• Molecules and Cells
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• 제38권12호
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• pp.1079-1085
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• 2015

Originally, activins were identified as stimulators of FSH release in reproduction. Other activities, including secondary axis formation in development, have since been revealed. Here, we investigated the influence of activin ${\beta}_A$ on the body, including the gastro-intestinal (GI) tract. Initially, the activin ${\beta}_A$ protein was detected in the serum proportional to the amount of pCMV-rAct plasmid injected. The induced level of activin ${\beta}_A$ in muscle was higher in female than male mice. Subsequent results revealed that stomach and intestine were severely damaged in pCMV-rAct-injected mice. At the cellular level, loss of parietal cells was observed, resulting in increased pH within the stomach. This phenomenon was more severe in male than female mice. Consistent with damage of the stomach and intestine, activin ${\beta}_A$ often led to necrosis in the tip of the tail or foot, and loss of body weight was observed in pCMV-rAct-injected male but not female mice. Finally, in pCMV-rAct-injected mice, circulating activin ${\beta}_A$ led to death at supraphysiological doses, and this was dependent on the strain of mice used. Taken together, these results indicate that activin ${\beta}_A$ has an important role outside of reproduction and development, specifically in digestion. These data also indicate that activin ${\beta}_A$ must be controlled within a narrow range because of latent lethal activity. In addition, our approach can be used effectively for functional analysis of secreted proteins.

• 생명과학회지
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• 제32권6호
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• pp.482-490
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• 2022

근육 양과 근력의 감소에 의한 근감소증은 다양한 병적 상태의 악화, 삶의 질 저하, 사망률의 증가를 동반하며, 기대수명이 증가함에 따라 앞으로도 유병률은 계속 증가할 것이다. 노화 과정에서 만성 산화 스트레스와 염증 반응의 증가는 골격근 소실의 주요 원인으로 작용하며, 에너지 대사에 필수적인 미토콘드리아의 기능 장애와 관련된 자가포식 및 세포사멸 신호의 교란은 근육 단백질의 손실을 가속화한다. 오래전부터 각종 질병의 예방 및 치료에 널리 사용되어온 동충하초의 주요 생리활성물질인 cordycepin의 약리학적 효과는 항산화 및 항염증 작용과 직접적인 관련이 있는 것으로 알려져 있다. 본 총설에서는 근감소증의 예방과 치료에의 적용을 위한 cordycepin의 세포사멸, 자가포식, 단백질의 이화작용 및 근육 재생에 중요한 위성세포의 활성에 대한 연관성을 제시하였다. 비록 현재까지 근감소증에 대한 cordycepin의 연구는 미진한 수준이지만, 그동안의 연구 결과에서 cordycepin은 노화로 인한 미토콘드리아 기능 약화를 억제하고 근육 단백질의 분해를 차단하는 데 기여할 수 있음을 알 수 있다. 또한 근세포 손상에 대한 cordycepin의 보호 효과는 항산화 및 항염증 활성과 밀접한 관련이 있음을 제안한다. 따라서 근세포의 노화방지에 관여하는 cordycepin의 분자생물학적 기전을 중심으로 보다 지속적인 기초 연구가 필요할 것으로 사료된다.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• 제7권6호
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• pp.357-362
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• 2003

Carbon monoxide (CO) is low molecular weight oxide gas that is endogenously produced under physiological conditions and interacts with another gas, nitric oxide (NO), to act as a gastrointestinal messenger. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of exogenous CO on L-type calcium channel currents of human jejunal circular smooth muscle cells. Cells were voltage clamped with 10 mM barium ($Ba^{2+}$) as the charge carrier, and CO was directly applied into the bath to avoid perfusion induced effects on the recorded currents. 0.2% CO was increased barium current ($I_{Ba}$) by $15{\pm}2$% ($mean{\pm}S.E.$, p<0.01, n=11) in the cells. To determine if the effects of CO on barium current were mediated through the cGMP pathway, cells were pretreated with 1-H-[1,2,4]oxadiazolo[4,3,-a]quinoxalin-1-one (ODQ, $10{mu}M$), a soluble guanylyl cyclase inhibitor, and exogenous CO (0.2%) had no effect on barium currents in the presence of ODQ ($2{\pm}1$% increase, n=6, p>0.05). CO mediates inhibitory neurotransmission through the nitric oxide pathway. Therefore, to determine if the effects of CO on L-calcium channels were also mediated through NO, cells were incubated with $N^G-nitro-L-arginine$ (L-NNA, 1 mM), a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor. After L-NNA pretreatment, 0.2 % CO did not increase barium current ($4{\pm}2$% increase, n=6, p>0.05). NO donor, SNAP ($20{\mu}M$) increased barium current by $13{\pm}2$% (n=6, p<0.05) in human jejunal smooth muscle cells. These data suggest that CO activates L-type calcium channels through NO/cGMP dependant mechanism.

• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• 제4권1호
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• pp.44-50
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• 2002

Introduction : Orthostatic tremor develops in the legs while standing up with no weakness, pain or imbalance in the leg and the tremor is characteristically not observed when walking. However there have been some confusions about orthostatic tremor in several aspects. For the past ten years, we have observed 4 patients with orthostatic tremor. In each case tests were performed to investigate the following three important areas of inquiry about orthostatic tremor. Firstly, whether this disorder is an independent diagnostic entity or a variant of essential tremor. Secondly, whether the progress of this disorder is specifically related with standing posture. Lastly, the nature of the pathophysiologic mechanism behind the appearance of the tremor when standing after the lapse of a certain latent period and its disappearance upon the commencement of walking. Methods : Our 4 cases of orthostatic tremor were studied clinically, electrophysiologically, and pharmacologically. Electrophysiological tests included tremor spectrum test and electromyography. Results : We observed the presence of this tremor in several other tonic postures, as well as its absence, in a vertically lifted position from all our cases. Our cases registered a variable tremor frequency between 5 and 12 Hz according to the tremor spectrum test and EMG. Furthermore all our 4 cases demonstrated patterns of both synchronous EMG activity and alternating EMG activity at various times in homologous muscles of both legs. Orthostatic tremor was improved significantly with propranolol as well as clonazepam. Conclusions : From the results of our study we drew the following conclusions. It is probable that orthostatic tremor is simply a variant of essential tremor rather than being an independent diagnostic entity and that in most cases its development is specifically related with muscle contraction rather than merely with the act of standing. Furthermore we discovered a clue in the previously described neural control mechanism that the nuclear bag fibers in the muscle spindle have lag time of several seconds in their response to muscle strength and that their baseline does not reset fully in rapidly moving muscle. This neural control mechanism could offer sufficient explanation for the phenomena of tremor appearance when standing and disappearance when walking in orthostatic tremor.

• 한국식품과학회지
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• 제25권2호
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• pp.185-190
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• 1993

담수산 틸라피아를 하루 $5%_{\circ}$씩 해수농도를 높여 1주일에 걸쳐 $32%_{\circ}$ 해수에 순화시켜, 이때를 기준(0주)으로하여 1주일 간격으로 염세포의 발달, 근육의 물성 및 미량원소의 변화와 더불어 근원심유의 ATPase 활성 및 열안정성에 대한 변화를 알아보았다. 아가미의 염세포는 해수순화와 더불어 점진적으로 갯수가 늘어나고 크기가 커져 순화 3주째에 발달이 완료되었다. 근육의 절단 및 압착강도도 해수순화에 따라 현저히 증가하여 근육의 물성변화를 보였으며, 일부 미량원소 (Mg, Na, K)도 뚜렷한 측적을 나타내었다. 근원섬유 ATPase 활성은 해수순화와 더불어 담수산의 것에 비해 유의차를 보이며 증가하였다. 근육중의 미량원소의 증가와도 관련이 있을 것으로 보이는 근원섬유 ATPase 활성증가는 결국 근육중의 ATP 분해를 촉진하여 근수축을 신속히 유도, 근육의 탄력을 증대시킴으로써 식감이 개선되는 것으로 추측되었다. 한편, 근원섬유의 열안정성은 해수순화에 의해 현저히 저하되었다.

• 대한수의학회지
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• 제55권3호
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• pp.175-179
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• 2015

Proteases play important roles in parasite development and host parasite interactions. The protease of Kudoa spp. has been recognized as a key factor of severe proteolysis of fish muscle post-mortem; however, there is little information available regarding the protease of Kudoa (K.) septempunctata, which was recently identified as a cause of food poisoning in humans. The present study was conducted to isolate and characterize proteases to elucidate the type of protease contained in the parasite and determine the optimal pH for protease activity. We confirmed the cysteine protease and metalloprotease produced by K. septempunctata. While the cysteine protease showed optimal activity at pH 5 that decreased rapidly with increasing pH, the optimal activity of metalloprotease was pH 7, and it remained stable from pH 6 to pH 8. These results indicate that the pH of cysteine protease is not proper for fish muscle postmortem, and that metalloprotease can act in human intestines. Overall, the present study provides important information that improves our understanding of the role of protease physiology and the subsequent food poisoning caused by K. septempunctata.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제10권5호
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• pp.707-713
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• 2000

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is caused mainly by autoantibodies directed against acetylcholine receptors located in the postsynaptic muscle cell membrane. Using in vitro selection techniques, we isolated an RNA containing 2'-fluoro pyrimidines that can specifically and avidly ($K_d$ ~25 nM) bind rat monoclonal antibody called mAb198, which recognizes the main immunogenic region on the acetylcholine receptors. This RNA can act as a very effective decoy and block mAb198 binding to the receptors in vitro. Furthermore, this RNA decoy can prevent the antigenic modulation of the acetylcholine receptor caused by mAb198 in human muscle cell cultures with and $IC_{50} $of approximately $2.4{\mu}M$. These results indicate that the RNA selected in this study is a more potent decly inhibitor of myashthenic antibodies than the previously identified RNA with 2'-amino pyrimidines [11]. Moreover, this RNA cross-reacts with autoantibodies from patients with MG and can protect human cells from the effects of these antibodies. These observations have important implications for developing an antigen-specific treatment of autoimmune diseases including MG, which is based on decoy RNAs selected in vitro.

• 근관절건강학회지
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• 제22권3호
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• pp.205-218
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• 2015

Purpose: This study was performed to analyze the visiting nurses' job using Developing a curriculum (DACUM). Methods: The DACUM committee with 6 visiting nurses participated in the workshop. In this workshop, the visiting nurses role was defined and their duties and tasks were identified. After content validation via the experts, the pilot test was conducted to 78 nurses. Results: A total of 13 duties and 82 tasks were identified on the DACUM chart which represented the importance, difficulty, and frequency of tasks with alphabet A, B, and C as its higher degree. Regarding duties, 'visiting nursing for high risk group' is the highest, while the lowest was 'public welfare events'. Regarding to tasks, 'discovering a new patient' was the highest, while 'selecting patients and offering medical supplies (nutritional supplement, patch)' was the lowest one. Conclusion: The results showed that visiting nurses working in the visiting health care service center were doing more various duties and tasks than those working according to 'Act on Long-term Care Insurance for the Aged'. The results can be used to develop training programs for visiting nurses and evaluation-scale of their job performance.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• 제4권6호
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• pp.463-469
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• 2000

It has been well known that 4-aminopyridine (4-AP) has an excitatory effect on vascular smooth muscle due to causing membrane depolarization by blocking $K^+-channel$. However, we observed that 4-AP had an inhibitory effect on the mesenteric artery of rat. Therefore, we investigated the mechanism of 4-AP-induced vasorelaxation. The mesenteric arcuate artery and its branches were isolated and cut into ring. The ring segment was immersed in HEPES-buffered solution and its isometric tension was measured. 4-AP $(0.1{\sim}10\;mM)$ induced a concentration-dependent relaxation, which was unaffected by NO synthase inhibitor, $N^G-nitro-L-arginine$ methylester $(100\;{\mu}M)$ or soluble guanylate cyclase inhibitor, methylene blue $(100\;{\mu}M).$ Glibenclamide $(100\;{\mu}M)$, ATP-sensitive $K^+$ channel blocker, did not exert any effect on the 4-AP-induced vasorelaxation. 4-AP relaxed the sustained contraction induced by 100 mM $K^+$ or $Ca^{2+}$ ionophore, A23187 $(100\;{\mu}M)$ in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, 4-AP significantly decreased the phasic contractile response to norepinephrine in the absence of extracellular $Ca^{2+}$. However, 4-AP did not block the $^{45}Ca$ influx of rat aorta. From the above results, we suggest that 4-AP may not block the $Ca^{2+}$ influx through $Ca^{2+}-channel,$ but act as a nonspecific vasorelaxant in arterial smooth muscle.

• 동의생리병리학회지
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• 제22권5호
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• pp.1299-1303
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• 2008

Since exercise training induces mechanical stress to the heart, we examined the activation pattern of mitogen-activated protein kinase(MAPK)s signaling pathway by immunohistochemistry. The immunoreactions of MAPKs signaling with c-fos and Schiff's reaction were increased in the cardiac muscle of exercised rat compared to normal one except immunoreaction for MEK1/2 and ERK1/2 and p38. However, the immunoreaction of phospho-JNK and phospho-p38 with early gene c-fos were arrested markedly in water extract of Alliium sativum (WEAS) treated rat compared to exercised one. Since MAPKs signaling does play a protective role in response to pathological stimulus in the heart, results in the present study suggest that WEAS may act as a alleviating agent for exercise-induced stress to. heart through regulating MAPKs signaling activation.