• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.10
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• pp.1415-1421
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of an L-arginine supplementation and regular exercise training on NF-${\kappa}B$, TNF-${\alpha}$, iNOS, Cav-1, eNOS and Ang II in the aortas of D-galactose (D-gal) induced aging rats. The male Strague-Dawley rats were treated with a D-galactose aging inducing agent; the D-gal injection (50 mg/kg) was given intraperitoneally for 12 wk. Experimental groups were divided into five groups: (1) Young control group (Y-Con, n=8), (2) Aging control group (A-Con, n=8), (3) Aging exercise group (A-Ex, n=8), (4) Aging exercise group with L-arginine supplementation group (A-Ex+A, n=8), and (5) Aging with L-arginine supplementation group (A-A, n=8). The exercise consisted of running on a treadmill for 60 min/day at 20 m/min for 6 day/wk, at 0% gradient for 12 wk. The L-arginine supplementation was given orally at a dose of 150 mg/kg/day for 12 wk. The findings of this study were as follows: 1. NF-${\kappa}B$, TNF-${\alpha}$, iNOS, Cav-1 and Ang II proteins in the aortas of D-gal induced rats were significantly increased, however, L-arginine supplementation and regular exercise resulted in a significant inhibition in the expression of NF-${\kappa}B$, TNF-${\alpha}$, iNOS, Cav-1 and Ang II proteins. 2. eNOS protein in the aortas of D-gal induced rats was significantly decreased, however, L-arginine supplementation and regular exercise resulted in a significant increase in the expression of eNOS proteins. In conclusion, the findings of the present study reveal that L-arginine supplementation alone or regular exercise alone or in combination with L-arginine supplementation for 12 wk increases anti-inflammatory effects by decreasing NF-${\kappa}B$, TNF-${\alpha}$, and iNOS protein expressions within the aortic tissue. In addition, L-arginine supplementation alone or regular exercise alone or in combination with L-arginine supplementation may prevent endothelial function by up-regulation of eNOS protein in the aortas of D-gal induced aging rats.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.49-56
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• 2011

To investigate the toxicological effects of ${\beta}$-glucan, we performed basic studying on ${\beta}$-glucan in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Standard endpoints in this study included mortality, clinical observations, changes of body weights, analysis on food consumption, ophthalmoscopic examination, hematologic examination, serum biochemistry, analysis of organ weights, gross anatomic pathology and histopathology. No clinical signs and mortality were observed in animals treated with beta-glucan throughout the experimental period. The average body weight of each treatment groups showed similar levels at end of experiment. There were no treatment-related changes in mortality, body weights changes, food consumption, ophthalmoscopic examination. Although there were statistically significant differences between the control and treated groups in some relative and absolute organ weights, and hematological and biochemical analysis, the data were in biologically normal ranges and did not show a dose-dependent manner. In the morphological change, hepatic tissue were not showed ballooning degeneration and irregular arrangement of hepatic cell in ${\beta}$-glucan treatment groups with control group. Also, organs weights (liver, heart, kidney and stomach) and hematological indices (WBC, RBC, Hb, Hct and Platelet) did not show statistically significant differences among the experimental groups. In summary of these results, there were no changes in mortality, mean body weight, clinical signs, food consumption. There were no changes in ophthalmological examination, hematology, blood chemistry, necropsy and histopathology. In conclusion, although further investigation of glucan should be performed in the functions registered in many ancient literatures, ${\beta}$-glucan is physiologically safe and may have potential as candidate food for human health.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.51 no.10
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• pp.1102-1111
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• 2008

Purpose : Resveratrol, extracted from red wine and grapes, has an anti-cancer effect, an antiinflammatory effect, and an antioxidative effect mainly in heart disease and also has neuroprotective effects in the adult animal model. No studies for neuroprotective effects during the neonatal periods have been reported. Therefore, we studied the neuroprotective effect of resveratrol on hypoxic-ischemic brain damage in neonatal rats via anti-apoptosis. Methods : Embryonic cortical neuronal cell culture of rat brain was performed using pregnant Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats at 18 days of gestation (E18) for the in vitro approach. We injured the cells with hypoxia and administered resveratrol (1, 10, and $30{\mu}g/mL$) to the cells at 30 minutes before hypoxic insults. In addition, unilateral carotid artery ligation with hypoxia was induced in 7-day-old neonatal rats for the in vivo approach. We injected resveratrol (30 mg/kg) intraperitoneally into animal models. Real-time PCR and Western blotting were performed to identify the neuroprotective effects of resveratrol through anti-apoptosis. Results : In the in vitro approach of hypoxia, the expression of Bax, caspase-3, and the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2, indicators of the level of apoptosis, were significantly increased in the hypoxia group compared to the normoxia group. In the case of the resveratrol-treated group, expression was significantly decreased compared to the hypoxia group. And the results in the in vivo approach were the same as in the in vitro approach. Conclusion : The present study demonstrates that resveratrol plays neuroprotective role in hypoxic-ischemic brain damage during neonatal periods through the mechanism of anti-apoptosis.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.297-306
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• 2010

Tributyltin (TBT), an endocrine disrupting chemical, has been reported to decrease testicular function by causing apoptosis in the testis, but this mechanism is not fully understood. Thus, in this study we examined whether TBT induces adipogenesis of the Leydig cells to find out the correlation between adipogenesis and apoptosis in the testis. Three week old SD male rats were orally administrated with sesame oil, 1 mg/kg of TBT, or 10 mg/kg of TBT daily for 1 week and weighed after administration. The testes obtained on day 8 were weighed and stained with BODIPY and TUNEL kit. Using total RNA extracted from the isolated Leydig cells, adipogenesis and apoptosis-related genes were analyzed by real-time PCR. The testicular weights of the rats treated with 10 mg/kg TBT were significantly decreased compared to those in the control rats treated with sesame oil. As a result of BODIPY staining, the number of Leydig cells stained with BODIPY was increased in the rats treated with 10 mg/kg TBT compared with the control rats. Similar to BODIPY staining results, the TUNEL assay showed that the apoptosis of Leydig cells was increased in TBT treated rats. The results of the gene expression analysis in the Leydig cells showed that the expression of adipogenesis-related genes (PPAR${\gamma}$, aP2, Perilipin, CD36) and apoptosis-related genes (TNFRSF1A, TNFSF10) was increased after TBT administration. The present study demonstrates that TBT induces the expression of adipogenesis-related and apoptosis-related genes in the Leydig cells leading to adipogenesis and apoptosis in the testes. These results suggest that the dysfunction of Leydig cells by TBT exposure may cause a loss in testicular function.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.13-21
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• 1987

The effect of local hyperthermia of 41 to $43^{\circ}C$ for 30 minutes on radiosensitivity of normal tissue was studied utilizing jejunal crypt microcolony assay. Hyperthermia of this range enhanced the radiation effect and the effect was mainly additive without significant effect on the slopes of cell survival curves. At the isoeffect level of 20 microcolony formation, the thermal enhancement ratio was 1.02, 1.10 and 1.39 for $41^{\circ},\;42^{\circ}\;and\;43^{\circ}C$, respectively. The distribution of microcolony formation along the circumference of jejunum was not uniform, having more colonies around the mesenteric border, and this suggests the effect of uneven cooling by blood circulation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.701-707
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• 2008

Antidiabetic effect of Korean red ginseng (RG) processed by puffing in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic (DM) rats was investigated. Five week-old SD rats were divided into four groups; normal control (NC) group, DM group, red ginseng (RG) group and puffed red ginseng (PG) group. The RG and PG groups were orally provided with RG or PG dissolved in water (500 mg/kg) respectively for seven weeks after single injection of STZ (50 mg/kg, i.v.) followed by identification of DM. NC group received saline vehicle instead of STZ. At the end of feeding of RG or PG, the changes of fasting blood glucose, serum insulin and amylase level and serum lipid profiles were evaluated. Also, oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), comet assay and histopathological examination were performed. At 7th week, the fasting blood glucose levels of the RG and PG groups were reduced compared to the DM group by 11.54% and 20.22%, respectively. The result of OGTT did not show significant differences among DM and two red ginseng groups. While serum insulin and TG levels were predominantly improved in PG group (p<0.05), serum amylase level was increased in RG group. Alkaline comet assay for checking the oxidative damage of DNA showed that TL (tail length, ${\mu}m$) and TM (tail moment) in the blood lymphocyte of PG group significantly decreased in contrast with DM group. Histopathological results of pancreas showed that destruction of exocrine as well as endocrine might be cured by the administration of RG and PG. These results suggest that PG could exert more protection against STZ-induced toxicity than RG group.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.335-341
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• 2022

The purpose of this study was to investigate the radiation protection effect of blueberries. The experimental animals used in this study were 8-week-old 21 SD male rats weighed 280-300 g. The animals were set to a normal group (A), a 5 Gy control group (B), and a 5 Gy experimental group (C) of seven rats each, and (50 mg/kg/day) of physiological saline solution of blueberries were orally administered twice a day with an oral dose of (200 mg/kg/day) for seven days and 5 Gy of radiation was irradiated in the case of groups B and C. As a result, it was identified that there was significance in white blood cells in this study (p<0.000). There was no significant difference in red blood cells or platelets. When examined in detail, among white blood cells (WBC), neutrocytes were found to be significantly different among the three groups: normal, control, and experimental groups (p<0.004). Lymphocytes were also found to be statistically significantly different among the three groups (p<0.000). Monocytes were not found to be statistically significantly different (p<0.483). When red blood cells (RBC) were examined, hemoglobin (HGB) was not found to be statistically significant different among the three groups (p<0.291). Hematocrit (HCT) was not found to be statistically significantly different among the three groups, either (p<0.564). Mean corpuscular volume (MCV) was found to be statistically significantly different among the three groups (p<0.001). Mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) was also found to be statistically significantly among the three groups (p<0.028). Mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) was found to be statistically significantly different among the three groups(p<0.020). Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) was not found to be statistically significantly different among the three groups (p<0.09). When platelets (PLT) were examined in detail, mean platelet volume (MpV) was found to be statistically significantly different among the three groups (MpV) (p<0.04). In conclusion, based on this study, blueberries are considered to have radiation protection effects.