• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.9-16
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• 2004

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to assess supplementary motor area (SMA) activation during motor, sensory, word generation, listening comprehension, and working memory tasks using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Materials and Methods : Sixteen healthy right-handed subjects (9M, 7F) were imaged on a Siemens 1.5T scanner. Whole brain functional maps were acquired using BOLD EPI sequences in the axial plane. Each paradigm consisted of five epochs of activation vs. the control condition. The activation tasks consisted of left finger complex movement, hot sensory stimulation of the left hand, word generation, listening comprehension, and working memory. The reference function was a boxcar waveform. Activation maps were thresholded at an uncorrected p=0.0001. The thresholded activation maps were placed into MNI space and the anatomic localization of activation within the SMA was compared across tasks. Results : SMA activation was observed in 16 volunteers for the motor task, 11 for the sensory task, 15 for the word generation task, 5 for the listening comprehension task, and 15 for the working memory task. The rostral aspects of the SMA showed activity during the word generation and working memory tasks, and the caudal aspects of the SMA showed activity during the motor and sensory tasks. Right (contralateral) SMA activation was observed during the motor and sensory tasks, and left SMA activation during the word generation and memory tasks. Conclusion : Our results suggest that SMA is involved in a variety of functional tasks including motor, sensory, word generation, and working memory. The results obtained also support the notion that functionally specific subregions exist within the region classically defined as the SMA.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.183-194
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• 2009

Purpose : This study was performed not only to compare the brain activation regions associated with sexual arousal induced by visual stimulation and SP6 acupuncture, but also to evaluate its differential neuro-anatomical mechanism in healthy women using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at 3 Tesla (T). Subjects and methods : A total of 21 healthy right-handed female volunteers (mean age 22 years, range 19 to 32) underwent fMRI on a 3T MR scanner. The stimulation paradigm for sexual arousal consisted of two alternating periods of rest and activation. It began with a 1-minute rest period, 3 minutes of stimulation with either of an erotic video film or SP6 acupuncture, followed by 1-minute rest. In addition, a comparative study on the brain activation patterns between an acupoint and a shampoint nearby GB37 was performed. The fMRI data were obtained from 20 slices parallel to the AC-PC line on an axial plane, giving a total of 2,000 images. The mean activation maps were constructed and analyzed by using the statistical parametric mapping (SPM99) software. Results : As comparison with the shampoint, the acupoint showed 5 times and 2 times higher activities in the neocortex and limbic system, respectively. Note that brain activation in response to stimulation with the shampoint was not observed in the regions including the HTHL in the diencephalon, GLO and AMYG in the basal ganglia, and SMG in the parietal lobe. In the comparative study of visual stimulation vs. SP6 acupuncture, the mean activation ratio of stimulus was not significantly different to each other in both the neocortex and the limbic system (p < 0.05). The mean activities induced by both stimuli were not significantly different in the neocortex, whereas the acupunctural stimulation showed higher activity in the limbic system (p < 0.05). Conclusions : This study compared the differential brain activation patterns and the neural mechanisms for sexual arousal, which were induced by visual stimulation and SP6 acupuncture by using 3T fMRI. These findings will be useful to understand the theory of traditional acupuncture and acupoint channel in scientific point of view.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.47-56
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• 2009

Schizandra chinensis (S. chinensis) exhibits a harmless, 'adaptogen-type' effect leading to improvements in mental performance and learning efficacy in brain. Activated microglia contributes to neuronal injury by releasing neurotoxic products, which make it important to regulate microglial activation to prevent further cytological as well as functional brain damage. However, the effect of S. chinensis on microglial activation has not been examined yet. We have investigated the effects of four compounds (Gomisin A, Gomisin N, Schizandrin and Schizandrol A) from S. chinensis on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced microglial activation. In this study, BV2 microglial cells were activated with LPS and the microglial activation was assessed by up-regulation of activation markers such as nitric oxide (NO), reactive oxygen species (ROS), and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9). The results showed that all four compounds significantly reduced the intracellular level of ROS, the release of NO and MMP-9 as well as LPS-induced phosphorylation of ERK1/2. These results strongly suggested that S. chinensis may be useful to modulate inflammation-mediated brain damage by regulating microglial activation.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.284-296
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• 2015

It has been thought that males tend to use their brain hemispheres more laterally than females. However, recent fMRI studies have shown that there may be no difference in brain lateralization between genders. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) presents a unique opportunity to acquire real time measurements of blood oxygenation changes to observe neural activity specific to the brain's left and right hemispheres. Using an in-house built multichannel fNIRS system, brain lateralization was observed from seven males and four females according to specially designed tasks for left and right hemisphere activation. The Pearson correlation coefficient and a modified Lateralization Index metric for continuous wave fNIRS systems were calculated to quantify brain lateralization. The preliminary results point to no significant difference in lateral hemodynamic changes between the genders. However, the correlation of symmetrical channel pairs decreased as the experiments progressed. To further develop this study, the subject's performance and the removal of global interference must be implemented for an improved study of brain lateralization.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Emotion and Sensibility Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.101-104
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• 2009

This study investigated compensatory mechanisms in the brain during a verbal working memory task among people with Alcohol Use Disorders (AUD). A total of 21 college male students participated in the study: eleven AUD participants and 10 normal controls. Study participants were asked to complete the Korean version of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III (K-WAIS-III) prior to the fMRI experiment. Verbal 0-back and 2-back tasks were used to assess brain activities of the participants' verbal working memory. Brain scanning was performed on Siemens SONATA 1.5T Scanner while participants were performing the 0-back and 2-back tasks. Within the AUD group, participants with greater dependency to alcohol (based on DSM-IV criteria) in the past 1 year showed lower mean score on the 'Similarities' of the K-WAIS-III (r=-0.63, p<0.05, N=11). The more participants experienced alcohol withdrawal symptoms in the past 1 year, the lower the score they received on the K-WAIS-III 'Picture Arrangement' (r=-0.69, p<0.05, n=11). The fMRI regression results showed that individuals who present greater degree of alcohol dependency symptoms are likely to show greater brain activation in the bilateral middle frontal gyri (BA 9) during the verbal working memory task. The degree of alcohol withdrawal symptoms were associated with increased brain activation in the left superior and middle frontal gyri (BA8), left precentral gyrus (BA 6), and left inferior parietal lobule (BA 40). The study findings showed that the degree of alcohol abuse/dependence and withdrawal symptoms were associated with decreased cognitive function and increased activations in brain regions particularly important for abstract reasoning (BA 9), central executive (BA 9), or spatial storage (BA 40) during a working memory task. Therefore, these results could support previous studies suggesting that the neural system of people with ADD may adopt a brain compensatory mechanism to maintain normal level of cognitive functions.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.177-182
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• 2015

The activation of prefrontal cortex of brain during some mental tasks like mental arithmetic induce has been studied using hemodynamic imaging modalities. In this study, we focused on the differentiation of activated area in local prefrontal brain caused by the different mental activities as well as evaluating the classification accuracy of in-house fNIRS system. The study preliminarily validated the device including the signal quality and tightness of contact between detectors and prefrontal area. Experimental results of mental tasks on 5 subjects showed the subject dependent tendencies in correlated prefrontal activation and the area of highest accuracy.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.31 no.11
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• pp.967-980
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• 2022

Mentha spicata, Ocimum basilium L., and Rosemarinus officinalis L. were selected as subjects for the study, and analysis of rosmarinic acid contents by HPLC analysis and the fragrance components of each herb were compared by GC-MS analysis. It was prepared and cultivated in a herb farm located in Sacheonjin-ri, Gangneung-si in 2022 (Fig. 1) before flowering, collected in the summer, stored at minus 20℃, and dried 50 g each. The analysis was requested to the NICEM analysis room of Seoul National University to obtain the test results. Through the above study, HPLC showed that the content of rosmarinic acid was 555.53 mg/Kg, which was absolute, 27.12% in rosemary for 1,8-cineol in GC-MS, and 32.44% in linalool in sweet basil. For eugenol, 23.11% in sweet basil and 19.92% in rosemary were found in α-pinene. Through this study, it was verified that spearmint, sweet basil, and rosemary contain a large amount of major ingredients that act on concentration or brain activation.

• BMB Reports
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• v.49 no.10
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• pp.529-535
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• 2016

The NLRP3 inflammasome is activated by a variety of external or host-derived stimuli and its activation initiates an inflammatory response through caspase-1 activation, resulting in inflammatory cytokine IL-1β maturation and secretion. The NLRP3 inflammasome activation is a kind of innate immune response, most likely mediated by myeloid cells acting as a host defense mechanism. However, if this activation is not properly regulated, excessive inflammation induced by overactivated NLRP3 inflammasome can be detrimental to the host, causing tissue damage and organ dysfunction, eventually causing several diseases. Previous studies have suggested that mitochondrial damage may be a cause of NLRP3 inflammasome activation and autophagy, which is a conserved self-degradation process that negatively regulates NLRP3 inflammasome activation. Recently, mitochondria-selective autophagy, termed mitophagy, has emerged as a central player for maintaining mitochondrial homeostasis through the elimination of damaged mitochondria, leading to the prevention of hyperinflammation triggered by NLRP3 inflammasome activation. In this review, we will first focus on the molecular mechanisms of NLRP3 inflammasome activation and NLRP3 inflammasome-related diseases. We will then discuss autophagy, especially mitophagy, as a negative regulator of NLPP3 inflammasome activation by examining recent advances in research.

• BMB Reports
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• v.48 no.12
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• pp.677-684
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• 2015

Cardiovascular function is regulated by the rhythmicity of circadian, infradian and ultradian clocks. Specific time scales of different cell types drive their functions: circadian gene regulation at hours scale, activation-inactivation cycles of ion channels at millisecond scales, the heart's beating rate at hundreds of millisecond scales, and low frequency autonomic signaling at cycles of tens of seconds. Heart rate and rhythm are modulated by a hierarchical clock system: autonomic signaling from the brain releases neurotransmitters from the vagus and sympathetic nerves to the heart's pacemaker cells and activate receptors on the cell. These receptors activating ultradian clock functions embedded within pacemaker cells include sarcoplasmic reticulum rhythmic spontaneous Ca²⁺ cycling, rhythmic ion channel current activation and inactivation, and rhythmic oscillatory mitochondria ATP production. Here we summarize the evidence that intrinsic pacemaker cell mechanisms are the end effector of the hierarchical brain-heart circadian clock system.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.71-83
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• 1999

This study was to investigate the effects of SUNGSIMJIHWANGTANG(SSJHT) on the blood and brain tissues of aged rats. For the experiment, the aged rats were divided into three groups : Non treated group(NC), distilled water fed group(PC), SSJHT fed group(SSJHT). Each group was fed for ten days before administration of scopolamine. Then, we injected scopolamine intraperitoneally to PC and SSJHT group for 5 days. We observed the changes of their blood cell(WBC, RBC, platelet), blood serum(BUN, creatinine, glucose, uric acid), erythrocyte hemolysis, and the activities of cholinesterase and measured the amounts of malondialdehyde in the serum, catalase, and SOD in the brain tissue. The main results of this investigation are as follows. 1. In respect of the number of WBC, SSJHT group exhibited significant increase in comparison with PC. 2. In respect of the amount of creatinine and uric acid in the blood serum, SSJHT group exhibited significant decrease in comparison with PC. 3. In respect of erythrocyte hemolysis, SSJHT group exhibited significant suppression in comparison with PC. 4. In respect of the activity of cholinesterase in the serum, SSJHT group exhibited significant activation in comparison with PC. 5. In respect of the amounts of malondialdehyde in the serum, SSJHT group exhibited significant decrease in comparison with PC. 6. In respect of the activity of catalase in brain tissue, SSJHT group didn't exhibit significant change in comparison with PC. 7. In respect of the activity of SOD in brain tissue, SSJHT group exhibited significant activation in comparison with PC. As a result of this study, SSJHT is expected to have antiaging effect by suppressing the formation of free radicals, the accumulation of antioxidants and further study needs to be carried on about SSJHT.