parathyroid hormone-related peptide (PTH-rP), and the osteoblast precursor genes Runx2 and osterix. Results: Osteoprogenitors began to differentiate earlier on disks that were pretreated with heat or RFGD. The pretreatments increased gene marker expression in the absence of a fibronectin coating. However, pretreatments increased osteoblast gene expression for fibronectin-coated disks more than uncoated disks, suggesting a surface oxide-mediated specific enhancement of fibronectin's bioactivity. Heat pretreatment had greater effects on the mRNA expression of genes for PTH-rP, alkaline phosphatase and osteocalcin while RFGD pretreatment had greater effects on osteopontin and bone sialoprotein gene expression. Conclusions: The results suggest that heat and RFGD pretreatments of the Ti6Al4V surface oxide stimulated osteoblast differentiation through an enhancement of (a) coated fibronectin's bioactivity and (b) the bioactivities of other serum or matrix proteins. The quantitative differences in the effects of the two pretreatments on osteoblast gene marker expression may have arisen from the unique physico-chemical characteristics of each resultant oxide surface. Therefore, engineering the Ti6Al4V surface oxide to become more negatively charged can be used to accelerate osteoblast differentiation through fibronectin-dependent and independent mechanisms.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.49-54
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• 2011

In order to develop the methods for exposure assessment and find susceptibility markers for the workers who are exposed to low doses of toluene, xylene and other chemical in petroleum industries, we investigated the application of P-450 expression in human lymphocytes utilizing mouse monoclonal anti-rat CYP2B1/2, the levels of toluene and xylene in air and their metabolite levels in urine with the levels of expressed CYP2B1/2 proteins. The general characteristics such as age, smoking and drinking habit were no significant difference between the control and exposed workers, but the working durations and working hours were significantly different. Workers in exposed group were exposed to the mean of 2.1 ppm (range, 0.00-4.54) of toluene and 0.3 ppm (rang, 0.00-1.23) of xylene. The mean concentration of urinary hippuric acid was low and less than 1/5 of the biological exposure index recommended by the Ministry of Employment and Labor Korea. Methyl hippuric acid in urine was not detected in control and exposed workers. Also, there were no significant differences in the levels of the urinary metabolites between the control and exposed group. When chemiluminescence dot blottings were carried out utilizing mouse monoclonal antibody against CYP2B1/2, the strong density dots corresponding to a mouse monoclonal antibody was observed in the human lymphocytes from the exposed workers. These results suggested that the chemiluminescence dot blot assay for CYP of lymphocytes should be valuable for identifying CYP expression as biomarkers in the workers exposed to toluene and xylene.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.233-238
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• 2010

In order to facilitate the quality control of Artemisia capillaris, a simple, accurate and reliable HPLC method was developed for the simultaneous determination of the six bioactive compounds: scopolin (1), chlorogenic acid (2), 2,4-dihydroxy-6-methoxyacetophenone 4-glycoside (3), hyperoside (4), isorhamnetin 3-Orobinobioside (5), and scoparone (6), which were selected as the chemical markers of A. capillaris. Separation was achieved on an Agilent Eclipse XDB-C18 column with a gradient solvent system of 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid aqueous-acetonitrile at a flow-rate of 1.0 mL/min and detected at 254 nm. All six calibration curves showed good linearity ($R^2$ > 0.998). A simple reversed phase HPLC method was developed for extracting pharmacologically active compounds scopolin, chlorogenic acid, 2,4-dihydroxy-6-methoxyacetophenone 4-glycoside, hyperoside, isorhamnetin 3-O-robinobioside, and scoparone from A. capillaris using a binary gradient of acetonitrile : 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid with UV detection at 254 nm. The scopolin (1), chlorogenic acid (2), 2,4-dihydroxy-6-methoxyacetophenone 4-glycoside (3), hyperoside (4), isorhamnetin 3-O-robinobioside (5), and scoparone (6) contents of the herb of A. capillaris collected from fifteen district markets in Korea were 0.00~0.90 mg/g, 0.06~7.29 mg/g, 0.06~0.91 mg/g, 0.07~5.05 mg/g, 0.42~13.11 mg/g, and 1.11~29.82 mg/g, respectively. The results demonstrated that this method is simple and reliable for the quality control of A. capillaris.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.279-286
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• 2016

Caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE), derived from honeybee hives, is a bioactive compound with strong antioxidant activity. This study was designed to test the neuroprotective effect of CAPE in 3-nitropropionic acid (3NP)-induced striatal neurotoxicity, a chemical model of Huntington's disease (HD). Initially, to test CAPE's antioxidant activity, a 2,2'-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) antioxidant assay was employed, and CAPE showed a strong direct radical-scavenging effect. In addition, CAPE provided protection from 3NP-induced neuronal cell death in cultured striatal neurons. Based on these observations, the in vivo therapeutic potential of CAPE in 3NP-induced HD was tested. For this purpose, male C57BL/6 mice were repeatedly given 3NP to induce HD-like pathogenesis, and 30 mg/kg of CAPE or vehicle (5% dimethyl sulfoxide and 95% peanut oil) was administered daily. CAPE did not cause changes in body weight, but it reduced mortality by 29%. In addition, compared to the vehicle-treated group, robustly reduced striatal damage was observed in the CAPE-treated animals, and the 3NP-induced behavioral deficits on the rotarod test were significantly rescued after the CAPE treatment. Furthermore, immunohistochemical data showed that immunoreactivity to glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and CD45, markers for astrocyte and microglia activation, respectively, were strikingly reduced. Combined, these data unequivocally indicate that CAPE has a strong antioxidant effect and can be used as a potential therapeutic agent against HD.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.22
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• pp.10009-10013
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• 2014

Background: Vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene has been a subject of extensive pharmacogenetic research recently. Association studies between different types of cancers including prostate cancer (PCa) and VDR gene polymorphism have also been conducted. The objective of this study was to find possible associations between PCa and VDR gene polymorphisms in the Pakistani population. Materials and Methods: A total of 162 subjects, including prostate cancer patients and controls, were genotyped for Apa I, Taq I and Fok I polymorphisms in the VDR gene using allele specific PCR, PCR-RFLP and direct DNA sequencing. Allelic frequencies were tested for Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and associations between the genetic markers and PCa were calculated using logistic regression. Results: Apa I CC genotype was found to have strongest association with PCa risk, and "A" genotype was found to have protective effect. Fok I and Taq I did not have appreciable levels of association with PCa, although Taq I "TC" heterozygotes seemed to have some protective effect. Similarly the "C" allele of Fok I also seemed to have protective effect. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first report showing association between VDR gene polymorphisms and PCa in Pakistan. Our findings may be somewhat skewed because of small sample size and tendency of consanguineous marriages in Pakistani society; nevertheless, it shows the trend of association and protective effects of certain VDR gene polymorphisms against PCa.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.325-330
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• 2020

Background: Dried tuberous roots of Cynanchum wilfordii are known to relieve menopause symptoms. However, the dried roots of C. wilfordii are morphologically similar to those of C. auriculatum, which makes it difficult to distinguish when used as a medicine. Various comparative studies have focused on chemical or molecular analysis of these roots. However, the differences between the two species at the cytogenetic level based on chromosome structure and composition remain to be elucidated. Methods and Results: For chromosome slides, the roots were fixed in 8-hydroxyquinoline, digested with enzyme mixture, and spread on slides. 5S and 45S rDNA were used as cytogenetic markers for the analysis of nuclear genomes by FISH. The chromosome number of the two species was 2n = 22, with a relatively short length, 1.13 ㎛ - 4.24 ㎛ and 1.00 ㎛ - 3.42 ㎛ with respect to each other. Both species represent one pair of 5S and 45S rDNA signal on chromosome 1, at the proximal region and peri-centromeric region, respectively. Conclusions: These preliminary cytogenetic data using FISH in C. wilfordii and C. auriculatum could be valuable for the comprehension of Cynanchum genome history.