• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.557-562
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• 2006

Hypoxia induced angiogenesis and inflammation are essential processes for metastasis and progress of solid tumors. We examined the anti-angiogenic and inflammation related activity of Kochiae Fructus (KF) extract. To investigate the roles of the KF extract, we performed MTS assay, western blots using HaCaT cells and $HepG_2$ cells. The results are as follows. The protein level of $HIF-1{\alpha}$ was reduced when induced by $CoCl_2$ in $HepG_2$ cells treated with KF extract and induced by IGF-11 in HaCaT cells treated with KF extract. KF extract reduced the mRNA level of VEGF in HaCaT cells and KF extract reduced the protein level of iNOS in HaCaT cells. These results suggest that KF extract contributes to the anti-angiogenic and anti-inflammatory activities and also we could assume that KF extract act as antioxidant or anti-inflammatory agents via reduction of $HIF-1{\alpha}$.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.3 no.6
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• pp.615-621
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• 1999

In spite many evidences has supported the cardioprotective effect of bradykinin, its direct effects at the cell level are still under question. We investigated the both effects of bradykinin (BK) on $Ca^{2+}-related$ ionic currents using whole cell voltage clamp technique in rabbit cardiomyocytes and on the intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ transient using calcium sensitive fluorescence dye, indo-1AM. Simultaneously with recording intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ transients, cell contractility was estimated from the changes in length of the electrical stimulated rat cardiac myocytes. L-type $Ca^{2+}$ current decreased by bradykinin at the entire voltage range. Inward tail current increased initially up to its maximum about 4 min after exposing myocytes to BK, and then gradually decreased again by further exposure to BK. This tail current decreased remarkably at washing BK off but slowly recovered ca. 20 min later. The change in cell contractility was similar to that in tail current showing initial increase followed by gradual decrease. Removal of BK brought remarkable decrease in contractility, which was recovered $15{\sim}20$ min after cessation of electrical stimulation. Bradykinin increased $Ca^{2+}$ transient initially but after some time $Ca^{2+}$ transient also decreased coincidentally with contractility. From these results, it is suggested that bradykinin exerts directly its cardioprotective effect on the single myocytes by decreasing the intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ level followed by an initial increase in $Ca^{2+}$ transient.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.26 no.8
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• pp.915-924
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• 1993

To study the effect of menopause and dietary protein level on Ca metabolism, ovariectomy (OVAX) and sham operations were performed in 16-week old female rats. Each treatment group was fed for 16 weeks either 5%(L) or 50%(H) casein diets, forming SH, SL, OH, OL groups. High protein groups(SH, OH) showed higher Ca and hydroxyproline excretion in urine. Urinay hydroxyproline was also higher in OVAX, which tells the possibility of increased bone resorption by OVAX and by high dietary protein. At 16th wee, however, urinary Ca and hydroxyproline of SH caught up with OH group, whereas those of OL remained higher than SL. Therefore it seems that high dietary protein overrides the effect of OVAX with time. Urnary protein measured at 8th week was higher in high protein groups, especially in OH. GFR was not differ significantly among groups at 8th week. At 16th week, however, high protein groups showed twice the GFR value of low protein groups. Therefore the increase of urinary Ca and hydroxyproline in SH and OH groups can be explained partly by the increased GFR. The tendency of increased GFR and urinary excretion of protein, Ca, and hydroxyproline was most obvious in OH group. It seems that the effect of high protein diet is likely to accelerated by ovariectomy. The effect of Ovax and dietary protein on the composition of femur, scapular, and lumbar bones, was not pronounced. However, when only the high protein groups were compared, OVAX resulted in the reduction of bone weight, ash and Ca contents, especially in femur. The reason that was no significant effect on bone might be due to the short experimental period to induce that was no significant effect on bone might be due to the short experimental period to induce the changes on bone composition and dietary Ca content used in this experiment may have been high enough to prevent bone loss.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.406-414
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• 1997

It has been known that dietary phytate decreases the absorption of body zinc pool which is composed of the dietary and endogenous zinc in the body. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of phytate on the absorption of total bodyzinc in Zn-depleted rats. Rats were Zn-depleted with either low(0.8%) or high(1.6%) Ca diet containing sodium phytate for 4 weeks. After zinc depletion, rats were assigned into phytate or non-phytate dietary groups within each low-or high-Ca dietary group. ant feces were collected for 2 weeks of the initial collection and 1 week after dietary crossover, during which the phytate and the non-phytate diet was switched over within the same Ca group. The content of Zn and Ca measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometer and phytate content was analyzed. food intake was higher in the high Ca group than in the low Ca group(p <0.0001), and was also higher in the non-phytate group than in the phytate group(p <0.0001). Food intake and phytate level affected body weight gain in rats(p <0.0001). Zinc excretion in the total feces was higher in the phytate group than in the non-phytate group at both low and high Ca level(p <0.0001), except during the crossover collection period in high Ca group. Calcium, however, didn't show any synergistic effect on phytate effect(p <0.05). This study showed that phytate decreased the absorption of total body zinc at both low and high Ca levels in Zn-depleted rats. A large portion of total body zinc originated from the endogenous zinc pool in these rats. The results of the present study showed the same effect of phytate on the endogenous zinc in Zn-depleted rats as in a previous study, confirming that phytate adversely affects zinc bioavailability, especially under marginal and poor zinc nutrition.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.4 no.6
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• pp.479-486
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• 2000

The aim of this study was to clarify the mechanism of the inhibitory action of carbon monoxide (CO) on contraction, by measuring cytosolic $Ca^{2+}$ level $([Ca^{2+}]_i)$ and ionic currents in guinea-pig ileum. CO (10%) inhibited 40 mM KCl-induced contraction and this effect was blocked by ODQ $(1\;{\mu}M),$ a soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC) inhibitor. CO inhibited the 40 mM KCl-induced contraction without changing $[Ca^{2+}]_i.$ Cumulative addition of KCl induced a graded increase in $[Ca^{2+}]_i$ and muscle tension. In the presence of CO, cumulative addition of KCl induced smaller contraction than in the absence of CO. On the other hand, the increase in $[Ca^{2+}]_i$ induced by cumulative addition of KCl was only slightly decreased in the presence of CO, and the $[Ca^{2+}]_i-tension$ relationship shifted downwards. Using the patch clamp technique with a holding potential of -60 mV, we found that CO had little effect on the peak Ba currents $(I_{Ba})$ when voltage was stepped from -60 mV to 0 mV. In addition, CO showed no effect on the depolarization-activated outward $K^+$ currents in the all potential ranges. We conclude that CO inhibits smooth muscle contraction mainly by decreasing the $Ca^{2+}$ sensitivity of contractile elements via a cGMP-dependent pathway, not by involving L-type $Ca^{2+}$ and outward-potassium currents in guinea-pig ileum.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.709-715
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• 1993

This study was carried out to estimate the relationship among dietary intakes, blood levels, and urinary excretions of Ca, P, Mg and serum lipid levels in 30 healthy adults living area of Korea(12males and 18 females). Analyses for the nutritional status of the subjects were performed by 3-day dietary intake record, duplicated diet collection, 24-hours urine collection, and venous blood sampling before anthropometry. The mean daily intakes of Ca, P and Mg estimated for 3 days were 452.5$\pm$159.5mg, 725.6$\pm$ 567.8mg and 240.4$\pm$78.5mg and the serum concentrations of Ca, P and Mg were 8.9$\pm$ 0.5mg / dl, 3.3$\pm$0.6mg / dl, and 2.1$\pm$0.8mg /dl, respectively. The 24-hour urinary excretions of Ca, P and Mg were 80.4$\pm$24.0mg, 399.0$\pm$161.1mg and 64.8$\pm$35.3mg, respectively. The serum concentrations of total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol were 158.8$\pm$32.9mg/dl, 95.6$\pm$43.9mg/dl, 45.7$\pm$9.9mg/dl and 92.2$\pm$ 28.5mg/dl, respectively. In the relation between Ca, P, Mg and serum lipids it showed positive correlation with serum Ca and HDL-cholesterol at the level of significance of 5%. It can be concluded that the high level of Ca in serum may be useful in the prevention of cardiovascular disease, but the study verifies the need for more systematic studies.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.294-301
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• 2013

In this study, we examined the hepatic anti-steatosis activity of carnosic acid (CA), a phenolic compound of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) leaves, as well as its possible mechanism of action, in a high-fat diet (HFD)-fed mice model. Mice were fed a HFD, or a HFD supplemented with 0.01% (w/w) CA or 0.02% (w/w) CA, for a period of 12 weeks, after which changes in body weight, blood lipid profiles, and fatty acid mechanism markers were evaluated. The 0.02% (w/w) CA diet resulted in a marked decline in steatosis grade, as well as in homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) index values, intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test (IGTT) results, body weight gain, liver weight, and blood lipid levels (P < 0.05). The expression level of hepatic lipogenic genes, such as sterol regulating element binding protein-1c (SREBP-1c), liver-fatty acid binding protein (L-FABP), stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 (SCD1), and fatty acid synthase (FAS), was significantly lower in mice fed 0.01% (w/w) CA and 0.02% (w/w) CA diets than that in the HFD group; on the other hand, the expression level of ${\beta}$-oxidation-related genes, such as peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor ${\alpha}$ (PPAR-${\alpha}$), carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 (CPT-1), and acyl-CoA oxidase (ACO), was higher in mice fed a 0.02% (w/w) CA diet, than that in the HFD group (P < 0.05). In addition, the hepatic content of palmitic acid (C16:0), palmitoleic acid (C16:1), and oleic acid (C18:1) was significantly lower in mice fed the 0.02% (w/w) CA diet than that in the HFD group (P < 0.05). These results suggest that orally administered CA suppressed HFD-induced hepatic steatosis and fatty liver-related metabolic disorders through decrease of de novo lipogenesis and fatty acid elongation and increase of fatty acid ${\beta}$-oxidation in mice.

• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.17-25
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• 1980

Kidneybean(Phaseolus vlgaris L.) and buckwheat(Fagopyrum esculentum M$\"{O}$nch) seedlings cultured with Hoagland solution to the height of 7 to 10cm in the earthern pot containing sand were used for experimental plants. One group of the plants was irrigated with Hoagland solution composed of various Al concentrations of 0 to 1,000 ppm containing 50ppm Ca, and the other group was irrigated with Hoagland solution composed of various Ca concentrations of 0 to 1,000ppm containing 100ppm Al for a month during June and July. By Al-surplus over 100ppm, the margins of backwheat leaves were curied down and turned into yellow-brown necrosis simialr to Ca-deficiency, and the old kidney bean leaves showed marginal and veinal chlorosis in addition to the early shedding of leaves. With Al-surplus of 100ppm the content of chlorophyll a and b in both plants was decreased by 30~40%. The ratio 3/1 of chlorophyll a/b was not altered by Al-surplus and Ca-deficienty at an early stage, but it was affected markedly at a final stage of growth. Leaf respiration with 100ppm Al containing 50pm Ca was slightly affected in buckwheat, but decreased by 20% in kidneybean. With Al-surplus of 100ppm the ATP content was decreased by 32% in the kidneybean leaves and by 80% in buckwheat leaves, whereas with Ca-deficiency it was decreased by 72% in kidneybean and by 90% in buckwheat. The rhythm of ATP level showed self-relience without being affected by light or temperature under the green house condition although by Al-s rplus and Ca-deficiency the ATP level of the rhythm was lower than that of control.trol.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.176-183
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• 1988

This experiment was undertaken to investigate the effect of caluium and magnesium on the lipid and mineral composition of serum and tissues in cholesterol-fed rats. GOT of serum was significantly decreased in normal Ca and high Mg supplemented group. Serum cholesterol level was significantly decreased in high Mg supplemented group, whereas that of low Mg supplemented group was significantly increased. Content of total lipid in liver were significantly decreased by supplementation with high calcium of magnesium. However, the content of cholesterol was not affected by supplementation with high calcim and that of low Mg supplemented group was significantly increased. In fatty acid composition of liver, he the order of fatty acid content is as following; oleic acid (18:1), stearic acid(18:0), and palmitic acid(16:0). Levels of Ca, Mg, K and Cu in liver were significantly affected by dietary calcium and magnesium levels. The Mg level of kidney was decreased but Cu level was elevated in cholesterol supplemented group. Levels of Ca, Mg, and Zn in serum were significantly elevated by supplementation with high calcium or magnesium.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.119-126
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• 1985

To evaluate the performance characteristics of CA 19-9 radioimmunoassay and the clinical significance of serum CA 19-9 assay in patients with malignancy, serum CA 19-9 levels were measured by radioimmunoassay using monoclonal antibody in 135 normal controls, 81 patients with various untreated malignancy, 9 patients of postoperative colon cancer without recurrence and 20 patients with benign gastrointestinal diseases, who visited Seoul National University Hospital from June, 1984 to March, 1985. The results were as follows; 1) The CA 19-9 radioimmunoassay was simple to perform and can be completed in one work day. And the between-assay reproducibility and the assay recovery were both excellent. 2) The mean serum CA 19-9 level in 135 normal controls was $8.4{\pm}4.2U/mL$. Normal upper limit of serum CA 19-9 was defined as 21.0 U/mL. 4 out of 135(3.0%) normal controls showed elevated CA 19-9 levels above the normal upper limit. 3) One out of 20(5.0%) patients with benign gastrointestinal diseases showed elevated serum CA 19-9 level above the normal upper limit. 4) In 81 patients with various' untreated malignancy, 41 patients(50.6%) showed elevated serum CA 19-9 levels. 66.7% of 18 patients with colorectal cancer, 100% of 2 patients with pancreatic cancer, 100% of 3 patients with common bile duct cancer, 47.1% of 17 patients with stomach cancer, 28.6% of 28 patients with hepatoma and 60.0% of 5 other gastrointestinal tract cancers showed elevated serum CA 19-9 levels. 5) The sensitivities of serum CA 19-9 related to resectability in colorectal and stomach cancer were 33.3% in resectable colorectal cancer, 83.3% in unresectable colorectal cancer, 41.7% in resectable stomach cancer, 60.0% in unresectable stomach cancer respectively. 6) The sensitivity of serum CA 19-9 in 9 patients of postoperative colorectal cancer without recurrence were 33.3% and significantly decreased compared with that of untreated colorectal cancer, 66.7% (p<0.05). 7) In patients with colorectal cancer, simultaneous measurement of serum CA 19-9 and serum CEA levels increased sensitivities. From above results, we concluded that serum CA 19-9 radioimmunoassay is simple to perform and reproducible, and is a useful indicator reflecting tumor extent and responses to the treatment in patients with malignancy.