• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.119-123
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• 1998

It is well known that many patients with trigeminal neuralgia suffer from electric shock-like stabbing pains. The pain can be triggered by nonnoxious stimuli such as touching of the face, chewing, talking or swallowing. This 62 year old woman was urgently admitted to the internal medicine department due to abdominal distention and severe general weakness. She has suffered characteristic violent pain triggered by chewing and swallowing for little over 4 years. This resulted in poor oral feeding for prolonged period which left her severely debilitated. The large amount of ascites that developed 20 days before admission and extreme emaciation forced her to bed rest. She also suffered from Herpes Zoster. After medical treatment to improve liver function and severe pain was persisted, the patient was referred to our department for control of pain. We performed right mandibular block with 1% dibucaine 0.4 ml and the effect was excellent. After the pain had subsided, patient was able to take meals more comfortably and improved liver function returned.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.367-376
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• 1997

The effect of an organic peroxide, t-butylhydroperoxide (t-BHP), on glutamate uptake was studied in synaptosomes prepared from cerebral cortex. t-BHP inhibited the $Na^+-dependent$ glutamate uptake with no change in the $Na^+-independent$ uptake. This effect of t-BHP was not altered by addition of $Ca^{2+}$ channel blockers (verapamil, diltiazem and nifedipine) or $PLA_2$ inhibitors (dibucaine, butacaine and quinacrine). However, the effect was prevented by iron chelators (deferoxamine and phenanthroline) and phenolic antioxidants (N,N'-diphenyl-phenylenediamine, butylated hydroxyanisole, and butylated hydroxytoluene). At low concentrations (＜1.0 mM), t-BHP inhibited glutamate uptake without altering lipid peroxidation. Moreover, a large increase in lipid peroxidation by $ascorbate/Fe^{2+}$ was not accompanied by an inhibition of glutamate uptake. The impairment of glutamate uptake by t-BHP was not intimately related to the change in $Na^+-K+-ATPase$ activity. These results suggest that inhibition of glutamate uptake by t-BHP is not totally mediated by peroxidation of membrane lipid, but is associated with direct interactions of glutamate transport proteins with t-BHP metabolites. The $Ca^{2+}$ influx through $Ca^{2+}$ channel or $PLA_2$ activation may not be involved in the t-BHP inhibition of glutamate transport.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.93-100
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• 1999

The present study was designed to assess the roles of $PLA_2$ activation and arachidonic acid (AA) metabolites in hypoxia-induced renal cell injury. Hypoxia increased LDH release in a dose-dependent manner in rabbit renal cortical slices, and this increase was significant after 20-min hypoxia. The hypoxia-induced LDH release was prevented by amino acids, glycine and alanine, and extracellular acidosis (pH 6.0). Buffering intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ by a chelator, but not omission of $Ca^{2+}$ in the medium produced a significant reduction in hypoxia-induced LDH release. The effect of hypoxia was blocked by $PLA_2$ inhibitors, mepacrine, butacaine, and dibucaine. A similar effect was observed by a 85-kD $cPLA_2$ inhibitor $AACOCF_3.$ AA increased hypoxia-induced LDH release, and albumin, a fatty acid absorbent, prevented the LDH release, suggesting that free fatty acids are involved in hypoxia-induced cell injury. These results suggest that $PLA_2$ activation and its metabolic products play important roles in pathogenesis of hypoxia-induced cell injury in rabbit renal cortical slices.

• The Korean Journal of Zoology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.193-209
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• 1987

Patterns of amylase secretion in mouse pancreatic fragments were studied over a period of time after the tissue was stimulated by acetyicholine and MNNG. MNNG is known to activate guanylate cyclase and thus increase the cGMP concentration in the pancreatic acinar cell. These amylase secretion patterns were studied to investigate the role of cGMP in reaction cascade during secretion response of the tissues stimulated by acetyicholine. Cellular response of amylase secretion in the pancreas by acetyicholine was divided into two phases. During the first phase, zymogen granules which had existed in the cells were secreted by the action of $Ca^2$+ and calmodulin immediately after secretagogue administration, this being known as the initial response. When the tissue was stimulated by acetylcholine in a $Ca^2$+-deficient medium or one containing trifluoperazine as a calmodulin antagonist, this initial response was reduced. In the second phase, newly formed zymogen granules were secreted as sustained response after protein synthesis was triggered by secretagogue. This response was provoked by an activation of protein kinase C. When either cycloheximide as a protein synthesis inhibitor or dibucaine as a protein kinase C inhibitor were added to the incubation medium, this sustained response was remarkablely depressed in the pancreatic fragments stimulated with acetylcholine. In the pancreatic acinar cell, phosphatidylinositol turnover plays an important role in the secretion response and hexachlorocyclohexane inhibits this phosphatidylinositol turnover. The pancreatic tissue treated with the hexachlorocyclohexane exhibited inhibition on both initial and sustained responses of amylase secretion by acetylcholine. MNNG also accelerated amylase secretion from the tissue gradually along incubation time. The 22 minutes fraction of the pancratic secretion after administration of both acetylcholine and MNNG showed higher amylase activity than the neighboring fractions. Guanylate cyclase potentiated the sustained response. Even if it is experimented with an indirect method, guanylate cyclase was found responsible for activation of the sustained response of a step prior to the action of protein kinase C. As conclusion, it was considered that amylase secretion in mouse pancreatic fragments stimulated by acetylcholine is a three phasic response.

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.43-52
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• 1988

To elucidate the mechanism of action of local anesthetics, the effects of local anethetics on the microenvironment of the lipid bilayers of synaptosomal plasma membrane vesicles (SPMV) isolated from bovine brain and dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) multilamellar liposomes were investigated employing the intermolecular excimer fluorescence technique and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The relative intensities of excimer and monomer fluorescence of pyrene are a simple linear function of the viscosity of a homologous series of solvents. The microviscosity(${\eta}$)of the hydrocarbon region of SPMV was measured by this method and the value was $57.3{\pm}5.3\;cP$ at $37^{\circ}C$. In the presence of lidocaine-HCl and procaine-HCl, the values decreased to $46.5{\pm}5.1\;cP$ and $54.7{\pm}4.8\;cP$, respectvely. The differential scanning thermograms of DMPC multilamellar liposomes showed that local anesthetics significantly lowered the phase transition temperature, broadened the thermogram peaks, and reduced the size of the cooperative unit. These results indicate that local anesthetics have significant fluidizing effects on biomembranes and perturbation of membrane lipids may produce some, but not all, of their pharmacological actions.