• Molecules and Cells
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• v.46 no.11
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• pp.700-709
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• 2023

Mucus hyperproduction and hypersecretion are observed often in respiratory diseases. MUC8 is a glycoprotein synthesized by epithelial cells and generally expressed in the respiratory track. However, the physiological mechanism by which extracellular nucleotides induce MUC8 gene expression in human airway epithelial cells is unclear. Here, we show that UTP could induce MUC8 gene expression through P2Y2-PLCβ3-Ca²⁺ activation. Because the full-length cDNA sequence of MUC8 has not been identified, a specific siRNA-MUC8 was designed based on the partial cDNA sequence of MUC8. siRNA-MUC8 significantly increased TNF-α production and decreased IL-1Ra production, suggesting that MUC8 may downregulate UTP/P2Y2-induced airway inflammation. Interestingly, the PDZ peptide of ZO-1 protein strongly abolished UTP-induced TNF-α production and increased IL-1Ra production and MUC8 gene expression. In addition, the PDZ peptide dramatically increased the levels of UTP-induced ZO proteins and TEER (trans-epithelial electrical resistance). These results show that the anti-inflammatory mucin MUC8 may contribute to homeostasis, and the PDZ peptide can be a novel therapeutic candidate for UTP-induced airway inflammation.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.351-358
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• 2016

Background: This study was designed to investigate whether ginsenoside Rb1 (Rb1) and compound K (CK) ameliorated insulin resistance by suppressing endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-induced inflammation in adipose tissue. Methods: To induce ER stress, epididymal adipose tissue from mice or differentiated 3T3 adipocytes were exposed to high glucose. The effects of Rb1 and CK on reactive oxygen species production, ER stress, TXNIP/NLRP3 inflammasome activation, inflammation, insulin signaling activation, and glucose uptake were detected by western blot, emzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, or fluorometry. Results: Rb1 and CK suppressed ER stress by dephosphorylation of $IRE1{\alpha}$ and PERK, thereby reducing TXNIP-associated NLRP3 inflammasome activation in adipose tissue. As a result, Rb1 and CK inhibited IL-$1{\beta}$ maturation and downstream inflammatory factor IL-6 secretion. Inflammatory molecules induced insulin resistance by upregulating phosphorylation of insulin receptor substrate-1 at serine residues and impairing insulin PI3K/Akt signaling, leading to decreased glucose uptake by adipocytes. Rb1 and CK reversed these changes by inhibiting ER stress-induced inflammation and ameliorating insulin resistance, thereby improving the insulin IRS-1/PI3K/Akt-signaling pathway in adipose tissue. Conclusion: Rb1 and CK inhibited inflammation and improved insulin signaling in adipose tissue by suppressing ER stress-associated NLRP3 inflammation activation. These findings offered novel insight into the mechanism by which Rb1 and CK ameliorate insulin resistance in adipose tissue.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.77-92
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• 2005

Objective : The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of Acanthopanax senticocus(AS) herbal acupuncture on the metabolic syndrome in high-fat diet fed mice. Methods : ICR mice were fed with high-fat diet to induce the metabolic syndrome. During the inducement of the metabolic syndrome, the groups were treated with AS herbal acupuncture with different concentrations(125mg/kg, 250mg/kg and 500mg/kg) to the point of Sinsu(BL23) everyday for 5 weeks. Thereafter, body weight, feed efficiency ratio, blood pressure, blood glucose, insulin level, insulin resistance, oral glucose tolerance test(OGTT), lipid profile(TG, TC, HDL-C, LDL-C, NEFA), mass of liver, histology of white adipose tissue(WAT) and brown adipose tissue(BAT), and expression of GLUT-4 and UCP-1 mRNA were measured. Results : The risk factors of metabolic syndrome such as obesity, non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus(NIDDM), insulin resistance, hypertension, dyslipidemia were aggravated by high-fat diet for 5-weeks. AS herbal acupuncture inhibited the development of weight gain, hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance, hypertension, dylipidemia and expression of GLUT-4 in WAT and UCP-1 mRNA in BAT, and also improved oral glucose intolerance and distribution of adipose tissue.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.724-732
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• 2020

Phytophthora capsici is the organism that causes Phytophthora blight which infects red pepper plants prolifically, ultimately leading to crop loss. A previous study revealed that Enterobacter asburiae ObRS-5 suppresses Phytophthora blight in both red pepper and Ligularia fischeri plants. In order to determine whether the induced systemic resistance (ISR) was triggered by pre-infection with the ObRS-5 strain, we conducted quantitative PCR using primers for PR1, PR4, and PR10, which correlate with systemic resistance in red-pepper plants. In our results, red pepper plants treated with the ObRS-5 strain demonstrated increased expression of all three systemic resistance genes when compared to controls in the glasshouse seedling assay. In addition, treatment of red peppers with the ObRS-5 strain led to reduced Phytophthora blight symptoms caused by P. capsici, whereas all control seedlings were severely affected. Perhaps most importantly, E. asburiae ObRS-5 was shown to induce the ISR response in red peppers without inhibiting growth. These results support that the defense mechanisms are triggered by ObRS-5 strain prior to infection by P. capsici and ObRS-5 strain-mediated ISR action are linked events for protection to Phytophthora blight.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.630-635
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• 2022

Copper(II) oxide (CuO), electroless plated on a nitrogen-containing carbon sponge prepared by a melamine sponge thermal treatment, was developed as a nitric oxide (NO) gas sensor that operates without a wafer. The CuO content on the surface of the carbon sponge increased as the plating time increased, but the content of nitrogen known to induce NO gas adsorption decreased. The untreated carbon sponge showed a maximum resistance change (5.0%) at 18 min. On the other hand, the CuO plated sample (CuO30s-CS) showed a maximum resistance change of 18.3% in 8 min. It is considered that the improvement of the NO gas sensing capability was caused by the increase in hole carriers of the carbon sponge and improved movement of electrons due to CuO. However, the NO gas detection resistance of the CuO electroless plated carbon sponge for 60 s decreased to 1.9%. It is considered that the surface of the carbon sponge was completely plated with CuO, resulting in a decrease in the NO gas adsorption capacity and resistance change. Thus, CuO-plated carbon sponge can be used as an effective NO gas sensor because it has fast and excellent resistance change properties, but CuO should not be completely plated on the surface of the carbon sponge.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.388-393
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• 2013

It has been well documented that Bacillus vallismortis strain EXTN-1, a beneficial rhizosphere bacterium, could enhance plant growth and induce systemic resistance to diverse pathogens in plants. However, the molecular mechanisms for how the EXTN-1 promote plant growth and induce resistances to diverse pathogens. Here, we show that 3-Hydroxy-2-butanone, a volatile organic compound (VOCs) emitted from the EXTN1, is a key factor for the bacteria-mediated beneficial effects on plant growth and defense systems. We found that the presence of volatile signals of EXTN-1 resulted in growth promotion of tobacco seedlings. The identification and analysis of EXTN-1-secreted volatile signals by solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) indicated that a 3-hydroxy-2-butanone could provide not only the plant growth promotion, but also higher resistance against Pectobacterium carotovorum SCC1. These results suggest that a volatile compound released from EXTN-1 enhances the plant growth promotion and immunity of plants.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.339-344
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• 2005

Rice blast, which is caused by the fungus Magnaporthe grisea, is one of the most destructive diseases of rice. To identify genes involving in the signal transduction pathways that mediate rice blast resistance, we screened over 2,000 mutant lines of a highly resistant variety RIL260 that were generated by using a DEB (1, 3-Butadiene diepoxide) treatment method. In the mutant population, the frequency of albino plants was 6.7%, indicating that this population has a high frequency of mutations in the genome. The primary screening identified 29 mutant plants that exhibit a complete or partial loss of the resistance to rice blast. Among them, M5465, the most susceptible line, was subsequently examined by DNA gel-blot experiments using DNA molecular markers of Pi5(t) that has been previously identified as a durable resistance locus in RIL260. The result revealed that a large deletion and rearrangement of genomic DNA occurred in the Pi5(t) locus. The results suggest that DEB can be used as an efficient mutagen to induce large scale mutations in the rice genome. The isolated mutants should be useful for elucidating the Pi5(t)-mediated signaling pathways of rice blast resistance.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.165-173
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• 2005

A potent demethylating agent, 5-Azacytidine (5-AzaC) has been widely used as in many studies on DNA methylation, regulation of gene expression, and cancer biology. The mechanisms of the demethylating activity were known to be formation of complex between DNA and DNA methyltransferase (MTase), which depletes cellular MTase activity. However, 5-AzaC can also induce hypermethylation of a transgene in a transgenic cell line, G12 cells and it was explained as a result of defense mechanisms to inactivate foreign gene(s) somehow. This finding evoked the question that whether the phenomenon of hypermethylation induced by 5-AzaC is limited to the transgene or it can be occurred in endogenous gene(s). In order to answer the question, mutagenicity test of 5-AzaC and molecular characterization of mutants obtained from the test were performed using an endogenous gene, thymidine kinase (tk) in Chinese hamster V79 cells. When V79 and V79-J3 subclone cells were treated with 1, 2.5 ,5, $10{\mu}M$ of 5-AzaC for 48 hours, their maximum mutant frequencies were revealed as $6\times10^{-3}\;at\;5{\mu}M$(350-fold induction over background) and $8\times10^{-3}\;at\;2.5{\mu}M$ (l,800-fold induction over background) respectively. Since the induction rates were too high to be induced by true mutations, many trifluorothymidine (TFT)-resistant $(TFT^R)$ cells were subjected to Northern blot analysis to check the presence of tk transcripts. Surprisingly, all clones tested possessed the transcripts in a similar level, that implicates the $TFT^R$ phenotype induced by 5-AzaC has not given rise to hypermethylation of the gene in spite of unusually high mutation frequency. In addition, it has shown that the TK activity in the pool of 5-AzaC-induced $TFT^R$ cells has about a half of that in spontaneously-induced $TFT^R$ cells or in non-selected parental V79-J3 cells. This result suggests that the mechanism(s) underlying the TFT-resistance between spontaneously occurred and 5-AzaC-induced cells may be different. These findings have shown that the $TFT^R$ phenotype induced by 5-AzaC has not given rise to hypermethylation of the tk gene, and 5-AzaC may be induced by one or combined pathways among many drug resistance mechanisms. The exact mechanisms for the 5-AzaC-induced $TFT^R$ phenotype remain to elucidate.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.91-97
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• 2000

The purpose of the present study was to determine the preventive effects of combined interventional trial of fish oil treatment and exercise training on insulin resistance of skeletal muscle in high-fat fed rats. Male Wistar rats were randomly divided into chow diet (CD), high-fat diet (HF), high-fat diet with fish oil (FO), high-fat diet with exercise training (EX), and FO+EX groups. The rats in control group were fed chow diet containing, as percents of calories, 58.9% carbohydrate, 12.4% fat, and 28.7% protein. High-fat diet provided 32% energy as lard, 18% as corn oil, 27% as carbohydrate and 23% as casein. The fish oil diet had the same composition as the high fat diet except that 100 g menhaden oil was substituted for corn oil. Insulin sensitivity was assessed by in vitro glucose transport in the soleus muscle after diet treatment and treadmill running for 4 weeks. While the FO or EX only partially prevented insulin resistance on glucose transport and visceral obesity induced by high-fat diet, these interventions completely corrected hyperinsulinemia and hyperglycemia from the high-fat diet. The rats in the FO+EX showed normalized insulin action on glucose transport, plasma chemicals and visceral fat mass. Insulin-mediated glucose transport was negatively associated with total visceral fat mass (r=－0.734; p＜0.000), plasma triglyceride (r=－0.403; p＜0.05) and lepin (r=－0.583; p＜0.001) concentrations with significance. Multiple stepwise regression analysis showed that only total visceral fat mass was independently associated with insulin-mediated glucose transport (r=－0.668; p＜0.000). In conclusion, combined interventional trial of FO+EX recovered insulin resistance on glucose transport of skeletal muscle induced by high-fat diet. Visceral fat mass might be more important factor than plasma TG and leptin to induce insulin resistance on glucose transport of skeletal muscle in high-fat fed rats.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.60-64
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• 2017

Leaves of twenties radish (Raphanus sativus L.) inbred lines were mechanically inoculated with Turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) strain HY to evaluate TuMV resistance of the radish inbred lines. The inoculated radish plants were incubated at $22^{\circ}C{\pm}3^{\circ}C$ and resistance assessment was examined using symptom development for 4 weeks. Based on the reactions of differential radish inbred lines, 16 radish lines were produced mild mosaic, mottling, mosaic and severe mosaic symptoms by TuMV infection. These results were confirmed by RT-PCR analysis of TuMV coat protein gene, suggesting that TuMV is responsible for the disease symptoms. Four resistant radish lines did not induce systemic mosaic symptoms on upper leaves and chlorosis in stem tissues for 4 weeks, showing they were symptomless by 8 weeks. Further examination of TuMV infection in the 4 radish lines showed no TuMV infection in all systemic leaves. These results suggest that the 4 radish lines are highly resistant to TuMV.