• Toxicological Research
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.263-278
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• 2013

The silkworm extract powder contain 1-deoxynojirimycin (DNJ), a potent ${\alpha}$-glycosidase inhibitor, has therapeutic potency against diabetes mellitus. Therefore, natural products containing DNJ from mulberry leaves and silkworm are consumed as health functional food. The present study was performed to evaluate the safety of the silkworm extract powder, a health food which containing the DNJ. The repeated toxicity studies and gentic toxicity studies of the silkworm extract powder were performed to obtain the data for new functional food approval in MFDS. The safety was evaluated by a single-dose oral toxicity study and a 90 day repeated-dose oral toxicity study in Sprague-Dawley rats. The silkworm extract powder was also evaluated for its mutagenic potential in a battery of genetic toxicity test: in vitro bacterial reverse mutation assay, in vitro chromosomal aberration test, and in vivo mouse bone marrow micronucleus assay. The results of the genetic toxicology assays were negative in all of the assays. The approximate lethal dose in single oral dose toxicity study was considered to be higher than 5000 mg/kg in rats. In the 90 day study, the dose levels were wet at 0, 500, 1000, 2000 mg/kg/day, and 10 animals/sex/dose were treated with oral gavage. The parameters that were monitored were clinical signs, body weights, food and water consumptions, ophthalmic examination, urinalysis, hematology, serum biochemistry, necropsy findings, organ weights, and histopathological examination. No adverse effects were observed after the 90 day administration of the silkworm extract powder. The No-Observed-Adverse-Effect-Level (NOAEL) of silkworm extract powder in the 90 day study was 2000 mg/kg/day in both sexes, and no target organ was identified.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.89-92
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• 2014

Myiasis is usually caused by flies of the Calliphoridae family, and Cochliomyia hominivorax is the etiological agent most frequently found in myiasis. The first case of myiasis in a diabetic foot of a 54-year-old male patient in Argentina is reported. The patient attended the hospital of the capital city of Tucum$\acute{a} $n Province for a consultation concerning an ulcer in his right foot, where the larval specimens were found. The identification of the immature larvae was based on their morphological characters, such as the cylindrical, segmented, white yellow-coloured body and tracheas with strong pigmentation. The larvae were removed, and the patient was treated with antibiotics. The larvae were reared until the adults were obtained. The adults were identified by the setose basal vein in the upper surface of the wing, denuded lower surface of the wing, short and reduced palps, and parafrontalia with black hairs outside the front row of setae. The main factor that favoured the development of myiasis is due to diabetes, which caused a loss of sensibility in the limb that resulted in late consultation. Moreover, the poor personal hygiene attracted the flies, and the foul-smelling discharge from the wound favoured the female's oviposition. There is a need to implement a program for prevention of myiasis, in which the population is made aware not only of the importance of good personal hygiene and home sanitation but also of the degree of implication of flies in the occurrence and development of this disease.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.17-24
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• 2000

Objectives : To propose the referential data to evaluate the health impacts of Vietnam veterans' children whose father were exposed to herbicides in Vietnam War. Methods : Vietnam veterans who visited to Pusan Veteran Hospital for medical care were recruited from April to October, 1998. They were 71 and asked about their own combat history, symptoms and illness, and health status of their 182 children. The informations were collected by direct and phone interview. Exposure estimation was also performed as exposure score depending on year and unit of participation, and personal episodes related to exposure to herbicide in the war. It classified into three groups; lower(<18.0), moderate(18-53), high$(\geq53)$ exposure group. Results : The mean age and the period into the combat of the veterans were 52.8 years and 15.0 months. The mean exposure score was $18.1{\pm}9.9$, and mainly distributed in lower (46.5%) and moderate(52.1%) exposure group. Most(90.1%) of them were diagnosed as sequelae(21 cases) and suspected sequelae(43 cases) of the herbicides by Korean veteran's hospital diagnostic criteria. The major sequelae was peripheral neuropathy 13 cases, chloracne 5 cases, and the major suspected sequelae was hypertension 20 cases, diabetes mellitus 18 cases, liver disease 12 cases, central neuropathy 11 cases, etc. About birth, 42.2% and 16.9% experienced spontaneous abortion and stillbirth, respectively. The mean exposure score was higher in stillbirth experience group(p<0.05). About half of the children(90 cases, 49.5%) hold the abnormal health status: those were skin pigmentation 38 cases, rash 23 cases, congenital anomaly 15 cases, general weakness 12 cases, purpura 8 cases, visual disturbance 8 cases, etc. These health problems had no association with father's exposure level(p>0.05). Conclusions : These results were depend on their own answers, and expectation for compensation did not excluded, therefore, this study may have limitations: inaccuracy of informations due to recall bias and response bias. Nevertheless, through this study, we could image the fundamental aspect for health impacts of Vietnam veterans' children for preparing the national control program and policy. A large scale epidemiologic study with valid exposure assessment on the health impacts of Vietnam veterans' children is recommneded.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.78-83
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• 2015

This study was conducted to verify the potential of Allium hookeri to control glucose metabolism in a diabetes model. We fed the experimental diets (AL, AR, Dex) supplemented with the powder of leaf, root, or dextrin as a positive control, respectively at 3% of diet to the diabetic mice (C57BLKS/J, db/db) for 8 weeks. Control mice were fed with the diet supplemented with cornstarch (Cont) at 3% level of diet. At 8th week of feeding the diets, we measured body weight, blood glucose, HbA1c, and plasma insulin levels and conducted an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and staining insulin immunoreactive cells in islets of pancreas. AL group treated with the leaf of A. hookeri showed significantly lower blood glucose and HbA1c levels, higher plasma insulin levels, and increased density of insulin immunoreactive cells compared with the Cont group. During the OGTT, AL group showed lower blood glucose levels than the Cont group for 120 min. Based on these results, leaf of A. hookeri is considered to be effective in improving glucose tolerance by partially affecting insulin secretion and it may be used to prevent and treat diabetic disease.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.207-215
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• 2004

It is well known that the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis is under the negative feedback control of adrenal corticosteroids. Previous studies have suggested that glucocorticoids can regulate neuroendocrine cells in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) by modulating catecholaminergic transmission, a major excitatory modulator of the HPA axis at the hypothalamic level. But, the effects of corticosteroids on the expression of adrenoceptor subtypes are not fully understood. In this work, we examined mRNA levels of six adrenoceptor subtypes (${\alpha}_{1A}$, ${\alpha}_{1B}$, ${\alpha}_{2A}$, ${\alpha}_{2B}$, ${\beta}_1$ and ${\beta}_2$) in the PVN of normal and adrenalectomized (ADX) rats. Total RNA ($2.5{\mu}g$) was extracted from PVN micropunches of brain slices ($500{\mu}m$) and analyzed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The levels of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) mRNA were increased in the ADX rats relative to normal rats, indicating that the PVN had been liberated from the negative feedback of corticosteroids. Among the six adrenoceptor subtypes examined, mRNA levels for ${\alpha}_{1B}$- and ${\beta}_1$-adrenoceptors were increased, but the level for ${\beta}_2$-adrenoceptors was decreased in the ADX rats. The mRNA levels for the other three subtypes and for the general and neuronal specific housekeeping genes, glyceroaldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and N-enolase, respectively, were not changed in the ADX rats. In conclusion, the results indicate that adrenal steroids selectively regulate the gene expression of adrenoceptor subtypes in the PVN.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.604-609
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• 2016

In postmenopausal women, estrogen deficiency can be associated with metabolic diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. The purpose of this study was to investigate factors related to lipid, glucose and antioxidnat metabolism. Sprague-Dawley female rats were subjected to either bilateral ovariectomy or sham operation and randomly divided into 3 dietary groups, (n=8) sham-operated fed with normal diet (SHAM), ovariectomized fed with normal diet (OVX), and ovariectomized fed with normal diet supplemented with Eucommia ulmoides extract (OVX-EU). The OVX-EU group showed significantly lower body weight, triacylglycerol, and total cholesterol than that showed by the OVX group. In addition, the OVX-EU group showed improved lipogenesis, glucose-regulating enzyme activities, adipokine and antioxidant enzyme activities. These findings demonstrate that extracts from E. ulmoides extract can be used as a functional food.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.814-825
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• 2008

Ascochlorin (ASC) is prenyl-phenol compound that was isolated from the fungus Ascochyta viciae. ASC reduces serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and suppresses hypertension, tumor development, ameliorates type I and II diabetes. Here, to better understand the mechanisms by which ASC regulates physiological or pathological events and induces responses in the pharmacological treatment of inflammation, we performed differential analysis of the proteome of the mouse macrophage RAW264.7 cells in response to ASC. In this study, we used a proteomic analysis of LPS-induced RAW264.7 cells treated by ASC, to identify proteins potentially involved in inflammatory processes. The RAW264.7 cell proteomes with and without treatment with ASC were compared using two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-D SDS-PAGE), matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) and bioinformatics. The largest differences in expression were observed for the calreticulin (4-fold decrease), ${\beta}-actin$ (4-fold decrease) and vimentin (1.5-fold decrease). In addition, rabaptin was increased 3-fold in RAW264.7 cells treated with ASC. The expression of some selected proteins was confirmed by RT-PCR analysis.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.40-45
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• 2009

Guava (Psidium guajava L.) and banaba (Lagerstroemia speciosa L.) are well known as medicinal plants for their antidiabetic effects. These contain a great deal of polyphenol compound and work on the treatment of diabetes mellitus effectively. In this study, the extracts of guava and banaba are consumed by streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetic rats to compare the antidiabetic effects. According to the comparison result, the glucose level of those STZ-induced diabetic rats has decreased by 19.32%, total cholesterol by 24-46%, triglyceride by 22-67% and free fatty acid by 49-71 % approximately compared to the diabetic rats, while the generation of insulin and the recovery of beta cells have increased. However, the result showed that the antidiabetic effect of guava extracts was higher than that of banaba extracts. This is because the hydrophilic polyphenol compounds contained in banaba leaves were not extracted during the ethanol extraction process, and the antidiabetic activity of the extracted corosolic add was low to surprise.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.1794-1801
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• 2009

This study was conducted to examine the effects of soluble collagen peptides extract supplementation on the improvement of blood glucose, lipid components and enzyme activities in the sera of streptozotocin (STZ, 55 mg/kg BW, IP injection)-induced diabetic rats fed on experimental diets for 5 weeks. The concentrations of blood glucose, total cholesterol, atherosclerotic index, LDL, LDL-cholesterol, free cholesterol, cholesteryl ester ratio, triglycerides (TG) and phospholipids (PL) in serum were remarkably higher in the diabetic group (group SW) and STZ (IP)+collagen peptides extract supplementation group (group SFW) than those in the control group (group CG, basal diet + water). However the concentrations of blood glucose, total cholesterol, atherosclerotic index, LDL, LDL-cholesterol, free cholesterol, cholesteryl ester ratio, TG and PL in serum were lower in the SFW group than in the SW group, whereas the ratio of HDL-cholesterol concentration to total cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol concentration in the SFW group were higher than in the SW group. The activities of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and aminotransferase (AST, ALT) in serum were lower in the SFW group than in the diabetic SW group. The results shown above suggest that soluble collagen peptides extract supplementation effectively improves blood glucose, lipid compositions and enzyme activities in the sera of STZ induced diabetic rats.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.191-201
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• 2020

As society develops rapidly, environmental pollution is becoming a greater risk factor threatening human health. One of the major causes of air pollution that affects human health is particulate matter (PM), which contains a heterogeneous mixture of different particle sizes and chemical compositions. PM is classified by size into general PM (PM₁₀; diameter below 10 ㎛) and fine PM (PM_2.5; diameter below 2.5 ㎛). PM_2.5 can pass through the respiratory tract into the circulatory system and thence throughout the body. PM_2.5 is known to stimulate oxidative stress and inflammatory responses to cells, promoting diseases such as asthma, chronic respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, and immunological disorders. Although detailed molecular mechanisms for how PM stimulates disease progression still need to be elucidated, together with national efforts to reduce PM production, significant research has been conducted that demonstrates the harmfulness of PM in disease progression through in vitro and in vivo experiments. This review focuses on the harmfulness of PM in disease progression; we also introduce a biological verification method for determining the hazards of PM.