• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.123-127
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• 2019

Medicinal herb in Asian countries has been traditionally used for a long time. However, the safety and adverse effect of medicinal herb have not been established yet. The aim of this study is to evaluate toxicity in the oral administration of Clausena excavata (C. excavata) in male ICR mice for 3 weeks and the noobserved adverse effect level (NOAEL). C. excavata has been used as a medicinal herb for the treatment of dermatopathy, malaria, abdominal pain, dysentery, and enteritis. C. excavata was orally administered daily for 21 days at a dose of 100, 250, 500, 1000, and 2000 mg/kg/day (MPK). There were no significant differences in mortalities, clinical signs, body weight changes, hematological, and serum biochemistry examination in all animals administrated with C. excavate. Consequently, these findings indicated that C. excavata did not affect the toxic effect in ICR mice and the NOAEL of C. excavata was considered as more than 2000 MPK.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.21-29
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• 2013

Objective: The study was carried out to evaluate the hepatoprotective and antioxidant potential of Ziziphus mucronata (ZM) fruit extract. Methods: The different types of fruit extract were prepared by soaking the dry powdered fruit in different solvents followed by rotary evaporation. Each extract was tested for its phenol content and antioxidant activities. An in vivo study was performed in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Thirty adult male SD rats (aged 21 weeks) were divided into six groups of five rats each and treated as follows: The normal control (NC) received distilled water while the dimethoate control (DC) received 6 mg/kg.bw.day-1 dimethoate dissolved in distilled water. The experimental groups E1, E2, E3, and E0 received dimethoate (6 mg/kg.bw) + ZMFM (100 mg/kg.bw-1), dimethoate (6 mg/kg.bw) + ZMFM (200 mg/kg.bw-1), dimethoate (6 mg/kg.bw) + ZMFM (300 mg/kg.bw-1), and ZMFM (300 mg/kg.bw-1) only. Both the normal control and the dimethoate control groups were used to compare the results. After 90 days, rats were sacrificed, blood was collected for biochemical assays, and livers were harvested for histological study. Results: High phenol content was estimated, and 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picryl hydrazyl radical (DPPH) spectrophotometric, thin layer chromatography (TLC) and 2, 2-Azobis-3-ethyl benzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS) assays showed a high antioxidant activity among the extracts. The preventive effects observed in the E1, E2 and E3 groups proved that the extract could prevent dimethoate toxicity by maintaining normal reduced glutathione (GSH), vitamin C and E, superoxide dismutase, catalase, cholineasterase and lipid profiles. The preventive effect was observed to be dose dependent. The EO group showed no extract-induced toxicity. Histological observations agreed with the results obtained in the biochemical studies. Conclusion: The study demonstrated that ZM methanol fruit extract is capable of attenuating dimethoate-induced toxicity because of its high antioxidant activity.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.30 no.11
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• pp.945-956
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• 2021

In this study, the effects of single and binary heavy metals toxicity on the growth and phosphorus removal ability of Bacillus sp.. known as be a phosphorus-removing microorganism, were quantitatively evaluated. Cd, Cu, Zn, Pb, Ni were used as heavy metals. As a result of analysis of variance of the half of inhibition concentration and half of effective concentration for each single heavy metal treatment group, the inhibitory effect on the growth of Bacillus sp. was Ni < Pb < Zn < Cu < Cd. And the inhibitory effect on phosphorus removal by Bacillus sp. was Ni < Pb < Zn < Cu < Cd. When analyzing the correlation between growth inhibition and phosphorus removal efficiency of a single heavy metal treatment group, a negative correlation was found (R² = 0.815), and a positive correlation was found when the correlation between IC₅₀ and EC₅₀ was analyzed (R² = 0.959). In all binary heavy metal treatment groups, the interaction was an antagonistic effect when evaluated using the additive toxicity index method. This paper is considered to be basic data on the toxic effects of heavy metals when phosphorus is removed using phosphorus removal microorganisms in wastewater.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.65 no.4
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• pp.397-403
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• 2022

Smilax sieboldii is one of the Smilax species. A number of Smilax plants have long been used in traditional medicine in the tropics and subtropics worldwide. Repeated dose oral toxicity test is an essential experiment for toxicity evaluation before efficacy evaluation. The purpose of this study is to evaluate toxicity and the no-observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) using oral administration of Smilax sieboldii extract (SSE) in male and female ICR mice for 4 weeks. SSE was orally administered daily for 4 weeks at a dose of 500, 1000, and 2000 mg/kg/day (MPK). There were no significant differences in mortalities, clinical signs, body weight changes, food intake, hematological analysis, serum clinical chemistry test and relative organ weights in all animals administrated with SSE. The results obtained in this study suggest that SSE did not show any toxic effect in ICR mice and the NOAEL of SSE was regarded as over 2000 MPK.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.83-90
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• 2001

The background control data were compiled from rat developmental toxicity studies con-ducted at Toxicology Research Center, KRICT during the 1993-1999 period. These data were assembled in order to provide background in formation for the maternal and fetal data collected in 13 developmental toxicity studies using Sprague-Dawley rats. A total of 325 mated females were used in these studies during the seven-year period and overall pregnancy rate of these females was 93.8%. The present background control data included body weights, food consumption, hematological values, and organ weights of pregnant females, caesarean section data, and fetal examination data. These data can be used not only as a historical database for the meaningful interpretation of data from reproductive and developmental toxicity studies, but also as a contribution to biological characterization oj Sprague-Dawley rats.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2010

Monitoring toxicity levels in specific biological compartments is necessary to evaluate the ecotoxicological risk associated with soil environmental pollution. Gene expression, as potential biomarker, is increasingly used as rapid early warning systems in environmental monitoring and ecological risk assessment procedures. Various representative species are currently used for the purpose of assessing soil toxicity, however, investigations on toxicological assessments using endpoint based on gene-level have been limited. In this review, we will present the current trends in organisms and endpoints used in soil toxicity study and report gene expression related to toxicity using soil organism, and C. elegans as promising organisms for this approach.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Applied Microbiology Conference
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• 2000.04a
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• pp.108-113
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• 2000

Freshwater borne bacteria transformed with luxAB-containing plasmid were optimized for the toxicity tests of various organic carbons and heavy metals. The EC$\sub$50/ values obtained from tests using the most sensitive bacterium to toxicants, YH9-RC, revealed to be much less than those from the Microtox$\^$/. In addition, some physiological characteristics of this bacterium under the toxic stress conditions such as potential bioluminescence, specific growth rate, and intracellular ATP contents, reproducibly and reliably correlated to the toxicity of the chemicals exposed. The higher concentrations of COD in wastewater samples, the lower EC$\sub$50/ values, therefore the developed toxicity test was found to be easily applicable to the toxicity test for wastewater samples and effluents. The conditions for constructing 384-multiwell plate containing freeze-dried bacterium were also optimized through the addition of 0.16 M trehalose before freeze-drying. Consequently, the advanced test system featuring a continuous measurement of the toxicity, an automated real-time monitoring of its results, and an alerting function was designed and constructed in combination with the microbiological, mechanical, and electronic compartment.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.1179-1184
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• 2008

Commercial nanometer sized silver is widely used for its antibacterial effect; however, nanoparticles may also have ecotoxicological effects after being discharged into water. Nanometer sized silver can flow into aquatic environments, where it can exert a variety of physiologically effects in living organisms, including fish. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of nanometer sized silver on the development of zebrafish embryos, analyze the properties of commercial nanometer sized silver and define the toxicity relationship between embryogenesis and hatched flies. The commercial nanometer sized silver was analyzed in the $Ag^+$ ion form. The hatch rate decreased in the nano-silver exposed groups (10 and 20 ppt); furthermore, the hatched flies had an abnormal notochord, weak heart beat, damaged eyes and curved tail. The expression of the Sel N1 gene decreased in the nano-silver exposed groups, and the catalase activities of the exposed groups increased relative to those in the control group. Therefore, the $Ag^+$ ions in commercial nanometer sized silver could accumulate in aquatic environments and seriously damage the development of zebrafish embryos.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.176-182
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• 2022

Norflurazon is widely used on agricultural lands and has a high potential to pollute water sources. However, its effects on fish have not been fully elucidated. The purpose of our study was to determine whether norflurazon adversely affects the developmental stage of zebrafish, which are frequently used as a model system to evaluate the environmental impact of pollutants. Norflurazon interfered with the hatching of zebrafish embryos and induced several sublethal deformities including body length reduction, increased yolk sac volume, and enlargement of the pericardial region. We further examined the cardiotoxicity of norflurazon in the flk1:eGFP transgenic zebrafish line. The vascular network, mainly in the brain region, was significantly disrupted in norflurazon-exposed zebrafish. In addition, due to the failure of cardiac looping, norflurazon-exposed zebrafish had an abnormal cardiac structure. These developmental abnormalities were related to the apoptotic process triggered by norflurazon. Overall, the present study demonstrated the non-target toxicity of norflurazon by analyzing the hazardous effects of norflurazon on developing zebrafish.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.162-168
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• 2022

Mecoprop-p, a chlorophenoxy herbicide, has been widely used since the 1980s. Due to its high water solubility, it could be detected in the aquatic environment, as it has already been detected in the surface water or groundwater in several countries. The toxicity of other chlorophenoxy herbicides has been reported; however, there are few studies on the toxicity of mecoprop-p, one of the chlorophenoxy herbicides, on aquatic organisms. Here, we investigated the toxic effects of mecoprop-p using zebrafish. After mecoprop-p exposure, we observed that the zebrafish larvae eyes did not form normally, heart edema was generated, and the body length was shortened. The number of cells undergoing apoptosis also increased in the anterior part including head, heart, and yolk sac of the mecoprop-p-treated zebrafish compared to the untreated controls. Moreover, cardiovascular structures, including the heart and aortic arches, were also malformed after exposure to mecoprop-p. Therefore, our results suggest that mecoprop-p could cause abnormal development in zebrafish larvae and there is also a high possibility that mecoprop-p would be toxic to other aquatic organisms.