• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.89-93
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• 2012

$Neodiplostomum$ $seoulense$ (Digenea: Neodiplostomidae) is an intestinal trematode that can cause severe mucosal pathology in the small intestines of mice and even mortality of the infected mice within 28 days after infection. We observed neuronal growth associated protein-43 (GAP-43) expression in the myenteric plexus of the small intestinal wall of $N.$ $seoulense$-infected mice until day 35 post-infection (PI). BALB/c mice were infected with 200 or 500 $N.$ $seoulense$ metacercariae isolated from naturally infected snakes and were killed every 7 days for immunohistochemical demonstration of GAP-43 in the small intestines. $N.$ $seoulense$-infected mice showed remarkable dilatation of intestinal loops compared with control mice through days 7-28 PI. Conversely, GAP-43 expression in the mucosal myenteric plexus was markedly ($P$<0.05) reduced in the small intestines of $N.$ $seoulense$-infected mice during days 7-28 PI and was slightly normalized at day 35 PI. From this study, it is evident that neuronal damage occurs in the intestinal mucosa of $N.$ $seoulense$-infected mice. However, the correlation between intestinal pathology, including the loop dilatation, and depressed GAP-43 expression remains to be elucidated.

• Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.643-655
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• 2018

Background/Aims Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common disease characterized by intestinal dysmotility, the mechanism of which remains elusive. We aim to determine whether the high-affinity choline transporter 1 (CHT1), a determinant of cholinergic signaling capacity, modulates intestinal motility associated with stress-induced IBS. Methods A rat IBS model was established using chronic water avoidance stress (WAS). Colonic pathological alterations were evaluated histologically and intestinal motility was assessed by intestinal transit time and fecal water content (FWC). Visceral sensitivity was determined by visceromotor response to colorectal distension. RT-PCR, western blotting, and immunostaining were performed to identify colonic CHT1 expression. Contractility of colonic muscle strips was measured using isometric transducers. enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure acetylcholine (ACh). We examined the effects of MKC-231, a choline uptake enhancer, on colonic motility. Results After 10 days of WAS, intestinal transit time was decreased and fecal water content increased. Visceromotor response magnitude in WAS rats in response to colorectal distension was significantly enhanced. Protein and mRNA CHT1 levels in the colon were markedly elevated after WAS. The density of CHT1-positive intramuscular interstitial cells of Cajal and myenteric plexus neurons in WAS rats was higher than in controls. Ammonium pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate partly reversed CHT1 upregulation and alleviated colonic hypermotility in WAS rats. Pharmacological enhancement of CHT1 activity by MKC-231 enhanced colonic motility in control rats via upregulation of CHT1 and elevation of ACh production. Conclusion Upregulation of CHT1 in intramuscular interstitial cells of Cajal and myenteric plexus neurons is implicated in chronic stress-induced colonic hypermotility by modulation of ACh synthesis via nuclear factor-kappa B signaling.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.185-191
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• 2020

Interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) are known as the pacemaker cells of gastrointestinal tract, and it has been reported that acute gastroenteritis induces intestinal dysmotility through antibody to vinculin, a cytoskeletal protein in gut, resulting in small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, so that anti-vinculin antibody can be used as a biomarker for irritable bowel syndrome. This study aimed to determine correlation between serum anti-vinculin antibody and ICC density in human stomach. Gastric specimens from 45 patients with gastric cancer who received gastric surgery at Kangwon National University Hospital from 2013 to 2017 were used. ICC in inner circular muscle, and myenteric plexus were counted. Corresponding patient's blood samples were used to determine the amount of anti-vinculin antibody by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Analysis was done to determine correlation between anti-vinculin antibody and ICC numbers. Patients with elevated anti-vinculin antibody titer (above median value) had significantly lower number of ICC in inner circular muscle (71.0 vs. 240.5, p = 0.047), and myenteric plexus (12.0 vs. 68.5, p < 0.01) compared to patients with lower anti-vinculin antibody titer. Level of serum anti-vinculin antibody correlated significantly with density of ICC in myenteric plexus (r = -0.379, p = 0.01; Spearman correlation). Increased level of circulating anti-vinculin antibody was significantly correlated with decreased density of ICC in myenteric plexus of human stomach.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.26 no.10
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• pp.815-820
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• 1993

We experienced a case of esophageal leiomyoma combined with achalasia that is very rare. Patient had suffered from severe dysphagia and postprandial vomiting and diagnosis was accomplished by esophagography, esophagoscopy, chest CT, and esophageal motility test. The operative treatment was done through left lateral thoracotomy by enucleation of the submucosal tumor and esophagomyotomy. By histopathological findings, the diagnosis of leiomyoma was confirmed and LES biopsy revealed absence of the ganglion cells of myenteric and Auerbach`s plexus. Symptoms of the patient were completely relieved and postoperative course was uneventful.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.11-23
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• 2007

Hirschsprung's disease is one of the most common causes of intestinal obstruction in neonates and infants. The underlying pathology of this disease is the absence of the ganglion cells in both the myenteric (Auerbach's) plexus and the submucosal (Meissner's) plexus. Since Hirschsprung's report in 1886, there have been thousands of papers on Hirschsprung's disease but the cause of the absence of the ganglion cells has not been identified. Hirschsprung's disease can be successfully treated with the Swenson, the Duhamel, and the Soave operations even though the pathogenesis is unknown. With the recent progress of molecular biology and genetics, a more detailed approach to the pathogenesis of Hirschsprung's disease can be undertaken. In addition, there have been recent developments in the surgical approach. In this review, recent advances in surgery for Hirschsprung's disease are presented.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.193-198
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• 2006

Many gastrointestinal muscles show electrical oscillation, so-called 'slow wave', originated from interstitial cells of Cajal (ICCs). Thus, a technique to freshly isolate the cells is indispensable to explore the electrophysiological properties of the ICCs. To apply an enzyme solution on the serosal surface for cell isolation, the intestine was inverted and 0.02% trypsin solution and 0.04% collagenase solution were applied to serosal cavity. After the enzyme treatment, mucosal layer was removed and longitudinal muscle layer was gently separated from the rest of tissue. The thin layer was stretched in the recording chamber and mounted on an inverted microscope. Using ${\beta}-escine$, perforated whole cell patch clamp technique was used. Under a microscope, the tissue showed smooth muscle cells and interstitial cells around the myenteric plexus. Under voltage clamp condition, three types of membrane potential were recorded. One group of interstitial cells, which were positive to methylene blue and CD34, showed spontaneous outward current. These cells had bipolar shape and were considered as fibroblast-like cells because of their peculiar shape and arrangement. Another group, positive to c-kit and methylene blue, showed spontaneous inward current. These cells had more rounded shape and processes and were considered as ICCs. The third, positive to c-kit and had granules containing methylene blue, showed quiet membrane potentials under the voltage-clamp mode. These cells appeared to be resident macrophages. Therefore, in the freshly isolated thin tissue preparation, methylene blue could easily identify three types of cells rather than morphological properties. Using this method, we were able to study electrical properties of fibroblast and residential macrophage as well as myenteric ICCs.

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.57-67
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• 1983

The influence of electrolyte concentrations on the action of morphine and naloxone was studied in the myenteric plexus-longitudinal muscle preparation of guinea-pig ileum to examine whether opiate receptor binding obseved in vitro with homogenates represents binding to the pharmacological receptor. The preparations were suspended in a modified Krebs-Henseleit bicarbonate buffer solution and electrically stimulated at 0.2 Hz. Morphine inhibited electrically evoked contractions; the concentration of morphine required for a 50-percent inhibition was 190 nM. This inhibitory action of morphine was potentiated in a medium containing lower concentrations of : $Na^+\;or\;K^+$, or by the addition of $Mn^{2+}$ to the medium, and weakened by increasing the concentration of $Ca^{2+}$ or decreasing the concentration of $Mg^{2+}$. Naloxone antagonized these actions of morphine: however, $pA_2values$ for naloxone (indices of affinity for antagonists, approximately 8.8) were unaffected by these electrolyte concentrations. Thus, changes in the inhibitory action of morphine caused by alterations in electrolyte concentrations are probably not the result of changes in the affinity of the receptor for opiates, but due to alterations in the events which precede or follow the receptor binding. Effects of electrolytes on the affinity of the functional opiate receptor for naloxone in guinea-pig ileum are apparently different from those reported with the specific binding sites for opiates in brain homogenate.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.813-817
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• 2005

We investigated the effect of a viscous substance from chongkukjang (chongkukjang mucilage) on immunohistochemical reactions in rat gastrointestinal (GI) tracts, Rats fed a steady diet of chongkukjang mucilage showed an increase in the immunoreactive densities of gastrin and serotonin in the pyloric region of their stomachs and duodenal villi, The number of gastrin and serotonin immunoreactive cells was significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group. Feeding on dietary chongkukjang mucilage increased the immunohistochemical densities of $CD4^+$ and $CD8^+$ lymphocytes in the mucosa and submucosa of the rats' gastroduodenal region. The universal nitric oxide synthase (uNOS)-immunoreactive neurons and nerve fibers were strongly stained in the vascular walls of the submucosa and myenteric plexus in rats fed the test diet. The results indicate that the intake of chongkukjang mucilage could increase mucosal immune activity, gastrointestinal motility, and blood circulation in the GI tract.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.19-23
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• 2006

Effects of cheonggukjang on immunohistochemical reactions in gastrointestinal (GI) tract of rats were investigated. $CD4^+/CD8^+$ immunoreactive cells of cheonggukjang-fed diet groups were more strongly stained in lamina propria of mucosa and submucosa than those of basal diet group. Universal nitric oxide synthase immunoreactive density in colon was mildly stained in surface epithelium and mucous secretory gland, and strongly stained in submucosa and myenteric plexus in muscle layers of all cheonggukjang-fed diet groups. Protein kinase C-${\alpha}$ immunoreactive cells in colons of 15 and 25% cheonggukjang-fed diet groups were more strongly stained in mucosa, submucosa, and muscle layers than those of basal diet group. These results indicate mucosal immune activity, gastrointestinal motility, blood circulation, and physiological activities of enteroendocrine cells in GI tract could be increased with cheonggukjang intake.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.39-42
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• 2019

KBG syndrome is an autosomal dominant syndrome presenting with macrodontia, distinctive facial features, skeletal anomalies, and neurological problems caused by mutations in the ankyrin repeat domain 11 (ANKRD11) gene. The diagnosis of KBG is difficult in very young infants as the characteristic macrodontia and typical facial features are not obvious. The youngest patient diagnosed to date was almost one year of age. We here describe a 2-month-old Korean boy with distinctive craniofacial features but without any evidence of macrodontia due to his very early age. He also had a congenital megacolon without ganglion cells in the rectum. A de novo deletion of exons 5-9 of the ANKRD11 gene was identified in this patient by exome sequencing and real-time genomic polymerase chain reaction. As ANKRD11 is involved in the development of myenteric plexus, a bowel movement disorder including a congenital megacolon is not surprising in a patient with KBG syndrome and has possibly been overlooked in past cases.