• Title/Summary/Keyword: Tropical

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Seasonal Variation of Picocyanobacterial Community Composition in Seawaters Around Dokdo, Korea (독도 해역 초미소남세균 다양성의 계절적 변동)

  • CHOI, DONG HAN;AN, SUNG MIN;CHOI, YU RI;ROH, HYUN SOO;NOH, JAE HOON
    • The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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    • v.20 no.4
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    • pp.192-198
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    • 2015
  • Picophytoplankton, a group of tiny microorganisms of less than $3{\mu}m$, play an important role as a major primary producer in tropical open ocean as well as temperate coastal waters. Until now, more than 20 and 10 clades of Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus, respectively, have been identified in various marine environments, and its biogeographical distribution have been well studied as well as ecological niches of its major clades. To understand a distribution of diverse picocyanobacterial clades and environmental factors regulating their distribution, picocyanobacterial abundance and genetic diversity was investigated in adjacent waters of Dokdo showing diverse physical properties not only by seasonal variation but also by diverse physical processes. Synechococcus abundances were low in winter and then exponentially increased as water temperature increased up to $20^{\circ}C$. Above $20^{\circ}C$, the abundances tended to be saturated. On the contrary, Prochlorococcus was undetected or occupied a minor fraction of picocyanobacteria in most seasons. In summer, however, Prochlorococcus belonging to HLII ecotype occupied a significant fraction (up to 7%) of picocyanobacteria. In spring and early summer, the steep increase of Synechococcus abundances were resulted from growth of cold water-adapted Synechococcus belonging to clades I and IV. In summer, diverse Synechococcus clades including warm and pelagic water-favoring clade II tended to replace clades I and IV with maintaining high abundance. The water-column stability as well as temperature were found to be important factors regulating the Synechococcus abundances. Moreover, inflow and mixing of distinct water masses with different origins exerted significant influence on the composition of Synechococcus in the study area. Thus, physical processes as well as natural seasonal variation of environmental factors should be considered to better understand ecology of planktonic organisms around Dokdo.

Differential Susceptibility to High Temperature and Variation of Seasonal Occurrence between Spodoptera exigua and Plutella xylostella (파밤나방과 배추좀나방의 고온 감수성 차이와 연중 발생 변이)

  • Kim, Minhyun;Lee, Seunghee;Kim, Yonggyun
    • Korean journal of applied entomology
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    • v.55 no.1
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    • pp.17-26
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    • 2016
  • Climate change has been regarded as one of main factors to change Korean insect pest fauna. Especially, a global warming model predicts to expand habitat for insect pests originated from tropical or subtropical regions. Two insect pests, the beet armyworm (Spodoptera exigua) and the diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella), are known to overwinter in some greenhouse conditions without diapause induction in Korea. There was a clear difference between these two insects in seasonal occurrence. P. xylostella occurred only at early spring and fall seasons, but did not occur during summer. In contrast, S. exigua maintained their occurrence from late spring to fall seasons. This study set up a hypothesis that the difference in the seasonal occurrence may be resulted from variation in susceptibility to high temperature. To test the hypothesis, heat tolerance was compared between these two insects. Exposure to $42^{\circ}C$ for 40 min killed 100% individuals of P. xylostella larvae. However, most larvae of S. exigua survived in response to $42^{\circ}C$ even for 80 min. Heat tolerance varied among developmental stages in both insects. Highest tolerant stages were $4^{th}$ instar larvae and adults for P. xylostella, but $1^{st}$ instar larvae for S. exigua. Pre-exposure to $37^{\circ}C$ for 30 min significantly increased heat tolerance in both insects. Induction of heat tolerance accompanied with significant increase of glycerol contents in the hemolymph in both insects and up-regulation of three heat shock protein expressions in S. exigua. These results suggest that the differential susceptibility to high temperature explains the disappearance of P. xylostella during summer, at which S. exigua maintains its occurrence.

Antioxidant, Antiaging and Antimicrobial Effects of Ethanolic Extract and Ethyl Acetate Fraction from Eclipta prostrata (한련초 에탄올 추출물과 에틸아세테이트 분획물의 항산화, 항노화 및 항균 효과)

  • Lee, Sang Lae;Song, Ba Reum;Shin, Hyuk Soo;Lee, Yun Ju;Park, Soo Nam
    • Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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    • v.44 no.3
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    • pp.349-362
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    • 2018
  • An annual plant, Eclipta prostrata (Linn) is a member of the Asteraceae plant family and inhabited in tropical or subtropical regions of the world. Through many previous researches, E. prostrata has been extensively studied for its hepatoprotective effect, antivenom potential against viper venom, antioxidant, hair-growth, wound-healing efficacy and so on. In this study, for better understanding of the potential of E. prostrata as skin protectant, we conducted the experiments evaluating the antioxidant and antiaging efficacy. To this end, 50% ethanolic extract of E. prostrata and its ethyl acetate fraction were prepared and investigated. For the evaluation of antioxidant capacity of the samples, $FSC_{50}$ and $OSC_{50}$ were estimated. As a result, $OSC_{50}$ of ethyl acetate fraction was 2.7 times superior to $OSC_{50}$ of L-ascorbic acid, a well known antioxidant agent. Futhermore E. prostrata showed notable reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging effect and protective effect against $H_2O_2$ in the celluar level as well. Especially, in the $^1O_2$ induced hemolysis test, $64{\mu}g/mL$ of ethyl acetate fraction showed greater than 6 times increased retardation effect compare to control which means E. prostrata has remarkable antioxidant capacity. To validate the antiaging effect of the samples, we conducted elastase inhibition assay using elastase solution extracted from human skin fibroblasts, Hs68. As a result, $16{\mu}g/mL$ of each sample showed 6.8% and 14.0% of elastase inhibition respectively. Finally, antimicrobial activity of E. prostrata was assessed to validate the possibility as alternative preservative. From the result, ethyl acetate fraction showed oustanding antimicrobial activity as of methyl paraben, a well known chemical preservative. In conclusion, these results suggest that E. prostrata can be used as natural skin protectant or preservative as natural ingredient in food or cosmetics industry.

Perspective of breaking stagnation of soybean yield under monsoon climate

  • Shiraiwa, Tatsuhiko
    • Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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    • 2017.06a
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    • pp.8-9
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    • 2017
  • Soybean yield has been low and unstable in Japan and other areas in East Asia, despite long history of cultivation. This is contrasting with consistent increase of yield in North and South America. This presentation tries to describe perspective of breaking stagnation of soybean yield in East Asia, considering the factors of the different yields between regions. Large amount of rainfall with occasional dry-spell in the summer is a nature of monsoon climate and as frequently stated excess water is the factor of low and unstable soybean yield. For example, there exists a great deal of field-to-field variation in yield of 'Tanbaguro' soybean, which is reputed for high market value and thus cultivated intensively and this results in low average yield. According to our field survey, a major portion of yield variation occurs in early growth period. Soybean production on drained paddy fields is also vulnerable to drought stress after flowering. An analysis at the above study site demonstrated a substantial field-to-field variation of canopy transpiration activity in the mid-summer, but the variation of pod-set was not as large as that of early growth. As frequently mentioned by the contest winners of good practice farming, avoidance of excess water problem in the early growth period is of greatest importance. A series of technological development took place in Japan in crop management for stable crop establishment and growth, that includes seed-bed preparation with ridge and/or chisel ploughing, adjustment of seed moisture content, seed treatment with mancozeb+metalaxyl and the water table control system, FOEAS. A unique success is seen in the tidal swamp area in South Sumatra with the Saturated Soil Culture (SSC), which is for managing acidity problem of pyrite soils. In 2016, an average yield of $2.4tha^{-1}$ was recorded for a 450 ha area with SSC (Ghulamahdi 2017, personal communication). This is a sort of raised bed culture and thus the moisture condition is kept markedly stable during growth period. For genetic control, too, many attempts are on-going for better emergence and plant growth after emergence under excess water. There seems to exist two aspects of excess water resistance, one related to phytophthora resistance and the other with better growth under excess water. The improvement for the latter is particularly challenging and genomic approach is expected to be effectively utilized. The crop model simulation would estimate/evaluate the impact of environmental and genetic factors. But comprehensive crop models for soybean are mainly for cultivations on upland fields and crop response to excess water is not fully accounted for. A soybean model for production on drained paddy fields under monsoon climate is demanded to coordinate technological development under changing climate. We recently recognized that the yield potential of recent US cultivars is greater than that of Japanese cultivars and this also may be responsible for different yield trends. Cultivar comparisons proved that higher yields are associated with greater biomass production specifically during early seed filling, in which high and well sustained activity of leaf gas exchange is related. In fact, the leaf stomatal conductance is considered to have been improved during last a couple of decades in the USA through selections for high yield in several crop species. It is suspected that priority to product quality of soybean as food crop, especially large seed size in Japan, did not allow efficient improvement of productivity. We also recently found a substantial variation of yielding performance under an environment of Indonesia among divergent cultivars from tropical and temperate regions through in a part biomass productivity. Gas exchange activity again seems to be involved. Unlike in North America where transpiration adjustment is considered necessary to avoid terminal drought, under the monsoon climate with wet summer plants with higher activity of gas exchange than current level might be advantageous. In order to explore higher or better-adjusted canopy function, the methodological development is demanded for canopy-level evaluation of transpiration activity. The stagnation of soybean yield would be broken through controlling variable water environment and breeding efforts to improve the quality-oriented cultivars for stable and high yield.

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Comparative Morphology of Eggs of Heterophyids and Clonorchis sinensis Causing Human Infections in Korea (한국의 인체기대 이형흡충류 및 간흡충 충란의 비교형태학적 검토)

  • 이순형;황순욱채종일서병설
    • Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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    • v.22 no.2
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    • pp.171-180
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    • 1984
  • In order to provide some clues for differential diagnosis of trematode infections in fecal examination, the comparative morphology of eggs of 5 kinds of heterophyid flukes (Metagonimus yokogawai, Heterophyes heterophyes nocens, Heterophyopsis continua, Stellantchasmus falcatus and Pygidiopsis summa) and Clonorchis sinensis was studied. The eggs were obtained from distal portion of uteri of worms which were recovered from men after treatment. The characteristic shape and appearance of each kind of eggs were observed in detail under light microscope, and their length and width measured and compared one another. The results are as follows: 1. Eggs of C. sinensis are elongated ovoidal in shape with attenuated anterior end, 25.3~33. 2 (28. 3 in average) ${\mu}m$ long and 14.2~17.4(5.9) ${\mu}m$ wide with length/width ratio of 1.60~2.00 (1.78). They differ from all heterophyid eggs in that they have prominent wrinkling (muskmelon pattern) at their shell surface. 2. P. summa eggs are ovoid to pyriform in shape and characterized by the smallest size of all kinds examined, 19.8~22.9 (21.6) ${\mu}m$ long and 11.1~13.4 (12.1) ${\mu}m$ wide and the ratio 1.63~1.99 (1.78). 3. Eggs of S. falcatus are elongated ovoidal and most slender form, 25.3~29.2 (27.2) ${\mu}m$ long and 11.1~13.4 (12.5) ${\mu}m$ wide with the ratio of 2.00~2.57 (2.17). 4. Eggs of M. yokogawai are ellipsoid to elliptical in shape with round both ends, 26.9~31.6 (28.5) ${\mu}m$ long and 14.2~18.2 (16.8)${\mu}m$ wide with the ratio of 1.48~2.11 (1.70). 5. H. continua eggs are oval in shape, sometimes similar to M. yokogawai or H. h. nocen$ eggs, however, the relative breadth is broadest among all kinds, with maximum width at posterior half portion. They are 23.7~27.7 (25.0) ${\mu}m$ long, 15.8~18.9 (16.4) ${\mu}m$ wide with the ratio of 1. 33~1.75 (1.53). 6. Eggs of H. h. nocens are ellipsoid to ovoid in shape but sometimes more slender than M. yokogawai and have slightly pointed both ends. They are 23.7~29.2 (25.7) p.m long, 14.2~15.8 (15.4) ${\mu}m$ wide, and the ratio 1.50~2.06 (1.67). From the results, it is concluded that eggs, of 5 kinds of heterophyids and C. sinensis can be morphologically differentiated one another, however, careful observation and measurement on sufficient number of eggs are needed.

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The Effect of Temperature and Salinity on Maturation and Hatching of Fibricola seoulensis eggs (온도 및 염도가 Fibricola seoulensis 충란의 성숙과 탈각에 미치는 영향)

  • Lee, Soon-Hyung;Lee, Ho-Jin;Hong, Sung-Tae;Huh, Sun;Seo, Byong-Seol
    • Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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    • v.24 no.2
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    • pp.115-120
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    • 1986
  • This study was carried out to reveal the effect of temperature, salinity and aeration on maturation and hatching of Fibricola seoulensis eggs. The eggs were incubated and were observed daily for the appearance of eyespots and hatching. The results were summarized as follows. 1. From $4{\sim}5$ days after incubation in distilled water at $28^{\circ}C$ or at $11{\sim}26^{\circ}C$, the eyespots began to appear and the rates of eggs with eyespots were over 90% in $28^{\circ}C$ on the 7th or 8th day. However, eyespots did not appear in $5{\sim}15^{\circ}C$ or $4^{\circ}C$ by the 18th day. 2. The mature eggs began to hatch at the 8th day, and hatching rate 2 weeks after incubation was over 90% at $28^{\circ}C$, but it was below 5% at $11{\sim}26^{\circ}C$, and 0% at $5{\sim}15^{\circ}C$ and at $4^{\circ}C$. 3. Aeration did not influence the appearance of eyes pots nor hatching. 4. In salines under 0.6%, the rates of eyespots appearance were over 90% on the 7th day. The rate was 55.0% in 0.9% at 20 days, and 0% in 1.2%. 5. The hatching rates in salines below 0.3% concentration were over 90% by 14 days of incubation. However, the rate decreased to 44% in 0.6% saline and to 0% over 0.9% salinity. 6. The eggs incubated in the dark hatched in 12.5% on the 10th day, but hatching rate of mature eggs increased to 85.7% within 2 hours after exposure to light. Above results demonstrated that the best temperature for maturation and hatching of F. seoulensis eggs was $28^{\circ}C$, and the miracidia began to hatch at $8{\sim}9$ days after incubation. In the field, hatching and invasion into snails of the miracidia may occur from May to September in Korea. In salines under 0.3% concentration maturation and hatching were not influenced, but as salinity increased hatching was inhibited more than maturation was.

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Experimental and epidemiological studies on the life cycle of Echinostoma hortense Asada, 1926(Trematoda: Echinostomatidae) (남한강류역(南漢江流域)의 호르텐스극구흡충(棘口吸蟲) 감염실태(感染實態)와 생활사(生活史)에 관(關)한 연구(硏究))

  • Ahn, Yung-Kyum;Ryang, Yong-Suk
    • Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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    • v.24 no.2
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    • pp.121-136
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    • 1986
  • Recently there have been some reports on human infections of Echinostoma hortense in Korea. It was found that a few species of freshwater fishes were playing the role of the second intermediate host of E. hortense. However, molluscan intermediate host has not been identified yet in Korea. The present study aimed to establish the life cycle of E. hortense in laboratory. Experimental studies such as egg production from the rat, development of the eggs in vitro, exposure of miracidia to freshwater snails, shedding pattern of cercariae from infected snails, morphology of cercariae, cercarial infection to the second intermediate host and infection of metacercariae to the definitive hosts were done. In addition, epidemiological surveys on the infection status in inhabitants and house rats, and on the natural infection of larval echinostomes in the snails and fishes were carried out along the South Hangang-river. The results obtained were as follows: 1. The eggs deposited from adults in physiological saline were cultivated at room temperature($20{\sim}24^{\circ}C$). The miracidia were firstly observed on 8 days after cultivation, and 85.5% of the eggs contained the mature miracidia on 11 days after cultivation. More than 90% formed the miracidia when cultivated at temperature $22{\sim}27^{\circ}C$. Hatching of the miracidia began on 12 days after cultivation and continued for a week. The size of the miracidia was $103.0{{\times}}51.4{\mu}m$ in average. The motility of the miracidia were active up to 8 hours after shedding, but they were all dead within 10 hours after shedding. 2. A freshwater snail, Radix auricularia coreana was cultivated in aquaria. A hatched $F_1$ snails from the egg masses were exposed to 20 miracidia respectively. Escape of cercariae started on 15 days after infecton. Radix auricularia coreana was experimentally identified as the first intermediate host of E. hortense in Korea. 3. Cercarial shedding started on $15{\sim}20$ days after infection by snail, continued for about 10 days (8.8 days in average). Infected snails were dead within 32 days after the miracidial infection. About 1,335 cercariae($328{\sim}1,994$) per snail were shed in its life, and 119 cercariae in average per snail per day were shed. The cercariae were motile for more than 24 hours, and then squirming at the bottom until death. The body and tail sizes of cercariae were $356{\times}186{\mu}m$ and $510{\times}68{\mu}m$ in average, respectively. The rediae parasitized in the snail hosts were found mainly around the pericardial regions, and their size was $1,575{\times}258{\mu}m$ in average. The numbers of developing cercariae in a mature redia were 14 in average ($7{\sim}20$ in range). The numbers of rediae in a snail were 102 in average on 15 days after miracidial infection and 221 in average on 28 days. 4. Three uninfected Misgurnus anguillicaudatus, less than 6.5cm long were used in for the cercarial infection. They were all exposed with 755 cercariae, and examined at 5-day intervals starting from 10 days after infection. All the fishes were infected with metacercariae of E. hortense and a total of 275 was found infected(36.4%). The metacercariae were fed to rats and the adult worms were obtained on 15 days after infection. 5. The infected rats began to deposit the eggs on 11 days after infection. The number of eggs deposited per day per worm (EPD/worm) was $400{\sim}500$ on 3 weeks after infection and was increased to $1,000{\sim}1,500$ on 4 to 17 weeks, then decreased to 800 on 21 weeks after infection. 6. A total of 745 stool specimens collected from 576 male and 169 female residents of 8 different villages along South Hangang basin was examined. Out of 745 specimens, the eggs of Echinostoma sp. were found in 2 cases (0.3%). Of 34 house rats one showed egg-positive (2.9%). 7. Total 971 Radix auricularia coreana collected from 7 sampling stations were examined for shedding of cercariae. Three snails (0.3%) shed the cercariae of E. hortense. A total of 119 out of 542 freshwater fishes (22.0%) had the metacercariae of E. hortense. The fishes parasitized with the metacercariae were 4 out of 14 examined species. The infection rates of 4 species were 34.1% (106 out of 311) in Misgurnus anguillicaudatus, 30.4% (7 out of 23) in Misgurnus mizolepis, 4.3% (2 out of 46) in Moroco oxycephalus and 22.2% (4 out of 18) in Odontobutis obscura interrupta. In summarizing the above results, the first intermediate host of E. hortense was found as Radix auricularia coreana in Korea. Also, it took about 46 days for the shortest completion of a life cycle of E. hortense in summer; that is, 10 days for miracidial development in eggs, 15 days for cercarial development in the snail, about 10 days for metacercarial development in the second intermediate hosts, and 11 days for the maturation as the adults in the definitive hosts. The natural infection rates of E. hortense in the intermediate hosts were relatively high but those in the definitive hosts were low in the middle areas of South Hangang basin.

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Studies on $\beta$-Glucuronidase Activities in Liver, Stomach and Small Intestinal Tissues of Rabbits Infected with Clonorchis sinensis (간디스토마 감염토끼의 소화기관에 대한 $\beta$-Glucuronidase의 활성치에 관한 연구)

  • Park, Byong-Kyoo;Song, Soo-Bok;Hahn, Jae-Kum
    • Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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    • v.24 no.2
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    • pp.137-144
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    • 1986
  • The author has studied the $\beta$-glucuronidase activity in several tissues such as liver, stomach and small intestine of the male and female rabbits infected with different doses of metacercariae of Clonorchis sinensis. The metacercariae of Clonorchis sinensis were isolated from Pseudorasbora parva caught in Kim Hae by digestion technic. The experimental animals were sacrificed in the period of 1, 7, 14, 21, 28 and 35th days following the infection. The results obtained were summarized as follows. 1. In the groups infected with 100 metacercariae, $\beta$-glucuronidase activity was slightly increased during the entire periods than control rabbits. It was the highest in the first day with 1.535 and $1.421m{\mu}/g$, 14th days with 2.521 and $2.200m{\mu}/g$, and then lowered by the time, gradually. 2. In the groups infected with 500 metacercariae, $\beta$-glucuronidase activity was highly increased on the first day with 1.535 and $1.856m{\mu}/g$ than that 100 metacercariae groups according to each organs. It was the highest on the 7th day and 14th day. 3. In the groups infected with 1,000 metacercariae, $\beta$-glucuronidase activity was remarkably increased in the first and 14th days according to each organs, and then lowered gradually day by day. 4. $\beta$-glucuronidase activity of all organs was more increased than that of normal organs and the highest activity in the liver with $2.521m{\mu}/g$, intestine(1.612) and stomach (1.581) respectively. 5. $\beta$-glucuronidase activity of rabbits was higher in the female than in the male. On the basis of these results, it was suggested that $\beta$-glucuronidase activity was affected by the duration of infection and by the number of Clonorchis sinensis, according to the organs and sex of the rabbits.

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Molecular weight of major component proteins in crude saline extract of adult Paragonimus westermani (폐흡충 성충 생리식염수 추출액의 성분 단백질의 분자량)

  • Yoon Kong;Woong Bong Kim;Shin-Yong Kang;Seung-Yull Cho
    • Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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    • v.29 no.2
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    • pp.113-120
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    • 1991
  • When the component proteins in crude saline extract of 13-week old adult Paragonimus westermani were observed by non-denaturing discontinuous-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (Disc-PAGE), 8 distinct bands were clearly recognized. Molecular weight (MW) of each band protein, numbered in sequence from cathodal side which appeared in 10% separating gel, was measured first by Ferguson plot utilizing different gel concentrations from 10% to 4.5%. MW of band 1 Protein (known as egg Protein) was 440 kDa. And MW of other band Proteins were: 386 kDa in band 2, 17.4 kDa in band 3, 17kDa in band 4, 14.3 kDa in band 5, 46 kDa in band 6, 38 kDa in band 7 and 23 kDa in band 8. When the proteins in the crude extract were separated into fractions by molecular sieve chromatography through 1.6 (Φ)×70cm sired Sephacryl 5-300 Superane column and revisualized by Disc-PAGE in 8% gel, the sequence of fluted proteins was band 1, band 2, band 6, band 7 and bands 3,4,5 and 8. This elusion profile confirmed MW of each band protein in the crude extract as measured by Ferguson plot.

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Purification of cystic fluid antigen of Taenia solium metacestodes by affinity chromatography using monoclonal antibody and its antigenic characterization (단세포군항체에 의한 유구낭미충 낭액 특이항원의 순수분리 및 항원특성 관찰)

  • Kim, Suk-Il;Kang, Shin-Yong;Cho, Seung-Yull;Hwang, Eung-Soo;Cha, Chang-Yong
    • Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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    • v.24 no.2
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    • pp.145-158
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    • 1986
  • This study was undertaken to purify cystic fluid (CF) antigen of Taenia solium metacestodes by affinity chromatogaphy using specific monoclonal antibody(McAb) and to characterize the antigenicity of the purified antigen. The hybridoma cell lines, prepared by fusion between mouse plasmacytoma and spleen cells from BALB/c mice immunized with CF, secreted antibodies reacting to various helminthic antigens. Majority of cell lines reacted to CF only but some also reacted to parenchymal antigen of T. solium metacestodes, adult T. saginata, sparganum, hydatid cystic fluid, Paragonimus westermani and Clonorchis sinensis, either in combination with CF, other antigens or independently. Cloned cells derived from monoclonal lines also produced antibodies reacting either to CF only or to other helminthes in combination or independently. These results indicated that CF of T. solium metacestodes contained proteins which possessed antigenic determinants not only specific to CF but also cross reactive with the afore-mentioned helminthes. CF of T. solium metacestodes was purified by affinity chromatography using the McAb which reacted to CF and parenchymal antigens. The affinity-purified antigen (A-Ag) and unbound pool CF (U-Ag) were separated. A-Ag showed 2 protein bands by disc-PAGE whereas CF exhibited 6 bands and U-Ag consisted of all bands CF had. The diagnostic significance of A-Ag was evaluated by ELISA in human neurocysticercosis and other helminthic and neurologic diseases. By A-Ag, the levels of the specific IgG antibody, as shown by absorbance in sera and CSF, were lower than those of CF and U-Ag. Accordingly, the sensitivity was about 70% of CF and U-Ag. However, the nonspecific positive reactions to CF and U-Ag, observed in sparganosis, T. saginata infection and paragonimiasis did not occur when A-Ag was used. These results indicated that the affinity-purified A-Ag had the higher specificity but the lower sensitivity as a diagnostic antigen in cysticercosis, probably because it only detected a single or limited numbers of monospecific antibodies among the diverse polyclonal antibodies produced in the patients with neurocysticercosis.

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