• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.103-109
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• 2008

Purpose: This review illustrates an importance of oxidative stress caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) generation in association with eye disease, especially of cataract, and discusses an important role of lipid peroxide as a mediator of oxidative stress-related ocular dysfunction. Methods: Oxidative stress, resulted from the cellular production of ROS and RNS, is known to cause various forms of cellular damages such as protein oxidation, DNA breaks, apoptosis, and lipid peroxidation. These damages can be developed to human diseases. Accumulating evidence strongly suggests that continuous or constant exposure of eye tissues to oxidative stress is a main cause of cataractogenesis. Therefore, we investigated the action of oxidative stress in ocular dysfunction. Results: The ocular lens is continuously attacked by ROS inevitable generated from the process of cellular metabolism and the chronic exposure to ultraviolet. Excessive generation of ROS, resulting in degradation, oxidation, crosslinking and aggregation of lens proteins, is regarded as an important factor in development of cataract. Conclusions: These oxidative stress and oxidant/antioxidant imbalance produces the excess ROS which can lead to eye dysfunction. Even though known results, it should be noted that there is limited information on the molecular mechanism which can be better defined with the interrelation of oxidative stress and optic abnormalities.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.573-580
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• 2004

To prepare chitosan-based polymeric amphiphiles that can form nanosized core-shell structures (nanopar­ticles) in aqueous milieu, chitosan oligosaccharides (COSs) were modified chemically with hydrophobic cholesterol groups. The physicochemical properties of the hydrophobized COSs (COSCs) were investigated by using dynamic light scattering and fluorescence spectroscopy. The feasibility of applying the COSCs to biomedical applications was investigated by introducing them into a gene delivery system. The COSCs formed nanosized self-aggregates in aqueous environments. Furthermore, the physicochemical properties of the COSC nanoparticles were closely related to the molecular weights of the COSs and the number of hydrophobic groups per COS chain. The critical aggregation concentration values decreased upon increasing the hydrophobicity of the COSCs. The COSCs effi­ciently condensed plasmid DNA into nanosized ion-complexes, in contrast to the effect of the unmodified COSs. An investigation of gene condensation, performed using a gel retardation assay, revealed that $COS6(M_n=6,040 Da)$ containing $5\%$ of cholesteryl chloroformate (COS6C5) formed a stable DNA complex at a COS6C5/DNA weight ratio of 2. In contrast, COS6, the unmodified COS, failed to form a stable COS/DNA complex even at an elevated weight ratio of 8. Furthermore, the COS6C5/DNA complex enhanced the in vitro transfection efficiency on Human embryonic kidney 293 cells by over 100 and 3 times those of COS6 and poly(L-lysine), respectively. Therefore, hydrophobized chitosan oligosaccharide can be considered as an efficient gene carrier for gene delivery systems.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.23-27
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• 1997

Radiation effects on carbohydrate moiety of chicken ovomucoid, a protease inhibitor as a typical allergenic glycoprotein of egg white, was observed. The trypsin inhibitory activity of chicken ovomucoid decreased exponentially and the inactivation was more significant irradiated in $N_2$ than in $O_2$. From the protein blotting, radiation caused protein degradation in $O_2$ and protein aggregation also in $N_2$. The patterns of carbohydrate blotting were also similar with that of protein blotting. Sugar chains in low molecular weight fraction (MW<5,000) were released by radiation and those in $O_2$ were higher than in $N_2$. From the HPLC patterns of the degradation of sugar chains, all peaks of oligosaccharides have the tendency to decrease with the increase of radiation dose and more remarkable in $O_2$ than in $N_2$. These results suggest that ionising radiation could cause the overall conformational changes of ovomucoid by the degradation and release of oligosaccharides.

• BMB Reports
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.370-378
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• 2000

Incubation of purified laminin1-nidogen1 complexes with $[{\gamma}-^{32}P]-ATP$ in the presence of the catalytic subunit of the protein kinase A (cAMP-dependent protein kinase) resulted in the phosphorylation of the alpha chain of laminin-1 and of the nidogen-1 molecule. Aminoacid electrophoresis indicated that phosphate was incorporated on serine residues. The phosphorylation effect of laminin-1 on the process of self assembly was studied by turbidometry. In these experiments, the phosphorylated laminin-1 showed a reduced maximal aggregation capacity in comparison to the non-phosphorylated molecule. Examination of the laminin-1 network under the electron microscope showed that the phosphorylated sample formed mainly linear extended oligomers, in contrast to controls that formed large and dense multimeric aggregates. Heparin binding on phosphorylated laminin-1 in comparison to controls was also tested using solid-phase binding assays. The results indicated an enhanced heparin binding to the phosphorylated protein. The results of this study indicate that laminin1-nidogen1 is a substrate for protein kinase A in vitro. This phosphorylation had an obvious influence on the lamininl-nidogen1 network formation and the heparin binding capacity of this molecule. However, further studies are needed to investigate whether or not this phenomenon could play a role in the formation of the structure of basement membranes in vivo.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.199-207
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• 2002

In order to develop a sustained release formulation of bovine somatotropin (BST), which has been used to increase the body weight of oxen or the milk production of dairy cows, poly(D,L-lactide-co-glyceride)(PLGA) microspheres were made by W/O/W multiple emulsification method and solvent extraction method. Physical properties including particle size, drug entrapment, drug release, protein denaturation, and in vivo body weight increase in rats were characterized. The size of the microspheres was increased as the molecular weight of PLGA increased. When Span 65 and stearic acid during preparation were added, the size was decreased but the amount of surface protein was increased, resulting in a high loading efficiency, with fast release of BST from the microspheres. Aggregation or fragmentation of BST by SDS-PAGE during microsphere preparation and drug release study was not observed. Body weight of Sprague-Dawley's male rats was significantly increased after subcutaneous administrations of BST-loaded PLGA microspheres. There was a good correlation between in vivo weight gain and in vitro release rate of microspheres. PLGA microspheres with a high surface protein ratio could be a good candidate for the sustained delivery of BST.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.1751-1757
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• 2007

Elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) undergo a reversible inverse phase transition upon a change in temperature. This thermally triggered phase transition allows for a simple and rapid means of purifying a fusion protein. Recovery of ELPs-tagged fusion protein was easily achieved by aggregation, triggered either by raising temperature or by adding salt. In this study, levansucrase has been used as a model enzyme in the development of a simple one-step purification method using ELPs. The levansucrase gene cloned from Pseudomonas aurantiaca S-4380 was tagged with various sizes of ELPs to functionally express and optimize the purification of levansucrase. One of two ELPs, ELP[V-20] or ELP[V-40], was fused at the C-terminus of the levansucrase gene. A levansucrase-ELP fusion protein was expressed in Escherichia coli $DH5{\alpha}$ at $37^{\circ}C$ for 18 h. The molecular masses of levansucrase-ELP[V-20] and levansucrase-ELP[V-40] were determined as 56 kDa and 65 kDa, respectively. The phase transition of levansucrase-ELP[V-20] occurred at $20^{\circ}C$ in 50 mM Tris-Cl (pH 8) buffer with 3 M NaCl added, whereas the phase transition temperature ($T_t$) of levansucrase-ELP[V-40] was $17^{\circ}C$ with 2 M NaCl. Levansucrase was successfully purified using the phase transition characteristics of ELPs, with a recovery yield of higher than 80%, as verified by SDS-PAGE. The specific activity was measured spectrophotometrically to be 173 U/mg and 171 U/mg for levansucrase-ELP[V-20] and levansucrase-ELP[V-40], respectively, implying that the ELP-tagging system provides an efficient one-step separation method for protein purification.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.543-549
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• 2007

We synthesized various polyurethanes(PU) haying different hard segments with different molecular weights of the soft segment to explore the effect of structure on the dispersion of silver particle in the phase of synthesized polyurethanes matrix. The thermal stability was increased by increasing the number of aromatic compound, while the degree of dispersion for silver particle was decreased. Silver particles showed better dispersion in the PU matrix having aromatic compounds when the soft segments were held constant. On the contrary, when the hard segment was held constant, silver particles on the PU matrix haying low $M_w$ of soft segment showed better dispersion than high $M_w$ of soft segment because poor chain mobility of low $M_w$ of soft segment restricted re-aggregation of silver particle. A sheet resistance of composite materials showed different aspects. In this case, the inter connection between silver particles was more important than its dispersion. In this study, the NDI-PEG 900/silver particle composite film showed the best thermal stability and electro conductivity.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.69-75
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• 2007

Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder associated with progressive loss of cognitive function and memory. Amyloid beta peptide ($A{\beta}$) is the major component of senile plaques and is known to exert its cytotoxic effect mainly by producing $H_2O_2$. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is elevated in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and brain of AD patients, and $H_2O_2$ is one of the factors that induce VEGF. Therefore, we tested whether $A{\beta}$ might be responsible for the increased VEGF synthesis. We found that $A{\beta}$ induced the production of $H_2O_2$ in vitro. Comparison of the amount of $H_2O_2$ required to induce VEGF synthesis in HN33 cells and the amount of $H_2O_2$ produced by $10{\mu}M\;A{\beta}_{1-42}$ in vitro suggested that a toxic concentration of $A{\beta}$ might induce VEGF synthesis in these cells. However, toxic concentrations of $A{\beta}$ failed to induce VEGF synthesis in several cell systems. They also had no effect on antioxidant enzymes such as glutathione peroxidase, catalase, and peroxiredoxin in HN33 cells. $Cu^{2+}$, $Zn^{2+}$ and $Fe^{3+}$ are known to accumulate in the brains of AD patients and promote aggregation of $A{\beta}$, and $Cu^{2+}$ by itself induces synthesis of VEGF. However, there was no synergistic effect between $Cu^{2+}$ and $A{\beta}_{1-42}$ in the induction of VEGF synthesis and $Zn^{2+}$ and $Fe^{3+}$ also had no effect on the synthesis of VEGF, alone or in combination with $A{\beta}$.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.451-457
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• 2011

Purple non-sulfur (PNS) bacterium $Rhodobacter$ $sphaeroides$ KD131 was studied with the aim of achieving maximum hydrogen production using various carbon and nitrogen sources at different pH conditions. Cells grew well and produced hydrogen using $(NH_4){_2}SO_4$ or glutamate as a nitrogen source in combination with a carbon substrate, succinate or malate. During 48h of photo-heterotrophic fermentation under 110$W/m^2$ illumination using a halogen lamp at $30^{\circ}C$, 67% of 30mM succinate added was degraded and the hydrogen yield was estimated as 3.29mol $H^2$/mol-succinate. However, less than 30% of formate was consumed and hydrogen was not produced due to a lack of genes coding for the formate-hydrogen lyase complex of strain KD131. Initial cell concentrations of more than 0.6g dry cell weight/L-culture broth were not favorable for hydrogen evolution by cell aggregation, thus leading to substrate and light unavailability. In a modified Sistrom's medium containing 30mM succinate with a carbon to nitrogen ratio of 12.85 (w/w), glutamate produced 1.40-fold more hydrogen compared to ammonium sulfate during the first 48h. However, ammonium sulfate was 1.78-fold more effective for extended cultivation of 96h. An initial pH range from 6.0 to 9.0 influenced cell growth and hydrogen production, and maintenance of pH 7.5 during photofermentation led to the increased hydrogen yield.

• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.176-181
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• 2010

The primary sigma factor ($\sigma^{A}$) of Staphylococcus aureus, a potential drug target, was little investigated at the structural level. Using an N-terminal histidine-tagged $\sigma^{A}$ (His-$\sigma^{A}$), here we have demonstrated that it exits as a monomer in solution, possesses multiple domains, harbors primarily $\alpha$-helix and efficiently binds to a S. aureus promoter DNA in the presence of core RNA polymerase. While both N- and C-terminal ends of His-$\sigma^{A}$ are flexible in nature, two Trp residues in its DNA binding region are buried. Upon increasing the incubation temperature from 25$^{\circ}$ to 40$^{\circ}C$, $\sim$60% of the input His-$\sigma^{A}$ was cleaved by thermolysin. Aggregation of His-$\sigma^{A}$ was also initiated rapidly at 45$^{\circ}C$. From the equilibrium unfolding experiment, the Gibbs free energy of stabilization of His-$\sigma^{A}$ was estimated to be +0.70 kcal $mol^{-1}$. The data together suggest that primary sigma factor of S. aureus is an unstable protein. Core RNA polymerase however stabilized $\sigma^{A}$ appreciably.