• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.622-628
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• 2013

Diallyl trisulfide (DATS), one of the major organosulfur components of garlic (Allium sativum), has various biological effects such as anti-microbial and anti-cancer activities. However, the molecular mechanisms of growth inhibition related to cell cycle arrest are poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the effects of DATS on cell cycle progression in U937 human leukemia cells. Treatment with DATS in U937 cells resulted in inhibition of cell viability through G2/M arrest and apoptosis. DATS-induced G2/M arrest was associated with up-regulation of cyclin B1 and cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1). DATS also significantly increased levels of phospho-histone H3, which is a mitosis-specific marker, indicating that DATS induced mitotic arrest but not G2 arrest in U937 cells. DATS treatment also generated the reactive oxygen species (ROS) in U937 cells; however, pretreatment with N-acetyl-l-cysteine (NAC), a ROS scavenger, significantly attenuated DATS-induced mitotic arrest and apoptosis. Taken together, our data indicate that DATS exhibits anti-cancer effects through mitotic arrest and apoptosis in a ROS-dependent manner.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.11
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• pp.1342-1350
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• 2013

We examined the effect of hydrogen sulfide ($H_2S$) in chemical hypoxia-induced injury in mouse hepatocytes. Cell viability was significantly decreased by cobalt chloride ($CoCl_2$), a well-known hypoxia mimetic agent in a time- and dose- dependent manner. Sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS, a donor of $H_2S$) pretreatment before exposure to $CoCl_2$ significantly attenuated the $CoCl_2$-induced decrease of cell viability. $CoCl_2$ treatment resulted in an increase of intracellular ROS generation, which is inhibited by NaHS or N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC, a ROS scavenger), and p38 MAPK phosphorylation, which is also blocked by NaHS or NAC. The $CoCl_2$-induced increase of the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio was attenuated by NaHS, NAC, and SB 203580 (p38 MAPK inhibitor). The $CoCl_2$-induced decrease of cell viability was also attenuated by NaHS, NAC, and SB 203580 pretreatment. Additionally, NaHS inhibited the $CoCl_2$-induced COX-2. Similar to the effect of NaHS, NAC blocked $CoCl_2$-induced COX-2 expression. Furthermore, NS-398 (a selective COX-2 inhibitor) attenuated not only the $CoCl_2$-induced increase of the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, it also decreased cell viability. Taken together, $H_2S$ protects primary cultured mouse hepatocytes against $CoCl_2$-induced cell injury through inhibition of the ROS-activated p38 MAPK cascade and the COX-2 pathway.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.171-176
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• 2019

A comparative study between commercially available mycobacteria growth indicator tubes (MGIT) in the BACTEC MGIT 960 System and the conventional Ogawa media was carried out to assess the effectiveness of the re-decontaminating process for the recovery of mycobacteria. Processed specimens with 5% sodium hydroxide and 0.5% N-acetyl-L-cysteine were inoculated into MGIT and Ogawa media. The acid fast bacilli (AFB) recovered from the cultures were identified using a mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) antigen kit. If contaminants were observed in the MGIT tubes within five days, a decontaminating process was repeated. A total of 1,190 out of 4,790 (24.8%) specimens showed positive results using the BACTEC MGIT 960 system. Among them, 278 specimens were reprocessed. When the MGIT and Ogawa results were compared, it showed discordant results (weighted kappa value: 0.283). One TB and 10 nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) were newly detected in MGIT only. The likely benefit of the re-decontaminating process is the detection of additional mycobacteria that could not be detected without a re-decontaminating process despite being small in number. In addition to the combination of MGIT and Ogawa, the re-decontaminating process is recommended in the case of contaminations to recover mycobacteria.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.272-279
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• 2006

$\underline{Purpose}$: This study investigated the influence of irradiation and cisplatin on PrxI & PrxII expression and on their survival rates (SR) in SK-N-BE2C and Rat2 cell lines. $\underline{Materials\;and\;Methods}$: The amount of PrxI & PrxII production with or without N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) pretreatment was studied using a western blot after 20 Gy irradiation to determine the degree of inhibition of ROS accumulation. In addition, the amount of PrxI & PrxII production after cisplatin and after combination with cisplatin and 20 Gy irradiation was studied. The SRs of the cell lines in SK-N-BE2C and Rat 2 cells, applied with 20 Gy irradiation only, with various concentrations of cisplatin and with the combination of both, were studied. The 20 Gy irradiation-only group and the combination group were each subdivided according to NAC pretreatment, and corresponding SRs were observed at 2, 6, 12 and 48 hours after treatment. $\underline{Results}$: Compared with the control group, the amount of PrxI in SK-N-BE2C increased up to 60 minutes after irradiation and slightly increased after irradiation with NAC pretreatment 60 minutes. It did not increase in Rat2 after irradiation regardless of NAC pretreatment. PrxII in SK-N-BE2C and Rat2 was not increased after irradiation regardless of NAC pretreatment. The amounts of PrxI and PrxII in SK-N-BE2C and Rat2 were not increased either with the cisplatin-only treatment or the combination treatment with cisplatin and irradiation. SRs of irradiation group with or without NAC pretreatment and the combination group with or without NAC pretreatment were compared with each other in SK-N-BE2C and Rat2. SR was significantly high for the group with increased amount of PrxI, NAC pretreatment and lower the cisplatin concentration. SR of the group in SK-N-BE2C which had irradiation with NAC pretreatment tended to be slightly higher than the group who had irradiation without NAC pretreatment. SR of the group in Rat2 which had irradiation with NAC pretreatment was significantly higher than that the group which had irradiation without NAC pretreatment. Compared to the combination group, the irradiation-only group revealed statistically significant SR decrease with the maximal difference at 12 hours. However, at 48 hours the SR of the combination group was significantly lower than the irradiation-only group. $\underline{Conclusion}$: PrxI is suggested to be an antioxidant enzyme because the amount of PrxI was increased by irradiation but decreased pretreatment NAC, a known antioxidants. Furthermore, cisplatin may inhibit PrxI production which may lead to increase cytotoxicity of irradiation. The expression of PrxI may play an important role in cytotoxicity mechanism caused by irradiation and cisplatin.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.117-126
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• 2022

Objective: This study examined whether the addition of triple antioxidants (3A)-10 µM acetyl-L-carnitine, 10 µM N-acetyl-L-cysteine, and 5 µM α-lipoic acid-in freezing-thawing medium during human sperm cryopreservation using the sucrose vitrification (SuV) and liquid nitrogen vapor (Vapor) techniques could improve post-thaw survival of spermatozoa. Methods: We analyzed 30 samples from healthy human sperm donors. Each sample was allocated into one of five groups: fresh control, SuV, SuV+3A, Vapor, and Vapor+3A. The sperm motility, morphology, viability, intracellular and extracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, and sperm DNA fragmentation (SDF) were evaluated. Results: The cryopreserved spermatozoa had significantly reduced percentages of motility (p<0.05) and viability (p<0.05). Antioxidant supplementation non-significantly improved these parameters (p>0.05). No significant differences were found in sperm morphology between the fresh and frozen-thawed groups (p>0.05). After freezing, the extracellular ROS levels in the frozen-thawed groups were significantly higher (p<0.05) than in the fresh group. However, we did not find any differences in intracellular ROS parameters among these groups (p>0.05). The SDF was higher in the SuV and Vapor groups than in the fresh group, but without statistical significance (p=0.075 and p=0.077, respectively). Conclusion: Cryopreservation had detrimental effects on sperm motility, viability, and extracellular ROS levels, without changing the morphology or intracellular ROS levels. Antioxidant supplementation was slightly effective in preventing SDF in frozen-thawed spermatozoa.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.8-16
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• 2016

Reactive oxygen species (ROS), at appropriate concentrations, mediate various normal cellular functions, including defense against pathogens, signal transduction, cellular growth, and gene expression. A recent study demonstrated that ROS and ROS-generating NADPH oxidase (Nox) are important in self-renewal and neuronal differentiation of subventricular zone (SVZ) neural stem cells in adult mouse brains. In this study, we found that endogenous ROS were detected in SVZ neural stem cells cultured from postnatal mouse brains. Nox4 was predominantly expressed in cultured cells, while the levels of the Nox1 and Nox2 transcripts were very low. In addition, the Nox4 gene was highly upregulated (by up to 10-fold) during neuronal differentiation. Immunocytochemical analysis detected the Nox4 protein mainly in neurons positive for the neuronal specific tubulin Tuj1. After differentiation, endogenous ROS were detected exclusively in neuron-like cells with processes. In addition, perturbation of the cellular redox state with N-acetyl cysteine, a ROS scavenger, during neuronal differentiation greatly inhibited neurogenesis. Lastly, knockdown of Nox4 using short hairpin RNA decreased neurogenesis. These findings suggest that Nox4 may be a major ROS-generating enzyme in postnatal SVZ neural stem cells, and Nox4-mediated ROS generation may be important in their neuronal differentiation.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.31-34
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• 2014

We report on a patient who developed acute hepatic failure despite intravenous N-acetyl cysteine therapy who was treated with the Molecular Adsorbents Recirculating System (MARS). She presented 20 hours after the ingestion of 13 g of acetaminophen. The MARS is based on albumin dialysis principle which can be applied for patients with acute poisoning from drugs that have high protein-binding capacity because of its ability to selectively remove from circulation protein-bound toxins. The clinical toxicologist should be consider this technology when treating patients with hepatic failure following acetaminophen poisoning.

• BMB Reports
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.147-152
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• 2012

Methylglyoxal (MG) was identified as an intermediate in non-enzymatic glycation and increased levels were reported in patients with diabetes. In this study, we evaluated the effects of MG on the modification of ferritin. When ferritin was incubated with MG, covalent crosslinking of the protein increased in a time- and MG dose-dependent manner. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavengers, $N-acetyl-_L-cysteine$ and thiourea suppressed the MG-mediated ferritin modification. The formation of dityrosine was observed in MG-mediated ferritin aggregates and ROS scavengers inhibited the formation of dityrosine. During the reaction between ferritin and MG, the generation of ROS was increased as a function of incubation time. These results suggest that ROS may play a role in the modification of ferritin by MG. The reaction between ferritin and MG led to the release of iron ions from the protein. Ferritin exposure to MG resulted in a loss of arginine, histidine and lysine residues. It was assumed that oxidative damage to ferritin caused by MG may induce an increase in the iron content in cells, which is deleterious to cells. This mechanism, in part, may provide an explanation or the deterioration of organs under diabetic conditions.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.1079-1085
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• 2008

The chemopreventive activity of sulforaphane (SFN) occurs through its inhibition of carcinogen-activating enzymes and its induction of detoxification enzymes. However, the exact mechanisms by which SFN exerts its anti-carcinogenic effects are not fully understood. Therefore, the mechanisms underlying the cytoprotective effects of SFN were examined in MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Exposure of cells to SFN (10 ${\mu}M$) induced a transcriptional change in the AKR1C3 gene, which is one of aldo-keto reductases (AKRs) family that is associated with detoxification and antioxidant response. Further analysis revealed that SFN elicited a dose- and time-dependent increase in the expression of both the NRF2 and AKR1C3 proteins. Moreover, this up-regulation of AKR1C3 was inhibited by pretreatment with antioxidant, N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC), which suggests that the up-regulation of AKR1C3 expression induced by SFN involves reactive oxygen species (ROS) signaling. Furthermore, pretreatment of cells with LY294002, a pharmacologic inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), suppressed the SFN-augmented Nrf2 activation and AKR1C3 expression; however, inhibition of PKC or MEK1/2 signaling with $G\ddot{o}6976$ or PD98059, respectively, did not alter SFN-induced AKR1C3 expression. Collectively, these data suggest that SFN can modulate the expression of the AKR1C3 in MCF-7 cells by activation of PI3K via the generation of ROS.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.195-199
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• 2019

Disulfiram (DSF) is a member of the dithiocarbamate family that can bind copper. Recent studies have shown that DSF has anti-cancer activities, but the mechanism has not been clarified. Therefore, it is important to study the action mechanism of DSF to maximize its anticancer effects. A human leukemia cell line, HL-60, was used in this study. HL-60 cells were treated with DSF and the cellular metabolic activity was measured. DSF increased the cell death of HL-60 cells in annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate/propidium iodide staining analysis. In addition, DSF decreased the mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) of the HL-60 cells. The cytotoxicity of DSF on HL-60 cells was observed at 0.4 μM. Interestingly, the reduction of MMP by DSF was recovered by N-acetyl-L-cysteine, an inhibitor of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. This suggests that the decrease in MMP by DSF is closely related to the production of ROS in HL-60 cells, which indicates the relationship between the apoptosis of HL-60 cells by DSF and the role of the mitochondria. This study provides clinicians and researchers with valuable information regarding the anti-cancer activity of DSF in terms of the action mechanism.