• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.73-80
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• 2014

Pretreatment of chinese cabbage leaves with $100{\mu}M$ sodium nitroprusside (SNP), a nitric oxide (NO) donor, effectively improved their tolerance to subsequent $2{\mu}M$ paraquat (PQ)-induced oxidative damage. The fresh weight, and chlorophyll and protein contents in primary leaves treated with PQ alone were noticeably reduced over 24 h light incubation. However, these leaf injury symptoms were significantly alleviated with $100{\mu}M$ SNP pretreatment for 3 h prior to PQ exposure. In additions, the increase of the contents of malondialdehyde (MDA) and $H_2O_2$ due to PQ exposure were significantly inhibited by SNP pretreatment. Together with the protective effects of SNP against PQ toxicity in leaves, the changes of ascorbate-glutathione cycle enzymes activities were examined. In the PQ alone treatment, the activities of APX, DHAR, and GR after 6 h incubation were rapidly reduced and showed 19%, 50% and 39% respectively, compared with those of the control. However, the decreases in these enzyme activities were significantly inhibited by SNP pretreatment. As a result, their activities were higher than those of PQ alone treatment by 5 times, 2 times, and 1.5 times, respectively, at 6 h incubation. Thereafter, these enzymes decrease their activities gradually showing high levels than those of PQ alone. Based on the above results, it can be assumed that the activation of ascorbate-glutathione cycle by SNP pretreatment in chinese cabbage leaves exposed to PQ can prevent $H_2O_2$ accumulation, thereby leading to protection against PQ-induced oxidative stress. Also, these results indicate that NO acts as an protectant against PQ stress in the leaves of chinese cabbage.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.814-821
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• 1997

Kimchi is composed of many ingredients such as Chinese cabbage, garlic, ginger, and red pepper and fermented fish extract. Some of them were known to have antioxidative activities due to their scavenging effect against reactive oxygen species(ROS). To study the health effects of kimchi on human skin cells, keratinocyte(A431, epidermoid carcinoma, human) and fibroblast(CCD-986SK, normal control, human) were cultured in oxidative stress condition provoked by paraquat, a superoxide anion generator, and hydrogen peroxide in the absence and presence of kimchi extract. The survival rate of keratinocyte was greatly reduced when exposed over 1mM concentration of hydrogen peroxide($H_{2}O_{2}$), but cytotoxicity of $H_{2}O_{2}$ was significantly reduced by kimchi extracts on cells. Especially 2 week-fermented kimchi decreased remarkably the cytotoxicity by $H_{2}O_{2}$ to keratinocyte cells. Over 1mM of paraquat concentration showed strong cell toxicity on keratinocyte, but the extracts from kimchi fermented for 1, 2 and 3 weeks showed protective effects in order. Fibroblast cells were significantly affected by $H_{2}O_{2}$ as were keratinocyte cells. Although almost all extacts of kimchi of different fermentation periods showed protective effect against cell killing at 0.5mM concentration of $H_{2}O_{2}$ week-fermented kimchi extract showed the strongest protective effect on fibroblast cells treated with 1mM $H_{2}O_{2}$ for either 1 day or 4 days. However most of kimchi extracts showed weak preventive effect or no effect on oxidative stress produced by paraquat. In conclusion, 2 week-fermented kimchi extract seems to have the best potential in preventing skin cells against oxidative damage which might be related to their scavenging effects of kimchi components produced during their fermentation process.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.29-38
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• 1999

Three kinds of soil surface applied herbicides and three kinds of foliage applied herbicides were used to study weed control effect, appropriate concentration, phyto-toxicity against trees and economical efficiency of weed control on trees, Pinus thunbergii, Picea abies, Chamaecyparis obtusa, Quercus accutissima, and Fraxinus rhynchopylla in a nursery. The results were obtained as follows; 1.The control effect of the soil surface applied herbicides showed that the three herbicides; Alachlor, Pendimenthalin and Simazine were alike in their holding effect of weed development, and the sensibility of weed spp. on the herbicides was different. The mean control effect was 58~89%. 2. The weed control effect of the foliage applied herbicides demonstrated that Paraquat dichloride was the best of 84~95% and followed by Glufosnate ammonium and Glyphosate. Especially when the half of its standard amount was treated, the effect of Paraquat dichloride was higher than the other herbicides. 3. Generally, the weed control effect became better as the concentration of the herbcide getting higher. As the concentration of the herbicide got higher, the restraining effect of weed development was continued for a long time in the soil surface applied herbicides, while the weed control effect appeared earlier in the foliage applied herbicides. 4. As the result of the soil surface treatments, 20% of short seedings of Fraxinus rhychopylla treated with twice amount of standard Alachlor died and the rest seeding showed low growth. In the other treatments, there was neither harmful effect of herbicides on the seedings nor growth decrease of them compared to those weeded by men. 5. When treated with foliage applied herbcides, leaves were partially of and discolorated in most treatments. About 0.4~6.2% of Fraxinus thynchopylla, which had short seedings died, and there was no difference in growth with the other treatments. 6. The herbicides showed better economical efficiency over 68% than weed control by men. Especially, Alachlaor of the soil surface applied herbicides showed the highest efficiency(77.6%), while Paraquat dichloride of the foliage applied herbicides was the best(70.3%)..

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.407-413
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• 2015

Paraquat dichloride (N,N-dimethyl-4-4'-bipiridinium, PQ) is an extremely toxic chemical that is widely used in herbicides. PQ generates reactive oxygen species (ROS) and causes multiple organ failure. In particular, PQ has been reported to be an immunotoxic agrochemical compound. PQ was shown to decrease the number of macrophages in rats and suppress monocyte phagocytic activity in mice. However, the effect of PQ on macrophage cell viability remains unclear. In this study, we evaluated the cytotoxic effect of PQ on the mouse macrophage cell line, RAW264.7 and its possible mechanism of action. RAW264.7 cells were treated with PQ (0, 75, and $150{\mu}M$), and cellular apoptosis, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), and intracellular ROS levels were determined. Morphological changes to the cell nucleus and cellular apoptosis were also evaluated by DAPI and Annexin V staining, respectively. In this study, PQ induced apoptotic cell death by dose-dependently decreasing MMP. Additionally, PQ increased the cleaved form of caspase-3, an apoptotic marker. In conclusion, PQ induces apoptosis in RAW264.7 cells through a ROS-mediated mitochondrial pathway. Thus, our study improves our knowledge of PQ-induced toxicity, and may give us a greater understanding of how PQ affects the immune system.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.13 no.3_4
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• pp.105-115
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• 1998

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are highly reactive molecules due to their unpaired electron. They have been suspected as one of the major tissue damage inducers in biological metabolic systems. Antioxidant enzymes, such as catalase and superoxide dismutase, could not repair all the oxidative damages resulting from those excessive toxic ROS. It is, therefore, urgent to develop effective antioxidants to relieve from the oxidatire damages. In this study antioxidative effects were investigated by using two flavonoids such as quercetin and naringenin and a flavonoid-rich extract, Ginkgo biloba extract in combination with paraquat that is known as a strong generator of oxygen radicals. The results are summeringed as follows: 1. To assess radical scavenging ability reduction concentrations (IC$_{50}$) of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazine (DPPH) within 15 minutes were measured. The values of the IC$_{50}$ of quercetin and Ginkgo biloba extract were 15.4 $\mu$M and 13.2$\mu$g/ml, respectively. Their radical removing activities showed concentration-dependent manners. 2. In the hydrogen peroxide assay by using PMS-NADH system, quercetin, naringenin and Ginkgo biloba extract led to removing hydrogen peroxide in concentrationdependent manner whose removing abilities at 100$\mu$M or 100 $\mu$g/ml were 75.6, 25.8 and 26.0%, respectively. 3. In the hydrogen peroxide-induced rat blood hemolysis assay all three compounds led to similar effects whose hemolysis inhibition ratios at 100$\mu$M or 100$\mu$g/ml were 68.0, 5.14 and 55.8%, respectively. 4. In the xanthinee oxidase assay by measuring degree of NADH oxidation in the presence of hypoxanthine and xanthinee oxidase, both quercetin and Ginkgo biloba extract showed excellent activities showing 42.8 and 24.2% inhibiting xanthine oxidase activity at 100$\mu$M or 100$\mu$g/ml concentrations, respectively.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.2189-2198
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• 2014

Paraquat (PQ) is a very effective and widely used herbicide that was commercially introduced in 1962. In this study, instead of using antioxidants like in the past, to inhibit the formation of PQ-induced ROS, we attempted to reduce the oxygen concentration by using non-lethal hypoxia therapy. Therefore, we studied the toxicity of PQ in vivo, analyzed the major effects of ROS on the targeted lung tissue and compared the results with the gross histological changes after the cell protective effect of non-lethal hypoxia therapy. In vivo studies demonstrated that low-concentration oxygen therapy (i.e., 10-12% oxygen) in rats administered with PQ was associated with a higher survival rate than in rats that received only PQ. In vivo non-lethal hypoxia treatment showed better survival and less lung tissue damage. Using a hypoxic/anaerobic incubator with integrated multifaceted molecular analysis, including MDA assay, glutathione assay, and SOD assay, we established an optimal, significantly reduced in vivo non-lethal hypoxia treatment by exploiting the PQ-induced cytotoxicity responses.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.865-869
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• 1996

Biological effect of aqueous extracts of 12 plants which showed superoxide dismutase (SOD)-like activity in vitro was evaluated using Drosophila melanogaster. Survival percentage of the flies was a criterion of effect when the flies were exported to paraquat, which generated superoxide anion radical in vivo. When flies were co-administered with paraquat and aqueous extracts of garlic, lettuce, kiwi, and nameko, they showed no defensive effect against of oxygen toxicity. If flies were exposed to 60 mM paraquat after adaptation to feed containing plant extracts with SOD-like activity for 10 days, however, survival percentage of flies fed with phytochemicals was $35{\sim}63%$ while that percentage of flies fed without phytochemical was only 11%. This result indicated that adaptation of flies to plant extracts with SOD-like activity could prevent the flies from oxidative injury. On the other hand, lettuce, kiwi, nameko, onion, persimmon, fern brake and cauliflower showed a reparative effect on an oxidative stress. Dropwort, shiitake, agaric mushroom and broccoli did not show such an effect.

• Korean Journal of Weed Science
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.195-202
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• 1993

The benefits of pesticides in improving the food quantity and quality requirements for an increasing world population are significant, and they can be described in agronomic, economic and social terms. The risks are assessed from the hazards which are likely to occur in practice ; the hazards are defined by the toxicity of the pesticide to non-target organisms at various exposure levels. There are ways of reducing the risks (mainly by reducing exposure in practice) and improving the benefits of pesticides ; these are known as risk management and benefit management respectively. The overall risk-benefit assessment is facilitated if each component can be expressed in financial terms, but it must be made nationally or locally on a sound technical basis against the prevailing agronomic, socio-economic and political circumstances. Paraquat is used to illustrate the risk-benefit assessment process in general terms, and the conclusion is that the benefits greatly outweigh the risks. It is important to keep the risks of pesticides in perspective with those associated with other naturally occurring chemicals in our diet and with other everyday aspects of life. In an overall context, the pesticide risk is small.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.5-10
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• 2004

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of the active ingredients from ginseng on paraquat(PQ) toxicity. Oxidative stress was induced by intraperitreatneal injection of PQ at a single dose of 25 mg/kg. Saponin treated groups were given protopanaxadiol saponins(PPD) or protopanaxatriol saponins(PPT)(5 mg/kg, orally) per day for 1, 3, & 7 days. We also investigated the relationship between lipid peroxidation and ginseng saponins by measuring the levels of superoxide dismutase(SOD), catalase(CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), reduced glutathione(GSH), malondialdehyde (MDA), and hydrogen peroxide(H$_2$O$_2$) in liver tissue. The activities of SOD, CAT, and GPx were generally high in the PPD group; the SOD activity on each day was the highest in the PPD group. The H$_2$O$_2$ content was the lowest in the PPD group. The GSH levels were significantly increased in the PPD. The levels of MDA(the end product of lipid peroxidation) were significantly lower in the red ginseng component groups than in the PQ group; the levels were especially low in the PPD groups. These results led us to conclude that the antioxidant effects of extracts from red ginseng prevent oxidative damage by direct antioxidant effects involving SOD, CAT, & GPx, and increasing the ability of the body to synthesize endogenous antioxidants.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.280-287
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• 2003

To assess the risk of pesticides on earthworm, the acute toxicities of 10 pesticides were investigated and their toxicity exposure ratios(TERs) were calculated. As the TERs of paraquat dichloride and pendimethalin were more than 100, their risks were rated negligible. Risk of benfuracarb, cadusafos, chlorpyrifos-methyl, endosulfan, isazofos and parathion which have TERs of $10\sim100$ were rated low. However, risk of imidacloprid and phorate which have TER of less than 10 were estimated highly to need a reproduction study. Earthworms were exposed to twenty two pesticides including dazomet 98% GR having PECs of more than $5mg{\cdot}kg^{-1}$ in artificial soil at standard and double dose for 14 days. All the earthworms exposed to dazomet 98% GR and metam-sodium 25% SL were died to show their high risk, while no serious adverse effects were observed in the soil treated with 15 pesticides, calcite 95% WP, calcium polysulfide 36% CF, chlorothalonil 75% WP, daminozide 85% WP, dichlonil 6.7% GR, etridiazole 25% EC, fosetyl-Al 80% WP, glyphosate 41 % SL, hymexazol 30% SL, iprodione 50% WP, machine oil 95% EC, mancozeb 75% WP, propineb 70% WP, terbuthylazine 80% WP and triazophos 40% EC. In case of thiophanate-methyl 70% WP, copper hydroxide 77% WP, dimethoate 46% EC, tolclofos-methyl 50% WP and propamocarb hydrochloride 67% SL, any effect did not show clearly, suggesting an additional subchronic toxicity study. The risk of thiophanate-methyl 70% WP to earthworm was estimated high, considering its subchronic effect, while effects of copper hydroxide 77% WP, dimethoate 46% EC, tolclofos-methyl 50% WP and propamocarb hydrochloride 67% SL to earthworms were negligible, considering no adverse effects in subchronic tests.