• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.1-13
• /
• 2006

A field survey on the spatio-temporal distribution characteristics and origins of organic matter in surface sediments was carried out monthly at six stations in Gamak Bay, South Korea from April 2000 to March 2002. The range of ignition loss(IL) was $4.6{\sim}11.6%(7.1{\pm}1.6%)$, while chemical oxygen demand(CODs) ranged from $12.25{\sim}99.26mgO_2/g-dry(30.98{\pm}19.09mgO_2/g-dry)$, acid volatile sulfide(AVS) went from no detection(ND)${\sim}10.29mgS/g-dry(1.02{\pm}0.58mgS/g-dry)$, and phaeopigment was $6.84{\sim}116.18{\mu}g/g-dry(23.72{\pm}21.16{\mu}g/g-dry)$. The ranges of particulate organic carbon(POC) and particulate organic nitrogen(PON) were $5.45{\sim}23.24 mgC/g-dty(10.34{\pm}4.40C\;mgC/g-dry)$ and $0.71{\sim}2.99mgN/g-dry(1.37{\pm}0.58mgN/g-dry)$, respectively. Water content was in the range of $43.1{\sim}77.6%(55.8{\pm}5.6%)$, and mud content(silt+clay) was higher than 95% at all stations. The spatial distribution of organic matter in surface sediments was greatly divided between the northwestern, central and eastern areas, southern entrance area from the distribution characteristic of their organic matters. The concentrations of almost all items were greater at the northwestern and southern entrance area than at the other areas in Gamak Bay. In particular, sedimentary pollution was very serious at the northwestern area, because the area had an excessive supply of organic matter due to aquaculture activity and the inflow of sewage from the land. These materials stayed longer because of the topographical characteristics of such as basin and the anoxic conditions in the bottom seawater environment caused by thermocline in the summer. The tendency of temporal change was most prominently in the period of high-water temperatures than low-water ones at the northwestern and southern entrance areas. On the other hand, the central and eastern areas did not show a regular trend for changing the concentrations of each item but mainly showed a higher tendency during the low-water temperatures. This was observed for all but AVS concentrations which were higher during the period of high-water temperature at all stations. Especially, the central and eastern areas showed a large temporal increase of AVS concentration during those periods of high-water temperature where the concentration of CODs was in excess of $20mgO_2/g-dry$. The results show that the organic matters in surface sediments in Gamak Bay actually originated from autochthonous organic matters with eight or less in average C/N ratio including the organic matters generated by the use of ocean, rather than terrigenous organic matters. However, the formation of autochthonous organic matter was mainly derived from detritus than living phytoplankton, indicated the results of the POC/phaeopigment ratio. In addition, the CODs/IL ratio results demonstrate that the detritus was the product of artificial activities such as dregs feeding and fecal pellets of farm organisms caused by aquaculture activities rather than the dynamic of natural ocean activities.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.41 no.3
• /
• pp.231-238
• /
• 1994

Backgroud: Since the demonstration of the fact that vascular relaxation by acetylcholine(Ach) results from the release of relaxing factor from the endothelium, the identity and physiology of this endothelium-derived relaxing factor(EDRF) has been the target for many researches. EDRF has been identified as nitric oxide(NO). With the recent evidences that EDRF is an important mediator of vascular tone, there have been increasing interests in defining the role of the EDRF as a potential mediator of hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction. But the role of EDRF in modulating the pulmonary circulation is not compeletely clarified. To investigate the endothelium-dependent pulmonary vasodilation and the role of EDRF during hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction, we studied the effects of $N^G$-monomethyl-L-arginine(L-NMMA) and L-arginine on the precontracted pulmonary arterial rings of the rat in normoxia and hypoxia. Mothods: The pulmonary arteries of male Sprague Dawley(300~350g) were dissected free of surrounding tissue, and cut into rings. Rings were mounted over fine rigid wires, in organ chambers filled with 20ml of Krebs solution bubbled with 95 percent oxygen and 5 percent carbon dioxide and maintained at $37^{\circ}C$. Changes in isometric tension were recorded with a force transducer(FT.03 Grass, Quincy, USA) Results: 1) Precontraction of rat pulmonry artery with intact endothelium by phenylephrine(PE, $10^{-6}M$) was relaxed completely by acetylcholine(Ach, $10^{-9}-10^{-5}M$) and sodium nitroprusside(SN, $10^{-9}-10^{-5}M$), but relaxing response by Ach in rat pulmonary artery with denuded endothelium was significantly decreased. 2) L-NMMA($10^{-4}M$) pretreatment inhibited Ach($10^{-9}-10^{-5}M$)-induced relaxation, but L-NMMA ($10^{-4}M$) had no effect on relaxation induced by SN($10^{-9}-10^{-5}M$). 3) Pretreatment of the L-arginine($10^{-4}M$) significantly reversed the inhibition of the Ach ($10^{-9}-10^{-5}M$)-induced relaxation caused by L-NMMA($10^{-4}M$) 4) Pulmonary arterial contraction by PE($10^{-6}M$) was stronger in hypoxia than normoxia but relaxing response by Ach($10^{-9}-10^{-5}M$) was decreased, 5) With pretreatment of L-arginine($10^{-4}M$), pulmonary arterial relaxation by Ach($10^{-9}-10^{-5}M$) in hypoxia was reversed to the level of relaxation in normoxia. Conclusion: It is concluded that rat pulmonary arterial relaxation by Ach is dependent on the intact endothelium and is largely mediated by NO. Acute hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction is related to the suppression on NO formation in the vascular endothelium.