• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.341-348
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• 2011

The antagonistic activities against animal entero-pathogenic bacteria were investigated with 444 natural substances fermented by various probiotics. A white rice product fermented (FWR) by Clostridium butyricum IDCC 9207 with a high growth inhibition of Salmonella typhimurium KCTC 2054 and Escherichia coli O157:H7 was selected. Also, a FWR was shown to suppress 8 among 21 pathogenic bacteria. In a mouse model with salmonella (${\times}10^9$ CFU/mouse) infection, 5 samples (200 ${\mu}{\ell}$/mouse/day) were fed to mice (n = 25) for 18 days. A fermented white rice containing C. butyricum IDCC 9207 (FWRCb9207) among 5 samples significantly inhibited the growth of salmonella, while in the control group (PBS, tetracycline) the number of salmonella increased. And the treatment with FWRCb9207 was found to increase the secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) level in the feces of salmonella-infected mice. The results obtained in this study suggest that a FWRCb9207 might be utilized as a feed additive in pigs and poultry diets.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.7
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• pp.721-727
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• 2014

Mushroom-derived ${\beta}$-glucan, a polysaccharide (GLP) isolated from the mycelium of Ganoderma lucidum, was previously shown to have inhibitory effects against tumor-bearing mice in vivo. We investigated the apoptotic effect of mushroom-derived ${\beta}$-glucan in a sarcoma-180 tumor cell- bearing mice model using an ELISA to determine the levels of tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$) in the mice. The morphology of the tumor cells was assessed with transmission electron microscopy (TEM). GLP was injected into the tumor-bearing mice at a dose (i.p.) of 20 mg/kg for 10 days. After 30 days, the tumor mass from the inguinal region was collected, weighed, and assayed using TEM and a TNF-${\alpha}$ ELISA kit. The tumors that developed in the mice treated with GLP were 71.4% smaller than those in the control group, showing the ability of GLP to inhibit tumor growth. The levels of TNF-${\alpha}$ in the serum of the sarcoma-180 bearing mice were 12 times greater than in the serum of the nonbearing tumor mice. An ultrastructural study demonstrated that the GLP-treated sarcoma-180 tumor cells were condensed, with rearranged chromatin. In addition, the marginated chromatin in nucleus induced the nuclear compartment, and there were many vacuolization in the cell. GLP could be an effective apoptosis-inducing compound in sarcoma-type cancers.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.714-720
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• 2008

Cordyceps militaris is a medicinal fungus which has been used for patient suffering from cancer in Oriental medicine. It was previously reported that C. militaris extracts are capable of inhibiting tumor growth and inducing apoptosis; however, the anti-poliferative effects of human cancer cells have been poorly understood. In this study, to elucidate the anti-cancer mechanisms of human cancer cells by treatment with aqueous extract of C. militaris (AECM), we investigated the anti-proliferative effects of AECM in human hepatocarcinoma Hep3B cells. AECM treatment inhibited the growth of Hep3B cells and induced the apoptotic cell death in a concentration-dependent manner such as formation of apoptotic bodies and increased populations of apoptotic-sub G1 phase. The induction of apoptosis by AECM was connected with a proteolytic activation of caspase-3 and caspase-8. and concomitant degradation of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) and ${\beta}$-catenin proteins. Furthermore, caspase-3 inhibitor, z-DEVD-fmk, significantly inhibited AECM-induced apoptosis demonstrating the important role of caspase-3 in the bserved cytotoxic effect. Taken together, these findings suggest that AECM-induced inhibition of human hepatocarcinoma cell proliferation is associated with the induction of apoptotic cell death via activation of caspase-3 and C. militaris may have therapeutic potential in human cancer.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.306-312
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• 2020

This study was conducted to investigate cucumber plants response to greenhouse environments by solar shading in greenhouse in the summer. In order to estimate heat stress reduction of cucumber plants by solar shading in greenhouse, we measured and analyzed physiological conditions of cucumber plants, such as leaf temperature, leaf-air temperature, rubisco maximum carboxylation rate, maximum electron transport rate, thermal breakdown, light leaf respiration, etc. Shading levels were 90% mobile shading of full sunlight, 40% mobile shading of full sunlight and no shading(full sunlight). The 90% shading screen was operated when the external solar radiation is greater than 650 W·m^-2. Air temperature, solar radiation, leaf temperature, leaf-air temperature and light leaf respiration in the 90% shading of full sunlight was lower than those of 40% shading and no shading. Rubisco maximum carboxylation rate, arrhenius function value and light leaf respiration of the 90% shading were significantly lower than those of 40% shading and no shading. The thermal breakdown, high temperature inhibition, of 90% shading was significantly higher than that of 40% shading and no shading. Therefore, these results suggest that 90% mobile shading made a less stressful growth environment for cucumber crops.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.685-690
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• 2002

The mitogen-stimulated serine/threonine kinase $p70^{S6k}$ plays an important role in the progression of cells from $G_0/G$_1$$ to S phase of the cell cycle by translational up-regulation of a family of mRNA transcripts family of mRNA transcripts which contain polypyrimidine tract at their 5 transcriptional start site. Here, we report that $p70^{S6k}$ was constitutively phosphorylated and activated to various degrees in serum-deprived AGS, A2058, HT-1376, MG63, MCF7, MDA-MB-435S, MDA-MB-231 and MB-157. Rapamycin treatment induced a significant dephosphorylation and inactivation of $p70^{S6k}$ in all cancer cell lines, while wortmannin, a specific inhibitor of PI3-K, caused a mild dephosphorylation of $p70^{S6k}$ in AGS, MDA-MB-435S and MB-157. In addition, SQ20006, methylxanthine phosphodiesterase inhibitor, reduced the phosphorylation of $p70^{S6k}$ in all cancer cells tested. Consistent with inhibitory effect of rapamycin on $p70^{S6k}$ activity, rapamycin inhibited [$^3H$]-thymidine incorporation and increased the number of cells at $G_{0}G_{1}$ phase. Furthermore, these inhibitory effects were accompanied by the decrease in growth of cancer cells. Taken together, the results indicate that the antiproliferative activity of rapamycin might be attributed to cell cycle arrest at $G_{0}G_{1}$ phase in human cancer cells through the inhibition of constitutively activated $p70^{S6k}$ of cancer cells and suggest $p70^{S6k}$ as a potential target for therapeutic strategies aimed at preventing or inhibiting tumor growth.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.77-87
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• 1991

In order to know the influence of mast cells on the mammary tumor development, the growth of the mammary carcinoma, the numerical changes and the morphological findings of mast cells appeared in the tumor were microscopically observed in the rat treated with DMBA and each chemical of histamine, heparin, pyrilamine or cimetidine. The results observed were summarized as follows: The tumor induction time that represented the number of days elapsing between the 3rd DMBA administration until a first tumor became $10{\times}10mm$ in diameter was $42.5{\pm}4.7$ days, and the mean number of tumor mass per rat was $3.4{\pm}1.2$ in the DMBA-treated group. No significant difference was apparent in the tumor induction time of the histamine-treated group, heparin-treated group or pyrilamine-treated group compared with the control group, but in the cimetidine-treated group the tumor induction time was $61.8{\pm}10.6$ days (p<0.005). The mean number of tumors per rat was $2.1{\pm}0.9$ in the cimetidine-treated group in contrast to $3.4{\pm}1.3$ in the control group (p<0.005). Numerical changes of mast cells were observed according to the development of DMBA induced mammary tumors that were separated into three major classes of tumors. The numbers of mast cells in all the experimental group were inclined to increase significantly according to the mammary tumor development (p<0.005), and the histamine-treated group, heparin-treated group, or pyrilamine-treated group were nearly similar to the control group. But the mast cells in the each stage of tumor development were more numerous in the cimetidine-treated group than in the control group (p<0.005). There were not significant in the numerical changes of mast cells among the experimental groups on each stage of carcinomas separated by early stage, middle stage and late stage. In the morphological characteristics of mast cells, the degranulation was not detectable from the hyperplasia stages to the early stage of carcinoma, but its degranulation was observed at the middle stage of carcinoma. Most mast cells were nearly degranulated at the late stage of carcinoma. The histamine treated group, pyrilamine-treated group and cimetidine treated group did not differ from the control group in morphological changes of mast cells, but the degranulation was shown mild in the heparin-treated group. And the degranulation gave rise to the depletion of intercellular matrix via exocytosis all the experimental group. From above results, it is supposed that mast cells inhibit the tumor development and that the inhibition is not caused by a single-factor, but by a complex activities of mast cell mediators.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.34-46
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• 2010

Objective: This experimental study was performed to examine if Hang-Am-Dan non-boiled water extracts (HAD-N) induce apoptosis in human lung carcinoma NCI-H460 cells in vitro and inhibits the growth of NCI-H460 cell-transplanted solid tumor in vivo. Materials and Methods: We cultured NCI-H460 cell lines and xenografted them to nude mice. The mice were divided into 3 groups, NCI-H460 cell alone, NCI-H460 + 90 mg/kg HAD-N treated group, and NCI-H460 + 180 mg/kg HAD-N treated group, with seven mice per group. HAD-N was orally administrated every day for four weeks. We checked their body weight and tumor weight and volumes two times a week and their absolute organ weight and biochemical blood analysis at the final day by sacrificing them. We also calculated their tumor inhibition rate (IR), mean survival time and percent increase in life span (% ILS). Results: In this study, we observed that all of the HAD-N treated mice got smaller tumors. The more doses of HAD-N used, the less IR showed at the 8th day after starting this experiment. Tumor weight and volume of HAD-N treatment groups also decreased. Mean survival time and percent increase in life span (% ILS) in the high-dose HAD-N treatment groups were higher than those of other groups. The test substances in the blood level UN results showed reduction in the significance in both HAD-N 90 mg/kg and HAD-N 180 mg/kg (p<0.01). The blood level phosphatase results in HAD-N 90 mg/kg group compared to NCI-H460 cell alone group showed a reduction in significance (p<0.05). AST levels HAD-N 180 mg/kg group compared to NCI-H460 cell alone group significance as well (p<0.05). Conclusion: We suggest that the results of the in vivo study showed that HAD-N may have potential as a growth inhibitor of tumor-induced NCI-H460 of nude mice in spite of the shortcomings of this study. More studies to overcome those shortcomings and to find out significant antitumor mechanism will be needed.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.135-145
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• 2012

Previously, we reported that Helicobacter pylori-associated gastritis and gastric cancer are closely associated with increased levels of hydrogen sulfide ($H_2S$) and that Korean red ginseng significantly reduced the severity of H. pylori-associated gastric diseases by attenuating $H_2S$ generation. Because the incubation of endothelial cells with $H_2S$ has been known to enhance their angiogenic activities, we hypothesized that the amelioration of $H_2S$-induced gastric inflammation or angiogenesis in human umbilical vascular endothelial cells (HUVECs) might explain the preventive effect of Korean red ginseng on H. pylori-associated carcinogenesis. The expression of inflammatory mediators, angiogenic growth factors, and angiogenic activities in the absence or presence of Korean red ginseng extracts (KRGE) were evaluated in HUVECs stimulated with the $H_2S$ generator sodium hydrogen sulfide (NaHS). KRGE efficiently decreased the expression of cystathionine ${\beta}$-synthase and cystathionine ${\gamma}$-lyase, enzymes that are essential for $H_2S$ synthesis. Concomitantly, a significant decrease in the expression of inflammatory mediators, including cyclooxygenase-2 and inducible nitric oxide synthase, and several angiogenic factors, including interleukin (IL)-8, hypoxia inducible factor-1a, vascular endothelial growth factor, IL-6, and matrix metalloproteinases, was observed; all of these factors are normally induced after NaHS. An in vitro angiogenesis assay demonstrated that NaHS significantly increased tube formation in endothelial cells, whereas KRGE pretreatment significantly attenuated tube formation. NaHS activated p38 and Akt, increasing the expression of angiogenic factors and the proliferation of HUVECs, whereas KRGE effectively abrogated this $H_2S$-activated angiogenesis and the increase in inflammatory mediators in vascular endothelial cells. In conclusion, KRGE was able to mitigate $H_2S$-induced angiogenesis, implying that antagonistic action against $H_2S$-induced angiogenesis may be the mechanism underlying the gastric cancer preventive effects of KRGE in H. pylori infection.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.16 no.7 s.80
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• pp.1199-1206
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• 2006

Plasminogen kringle 5 is a potent inhibitor of endothelial tell proliferation like an endogenous angiogenesis inhibitor, angiostatin consisting of plasminogen kringles 1-4. In this study, we produced the recombinant protein of plasminogen kringle 5 (PK5) employing an Pichia expression system and examined its. effect on~endothelial cell migration and its possible inhibitory mechanism. PK5 was expressed in Pichia pastoris GS115 by fusion of the cDNA spanning from Thr456 to Phe546 to the secretion signal sequence of a-factor prepro-peptide. After methanol induction, the secreted PK5 was purified by using S-spin column. SDS-PACE analysis of the purified protein showed one major band of approximately 10kDa. In in vitro migration assays, the purified protein inhibited dose-dependently the migration of human umbilical endothelial cells (HUVECs) induced by basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) or vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) with an $IC_{50}$ of approximately 500nM. Accordingly, it inhibited bfGF-stimulated extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) phosphorylation in HUVECs at 500nM. In addition, it also potently inhibited bFGF-induced cytoskeletal rearrangement of HUVECs. Thus, these results suggest that Pichia-produced PK5 effectively inhibits endothelial cell migration, in part by suppression of ERK1/2 activation and blocking cytoskeleton rearrangement.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.1709-1716
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• 2007

The health benefits of garlic (Allium sativum L.) are derived from a wide variety of components and from the different ways it is administered. The known health benefits of garlic include cardiovascular protective effects, stimulation of immune function, reduction of blood glucose level, protection against microbial, viral and fungal infections, as well as anticancer effects. In the present study, it was examined the effects of water extract of A. sativum (WEAS) on the growth of cultured human tumor cells in order to investigate its anti-proliferative mechanism. Treatment of WEAS to tumor cells resulted in the growth inhibition, especially in leukemia cells, which was associated with induction of G2/M arrest of the cell cycle and apoptosis. In order to further explore the critical events leading to apoptosis in WEAS-treated U937 human leukemia cells, the following effects of WEAS on components of the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway were examined: generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), alteration of the mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), and the expression changes of Bcl-2 and IAP family proteins. The cytotoxic effect of WEAS was mediated by its induction of apoptosis as characterized by the occurrence of DNA ladders, apoptotic bodies and chromosome condensation in U937 cells. The WEAS-induced apoptosis in U937 cells was correlated with the generation of intracellular ROS, collapse of MMP, activation of caspase-3 and down-regulation of anti-apoptotic proteins. The quenching of ROS generation with antioxidant N-acetyl-L-cysteine conferred significant protection against WEAS-elicited ROS generation, caspase-3 activation, G2/M arrest and apoptosis. In conclusion, the present study reveals that the cellular ROS generation plays a pivotal role in the initiation of WEAS-triggered apoptotic death in U937 cells.