• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2014

Artificial insemination technique has been contributed immensely for production of livestock worldwide as a critical assisted reproductive technique to preserve and propagate excellent genes in domestic animal industry. In the past decade, methods for semen preservation have been improved mostly in liquid preservation method for boar semen and freezing method for bull semen. Among many factors affecting semen quality during preservation, reactive oxygen species, produced by aerobic respiration in sperm for survival and motility, are unfavorable to sperm physiology. In mammalian cell as well as in the sperm, antioxidant system plays a role in degradation of reactive oxygen species. Magnetized water forms smaller stabilizing water clusters, resulting in high absorption and permeability of the cell for water, implicating its application for semen preservation. Therefore, this review focuses on preservation methods of boar and bull semen with respect to improvement of extender and reduction of reactive oxygen species by using magnetized water and supplementation of antioxidants.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.461-467
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• 2009

A bacterial strain was screened and identified from sea sediments in Tongyeong coastal area in order to obtain proteases or peptidase cleaving C-terminal of glutamic acid. Strain TS0611, which showed the highest activity from 5 isolated protease producing strains, was selected and its properties investigated. Strain TS0611 was a gram-positive rod, $1.2\;{\mu}m$ in cell length, catalase positive, motility-positive, melanin-negative and grew at 15~$50^{\circ}C$, and hydrolyzed gelatin and casein. This strain was identified as Bacillus thuringiensis or Bacillus cereus based on results from the API system(API 50 CHB) which examined saccharides properties, fatty acid composition of cell wall, and 16S rRNA gene sequence.

• The Korean Journal of Food & Health Convergence
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.18-25
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• 2018

Proteins play a key role in many functions such as metabolic activity, differentiation, as cargos and cell fate regulators. It is necessary to know about the markers involved in male fertility in order to develop remedies for the treatment of male infertility. But, the role of the proteins is not limited to particular function in the biological systems. Some of the proteins act as ion channels such as catsper and proteins like Nanos acts as a translational repressor in germ cells and expressed in prenatal period whose role in male fertility is uncertain. Rbm5 is a pre mRNA splicing factor necessary for sperm differentiation whose loss of function results deficit in sperm production. DEFB114 is a beta defensin family protein necessary for sperm motility in LPS challenged mice where as TEX 101 is a plasma membrane specific germ cell protein whose function is not clearly known u to now. Gpr56 is another adhesion protein whose null mutation leads to arrest of production of pups in rats. Amyloid precursor protein role in Alzheimer's disease is already known but it plays an important role in male fertility also but its function is uncertain and has to be considered while targeting APP during the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. The study on amyloid precursor protein in male fertility is a novel thing but requires further study in correlation to alzheimer's disease.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.25-29
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• 2009

The changes on the regional distributions and frequencies of somatostatin-immunoreactive (IR) cells in the fundus and pylorus of the stomach of osteoporotic Sprague-Dawley rats induced by ovariectomy were studied by immunohistochemical methods. The experimental animals were divided into two groups, one for non-ovariectomized group (Sham) and the other for ovariectomized group (OVX). Samples were collected from the fundus and pylorus regions at the 10 th week after ovariectomy or sham-operation. Somatostatin-IR cells were observed in both regions of the stomach regardless of ovariectomy. Most of these IR cells in the mucosa of the fundus or pylorus were generally spherical or spindle in shape (open type cell) while cells found in the gastric gland regions were round in shape (close type cell). Significantly lower number (P<0.01) of somatostatin-IR cells were detected in OVX as compared with Sham in the fundus and pylorus. In the present study, the density of somatostatin in the stomach was markedly decreased. Therefore, these changes in density of somatostatin-IR cells detected in this study may support the speculation that the development of gastrointestinal symptoms in osteoporosis such as impairments of calcium and some lipids, frequently encountered in patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis because the changes in gastrointestinal endocrine density would reflect the change in the capacity of producing these hormones and regulating gut motility and digestion.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 1997

Ginseng, the root of Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer, is well-known oriental herbal medicine. The number of paper reporting the effects on its physiological, pharmacological, and behavioral effects has been increased every year, since ginsenosides isolated from ginseng are known to be biologically active components. This brief review summarizes some of new findings from recently published papers on ginsenosides or ginseng saponins. Therefore, this paper includes the various effects of ginsenosides on neuronal cell growths, on behavior of experimental animals, on enzyme activities, on the release and uptake of neurotransmitters, on neuronal cell excitability, on the motility of intestine, on antitumor activity, on cardiovascular system and metabolism. In spite of various effects of ginsenosides on various cells or organs, it is still to date impossible for one to clearly explain the exact mechanism on the action of ginsenosides. However, in this article I will discuss several papers providing possible explanations on the physiological and pharmacological actions including signal transudation pathway of ginsenosides. The elucidation of the exact mechanism of ginsenosides on cellular or molecular level will not only give us a chance to explain why people have used ginseng as an elixir of life for several thousands of year but also give us a crucial chance to apply ginseng to modern medicine.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.74-80
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• 2021

Cells regulate their shapes and motility by sensing the cues from the internal and external microenvironment. Under different circumstances, microglia, the brain resident immune cells, undergo dynamic phenotypic changes, one of which is a remarkable periodic oscillatory migration in vitro. However, very little is known about the kinematic and dynamic perspectives of this oscillatory behavior. In this study, we tracked the changes in cell morphology and nuclear displacement, and visualized the forces using traction force microscopy (TFM). By correlation analyses, we confirmed that the lamellipodia formation preceded the nuclear translocation. Moreover, traction, developed following lamellipodia formation, was found to be localized and fluctuated at two ends of the oscillating cells. Taken together, our results imply that oscillatory microglial cells feature a viscoelastic migration, which will contribute to the field of cell mechanics.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.26-32
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• 2022

Living cells generate, sense, and respond to mechanical forces through their interaction with neighboring cells or extracellular matrix, thereby regulating diverse cellular processes such as growth, motility, differentiation, and immune responses. Dysregulation of mechanosensitive signaling pathways is found associated with the development and progression of various diseases such as cancer. Yet, little is known about the mechanisms behind mechano-regulation, largely due to the limited availability of tools to study it at the molecular level. The recent development of molecular tension probes allows measurement of cellular forces exerted by single ligand-receptor interaction, which has helped in revealing the hitherto unknown mechanistic details of various mechanosensitive processes in living cells. Here, we provide an introductory overview of two methods based on molecular tension probes, tension gauge tether (TGT), and molecular tension fluorescence microscopy (MTFM). TGT utilizes the irreversible rupture of double-stranded DNA tether upon application of force in the piconewton (pN) range, whereas MTFM utilizes the reversible extension of molecular springs such as polymer or single-stranded DNA hairpin under applied pN forces. Specifically, the underlying principle of how molecular tension probes measure cell-generated mechanical forces and their applications to mechanosensitive biological processes are described.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.259-265
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• 2012

A bacterial strain, CK214, exhibiting high motility on an LB agar (1.5%, w/v) surface was isolated from the environment. The formation of unusual agar shrinking around colonies on agar plates was observed. The strain grew on minimal media containing pure agar as a sole carbon source. The cell-free culture supernatant of CK214 generated a reduced form of sugar in the in vitro reaction with the use of pure agar as a substrate, suggesting the secretion of an agar-degrading enzyme. The CK214 strain showed swarming motility on the solid media containing a wide range of concentrations of agar (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0% w/v). Various tests, including Gram staining, API analysis, and phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rDNA sequences identified that the CK214 strain was a G(+) rod-shaped bacterium grouped in genus Paenibacillus. Electron microscopic analysis demonstrated that the P. CK214 strain is peritrichously flagellated. Through transposon random mutagenesis, several agar-degrading activity defective mutants (ADMs) were generated. These mutants will be used in the future experimentation for the study of the correlation between agar-degrading activity and motility.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.115-121
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• 2014

Humulus japonicus is an ornamental plant in the Cannabaceae family. Although the mode of action of Humulus japonicus is not fully understood, a strong relationship was observed between anti-inflammatory and anticancer in some types of cells. Recent studies also have shown that Humulus japonicus possesses anti-inflammatory activities and may significantly improve antioxidant potential in Raw 264.7 macrophage cells. Thus, the aim of this study was evaluated the effect of Humulus japonicus extract on sperm motility and subsequent preimplantation developmental competence of the bovine embryos. After in vitro maturation, the oocytes with sperms were exposed in in vitro fertilization (IVF) medium supplemented with Humulus japonicus extract (0.01, 0.05, $0.1{\mu}g/mL$, respectively) for 1 day. In our results, exposure of IVF medium to Humulus japonicus extract did not affect sperm motility and percentage of penetrated oocytes but ROS intensity was significantly decreased by $0.01{\mu}g/mL$ compared with other groups (p< 0.05). Moreover, treatment with $0.01{\mu}g/mL$ of Humulus japonicus extract was higher the frequency of blastocyst formation than the any other groups (p<0.05). Otherwise, treatment with $0.01{\mu}g/mL$ of Humulus japonicus extract not increased the total cell number but reduced apoptotic-positive nuclei number. In conclusion, our results indicate that supplementation of Humulus japonicus extract in IVF medium may have important implications for improving early embryonic development in bovine embryos.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.301-314
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• 2005

Objective: Rebamipide is a propionic acid derivative that has an action of the inhibition of superoxide production and removal of hydroxyl radical with the sperm incubation and cryopreservation. In the present study, to investigate whether rebamipide is useful to treat male infertility and sterility, the author observed the antioxidative effects in patient with male infertility and also examined its absorption and distribution in rat genital organ. Methods: To measure the distribution of rebamipide in reproductive organ in the rat, carbon indicated rebamipide, $^{14}C-OPC-12759$, was orally administered to 10 Spraque-Dawley rats and its organ concentration in serum, liver, kidney, stomach, duodenum, colon, urinary bladder, seminal vesicle, epididymis and testicle were measured each time after 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8 and 24 hours by using HPLC fluorescent method. The concentrations in semen were measured by HPLC fluorescent method in a sample of 50 infertile males who took 900 mg of rebamipide daily for 3 months. To measure the antioxidative effect and fertility rate for 3 months, each month before and after the treatment, sperm motility, vitality, the oxygen free radical formation, level of peroxidation, fetilizing capacity of semen sample which were obtained from infertile male patients by masturbation after at least 48 hours abstinence were analyzed by computer assisted semen analyzer, eosin-nigrosin stain, chemiluminescence, thiobarbituric acid method and hypo-osmotic swelling test. Simultaneously in a sample that wanted baby, both pregnancy and delivery were researched. Results: The $^{14}C-OPC-12759$ concentration in the body of white rats was highest in gastrointestinal organ like stomach, smal intestine and duodenum and followed by genital organ like seminal vesicle, testis and epididymis. The rebamipide concentration in semen of infertile males was $220.77{\pm}327.84ng/mL$ (SD) which showed a large deviation but it was higher than serum which was $126{\pm}76ng/mL$ (SD). In the infertile males, after the treatment with rebamipide, the level of seminal reactive oxygen species (ROS) and lipid peroxidation have significantly decreased in duration of the treatment (p<0.05) and sperm vitality and fertilizing capacity except sperm motility significantly improved on post treatment of 2~3 months (p<0.05). Out of the 41 cases who hoped for pregnancy, 15 cases (36.6%) became pregnant and 12 cases had childbrith, 2 cases had miscarriage and one case is ongoing. The side effect was observed in 1 case (2%) which experienced diarrhea but it was lost spontaneously. Conclusions: We conclude from this study that rebamipide showed relatively high tendancy of absorption and excretion in the genital organ. In infertile males who had elevated ROS in semen, by specifically inhibiting the cell damage from the antioxidation, a way to preserve sperm motility, vitality and fertilizing capacity was confirmed.