• Development and Reproduction
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.353-362
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• 2009

GnRH and its receptor are known to express locally in the ovary and to regulate the ovarian function by affecting on granulosa and lutein cells. It has been reported that GnRH directly causes apoptosis in the granulosa and lutein cells of the ovary. However, whether the apoptosis of the cells by GnRH is recovered by FSH as an anti-apoptotic factor is not yet known. In this study, we evaluated the apoptosis and the production of progesterone $(P_4)$ and estradiol $(E_2)$ after treatment with 5, 50, and 100 ng/$m\ell$ GnRH and 1 IU/ml FSH in the granulosa-lutein cells that are obtained during oocyte-retrieval for IVF-ET. Results of DNA fragment analysis and TUNEL assay demonstrated that DNA fragmentation and the rate of apoptotic cells were increased in a dose-dependent manner showing a significant increase in the cells treated with 100 ng/$m\ell$ GnRH. In addition, we found that FSH suppresses the apoptosis of the cells induced by GnRH. In the results of chemiluminescence assay for $P_4$ and $E_2$, $P_4$ production was decreased by GnRH treatment, whereas $E_2$ production was not changed. We also demonstrated that FSH inhibits the suppressive effect of GnRH on $P_4$ production as the result of apoptosis. The present results suggest that GnRH agonist using in ovarian hyperstimulation protocol might induce the dysfunction of the ovary, but its function could be recovered by FSH. These results also will be expected to use as the basic data to elucidate the physiological role of GnRH and to develop new ovarian hyperstimulation protocols for IVF-ET.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.347-358
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• 2016

Brassinosteroid (BR), a plant steroid hormone, plays key roles in numerous growth and developmental processes as well as tolerance to both abiotic and biotic stress. To understand the biological networks involved in BR-mediated signaling pathways and stress tolerance, we performed comparative genome-wide transcriptome analysis of a constitutively activated BR bes1-D mutant with an Agilent Arabidopsis $4{\times}44K$ oligo chip. As a result, we newly identified 1,091 (562 up-regulated and 529 down-regulated) significant differentially expressed genes (DEGs). The combination of GO enrichment and protein network analysis revealed that stress-related processes, such as metabolism, development, abiotic/biotic stress, immunity, and defense, were critically linked to BR signaling pathways. Among the identified gene sets, we confirmed more than a 6-fold up-regulation of NB-ARC and FLS2 in bes1-D plants. However, some genes, including TIR1, TSA1 and OCP3, were down-regulated. Consistently, BR-activated plants showed higher tolerance to drought stress and pathogen infection compared to wild-type controls. In this study, we newly developed a useful, comprehensive method for large-scale identification of critical network and gene sets with global transcriptome analysis using a microarray. This study also showed that gain of function in the bes1-D gene can regulate the adaptive response of plants to various stressful conditions.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.37 no.8
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• pp.672-683
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• 2004

Background: The treatment results of the advanced lung carcinoma is not satisfactory with the present therapeutic modalities: surgical resection, anti-cancer chemotherapy, and radiotherapy or combination therapy. To predict the prognosis of the non-small-cell lung carcinoma, TNM classification has been was as the basic categorization; however, it has been not satisfactory. It is necessary to consider the causes and the prognosis of the lung carcinoma from another points of view rather the conventional methods. We intended to find out the relationship between the major apoptotic factor, p53 gene and the prognosis of the patient with lung carcinoma. Material and Method: Three hundreds and fifty-nine patients with lung carcinoma who underwent surgery were analysed. We observed p53 protein accumulated in the cellular nuclei. The p53 protein was detected by immuno-histo-chemical method. We collected information of the patient retrospectively. Result: p53 protein densities were observed in 40% in average as a whole. The protein density was 44 percent in man, 25 percent in woman, 49 percent in the squamous cell carcinoma, and 38 percent in the adenocarcinoma. There were significant correlations between the p53 protein density and the mortality in the squamous cell carcinoma (p=0.025), follow-up duration in TNM stage I group (p=0.010), and follow-up duration in the lobectomy patient group (p=0.043), and tumor cell differentiation (p=0.009). p53 protein densities were significantly different between the lobectomy and the pneumonectomy group (p=0.044). Conclusion: The authors found that p53 protein had some correlations with the prognosis of the lung cancer partially in some factors. We suggest the p53 protein density could be used as a marker of prognosis in the non-small-cell lung carcinoma.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.25-33
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• 2008

Background: A critical shortage of donor organs has necessitated an investigation of new strategies to increase the availability of additional organs available for human transplantation. We investigated the amount of apoptosis and expression of GADD45 ${\beta}$ in two groups, a GADD45 ${\beta}$-transfected group and untransfected group. Material and Method: The experimental groups consist of a control group (normal H9C2 cell line) and GADD45 ${\beta}$-transfected group. After injury of the each group, we evaluated the expression of GADD45 ${\beta}$ and the level of apoptosis in each group. Result: There was a significant increase in the expression of GADD45 ${\beta}$ in the GADD45 ${\beta}$-transfected group at 1 hour, 2 hours, and 3 hours after stimuli as compared with the control group. The amount of cardiac myoblast cell line apoptosis was significantly lower in the GADD45 ${\beta}$-transfected group as compared with the control group. The concentration of annex in in the GADD45 ${\beta}$-transfected group was significantly lower than that of the control. group after cell. injury. Conclusion: Transfection of a rat myoblast cell line with the GADD45 ${\beta}$ gene results in. decreased susceptibility to cell injury of human serum.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.585-592
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• 2004

Our previous studies demonstrated that relaxin in concert with estrogen promotes development of the mammary parenchyma during the last third of gestation in gilts, and the specific relaxin-binding sites were present in the mammary gland. This study was conducted to determine if relaxin-binding sites in the mammary gland were functional relaxin receptors. Three cycling cross-bred gilts were bilaterally ovariectomized on day 0 of the experiment. Beginning on day 15 and continuing through day 29 post-surgery, the gilt received an im. injection of estradiol benzoate at 12-hr intervals. Beginning on day 22 post-surgery, highly purified porcine relaxin was administered(lug/hr) into the left fourth mammary gland from the anterior end via miniature osmotic pump. Physiological saline was administered to the right fourth mammary gland. The gilt was sacrificed on day 29 post-surgery and histological characteristics of the mammary parenchyma were examined. The mammary glands treated locally with saline showed little, if any, lobulo-alveolar development, whereas the mammary glands treated with relaxin showed not only marked lobulo-alveolar development but also prominent secretions in the alveoli. The saline-treated glands were characterized by relatively dense and highly organized collagen fiber bundles. Whereas, in the relaxin-treated mammary glands, collagen fiber bundles were dispersed and loosely organized. In conclusion, relaxin-binding sites in the mammary gland are functional relaxin receptors and relaxin acts directly on the pig mammary gland to promote development of the alveoli and remodeling of the extracellular matrix.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.73-79
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• 2001

Recently many studies have reported that total and bioavailable androgens reduced in male and female athletes and that physical exercise reduces the body weight and increases the reproductive abnormalities such as oligomenorrhea, anovulation, inadequate luteal phase, and delayed puberty in women by the inhibition of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis . In addition, high mileage endurance 겨nning, psychological stress, and military endurance training in men also reduce the secretion of reproductive hormones. To investigate the efffcts of physical endurance exercise on the secretion of reproductive hormones in men, androgenic hormones from adrenal glands and testis were measured in serum by the conventional radioimmunoassays after long-term (more than3 months), short-term (1 week), and acute (1${sim}$2 hours) physical exercises. Androgenic hormones from adrenal glands and testis such as total testosterone (TT), free testosterone (fT), dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and androstenedione (A) decreased after thesestrenuous endurance trainings, whereas ACTH, cortisol, and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfetes (DHEAS) increased. Conadotropins (LH and FSH) were not idluenced by the physical exercises. Based upon the present results, we assume that the decrease in adrenal and testicular androgens by physical endurance exercises might be associated with the reproductive abnormalities in athletes by unknown factor(s) in addition to the HPG axis disturbance.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.1607-1611
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• 2011

To analyze the role of Bombyx mori transferrin (BmTf) in response to microbes or oxidative stress, we investigated the level of BmTf transcripts in B. mori treated with various microbes and oxidative stress inducers. BmTf mRNA was mainly expressed in the epidermis and fat in the bodies of B. mori injected with Escherichia coli, and up regulated in response to microbes such as bacteria, fungi, or viruses, but was hardly altered in response to oxidative stress inducers such as $H_2O_2$, Cu, or $FeCl_3$. We also confirmed that BmTf mRNA expression was increased in Bm5 cells treated with ERK, PLC, PKA, PI3K, MAPK, or JNK inhibitors, respectively. To identify the major inducer of BmTf expression, we analyzed the amount of serum iron in the hemolymph of B. mori after injection or feeding with E. coli or $FeCl_3$. The results showed that the amount of serum iron was not changed by injection and feeding with E. coli, although BmTf mRNA was increased by injection with E. coli. On the contrary, injection and feeding with $FeCl_3$ significantly increased the amount of serum iron, although they did not alter the BmTf mRNA level. On the basis of these results, we assume that up-regulation of BmTf in B. mori is closely related to the defense of microorganism, and BmTf may be expressed at the basal constitutive level when it plays a role in iron metabolism by maintaining iron homeostasis and in the insect defense mechanism against oxidative stress.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.391-398
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• 2010

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of feeding probiotics(gene modified yeast) on the egg quality in laying hens. The laboratory method of this study is as follow: In hens, 300, 36 weeks old ISA brown commercial layer, were employed in 13weeks feeding trial with a 7 days adjustment period. Dietary treatments are 1) control (basal diet) 2) Y0.3 (basal diet+0.3% probiotics), 3) Y0.5% (basal diet+0.5% probiotics), 4) PY0.3% (basal diet+0.3% plasmid modified probiotics), 5) PY0.5% (basal diet+0.5% plasmid modified probiotics). For overall period, hen-day egg production, egg weight (p<0.05) by dietary probiotic supplementation were recorded. Eggs were collected and weighed every day. Egg production number and egg production rate, egg weight, failure egg ratio and trouble egg ratio were recorded for 13weeks days. Diets PY0.3 and PY0.5 improved Egg production rate, egg production number and egg weight, compared to control diet (linear effect. p<0.05). And, diets PY0.3 and PY0.5 improved Egg production rate, egg production number, compared to Y0.3 and Y0.5 (linear effect. p<0.05). But, in Inferior egg and cracked egg, diets PY0.3 and PY0.5 did not tended to increase by dietary probiotic supplementation compared to control diet and Y group (0.3, 0.5) (linear effect. p<0.05). The productivity enhance on the egg quality in laying hens is considered from the effects of feeding probiotics(gene modified yeast).

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.64 no.5
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• pp.362-368
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• 2008

Background: LKB1(STK11) is a serine/threonine kinase that functions as a tumor growth suppressor. The functions of LKB1 in lung cancer are not completely understood. This study evaluated the relationship between LKB1 protein expression and the clinicopathological features in lung cancer tissues. Methods: The expression of LKB1 was studied in paraffin-embedded tumor blocks, which were obtained from 77 patients who had undergone surgery at Wonkwang University Hospital. The expression of the LKB1 protein was considered positive if the staining intensity in the tumor tissue adjacent to the normal airway epithelium was >30%. Results: The LKB1 expression was positive in 31 (40%) of samples. Loss of LKB1 expression was significantly associated with being male, smoking history, and squamous cell carcinoma. In the peripheral sites, the loss of LKB1 expression was strongly associated with a smoking history. A loss of LKB1 expression was more frequently associated with progression according to TNM staging, particularly more than T2, N progression. Conclusion: There was a significant relationship between the loss of the LKB1 protein and gender, smoking history, and histological type in primary lung cancer. Although LKB1 expression was not found to be a significant prognostic factor, further studies with a larger cohort of patient's lung cancer tissue samples will be needed to confirm this.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.703-712
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• 1995

Background: Peripheral blood monocytes are important immune effector cells that play a fundamental role in cellular immunity. In addition to their antigen-presenting and phagocytic activities, monocytes/macrophage produce a vast array of regulatory and chemotactic cytokines. Interleukin-8(IL-8), a potent neutrophil-activating and chemotactic peptide, is produced in large quantities by mononuclear phagocytes and may be an important mediator of local and systemic inflammation. Overexpression by IL-8 of such inflammation may be an important step of tissue injury frequently seen in inflammatory reaction. So it could be hypothesized that the agents which block the production of IL-8 can decrease the inflammatory reaction and tissue injury. To evaluate this, we described the effect of Dexamethasone, $PGE_2$, Indomethacin and Interferon-$\gamma$(IFN-$\gamma$) on IL-8 mRNA and protein expression from LPS-stimulated human peripheral blood monocytes(PBMC). Method: PBMC was isolated from healthy volunteers. To evaluate the effect of Dexamethasone, $PGE_2$ & Indomethacin, these drug were treated for 1 hour before and after LPS stimulation and IFN-$\gamma$ was only treated I hour before the LPS stimulation. Northern blot analysis for IL-8 mRNA and ELISA for immunoreactive IL-8 protein in culture supernatant were performed. We repeated above experiment three times for Northern blot analysis and two times for ELISA and got the same result. Results: 1) Pre- and post-treatment of Dexamethasone suppressed both the LPS stimulated IL-8 mRNA expression and IL-8 protein release in PBMC. 2) IFN-$\gamma$ pre-treatment suppressed the IL-8 mRNA expression and IL-8 protein release in unstimulated cells. 3) In LPS stimulated cells, IFN-$\gamma$ suppressed the IL-8 mRNA expression but IL-8 protein release suppression was not observed. 4) $PGE_2$ and Indomethacin exert no effect on the LPS-stimulated IL-8 mRNA and protein expression in concentration used in this experiment ($PGE_2;10^{-6}M$, Indomethacin; $10{\mu}M$). Conclusion: One of the mechanism of antiinflammatory action of Dexamethasone can be explained by the suppressing effect of IL-8 production in some extent and by this antiinflammatory effect, dexamethasone can be used to suppress local and systemic inflammation mediated by IL-8.