• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.419-425
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• 1997

The pharmacokinetics of DWP20364 (1-cyclopropyl -5-amino-6,8-difluoro-7-(2,7-diazabiclo [3,3,0] oct-4-ene-7-yl)-1,4-dihydro-4-oxoquinoline-3-carboxylic acid), a novel fluoroquinolone containing C7-bicyc-talc structure, were compared with those of ciprofloxacin (CPFX) after single intravenous (i.v.) and oral (p.o.) administration to rats using microbiological assay (bioassay). After i.v. administration to rats, the plasma concentrations of the two drugs declined biexponentially. The terminal half-lives (t$_{1}$2$\beta$/) of DWP20364 were 110$\pm$ 13.2 min and 117$\pm$3.09 min after i.v. and p.o. administration, respectively, and they were significantly higher than those of CPFX (45.5$\pm$9.52 min and 48.3$\pm$ 12.1 min, respectively). Similar results were also obtained from plasma concentrations and area under the plasma concentration-time curves. The total body clearance of DWP20364, 7.82$\pm$0.37 ml/min/kg was significantly slower than that of CPFX, 27.3 $\pm$ 11.1 m1/ min/kg. Above data suggested that the antimicrobial activity of DWP20364 could be longer than that of CPFX. The urinary recovery after i.v. and p.o. administration of DWP20364 was significantly lower than those of CPFX suggesting that the effect of DWP20364 on urinary tract infection could be lower than that of CPFX. The serum protein binding values of DWP20364 at 2$\mu$g/ml were apparently 91.5~93.1% in rats and human. DWP20364 was distributed by the order of liver, lung, kidney, sf)leon, heart, muscle and brain collected at 30 min after orally administered.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.99-106
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• 2008

A ligand - whether an endogenous hormone, neurotransmitter, exogenous toxin or synthetic drug - binds to plasma membrane proteins (e.g., ion channels, receptors or other functional proteins) to exert its physiological or pharmacological effects. Ligands can also have functional groups, showing stereospecificity for interaction sites on their counterpart plasma membrane proteins. Previous reports have shown that the ginsenoside Rg$_3$, a bioactive ginsenoside, meets these criteria in that: 1) an aliphatic side chain of $Rg_3$ plays a role as a functional group, 2) Rg$_3$ regulates voltage- and ligand-gated ion channels in a stereospecific manner with respect to carbon-20, and 3) $Rg_3$ regulates subsets of ligand-gated and voltage-gated ion channels through specific interactions with identified amino acid residues inside the channel pore, in the outer pore entryway, or in toxin binding sites. Rg$_3$, therefore, could be a candidate for a novel ginseng-derived glycosidic ligand regulating ion channels and receptors. This review will examine how Rg$_3$ regulates voltage-gated and ligand-gated ion channels through interactions with its target proteins in the plasma membrane. Hopefully, this review will advance understanding of ginseng pharmacology at the cellular and molecular levels.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.1131-1136
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• 2003

Forty-eight individually fed Angus steers (body weight $220kg{\pm}9.1$) were utilized to investigate the effects of copper (Cu) source and concentration on lipid metabolism and carcass quality. Steers were stratified by body weight and initial liver Cu concentration and randomly assigned to one of five groups. Groups were then randomly assigned to treatments. Treatments consisted of: 1) control (no supplemental Cu); 2) 10 mg Cu/kg DM from $CuSO_4$; 3) 10 mg Cu/kg DM from a Cu amino acid complex (Availa Cu) 4) 20 mg Cu/kg DM from $CuSO_4$; and 5) 20 mg Cu/kg DM from Availa Cu. Steers were fed a corn-alfalfa-based growing diet for 56 d. Steers were then switched to a high concentrate finishing diet for 145 d. On day 74 of the finishing phase subcutaneous adipose tissue biopsies were obtained from three steers/treatment to determine basal and stimulated lipolytic rates in vitro. Steers were then slaughtered after receiving the finishing diet for 145 d. Control steers tended (p<0.12) to have lower ceruloplasmin (Cp) activity than Cu supplemented steers. Steers receiving 20 mg Cu/kg DM from Availa Cu had higher (p<0.03) Cp activity than steers receiving 20 mg Cu/kg DM from $CuSO_4$. Plasma non-esterified fatty acids were similar across treatments. Steers receiving 10 mg Cu/kg DM from Availa Cu had higher (p<0.02) total plasma cholesterol concentrations relative to steers receiving 10 mg Cu/kg DM from $CuSO_4$. Steers receiving 20 mg Cu/kg DM from Availa Cu had lower (p<0.03) plasma triglyceride concentrations than steers supplemented with 20 mg Cu/kg DM from $CuSO_4$. Fatty acid profile of longissimus muscle was similar across treatments. Backfat depth tended (p<0.18) to be lower in Cu supplemented steers relative to controls. Steers supplemented with 20 mg Cu/kg DM from Availa Cu had heavier (p<0.03) hot carcass weights and a greater (p<0.02) dressing percentage than steers supplemented with 20 mg Cu/kg DM from $CuSO_4$. Furthermore, in vitro basal (p<0.06) and epinephrine stimulated (p<0.04) lipolytic rates of subcutaneous adipose tissue were higher in Cu supplemented steers relative to controls. The results of this study suggest that Cu supplementation has minimal effects on blood and lean tissue lipid profile. However, it appears that Cu may play a role in lipid metabolism in subcutaneous adipose tissue.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.249-255
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• 2001

Methylmalonic acidemia is a rare congenital autosomal recessive metabolic disease. It is caused by blocking in the pathways of isoleucine, valine, threonine, methionine, cholesterol and odd-chain fatty acids to succinyl CoA, resulting in the increase of L-methylmalonyl CoA and methylmalonic acid. In most cases, there are symptoms such as recurrent vomitings, lethargy and laboratory abnormalities including metabolic acidosis and hyperammonemia from the neonatal period. We had a 6-month-old infant with methylmalonyl acidemia who presented with recurrent vomiting episodes since 3 months of age, failure to thrive and developmental delay. The laboratory findings showed hyperammoninemia and ketotic metabolic acidosis. Plasma amino acid analysis showed nonspecific finding. Urine organic acid ananysis by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry detected large amount of methylmalonic acid excreted in the urine. We restrained the supply of protein in the amount of 1~1.5 g/kg of body weight a day using leucine, isoleucine and valine-r-estrained milk and administered vitamine $B_{12}$, in the amount of 1mg per day. During the follow-up in the outpatient clinic, He could control his head and showed increased muscle strength.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.933-942
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• 2003

CoenzymeQ is a quinone derivative with a long isoprenoid side chain. It transports electrons in the respiratory chain located in the inner mitochondrial membrane of eukaryotes and the plasma membrane of prokaryotes. It also functions as an antioxidant. Saccharomyces cerevisine coq mutants, that are deficient coenzyme Q biosynthesis fail to aerobically grow. They are not able to grow on non-fermentable carbon sources, such as glycerol, either The putative $coq^{-7}$ gene involved in coenzyme Q biosynthesis of Neurospora crassa was cloned and used for complementation of S. cerevisiae coq7 mutant. The predicted amino acid sequence of N. crassa COQ7 showed about 58% homology with Coq7p of S. cerevisiae. The growth rate of S. cerevisiae $coq^7$ mutant transformed with the N. crassa $coq^{-7}$ gene was restored to the wild-type level. The complemented 5. cerevisiae strain was able to grow with glycerol as a sole carbon source and showed less sensitivities to linolenic acid, a polyunsaturated fatty acid.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.24 no.7
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• pp.974-981
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• 2011

This study was designed to re-evaluate the dietary methionine requirement by means of the plasma methionine and ammonia concentrations in surgically modified rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss. A total of 35 rainbow trout averaging $505{\pm}6.5$ g (initial body weight, mean${\pm}$SD) were randomly distributed into seven groups with five fish in each group. After 48 h of feed deprivation, each group of fish was fed one of seven L-amino acid based diets containing 0.5% cystine and graded levels of methionine (0.25, 0.40, 0.50, 0.60, 0.70, 0.80 or 0.95% of diet, dry matter bases) by intubation at 1% body weight on dry matter basis. Blood samples were taken at 0, 5 and 24 h after intubation. Post-prandial plasma free methionine concentrations (PPmet, 5 h after intubation) and post-absorptive plasma free methionine concentrations (PAmet, 24 h after intubation) of fish fed diets containing 0.60% or higher methionine were significantly (p<0.05) higher than those of fish fed diets containing 0.50% or lower methionine. PPmet and PAmet in fish fed diets containing 0.60% or higher methionine were not significantly different except PPmet of fish fed diet containing 0.95% methionine. Post-prandial plasma ammonia concentrations (PPA, 5 h after intubation) of fish fed diets containing 0.70% or higher methionine were significantly higher than those of fish fed diets containing 0.60% or lower methionine, and PPA of fish fed diets containing 0.25 and up to 0.60% methionine were not significantly different from each other. Broken-line model analyses on PPmet, PAmet, and PPA indicated that the dietary methionine requirement of rainbow trout was between 0.59 (1.69) and 0.67 (1.91) % of diets (% dietary protein bases) when the diets contained 0.5% cystine.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.7-17
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• 1985

Many investigators have been pursuing various attempts so far to produce hepatitis B surface antigen(HBsAg) vaccines using the techniques such as isolation from plasma of chronic HBsAg carrier, recombinant DNA technique or preparation of synthetic peptides specific for immunogenic determinants. Hepatitis B virus can not grow on any cell lines by the tissue culture technique at the present time. The plasma of chronic HBsAg carrier is expensive and its source is limited. The HBsAg from the recombinant DNA technique gave still very low yield. Another approach, therefore, has been initiated to develop a synthetic hepatitis B virus vaccine. The possible use of several distinct synthetic vaccines in prophylaxis can be facilitated by availability of full synthetic immunogens. Peptides synthesized for potential application as antiviral vaccines have been mostly tested in the form of conjugates with carrier proteins, although the free synthetic peptide can be immunogenic. To understand basic knowledges on the antigenicity and immunogenicity of a synthetic peptide specific for major immunogenic determinant of HBsAg, a nonapeptide, $H_2N^{139}Cys-Thr-Lys-Pro-Thr-Asp-Gly-^{146}Asn-Aba$ COOH, which corresponds to HBsAg amino acid residues 139 to 147, was synthesized by the Merrifield's solid-phase method with a slight modification. The antigenicity and immunogenicity of this specific synthetic peptide were examined comparing with purified plasma-derived natural HBsAg. The results obtained are as follows; 1. The peptide synthesized showed the identical amino acid composition to the theoretical value. The degree of purification and molecular weight were acertained by methods of high performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. 2. Using m-maleimidobenzoyl-N-hydroxysuccinimide ester as a conjugating agent, the synthetic peptide was conjugated to rabbit albumin and ${\gamma}$-globulin, tetanus and diphtheria toxoids, and keyhole limpet hemocyanin. Their conjugation yields were 8.3, 9.5, 15.8, 13.5, and 11.2%, respectively. 3. The natural HBsAg was purified from plasma of chronic HBsAg carrier. By the electron microscopic observation of the purified natural HBsAg preparation, no Dane particles were observed and the preparation showed negative DNA polymerase activity. 4. Antigenicity of the synthetic peptide and the plasma-derived natural HBsAg was determined by competition radioimmunoassay using $^{125}I$-natural HBsAg. Their 50% inhibitions appeared as $90{\mu}g/ml$ and $0.12{\mu}g/ml$ for the synthetic peptide and the natural HBsAg, respectively. This indicates that the former was about 750-fold less antigenic than the latter. 5. Immunogenicity of the synthetic peptide was determined by administering the peptide-carrier conjugates into rabbits with and without Freund's complete adjuvant. Regardless the carrier proteins and adjuvant, positive immune responses to the synthetic peptide were observed. The higher antibody titers, however, were shown in the groups administered with Freund's complete adjuvant. 6. Immunizing dose 50% in mice of the various peptide-carrier conjugates was 5.47, 6.00, 65.16, 31.25 and $13.03{\mu}g/dose$ for rabbit albumin and ${\gamma}$-globulin, tetanus and diphtheria toxoids, and keyhole limpet hemocyanin, respectively, while the natural HBsAg showed $0.65{\mu}g/dose$. 7. It was postulated that homologous proteins prefer to heterologous ones as the carriers.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.279-292
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• 1996

To assess their stability as a prodrug of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), four N-acyloxycarbonyl derivatives (1-(N-tert-butyloxycarbonyl)glycyloxymethyl-5-FU :BGFU, 1-(N-tert-butyloxycar bonyl)-leucyloxymethyl-5-FU:BLFU, 1-(N-tert-carbobenzyloxymethyl) glycyloxymethyl-5-FU:CGFU and 1-(N-tert-carbobenzlyoxymethyl)leucyloxymethyl-5-FU:CLFU) possessing differently protected amino acids, and two acetic acid derivatives (5FU-1-acetylpentane:FUAP and 5-FU-1-acetylhexane:FUAH) were synthesized and their physicochemical properties, hydrolysis kinetics, acute toxicity and antitumor activity were evaluated. The lipid-water partition coefficients of six 5-FU prodrugs were higher than that of 5-FU and their aqueous solubilities were in the following rank order; BGFU>FUAP>CGFU>BLFU>CLFU${\simeq}$FUAH. The hydrolysis of N-acyloxycarboyl derivatives, greater at higher pH, was enhanced in presence of liver homogenate or human plasma. Meanwhile, acetic acid ester derivatives, very stable, were hydrolyzed by liver homogenate. Absorption rate constants were 0.181, 0.121, 0.111, 0.168, 0.168, 0.116 and 0.125 $hr^{-1}$ for 5-FU, BGFU, BLFU, CGFU, CLFU, FUAP and FUAH, respectively. The cytotoxicity of N-acyloxycarbonyl derivatives was 4 to 5 times lower than that of 5-FU, but that of acetic acid ester derivatives was negligeble. The $LD_{50}$ values were 204, 325.97 (133.59, amount as 5-FU), 708.16 (262.13), 663.50 (211.77), 382.33 (192.54) and 272.33 (130.09) mg/kg for 5-FU, BGFU, CGFU, CLFU, FUAP and FUAH, respectively. While N-acyloxycarbonyl derivatives showed enhanced antitumor activity and therapeutic ratio (3.30, 3.06, 4.19, 3.11 and 1.81 for BGFU, BLFU, CGFU, CLFU and 5-FU, respectively), FUAH and FUAP showed a smaller therapeutic ratio (0.79 and 0.83).

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.46-61
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• 2024

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: An increasing life expectancy in society has burdened healthcare systems substantially because of the rising prevalence of age-related metabolic diseases. This study compared the effects of animal protein hydrolysate (APH) and casein on metabolic diseases using aged mice. MATERIALS/METHODS: Eight-week-old and 50-week-old C57BL/6J mice were used as the non-aged (YC group) and aged controls (NC group), respectively. The aged mice were divided randomly into 3 groups (NC, low-APH [LP], and high-APH [HP] and fed each experimental diet for 12 weeks. In the LP and HP groups, casein in the AIN-93G diet was substituted with 16 kcal% and 24 kcal% APH, respectively. The mice were sacrificed when they were 63-week-old, and plasma and hepatic lipid, white adipose tissue weight, hepatic glucose, lipid, and antioxidant enzyme activities, immunohistochemistry staining, and mRNA expression related to the glucose metabolism on liver and muscle were analyzed. RESULTS: Supplementation of APH in aging mice resulted in a significant decrease in visceral fat (epididymal, perirenal, retroperitoneal, and mesenteric fat) compared to the negative control (NC) group. The intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test and area under the curve analysis revealed insulin resistance in the NC group, which was alleviated by APH supplementation. APH supplementation reduced hepatic gluconeogenesis and increased glucose utilization in the liver and muscle. Furthermore, APH supplementation improved hepatic steatosis by reducing the hepatic fatty acid and phosphatidate phosphatase activity while increasing the hepatic carnitine palmitoyltransferase activity. Furthermore, in the APH supplementation groups, the red blood cell (RBC) thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and hepatic H₂O₂ levels decreased, and the RBC glutathione, hepatic catalase, and glutathione peroxidase activities increased. CONCLUSIONS: APH supplementation reduced visceral fat accumulation and alleviated obesity-related metabolic diseases, including insulin resistance and hepatic steatosis, in aged mice. Therefore, high-quality animal protein APH that reduces the molecular weight and enhances the protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score has potential as a dietary supplement for healthy aging.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.183-190
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• 2009

The plasma membrane-localized BRASSINOSTEROID-INSENSITIVE1 (BRI1) and BRI1-ASSOCIATED KINASE1 (BAK1) are a well-known receptor pair involved in brassinosteroids (BR) signaling in Arabidposis. The formation of a receptor complex in response to BRs and the subsequent activation of cytoplasmic domain kinase activity share mechanistic characteristics with animal receptor kinases. Here, we demonstrate that BRI1 and BAK1 are BR-dependently phosphorylated, and that phosphorylated forms of the two proteins persist for different lengths of time. Mutations of either protein abolished phosphorylation of the counterpart protein, implying transphosphorylation of the receptor kinases. To investigate the specific amino acids critical for formation of the receptor complex and activation of BAK1 kinase activity, we expressed several versions of BAK1 in yeast and plants. L32E and L46E substitutions resulted in a loss of binding of BAK1 to BRI1, and threonine T455 was essential for the kinase activity of BAK1 in yeast. Transgenic bri1 mutant plants overexpressing BAK1(L46E) displayed reduced apical dominance and seed development. In addition, transgenic wild type plants overexpressing BAK1(T455A) lost the phosphorylation activity normally exhibited in response to BL, leading to semi-dwarfism. These results suggest that BAK1 is a critical component regulating the duration of BR efficacy, even though it cannot directly bind BRs in plants.