• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.347-352
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• 2005

The effects of nitric oxide (NO) on inhibitory neurotransmitter receptors and some types of inhibitory receptors in dissociated rod bipolar cell (RBC) were investigated. In the whole cell voltage-clamping mode, the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) activated current showed both sustained and transient components. GABA activated transient current was fully blocked by bicuculine, a $GABA_A$ receptor antagonist. The cis-4-aminocrotonic acid (CACA), a $GABA_C$ receptor agonist, evoked the sustained current that was not blocked by bicuculline (BIC). Glycine activated the transient current. These results indicate that the RBCs possess $GABA_A$, $GABA_C$, and glycine inhibitory receptors. Sodium nitroprusside (SNP), a NO analogue, reduced the currents activated by $GABA_A$ receptor only, however, did not reduce the currents activated by either $GABA_C$ or glycine receptors. This study signifies further that only NO depresses the fast inhibitory response activated by $GABA_A$ receptor in RBC. We, therefore, postulate that NO might depress the light-on/off transient inhibitory responses in RBCs in the rat retina.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.1 no.5
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• pp.477-484
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• 1997

Intracellular recordings of oscillatory firing (bursting activity) were obtained from Purkinje cells (PCs) in rat cerebellar slices. Apamin inhibited post-burst hyperpolarizations (PBHs) progressively and finally terminated oscillatory firing activity of PCs. Apamin did not affect the amplitude or duration of the after-hyperpolarization (AHP) between spikes within the burst. In the voltage clamp mode, apamin shifted the whole-cell, quasi-steady state I/V relationship in an inward direction and abolished the zero slope resistance (ZSR) region by blocking outward current. Nickel ($Ni^{2+}$) terminated oscillatory activity and also abolished the ZSR region. However, $Ni^{2+}$ did not have progressive blocking action on the post-burst hyperpolarization before it blocked oscillatory activity. $Ni^{2+}$ blocked an inward current at potentials positive to approximately -65 mV, which was responsible for the ZSR region and outward current at more negative potentials. These data indicated that oscillatory activity of PCs is sustained by a balance between a slow $Ni^{2+}$-sensitive inward current and an apamin-sensitive outward current in the region of ZSR of the whole-cell I/V curve.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.242-252
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• 2017

This paper deals with the blocking of DC-fault current during DC cable short-circuit conditions in HVDC (High-Voltage DC) transmission systems utilizing Modular Multilevel Converters (MMCs), where a new SubModule (SM) topology circuit for the MMC is proposed. In this SM circuit, an additional Insulated-Gate Bipolar Translator (IGBT) is required to be connected at the output terminal of a conventional SM with a half-bridge structure, hereafter referred to as HBSM, where the anti-parallel diodes of additional IGBTs are used to block current from the grid to the DC-link side. Compared with the existing MMCs based on full-bridge (FB) SMs, the hybrid topologies of HBSM and FBSM, and the clamp-double SMs, the proposed topology offers a lower cost and lower power loss while the fault current blocking capability in the DC short-circuit conditions is still provided. The effectiveness of the proposed topology has been validated by simulation results obtained from a 300-kV 300-MW HVDC transmission system and experimental results from a down-scaled HVDC system in the laboratory.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.32 no.9
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• pp.720-727
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• 2008

Microfluidic single chip integrating thermopneumatic micropump and micro check valve are developed. The micropump and micorvalve are made of biocompatible materials, glass and PDMS, so as to be applicable to the biochip. By using the passive-type check valve, backward flow and fluid leakage are blocked and flow control is stable and precise. The chip is composed of three PDMS layers and a glass substrate. In the chip, flow channel and pump chamber were made on the PDMS layers by the replica molding technique and pump heater was made on the glass substrate by Cr/Au deposition. Diameter of the pump chamber is 7 mm and the width and depth of the channel are 200 and $180{\mu}m$, respectively. The PDMS layers chip and the heater deposited glass chip are combined by a jig and a clamp for pumping operation, and they are separable so that PDMS chip is used as a disposable but the heater chip is able to be used repeatedly. Pumping performance was simulated by CFD software and investigated experimentally. The performance was the best when the duty ratio of the applied voltage to the heater was 33%.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2003.07b
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• pp.491-494
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• 2003

This paper presents a new conceptual electromagnetic induction eddy current-based stainless steel plate spiral type heater for heat exchanger or Dual Packs Heater in hot water producer, boiler steamer and super heated steamer, which is more suitable and acceptable for new generation consumer power applications. In addition, all active clamped edge resonant PWM high frequency inverter using trench gate IGBTs power module can operate under a principle oi zero voltage soft communication with PWM is developed and demonstrated for a high efficient Induction heated hot water producer and boiler in the consumer power applications. This consumer induction heater power appliance using active clamp soft switching PWM high frequency inverter is evaluated and discussed on the basis of the simulation and experimental results.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.360-362
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• 2006

기존 플라이백 컨버터의 출력 정류 다이오드는 변압기 누설 인덕터와의 공진으로 소자의 전압 스트레스 부담이 크며 스너버의 부가가 필수적이다. 반면 제안된 다이오드 클램프 정류기를 채용한 플라이백 컨버터는 출력 다이오드가 출력전압의 절반 또는 출력전압으로 클램프 되어 전압 내압을 대폭 줄일 수 있고, 손실이 큰 스너버가 필요 없으며 저가형 및 고효율의 장점이 있다. 본 논문에서는 제안된 컨버터를 소개하고 동작원리 및 동작모드 해석과 시뮬레이션 및 실험을 통한 검증결과를 제시 한다.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.610-620
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• 2016

The compound active clamp zero voltage soft switching (CACZVS) three-phase power factor correction (PFC) converter has many advantages, such as high efficiency, high power factor, bi-directional energy flow, and soft switching of all the switches. Triple closed-loop PI controllers are used for the three-phase power factor correction converter. The control objectives of the converter include a fast transient response, high accuracy, and unity power factor. There are six parameters of the controllers that need to be tuned in order to obtain multi-objective optimization. However, six of the parameters are mutually dependent for the objectives. This is beyond the scope of the traditional experience based PI parameters tuning method. In this paper, an improved chaotic particle swarm optimization (CPSO) method has been proposed to optimize the controller parameters. In the proposed method, multi-dimensional chaotic sequences generated by spatiotemporal chaos map are used as initial particles to get a better initial distribution and to avoid local minimums. Pareto optimal solutions are also used to avoid the weight selection difficulty of the multi-objectives. Simulation and experiment results show the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.102-105
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• 2006

We examined the effects of psoralen derivatives on a rapidly activating delayed rectifier $K^+$ channel (hKv1.5) cloned from human heart and stably expressed in $Ltk^-$ cells. Using the whole cell configuration of the patch-clamp technique, we found that the five psoralen derivatives inhibited hKv1.5 current. Especially, 4-(2-Propenyloxy)-7H-furo[3,2-g][1]benzopyran-7-one (compound 5) was more potent than the inhibition of the hKv1.5 current of psoralen. The compound 5 inhibited the hKv1.5 current in a concentration-, time-, and voltage-dependent manner. These results suggest that the compound 5 is an excellent candidate as an antiarrhythmic drug for atrial fibrillation.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.305-313
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• 1999

To explore whether $Cl^-$ channel blockers interact with the ATP-sensitive $K^+\;(K_{ATP})$ channel, I have examined the effect of two common $Cl^-$ channel blockers on the $K_{ATP}$ channel activity in isolated rat ventricular myocytes using patch clamp techniques. In inside-out patches, 4,4'-diisothio-cyanatostilbene- 2,2'-disulfonic acid (DIDS) and niflumic acid applied to bath solution inhibited the $K_{ATP}$ channel activity in a concentration-dependent manner with $IC_{50}$ of 0.24 and 927 ${\mu}M,$ respectively. The inhibitory action of DIDS was irreversible whereas that of niflumic acid was reversible. Furthermore, DIDS-induced block was not recovered despite exposure to ATP (1 mM). In cell-attached and inside-out patches, DIDS blocked the pinacidil- or 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP)-induced $K_{ATP}$ channel openings. In contrast, niflumic acid did not block the pinacidil-induced $K_{ATP}$ channel openings in inside-out patches, but inhibited it in cell-attached patches. DIDS and niflumic acid produced additional block in the presence of ATP and did not affect current-voltage relationship and channel kinetics. All these results indicate that DIDS among $Cl^-$ channel blockers specifically blocks the cardiac $K_{ATP}$ channel.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.201-209
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• 2013

Ginsenoside, one of the active ingredients of Panax ginseng, has a variety of physiologic and pharmacologic effects. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of ginsenoside Rd (G-Rd) on melastatin type transient receptor potential 7 (TRPM7) channels with respect to the proliferation and survival of AGS and MCF-7 cells (a gastric and a breast cancer cell line, respectively). AGS and MCF-7 cells were treated with different concentrations of G-Rd, and caspase-3 activities, mitochondrial depolarizations, and sub-G1 fractions were analyzed to determine if cell death occurred by apoptosis. In addition, human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells overexpressing TRPM7 channels were used to confirm the role of TRPM7 channels. G-Rd inhibited the proliferation and survival of AGS and MCF-7 cells and enhanced caspase-3 activity, mitochondrial depolarization, and sub-G1 populations. In addition, G-Rd inhibited TRPM7-like currents in AGS and MCF-7 cells and in TRPM7 channel overexpressing HEK 293 cells, as determined by whole cell voltage-clamp recordings. Furthermore, TRPM7 overexpression in HEK 293 cells promoted G-Rd induced cell death. These findings suggest that G-Rd inhibits the proliferation and survival of gastric and breast cancer cells by inhibiting TRPM7 channel activity.