• Applied Microscopy
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.301-309
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• 2009

Estrogens induce pronounced structural and functional changes in male and female reproductive system, but the exact mechanisms of estrogen are not fully understood. In relation to estrogen's function, the present study was designed to identify effects of estrogen receptor agonist, 4,4',4"- (4-propyl-[1H]-pyrazole-1,3,5-triyl)tris phenol (PPT) in the reproductive organ of the female mouse. The PPT was subcutaneously given to adult female mice at a weekly dosage of 3 mg in a volume 0.06 mL of vehicle for 3, 5 or 8 weeks whereas controls received weekly injections of the castor oil vehicle. Effects of PPT on reproductive organs were analyzed using a light microscope. PPT induced decreases of body, ovary and adipose tissue weights with experimental time. Ovary diameter of PPT treatment group was reduced as compared with control group. The number of Graffian follicle and corpus luteum was reduced in PPT treatment group. The luminal diameter of uterus was increased in relation with decrease of myometrium and endometrium height by PPT administration. The number of uterine glands was decreased by PPT treatment. These data indicate that PPT treatment induced morphological change of female reproductive organs resulting in alteration of fertility.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.323-330
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• 1997

The apple leafminer, Phyllonorycrer ringoniella (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae), is the most important pest on apple leaves and is not easy to be controlled with insecticides because of leafmining habit of its larvae. This study was undertaken to develop an artificial diet for mass rearing of the moth, and to look at their reproductive behavior. For developing an artificial diet the problem of diet contamination with microorganisms and how to supply artificial diet to first instar larvae have to be solved first. Artificial oviposition trial was successful with shadowy bottomside of various papers sprayed with apple leaf extracts. The highest activity of both calling and mating was observed within 30 min. after the onset of photophase and 3- to 4-day -old adults showed the highest mating rate. A ring-shaped sex pheromone gland was found at the intersegmental membrane between the 8th and 9th abdominal segments of the female. (E, 2)-4,lOtetradecadienyl acetate was identified as the major component from the femall gland extracts by the gas chromatography (GC) and GC-mass spectrometry. Additionally it was thought that (a-10-tetradecenyl acetate could be the second component of their sex pheromone.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.160-168
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• 2017

Tscherskia triton is widely distributed in Northern China, Korea, and the adjacent areas of Russia. Except its distribution, reproduction, and growth development related to life history, reproductive cycle and reproductive organs of T. triton are rarely studied in Korea. The purpose of this study was characterized the estrous cycle of T. triton captured in Jeju Island in order to provide information to a better information of captive breeding of the species when long-day (16L : 8D) and short-day (8L : 16D) photoperiod. Then, histological study of the ovaries and uterus with five females in each photoperiod was performed. The duration of the estrus cycle was 4~5 days and it showed regular cycle pattern. Results of the vaginal cytology examination showed four characteristic phase of the estrous cycle in long-day photoperiod (16L : 8D): proestrus, estrus, metestrus and diestrus. However, in short-day photoperiod, the diestrus phage of the estrus cycle was maintained from the $6^{th}$ to $12^{th}$ day. In the long-day photoperiod, females had many Graafian follicles and corpus luteums in large ovaries, and developed uterine glands in the thick endometrium. But they had some primary, secondary and tertiary follicles, and undeveloped uterine glands in the thin endometrium during short-day photoperiod. These results were identified difference of the estrus cycle and histological characteristics of reproductive tracts according to the photoperiod. These results are very important clues to the reproductive biology of T. triton, and it will be widely used as date for maintaining biodiversity.

• Advances in pediatric surgery
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.222-227
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• 2007

A differential diagnosis between the true hermaphroditism (TH) and mixed gonadal dysgenesis (MGD) has important clinical implications for gender assignment and the decision for early gonadectomy; however, variable clinical and histological features frequently lead to the confusion of TH with MGD. A 17-month-old boy was presented with proximal hypospadias with chordee and right non-palpable testis in his scrotum. He also had right auricular anomaly including a separated tragus with skin tag. Left testis was well palpable in his left scrotum. Diagnostic right inguinal exploration showed Mullerian structures such as a gonad like an ovary and a fallopian tube with a uterus, which were removed. Repair of hypospadias and right auricular anomaly was also done. Following ultrasonography (USG) showed a normal looking testis in left scrotum. His chromosome was 45, XO/46, XY. We report a difficult case of mixed gonadal dysgenesis mimicking true hermaphroditism which combines ipsilateral congenital auricular anomaly.

• Journal of Medicine and Life Science
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.34-38
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• 2019

Hypogonadism is a clinical syndrome that results in hormone deficiency and can be classified as 1) primary caused by the gonadal failure and 2) secondary by the hypothalamus-pituitary gland dysfunction and/or cardiometabolic complications. Recently the presence of thyroid hormone receptors in different testicular cell types was demonstrated, and thus thyroid dysfunctions would be another cause of secondary hypogonadism. Thus, we investigated the effects of perinatal hypothyroidism on hypogonadism in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Perinatal hypothyroidism was induced by daily administration of 0.05% 6-propyl-2-thiouracil (PTU) by tap water from gestation day 15, which were compared with negative control (PTU (-)) group. At postnatal day 28, hypothyroid pups were divided into 2 groups: PTU (+) group - continued PTU treatment and PTU (+/-) group - stopped PTU until postnatal day 49. Body weights, dehydrotesosterone (DHT), and testosterone levels were checked 2 and 3 weeks after grouping. Body weights were significantly decreased in PTU(+) and PTU(+/-) groups compared with PTU (-) group at postnatal day 28. 3 weeks later, PTU (+/-) group significantly gained weight compared with PTU (+) group. DHT and testosterone levels significantly decreased with PTU treatment, but increased 3 weeks after stopping PTU administration. Perinatal PTU-induced hypothyroid hypogonadism was sustained for 2 weeks after stopping PTU administration, but restored gonadal hormone levels 3 weeks after stopping PTU. These results suggest that researchers should design an experiment on hypothyroid hypogonadism based on the estimated period.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.349-357
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• 2011

Since nesfatin-1/NUCB2 involved in the control of appetite and energy metabolism was discovered for the first time in hypothalamus, many reports have shown its expression in various tissues. We also recently demonstrated that nesfatin-1/NUCB2 was expressed in the reproductive organs of mouse. However, no data exist on nesfatin-1/NUCB2 expression, regulation, and secretion in the uterus. Therefore, we examined the expression of nesfatin-1/NUCB2 in mouse uterus and the effects of PMSG and estrogen on its expression. NUCB2 mRNA expression in the uterus was determined by conventional and real-time PCR and nesfatin-1 protein expression was detected by western blotting. In immunohistochemistry staining, nesfatin-1 protein was localized at the epithelial cells of the uterine glands and endometrium. Nesfatin-1 protein binding sites were displayed at the epithelial cells of uterine glands and specific granulocytes including neutrophils. Additionally, to examine if the nesfatin-1/NUCB2 expression in the uterus is regulated by gonadotropin or estrogen, ovariectomized mice were treated with PMSG or $17{\beta}$-estradiol. The expression levels of NUCB2 mRNA in the uterus was significantly increased in the control mice after PMSG treatment, but not in the ovariectomized mice. In contrast, NUCB2 mRNA expression was dramatically increased in the ovariectomized mice after treatment with $17{\beta}$-estradiol. We report here for the first time that nesfatin-1/NUCB2 mRNA and protein express in the mouse uterus and its expression is regulated by estrogen secreted from the ovary, but not gonadotropin from the pituitary.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.88-95
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• 1997

Olfactometer was used to find the attractiveness of kairomone extracted from gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) to the egg parasitoid (Ooencyrtus kuvanae). The attractiveness of kairomone extracted from scales and hairs which were attached to the surface of the eggs were higher than that of whole eggs with 79.9% and 67.6% respectively. The probing lantency of the egg parasitoid on the extract of scales and hairs were 115.5 sec. and that of whole eggs were 113.2 sec. Eggs taken from egg mass were shown 91.0% of attractiveness to the egg parasitoid, however only 15% of egg parasitoid were attracted by follicles dissected from the host ovary. The probing latency of egg mass was faster than that of follicles dissected from the host with 84.2 sec. and 114.0 sec. respectively. Egg parasitoid showed the most active attractiveness (88.0%), relatively longer examing period (89.2 sec.) and shorter probing latency (26.8 sec.) to the adhesive materials secreted from reproductive accessory glands of the host. Out of six organic solvents used for the extraction of kairomone from the host egg mass, n-hexane fraction received the most active response from xthe egg parasitoid and the parasitoid reared in vivo showed 3 times higher attractiveness to the n-hexane fraction than that of in vitro.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.49-56
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• 2010

Objective: To investigate assisted reproductive technology (ART) outcomes in women with WHO class I anovulation compared with control group. Design: Retrospective case-control study. Methods: Twenty-three infertile women with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (H-H) who undertook ART procedure from August 2003 to January 2009 were enrolled in this study. A total of 59 cycles (H-H group) were included; Intra-uterine insemination with super-ovulation (SO-IUI, 32 cycles), in vitro fertilization with fresh embryo transfer (IVF-ET, 18 cycles) and subsequent frozenthawed embryo transfer (FET, 9 cycles). Age and BMI matched 146 cycles of infertile women were collected as control group; 64 cycles of unexplained infertile women for SO-IUI and 54 cycles of IVF-ET and 28 cycles of FET with tubal factor. We compared ART and pregnancy outcomes such as clinical pregnancy rate (CPR), clinical abortion rate (CAR), and live birth rate (LBR) between the two groups. Results: There was no difference in the mean age ($32.7{\pm}3.3$ vs. $32.6{\pm}2.7$ yrs) and BMI ($21.0{\pm}3.1$ vs. $20.8{\pm}3.1kg/m^2$) between two groups. Mean levels of basal LH, FSH, and $E_2$ in H-H group were $0.62{\pm}0.35$ mIU/ml, $2.60{\pm}2.30$ mIU/ml and $10.1{\pm}8.2$ pg/ml, respectively. For ovarian stimulation, H-H group needed higher total amount of gonadotropin injected and longer duration for ovarian stimulation (p<0.001). In SO-IUI cycles, there was no significant difference of CPR, CAR, and LBR between the two groups. In IVF-ET treatment, H-H group presented higher mean $E_2$ level on hCG day ($3104.8{\pm}1020.2$ pg/ml vs. $1878.3{\pm}1197.7$ pg/ml, p<0.001) with lower CPR (16.7 vs. 37.0%, p=0.11) and LBR (5.6 vs. 33.3%, p=0.02) and higher CAR (66.7 vs. 10.0%, p=0.02) compared with the control group. However, subsequent FET cycles showed no significant difference of CPR, CAR, and LBR between the two groups. Conclusion: H-H patients need higher dosage of gonadotropin and longer duration for ovarian stimulation compared with the control groups. Significantly poor pregnancy outcomes in IVF-ET cycles of H-H group may be due to detrimental endometrial factors caused by higher $E_2$ level and the absence of previous hormonal exposure on endometrium.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.89-95
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• 2009

p63 has been demonstrated to localize in stem cells and precursor cells of various epithelial tissues previously, but the localization of p63 throughout tooth formation, particularly during the enamel and root formation stages, remains to be adequately characterized. Therefore, in this study, we have demonstrated, via immunohistochemical methods, that p63 is ubiquitously expressed in the dental epithelium during tooth development. p63 was detected in the basal and suprabasal layers of the epithelia, including the skin, hair follicles, oral mucosa, and submandibular ducts. However, in the tooth region, all cells of the dental lamina, enamel organ, Hertwig's epithelial root sheath (HERS), and epithelial cell rests of Malassez (ERM) evidenced immunoreactivity for p63. These results indicate that p63 may perform different roles, other than stem cell maintenance, in tooth development.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.469-477
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• 2012

Ostrinia larvae feed the pods and stem of red bean and seriously damage the bean production from farmers. In this study we investigated biological and developmental characteristics including field collection, host feeding preference, artificial rearing diet, morphological and molecular taxonomical identification, and pheromone analysis for an Ostrinia sp. in Korea. The male adults have massive tibia in the middle legs and 3-lobed uncus in the genitalia. The partial nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) and II (COII) were not corresponded to those DNA sequences from other Ostrinia species reported previously in Japan and China. Host plants for this species are also different from the previous species reported. In the gas chromatography (GC) analyses, (Z)-9-tetradecenyl acetate was not detected from the pheromone gland of our species while the component as a sex pheromone was found in O. zaguliaevi and O. zealis, With taken results, we conclude this Ostrinia species in Korea is Ostrinia scapulalis or closely related species. When larvae collected in a fall were incubated in the outdoor condition, they emerged to adult between June and July in the next year. The result indicates that the winter diapause could be started in late larval stage. In addition, we developed a semi-synthetic artificial diet adopted for mass rearing of the O. scapulalis in laboratory.