• Journal of Life Science
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.307-316
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• 2000

Bacillus circulans S-1 extracellular pullulan 6-glucanohydrolase (EP) (EC 3.2.1.41) has been characterized with a purified enzyme of 140 kDa. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of the purified enzyme was P-L-N-M-S-Q-P. The enzyme displayed a temperature optimum of around $60^{\circ}C$ and a pH optimum of around pH 9.0. The enzyme was stable to incubation from pH 4.0 to pH 11.0 at $4^{\circ}C$ for 48h. The presence of substrate allowed the protection of the enzyme from heat inactivation. The activity of the enzyme was stimulated by several metal ions such as Mn2+ and Ca2+. The enzyme had an apparent Km of 7.92 mg/ml for pullulan. The purfied enzyme completely hydrolysed pullulan to maltotriose.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.123-138
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• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify the real condition of urinary incontinence(UI), interstitial cystitis(IC), atrophic viginitis(AV) for elderly women and analyze the cognition of traditional korean medicine(TKM) for them. Methods: We utilized questionnaire from May to June, 2010. Questionnaires were taken from 125 women using senior welfare center and nursing home, aged over 65 up to 92. The data were analyzed by $X^2$-test using SPSS/PC ver 18.0 program. Results: The prevalences of UI, IC and AV symptoms were 50.4%, 40.8%, 56%, respectively. The average I-QoL score for UI was $82.62{\pm}21.16$, and the average ICSI score for IC was $8.16{\pm}2.50$. After adjustment for each of the variables considered in this study, alcohol was associated with UI and age, BMI(body mass index) were associated with IC. Most of respondents have no experience(94.4%) or don't know (79.2%) about TKM for UI, IC and AV. 44 women(37.3%) indicated that they weren't willing to use TKM for UI, IC and AV. Reasons for not taking TKM were because of 'no knowledge of TKM(34.1%)' and 'more accustomed to western treatment(34.1%)'. Conclusion: Although the prevalence of UI, IC, AV for elderly women was high, the actual percentage of treatment for these diseases was low, furthermore, patients were not aware of TKM and had very few experiences of TKM for these diseases. The development and increased promotion about TKM program for elderly women's urogenital diseases is needed.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.1-17
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• 2004

Objective : To compare and examine how adjustment of pH and electrolyte can affect the efficacy of cultivated wild ginseng distilled herbal acupuncture, we've administered pure cultivated wild ginseng distilled herbal acupuncture and pH and electrolyte adjusted cultivated wild ginseng distilled herbal acupuncture on A549 human lung cancer lines. Then mRNA and proteins which take parts in apoptosis were examined. Methods : Pure cultivated wild ginseng distilled herbal acupuncture treated group was set as the control group and pH and electrolyte adjusted cultivated wild ginseng distilled herbal acupuncture groups were administered on A549 human lung cancer lines. Cell toxicity was carefully examined and from the analysis of DNA fragmentation, RT-PCR, and Western blot, manifestation of mRNA and proteins which are associated with apoptosis were inspected. Results : The following results were obtained on apoptosis of A549 human lung cancer lines after administering pH and electrolyte adjusted cultivated wild ginseng distilled herbal acupuncture. 1. Measuring cell toxicity of lung cancer cells, higher cell toxicity was detected at pH and electrolyte adjusted groups and the results were concentration dependent. 2. Through DNA fragmentation, we were able to confirm cell destruction in all groups. 3. Experiment groups treated with cultivated wild ginseng distilled herbal acupuncture showed inhibition of Bcl-2 and COX-2 at mRNA and Protein level, whileas increase of Bax was shown. 4. Manifestation of p21, p53, Cyclin E, and Cyclin D1 were confirmed in all groups. 5. Extrication of Cytochrome C was detected at all groups, as well as increased activity of the enzyme caspase-3 and caspase-9, and PARP fragmentation were confirmed. Conclusions : From the above results, we can carefully deduce cell destruction of A549 human lung cancer lines were induced by Apoptosis. At the same concentration level, cell destruction efficacy was better with adjusted pH and electrolyte. Cultivated wild ginseng distilled herbal acupuncture also showed decrease of Bcl-2 and COX-2, as well as increase of Bax. Since cultivated wild ginseng distilled herbal acupuncture increases manifestation of p21, p53, Cyclin E, and Cyclin D1, it affects cellular cycle and through these phenomena, we can consider extrication of Cytochrome C, increase of caspase, and PARP fragmentation are the results.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.1-12
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• 2012

Objectives : Fagopyrum esculentum(FE) has been used for removal of inflammation of internal organs and treatment of sore and ulcer by heat toxin in Korean herbal medicines. In this study, To investigated the protective effect of FE on allergic response, we determined whether FE inhibits allergic response. Methods : The effect of FE was analyzed by ELISA, RT-PCR and Western blot in RBL-2H3 cells. We investigated cell viability, ${\beta}$-hexosaminidase, as a marker of degranulation, cytokne, and intracellular ROS and MAPK and NF-${\kappa}B$ signaling. Results : We found that FE suppressed ${\beta}$-hexosaminidase release, the production of IL-4 and TNF-${\alpha}$ and intracellular ROS level in RBL-2H3 by the anti-DNP IgE plus DNP-HSA stimulation. FE also significantly inhibited cytokine mRNA expressions, such as IL-$1{\beta}$, IL-2, IL-3, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-13, TNF-${\alpha}$ and GM-CSF in RBL-2H3. In addition, PF suppressed the phospholyation of ERK1/2, JNK1/2, p38 and $I{\kappa}B{\alpha}$ and NF-${\kappa}B$ signal transduction pathway. Conclusions : Our results indicate that FE protects against allergic response and exerts an anti-inflammatory effect through the inhibition of degranulation and production of cytokines and ROS via the suppression MAPK and NF-${\kappa}B$ of signal transduction. Abbrevations : FE, Fagopyrum esculentum; RBL-2H3, rat basophilic leukemia cell line; ROS, reactive oxygen species; MAPK, Mitogen-activated protein kinase; $NF{\kappa}B$, nuclear factor ${\kappa}B$; $TNF{\alpha}$, Tumor necrosis factor alpha; GM-CSF, Granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor; ERK, extracellular-signal-regulated kinase; JNK, c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase; p38, p38 MAP kinase; $I{\kappa}B{\alpha}$, inhibitory-kappa B alpha.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.15-35
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• 2010

연구목적 : 이 연구는 봉약침의 봉독이 NF-${\kappa}B$ 활성억제와 안드로겐 수용체 조절 단백질 및 세포자멸사 조절 단백질의 발현을 통하여 세포자멸사를 유도하고, 전립선 암세포를 이식한 쥐에서의 세포자멸사 유도 효과를 확인함으로써, 봉약침의 봉독이 생체 내에서도 세포자멸사를 유도하여 전립선암에 효과를 나타냄을 확인하고자 하였다. 실험방법 : 세포자멸사의 관찰에는 DAPI, TUNEL staining assay를 시행하였으며, 세포자멸사 조절 단백질의 변동 관찰에는 western blot analysis를 시행하였고, 세포자멸사와 연관된 NF-${\kappa}B$의 활성 변화를 관찰하기 위해 EMSA를 시행하였다. 결과 : 1. DAPI, TUNEL staining assay 결과 봉독 및 melittin을 처리한 LNCaP 세포 모두에서 세포자멸사 유도율이 유의한 증가를 나타내었다. 2. LNCaP 세포에 봉독이나 melittin을 처리한 결과, 안드로겐 수용체 조절 단백질 중 p-Akt, COX-2, calpain은 봉독과 melittin 모두에서 유의한 감소를 나타내었고, Akt는 melittin에서 유의한 감소를 나타냈으며, 봉독에서 증가하는 경향을 보였고, MMP-9은 증가하였다. 3. 생체 내에서의 봉독의 항암효과를 확인하기 위해 전립선암세포가 이식된 쥐에 봉독을 처리한 후 암세포의 부피와 무게, 쥐의 체중을 측정한 결과, 봉독을 처리한 군에서 암 세포 부피비율 및 무게는 감소하였고, 쥐의 체중은 증가하였다. 4. 전립선암세포가 이식된 쥐에 봉독을 처리한 결과, NF-${\kappa}B$ 활성에서 유의한 감소를 나타내었다. 5. 전립선암세포가 이식된 쥐에 봉독을 처리한 결과, 세포자멸사 조절 단백질 중 Bax/Bcl-2, p53, caspase-3, caspase-9, calpain은 유의한 증가를, COX-2는 유의한 감소를 나타냈으며, MMP-9는 증가를 나타내었다. 결론 : 이상의 결과는 봉독이 시험관 내에서 뿐만 아니라 생체 내에서도 NF-${\kappa}B$의 활성을 억제하고 안드로겐 수용체 조절 단백질 및 세포자멸사 조절 단백질의 조절을 통하여 인간 전립선암 세포주인 LNCaP의 세포자멸사를 유도함으로써 전립선암 세포 증식억제 효과 및 호르몬 비의존적인 전립선암으로의 전이를 지연시키는 경향이 있을 것으로 사료되고, 봉독이 전립선암의 예방과 치료에 효과적으로 활용될 수 있을 것으로 기대된다.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.21-31
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• 2008

Objective This study was performed to investigate whether Bee Venom Pharmacopuncture(BVP) could be a more effective modality than Warm Needling(WN) in relieving pain and symptoms of knee osteoarthritis(OA). Design Prospective, randomized and controlled clinical trial. Setting Single center trial in Korea Patients 49 volunteers with knee OA participated in the study. All the participants were screened through an inclusion and exclusion criteria. 33 participants were completed the clinical trial. Intervention The subjects were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group received BVP(n=18), while the other group received WN(n=15). Sixteen sessions of BVP or WN were given at the pain region of the problematic knee for 8 weeks. Primary outcome measure is the Korean translation of Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index scores(Korean WOMAC, KWOMAC). Secondary outcome measure is the physical health scores based on the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey(SF-36) and Patient Global Assessment(PGA). KWOMAC and SF-36 were measured third (baseline, 4 and 8 weeks). PGA was measured twice(4 and 8 weeks). Results BVP group showed significant decrease compared to WN group in pain, function and total scores of KWOMAC according to the Mann-Whitney U-test. In the PGA, BVP group, compared to WN group, showed a significant increase. Conclusions BVP was more effective in relieving pain of knee OA than WN. These findings suggest that BVP is a promising alternative for treating knee OA.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.49-59
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• 2009

Background : Anticancer effects of herbal medicine have been reported in various types of cancer, but the systematic approaches to explain molecular mechanism(s) are not established yet. Objective : The purpose of this study is to investigate the apoptotic cell death by Egg White combined Chalcanthite in NCI-H460 human lung cancer cells. Methods : Inhibitory effects were estimated by the MTT-assay. Cancer cells were stained with DAPI and showed condensed and fragmented nuclei. The expression of cleaved caspase-3, bcl-2, and bax was detected by western blotting. To establish a basis of understanding for anti-cancer mechanism, whole proteins have been obtained from NCI-H460 harvested at 24 hrs after the treatment of Egg White combined Chalcanthite, protein expression has been profiled by 2DE-based proteomic approach. Results : NCI-H460 human lung cancer cells were treated by three samples of IS3, IS4 and IS5. IS4 inhibited most effectively the growth of NCI-H460 human lung cancer cells. The expression of cleaved caspase-3 increased in IS4 in a concentration-dependent manner. Various changes of the protein expression have been monitored, and most frequent dysregulation was found in Vimentin, Lamin-A/C. Conclusion : Egg White combined-Chacanthite inhibited the growth of NCI-H460 human lung cancer cells by inducing the apoptotic cell death via caspase-3 activation. Based upon the present findings, the further study will focus on monitoring various cancer survival factors after artificial regulation of the proteins identified, and it would be the basis for the understanding of the Chacabthite anticancer effect(s) at the molecular level.

• Journal of Korean Medical classics
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.107-124
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• 2015

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to identify Yangsaeng level and pattern identification of subfertility in childbearing aged women according to the pregnancy experience. Methods : Data was collected by structured questionnaire distributed to 217 women(125 women experienced pregnancy, 92 subfertile women) in I city from Nov. to Dec. 2014. For data analysis, Chi-square test, Fisher's exact test, t-test and Pearson's correlation coefficients were performed using SPSS version 19.0. Results : Drinking rate and stress level of subfertile group were higher than pregnancy experience group. Subfertile women group have more disease related to reproductive system, irregularities of the menstrual cycle and dysmenorrhea than pregnancy experience group. Subfertile women showed lower scores for Yangsaeng level but higher scores for all types of pattern identification of subfertility more than those in the women experiencing pregnancy. Conclusions : The results of this study indicate that reproductive health program for the childbearing aged women is necessary before serviced by western or oriental medical treatment for subinfertile(infertile) women. These results can be used for a program based on oriental medicine in order to improve women's health.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.59-65
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• 2015

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to observe the effects of Polygalae Radix(PR) on 4-HNE-induced apoptosis in PC-12 cell. Methods : A MTT assay was conducted to observe the cytotoxicity of Polygalae Radix on the cell viability and the cytoprotective effect of Polygalae Radix against 4-HNE that causes oxidative stress-induced cytotoxicity, and then a western blot was conducted to observe the expression of $TNF-{\alpha}$, caspase-3, Bax and Bcl-2 protein that are important factors involved with apoptosis signaling pathway. Results : The Polygalae Radix water extract $25{\mu}g$, $50{\mu}g$, $100{\mu}g$ and $200{\mu}g/mL$ had no cytotoxicity on the PC-12 cell. The Polygalae Radix water extract $25{\mu}g$, $50{\mu}g$ and $100{\mu}g/mL$ had the cytoprotective effect against 4-HNE that causes cytotoxicity on the PC-12 cell. The Polygalae Radix water extract $50{\mu}g/mL$ significantly suppressed the increase in $TNF-{\alpha}$ protein expression in PC-12 cell. The Polygalae Radix water extract $25{\mu}g$ and $50{\mu}g/mL$ significantly suppressed the increase in caspase-3 protein expression in PC-12 cell. The Polygalae Radix water extract $25{\mu}g$, $50{\mu}g$ and $100{\mu}g/mL$ suppressed the increase in Bax protein expression in PC-12 cell but had no significance. The Polygalae Radix water extract $25{\mu}g$ and $100{\mu}g/mL$ significantly prevented the decrease in Bcl-2 protein expression in PC-12 cell, Conclusions : These results suggest that the Polygalae Radix water extract is effective in inhibiting apoptosis.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.318-324
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• 2006

In order to develop an oral vaccine to prevent H. pylori infection, we have expressed the hpaA gene of H. pylori K51 isolated from Korean patients, encoding 29-kDa HpaA that is known to be localized on the cell surface and flagella sheath, in a live delivery vector system, Lactococcus lactis. The hpaA gene, amplified by PCR using the genomic DNA of H. pylori K51, was cloned in the pGEX-2T vector, and the DNA sequence analysis revealed that the hpaA gene of H. pylori K51 had 99.7% and 94.8% identity with individual hpaA genes of the H. pylori 26695 strain (U.K) and the J99 strain (U.S.A). A polyclonal anti-HpaA antibody was raised in rats using GST-HpaA fusion protein as the antigen. The hpaA gene was inserted in an E. coli-L. lactis-shuttle vector (pMG36e) to express in L. lactis. Western blot analysis showed that the expression level of HpaA in the L. lactis transformant remained constant from the exponential phase to the stationary phase, without extracelluar secretion. These results indicate that the HpaA of H. pylori K51 was successfully expressed in L. lactis, and suggest that the recombinant L. lactis expressing HpaA may be applicable as an oral vaccine to induce a protective immune response against H. pylori.