• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.58 no.2
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• pp.113-116
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• 2015

Silver materials may be toxic in humans because they can enter the body and accumulate, typically in the lungs. We hypothesized that the cytotoxicity of naive silver materials is affected by their size and shape. Our in vitro assays revealed that the overall toxicity was in the following order: submicro-particles>wires>micro-particles. These results contrast with previous studies, which showed that silver wires are the most toxic among the three tested materials, possibly due to differences in cell lines. Evaluations of in vivo pulmonary toxicity revealed eryptosis in the cavity lining of the lung sections. The observed eryptosis was consistent with the in vitro results. Our results indicate that silver materialinduced cytotoxicity must be measured and compared using various methods.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.411-416
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• 2018

Chlorpyrifos (CPF) is one of the most heavily used organophosphate pesticides and is useful as an insecticide drug. However, CPF also causes toxic effects in nontarget organisms, including humans and animals. Jageum-Jung (JGJ) is a traditional oriental medicine, composed of five specific herbs with antioxidant and hepatoprotective properties, used for detoxification. In the present study, highly concentrated CPF was orally administrated to male Institute of Cancer Research mice to produce acute toxicity, and the protective effects of JGJ administration were investigated through statistical analysis of changes in body and organ weights and serum biochemical parameters. JGJ caused body and organ weights to recover and reduced the levels of serum biochemical parameters indicative of liver damage, such as glutamic oxalate transaminase, glutamic pyruvate transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, lactic dehydrogenase, urea, glucose, total cholesterol, and triglyceride, that had been increased by CPF treatment. Our results demonstrated that JGJ ameliorates the effects of acute chlorpyrifos-induced toxicity. Therefore, JGJ has the potential to be used as a traditional medicine to alleviate insecticide toxicity.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.314-320
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• 2014

BACKGROUND: Run off from agricultural sites contaminates water bodies with nitrogen which is toxic and causes eutrophication when excessively accumulated. Hence, the interest in monitoring nitrogen toxicity in aquatic environment has been continuously increasing. METHODS AND RESULTS: To detect a real time toxicity of various nitrogen compounds, we applied biomonitoring method (biosensor) based on sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (SOB). The toxicity biomonitoring test was conducted in semi-continuous mode in a reactor filled with sulfur particles (2~4 mm diameter) under aerobic condition. Relative toxicity was simply determined by measuring the change in electrical conductivity (EC). Various nitrogenous compounds at different concentrations were evaluated as a potential toxic substance. Nitrite was found to be very toxic to SOB with a 90% inhibition even when the concentration as low as 3 mg/L. However, nitrate and ammonia have any inhibitory effect on SOB's activity. CONCLUSION: The biosensor based on SOB responded sensitively to nitrite even at substantially low concentrations. Therefore, it can be used as a reliable biological alarm system for rapid detection of contaminants due to its simplicity and sensitive nature.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.207-211
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• 2017

It is introduced an outstanding book about an important topic in occupational and environmental sciences i.e., the opportunities and challenges that may be connected with increasing the use and distribution of rare earth elements. These chemically similar elements, comprising the lanthanides, scandium, and yttrium, are involved in a number of essential technological applications, and their effects raise a number of human health issues of relevance to the occupational and environmental sciences. The book that I introduced here, "Rare Earth Elements in Human and Environmental Health; At the Crossroads between Toxicity and Safety" edited by Giovanni Pagano (Pan Stanford Publishing Pte. Ltd., Temasek Boulevard, Singapore) represents a break from that situation. It is essential to increase our knowledge about the environmental fate and biological effects of these technologically important metals in order to prevent unforeseen long-term man-made consequences to human health. This book is likely to become an important resource for scientists, engineers, and decision makers who understand the need for sensible exploitation of this resource.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.305-313
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• 2017

Accumulating epidemiological evidence indicates that exposure to fine air pollution particles (APPs) is associated with a variety of adverse health effects. However, the exact physiochemical properties and biological toxicities of fine APPs are still not well characterized. We collected four types of fine particle (FP) (diesel exhaust particles [DEPs], natural organic combustion [NOC] ash, synthetic organic combustion [SOC] ash, and yellow sand dust [YSD]) and investigated their physicochemical properties and in vitro biological toxicity. DEPs were almost entirely composed of ultrafine particles (UFPs), while the NOC, SOC, and YSD particles were a mixture of UFPs and FPs. The main elements in the DEPs, NOC ash, SOC ash, and YSD were black carbon, silicon, black carbon, and silicon, respectively. DEPs exhibited dose-dependent mutagenicity even at a low dose in Salmonella typhimurium TA 98 and 100 strains in an Ames test for genotoxicity. However, NOC, SOC, and YSD particles did not show any mutagenicity at high doses. The neutral red uptake assay to test cell viability revealed that DEPs showed dose-dependent potent cytotoxicity even at a low concentration. The toxicity of DEPs was relatively higher than that of NOC, SOC, and YSD particles. Therefore, these results indicate that among the four FPs, DEPs showed the highest in vitro biological toxicity. Additional comprehensive research studies such as chemical analysis and in vivo acute and chronic inhalation toxicity tests are necessary to determine and clarify the effects of this air contaminant on human health.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.179-184
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• 2014

Xenobiotics causing a variety of toxicity in biological systems could be classified as two types, inorganic and organic chemicals. It is estimated that the organic xenobiotics are responsible for approximately 80~90% of chemical-induced toxicity in human population. In the class for toxicology, we have encountered some difficulties in explaining the mechanisms of toxicity caused especially by organic chemicals. Here, a simple flowchart was introduced for explaining the mechanism of toxicity caused by organic xenobiotics, as the central dogma of molecular biology. This flowchart, referred to as a central dogma, was described based on a view of various aspects as follows: direct-acting chemicals vs. indirect-acting chemicals, cytochrome P450-dependent vs. cytochrome P450-independent biotransformation, reactive intermediates, reactivation, toxicokinetics vs. toxicodynamics, and reversibility vs. irreversibility. Thus, the primary objective of this flowchart is to help better understanding of the organic xenobiotics-induced toxic mechanisms, providing a major pathway for toxicity occurring in biological systems.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.67-77
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• 2008

It has been observed that the linear relationship between the logarithm of bioconcentration factor (log BCF) of highly hydrophobic chemicals and their log $K_{ow}$ breaks when log $K_{ow}$ becomes greater than 6.0. Consequently, super hydrophobic chemicals were not thought to cause baseline toxicity as a single compound. Researchers often call this phenomenon as "hydrophobicity cutoff" meaning that bioconcentration or corresponding baseline toxicity has a certain cutoff at high log $K_{ow}$ value of hydrophobic organic pollutants. The underlying assumption is that the increased molecular size with increasing hydrophobicity prohibits highly hydrophobic compounds from crossing biological membranes. However, there are debates among scientists about mechanisms and at which log $K_{ow}$ this phenomenon occurs. This paper reviews three hypotheses to explain observed "cutoff": steric effects, kinetic or physiological limitations, and chemical activity cutoff. Although the critical molecular size that makes biological membranes not permeable to hydrophobic organic chemicals is uncertain, size effects in combination with kinetic limitation would explain observed non-linearity between log BCF and log $K_{ow}$. Chemical activity of hydrophobic chemicals generally decreases with increasing melting point at their aqueous solubility. Thus, there may be a chemical activity cutoff of baseline toxicity if there is a critical chemical activity over which baseline effects can be observed.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.353-361
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• 2005

In this study, we performed whole effluent toxicity(WET) test and compared the biological component analyses tests for some streams into which wastewater treatment plant effluents are discharged. The test procedures for the WET test and the biological component analysis were conducted according to U.S. EPA guidelines and the Ohio EPA wading method. The WET tests based on the test species of D. manga and S. capricornutum All treatment plants showed a S. capricornutum toxicity, and at 7 sites, except A and J, we could observe a D. magna toxicity. The highest toxicity was observed at site D and this were followed by E and F. The biological component analyses applied to the effluent discharged stream. We found that total species were low at sites C1, D1 and J1 and the low number of total individuals were observed at sites A1, C1, E1, H1, and J1 compared to the controls and other sites. The species richness was low at sites A1, B1, C1, D1, and J1. The species change was evident at site D(D1) and the tolerant species was predominant. The biological analyses and WET tests suggested that the effluents resulted in massive ecosystem impact.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.21 no.3 s.54
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• pp.239-244
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• 2006

Caenorhabditis elegans(C. elegans) is a free-living soil nematode that commonly used as a biological model and recently, much work has been done using C. elegans as a toxicity model. To evaluate the acute toxicity of phenols to C. elegans, worms were subsequently exposed to nine different xenobiotics. This study described lethal toxicity, reproductive toxicity and movement inhibition using 2-propylphenol, 4-propylphenol, 2-tert-butylphenol, 3-tert-butylphenol, 4-tert-butylphenol, 2-phenylphenol, 4-phenylphenol, nonylphenol and 4-dodecylphenol to C. elegans for 24 hr or 72 hr. We found that phenols used in this study were very toxic to C. elegans. The order of lethal toxicity, reproductive toxicity and movement inhibition is as follows. 4-propylphenol > 2-phenylphenol > 2-tert-butylphenol > 2-propylphenol > nonylphenol > B-tert-butylphenol > 4-dodefylphenol > 4-tert-butylphenol > 4-phenylphenol.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.143-148
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• 2014

Arecoline is a major alkaloid of areca nuts which are widely chewed by southeast Asian and it manifests various toxic effects in different organs of human and animals. In this work, mature mice were treated by vitamins C plus E, arecoline, or both daily for four weeks. The results showed that arecoline significantly increased the levels of serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP), glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT), glutamate pyruvate transaminase (GPT) and significantly decreased the levels of reduced glutathione (GSH), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) in the liver tissues. Additionally, the body weight, testis weight, sperm counts, motility and normal sperms also were significantly decreased. The supplement of vitamins C and E can bring the activities of ALP and GPT to normal levels and partially restore the sperm counts compared to the arecoline-treated group but have no other positive effects. In conclusion, the vitamins C and E partially attenuated the arecoline-induced hepatotoxiciy but basically had on protective effects against the arecoline-induced testicular toxicity.