• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.791-794
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• 1994

Sixteen kinds of naturally occurring phenolic compounds including 5 stilbenes, 7 flavonoids and 4 anthraquinones were examined in the inhibitory activity against rat liver AADC(aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase) in vitro, using 5-hydroxytryptophan as a substrate. Three hydroxystilbenes, resveratrol 1, rhapontigenin 3 and piceatanol 5, which were known to be monoamine oxidase A inhibitors, exhibited a significant inhibition against AADC($IC_{50}$=20, 8 and $5\;{\mu}M$, respectively). By the comparison of the activity of each phenolic compound, it was suggested that the 3',4'-dihydroxyphenyl group of stilbenes or flavones was the best pharmacophore for the AADC inhibitory activity.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.119-123
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• 2004

The effects of BHSH on L-DOPA-induced increase in dopamine content in PC12 cells were investigated. L-DOPA treatment at $20\;or\;50\;{\mu}M$ increased dopamine content after both 24 and 48 h of incubation in PC12 cells. However, the co-treatments of BHSH $(10-50\;{\mu}M)$ with L-DOPA $(20\;or\;50\;{\mu}M)$ significantly inhibited the increase of dopamine content induced by L-DOPA. BHSH treatment at $10-50\;{\mu}M$ significantly inhibited basal aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase (AADC) activity in a concentration-dependent manner at 15 min, and then AADC activity was rapidly recovered to the control level at about 2 h. These results indicate that the inhibition of AADC activity by BHSH was, in part, contributed to the early-stage decrease of dopamine content induced by LDOPA in PC12 cells. Taken together, it is proposed that the short-term inhibition of dopamine biosynthesis by BHSH was mediated by the regulation of tyrosine hydroxylace (TH).

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 1990

We established an in vitro system of central serotonergic neurons by culturing dissociated rat embryonic (El4) brainstem cells to 14 days in vitro and monitored the serotonergic neuronal growth by measuring 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) contents in the cells with hish performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection (HPLC-EC). We studied also tile effects of various drugs on the contents of 5-HT and 5-HIAA, confirming in vivo reports. The 5-HT content (13 ng/mg protein) and 5-HT turnover rate (17 pmol/mg protein/h) at 14 days in vitro were in good agreement with those reported in the adult rat brain. The 5-HT content was more easily depleted with p-chlorophenylalanine, a tryptophan hydroxylase inhibitor than with NSD 1015 (3-hydroxybenzylhydrazine), an aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase (AADC) inhibitor. Incubation of the cultures with tryptophan or 5-hydroxytryptophan increased the rate of serotonin formation implying that neither tryptophan hydroxylase nor AADC is saturated with its amino acid substrate in this in vitro system . The 5-HT content was depleted by reserpine. The 5-HT and 5-HIAA contents were increased and decreased, respectively, by monoamine oxidase inhibitors. All the above results indicate that the biochemical properties of the central serotonergic neurons in this culture system reflect reliably those of central serotonergic neurons in vivo. We suggest that measuring 5-HT and 5-HIAA contents in the primary cultured dissociated brainstem-cells with HPLC-EC is useful in the study of pharmacology as well as toxicolgy of the central serotonergic neurons.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.20 no.5 s.94
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• pp.363-370
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• 2005

Neural stem cells (NSCs) of the central nervous system (CNS) have raised a great interest not only for their importance in basic neural development but also for their therapeutic potentials in neurologically degenerative diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer and stroke. During the CNS development, two molecular cascades determine specification of midbrain dopamine system. In one pathway, FGF-8, sonic hedgehog and transcription factor Nurr1 specify dopamine neurotransmitter phenotype. In the other, transcription factors $Lm{\times}lb\;and\;Pt{\times}3$ are required for induction of dopaminergic neurons. In Nurr1 knockout mouse, tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) positive cells fail to appear in substantia nigra, indicating that Nurr1 is essential in specification of dopaminergic cell phenotype. In this study, we used the immortalized human NSCs retrovirally transduced with Nurr1 gene to probe the Nurr1 mediated mechanism to induce dopamine phenotype. While Nurr1 over-expression alone did not generate dopamine phenotype in NSCs, applications of retinoid and forskolin induced expression of TH and AADC mRNAs. In addition, co-cultures of Nurr1 expressing NSCs with human astrocytes induced a marked increase of TH expression. In this co-culture system, the addition of retinoid and forskolin dramatically increased expression of TH. These results indicate that the immortalized human NSCs with Nurr1 gene could have a clinical utility for cell replacement for the Parkinson patients.