• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
• /
• v.64 no.5
• /
• pp.922-936
• /
• 2022

5-Hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), a monoamine, as a local regulator in the mammary gland is a chemical signal produced by the mammary epithelium cell. In cows, studies have shown that 5-HT is associated with epithelial cell apoptosis during the degenerative phase of the mammary gland. However, studies in other tissues have shown that 5-HT can effectively promote cell viability. Whether 5-HT could have an effect on mammary cell viability in dairy cows is still unknown. The purpose of this study was to determine: (1) effect of 5-HT on the viability of bovine mammary epithelial cells and its related signaling pathways, (2) interaction between prolactin (PRL) and 5-HT on the cell viability. The bovine mammary alveolar cell-T (MAC-T) were cultured with different concentrations of 5-HT for 12, 24, 48 or 72 hours, and then were assayed using cell counting kit-8, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and immunobloting. The results suggested that 20 μM 5-HT treatment for 12 or 24 h promote cell viability, which was mainly induced by the activation of 5-HT receptor (5-HTR) 1B and 4, because the increase caused by 5-HT vanished when 5-HTR 1B and 4 was blocked by SB224289 and SB204070. And protein expression of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), eukaryotic translation elongation factor 2 (eEF2), janus kinase 2 (JAK2) and signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 (STAT5) were decreased after blocking 5-HT 1B and 4 receptors. When MAC-T cells were treated with 5-HT and PRL simultaneously for 24 h, both the cell viability and the level of mTOR protein were significantly higher than that cultured with 5-HT or PRL alone. In conclusion, our study suggested that 5-HT promotes the viability of MAC-T cells by 5-HTR 1B and/or 4. Furthermore, there is a reciprocal relationship between PRL and 5-HT.

• Composites Research
• /
• v.36 no.5
• /
• pp.349-354
• /
• 2023

Poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) is a conjugated polymer that is highly soluble in organic solvents and is readily available. However, its electrical properties as an active channel in electronic devices are not enough for practical applications, necessitating further improvement in the properties. In this study, we demonstrate that the blending of two P3HT polymers (i.e., regio-regular (RR) P3HT and regio-random (RRa) P3HT) with different regioregularities can significantly improve charge transport characteristics of the blend films. The morphological and electrical properties of the blend films were systematically investigated by varying the ratio between two P3HT polymers. Atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and UV-visible absorption spectroscopy (UV-vis) were employed to evaluate the morphological and optoelectronic properties of the blend films. The crystallinity of the blend films increased with increasing the content of RRa-P3HT to 20 wt% and gradually decreased as the content increased to 80%. Consistently, the highest charge carrier mobility was obtained from the blend films containing 20 wt% RRa-P3HT, which value was measured to be 0.029 cm²/V·s. The values gradually decreased to 0.0007 cm²/V·s with increasing the content of RRa-P3HT to 80 wt%.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.11
• /
• pp.4455-4458
• /
• 2014

Breast cancer is a serious and potentially lethal multi-factor disease among 40-50 aged women in both developed and developing countries. Also, various studies have pointed to roles of neurotransmitters like serotonin in development of cancers, through action on various types of receptors. This study was conducted to evaluate serotonin receptor (5HT2AR and 5HT3AR) genes expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of breast cancer patients in comparison with the healthy people and in the MCF7 cell line. Peripheral blood samples were obtained from 30 patients and 30 healthy individuals. Total RNA was extracted from PBMCs and MCF-7 cells. and 5HT2AR and 5HT3AR were detected by RT-PCR techniques. Finally, serotonin receptor gene expression variation in breast cancer patients and MCF-7 cells were determined by real time-PCR. This latter indicated significant promotion in expression of 5HT3AR and 5HT2AR in PBMCs in breast cancer patients but expression of 5HT2AR in the MCF-7 cell line was significantly decreased. In conclusion, after performing complimentary tests, determine of gene expression changes in serotonin receptors (5HT2AR and 5HT3AR) may be useful as a new approach in treatment of breast cancer based on use of antagonists.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2015.08a
• /
• pp.61.2-61.2
• /
• 2015

In the past decades, green energy, such as solar energy, wind power, hydropower, biomass energy, geothermal energy, and so on, has been widely investigated and developed to solve energy shortage. Recently, organic solar cells have attracted much attention, because they have many advantages, including low-cost, flexibility, light weight, and easy fabrication [1-3]. Organic solar cells are as a potential candidate of the next generation solar cells. In this abstract, to improve the power conversion efficiency and the stability, the inverted polymer solar cells with various structures were developed [4-6]. The novel cell structures included the P3HT:PCBM inverted polymer solar cells with AZO nanorods array, with pentacene-doped active layer, and with extra P3HT interfacial layer and PCBM interfacial layer. These three difference structures could respectively improve the performance of the P3HT:PCBM inverted polymer solar cells. For the inverted polymer solar cells with AZO nanorods array as the electronic transportation layer, by using the nanorod structure, the improvement of carrier collection and carrier extraction capabilities could be expected due to an increase in contact area between the nanorod array and the active layer. For the inverted polymer solar cells with pentacene-doped active layer, the hole-electron mobility in the active layer could be balanced by doping pentacene contents. The active layer with the balanced hole-electron mobility could reduce the carrier recombination in the active layers to enhance the photocurrent of the resulting inverted polymer solar cells. For the inverted polymer solar cells with extra P3HT and PCBM interfacial layers, the extra PCBM and P3HT interfacial layers could respectively improve the electron transport and hole transport. The extra PCBM interfacial layer served another function was that led more P3HT moving to the top side of the absorption layer, which reduced the non-continuous pathways of P3HT. It indicated that the recombination centers could be further reduced in the absorption layer. The extra P3HT interfacial layer could let the hole be more easily transported to the MoO3 hole transport layer. The high performance of the novel P3HT:PCBM inverted polymer solar cells with various structures were obtained.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.65-70
• /
• 2012

Synaptic long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD) have been studied as mechanisms of ocular dominance plasticity in the rat visual cortex. Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) inhibits the induction of LTP and LTD during the critical period of the rat visual cortex (postnatal 3~5 weeks). However, in adult rats, the increase in 5-HT level in the brain by the administration of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) fluoxetine reinstates ocular dominance plasticity and LTP in the visual cortex. Here, we investigated the effect of 5-HT on the induction of LTP in the visual cortex obtained from 3- to 10-week-old rats. Field potentials in layer 2/3, evoked by the stimulation of underlying layer 4, was potentiated by theta-burst stimulation (TBS) in 3- and 5-weekold rats, then declined to the baseline level with aging to 10 weeks. Whereas 5-HT inhibited the induction of LTP in 5-week-old rats, it reinstated the induction of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDA)-dependent LTP in 8- and 10-week-old rats. Moreover, the selective SSRI citalopram reinstated LTP. The potentiating effect of 5-HT at 8 weeks of age was mediated by the activation of 5-$HT_2$ receptors, but not by the activation of either 5-$HT_{1A}$ or 5-$HT_3$ receptors. These results suggested that the effect of 5-HT on the induction of LTP switches from inhibitory in young rats to facilitatory in adult rats.

• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.40 no.7
• /
• pp.495-502
• /
• 2017

The $5-HT_6R$ has been considered as an attractive therapeutic target in the brain due to its exclusive expression in the brain. However, the mechanistic linkage between $5-HT_6Rs$ and brain functions remains poorly understood. Here, we examined the effects of $5-HT_6R$-mediated cell morphological changes using immunocytochemistry, Western blot, and live-cell imaging assays. Our results showed that the activation of $5-HT_6Rs$ caused morphological changes and increased cell surface area in HEK293 cells expressing $5-HT_6Rs$. Treatment with 5-HT specifically increased RhoA-GTP activity without affecting other Rho family proteins, such as Rac1 and Cdc42. Furthermore, live-cell imaging in hippocampal neurons revealed that activation of $5-HT_6Rs$ using a selective agonist, ST1936, increased the density and size of dendritic protrusions along with the activation of RhoA-GTP activity and that both effects were blocked by pretreatment with a selective $5-HT_6R$ antagonist, SB258585. Taken together, our results show that $5-HT_6R$ plays an important role in the regulation of cell morphology via a RhoA-dependent pathway in mammalian cell lines and primary neurons.

• Osong Public Health and Research Perspectives
• /
• v.9 no.6
• /
• pp.289-298
• /
• 2018

Objectives: To describe the distribution of social factors, lifestyle habits and anthropometric measurements according to hypertension and Type-2 diabetes. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Gaza City, Palestine that included 379 patients (20-60 years) who had hypertension and/or diabetes. Three groups of patients were involved; 106 hypertensive (HT), 109 diabetic (T2DM) and 164 hypertensive diabetics (HT + T2DM). Results: The HT + T2DM group were older and had a higher body mass index compared to HT and T2DM groups. There were 62.3% patients who were female, 49.2% were highly educated HT patients, and 49.3% patients had a low level of education and were HT + T2DM. There were 55.8% patients who lived in large families. Patients who were passive smokers or never smoked before were mostly HT + T2DM, while active smokers and past smokers had T2DM. There were 48.2% patients who were highly physically active who had HT, 40.9% whom were moderately active had T2DM, and 53.8% of patients who had a low level of activity were HT + T2DM. Multivariate linear regression showed that having a diseased mother, living in a large family, being a past or passive smoker, or never having smoked, having a low or moderate level of activity, and having HT or HT + T2DM, were significantly associated with an increased body mass index. Conclusion: Parental health/disease conditions and environmental factors (social network and lifestyle habits) played the greatest role in the development of obesity and disease.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
• /
• v.38 no.2
• /
• pp.77-83
• /
• 2023

Background: Serotonin receptors can be divided into seven different families with various subtypes. The serotonin 1A (5-HT1A) receptor is one of the most abundant subtypes in animal brains. The expression of 5-HT1A receptors in the brain has been reported in various animals but has not been studied in horses. The 5-HT1A receptor functions related to emotions and behaviors, thus it is important to understand the functional effects and distribution of 5-HT1A receptors in horses to better understand horse behavior and its associated mechanism. Methods: Brain samples from seven different regions, which were the frontal, central, and posterior cerebral cortices, cerebellar cortex and medulla, thalamus, and hypothalamus, were collected from six horses. Western blot analysis was performed to validate the cross-reactivity of rabbit anti-5-HT1A receptor antibody in horse samples. Immunofluorescence was performed to evaluate the localization of 5-HT1A receptors in the brains. Results: The protein bands of 5-HT1A receptor appeared at approximately 50 kDa in the frontal, central, and posterior cerebral cortices, cerebellar cortex, thalamus, and hypothalamus. In contrast, no band was observed in the cerebellar medulla. Immunofluorescence analysis showed that the cytoplasm of neurons in the cerebral cortices, thalamus, and hypothalamus were immunostained for 5-HT1A receptors. In the cerebellar cortex, 5-HT1A was localized in the cytoplasm of Purkinje cells. Conclusions: In conclusion, the study suggests that 5-HT and 5-HT1A receptor systems may play important roles in the central nervous system of horses, based on the widespread distribution of the receptors in the horse brain.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2001.11b
• /
• pp.374-377
• /
• 2001

We have synthesized poly(3-hexylthiophene)(P3HT), which is the most famous conducting polymer and studied the optical properties of P3HT. And then fabricated the device using P3HT as an emitting layer. For the improve of hole injection from ITO electrode to P3HT emitting layer, we use transparent polyaniline(PANI) electrode. In the voltage-current-luminance characteristics of ITO/PANI/P3HT/LiF/Al device which use the PANI film synthesised during 5 cycle, the device turn on at the 2V and the luminance of $218nW/cm^{2}$ obtained at 12V. External quantum efficiency of ITO/PANI/P3HT/LiF/Al increased at 8V than that of ITO/P3HT/LiF/Al device.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2001.11a
• /
• pp.374-377
• /
• 2001

We have synthesized poly(3-hexylthiophene)(P3HT), which is the most famous conducting polymer and studied the optical properties of P3HT. And then fabricated the device using P3HT as an emitting layer. For the improve of hole injection from ITO electrode to P3HT emitting layer, we use transparent polyaniline(PANI) electrode. In the voltage-current-luminance characteristics of ITO/PANI/P3HT/LiF/Al device which use the PANI film synthesised during 5 cycle, the device turn on at the 2V and the luminance of 218 nW/$\textrm{cm}^2$ obtained at 12V. External quantum efficiency of ITO/PANI/P3HT/LiF/Al increased at 8V than that of ITO/P3HT/LiF/Al device.