• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.89-98
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• 2010

Sex and its tropic hormones influence the lacrimal system, corneal anatomy and disease, aqueous humor dynamics and glaucoma, crystalline lens and cataract, and retinal disease. Dry eye occurs especially frequently during pregnancy, oral contraceptive use, and after menopause, during which androgen levels decrease. Androgen control development, differentiation, and lipid production of sebaceous glands throughout the body, and androgen deficiency also leads to meibomian gland dysfunction and evaporative dry eye. On the other hand, estrogen causes a reduction in size, activity, and lipid production of sebaceous glands. Sex and its tropic hormones also influence the corneal anatomy and disease, and corneal thickening occurred on the second day of the menstrual cycle and around the time of ovulation and appeared to be related to estrogen levels. Fuchs' dystrophy is more commonly seen in postmenopausal women than men and may be linked to hormonal changes that occur with aging. In addition, overexpression of estrogen and progesterone receptors in the conjunctiva of vernal keratoconjunctivitis patients. Serum progesterone levels also may be associated with intraocular pressure especially in pregnant women, and for the women. For women with cataracts, hormone levels were typical of menopause, and there was a significant negative correlation between estradiol and follicular stimulating hormone levels. In addition, serum testosterone levels are associated with the development of diabetic retinopathy. Although the role of sex hormones on the eye is largely unknown, and the results should be interpreted with caution until replicated, the functions of sex hormones in ocular disease remains to be investigated, because they may be involved in structure and function of the ocular components, which are important in the pathogenesis of ocular disease.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.1-25
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• 1996

The pathogenesis of atherosclerosis can not be summarized as a single process. Lipid infiltration hypothesis and endothelial injury hypothesis have been proposed and investigated. Recent developments show that there are many points of potential interactions between them and that they can actually be regarded as two phases of a single, unifying hypothesis. Among the many risk factors of atherosclerosis, plasma homocysteine and lipoprotein(a) draw a considerable interest because they are independent indicators of atherogenicity. Triglyceride (TG)-rich lipoproteins (chylomicron and VLDL) are not considered to be atherogenic but they are related to the metabolism of HDL cholesterol and indirectly related to coronary heart disease (CHD). LDL can of itself be atherogenic but the oxidative products of this lipoprotein are more detrimental. HDL cholesterol has been considered to be a favorable cholesterol. The so-called 'causalist view' claims that HDL traps excess cholesterol from cellular membranes and transfers it to TG-rich lipoproteins that are subsequently removed by hepatic receptors. In the so-called 'noncausalist view', HDL does not interfere directly with cholesterol deposition in the arterial wall but instead reflects he metabolism of TG-rich lipoproteins and their conversion to atherogenic remnants. Approximately 70-80% of the human population shows an effective feedback control mechanism in cholesterol homeostasis. Type of dietary fat has a significant effect on the lipoprotein cholesterol metabolism and atherosclerosis. Generally, saturated fatty acids elevate and PUFA lower serum cholesterol, whereas MUFA have no specific effect. EPA and DHA inhibit the synthesis of TG, VLDL and LDL, and may have favourable effects on some of the risk factors. Phospholipids, particularly lecithin, have an antiatherosclerotic effect. Essential phospholipids (EPL) may enhance the formation of polyunsaturated cholesteryl ester (CE) which is less sclerotic and more easily dispersed via enhanced hydrolysis of CE in the arterial wall. Also, neutral fecal steroid elimination may be enhanced and cholesterol absorption reduced following EPL treatment. Antioxidants protect lipoproteins from oxidation, and cells from the injury of toxic, oxidized LDL. The rationale for lowering of serum cholesterol is the strong association between elevation of plasma or serum cholesterol and CHD. Cholesterol-lowing, especially LDL cholesterol, to the target level could be achieved using diet and combination of drug therapy. Information on the link between cholesterol and CHD has decreased egg consumption by 16-25%. Some clinical studies have indicated that dietary cholesterol and egg have a significant hypercholesterolemic effect, while others have indicated no effect. These studies differed in the use of purified cholesterol or cholesterol in eggs, in the range of baseline and challenge cholesterol levels, in the quality and quantity of concomitant dietary fat, in the study population demographics and initial serum cholesterol levels, and clinical settings. Cholesterol content of eggs varies to a certain extent depending on the age, breed and diet of hens. However, egg yolk cholesterol level is very resistant to change because of the particular mechanism involved in yolk formation. Egg yolk contains a factor of factors responsible for accelerated cholesterol metabolism and excretion compared with crystalline cholesterol. One of these factors could be egg lecithin. Egg lecithin may not be as effective as soybean lecithin in lowering serum cholesterol level due probably to the differences of fatty acid composition. However, egg lecithin may have positive effects in hypercholesterolemia by increasing serum HDL level and excretion of fecal cholesterol. The association of serum cholesterol with egg consumption has been widely studied. When the basal or control diet contained little or no cholesterol, consumption of 1 or 2 eggs daily increased the concentration of plasma cholesterol, whereas that of the normolipemic persons on a normal diet was not significantly influenced by consuming 2 to 3 eggs daily. At higher levels of egg consumption, the concentration of HDL tends to increase as well as LDL. There exist hyper-and hypo-responders to dietary (egg) cholesterol. Identifying individuals in both categories would be useful from the point of view of nutrition guidelines. Dietary modification of fatty acid composition has been pursued as a viable method of modifying fat composition of eggs and adding value to eggs. In many cases beneficial effects of PUFA enriched eggs have been demonstrated. Generally, consumption of n-3 fatty acids enriched eggs lowered the concentration of plasma TG and total cholesterol compared to the consumption of regular eggs. Due to the highly oxidative nature of PUFA, stability of this fat is essential. The implication of hepatic lipid accumulation which was observed in hens fed on fish oils should be explored. Nutritional manipulations, such as supplementation with iodine, inhibitors of cholesterol biosynthesis, garlic products, amino acids and high fibre ingredients, have met a limited success in lowering egg cholesterol.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.279-283
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• 2011

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play an important role in induction of innate immune responses. The activation of TLRs triggers inflammatory responses that are essential for host defense against invading pathogens. Phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC) extracted from cruciferous vegetables has an effect on anti-inflammatory therapy. Dysregulated activation of nuclear factor-${\kappa}$B (NF-${\kappa}$B), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) has been shown to play important roles in the development of certain inflammatory disease. To evaluate the therapeutic potential of PEITC, NF-${\kappa}$B activation and COX-2 and iNOS expression induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS, TLR4 agonist), polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (Poly[I:C], TLR3 agonist), 2 kDa macrophageactivating lipopeptide (MALP-2, TLR2 and TLR6 agonist) or oligodeoxynucleotide 1668 (ODN1668, TLR9 agonist) were examined. PEITC inhibits the activation of NF-${\kappa}$B induced by LPS or Poly[I:C] but not by MALP-2 or ODN1668. PEITC also suppressed the iNOS expression induced by LPS or Poly[I:C]. However, PEITC did not suppress COX-2 expression induced by LPS, Poly[I:C], MALP-2, or ODN1668. These results suggest that PEITC has the specific mechanism for antiinflammatory responses.

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.93-101
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• 1988

Pharmacological actions of an antispasmodic agent, oxybutynin were investigated in the isolated procine coronary arteries. The coronary rings were contracted by acetylcholine (ACh) and KCl in a dose-dependent fashion. The ACh-induced contractions were signifcantly potentiated by removal of endothelium and $EC_{50}=0.52\;{\mu}M$ of intact endothelial rings was about 2 times greater than $EC_{50}=0.28\;{\mu}M$ of rings without the endothelium. These results suggest that the endothelium plays an inhibitory role in ACh-induced contraction. Oxybutynin and atropine inhibited dose-dependently $1.0\;{\mu}M$ ACh-induced contraction and atropine inhibited dose-dependently $1.0\;{\mu}M$ ACh-induced contraction and the $IC_{50s}$ were 11.0 nM and 0.47 nM, respectively. Atropine did not affect 35 mM KCl-induced contraction but oxybutynin inhibited the contraction to the basal tension in a dose-dependent manner. The $IC_{50}$ of oxybutynin on the KCl-induced contraction was $49.7\;{\mu}M$. The dose-response curve to ACh was parallelly shifted to the right by pretreating coronary rings with $IC_{50}$ of atropine (0.47 nM) or oxybutynin (11.0 nM) but the curve to KC1 was rightward shifted in a noncompetitive manner under pretreatment with $IC_{50}$ of oxybutynin $(49.7\;{\mu}M$). Oxybutynin inhibited $0.1\;{\mu}M$ Bay K 8644-induced contraction to the basal tension in a dose dependent manner, but $35\;{\mu}M$ histamine-induced contraction was inhibited to only 50e/e of the original level even in maximal concentration $(5{\times}10^{-4}M)$ of oxybutynin. These results suggest that oxybutynin causes antispasmodic action through sensitive blocking action on muscarinic receptors and inhibitory action on calcium influx in the procine coronary artery.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.211-223
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• 1987

Head-down tilt (HDT) at $-6^{\circ}$ has been commonly used as the experimental model in both man and animals to induce the blood shift toward the head or central protion of the body, demonstrating similar physiological effect encountered in the weightlessness in the orbital flight. There are few reports about the physiological response upon the cardiovascular regulatory system or the tolerance to the $(-6^{\circ})$ HDT within a relatively short period less than 1 hour. Therefore, the purpose of this study way to observe the effects of $-6^{\circ}$ HDT on cardiovascular system within 30 minutes and to evaluate early regulatory mechanism for simulated hypogravity. Ten mongrel dogs weighing 8-12 kg were anesthetized with the infusion of 1% ${\alpha}-chloralose$ (100 mg/kg) intravenously, and the postural changes were performed from the supine to the $-6^{\circ}$ head-down Position, then from the head-down to the supine (SUP), and each posture was maintained for 30 minutes. Blood flow $({\dot{Q}})$ through common carotid and femoral arteries were determined by the electromagnetic flowmeter. Mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR), respiratory rate , and pH, $P_{O_2}$, $P_{CO_2}$ and hematocrit (Hct) of arterial and venous blood were also measured. The peripheral vascular resistance was calculated by dividing respective MAP values by ${\dot{Q}}$ through both sides of common carotid or femoral arteries. The concentration of plasma epinephrine and norepinephrine was determined by Peuler & Johnson's radioenzymatic method. The results are summarized as follows: In the initial 5 minutes in $-6^{\circ}$ HDT, HR was significantly (p<0.05) increased and MAP slightly decreased. Although ${\dot{Q}}$ and carotid peripheral artery resistance were not significantly changed, ${\dot{Q}}$ through femoral artery was diminished and femoral peripheral artery resistance was elevated. In the SUP, the initial changes of MAP and HR were increased (p<0.05), but those of ${\dot{Q}}$ and peripheral vascular resistance through both common carotid and femoral arteries were not significant. After 10 minutes of each postural change in both HDT and SUP, MAP was maintained almost equal to that of the level of pretilting control. During 60 minutes of both postural changes of HDT and SUP, $P_{O_2}$ and Hct were not changed significantly. However pH tended to increase slowly and $P_{CO_2}$ was gradually decreased. The pH and $P_{CO_2}$ seemed to be related to the increased respiratory rate. Plasma epinephrine concentration was not changed significantly and plasma norepinephrine concentration was slightly decreased in the course of HDT and also at 10 minutes of SUP. However these concentration changes were statistically insignificant. From these results, it may be concluded that the effect of $-6^{\circ}$ HDT for 30 minutes on the cardiovascular system and plasma catecholamine levels of the dog is minimum and it is suggestive that the cardiovascular regulatory mechanism, possibly mediated by so called gravity receptors including baroreceptor and volume receptor, has been properly and adequately operated.

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.203-216
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• 1988

To delineate the mechanisms of vasoconstriction and vasodilation in cerebral arteries the effects of some vasoconstrictors and calcium antagonists on the basilar artery (BA) and arterial circle of Willis (WC) were examined and also the role of endothelium in the action of these drugs was investigated in pigs, cats and rabbits. In pig cerebral arteries, dose-dependent contractile responses were elicited by KCI, histamine, 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and angiotensin, but norepinephrine (NE), phenylephrine (PE) and epinephrine (EP) elicited dose-dependent contractions only under pretreatment with propranolol 10-6 M. The magnitudes of maximal contractile effects of these drugs were different from each other, and 5-H~ was the largest and angiotensin the smallest. Some calcium antagonists dose-dependently inhibited KCI (35 mM)-induced contraction and the order of potency in inhibiting the contraction was nifedipine > > diltiazem > flunarizine > oxybutynin > isosorbide dinitrate (ISDN) > glyceryl trinitrate. 5-HT (10-6 M)-induced contraction was dosedependently inhibited by nifedipine but slightly inhibited by diltiazem and ISDN. In rings with intact endothelium, KCI (35 mM)-induced contraction was not affected by acetylcholine (ACh) but $PGF_{2{\alpha}}$ (lO-SM)-induced contraction was dose-dependently relaxed by ACh and adenosine. This endothelium-dependent relaxation was not affected by nifedipine (l0-6M)-pretreatment but markedly inhibited by methylene blue (50,uM)-pretreatment. In the porcine arterial rings without endothelium, ACh had no effect or even contracted the $PGF_{2{\alpha}}-induced$ contraction. However, the dosedependent relaxing effect of ACh appeared when the deendothelized porcine ring and rabbit thoracic aorta with intact endotheli urn were simultaneously suspended into a bath and this relaxing effect was also inhibited by methylene blue-pretreatment. In cat cerebral arteries, 5-HT and NE elicited dose-dependent contractile responses and ACh also produced dose-dependent contraction regardless of the existence of endothelium. ACh-induced contraction was most prominent. 5-HT (IO-SM)induced contraction was not relaxed but contracted additionally by ACh even in the intact endothelial ring. In rabbit cerebral arteries, 5-HT and NE elicited dose-dependent contractile responses and 5-HT-induced contraction was more prominent. In the intact endothelial preparations, 5-HT (lO-s M)-induced contraction was markedly relaxed by the addition of ACh( IO-SM) and this endothelium-dependent relaxing effect was inhibited by atropine (l0-7M)-pretreatment but notaffected by diltiazem (l0-6M)-pretreatment. These results suggest that ACh elicits endotheliumdependent relaxing effect mediated by muscarinic receptors in cerebral arteries of pig and rabbit, and that ACh acts as vasoconstrictor in cat cerebral artery.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.26 no.2 s.85
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• pp.246-255
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• 1998

Ganoderan (GAN), an immunomodulating ${\beta}-glucan$ of G. lucidum, induces potent antitumor immunity in tumor-bearing mice. This study was set up to elucidate the ability of macrophage activation of GANs. GAN-treated Raw 264.7 macrophages showed enhanced production of nitric oxide (NO). The ability of GANs to produce NO was based on differences in chemical composition of GANs obtained from the mycelium on various carbon sources and mycelial fractionation. The highest NO production was observed in CW-AS-WS polysaccharide which was extracted from the mycelial wall. GAN-treated Raw 264.7 cells gave a 2-to 5-fold (24 hr) formation of NO levels compared with those treated with medium only. Partial removal of the protein in the extracellular GAN by TCA treatment did appreciably reduce its capacity to secrete NO. The mixture effect of GAN and LPS increased the nitric oxide secretion from RAW 264.7. The cell proliferation of GAN-treated Raw 264.7 cell tines inhibited as compared with its control. Of the culture supernatant of macrophage activated by GAN, the percentage of cytotoxicity against mouse leukemia L1210 cells was slightly dependent on the amount of NO in the culture supernatants of the activated-macrophages. These results indicate that the ${\beta}-glucan-related$ polysaccharides of the higher fungus activate macrophage and release nitric oxide. It also suggests that murine macrophages possess certain receptors for ${\beta}-anomeric$ glucans and play a critical role of ${\beta}-glucan-related$ tumor killing mechanism.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.40 no.7
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• pp.949-955
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• 2011

[ ${\beta}$ ]Glucan is a polysaccharide expressed on the cell walls of fungi. It is known that ${\beta}$-glucan is recognized by a family of C-type lectin receptors, dectin-1, which is expressed mainly on myeloid immune cells, including macrophages, neutrophils and dendritic cells. Raw 264.7 cells were treated with ${\beta}$-glucan from Schizophyllum commune. ${\beta}$-Glucan was not cytotoxic up to 400 ${\mu}g$/mL as measured by MTT assay. To measure the activity of macrophages, NO and TNF-${\alpha}$ assays were performed in Raw 264.7 cells. Treatment with ${\beta}$-glucan for 24 hr significantly increased production of NO and TNF-${\alpha}$ compared with control groups (p<0.05), indicating activation of macrophages. To measure inhibition of breast cancer cell proliferation, MTT assay was performed in MDA-MB-231 cells. Cell viability was significantly decreased in the group treated with 400 ${\mu}g$/mL of ${\beta}$-glucan for 48 hr (p<0.05) compared to the control group. However, tumor volume was decreased in the groups administered 200 ${\mu}g$ of ${\beta}$-glucan/mouse compared to the control group. These results indicate that ${\beta}$-glucan inhibits breast cancer cell growth through the induction of apoptosis.

• Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.87-96
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• 2003

The purposes of this study were to find out the optimum intensity of magnetic field where magnetism could promote the activity of osteoblast, and to discover the possibility of clinical application in the areas of dental implants and bone grafts by confirming the effect of clinically increasing bone formation. In this experiment, we used the Neodymium magnet, which had magnetic power six times as strong as the current ones and enabled the resistances against the demagnetization up to 20 to 50 times to be minimized with the size of 1mm in sight. In order to culture cells, a specially designed device was used. It was made to adjust the distance and accordingly to control the intensity of the magnetic field, by placing the cell culture plate in the center with a magnet of 1mm long and thick installed on the both ends. Using MC3T3-E1 cell, a kind of osteoblast-like cell, we cultured, for 24 hours, not only the test group which had been cultured under the magnetic fields with different intensity of 5, 10, 50, 100, 500, and 1000 Gauss, but also the control group excluding the influences of the magnetic field. After observing the cell's form and the density of the culture medium through an inverted microscope, we made a series of proceedings needed for the immunofluoroscence staining, such as fixation, normal serum reaction, primary antibody reaction, and secondary antibody reaction. And with a fluorescence microscope, we observed those-above and compared the frequency of expression of IFG-1 receptor. To make a Western immunoblotting analysis, the cells cultured under the same condition as the above had the procedure of the lysis buffer and the acrylamide gel electrophoresis was carried out. Protein transferred into the nitrocellulose membrane and tested on the primary and the secondary antibody reactions was observed and compared. The results were as follows: When observed through an inverted microscope, the nuclear divisions of the cells under the magnetic field of 10 Gauss were the most active, and the density of the cells could be observed the most enormously. As the result of an immunofluoroscence staining of IGF-1 receptor, the expression of IFG-1 was the most frequently observed under the magnetic field of 10 Gauss. On the other hand, few differences of consideration were made between the test group cultured under the magnetic fields of 5, 500, and 1000 Gauss and the control group. In respect of the expression of IFG-1 receptor, the test group cultured under the magnetic fields of 50 and 100 Gauss were higher than the control group, and lower than that cultured under the magnetic field of 10 Gauss.(p<0.05) According to the Western immunoblotting analysis, the band of IFG-1 receptor which had 85KDa of molecular weight was the darkest. Judging from the above-mentioned results, the growth factor receptor of an osteoblast cell which was an important criterion for the bone formation was increased in maximum under the magnetic field of 10 Gauss. Moreover it was observed that the optimum intensity of magnetic field in which magnetism made the activity of the osteoblast cell increase was about 10 Gauss.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.1134-1141
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• 2011

Transmembrane protein 21 (TMP21) is a member of the p24 cargo protein family and has been shown to modulate ${\alpha}$-secretase-mediated A${\beta}$ production which was specifically observed in the brains of subjects with Alzheimer's disease (AD). In order to investigate whether TMP21 could affect nerve growth factor (NGF) receptor signaling pathway, the alteration of NGF receptors and their downstream proteins were detected in TMP21 over-expressed cells. CMV/hTMP21 vector used in this study was successfully expressed into TMP21 proteins in B35 cells after lipofectamin transfection. Expressed TMP21 proteins induced the down-regulation of ${\gamma}$-secretase complex components including Presenlin-1 (PS-1), PS-2, Nicastrin (NST), Pen-2 and APH-1. Also, the expression level of NGF receptor $p75^{NTR}$ and RhoA were significantly higher in CMV/hTMP21 transfectants than vehicle transfectants, while their levels returned to vehicle levels after NGF treatment. However, the phosphorylation of NGF receptor TrkA was dramtically decreased in NGF No-treated CMV/hTMP21 transfectants compared with vehicle transfectants, and increased in NGF treated CMV/hTMP21 transfectants. In TrkA downstream signaling pathway, the phosphorylation level of ERK was also decreased in CMV/hTMP21 transfectants, while the phosphorylation of Akt was increased in the same transfectants. Furthermore, NGF treatment induced the increase of phosphorylation level of Akt and ERK in CMV/hTMP21 transfectants. Therefore, these results suggested that over-expression of TMP21may simultaneously induce the up-regulation of $p75^{NTR}$/RhoA expression and the down-regulation of TrkA/ERK phosphorylation through the inhibition of ${\gamma}$-secretase activity.