• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.582-590
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• 2018

Although there are many studies of the effect of climate change on the breeding phenology and community diversity of amphibians, the studies of variations in reproductive population size of individual species according to climate change are still lacking. We examined the effect of climate change on the reproductive population size of Rana huanrenensis and Hynobius leechii, which bred in mountain valleys, by surveying the reproductive population of the two species between 2005 and 2012 and analyzing the correlation between the variation of the outdoor population and the surrounding climate change factors, obtained from a meteorological observatory located at 5.6 km from the study site. The size of the reproductive population of the two species commonly fluctuated with aan pproximately 3.5-year cycle. That of H. leechii, in particular, decreased significantly over eight years. The air temperature tended to more closely relate with the reproductive population size of R. huanrenensis as was the case of the precipitation with that of H. leechii. The yearly mean highest temperature and spring mean temperature variation consistently decreased over the eight years, and the latter was related with the significantly decreased size of H. leechii reproductive population. These results showed that recent climate change directly could affect the reproductive population size of amphibians, particularly H. leechii, which breeds in mountain valleys.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.555-562
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• 2016

In this study, we investigated the effects of Undaria pinnatifida (UP), Petalonia binghamiae (PB) and Punctaria latifolia (PL) extracts on the inhibition of proliferation and apoptosis in human gastric and breast cancer cells. AGS, MDA-MB-231 and SK-BR-3 cells were treated with 0, 50, 100, and 200 μg/ml concentrations of the extracts to determine their anti-proliferative effects, using the MTT assay. The UP, PB and PL extracts inhibited proliferation of AGS, MDA-MB-231 and SK-BR-3 cells in a dose-dependent manner, and the PL extract was found to be the most effective. DAPI staining was also performed to determine changes in the cell nucleus. Further, the AGS, MDA-MB-231 and SK-BR-3 cells were treated with 0, 50, 100, and 200 μg/ml of only the PL extract. DAPI staining showed increased chromatin condensation, which is indicative of apoptosis, in the 200 μg/ml group. The expression of the Bax, Bcl-2, and PARP proteins in AGS, MDA-MB-231 and SK-BR-3 cells treated with the PL extract was also determined by western blot analysis. The expression of Bax (a pro-apoptotic protein) and cleaved-PARP was increased, whereas the expression of Bcl-2 (an anti-apoptotic protein) was decreased compared with the control. These findings indicate that the PL extract may have potential as an alternative anticancer drug and nutraceutical.