• Journal of Life Science
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.235-240
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• 1998

Matrix metalloproteinases(MMPs) are a group of zinc enzymes responsible for degradation of the matrix components such as collagen and proteoglycans in normal embryogenesis and remodeling and in many disease processes such as arthritis, cancer, periodontitis, and osteprocess. Genetically distince MMPs have been characterized and their genes have been cloned thus far from a variaty of species but not from fishes. In this stydy, a mmp cDNA was cloned by using RT-PCR(reverse transcriptase dependent polymerase chain reaction) from Scylliorhinus toraxzame(shark), agroup of cartilaginous fish, abundant in the coast of Pusan, Korea. It has 74% base homologue with membrane type matrix matalloproteinase-3 genes(mt3-mmps) from human, rat and chick, and also shows more than 90% residue homologue with them. In addition, it has cysteine switch domain, zinc binding domain(HExGH motif), propeptide cleavage site, and RRKR motif, which are present in MMPs. This result indicates that cDNA fragment cloned here may be mt3-mmp or its analogous gejne cDNA fragment of Scylliorhinus torzame.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.192-200
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• 2022

The association between heavy metals in the blood and obesity has been examined in many studies. However, inconsistencies have been observed in the results from these studies. The present study was conducted using data from 119,181 participants of the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) for 11 years in 2005 and between 2008 and 2017. The subjects with missing heavy metal blood tests, health interview data, and health examination data were excluded from the study. The study population comprised 1,844 individuals (972 men, 872 women) who were eligible for inclusion. It was found that obesity and abdominal obesity were associated with an increase in both blood mercury (P<0.001) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (P<0.001). After adjusting the confounding factors, those with concurrent high levels of ALT and the highest tertile of mercury showed an increased risk of obesity (odds ratio 4.46, 95%, confidence interval 2.23~8.90, P<0.001) as well as abdominal obesity (odds ratio 5.36, 95%, confidence interval 2.57~11.17, P<0.001). The interrelationship of mercury and ALT with the parameters of body mass index (P for interaction=0.009) and waist circumference (P for interaction=0.012), respectively, have been observed to be significant, suggesting that the reciprocal relationship could contribute to obesity and abdominal obesity.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.651-659
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• 2022

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of different water temperatures (8, 11, 14 and 17℃) on growth, survival and hematological parameters of juvenile chum salmon(Oncorhynchus keta) for eight weeks. At the end of the experiment, at 14℃, the final body weights of the O. keta group were the highest compared to the other groups. Also, the O. keta showed a higher tendency in the 14℃ group than the 8, 11, and 17℃ groups in terms of growth performances, including specific growth rate (SGR), feed conversion ratio (FCR), feed efficiency (FE), weight gain (WG), and condition factor (CF). The survival rate (SR) was 100% at 8 and 11℃ groups, 96% at 14℃ group and 98% at 17℃ group. In the plasma components, the alanine aminotransferase (ALT) was significantly decreased at 17℃ group, whereas there was no significant change in the albumin (ALB), total protein (TP), sodium (Na⁺), potassium (K⁺) and chloride (Cl^-) levels. Among the whole-body composition of salmon, moisture, crude protein, and ash were not significantly affected by water temperature. However, crude lipid in the 8℃ group was significantly higher than in other water temperature groups. The results of this study demonstrated that the optimal temperature to stable growth performance for juvenile O. keta was 14℃.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.84 no.3
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• pp.666-675
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• 2023

Purpose This study aimed to determine whether the attenuation coefficient (AC) from attenuation imaging (ATI) was correlated with visual US assessment in patients with hepatic steatosis. Moreover, it aimed to assess whether the patient's blood chemistry results and CT attenuation were correlated with AC. Materials and Methods Patients who underwent abdominal US with ATI between April 2018 and December 2018 were included in this study. Patients with chronic liver disease or cirrhosis were excluded. The correlation between AC and other parameters, such as visual US assessment, blood chemistry results, liver attenuation, and liver-to-spleen (L/S) ratio, were analyzed. AC values according to visual US assessment grades were compared using analysis of variance. Results A total of 161 patients were included in this study. The correlation coefficient between US assessment and AC was 0.814 (p < 0.001). The mean AC values for the normal, mild, moderate, and severe grades were 0.56, 0.66, 0.74, and 0.85, respectively (p < 0.001). Alanine aminotransferase levels were significantly correlated with AC (r = 0.317, p < 0.001). The correlation coefficients between liver attenuation and AC and between L/S ratio and AC were -0.702 and -0.626, respectively (p < 0.001). Conclusion Visual US assessment and AC showed a strong positive correlation with the discriminative value between the groups. Computed tomography attenuation and AC showed a strong negative correlation.

• Journal of Haehwa Medicine
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.125-133
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• 2012

본 논문은 피부미백에 관한 실험적 연구로서, 봉선화(Impatiens balsamina Linne)의 성분 중에서 하이드록시-나프타-퀴논(hydroxynaphthoquinone)이 멜라닌 생성억제 효능, 색소침착 저해 효과 등의 미백 활성이 있는 것으로 밝혀졌다. 피부흑화(melanogenesis)는 멜라닌 색소생성세포(melanocyte)에서 자외선 등의 자극에 대한 방어기작으로 멜라닌 생성 활동이 증가되고 이로 말미암아 만들어진 다량의 멜라닌이 각질형성세포(keratinocyte)로 전이되어 피부 표피층에 축척된 결과이다. 비록 멜라닌이 피부에 보호작용을 하나 피부의 과색소 침착은 기미, 주근깨, 피부염증 후의 피부흑화, 노인성 색소반점 등을 일으키며 이로 인해 피부미용 상의 불편뿐만 아니라 정신적으로 부정적인 영향을 미쳐 사회활동에 불편을 초래하기도 한다. 멜라닌 생성 과정은 아미노산의 일종인 티로신(tyrosine)에 티로시나제(tyrosinase)라는 효소가 작용하여 도파(DOPA), 도파퀴논(dopaquinone)으로 바뀐 후 비효소적인 산화 반응을 거쳐 만들어 지며, 이것이 피부 내에 이상 침착하여 기미, 검버섯 등이 생기는 것이라고 알려져 있다. 이와 같은 색소침착, 기미, 반점 등의 완화, 예방 및 치료에는 멜라닌 생성을 억제하는 물질, 예를 들면 하이드로퀴논(hydroquinone), 알부틴, 비타민 C 및 그 유도체 등이 개발되어 사용되고 있으나 이 중, 하이드로퀴논은 일단 효과가 인정되고 있지만 감작성이 있기 때문에 일반적으로 사용이 제한되고 있다. 아스콜빈산은 쉽게 산화되어, 이를 배합한 제품에는 변색, 변취가 되는 문제를 야기하고, 식물추출물 유래의 물질들은 식물의 산지에 따라 효능의 차이가 심하여 제품의 균질성이 유지되기 어렵다. 이러한 이유로 많은 멜라닌 생성을 억제하는 물질을 개발하기 위한 연구들이 계속 진행하고 있다. 2-히드록시-[1,4]나프토퀴논 유도체는 다음과 같은 구조를 나타낸다. 상기 구조에서 R은 포화 혹은 불포화된 직쇄 또는 분지쇄의 알킬로서, 바람직하게는 C1 내지 C10의 포화 혹은 불포화된 직쇄 또는 분지쇄의 알킬이고, 보다 바람직하게는 C1 내지 C5의 포화 혹은 불포화된 직쇄 또는 분지쇄의 알킬이다. 실험에 활용된 화합물은 다음과 같은 반응식으로 얻어졌다. 2-히드록시-[1,4]나프토퀴논과 포타슘카보네이트(K2CO3)를 아세토니트릴에 용해한 후, 저온수조로 냉각하고 알킬할라이드를 적당한 당량비로 천천히 적하하여 히드록시기와 에테르(ether) 반응을 통하여 얻어질 수 있다. 상기 반응식에서 R은 C1~10의 포화 또는 불포화된 알킬기로서 직쇄형 또는 분지쇄형 모두 가능하다. 상기 화합물인 2-히드록시-[1,4]나프토퀴논(2-hydroxynaphthoquinone)은 배양된 쥐의 멜라노마 세포에 대하여 하이드로퀴논과 대등한 멜라닌 생성 억제효과를 보였다. 하이드로퀴논은 저농도에서 강력한 멜라닌 생성 억제효과를 보이지만 상기 화합물들은 보다 낮은 농도에서도 세포독성을 나타내지 않으며 하이드로퀴논보다 높은 멜라닌 생성 억제 효과를 보였다.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.231-238
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• 2008

The second family member of tissue inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinases, TIMP-2, is a 21kDa protein which inhibits matrix metalloproteinases 2 (MMP-2). Expression of mammalian proteins in E. coli often forms inclusion bodies that are made up of mis-folded or insoluble protein aggregates. The requirement for the formation of 6 disulfide bonds in the process of the TIMP-2 folding is likely to be incompatible with the reducing environment of E. coli. However, this incompatibility can be often overcome by introducing a mutagenesis that could lead to enhancement of the protein solubility. In this reason, we have attempted to express the soluble TIMP-2 in E. coli by applying a modified staggered extension process (StEP), one of the in vitro PCR-based recombinant mutagenesis methods, and error-prone PCR. C-terminally located CAT fusion protein with respect to mutated TIMP-2 proteins enables us to differentiate the soluble TIMP-2 from the insoluble in E. coli by virtue of chloramphenicol resistance. According to this scheme, E. coli harboring properly-folded CAT fused to TIMP-2 protein was selected, and some of the resulting colonies exhibited an enhanced, soluble expression of TIMP-2 compared to the wild type, implying (i) the StEP technique is successfully employed to enhance the proper folding thereby increasing the solubility of TIMP-2, and (ii) the CAT dependent screening may be a simple and effective method to differentiate the soluble protein expression in E. coli.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.275-281
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• 2016

Glycan modification is important in pharmaceutical industry. Especially, sialic acid affects the bioactivity and stability of medicine. Milk of pig has been used as bioreactor to produce various pharmaceutical proteins. Therefore, it is necessary to modify the glycan chain in pig mammary grand. β-1,4-N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferase A (pMGAT4A) is one of the essential enzymes for increase of sialic acid content, but pig MGAT4A is unclear. In this study, the pMGAT4A was identified and characterized. The pMGAT4A has 1638 nucleotides encoding 535 amino acids and type II membrane topology, which is one of the common features in many glycosyltransferases. The gene was strongly expressed in liver and mammary gland, whereas was weakly expressed in small intestine, stomach and bladder. For functional test, HA-tagged MGAT4A was over-expressed in porcine kidney (PK-15) cell line. Forced expression of pMGAT4A gene was identified by qPCR, and we identified that pMGAT4A is located in Golgi complex by co- staining with HA antibody and BODIPY TR ceramide. In addition, we identified the increase of mannose-β-1,4-N-acetylglucosamine structure by ELISA and immunofluorescence using Datura stramonium agglutinin (DSA), which recognizes mannose-β-1,4-Nacetylglucosamine. Through the specific activity analysis, we showed that pMGAT4A modified bi-antennary to tri-antennary. This event affects sialic acid content. Therefore, we thought that over-expression of pMGAT4A will be necessary in pig mammary grand for improved medicine.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.97-104
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• 1981

In order to study the changes of components and enzyme activities during Chungkookjang-Koji preparation, the Kojies were prepared with Bacillus Natto, Bacillus subtilis and traditional method. The temperature of Koji materials during Koji preparation was very different according to the experimental group. The content of ethyl alcohol, reducing sugar, amino nitrogen and water soluble nitrogen were changed by the Koji preparing stage and experimental group. Amylase and protease activities showed on irregular change on standing and their activities were not remarkably different among the groups and appeared weakly.

• Journal of Aquaculture
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.547-556
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• 1998

This study was performed to obtain the basic data on the serum constituents of several marine fish spesies commonly cultured in Korea. Blood samples taken from six species of fish were analyzed for various components of serum, total protein (TP), albumin (ALB), triglyceride (TRIG), cholesterol (CHOL), glucose (GLC), lipase (LIPA), amylase (AMYL), aspartate transaminoferase (AST), sodium (Na), potassium (K), chloride (CI) and phosphorus (PHOS). The fish used were coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), rock fish (Sebastes schlegeli), sea bass (Lateolabrax japonicus), olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus), rock fish (Sebastes schlegeli), sea bass (Lateolabrax japonicus), olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus), parrot fish (Oplegnathus fasciatus) and jack mackerel (Trachurus jaonicus) reared at the Chungmu Experimental Fish Culture Station of KORDI when the water tempetature was ca. 16.5$^{\circ}C$. There were significant differences in TRIG, CHOL, LIPA and AMYZ among the species analyzed. TRIG concentratin were ranged 178~180mg/dl in jack mackeerel and rock fish, 126~159 mg/dl in olive flounder and sea bass, and 102~114 mg/dl in coho salmon and parrot fish, respectively. Jack mackerel showed the highest levels in CHOL (255mg/dl) and GLC(138mg/dl) among species. LIPA levels were recorded 256 U/dl in coho salmon, 41~42 U/dl in parrot fish and rock fisk, and 5~11 U/dl jack mackerel and sea bass, respectively. AMYL activity of coho salmon was measured as 2, 665 U/dl, and that of jack mackerel was 1,210 U/dl while sea bass showed 60 U/dl and parrot fish, olive flounder and rock fish had at most 5 U/dl. On the other hand, there was no significant difference in the concentration of Na and CI. Na and K were proved that they were negatively correlated in all the species. Generally, among blood components, PHOS and CHOL levels were different depending on environmental temperature of each fish species, especially in olive flounder. Rock fish and parrot fish showed high blood concentration of those components during low temperature period while olive flounder and jack mackerel reached high level during their optimal environmental temperature period. The electrolyte concentration and LIPA activity were high during low water temperature period, in general, but TP and ALB concentrations were high during optimal temperature period. The concentrations of TRIG, CHOL and GLC, those which were used as energy sourses, were different among species by season.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 2005

Ginseng Radix, the root of Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer has been used in Eastern Asia for 2000 years as a tonic and restorative, promoting health and longevity. Two varieties are commercially available: white ginseng(Ginseng Radix Alba) is produced by air-drying the root, while red ginseng(Ginseng Radix Rubra) is produced by steaming the root followed by drying. These two varieties of different processing have somewhat differences by heat processing between them. During the heat processing for preparing red ginseng, it has been found to exhibit inactivation of catabolic enzymes, thereby preventing deterioration of ginseng quality and the increased antioxidant-like substances which inhibit lipid peroxide formation, and also good gastro-intestinal absorption by gelatinization of starch. Moreover, studies of changes in ginsenosides composition due to different processing of ginseng roots have been undertaken. The results obtained showed that red ginseng differ from white ginseng due to the lack of acidic malonyl-ginsenosides. The heating procedure in red ginseng was proved to degrade the thermally unstable malonyl-ginsenoside into corresponding netural ginsenosides. Also the steaming process of red ginseng causes degradation or transformation of neutral ginsenosides. Ginsenosides $Rh_2,\;Rh_4,\;Rs_3,\;Rs_4\;and\;Rg_5$, found only in red ginseng, have been known to be hydrolyzed products derived from original saponin by heat processing, responsible for inhibitory effects on the growth of cancer cells through the induction of apoptosis. 20(S)-ginsenoside $Rg_3$ was also formed in red ginseng and was shown to exhibit vasorelaxation properties, antimetastatic activities, and anti-platelet aggregation activity. Recently, steamed red ginseng at high temperature was shown to provide enhance the yield of ginsenosides $Rg_3\;and\;Rg_5$ characteristic of red ginseng Additionally, one of non-saponin constituents, panaxytriol, was found to be structually transformed from polyacetylenic alcohol(panaxydol) showing cytotoxicity during the preparation of red ginseng and also maltol, antioxidant maillard product, from maltose and arginyl-fructosyl-glucose, amino acid derivative, from arginine and maltose. In regard to the in vitro and in vivo comparative biological activities, red ginseng was reported to show more potent activities on the antioxidant effect, anticarcinogenic effect and ameliorative effect on blood circulation than those of white ginseng. In oriental medicine, the ability of red ginseng to supplement the vacancy(허) was known to be relatively stronger than that of white ginseng, but very few are known on its comparative clinical studies. Further investigation on the preclinical and clinical experiments are needed to show the differences of indications and efficacies between red and white ginsengs on the basis of oriental medicines.