• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.201-207
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• 2009

Our previous study demonstrated that flavone inhibits vascular contractions by decreasing the phosphorylation levelof the myosin phosphatase target subunit (MYPT1). In the present study, we hypothesized that flavone attenuates vascular contractions through the inhibition of the RhoA/Rho kinase pathway. Rat aortic rings were denuded of endothelium, mounted in organ baths, and contracted with either 30 nM U46619 (a thromboxane A2 analogue) or 8.0 mM NaF 30 min after pretreatment with either flavone (100 or 300 $({\mu}M$) or vehicle. We determined the phosphorylation level of the myosin light chain ($MLC_{20}$), the myosin phophatase targeting subunit 1 (MYPT1) and the protein kinase C-potentiated inhibitory protein for heterotrimeric myosin light chain phophatase of 17-kDa (CPI17) by means of Western blot analysis. Flavone inhibited, not only vascular contractions induced by these contractors, but also the levels of $MLC_{20}$ phosphorylation. Furthermore, flavone inhibited the activation of RhoA which had been induced by either U46619 or NaF. Incubation with flavone attenuated U46619 or NaF-induced phosphorylation of $MYPT1^{Thr855}$ and $CPI17^{Thr38}$, the downstream effectors of Rho-kinase. In regards to the $Ca^{2+}$-free solution, flavone inhibited the phosphorylation of $MYPT1^{Thr855}$ and $CPI17^{Thr38}$, as well as vascular contractions induced by U 46619. These results indicate that flavone attenuates vascular contractions, at least in part, through the inhibition of the RhoA/Rho-kinase pathway.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.348-355
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• 2013

Squid ink was added to the salt fermented squid by 2% or 4% of concentration and ripened at $10^{\circ}C$ for 8 weeks and at $20^{\circ}C$ for 32days. The effects of the squid ink on the amino nitrogen and muscle protein of salt fermented squid were investigated. The results are as follows; As the salt concentration was decreased and the fermentation temperature raised, amino nitrogen in the salt fermented squid without addition of the squid ink was significantly increased to the latter stage of the ripening and hence fermentations were enhanced. From the change of the protein in the squid muscle in the experiments, dissolution of the myosin heavy chain took place conspicuously in the early stage of the ripening while actin was rarely changed which resulted in the strong resistance to protease. The amino nitrogen content in the salt fermented squid addition of the squid ink has increased to the latter part of the ripening but the range was smaller than no treatment groups. The protein in squid muscle, especially the myosin heavy chain was remarkably dissolved in the middle of the ripening whereas the squid ink added groups of high salt concentration and low temperature showed the tendency of slow proteolysis.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.819-828
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• 2016

Muscle fiber characteristics account for meat quality and muscle fibers are mainly classified into three or more types according to their contractile and metabolic properties. However, the majority of previous studies on bovine skeletal muscle are based on myosin ATPase activity. In the present study, the differences in the characteristics of muscle fibers classified by the expression of myosin heavy chain (MHC) among four bovine skeletal muscles such as longissimus thoracis (LT), psoas major (PM), semimembranosus (SM) and semi-tendinosus (ST) and their relationships to beef quality were investigated. MHCs 2x, 2a and slow were identified by LC-MS/MS and IIX, IIA and I fiber types were classified. PM, which had the smallest size and highest density of fibers regardless of type, showed the highest myoglobin content, CIE $L^*$, $a^*$, $b^*$ and sarcomere length (p<0.05), whereas ST with the highest composition of IIX, showed high shear force and low sarcomere length (p<0.05). The correlation coefficients between muscle fiber characteristics and meat quality showed that type IIX is closely related to poor beef quality and that a high density of small-sized fibers is related to redness and tenderness. Therefore, the differences in meat quality between muscles can be explained by the differences in muscle fiber characteristics, and especially, the muscles with good quality are composed of more small-sized fibers regardless of fiber type.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.103-111
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• 2019

The study is to investigate effects of andrographolide on experimental autoimmune myocarditis (EAM). Lewis rats were immunized on day 0 with porcine cardiac myosin to establish EAM. The EAM rats were treated with either andrographolide (25, 50, 100 mg/kg/day) or vehicle for 21 days. An antigen-specific splenocytes proliferation assay was performed by using the cells from control rats immunized with cardiac myosin. Survival rates, myocardial pathology and myocardial functional parameters (left ventricle end-diastolic pressure, ${\pm}dP/dt$ and left ventricular internal dimension) of EAM rats received andrographolide were significantly improved. Andrographolide treatment caused an decrease in the infiltration of $CD3^+$ and $CD14^+$ positive cells in myocardial tissue. Moreover, andrographolide treatment caused a reduction in the plasma levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-17 (IL-17) and myosin-antibody, and an increase in the level of IL-10 in EAM rats. Oral administration of andrographolide resulted in the decreased expression of p-PI3K, p-Akt without any change of PI3K and Akt. Further results indicate andrographolide significantly inhibited myosin-induced proliferation in splenocytes, and this effect was inhibited by co-treatment of SC79 (Akt activator). Our data indicate andrographolide inhibits development of EAM, and this beneficial effect may be due to powerful anti-inflammatory activity and inhibitory effect on PI3K/Akt pathway.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.479-499
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• 2022

The lack of a clonal renin-secreting cell line has greatly hindered the investigation of the regulatory mechanisms of renin secretion at the cellular, biochemical, and molecular levels. In the present study, we investigated whether it was possible to induce phenotypic switching of the renin-expressing clonal cell line As4.1 from constitutive inactive renin secretion to regulated active renin secretion. When grown to postconfluence for at least two days in media containing fetal bovine serum or insulin-like growth factor-1, the formation of cell-cell contacts via N-cadherin triggered downstream cellular signaling cascades and activated smooth muscle-specific genes, culminating in phenotypic switching to a regulated active renin secretion phenotype, including responding to the key stimuli of active renin secretion. With the use of phenotype-switched As4.1 cells, we provide the first evidence that active renin secretion via exocytosis is regulated by phosphorylation/dephosphorylation of the 20 kDa myosin light chain. The molecular mechanism of phenotypic switching in As4.1 cells described here could serve as a working model for full phenotypic modulation of other secretory cell lines with incomplete phenotypes.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.49-57
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• 2024

While arterial tone is generally determined by the phosphorylation of Ser¹⁹ in myosin light chain (p-MLC2), Thr¹⁸/Ser¹⁹ diphosphorylation of MLC2 (pp-MLC2) has been suggested to hinder the relaxation of smooth muscle. In a dual-wire myography of rodent pulmonary artery (PA) and mesenteric artery (MA), we noticed significantly slower relaxation in PA than in MA after 80 mM KCl-induced condition (80K-contraction). Thus, we investigated the MLC2 phosphorylation and the expression levels of its regulatory enzymes; soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC), Rho-A dependent kinase (ROCK) and myosin light chain phosphatase target regulatory subunit (MYPT1). Immunoblotting showed higher sGC-α and ROCK2 in PA than MA, while sGC-β and MYPT1 levels were higher in MA than in PA. Interestingly, the level of pp-MLC2 was higher in PA than in MA without stimulation. In the 80K-contraction state, the levels of p-MLC2 and pp-MLC2 were commonly increased. Treatment with the ROCK inhibitor (Y27632, 10 µM) reversed the higher pp-MLC2 in PA. In the myography study, pharmacological inhibition of sGC (ODQ, 10 µM) slowed relaxation during washout, which was more pronounced in PA than in MA. The simultaneous treatment of Y27632 and ODQ reversed the impaired relaxation in PA and MA. Although treatment of PA with Y27632 alone could increase the rate of relaxation, it was still slower than that of MA without Y27632 treatment. Taken together, we suggest that the higher ROCK and lower MYPT in PA would have induced the higher level of MLC2 phosphorylation, which is responsible for the characteristic slow relaxation in PA.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.712-717
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• 1998

The complete nucleotide sequence of the cDNA clone encoding rat skeletal muscle myosin- binding protein H (MyBP-H) was determined and amino acid sequence was deduced from the nucleotide sequence (GenBank accession number AF077338). The full-length cDNA of 1782 base pairs(bp) contains a single open reading frame of 1454 bp encoding a rat MyBP-H protein of the predicted molecular mass 52.7kDa and includes the common consensus 1CA__TG' protein binding motif. The cDNA sequence of rat MyBP-H show 92%, 84% and 41% homology with those of mouse, human and chicken, respectively. The protein contains tandem internal motifs array (-FN III-Ig C2-FN III- Ig C2-) in the C-terminal region which resembles to the immunoglobulin superfamily C2 and fibronectin type III motifs. The amino acid sequence of the C-terminal Ig C2 was highly conserved among MyBPs family and other thick filament binding proteins, suggesting that the C-terminal Ig C2 might play an important role in its function. All proteins belonging to MyBP-H member contains `RKPS` sequence which is assumed to be cAMP- and cGMP-dependent protein kinase A phosphorylation site. Computer analysis of the primary sequence of rat MyBP-H predicted 11 protein kinase C (PKC)phosphorylation site, 7 casein kinase II (CK2) phosphorylation site and 4N-myristoylation site.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.71-77
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• 2005

On contraction of the muscles, marked changes in X-ray reflections are observed, suggesting that conformational changes of contractile molecules and the movement of myosin heads during muscle contraction. It was found that the successive twitches decreased not only the time needed to the peak tension after the onset of stimulation but also the time needed to the maximum change of the X-ray intensity. However, the difference of the time between the peak tension and the maximum intensity change$(T_i-I_i)$ is nearly the same at any twitch.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.249-254
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• 2008

The present study was undertaken to determine whether hypoxia influences on the agonist-induced vascular smooth muscle contraction and, if so, to investigate the related mechanism. The measurement of isometric contractions using a computerized data acquisition system was combined with molecular experiments. Hypoxia significantly inhibited fluoride-induced contraction regardless of endothelial function, but there was no relaxation on thromboxane $A_2$ mimetic U-46619-induced contraction suggesting that other pathway such as $Ca^{2+}$ entry or thin filament regulation was not affected. In addition, hypoxia significantly decreased fluoride-induced increase of phospho-myosin-targeting subunit of myosin light chain phosphatase (pMYPT1). Interestingly, hypoxia didn't inhibit significantly phenylephrine-induced contraction suggesting that myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) activity or thin filament regulation is less important on the hypoxia-induced vasorelaxation in the denuded muscle than Rho-kinase activity. In conclusion, this study provides the evidence and possible related mechanism concerning the vasodilation effect of hypoxia on the agonist-specific contraction in rat aortic rings regardless of endothelial function.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.417-424
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• 2003

Inhibitory activities against angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) of enzymatic hydrolysates of porcine skeletal muscle proteins were investigated. Myosin B, myosin, actin, tropomyosin, troponin and water-soluble proteins extracted from pork loin were digested by eight kinds of proteases, including pepsin, $\alpha$-chymotrypsin, and trypsin. After digestion, hydrolysates produced from all proteins showed ACE inhibitory activities, and the peptic hydrolysate showed the strongest activity. In the case of myosin B, the molar concentration of peptic hydrolysate required to inhibit 50% of the activity increased gradually as digestion proceeded. The hydrolysates produced by sequential digestion with pepsin and $\alpha$-chymotrypsin, pepsin and trypsin or pepsin and pancreatin showed weaker activities than those by pepsin alone, suggesting that ACE inhibitory peptides from peptic digestion might lose their active sequences after digestion by the second protease. However, the hydrolysates produced by sequential digestion showed stronger activities than those by $\alpha$-chymotrypsin, trypsin or pancreatin alone. These results suggested that the hydrolysates of porcine meat were able to show ACE inhibitory activity, even if they were digested in vivo, and that pork might be a useful source of physiologically functional factors.