• Applied Microscopy
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• v.51
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• pp.2.1-2.7
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• 2021

Synaptic vesicles, which are endogenous to neurotransmitters, are involved in exocytosis by active potentials and release neurotransmitters. Synaptic vesicles used in neurotransmitter release are reused via endocytosis to maintain a pool of synaptic vesicles. Synaptic vesicles show different types of exo- and endocytosis depending on animal species, type of nerve cell, and electrical activity. To accurately understand the dynamics of synaptic vesicles, direct observation of synaptic vesicles is required; however, it was difficult to observe synaptic vesicles of size 40-50 nm in living neurons. The exo-and endocytosis of synaptic vesicles was confirmed by labeling the vesicles with a fluorescent agent and measuring the changes in fluorescence intensity. To date, various methods of labeling synaptic vesicles have been proposed, and each method has its own characteristics, strength, and drawbacks. In this study, we introduce methods that can measure presynaptic activity and describe the characteristics of each technique.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.169-173
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• 1997

The measurement of cell death constant in Anabaena flos-aquae was tested by the Live/Dead BacLight Viability kit(Molecular Probes Co., Seatle, WA). When the Live/Dead BacLight Viability kit was applied to Anabaena flos-aquae, the cells with intact cell membranes(live cells) stained fluorescent green, while the cell with damaged membranes(dead cells) stained fluorescent red and the background remained virtually nonfluorescent. The rations of live : dead cells in the cell suspension were controlled artifically and Live/Dead BacLight Viability kit was applied to them. The ratios of green:red fluorescent cells in the cell suspension were the same as those of live : dead cells controlled artifically. It was also approved by the fluorescence emission. The cell death constant was measured in the P-limited Anabaena flos-aquae chemostal culture in the N-fixing and $KNO_3-supplied$ conditions. The culture in N-fixing chemostat had a dead cell proportion of 1.2% at the growth rate of 0.7/day and increased to 2.6% at the growth rate of 0.3/day. The cell death constant of N-fixing culture was 0.008/day.There was a same trend in the $KNO_3-supplied$ chemostat culture. The proportion of dead cell was 1.6% of dead cell proportion at the growth rate of 0.7/day and increased to 4.3% at the growth rate of 0.3/day.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.391-396
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• 2009

Image-based, high-content screening assays demand solutions for image segmentation and cellular compartment encoding to track critical events - for example those reported by GFP fusions within mitosis, signalling pathways and protein translocations. To meet this need, a series of nuclear/cytoplasmic discriminating probes have been developed: DRAQ5$^{TM}$ and CyTRAK Orange$^{TM}$. These are spectrally compatible with GFP reporters offering new solutions in imaging and cytometry. At their most fundamental they provide a convenient fluorescent emission signature which is spectrally separated from the commonly used reporter proteins (e.g. eGFP, YFP, mRFP) and fluorescent tags such as Alexafluor 488, fluorescein and Cy2. Additionally, they do not excite in the UV and thus avoid the complications of compound UV-autofluorescence in drug discovery whilst limiting the impact of background sample autofluorescence. They provide a convenient means of stoichiometrically labelling cell nuclei in live cells without the aid of DMSO and can equally be used for fixed cells. Further developments have permitted the simultaneous and differential labelling of both nuclear and cytoplasmic compartments in live and fixed cells to clearly render the precise location of cell boundaries which may be beneficial for quantitative expression measurements, cell-cell interactions and most recently compound in vitro toxicology testing.

• Proceedings of the Korean Aquaculture Society Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.132-133
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• 2003

The marine dinoflagellate genus Alexandrium comprise PSP producing A. acatenella, A. angustitabuzatum, A. catenella, A. fundyense, A. minutum, A. ostenfezdii, A. tamiyavanichii and A. tamarense. In monitoring toxic Alexandrium, rapid and exact species identification is one of the significant prerequisite work, however we have suffered confusion of species definition in Alexandrium. To surmount this problem, we chose DNA probing, which has long been used as an alternative for conventional identification methods, primarily relying on morphological approaches using microscope in microbial field. Oligonucleotide DNA probes targeting rRNA or rDNA have been commonly used in diverse studies to detect and enumerate cells concerned as a culture-indetendent powerful tool. Despite of the massive literature on the HAB species containing Alexandrium, application of DNA probing for species identification and detection has been limited to a few documents. DNA probes of toxic A. tamarense, A. catenella and A. tamiyavanichii, and non-toxic A. affine, A. fraterculus, A. insuetum and A. pseudogonyaulax were designed from LSU rDNA D1-D2, and applied to whole cell-FISH. Each DNA probes reacted only the targeted Alexandrium cells with very high species-specificity within Alexandrium. The probes could detect each targeted cells obtained from the natural sea water samples without cross-reactivity. Labeling intensity varied in the growth stage, this showed that the contents of probe-targeted cellular rRNA decreased with reduced growth rate. Double probe TAMID2S1 achieved approximately two times higher fluorescent intensity than that with single probe TAMID2. This double probe did not cross-react with any kinds of microorganisms in the natural sea waters. Therefore we can say that in whole-cell FISH procedure this double DNA probe successfully labeled targeted A. tamiyavanichii without cross-reaction with congeners and diverse natural bio-communities.

• ALGAE
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.75-84
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• 2022

Intercellular nutrient and signal transduction are essential to sustaining multicellular organisms and maximizing the benefits of multicellularity. It has long been believed that red algal intercellular transport of macromolecules is prevented by the protein-rich pit plug within pit-connections, the only physical connection between cells. Fluorescein isothiocyanate-dextran and recombinant green fluorescence protein (rGFP) of various molecular sizes were injected into vegetative cells of Griffithsia monilis using a micromanipulator, and intercellular transport of the fluorescent probes was examined. Pit-connections were found to provide intercellular transport of tracers at rates comparable to plasmodesmata in other organisms. The time necessary for the transport to an adjacent cell was dependent on the molecular size and the direction of the transport. Fluorescent dextran of 3 kDa was transported to adjacent cells in 1-2 h after injection and migrated to all cells of the filament within 24 h, but fluorescent dextran of 10-20 kDa took 24 h to transfer to neighboring cells. The migration occurred faster towards adjacent reproductive cells and to apical cells than basally. Fluorescent tracers above 40 kDa and rGFP was not transported to neighboring cells, but accumulated near the pit plug. Our results suggest that pit-connections are conduit for macromolecules between neighboring cells and that these size-specific conduits allow intercellular communication between the vegetative cells of red algae.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.268-276
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• 2004

Objective : Peroxynitrite $(ONOO^-)$, formed from the reaction of $O_2^-$ and NO, is a cytotoxic species that can oxidize several cellular components such as proteins, lipids and DNA. It has been implicated in the aging process and age-related disease such as Alzheimer's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer and atherosclerosis. The aim of this study was to investigate scavenging activities of $ONOO^-$ and its precursors. NO and $O_2^-$ and its scavenging mechanism using fluorescent probes, DCFDA, DAF-2 and DHR 123.. Methods : Psoralea corylifolia was crushed. The crushed Psoralea corylifolia was extracted 3 times, each time with 3 volumes of methyl alcohol at $60^{\circ}C$ for 24 h. The extract was filtered and evaporated under reduced pressured using a rotary evaporator to yield 16g. This was done to investigate scavenging activities of $ONOO^-$, NO, $O_2^-$ and its scavenging mechanism using fluorescent probes, DCFDA, DAF-2 and DHR 123. Results : After Psoralea corylifolia was added authentic $ONOO^-,\;{\cdot}\;O_2^-$ and NO was markedly scavenged. Also, $ONOO^-$ induced by $O_2^-$ and NO (these derived from SIN-1) was inhibited. The data showed a decrease in $ONOO^-$ mediated nitration of tyrosine through electron donation after Psoralea corylifolia was added. Data showed a dose-dependent correlation with inhibition of nitration of bovine serum albumin induced by $ONOO^-$, Furtheremore, LPS-induced ROS and RNS generation was blocked. Conclusions: These results suggest potential for use of Psoralea corylifolia as an effective $ONOO^-$ scavenger to counter the aging process and age-related diseases.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.287-292
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• 2002

The composition of bacterial communities was detected in surface water of Cheonho Reservoir dominated by cyanobacteria, using fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) method. Total bacterial numbers were very high ranging from 0.6～$1.3{\times}10^7 \cells{\cdot}ml^-1$, whereas the ratio of Eubacteria to total bacteria was 29.8~45.8%, which was lower than that in other freshwater ecosystems. On average only 2.1% of DAPI-stained bacteria were detected by FISH with probes for $\alpha$, $\beta$, and $\gamma$-groups, respectively. Unknown eubacteria which was not bound to any probes except EUB 338, was relatively high. On the other hand, the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium group increased following the change of dominant species from Anabaena sp. to Microcystis sp. This result showed that bacterial communities could be affected by phytoplanktons, especially cyanobacteria.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.11
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• pp.1782-1790
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• 2018

Assessment of microorganism viability is useful in many industrial fields. A large number of methods associated with the use of fluorescent probes have been developed, including fluorimetry, fluorescence microscopy, and cytometry. In this study, a microvolume spectrofluorometer was used to measure the membrane potential variations of Escherichia coli. In order to estimate the sensitivity of the device, the membrane potential of E. coli was artificially disrupted using an ionophore agent: carbonyl cyanide 3-chlorophenylhydrazone. The membrane potential was evaluated using two ratiometric methods: a Rhodamine 123/4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole combination and a JC-10 ratiometric probe. These methods were used to study the impact of freezing on E. coli, and were compared with the conventional enumeration method. The results showed that it was beneficial to use this compact, easy-to-use, and inexpensive spectrofluorometer to assess the viability of bacterial cells via their membrane potential.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.3825-3827
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• 2012

FISH is one of the most sensitive molecular methods to detect genetic abnormalities with DNA probes. When cytogenetic studies are normal or insufficient, FISH may detect cryptic rearrangements, rare or slowly proliferative abnormal populations in non-mitotic cells. We cytogenetically evaluated 70 childhood ALL - 67.1% were found to have an abnormal karyotype. The 23 patients (32.9%) with a normal karyotype were analyzed by FISH applying two probes; TEL/AML1 and MYB which detect cryptic rearrangements of t(12;21)(p13;q22) and deletion of (6q) respectively, associated with a good prognosis. Out of 23 patients, one was positive for t(12;21)(p13;q22) (4.3%). None of our patients were positive for MYB del(6q). Two patients showed an extra signal for MYB on chromosomes other than 6 (8.6 %) indicating amplification or duplication. Findings were compared with the available literature. Our study clearly indicated the integrated FISH screening method to increase the abnormality detection rate in a narrow range. FISH is less useful for diagnostic study of patients with suspected del(6q) but it helps in detecting known cryptic rearrangements as well as identification of new abnormalities(translocation , duplication and amplification) at the gene level.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.140-147
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• 2008

In this study, a carbon nanotube probe (CNT probe) is proposed as a mechanical force transducer for the measurement of pico-Newton (pN) order force in biological applications. In order to measure nantube's displacement in the air or liquid environment, the fabrication of a CNT probe with tip-specific loading of fluorescent dyes is performed using tip- specific functionalization of the nanotube and chemical bonding between dyes and nanotube. Also, we experimentally investigated the mechanical properties of the CNT probe using electrostatic actuation and fluorescence microscope measurement. Using fluorescence measurement of the tip deflection according to the applied voltage, we optimized the bending stiffness of the CNT probe, therefore determined the spring constant of the CNT probe. The results show that the spring constant of CNT probes is as small as 1 pN/nm and CNT probes can be used to measure pN order force.