• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.1221-1232
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• 2011

We investigated the toxic effects of difenoconazole on the development in the African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis. To test the toxic effects, frog embryo teratogenesis assays using Xenopus were performed. Embryos were exposed to various concentrations of difenoconazole (0-30 ${\mu}M$). $LC_{100}$ for difenoconazole was 30 ${\mu}M$, and the $LC_{50}$ determined by probit analysis was 27.19 ${\mu}M$. Exposure to difenoconazole concentrations ${\geq}$5 ${\mu}M$ resulted in 10 different types of severe external malformation. Histological examinations revealed dysplasia of the eye, heart, liver, somatic muscle, and swelling of the pronephric ducts. The tissue-specific toxic effects were investigated with an animal cap assay. Blood cells were normally induced at a high frequency by mSCF and activin A. However, the induction of blood cells was strongly inhibited by the addition of difenoconazole. Electron micrographs of tested embryos showed the degeneration of somatic muscle and the shrinkage of microvilli on pronephric duct. The gene expression of cultivated animal cap explants was investigated by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). It revealed that the expression of the blood-specific marker(${\beta}$-globin II) and muscle-specific marker (XMA) were more strongly inhibited than the neural-specific marker(XEn2) by the addition of difenoconazole.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.369-375
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• 2009

The potential antiviral effects of the culture filtrates (CF) from Serratia marcescens strain Gsm01 against yellow strain of Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV-Y) were investigated. The culture filtrate of S. marcescens strain Gsm01 applied on Chenopodium amaranticolor showed high inhibitory activity, likewise no necrosis appeared when applied on the tobacco plants 2 days before CMV-Y inoculation. When plants were challenge inoculated with CMV-Y for eighteen days, the disease incidence in plants with culture filtrate of S. marcescens Gsm01 did not exceed 59%, whereas 100% of control plants were severely infected. The results of double antibody sandwich-enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (DAS-ELISA), reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), dot blotting, and western blotting showed that culture filtrate treatment highly affected the accumulation of CMV-Y or its CP protein gene in the treated plant leaves. It was also observed that the culture filtrate had no RNase activity on genomic RNAs of CMV-Y, suggesting that culture filtrate may not contain ribosome inactivating proteins (RIPs) or proteins with RNase activity. These data shows that culture filtrate of S. marcescens strain Gsm01 seems to be a promising source of antiviral substance for the practical use.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.77-84
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• 2003

Chitinase was purified from an antagonistic bacterium Bacillus sp. 7079 by ammonium sulfate precipitation, QAE-Sephadex anion exchange chromatography, Sephadex G-100 gel filtration, and SP-Sephadex cation exchange chromatography. The molecula. weight of purified chitinase (PC-1) was approximately 66.5 kDa on SDS-PACE. PC-1 exhibited optimum pH and temperature of pH 7.5 and $45^{\circ}C$, respectively. More than $80\%$ of PC-1 was stable at pH 5.0 to 9.0, and more than $90\%$ at $40^{\circ}C$. $Fe^2+\;and\;Ca^2+$ inhibited the chitinase activity about $20\%$, and EDTA and p-CMB by about $30\%$, whereas $Ag^+$ inhibited the activity up to $65\%$. The $K_m$ value of PC-1 was 1.215 mg/ml with colloidal chitin as a substrate. We also investigated the effect of PC-1 treated chitin (PCTC) on the pro-inflammatory cytokine gene expression in macrophage RAW 264.7 cells. The expression of IL-$1{\alpha}$ and IL-$1{\beta}$ mRNA gene was investigated using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). IL-$1{\alpha}$ and IL-$1{\beta}$ mRNA were induced by the treatment of PCTC and chitin only in RAW 264.7 cells. These expressions were induced as early as 2 h and sustained up to 24 h in RAW 264.7 cells. IL-$1{\alpha}$ and IL-$1{\beta}$ mRNA were more strongly expressed by the treatment of PCTC than chitin treatment alone in RAW 264.7 cells.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.13-19
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• 2011

Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate the combined effects of ginkgo biloba extract, ginkgolide A and B and aspirin on SK-N-MC, human neuroblastoma cell viability and mRNA expression of growth associated protein43 (GAP43), Microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2), B-cell lymphoma2 (Bcl2) and protein53 (p53) gene in hypoxia and reperfusion condition. Methods: SK-N-MC cells were cultured with Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium (DMEM) media in $37^{\circ}C$, 5% $CO_2$ incubator. The cells were cultured for 8 hours in non-glucose media and hypoxic condition and for 12 hours in normal media and $O_2$ concentration. Cell survival rate was measured with Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) reagent assay. Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to estimate mRNA levels of GAP43, MAP2, Bcl2, and p53 genes. Results: The ginkgolide A and B increased viable cell number decreased in hypoxic and reperfused condition. The co-treatment of ginkgolide B with aspirin also increased the number of viable cells, however, there was no additive effect. Although there was no increase of mRNA expression of GAP43, MAP2, and Bcl2 in SK-N-MC cells with individual treatment of ginkgolide A, B or aspirin in hypoxic and reperfused condition, the co-treatment of ginkgolide A or B with aspirin significantly increased GAP43 and Bcl2 mRNA levels. In MAP2, only the co-treatment of ginkgolide A and aspirin showed increasing effect. The mRNA expression of p53 had no change in all treating conditions. Conclusion: This study suggests that the combined treatments of Ginkgo biloba extracts and aspirin increase the regeneration of neuroblastoma cells injured by hypoxia and reperfusion.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.3843-3849
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• 2013

This study was conducted to determine the effects of fetal bovine serum (FBS), bovine serum albumin (BSA) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) on blastocoel formation, total cell number, apoptosis and apoptosis-related gene expression of porcine diploid parthenotes developing in vitro. The addition of 0.4% BSA to the culture medium enhanced the development of 2-cell stage parthenotes to the blastocysts stage (p<0.01). Treatment of FBS reduced cell numbers of blastocysts (p<0.01) and increased the percentage of apoptosis in blastocysts (p<0.001). However, BSA increased cell numbers, only in the presence of EGF reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction revealed that EGF enhanced the mRNA expression of Bcl-xL in the presence of 0.4% BSA but BSA and EGF alone had no effect. However, Treatment of FBS reduced Bcl-xL mRNA expression (p<0.05) and enhanced Bak expression. This result suggests that apoptosis related gene expression is significantly affected by supplements, which may result in alteration of apoptosis and embryo viability of porcine embryos developing in vitro.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.11
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• pp.1557-1567
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• 2012

Glutathione reductase (GR, E.C. 1.6.4.2) is an important enzyme that reduces glutathione disulfide (GSSG) to a sulfydryl form (GSH) in the presence of an NADPH-dependent system. This is a critical antioxidant mechanism. Owing to the significance of GR, this enzyme has been examined in a number of animals, plants, and microbes. We performed a study to evaluate the molecular properties of GR (OsGR) from rice (Oryza sativa). To determine whether heterologous expression of OsGR can reduce the deleterious effects of unfavorable abiotic conditions, we constructed a transgenic Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain expressing the GR gene cloned into the yeast expression vector p426GPD. OsGR expression was confirmed by a semiquantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (semiquantitative RT-PCR) assay, Western-blotting, and a test for enzyme activity. OsGR expression increased the ability of the yeast cells to adapt and recover from $H_2O_2$-induced oxidative stress and various stimuli including heat shock and exposure to menadione, heavy metals (iron, zinc, copper, and cadmium), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), ethanol, and sulfuric acid. However, augmented OsGR expression did not affect the yeast fermentation capacity owing to reduction of OsGR by multiple factors produced during the fermentation process. These results suggest that ectopic OsGR expression conferred acquired tolerance by improving cellular homeostasis and resistance against different stresses in the genetically modified yeast strain, but did not affect fermentation ability.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.73-80
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• 2012

Objectives : Under normal condition melanin protects the skin from extracellular stimuli including ultraviolet (UV)-induced oxidative skin damages, but excess production and accumulation of melanin can induce hyperpigmentation causing esthetic problems. Therefore, in this study we tried to search for natural skin whitening materials from marine natural resources. Methods : Water and ethanol extracts of marine natural resources were prepared from Porphyra thalli (PT), Laminariae thallus (LT), Ostreae concha (OC), Sargassum thallus (ST), Undaria thallus (UT), Codium thalli (CT), Enteromorpha thalli (ET), Syngnathoides biaculeatus (SB), and Hippocampus coronatus (Hc). Their effects against UVB and ${\alpha}$-melanocyte stimulating hormone (${\alpha}$-MSH)-induced melanogenesis were investigated based on melanin formation in B16 mouse melanoma cells. The mRNA and protein expression of enzymes involved in the melanogenic process were further examined by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot analysis, respectively. Results : Water extract of Ostreae concha (OCW/E) effectively inhibited UVB and ${\alpha}$-MSH-induced melanin production in B16 melanocytes, which seemed to be mediated by inhibition of mRNA expression of tyrosinase and tyrosinase-related protein 1 (TRP-1). In another experiment, ethanol extracts from Porphyra thalli (PTE/E), Laminariae thallus (LTE/E), Sargassum thallus (STE/E), Undaria thallus (UTE/E), Codium thalli (CTE/E), Syngnathoides biaculeatus (SBE/E), and Hippocampus coronatus (HcE/E) significantly suppressed UVB and ${\alpha}$-MSH-induced melanin formation. Furthermore, ethylacetate fraction isolated form LTE/E (LTE/EEt) decreased UVB and ${\alpha}$-MSH-elevated extracellular melanin levels via inhibition of tyrosinase protein expression. Conclutions : These results suggest that marine natural resources such as Porphyra thalli, Laminariae thallus, Ostreae concha, Sargassum thallus, Undaria thallus, Codium thalli, Syngnathoides biaculeatus and Hippocampus coronatus have anti-melanogenic effects, thereby exhibiting high potentials to be utilized as one of the ingredients for the development of new whitening functional cosmetics.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.21
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• pp.9523-9527
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• 2014

The incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) is increasing in many Asian countries and microRNAs have already been proven to be associated with tumorigenesis. Currently, microRNA-376a (miR-376a) expression and association with clinical factors in CRC remains unclear. In this study, real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was carried out on 53 matched pairs of CRC and adjacent normal mucosa to investigate the expression levels of miR-376a. According to the high or low expression of miR-376a, patients were divided into two groups. The relationship between miR-376a expression and clinicopathological factors of 53 patients was evaluated. Survival analysis of 53 CRC patients was performed with clinical follow-up information and survival curves were assessed by the Kaplan-Meier method. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining was performed on sections of paraffin-embedded tissue to investigate the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression. MiR-376a showed low expression in cancer tissues compared to the adjacent normal tissues and altered high miR-376a expression tended to be positively correlated with advanced lymph node metastasis and shorter patient survival. VEGF IHC positivity was significantly more common in patients with high expression levels of miR-376a.Those results demonstrated that miR-376a may be a meaningful prognostic biomarker and potential therapeutic target in colorectal cancer.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.176-182
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• 2010

Magnaporthe oryzae is destructive plant-pathogenic fungus and causes rice blast. The pathogen uses several mechanisms to circumvent the inhibitory actions of fungicides. ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters are known to provide protection against toxic compounds in the environment. PC facilitated bioinformatic analysis, particularly with respect to accessing and extracting database information and domain identification. We predicted ABC transporter genes from the M. oryzae genome sequence with computation and bioinformatics tools. A total of thirty three genes were predicted to encode ABC transporters. Three of thirty three putative genes corresponded to three known ABC transporter genes (ABC1, ABC2 and ABC3). Copy numbers of the ABC transporter genes were proven by Southern blot analysis, which revealed that twenty genes tested exist as a single copy. We amplified the DNA complementary to RNA corresponding to eleven of these by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.109-119
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• 2001

Objective : There are many reports that acupuncture has thermoregulatory effects on human and animals. To investigate the effect and mechanism of antipyretic action of acupuncture, we observed the body temperature and cytokine expressions in the hypothalamus of rats. Methods : Lipopolysaccharide (LPS, i.p., 2.5mg/kg) was injected to conscious rats (Sprague-Dawley, male, n=4l) to cause hyperthermia and simple needling (stainless steel, 0.25 mm o.d., 5 mm insertion for 10 sec with no manipulation) was performed bilaterally with the measurement of rectal temperature. Next, we sacrificed rats to remove brain and determined the level of mRNA for interleukin-6 (IL-6), $interleukin-1{\beta}{\;}(IL-1{\beta})$, interleukin-2 (IL-2) and $interferon-{\gamma}{\;}(IFN-{\gamma})$ in the hypothalamus by using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Resul1s : Needling on forepaw (acupoint HT8) and needling on hindpaw (acupoint BL66 and acupoint LR2) significantly inhibited LPS-induced fever of rats (P<0.01, 10 min after treatment respectively), but same treatment on proximal tail (non-acupoint) did not cause any change on fever. The levels of IL-6 and $IL-1{\beta}$ mRNA in the hypothalamus was significantly enhanced by LPS-injection, while the level of IL-6 and $IL-1{\beta}$ mRNA was markedly reduced after treatment on BL66 (P<0.01). Treatment on forepaw reduced it slightly, but not significantly. Equivalent stimulation on proximal tail did not cause any changes. Conclusions : Our results indicate that acupuncture stimulation on various body parts has differential thermoregulatory effects on LPS-induced fever of rats with site-specificity. And, we suggest that its antipyretic action might be accompanied with the suppression of hypothalamic production of pro-inflammatory cytokine of immune system, IL-6 and $IL-1{\beta}$.