• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.170-180
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• 2008

Purpose : Some antibiotics were known to exert neuroprotective effects in the animal model of hypoxic-ischemic (H-I) brain injury, but the mechanism is still unclear. A recent study reported that geneticin (G418), an aminoglycoside antibiotic, increased survival of human breast cancer cells by suppressing apoptosis. We investigated the neuroprotective effects of systemically administrated geneticin via anti-apoptosis following the H-I brain injury Methods : Seven-day-old Sprague-Dawley rat pups were subjected to unilateral (left) common carotid artery occlusion followed by 2.5 hours of hypoxic exposure and the cortical cell culture of rat brain was done under a hypoxic incubator. Apoptosis was measured in the injured hemispheres 7 days after H-I insult and in the injured cells from hypoxic chamber using morphologic analysis by Terminal dUTP Nick-end Labeling(TUNEL) assay and immunohistochemistry for caspase-3, and cytologic analysis by western blot and real time PCR for bax, bcl-2, and caspase-3. Results : The gross appearance and hematoxylin and eosin stain revealed increased brain volume in the geneticin-treated animal model of perinatal H-I brain injury. The TUNEL assay revealed decreased apoptotic cells after administration of geneticin in the cell culture model of anoxia. Immunohistochemistry showed decreased caspase-3 expression in geneticin-treated cortical cell culture. Western blot and real-time PCR showed decreased caspase-3 expression and decreased ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 expression in geneticin-treated animal model. Conclusion : Geneticin appears to exert a neuroprotective effect against perinatal H-I brain injury at least via anti-apoptosis. However, more experiments are needed in order to demonstrate the usefulness of geneticin as a preventive and rescue treatment for H-I brain injuries of neonatal brain.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.938-945
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• 2011

Epimedium koreanum Nakai is a wild herb commonly consumed in South Korea due to its beneficial health effects. In the present study, the antimutagenic and immunoactivities of extracts from E. koreanum Nakai containing different icariin quantities were investigated for food use. In the Ames test, both the water and ethanol extracts were found not to have a mutagenic effect on Salmonella typhimurium TA98 and TA100, respectively. The E. koreanum Nakai extracts showed over 80 and 90% antimutagenic effects on benzo(${\alpha}$)pyrene (B(a)P) in S. typhimurium TA98 and TA100, respectively. Moreover, all the extracts showed over 70% antimutagenicity on S. typhimurium TA98 and TA100 against 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide (4NQO). The E. koreanum Nakai extract with ethanol showed strong antimutagenic activity, higher than that of the water extract and the sequenced KE9412, KE9408, and KE9405. In the immunomodulating activity test, the effect of E. koreanum Nakai on the B (Rhamos) and T (Jukat) cells were investigated. The immunoactivity results showed that the growth and viability of the B and T cells increased and were activated more in KE9405 (1.8 times), KE9408 (1.6 times), and KE9412 (1.32 times) in the water extracts, and least in KE9412 (1.74 times), KE9408 (1.52 times), and KE9405 (1.4 times) in the ethanol extracts. In the case of both the water and ethanol extracts ($500{\mu}g/mL$) from E. koreanum Nakai, the highest cell number of the human B (Rhamos) and T (Jukat) cells was observed on day 4 in KE9405 and KE9412, and on day 5 in KE9408. Based on the obtained results, the development of E. koreanum Nakai as a food material is recommended.