• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.24-32
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• 2013

Objectives: The aim of this study is to investigate anti-imflammatory and protective effect for intestinal epithelial cells with Atractylodes macrocephae (AM), a traditional Korean Herbal medicine and fermented Atractylodes macrocephae (FAM) with Lactobacillus plantarum. Methods: HCT-116 and Raw 264.7 cells were used in this study. Using NO assay, we measured lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced anti-inflammatory effect. We measured permeability of intestinal epithelial cells with transepithelial electrical resistance and horseradish peroxide flux assay. Water soluble tetrazolium salt assay was used to see cell proliferation. All the results were presented in mean and standard deviation. We used Student's t-test for analyzing significance of results. Results: In Raw 264.7 cells NO production decreased 22.4% with pre-treatment of AM and FAM, especially with FAM in high concentration. In HCT-116 cells LPS-induced intestinal permeability had a protective effect with both AM and FAM, which was also tend to be proportional to the concentration. Cell viability increased up to 135.52% after treatment of high concentration of FAM in HCT-116, while there was no significant change in Raw 264.7 cells with herb treatments. Conclusions: These results show evidence that AM, especially fermented ones, significantly reduced intestinal membrane permeability. They also had a protective effect as well as an anti-inflammation effect for HCT-116 and Raw 264.7 cells. This suggest that FAM may be a therapeutic agent for Leaky gut syndrome by reducing intestinal permeability.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.85-95
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• 2023

In recent years, solid-state Li metal batteries (SSLBs) have attracted significant attention as the next-generation batteries with high energy and power densities. However, uncontrolled dendrite growth and the resulting pulverization of Li during repeated plating/stripping processes must be addressed for practical applications. Herein, we report a plastic-crystal-based polymer/ceramic composite solid electrolyte (PCCE) to resolve these issues. To fabricate the one-side ceramic-incorporated PCCE (CI-PCCE) film, a mixed precursor solution comprising plastic-crystal-based polymer (succinonitrile, SN) with garnet-structured ceramic (Li₇La₃Zr₂O₁₂, LLZO) particles was infused into a thin cellulose membrane, which was used as a mechanical framework, and subsequently solidified by using UV-irradiation. The CI-PCCE exhibited good flexibility and a high room-temperature ionic conductivity of over 10^-3 S cm^-1. The Li symmetric cell assembled with CI-PCCE provided enhanced durability against Li dendrite penetration through the solid electrolyte (SE) layer than those with LLZO-free PCCEs and exhibited long-term cycling stability (over 200 h) for Li plating/stripping. The enhanced Li⁺ transference number and lower interfacial resistance of CI-PCCE indicate that the ceramic-polymer composite layer in contact with the Li anode enabled the uniform distribution of Li⁺ flux at the interface between the Li metal and CI-PCCE, thereby promoting uniform Li plating/stripping. Consequently, the Li//LiFePO₄ (LFP) full cell constructed with CI-PCCE demonstrated superior rate capability (~120 mAh g^-1 at 2 C) and stable cycle performance (80% after 100 cycles) than those with ceramic-free PCCE.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.60-66
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• 2005

When external pressure higher than osmosis pressure is reversely derived into solution, its solvent is moved into the solution having lower concentration, which is called 'reverse osmosis'. We investigated the desalination application of deep ocean water using reverse osmosis pressure of $40-70\;kgf/cm^2$ We observed how to operational factor j like flow rate, water temperature and pressure have effect on efficiency of reverse osmosis membrane and salts rejection. Fluxes of reverse osmosis membrane are directly proportional to water temperature and pressure. However, salts rejection rates are positively correlated with pressure and inversely proportional to water temperature. Separation efficiencies of osmosis membrane for major elements such as $Mg^{2+},\;Ca^{+2},\;Na^+\;and\;K^+$ are as follows in a strong electrolysis solution like seawater; $Ca^{2+},\;Mg^{2+}>K^+>Na^+$. Rejection rates of $Mg^{2+}\;and\;Ca^{2+}$ that have high electric charges are over 99% and show positively correlation with water temperature. Rejection rates of $Na^+$ having low electric charge is observed to be 98%-99%, which rates is much lower than those of $2^+$ charged ions like $Ca^{2+}\;and\;Mg^{2+}$. Ion rejection rates of boron, B, are much low because boron is present il free state or gas phase in seawater. Boron concentration in desalination water is over criteria of Korean drinking water, 0.3 mg/L. However, we could satisfied with the criteria of drinking water under the operation condition like temperature $5^{\circ}C$ and pressure $70kgf/cm^2$, using the relationship that rejection rates of boron is proportional to pressure and is inversely proportional to water temperature

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.377-383
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• 2009

Ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) actuator generates bending actuation via ion/water flux to the cathode side under an electric field. Polyelectrolytes in IPMC should possess high water-retention capability, proton conductivity, and Young's modulus. In this study. for endowing IPMCs with these properties, Nafion-alumina composite membranes containing $\alpha$- or $\gamma$-aluminas of $4{\sim}8$ wt% were prepared. Mechanical moduli of Nafion-alumina composite membranes were $7{\sim}3$ MPa higher than that of Nafion, with the slight decrease in proton conductivity. At DC 3 V. the actuation performance of the Nafion-$\alpha$-alumina (8 wt%)-IPMC was superior to that of the typical Nafion-IPMC. exhibiting 2.7 times the displacement with an enhanced blocking force. The enhanced actuation performance with the Nafion-$\alpha$-alumina composite membranes was attributed to the higher proton conductivity, the elevated ion/water flux, and the lower interfacial electric resistance of platinum electrodes and membrane, compared with those containing $\gamma$-alumina.

• ALGAE
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.315-326
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• 2021

Ion channels are membrane protein complexes mediating passive ion flux across the cell membranes. Every organism has a certain set of ion channels that define its physiology. Dinoflagellates are ecologically important microorganisms characterized by effective physiological adaptability, which backs up their massive proliferations that often result in harmful blooms (red tides). In this study, we used a bioinformatics approach to identify homologs of known ion channels that belong to 36 ion channel families. We demonstrated that the versatility of the dinoflagellate physiology is underpinned by a high diversity of ion channels including homologs of animal and plant proteins, as well as channels unique to protists. The analysis of 27 transcriptomes allowed reconstructing a consensus ion channel repertoire (channelome) of dinoflagellates including the members of 31 ion channel families: inwardly-rectifying potassium channels, two-pore domain potassium channels, voltage-gated potassium channels (K_v), tandem K_v, cyclic nucleotide-binding domain-containing channels (CNBD), tandem CNBD, eukaryotic ionotropic glutamate receptors, large-conductance calcium-activated potassium channels, intermediate/small-conductance calcium-activated potassium channels, eukaryotic single-domain voltage-gated cation channels, transient receptor potential channels, two-pore domain calcium channels, four-domain voltage-gated cation channels, cation and anion Cys-loop receptors, small-conductivity mechanosensitive channels, large-conductivity mechanosensitive channels, voltage-gated proton channels, inositole-1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors, slow anion channels, aluminum-activated malate transporters and quick anion channels, mitochondrial calcium uniporters, voltage-dependent anion channels, vesicular chloride channels, ionotropic purinergic receptors, animal volage-insensitive cation channels, channelrhodopsins, bestrophins, voltage-gated chloride channels H⁺/Cl^- exchangers, plant calcium-permeable mechanosensitive channels, and trimeric intracellular cation channels. Overall, dinoflagellates represent cells able to respond to physical and chemical stimuli utilizing a wide range of G-protein coupled receptors- and Ca²⁺-dependent signaling pathways. The applied approach not only shed light on the ion channel set in dinoflagellates, but also provided the information on possible molecular mechanisms underlying vital cellular processes dependent on the ion transport.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.77-90
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• 1990

There have been conflicting reports concerning the effect of Panax ginseng on the contractility of vascular smooth muscle, i.e., Panax ginseng extract has been reported to cause relaxation, contraction or to have no effect on the tension of vascular smooth muscle. A further investigation of $Ca^{++}$ stores which supply $Ca^{++}$ for contraction of vascular smooth muscle is needed to understand the underlying mechanisms of this conflicting effect of ginseng alcohol extract (GAE). The present study was intended to examine the sources of calcium mobilized for contraction of vascular smooth muscle by GAE. Aortic ring preparations were made from the rabbit thoracic aorta and endothelial cells were removed from the ring. The contractility of the aortic ring was measured under various experimental conditions and $Ca^{++}$ flux across the membrane of aortic ring and the sarcoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria were measured with a calcium selective electrode. The result were summarized as follows; 1) At low concentration of extracellular $Ca^{++}$, GAE increased the contractility of vascular smooth muscle in dose-dependent fashion except high concentration $Ca^{++}$ (1 mM). 2) In the presence of ryanodine, GAE still increased contractility of vascular smooth muscle as much as control group, but in the presence of caffeine, GAE increased it significantly. i.e. Their effects seemed to be additive. 3) In the presence of verapamil+lanthanum, and verapamil+lanthanum+ryanodine, the contractility of the vascular smooth muscle was decreased, but a dose dependent increase in vascular tension was still demonstrated by GAE although total tension was low. 4) GAE increased $Ca^{++}$ efflux from vascular smooth muscle cells, but have no effect on $Ca^{++}$ influx. 5) GAE increased $Ca^{++}$ efflux from sarcoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria vesicles. From the above results, it may be concluded that GAE increased the release of $Ca^{++}$ from sarcoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria or other intracellular $Ca^{++}$ stores of vascular smooth muscle, but it does not increase $Ca^{++}$ influx across the plasma membrane.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.102-102
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• 2001

Taurine (2-ethaneaminosulfonic acid) is one of the major intracellular ${\beta}$ -amino acids in mammals and is required for a number of biological processes including membrane stabilization, osmoregulation, antioxidation, detoxification, modulation of calcium flux and neurornodulation. The taurine transporter (TAUT) which contains 12 hydrophobic membrane-spanning domains has been cloned from dog kidney, rat brain, mouse brain, human thyroid, placenta and retina. In this study, The TAUT cDNA from the human intestinal epithelial cell, HT-29 was cloned and sequenced. Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed to amplify partial cDNA encoding human intestinal TAUT. The coding region of the PCR product was 732 bp long. The primers were designed to encode highly conserved amino acid sequences near the transmembrane domains III (IPYFIFLF) and Ⅵ (KYKYNSYR) both in human and mouse. The TAUT cDNA amplified was ligated into the pGEX 4T-1 expression vector. The resulting sequence of human intestinal TAUT cDNA (Accession number of NCBI Genebank is AF346763) was identical to the sequences of the TAUTs previously determined in the human placenta and retina except 3 base pairs from that of the reported human thyroid. TAUT specific antibodies were generated to use them as biological tools in the studies of the biological role of TAUT. Peptides of 149-162 amino acid residue (14 amino acids) of the TAUT were synthesized. The synthetic peptide used in this study was LFQSFQKELPWAHC. This region was chosen not only to avoid putative glycosylation sites but also to exclude regions of known homology with GABA transporters in the extracellular hydrophilic domains. The synthetic peptide, TAUT-1 was conjugated with carrier protein, kehole lympet hemocyanin (KLH) to use as an antigen. When used for immunization on a rabbit to produce polyclonal antiserum, the conjugates elicited high -titered specific anti-TAUT-1 antibodies, which reacted well with the ovalbumin (OVA) conjugated peptides in ELISA. The KLH-conjugated peptide was also used as immunizing antigen in BALB/c mice to produce TAUT specific monoclonal antibodies. From the culture supernatant of the hybridoma, the specificity of anti-TAUT-1 monoclonal antibodies was confirmed by ELISA. Further applications of more tools in TAUT expression analysis will be performed such as western blotting and flow cytometry.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.492-496
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• 1997

Purple sweet potato pigment extract was concentrated using both membrane separation method and vacuum concentration method. The pigment extract (anthocyanin content 1.6 g/L) was concentrated $({\times}25)$ after 5 hr of continuous operation of a nanofiltration to get anthocyanin content of 10.6 g/L. Total solid content also increased continuously while the flux decreased continuously during the concentration process. Degradation index (DI) changes of concentrated pigment solution were insignificant during the whole concentration process which is indicating that the nanofiltration method does not affect color degradation of anthocyanin pigment. For the comparison test, the same pigment extract was concentrated using a rotary vacuum evaporator at temperatures of 40 and $60^{\circ}C$. At both temperatures, pigment content increased in a similar manner during concentration $({\times}5)$. However, DI value at $60^{\circ}C$ increased while that at $40^{\circ}C$ did not change appreciably. Total color difference value changed only slightly by nanofiltration and $40^{\circ}C$ while changed significantly by $60^{\circ}C$. These indicate that a membrane filtration method is more effective in concentrating purple sweet potato pigment extract than a vacuum concentration method by high temperature.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.452-464
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• 1990

It is well known that extracellular Calcium plays a very important role in several steps of smooth muscle excitability and contractility, and there have been many concerns about factors influencing the distribution of extracellular Ca++ and the Ca++ flux through the cell membrane of the smooth muscle. Based on the assumption that Mg++ may also play an important role in the excitation and contraction processes of the smooth muscle by taking part in affecting Ca++ distribution and flux, many researches are being performed about the exact role of Mg++, especially in the vascular smooth muscle. But yet the effect of Mg++ in the smooth muscle activity is not clarified, and moreover the mechanism of Mg++ action is almost completely unknown. Present study attempted to clarify the effect of Mg++ on the excitability and contractility in the multiunit and unitary smooth muscle, and the mechanism concerned in it. The preparations used were the guinea-pig aortic strip as the experimental material of the multiunit smooth muscle and the rat uterine strip as the one of the unitary smooth muscle. The tissues were isolated from the sacrificed animal and were prepared for recording the isometric contraction. The effects of Mg++ and Ca++ were examined on the electrically driven or spontaneous contraction of the preparations. And the effects of these ions were also studied on the K+ or norepinephrine contracture. All experiments were performed in tris-buffered Tyrode solution which was aerated with 100% 02 and kept at 35oC. The results obtained were as follows: 1] Mg++ suppressed the phasic contraction induced by electrical field stimulation dose-dependently in the guinea-pig aortic strip, while the high concentration of Ca++ never recovered the decreased tension. These phenomena were not changed by the a - or b - adrenergic blocker. 2]Mg++ played the suppressing effect on the low concentration [20 and 40 mM] of K+-contracture in the aortic muscle, but the effect was not shown in the case of 100mM K+-contracture. 3] Mg++ also suppressed the contracture induced by norepinephrine in the aortic preparation. And the effect of Mg++ was most prominent in the contracture by the lowest [10 mM] concentration of norepinephrine. 4] In both the spontaneous and electrically driven contractions of the uterine strip, Mg++ decreased the amplitude of peak tension, and by the high concentration of Ca++ the amplitude of tension was recovered unlike the aortic muscle. 5] The frequency of the uterine spontaneous contraction increased as the [Ca++] / [Mg++] ratio increased up to 2, but the frequency decreased above this level. 6] Mg++ decreased the tension of the low[20 and 40mM] K+-contracture in the uterine smooth muscle, but the effect did not appear in the 100mM K+-contracture. From the above results, the following conclusion could be made. 1] Mg++ seems to suppress the contractility directly by acting on the smooth muscle itself, besides through the indirect action on the nerve terminal, in both the aortic and uterine smooth muscles. 2] The fact that the depressant effect of Mg++ on the K+-contracture is in inverse proportion to an increase of K+ concentration appears resulted from the extent of the opening state of the Ca++ channel. 3] Mg++ may play a depressant role on both the potential dependent and the receptor-operated Ca++ channels. 4] The relationship between the actions of Mg++ and Ca++ seems to be competitive in uterine muscle and non-competitive in aortic strip.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.59-64
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• 2003

We fabricated mixed ionic-electronic conducting membranes, $CH_4\;Using\;{0.7}Sr_{0.3}Ga_{0.6}Fe_{0.4}O_{3-\delta}$, by solid state reaction method for solid oxide fuel cell. The membranes consisted of single perovskite phase and exhibited high relative density, $>95\%$. We coated $La_{0.6}Sr_{0.4}CoO_{3-\delta}$ layer using screen printing method in order to improve surface reactivity of the $La_{0.7}Sr_{0.3}Ga_{0.6}Fe_{0.4}O_{3-\delta}$. As a result, the oxygen permeation flux of the coated $La_{0.7}Sr_{0.3}Ga_{0.6}Fe_{0.4}O_{3-\delta}$ showed higher value, $0.5ml/min{\cdot}cm^2\;at\;950^{\circ}C$ than the uncoated one. Higher oxygen permeation was observed in the porously coated Lao $La_{0.7}Sr_{0.3}Ga_{0.6}Fe_{0.4}O_{3-\delta}$membranes with larger grain sizes. Syngas, $CO+H_2$, was successfully obtained from methane gas, $CH_4$, using the $La_{0.6}Sr_{0.4}CoO_{3-\delta}$ coated $La_{0.7}Sr_{0.3}Ga_{0.6}Fe_{0.4}O_{3-\delta}$, with over $40\%\;of\;CH_4$ conversion and syngas yield. $La_{0.7}Sr_{0.3}Ga_{0.6}Fe_{0.4}O_{3-\delta}$ membrane was stable even when it was exposed to the reducing environment, methane, for 600 hrs at $950^{\circ}C$.