• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.170-187
• /
• 2011

Background : Obesity, the syndrome caused by a high fat diet, is a disease. At the same time, obesity causes diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, and cardiovascular disease. Recently, its prevalence rate is increasing. Yagwan-cheunghyeoltang (YCT) used in this experiment is the prescription of Yagwanmoon added to Cheunghyeol-tang which is reported to be very effective in weight loss controlling and serum cholesterol. It is also reported that Yagwanmoon has significant antioxidant effects and YCT has a significant effect on blood glucose control. Objectives : This study was conducted to experimentally evaluate the effects of YCT on obesity in rats induced by high fat diet. Methods : The experiment was conducted with 4-week-old male rat s divided into 5 groups. They were a normal diet group, a high fat diet group, a positive drug control group, a 1% YCT group, and a YCT 3% group, and were tested for eight weeks. After four weeks of inducing obesity by a high fat diet, rats were allowed to lose weight by following the normal diet group, approximately 30% compared with 10 rats in each group were determined as still obese. Changes in body weight and organ weight and serum cholesterol, triglyceride, glucose-density, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, antioxidant activity were checked. Results : In the experimental groups, we observed weight loss and visceral fat reduction, improvement of liver function, reduction of serum glucose, activation of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor, reduction of concentrations of leptin and it showed a significant effect on antioxidants and lipid peroxidation. Conclusions : YCT has significant effects on the regulation of hyperlipidemia and lipid peroxidation associated with obesity and has significant effects on, antioxidants and lipid peroxidation, too. Additional clinical studies are needed.

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.37 no.2
• /
• pp.239-245
• /
• 2004

We have previously demonstrated that the redox reactant pyruvate prevents apoptosis in the oxidant model of bovine pulmonary artery endothelial cells (BPAEC), and that the anti-apoptotic mechanism of pyruvate is mediated in part via the mitochondrial matrix compartment. However, cytosolic mechanisms for the cytoprotective feature of pyruvate remain to be elucidated. This study investigated the pyruvate protection against endothelial cytotoxicity when the glycolysis inhibitor 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2DG) was applied to BPAEC. Millimolar 2DG blocked the cellular glucose uptake in a concentration- and time-dependent manner with >85% inhibition at $\geq$5 mM within 24 h. The addition of 2DG evoked BPAEC cytotoxicity with a substantial increase in lipid peroxidation and a marked decrease in intracellular total glutathione. Exogenous pyruvate partially prevented the 2DG-induced cell damage with increasing viability of BPAEC by 25-30%, and the total glutathione was also modestly increased. In contrast, 10 mM L-lactate, as a cytosolic reductant, had no effect on the cytotoxicity and lipid peroxidation that are evoked by 2DG. These results suggest that 2DG toxicity may be a consequence of the diminished potential of glutathione antioxidant, which was partially restored by exogenous pyruvate but not L-lactate. Therefore, pyruvate qualifies as a cytoprotective agent for strategies that attenuate the metabolic dysfunction of the endothelium, and cellular glucose oxidation is required for the functioning of the cytosolic glutathione/NADPH redox system.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
• /
• v.35 no.2
• /
• pp.208-221
• /
• 2014

Purpose : Banhasasim-tang (BHSST) has been applied for treating the symptom of gastric stuffiness, which is similar to dyspepsia. The object of this study was to observe the healing effect of BHSST on the indomethacin (IND)-induced gastric ulcer in rats. Methods : Three different dosages of BHSST (400, 200 and 100 mg/kg) were orally administered 30 min before IND treatment; 6 hrs after IND treatment, the changes on the gross lesion scores, fundic histopathology, myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity, lipid peroxidation and antioxidant defense system (glutathione contents, catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities) were observed, and compared with the activity of the synthetic anti-ulcer drug, a representative proton pump inhibitor omeprazole (OME) 10 mg/kg. Results : All three different dosages of BHSST treatment in the IND-induced gastric ulcer rats, significant and dose dependent decreased gastric damages - hemorrhagic gross lesions, gastric mucosa MPO levels and histopathological gastric ulcerative lesions - were detected as compared with the IND treated control rats. BHSST also strengthened the antioxidant defense systems - decreased the level of lipid peroxidation and CAT activity but increased the level of GSH and SOD activity, and BHSST 200 mg/kg showed similar anti-ulcerative effect as compared with OME 10 mg/kg. Conclusions : The results obtained in this study suggest that BHSST has favorable effects against IND-induced gastric damages, through significant and dose-dependent decreasing gastric damages and the strengthening of the body's antioxidant defense systems with direct anti-inflammatory effects.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
• /
• v.2 no.5
• /
• pp.601-609
• /
• 1998

The present study was undertaken to examine the role of phospholipase $A_2\;(PLA_2)$ in oxidant-induced inhibition of phosphate transport in primary cultured rabbit renal proximal tubule cells. Uptakes of phosphate and glucose were dose-dependently inhibited by an oxidant t-butylhydroperoxide (tBHP), and the significant inhibition appeared at 0.025 mM of tBHP, whereas tBHP-induced alterations in lipid peroxidation and cell viability were seen at 0.5 mM. tBHP stimulated arachidonic acid (AA) release in a dose-dependent fashion. A $PLA_2$ inhibitor mepacrine prevented tBHP-induced AA release, but it did not alter the inhibition of phosphate uptake and the decrease in cell viability induced by tBHP. tBHP-induced inhibition of phosphate transport was not affected by a PKC inhibitor, staurosporine. tBHP at 0.1 mM did not produce the inhibition of $Na^+-K^+-ATPase$ activity in microsomal fraction, although it significantly inhibited at 1.0 mM. These results suggest that tBHP can inhibit phosphate uptake through a mechanism independent of $PLA_2$ activation, irreversible cell injury, and lipid peroxidation in primary cultured rabbit renal proximal tubular cells.

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.197-205
• /
• 1991

Local extravasation during intravenous administration of adriamycin (doxorubicin HCl) can cause severe skin ulceration and necrosis. To investigate the mechanism of adriamycin-induced skin toxicity, effects of adriamycin on reactive oxygen radical metabolism using cultured skin cells of fetal rat. Adriamycin produced significant release of lactic dehydrogenase from cultured skin cell preparations dose- and time-dependently. The production of superoxide anion in sonicated suspensions of cultured skin cells was significantly increased by adriamycin under the presence of NADPH and NADH. The drug also stimulated malondialdehyde (MDA) production, an index of lipid peroxidation, in NADPH- and NADH-supported cell preparations. The increased production of MDA was significantly inhibited by oxygen radical scavengers (superoxide dismutase, catalase, thiourea) and antioxidants (butylated hydroxytoluene, ${\alpha}-tocopherol$). Treatment of cultured skin cells with 1, 3,-bis (2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea (BCNU), an inhibitor of glutathione reductase, enhanced the lipid peroxidation induced by adriamycin. The present study suggests that lipid peroxidation which is resulted from the stimulated production of reactive oxygen radical causes cellular damage in adriamycin-treated skin cells of rat.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.48-55
• /
• 1998

An acute ethanol load(50mmol/kg , i.p) resulted in an increase in peroxidation and a decrease in the levels of $\alpha$-tocopherol and ascorbate in rat cerebellum. Pretreatement with allopurinol(146$\mu$mol/kg, i.p) prevented the ethnol-induced increment in lipid peroxidation and decrease in $\alpha$-tocopherol content. However, the decrease of ascorbate was of greater magnitude when allopurinol was associated with ethanol. These results suggested that allopurinol. besides its action as a radical scavenger and xanthine oxidase inhibitor, might favor the regeneration of $\alpha$-tocopherol antioxidant acitviity was studied using ${\gamma}$-radiolysis in aerated ethanolic solutions. Even though allopurinol did not react by itself with $\alpha$-hydroxyethyl-peroxyl radicals [H3C-CH(OH)OO] , it enhance the $\alpha$-hydroxyethyl-peroxyl radical scavenging properties of $\alpha$tocopherol. The regeneration of $\alpha$-tocopherol from the $\alpha$-hydroxyethyl-peroxyl radical scavenging properties of $\alpha$-tocophero. The regeneration of $\alpha$-tocopherol from the $\alpha$-tocopherol radical by ascorbate remained as efficient in the presence of allopurinol as in its absence. The effects of allopurinol on the Vitamin E oxidation-reduction mechanism could be involoved in the beneficial effectof allopurinol on the biological cellular damages linked to free radical reactions.

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.42 no.9
• /
• pp.561-567
• /
• 2009

Although many plant-derived phenolic compounds display antioxidant effects in biological systems, their mechanism of action remains controversial. In this study, the mechanism by which p-coumaric acid (p-CA) performs its antioxidant action was investigated in bovine aortic endothelial cells under oxidative stress due to high levels of glucose (HG) and arachidonic acid (AA), a free fatty acid. p-CA prevented lipid peroxidation and cell death due to HG+AA without affecting the production of reactive oxygen species. The antioxidant effect of p-CA was not decreased by buthionine-(S,R)-sulfoximine, an inhibitor of cellular GSH synthesis. In contrast, pretreatment with p-CA caused the induction of peroxidases that decomposed t-butyl hydroperoxide in a p-CA-dependent manner. Furthermore, the antioxidant effect of p-CA was significantly mitigated by methimazole, which was shown to inhibit the catalytic activity of 'p-CA peroxidases' in vitro. Therefore, it is suggested that the induction of these previously unidentified 'p-CA peroxidases' is responsible for the antioxidant effect of p-CA.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
• /
• v.49 no.4
• /
• pp.347-354
• /
• 2005

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induces synthesis of several inflammatory cytokines and nitric oxide (NO). NO in brain is involved not only in the regulation of important metabolic pathways via intracellular cyclic GMP-dependent path­ways, but also in neurotoxic damage by reacting with superoxide ion leading to form peroxynitrite radical. Oxidative stress has suggested to be related to the inhibition of NO synthase/cyclic GMP pathway. OQ21 is a new fluorinated quinone compound that is recently known to have inhibitory effects on both NO synthase (NOS) and guanylyl cyclase (GC). In this study, we examined effects of OQ21, other known NOS or GC inhibitors, or an antioxidant, melatonin, on the oxidative stress produced by LPS in rat brain. Oxidative stress was observed by using the 2',7'-dichlorofluorescin diacetate to measure intra-cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and by measuring the formation of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances to measure lipid peroxidation. LPS induced significant increase in both ROS produdction and lipid peroxidation in all brain regions tested (striatum, hippocampus and cortex), which were dissected 6hr after intraperitoneal administration of LPS to rats. Direct striatal injection of two NOS inhibitors, N-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester and diphenyleneiodonium, or a GC inhibitor, IH-[1,2,4]oxadiazolo[4,3-a]quinoxaline-l-one, produced no significant ROS increase. However, OQ21 enhanced ROS formation in striatal tissues from LPS-treated rats. Melatonin decreased LPS-induced ROS formation and decreased ROS formation increased by OQ21 in striatum of LPS-treated rats.

• Animal Bioscience
• /
• v.35 no.2
• /
• pp.166-176
• /
• 2022

Objective: Sperm is particularly susceptible to reactive oxygen species (ROS) stress. Glutathione (GSH) is an endogenous antioxidant that regulates sperm redox homeostasis. However, it is not clear whether boar sperm could utilize cysteine for synthesis GSH to protect sperm quality from ROS damage. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to elucidate the mechanism of how cysteine is involved in protecting boar sperm quality during liquid storage. Methods: Sperm motility, membrane integrity, lipid peroxidation, 4-hydroxyIlonenal (4-HNE) modifications, mitochondrial membrane potential, as well as the levels of ROS, GSH, and, ATP were evaluated. Moreover, the enzymes (GCLC: glutamate cysteine ligase; GSS: glutathione synthetase) that are involved in glutathione synthesis from cysteine precursor were detected by western blotting. Results: Compared to the control, addition of 1.25 mM cysteine to the liquid storage significantly increased boar sperm progressive motility, straight-line velocity, curvilinear velocity, beat-cross frequency, membrane integrity, mitochondrial membrane potential, ATP level, acrosome integrity, activities of superoxide dismutase and catalase, and GSH level, while reducing the ROS level, lipid peroxidation and 4-HNE modifications. It was also observed that the GCLC and GSS were expressed in boar sperm. Interestingly, when we used menadione to induce sperm with ROS stress, the menadione associated damages were observed to be reduced by the cysteine supplementation. Moreover, compared to the cysteine treatment, the γ-glutamylcysteine synthetase (γ-GCS) activity, GSH level, mitochondrial membrane potential, ATP level, membrane integrity and progressive motility in boar sperm were decreased by supplementing with an inhibitor of GSH synthesis, buthionine sulfoximine. Conclusion: These data suggest that boar sperm could biosynthesize the GSH from cysteine in vitro. Therefore, during storage, addition of cysteine improves boar sperm quality via enhancing the GSH synthesis to resist ROS stress.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
• /
• v.35 no.3
• /
• pp.271-279
• /
• 2022

Background: Inflammation is known to underlie the pathogenesis in neuropathic pain. This study investigated the anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective mechanisms involved in antinociceptive effects of co-administration of acetaminophen and L-carnosine in chronic constriction injury (CCI)-induced peripheral neuropathy in male Wistar rats. Methods: Fifty-six male Wistar rats were randomly divided into seven experimental groups (n = 8) treated with normal saline/acetaminophen/acetaminophen + L-carnosine. CCI was used to induce neuropathic pain in rats. Hyperalgesia and allodynia were assessed using hotplate and von Frey tests, respectively. Investigation of spinal proinflammatory cytokines and antioxidant system were carried out after twenty-one days of treatment. Results: The results showed that the co-administration of acetaminophen and L-carnosine significantly (P < 0.001) increased the paw withdrawal threshold to thermal and mechanical stimuli in ligated rats compared to the ligated naïve group. There was a significant (P < 0.001) decrease in the levels of nuclear factor kappa light chain enhancer B cell inhibitor, calcium ion, interleukin-1-beta, and tumour necrotic factor-alpha in the spinal cord of the group coadministered with acetaminophen and L-carnosine compared to the ligated control group. Co-administration with acetaminophen and L-carnosine increased the antioxidant enzymatic activities and reduced the lipid peroxidation in the spinal cord. Conclusions: Co-administration of acetaminophen and L-carnosine has anti-inflammatory effects as a mechanism that mediate its antinociceptive effects in CCI-induced peripheral neuropathy in Wistar rat.