• Applied Microscopy
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• 제28권4호
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• pp.425-434
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• 1998

This study was designed to investigate the microglial reactions to the neurodegenerative changes in the cat retina. All experiments were performed using adult cats of both sex, weighing $2,500g\sim3,500g$. 5,7-DHT $(100{\mu}g)$ dissolved in 0.1% ascorbic acid was injected into the vitreous body. All injections were performed in one-side eye; the other side served as the control, which was injected only with 0.1% ascorbic acid. Cats were sacrificed at 1, 3, 7, 14 and 21 days after intravitreal injection of 5,7-DHT For light microscopy, retinae were fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde and processed using NDPase histochemistry. Same retinae were fixed with 1% para(formaldehyde-2.5% glutaraldehyde and processed for electron microscopy. NDPase-positive microglial cells were mainly distributed in the inner plexiform layer of the retina, and characterized by a small somata with a few slender processes, which were also extended in the ganglion cell layer (GCL) and inner nuclear layer (INL). The intensity of the microglia stained for NDPase was abruptly increased at 7 day as compared with that of the control, and thereafter continuously sustained until 21 day, the last experimental group in this study. Under the electron microscopical observation, microglial cells in the control group exhibited elongate nucleus with perinuclear chromatin condensation, and the perikaryon was scanty. However, a few hypertrophic glial cells were frequently found at 3 days after the drug injection. By 7 day, most microglial cells directed toward the degenerated neurons in the GCL, and the number of microglial cells was slightly increased as compared with the former group. At the 14 day, most microglial cells wrapped the degenerated cells in the GCL, and a few cells showed phagocytotic features. By 21 day, most microglial cells were engaged in phagocytotic activity, and their cytoplasm was filled with the phagorytosed material. Based on the results, 5,7-DHT may act as a specific neurotoxin to the cat retina, and microglial reactions to the neuronal death are already induced in early experimental stage. These results indicate that the microglial cells in the cat retina show characteristic features as a protective effect of neural tissue.

• 한국수정란이식학회지
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• 제30권3호
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• pp.239-248
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• 2015

The nature of molecular mechanisms governing embryonic cell block is largely unknown, but recent reports have demonstrated that proper execution of programmed cell death is crucial for this process. The main objective of this study is to determine effects of programmed cell death on porcine oocytes development in vitro after parthenogenesis. Among the blastocysts matured in 3MA, MAP1LC3A and ATG5 RNA gene expression level increased in the order of Cyst < 3MA < RP. However, Casp-3 and TNF-r RNA gene expression level decreased in the order of RP < 3MA < Cyst. Expression of mTOR within the RP-cultured blastocyst was the most highly to the inner cell mass, while 3MA-cultured blastocyst showed very lowest expression in inner cell mass. The expression of mTOR showed a pattern opposite to that of MAP1LC3A. That is, its expression was the lowest in Cyst group. When the enzymatic activity of MMP-2 and MMP-9 was assessed in culture, the level of active MMP-9 was higher expression in the medium of each RP treatment group, with the level of another treatment group being relatively higher. Analyses of TIMP-2 and TIMP-3 revealed that their expression was higher in groups that did not receive RP treatment. More specifically, the level of TIMP-2 was not affected by Cyst treatment, while the level of TIMP-3 was higher in 3MA and RP treatment group. There was highly cell division activation efficiency of parthenogenesis on cultured system of RP supplement IVC medium. Therefore, these results suggest that embryo development was significantly increased in conditional culture medium with active autophagy as compared to common cultured condition. Further investigation of this distinction may enable the development of innovative improvements for the production of porcine somatic cell nuclear transfer.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• 제19권4호
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• pp.365-372
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• 2015

Aripiprazole (ARI) is a commonly prescribed medication used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. To date, there have been no studies regarding the molecular pathological and immunotoxicological profiling of aripiprazole. Thus, in the present study, we prepared two different formulas of aripiprazole [Free base crystal of aripiprazole (ARPGCB) and cocrystal of aripiprazole (GCB3004)], and explored their effects on the patterns of survival and apoptosis-regulatory proteins under acute toxicity and cytotoxicity test conditions. Furthermore, we also evaluated the modulatory activity of the different formulations on the immunological responses in macrophages primed by various stimulators such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS), pam3CSK, and poly(I:C) via toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), TLR2, and TLR3 pathways, respectively. In liver, both ARPGCB and GCB3004 produced similar toxicity profiles. In particular, these two formulas exhibited similar phospho-protein profiling of p65/nuclear factor $(NF)-{\kappa}B$, c-Jun/activator protein (AP)-1, ERK, JNK, p38, caspase 3, and bcl-2 in brain. In contrast, the patterns of these phospho-proteins were variable in other tissues. Moreover, these two formulas did not exhibit any cytotoxicity in C6 glioma cells. Finally, the two formulations at available in vivo concentrations did not block nitric oxide (NO) production from activated macrophage-like RAW264.7 cells stimulated with LPS, pam3CSK, or poly(I:C), nor did they alter the morphological changes of the activated macrophages. Taken together, our present work, as a comparative study of two different formulas of aripiprazole, suggests that these two formulas can be used to achieve similar functional activation of brain proteins related to cell survival and apoptosis and immunotoxicological activities of macrophages.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• 제11권1호
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• pp.3-10
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• 2017

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Sargassum horneri is an edible brown alga that grows in the subtidal zone as an annual species along the coasts of South Korea, China, and Japan. Recently, an extreme amount of S. horneri moved into the coasts of Jeju Island from the east coast of China, which made huge economic and environmental loss to the Jeju Island. Thus, utilization of this biomass becomes a big issue with the local authorities. Therefore, the present study was performed to evaluate the anti-inflammatory potential of crude polysaccharides (CPs) extracted from S. horneri China strain in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. MATERIALS/METHODS: CPs were precipitated from S. horneri digests prepared by enzyme assistant extraction using four food-grade enzymes (AMG, Celluclast, Viscozyme, and Alcalase). The production levels of nitric oxide (NO) and pro-inflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-${\alpha}$ and interleukin (IL)-$1{\beta}$ were measured by Griess assay and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, respectively. The levels of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), nuclear factor (NF)-${\kappa}B$, and mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) were measured by using western blot. The IR spectrums of the CPs were recorded using a fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) spectrometer. RESULTS: The polysaccharides from the Celluclast enzyme digest (CCP) showed the highest inhibition of NO production in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells ($IC_{50}$ value: $95.7{\mu}g/mL$). Also, CCP dose-dependently down-regulated the protein expression levels of iNOS and COX-2 as well as the production of inflammatory cytokines, including TNF-${\alpha}$ and IL-$1{\beta}$, compared to the only LPS-treated cells. In addition, CCP inhibited the activation of NF-${\kappa}B$ p50 and p65 and the phosphorylation of MAPKs, including p38 and extracellular signal-regulated kinase, in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. Furthermore, FT-IR analysis showed that the FT-IR spectrum of CCP is similar to that of commercial fucoidan. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that CCP has anti-inflammatory activities and is a potential candidate for the formulation of a functional food ingredient or/and drug to treat inflammatory diseases.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• 제12권2호
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• pp.93-100
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• 2018

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Oxidative stress plays a key role in neuronal cell damage, which is associated with neurodegenerative disease. The aim of present study was to investigate the neuroprotective effects of perilla oil (PO) and its active component, alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), against hydrogen peroxide $(H_2O_2)$-induced oxidative stress in SH-SY5Y neuronal cells. MATERIALS/METHODS: The SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells exposed to $250{\mu}M$ $H_2O_2$ for 24 h were treated with different concentrations of PO (25, 125, 250 and $500{\mu}g/mL$) and its major fatty acid, ALA (1, 2.5, 5 and $25{\mu}g/mL$). We examined the effects of PO and ALA on $H_2O_2$-induced cell viability, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release, and nuclear condensation. Moreover, we determined whether PO and ALA regulated the apoptosis-related protein expressions, such as cleaved-poly ADP ribose polymerase (PARP), cleaved caspase-9 and -3, BCL-2 and BAX. RESULTS: Treatment of $H_2O_2$ resulted in decreased cell viability, increased LDH release, and increase in the nuclei condensation as indicated by Hoechst 33342 staining. However, PO and ALA treatment significantly attenuated the neuronal cell death, indicating that PO and ALA potently blocked the $H_2O_2$-induced neuronal apoptosis. Furthermore, cleaved-PARP, cleaved caspase-9 and -3 activations were significantly decreased in the presence of PO and ALA, and the $H_2O_2$-induced up-regulated BAX/BCL-2 ratio was blocked after treatment with PO and ALA. CONCLUSIONS: PO and its main fatty acid, ALA, exerted the protective activity from neuronal oxidative stress induced by $H_2O_2$. They regulated apoptotic pathway in neuronal cell death by alleviation of BAX/BCL-2 ratio, and down-regulation of cleaved-PARP and cleaved caspase-9 and -3. Although further studies are required to verify the protective mechanisms of PO and ALA from neuronal damage, PO and ALA are the promising agent against oxidative stress-induced apoptotic neuronal cell death.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제27권4호
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• pp.475-480
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• 2009

The transcription of soybean (Glycine max) calmodulin isoform-4 (GmCaM-4) is dramatically induced within 0.5 h of exposure to pathogen or NaCl. Core cis-acting elements that regulate the expression of the GmCaM-4 gene in response to pathogen and salt stress were previously identified, between -1,207 and -1,128 bp, and between -858 and -728 bp, in the GmCaM-4 promoter. Here, we characterized the properties of the DNA-binding complexes that form at the two core cis-acting elements of the GmCaM-4 promoter in pathogen-treated nuclear extracts. We generated GUS reporter constructs harboring various deletions of approximately 1.3-kb GmCaM-4 promoter, and analyzed GUS expression in tobacco plants transformed with these constructs. The GUS expression analysis suggested that the two previously identified core regions are involved in inducing GmCaM-4 expression in the heterologous system. Finally, a transient expression assay of Arabidopsis protoplasts showed that the GmCaM-4 promoter produced greater levels of GUS activity than did the CaMV35S promoter after pathogen or NaCl treatments, suggesting that the GmCaM-4 promoter may be useful in the production of conditional gene expression systems.

• 한국수산과학회지
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• 제31권4호
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• pp.560-566
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• 1998

Lactobacillus sp. GM7311이 생산하는 박테리오신의 Gram 양성균에 대한 작용 형태를 알아보기 위하여, 세가지 시험균주의 TSB 배양액에 일정한 시간 간격별로 $100\;Bu/m{\ell}$ 되도록 박테리오신을 첨가한 후 그 균수 변화와 작용 특성을 살펴보았다. 우선, 시험 균주의 증식 시기별로 박테리오신을 첨가한 경우 Listeria monocytogenes는 대수증식기 후기 이후에 억제작용을 나타낸 반면, Bacillus subtilis의 경우는 대수증식기 중기 이전까지의 시험균에 대해서 강한 억제작용을 보였으며, Staphylococcus aureus는 정지기 이전의 시험균에 대해 큰 항균 효과를 나타냈다 또한 박테리오신을 처리한 세 가지 시험 균주를 전자 현미경으로 관찰했을 때, L. monocpogenes와 B. subtilis는 세포벽 파괴에 의한 세포내 물질의 유출이 관찰되었으나, S. aureus는 다른 두 균주와 달리 박테리오신에 의한 세포벽의 파괴 현상은 없었으며 다만 세포벽이 대조구에 비해 엷어진 것이 관찰되었다. 아미노산 및 지방산 조성의 변화를 조사하여 박테리오신을 처리하지 않은 대조구와 비교하였을 때, 아미노산의 경우는 세 균주 모두에서 대부분의 성분이 감소하는 경향을 보였고 지방산은 큰 조성상의 변화나 공통된 특정지방산 성분의 감소 등은 나타나지 않았으며 각 성분들의 함량이 증감하는 경향을 보였다.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• 제15권6호
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• pp.686-702
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• 2021

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Schisandrae Fructus, the fruit of Schisandra chinensis Baill., has traditionally been used as a medicinal herb for the treatment of various diseases, and has proven its various pharmacological effects, including anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. In this study, we investigated the inhibitory effect of Schisandrae Fructus ethanol extract (SF) on inflammatory and oxidative stress in particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5)-treated RAW 264.7 macrophages. MATERIALS/METHODS: To investigate the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects of SF in PM2.5-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells, the levels of pro-inflammatory mediator such as nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E₂ (PGE₂), cytokines including interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-1β, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) were measured. To elucidate the mechanism underlying the effect of SF, the expression of genes involved in the generation of inflammatory factors was also investigated. We further evaluated the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant efficacy of SF against PM2.5 in the zebrafish model. RESULTS: The results indicated that SF treatment significantly inhibited the PM2.5-induced release of NO and PGE₂, which was associated with decreased inducible NO synthase and cyclooxygenase-2 expression. SF also attenuated the PM2.5-induced expression of IL-6 and IL-1β, reducing their extracellular secretion. Moreover, SF suppressed the PM2.5-mediated translocation of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) from the cytosol into nuclei and the degradation of inhibitor IκB-α, indicating that SF exhibited anti-inflammatory effects by inhibiting the NF-κB signaling pathway. In addition, SF abolished PM2.5-induced generation of ROS, similar to the pretreatment of a ROS scavenger, but not by an inhibitor of NF-κB activity. Furthermore, SF showed strong protective effects against NO and ROS production in PM2.5-treated zebrafish larvae. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that SF exerts anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects against PM2.5 through ROS-dependent down-regulating the NF-κB signaling pathway, and that SF can be a potential functional substance to prevent PM2.5-mediated inflammatory and oxidative damage.

• 생물정신의학
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• 제26권1호
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• pp.22-31
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• 2019

Objectives Previous studies have revealed inconsistent results on amygdala volume in adult bipolar disorder (BD) patients compared to healthy controls (HC). Since the amygdala encompasses multiple subregions, the subtle volume changes in each amygdala nucleus might have not been fully reflected in the measure of the total amygdala volume, causing discrepant results. Thus, we aimed to investigate volume changes in each amygdala subregion and their association with subtypes of BD, lithium use and clinical status of BD. Methods Fifty-five BD patients and 55 HC underwent T1-weighted structural magnetic resonance imaging. We analyzed volumes of the whole amygdala and each amygdala subregion, including the anterior amygdaloid area, cortico-amygdaloid transition area, basal, lateral, accessory basal, central, cortical, medial and paralaminar nuclei using the atlas in the FreeSurfer. The volume difference was analyzed using a one-way analysis of covariance with individual volumes as dependent variables, and age, sex, and total intracranial volume as covariates. Results The volumes of whole right amygdala and subregions including basal nucleus, accessory basal nucleus, anterior amygdaloid area, and cortico-amygdaloid transition area in the right amygdala of BD patients were significantly smaller for the HC group. No significant volume difference between bipolar I disorder and bipolar II disorder was found after the Bonferroni correction. The trend of larger volume in medial nucleus with lithium treatment was not significant after the Bonferroni correction. No significant correlation between illness duration and amygdala volume, and insignificant negative correlation were found between right central nucleus volume and depression severity. Conclusions Significant volume decrements of the whole amygdala, basal nucleus, accessory basal nucleus, anterior amygdaloid area, and cortico-amygdaloid transition area were found in the right hemisphere in adult BD patients, compared to HC group. We postulate that such volume changes are associated with altered functional activity and connectivity of amygdala nuclei in BD.

• 생명과학회지
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• 제29권5호
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• pp.514-523
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• 2019

인삼(Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer)의 사포닌 진세노사이드 Rb1이 처리된 인간 피부각질세포 HaCaT에서 microarray 분석 및 발현이 증가된 세포사멸 반응에 대한 작용기전을 연구하였다. HaCaT 세포에 진세노사이드 Rb1의 처리로 세포사멸, 유사분열 세포주기의 G2/M 전이, 세포분열, 핵분열, 그리고 단백질 수송 등의 작용기전에 관여하는 유전자들이 2 배 이상 발현이 증가된 것으로 나타났으며, DNA 수선, 감수 핵분열, 그리고 세포외기질 체계 등의 작용기전에 관여하는 유전자들은 2 배 이상 발현이 감소된 것으로 나타났다. 특히 세포사멸 신호전달은 FAS와 PLA2G4A를 경유하는 것으로 나타났으며, 이들 유전자의 상위 조절자로 STAT3가 예측되었다. 세포사멸 반응 경유 유전자 FAS와 PLA2G4A의 활성을 qPCR로 확인한 결과, FAS 유전자는 $10{\mu}g/ml$의 진세노사이드 Rb1를 24시간 동안 처리하였을 경우 약 2 배의 발현 증가와, PLA2G4A 유전자는 6시간 처리부터 약 2 배로 증가되어 24시간 동안 처리시 2 배 이상의 유전자 발현이 증가되었다. 한편 STAT3-siRNA를 이용한 knock-down 실험에서 FAS의 발현 감소와 PLA2G4A의 발현 증가로 상위 조절자 STAT3로부터 FAS 만을 경유하는 것을 알 수 있었다. 이상의 결과 진세노사이드 Rb1의 처리에 의해 상위 조절자인 STAT3는 FAS를 경유하여 세포사멸을 유도하는 것임을 알 수 있다.