• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.6-11
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• 2005

Vasopressin (VP)-related peptide was purified from the brain extract of conger eel (Conger myriaster) by reverse-phase, ion-exchange high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). This peptide with a molecular weight of 1,051.2 Da was determined as $H-Cys-Tyr-Ile-Gln-Asn-Cys-Pro-Arg-Gly-NH_2$, whose Cys residues made an intramolecular disulfide bridge by the automated amino acid sequence analysis, MALDI- TOF mass spectrometry. It's sequence was confirmed by identity of the elution position with the synthetic peptide in HPLC system. As a result of homology investigation, the primary structure of this peptide was the same as that of VP-superfamily member, $[Arg^8]-vasotocin$. The synthetic peptide showed a contractile activity at a minimal effective concentration of $10^{-10}\;M$ on the intestinal smooth muscle of goldfish.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.20.1-20.13
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• 2021

Background: Pseudorabies virus (PRV) infection leads to high mortality in swine. Despite extensive efforts, effective treatments against PRV infection are limited. Furthermore, the inflammatory response induced by PRV strain GXLB-2013 is unclear. Objectives: Our study aimed to investigate the inflammatory response induced by PRV strain GXLB-2013, establish an inflammation model to elucidate the pathogenesis of PRV infection further, and develop effective drugs against PRV infection. Methods: Kunming mice were infected intramuscularly with medium, LPS, and different doses of PRV-GXLB-2013. Viral spread and histopathological damage to brain, spleen, and lung were determined at 7 days post-infection (dpi). Immune organ indices, levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), nitric oxide (NO), and inflammatory cytokines, as well as levels of activity of COX-2 and iNOS were determined at 4, 7, and 14 dpi. Results: At 10⁵-10⁶ TCID₅₀ PRV produced obviously neurological symptoms and 100% mortality in mice. Viral antigens were detectable in kidney, heart, lung, liver, spleen, and brain. In addition, inflammatory injuries were apparent in brain, spleen, and lung of PRV-infected mice. Moreover, PRV induced increases in immune organ indices, ROS and NO levels, activity of COX-2 and iNOS, and the content of key pro-inflammatory cytokines, including interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor-α, interferon-γ and MCP-1. Among the tested doses, 10² TCID₅₀ of PRV produced a significant inflammatory mediator increase. Conclusions: An inflammatory model induced by PRV infection was established in mice, and 10² TCID50 PRV was considered as the best concentration for the establishment of the model.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.159-169
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• 2021

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze research trends and find whether Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) of refugees could affect structural or functional changes of brains of those under MRI, focusing on volumes, functional connectivities, and metabolites. Methods: A literature search was done using PubMed, Embase, RISS, and KMBase to identify studies that matched our research purpose. A total of eight studies were identified using Prisma flow diagram by two reviewers independently. Results: Eight studies were identified. Three studies were on North Korean defectors as subjects. The number of studies that observed structural changes, functional changes, and metabolite changes in brains was 2, 5, and 2, respectively. Although each study observed various parts of the brain, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) was observed commonly in three studies. The PTSD group showed reduction of ACC volume and N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA) metabolite in ACC compared to the non- PTSD group. When exposed to negative stimuli, the PTSD group showed higher neural activity than the non-PTSD group, but not vice versa. Conclusion: ACC showed significant difference in volume, neural activity, and NAA metabolite between the PTSD and the non-PTSD group, resulting in significant differences in structural changes, functional changes, metabolite changes, respectively. This study showed the need for conducting more research using various biomarkers to clarify the relationship between PTSD of refugees and their brain changes.

• Journal of Radiopharmaceuticals and Molecular Probes
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.147-152
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• 2021

C-11 Radiolabeled amino acid-based radiopharmaceuticals such as [¹¹C]MET for brain tumor PET imaging have limitations due to their short half-life (20 min). F-18 radiolabeled amino acid derivatives have been developed to overcome for the short half-life, one of which is [¹⁸F]FET. Brain tumor imaging using [¹⁸F]FET showed high uptake in tumor region and no non-specific uptake in inflammatory tissue, which was useful in discriminating the difference between inflammation and tumor especially. In this study, [¹⁸F]FET was synthesized using an automatic synthesis module and quality tests were carried out including enantiomeric purity analysis with reference compounds. Radiochemical yield was 50.3 ± 4.9% (n=7, decay-corrected) with molar activity of 76 ± 17 GBq/mmol. The radiochemical purity of >99%. Enantiomeric purity of [¹⁸F]FET using chiral HPLC analysis showed >99%, which was confirmed by co-injection with the L-FET and D-FET authentic standards. [¹⁸F]FET was prepared with high radiochemical yield and molar activity including no racemate mixture.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.353-358
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• 2007

This study was conducted to compare the antioxidant activities of fermented soy products such as chungkukjang, meju and doenjang with soybeans. Total phenolic, flavonoids contents and antioxidative activities of the methanol extract of soy and fermented products were compared with specific reference to alpha-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrozyl (DPPH) radicals scavenging effects, ferric /reducing power (FRAP), inhibition of conjugated diene formation and tyrosinase activities. Total phenolic and flavonoids contents increased in soybeans after fermentation. Fermented soy products also displayed enhanced antioxidative activities in comparison with the non-fermented soybeans. There were linear relationships between total phenolic and flavonoids contents and ferric reducing/antioxidant power of the samples. Overall, the fermented soy products showed a better antioxidant activity than soybeans. Among the 3 kinds of fermented soy products, chungkukjang, meju and deonjang, doenjang exhibited the highest levels of DPPH-free radicals scavenging activity, ferric /reducing power, inhibition of conjugated diene formation and tyrosinase activities. The fermented soy products with longer fermentation time demonstrated the higher antioxidant activities as well as higher total phenols and flavonoids in the order of doenjang > meju > chunghlkjang> soybeans.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.211-219
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• 2023

Caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) is an active component of propolis obtained from honeybee hives. CAPE possesses anti-mitogenic, anti-carcinogenic, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory activities in diverse systems, which know as displays antioxidant activity and inhibits lipoxygenase activities, protein tyrosine kinase, and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) activation. This study aimed to investigate the effect of CAPE on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced human neutrophil phagocytosis. Human neutrophils were cultured with various concentrations of CAPE (1, 10, and 100 µM) with or without LPS. The pro-inflammatory proteins (tumor necrosis factor-alpha [TNF-α], interleukin [IL]-6 and IL-8) levels were measured after 4 h incubation. To investigate the intracellular signaling pathway, we measured the levels of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK), including phosphorylation of p38, extracellular signal-regulated protein kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK). Next, to evaluate the potential phagocytosis, neutrophils were labeled with iron particles of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs, 40 nm) for 1 h in culture medium containing 5 mg/mL of iron. The labeling efficiency was determined by Prussian blue staining for intracellular iron and 3T-wighted magnetic resonance imaging. CAPE decreased the activation of intracellular signaling pathways, including ERK1/2 and c-Jun, and expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including TNF-α and IL-6, but had no effect on the signaling pathways of p38 and cytokine IL-8. Furthermore, images obtained after mannan-coated SPION treatment suggested that CAPE induced significantly higher signal intensities than the control or LPS group. Together, these results suggest that CAPE regulates LPS-mediated activation of human neutrophils to reduce phagocytosis.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.327-337
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• 2023

Objectives: Epilepsy is a neurological condition characterized by repeated seizures attributable to synchronous neuronal activity in the brain. The study evaluated the effect of acetone extract of Adansonia digitata stem bark (ASBE) on seizure score, cognition, depression, and neurodegeneration as well as the level of Gamma-Aminobutyrate acid (GABA) and glutamate in Pentylenetetrazol-kindled rats. Methods: Thirty-five rats were assigned into five groups (n = 7). Groups 1-2 received normal saline and 35 mg/kg PTZ every other day. Groups 3-4 received 125 mg/kg and 250 mg/kg ASBE orally while group 5 received 5 mg/kg diazepam daily for twenty-six days. Group 3-5 received PTZ every other day, 30 mins after ASBE and diazepam. Results: The results showed that Pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) induces seizure, reduces mobility time in force swim test and decreases the normal cell number in the brain. It also significantly decreases (p < 0.05) catalase, superoxide dismutase and reduced glutathione activities compared to the ASBE pre-treated rats. Pre-treatment with ASBE reportedly decreases seizure activities significantly (p < 0.05) and increases mobility time in the force swim test. ASBE also significantly elevate (p < 0.05) the normal cell number in the hippocampus, temporal lobe, and dentate gyrus. Conclusion: ASBE reduced seizure activity and prevented depression in PTZ-treated rats. It also prevented neurodegeneration by regulating glutamate and GABA levels in the brain as well as preventing lipid peroxidation.

• BMB Reports
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.299-305
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• 1999

Protein carboxyl O-methyltransferase (PCMT) catalyzes the transfer of a methyl group from Sadenosyl-L-methionine to free carboxyl groups of methyl-accepting substrate proteins. Two isozymes were separated by DEAE-Sephacel chromatography from porcine brain cytosol and designated PCMT I and II. Isozymes I and II were further purified by adenosyl homocysteine-Sepharose 4B and Superose HR 12 chromatography. The molecular weights of the purified PCMT I and II were determined by mass spectrometry to be 20,138 Da and 25,574 Da, respectively. The two enzymes displayed different isoelectric points; 7.9 for PCMT I and 5.3 for PCMT II. Isozymes I and II exhibited similar substrate specificities when tested with various methyl-accepting proteins. Myelin basic protein, a component of myelinated neurons, was found to be an excellent methyl-accepting substrate for both PCMT isozymes with different $K_m$ values, $21.1\;{\mu}M$ for PCMT I and $10.6\;{\mu}M$ for PCMT II. The PCMT activity and methyl-accepting capacity displayed similar distribution in the various brain regions with an exception of the lower values in the cerebellum. The overall distribution may relate to a general function of protein repair by PCMT in the brain.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Emotion and Sensibility Conference
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• 2000.04a
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• pp.15-25
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• 2000

Cardiac, respiratory, electrodermal and frontal (F3, F4) EEG responses were analyzed and compared during to slides of International Affective Picture System (IAPS) in the study on 42 students. Physiological responses during 20s of exposure to slides intended to elicit happiness (nurturant and erotic), sadness, disgust, surprise, fear or anger emotions were quite similar and were expressed in heart rate (HR) deceleration, decreased HR variability (HRV), specific SCR, increased non-specific SCR frequency (N-SCR), and EEG changes exhibited in theta increase, alpha-blocking and increased beta activity, and frontal asymmetry. However, some emotions demonstrated variations of the response magnitudes, enabling to differentiate some paris of emotions by several physiological parameters. The profiles showed higher magnitudes of HRV and EEG responses in exciting (i.e., erotic) and higher cardiac and respiratory responses in surprise. The most different pairs were exciting-surprise (by HR, HRV, theta, and alpha asymmetry), exciting-sadness (by theta, alpha, and alpha asymmetry), and exciting-fear (by HRV, theta, F3 alpha, and alpha asymmetry). Nurturant happiness yielded the least differentiation. Differences were found as well within negative emotions, e.g., anger-sadness were differentiated by HRV and theta asymmetry, while disgust-fear by N-SCR and beta asymmetry. Obtained results suggest that magnitudes of profiles of physiological variables differentiate emotions evoked by affective pictures, despite that the patterns of most responses were featured by qualitative similarity in given passive viewing context.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.11
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• pp.1729-1738
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• 2019

In sourdough fermentation, lactic acid bacteria perform important roles in the production of volatile and antimicrobial compounds, and exerting health-promoting effects. In this study, we report the probiotic properties and baking characteristics of Lactobacillus plantarum SPC-SNU 72-2 isolated from kimchi. This strain is safe to use in food fermentation as it does not carry genes for biogenic amine production (i.e., hdc, tdc, and ldc) and shows no β-hemolytic activity against red blood cells. The strain is also stable under simulated human gastrointestinal conditions, showing tolerance to gastric acid and bile salt, and adheres well to colonic epithelial cells. Additionally, this strain prevents pathogen growth and activates mouse peritoneal macrophages by inducing cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-12. Furthermore, the strain possesses good baking properties, providing rich aroma during dough fermentation and contributing to the enhancement of bread texture. Taken together, L. plantarum SPC-SNU 72-2 has the properties of a good starter strain based on the observation that it improves bread flavor and texture while also providing probiotic effects comparable with commercial strains.