• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.389-398
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• 2018

p-Cresol, found at high concentrations in the serum of chronic kidney failure patients, is known to cause cell senescence and other complications in different parts of the body. p-Cresol is thought to mediate cytotoxic effects through the induction of autophagy response. However, toxic effects of p-cresol on mesenchymal stem cells have not been elucidated. Thus, we aimed to investigate whether p-cresol induces senescence of mesenchymal stem cells, and whether melatonin can ameliorate abnormal autophagy response caused by p-cresol. We found that p-cresol concentration-dependently reduced proliferation of mesenchymal stem cells. Pretreatment with melatonin prevented pro-senescence effects of p-cresol on mesenchymal stem cells. We found that by inducing phosphorylation of Akt and activating the Akt signaling pathway, melatonin enhanced catalase activity and thereby inhibited the accumulation of reactive oxygen species induced by p-cresol in mesenchymal stem cells, ultimately preventing abnormal activation of autophagy. Furthermore, preincubation with melatonin counteracted other pro-senescence changes caused by p-cresol, such as the increase in total 5'-AMP-activated protein kinase expression and decrease in the level of phosphorylated mechanistic target of rapamycin. Ultimately, we discovered that melatonin restored the expression of senescence marker protein 30, which is normally suppressed because of the induction of the autophagy pathway in chronic kidney failure patients by p-cresol. Our findings suggest that stem cell senescence in patients with chronic kidney failure could be potentially rescued by the administration of melatonin, which grants this hormone a novel therapeutic role.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.158-163
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• 2015

In this study, we investigated the effects of 40% ethanol extract of Red Ginseng (RGE) on the productions of inflammatory proteins in Antigen I/II (Ag I/II)-N, a recombinant protein isolated from Streptococcus mutans -stimulated in RAW 264.7 cells. RGE inhibited the expression of Ag I/II-N-induced pro-inflammatory mediators, both mRNA and protein synthesis levels, without any cytotoxic effects. Moreover, RGE significantly inhibited Ag I/II-N induced NF-κB translocation into the nucleus by preventing the degradation of inhibitor κB-α. In conclusion, RGE down regulates the expression of pro-inflammatory genes involved in the synthesis of NO and iNOS in Ag I/II-N-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells by suppressing NF-κB activity.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.8
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• pp.1184-1194
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• 2020

Melanin is a major factor that darkens skin color as one of the defense systems to prevent the harmful effects of UV light. However, darkened skin from the localized or systemic accumulation of melanin is viewed in many cultures as an esthetic problem. Consequentially, searching for anti-melanogenic agents from natural sources is very popular worldwide. Previous screening of fermented rice products, obtained from various rice cultivars fermented with different sources of loog-pang (Thai traditional fermentation starter), revealed that the highest ability to reduce the melanin content in B16F10 melanoma cells was from unpolished black rice fermented with a defined starter mixture of microbes isolated from loog-pang E11. The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanism of the fermented unpolished black rice (FUBR) on the inhibition of melanogenesis in B16F10 melanoma cells. The strongest reduction of cellular melanin content was found in the FUBR sap (FUBRS). The melanin reduction activity was consistent with the significant decrease in the intracellular tyrosinase activity. The FUBRS showed no cytotoxic effect to B16F10 melanoma or Hs68 human fibroblast cell lines. It also significantly reduced the transcript and protein expression levels of tyrosinase, tyrosinase-related protein 1 (TYRP-1), TYRP-2, and microphthalmia-associated transcription factor. Furthermore, it induced a significantly increased level of phosphorylated ERK, p38 and Akt signaling pathways, which likely contributed to the negative regulation of melanogenesis. From these results, a model for the mechanism of FUBRS on melanogenesis inhibition was proposed. Moreover, these results strongly suggested that FUBRS possesses anti-melanogenesis activity with high potential for cosmeceutical application as a skin depigmenting agent.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.7719-7724
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• 2013

Background: Overexpression of survivin, a known inhibitor of apoptosis, is associated with tumor progression and drug resistance in numerous malignancies, including leukemias. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a specific survivin small interference RNA (siRNA) on proliferation and the sensitivity of HL-60 acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells to the chemotherapeutic drug etoposide. Materials and Methods: The cells were transfected with siRNAs using Lipofectamine $^{TM}2000$ transfection reagent. Relative survivin mRNA and protein levels were measured by quantitative real-time PCR and Western blotting, respectively. Trypan blue exclusion assays were performed to monitor tumor cell proliferation after siRNA transfection. The cytotoxic effects of etoposide and survivin siRNA, alone and in combination, on leukemic cells were determined using MTT assay. Apoptosis was assessed by ELISA cell death assay. Results: Survivin siRNA markedly reduced both mRNA and protein expression levels in a time-dependent manner, leading to distinct inhibition of cell proliferation and increased spontaneous apoptosis. Surprisingly, survivin siRNA synergistically increased the cell toxic effects of etoposide. Moreover, survivin down-regulation significantly enhanced its induction of apoptosis. Conclusions: Our study suggests that down-regulation of survivin by siRNA can trigger apoptosis and overcome drug resistance of leukemia cells. Therefore, survivin siRNA may be an effective adjuvant in AML chemotherapy.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.177-183
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• 2016

We fortuitously observed a human neutrophil intracellular free-calcium concentration ($[Ca^{2+}]_i$) increasing activity in the commercially available phosphodiesterase I (PDE I), which is actually dried crude venom of Crotalus atrox. As this activity was not observed with another commercially available pure PDE I, we tried to find out the causative molecule(s) present in 'crude' PDE, and identified Lys49-phospholipase A2 (Lys49-PLA2 or K49-PLA2), a catalytically inactive protein which belongs to the phospholipase A2 family, by activity-driven three HPLC (reverse phase, size exclusion, reverse phase) steps followed by SDS-PAGE and LC-MS/MS. K49-PLA2 induced $Ca^{2+}$ influx in human neutrophils without any cytotoxic effect. Two calcium channel inhibitors, 2-aminoetoxydiphenyl borate (2-APB) ($30{\mu}M$) and SKF-96365 ($20{\mu}M$) significantly inhibited K49-PLA2-induced $[Ca^{2+}]_i$ increase. These results suggest that K49-PLA2 modulates $[Ca^{2+}]_i$ in human neutrophils via 2-APB- and SKF-96365-sensitive calcium channels without causing membrane disruption.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.321-326
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• 2012

Resveratrol, a natural compound, has been shown to possess anti-cancer, anti-aging, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, and neuroprotective activities. In this study, we examined the antiproliferative and cytotoxicity properties of resveratrol in Rat B103 neuroblastoma cells; although it's molecular mechanisms for the biological effects are not fully defined. Here, we examined the cellular cytotoxicity of resveratrol by cell viability assay, antiproliferation by BrdU assay, DNA fragmentation by DNA ladder assay, activation of caspases and Bcl-2 family proteins were detected by western blot analyses. The results of our investigation suggest that resveratrol increased cellular cytotoxicity of Rat B103 neuroblastoma cells in a dose-and time-dependent manner with $IC_{50}$ of 17.86 ${\mu}M$ at 48 h. On the other hand, incubation of neuroblastoma cells with resveratrol resulted in S-phase cell cycle arrests which dose-dependently and significantly reduced BrdU positive cells through the downregulation of cyclin D1 protein. In addition, resveratrol dose-dependently and significantly downregulated the expression of anti-apoptotic protein includes Bcl-2, Bcl-xL and Mcl-1 and also activates cleavage caspase-9 and-3 via the downregulation of procaspase-9 and -3 in a dose-dependent manner which indicates that involvement of intrinsic mitochondria-mediated apoptotic pathway. In conclusion, resveratrol increases cellular cytotoxicity and inhibits the proliferation of B103 neuroblastoma cells by inducing mitochondria-mediated intrinsic caspase dependent pathway which suggests this natural compound could be used as therapeutic purposes for neuroblastoma malignancies.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.27-34
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• 2009

HP (2-20), a 19-residue peptide derived from the N-terminus of Helicobacter pylori Ribosomal Protein L1, has antimicrobial activity but is not cytotoxic to human erythrocytes. Previously, we have synthesized several analogue peptides to investigate the effects of substitutions on the structure and antimicrobial activity. Substitution of $Gln^{16}$ and $Asp^{18}$ with Trp (Anal 3) caused a dramatic increase in bacterial and fungal lytic activities. In this study, analogue peptides were synthesized to investigate the effects of substitution of Gin and Asp with Phe (Anal 6) or Tyr (Anal 7) in HP (2-20) on its structure and antimicrobial activity. Substitution of Gin and Asp with hydrophobic aromatic residues at position 16 and 18 of HP (2-20) caused increase in antibiotic activity without hemolytic effect. Substitution of Gin and Asp with Trp and Try increased antibiotic activity of HP (220) twice more compared to substitution with Phe. The tertiary structures of Anal 6 and Anal 7 in SDS micelles has been investigated using NMR spectroscopy. The structures revealed that substitutions of the aromatic residues at C-terminus resulted in longer and well defined alpha-helix and improved their antibacterial activities

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.28 no.11
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• pp.1091-1099
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• 1995

The cyutotoxic effects of hot water soluble polysaccharides extract(PS) from the mushroom, Lentinus edodes, and in combinations with vitamin A or vitamin E on life span of ICR mice bearing P388 cancer cells and in vitro against P388 cancer cells were examined. The chemical components of PS and fractions were analyzed and survival time and cell number of P388 treated with extract fractions with and without vatamin A or E supplementation were also measured. The results obtained were summarized as follows; The extract of fraction B was shown to have the highest antitumor activity against P388 implanted in ICR mice. The antitumor fraction B was consisted of 82.0% of polysaccharide and 4.2% of protein. All three fractions seemed to have in vivo antitumor activity against P388, and fraction B showed the highest activity, In vitro P388 cell growht was inhibited 76%, 89%, 54% by the addition of fraction A, B and C respectively. Vitamin A or E did not appear to have any accelerating effects on either in vivo or in vitro cell cytotoxicity when each of them was combined with the PS and fractions. All three fractions contained more than 68% of polysaccharides. The fraction B showed the highest value of 88% in polysaccharides. Monsaccharides of the fraction B were identified as galactose(59.1%), glucose(29.2%), fructose(2.8%) and uronic acid(4.2%). Hydrolysis of protein from the fraction B was didentifed to have 17 kinds of defined and 5 undifined amino acids. The inhibitory effects of the hot water extracts from mushroom against cancer cell growth of P388 were stronger than the control group. And the survival time of ICR mice was shown to be 161% between the control group and the experimental groups.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.345-356
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• 2004

The triclosan was shown to have anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory effect with inhibition of inflammatory mediators such as prostaglandin $E_2(PGE_2)$. The purpose of this study was to elucidate whether and how $PGE_2$ could be inhibited by triclosan in human gingival fibroblast. Human gingival fibroblast-1 cells (ATCC CRL2014) were pre-treated for 1 hour with triclosan (0.001 ${\mu}/ml{\sim}10$ ${\mu}/ml$) and then stimulated with $TNF-{\alpha}$ (1.0 ng/ml). $PGE_2$ synthesis was evaluated by ELISA and gene expression of COX-1 and COX-2 was evaluated by RT-PCR after $TNF-{\alpha}$, triclosan, and NS-398 (COX-2 inhibitor, 5, ${\mu}M$) and/ or cycloheximide (protein synthesis inhibitor, 2 ${\mu}g/ml$). Triclosan was cytotoxic to human gingival fibroblasts in the concentration higher than 1.0 ${\mu}g/ml$ for longer than 24 hours in tissue culture. The $PGE_2$ synthesis was inhibited by triclosan in dose-dependent manner. Greater COX-2 mRNA suppression was observed with triclosan (0.1 ${\mu}g/ml$) than with $TNF-{\alpha}$ alone, without change in COX-1 gene expression. Inhibitory effects of triclosan on $PGE_2$ synthesis disappeared in presence of cycloheximide. This study suggests that triclosan inhibit prostaglandin $E_2$ at the level of COX-2 gene regulation and require de novo protein synthesis.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.623-634
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• 1995

Periodontitis is characterized by gingival inflammation and results in periodontal pocket formation with loss of the supporting alveolar bone and connective tissue around the teeth. Therapeutic modalities should therefore aim not only at eliminating the gingival inflammatory process and preventing the progression of periodontal disease but also at reestablishing and regenerating the periodontal tissue previously lost to the disease. To achieve periodontal regeneration, progenitor cells must migrate to the denuded root surface, attach to it, proliferate and mature into an organized and functional fibrous attachment apparatus. Likewise, progenitor bone cells must also migrate, proliferate, and mature in conjunction with the regenerating periodontal ligament. Significant advances have been made during the last decade in understanding the factors controlling the migration, attachment and proliferation of cells. A group of naturally occuring molecules known as polypeptide growth factors in conjunction with certain matrix proteins are key regulators of these biological events. Of these, the fibroblast growth factor(FGF), platelet-derived growth factor(PDGF) , insulin like growth factor(CIGFs), transforming growth factor(TGFs), epidermal growth factor(EGF) and bone morphogenetic growth factor(BMPs) apper to have an important role in periodontal wound healing. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of BMP on periodontal ligament cells. Human periodontal ligament cells were cultured from extracted tooth for non-periodontal reason. Cultured periodontal ligament cells were treated with BMP. Cellular activities were determined by MTT(3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay and ALP(alkaline phosphatase) activity. The results were as follows ; Regardless of cultured time, cellular activities were stimulated by BMP. Also, BMP greatly increased alkaline phosphatase(ALP) in periodontal ligament cells. These results suggest that BMP not only have no cytotoxic effect on periodontal ligament cells, but also have osteogenic stimulatory effect on periodontal ligament cells.