• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.61-66
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• 2004

70% ethanolic extracts were prepared from the three mutant rice cultivars with giant embryo termed Shinsunchal-giant embryonic rice, Whachung-giant embryonic rice and Nampung-giant embryonic rice, and its antioxidative and antimutagenic properties were evaluated and compared. For analysing antioxidativity, various antioxidative indices, such as electron donating ability to DPPH radical, scavenging capacity to hydroxyl radicals generated by Fenton reaction, scavenging capacity to superoxide radicals generated by HPX/XOD system, inhibitory effect on autoxidation of linoleic acid and inhibitory effect on membrane lipid peroxidation derived from rabbit erythrocyte ghost, were determined. For analysing antimutagenicity, suppressive effects on mutagenesis induced by the chemical mutagen, mitomycin C, were measured using E. coli PQ 37 as a indicator cell. The results showed that for both antioxidativity and antimutagenicity the giant embryonic rices were more effective compared to the general cooking rice, Among the giant embryonic rice cultivars, Nampung-giant embryonic rice tended to be most effective, showing its scavenging activity to DPPH radical, superoxide radical and hydroxyl radical, and inhibitory activity to lipid peroxidation was 2,3-, 3,3-, 1.7-, and 2.5-fold greater than those of normal rice, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 1996.04a
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• pp.19-29
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• 1996

The neurological manifestations of AIDS include dementia, encountered even in the absence of opportunistic superinfection or malignancy. The AIDS Dementia Complex appears to be associated with several neuropathological abnormalities, including astrogliosis and neuronal injury or loss. How can HIV-1 result in neuronal damage if neurons themselves are only rarely, if ever, infected by the vitus\ulcorner In vitro experiments from several different laboratiories have lent support to the existence of HIV- and immune-related toxins. In one recently defined pathway to neuronal injury, HIV-infected macrophages/microglia as well as macrophages activated by HIV-1 envelope protein gp120 appear to secrete excitants/neurotoxins. These substances may include arachidonic acid, platelet-activating factor, free radicals (NO - and O$_2$), glutamate, quinolinate, cysteine, cytokines (TNF-${\alpha}$, IL1-B, IL-6), and as yet unidentified factors emanating from stimulated macrophages and possibly reactive astrocytes. A final common pathway for newonal suscepubility appears to be operative, similar to that observed in stroke, trauma, epilepsy, and several neurodegenerative diseases, including Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. This mechanism involves excessive activation of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor-operated channels, with resultant excessive influx of Ca$\^$2+/ leading to neuronal damage, and thus offers hope for future pharmacological intervention. This chapter reviews two clinically-tolerated NMDA antagonists, memantine and nitroglycerin; (ⅰ) Memantine is an open-channel blocker of the NMDA-associated ion channel and a close congener of the anti-viral and anti-parkinsonian drug amantadine. Memantine blocks the effects of escalating levels of excitotoxins to a greater degree than lower (piysiological) levels of these excitatory amino acids, thus sparing to some extent normal neuronal function. (ⅱ) Niuoglycerin acts at a redox modulatory site of the NMDA receptor/complex to downregulate its activity. The neuroprotective action of nitroglycerin at this site is mediated by n chemical species related to nitric oxide, but in a higher oxidation state, resulting in transfer of an NO group to a critical cysteine on the NMDA receptor. Because of the clinical safety of these drugs, they have the potential for trials in humans. As the structural basis for redox modulation is further elucidated, it may become possible to design even better redox reactive reagents of chinical value. To this end, redox modulatory sites of NMDA receptors have begun to be characterized at a molecular level using site-directed mutagenesis of recombinant subunits (NMDAR1, NMDAR2A-D). Two types of redox modulation can be distinguished. The first type gives rise to a persistent change in the functional activity of the receptor, and we have identified two cysteine residues on the NMDARI subunit (#744 and #798) that are responsible for this action. A second site, presumably also a cysteine(s) because <1 mM N-ethylmaleimide can block its effect in native neurons, underlies the other, more transient redox action. It appears to be at this, as yet unidentified, site on the NMDA receptor that the NO group acts, at least in recombinant receptors.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.10
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• pp.1319-1326
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• 2014

Rapamycin, produced by the soil bacterium Streptomyces hygroscopicus, has the ability to suppress the immune system and is used as an antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, and immunosuppressive agent. In an attempt to increase the productivity of rapamycin, mutagenesis of wild-type Streptomyces hygroscopicus was performed using ultraviolet radiation, and the medium composition was optimized using glycerol (which is one of the cheapest starting substrates) by applying Plackett-Burman design and response surface methodology. Plackett-Burman design was used to analyze 14 medium constituents: M100 (maltodextrin), glycerol, soybean meal, soytone, yeast extract, $(NH_4)_2SO_4$, $\small{L}$-lysine, $KH_2PO_4$, $K_2HPO_4$, NaCl, $FeSO_4{cdot}7H_2O$, $CaCO_3$, 2-(N-morpholino) ethanesulfonic acid, and the initial pH level. Glycerol, soytone, yeast extract, and $CaCO_3$ were analyzed to evaluate their effect on rapamycin production. The individual and interaction effects of the four selected variables were determined by Box-Behnken design, suggesting $CaCO_3$, soytone, and yeast extract have negative effects, but glycerol was a positive factor to determine rapamycin productivity. Medium optimization using statistical design resulted in a 45% ($220.7{\pm}5.7mg/l$) increase in rapamycin production for the Streptomyces hygroscopicus mutant, compared with the unoptimized production medium ($151.9{\pm}22.6mg/l$), and nearly 588% compared with wild-type Streptomyces hygroscopicus ($37.5{\pm}2.8mg/l$). The change in pH showed that $CaCO_3$ is a critical and negative factor for rapamycin production.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.339-345
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• 2017

Carotenoids are natural lipid-soluble pigments, which are produced primarily by bacteria, algae, and plants. Many studies have focused on the identification, production, and utilization of natural sources of astaxanthin from algae, yeast, and crustacean byproducts as an alternative to the synthetic pigment, which is mostly used today. The aim of the present study was to identify a mutant of Paracoccus haeundaensis by exposure to UV and ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS). The mutant was then exposed to nutrient stress conditions to isolate an astaxanthin-hyperproducing strain, followed by characterization of the mutant. The survival rate decreased in accordance with an increase in the UV exposure time and an increase in the EMS concentration. A mutant of the original P. haeundaensis strain was identified that showed hyperproduction of astaxanthin following exposure to UV irradiation (20 min) and EMS treatment (0.4 M concentration). The optimal culture conditions for the PUE mutant were $25^{\circ}C$, pH 7-8, and 3% NaCl. The effects of various carbon and nitrogen sources on the growth and astaxanthin production of PUE were examined. The addition of 1% raffinose and 3% potassium nitrate influenced cell growth and astaxanthin production. The selected mutant exhibited an increase of 1.58 folds in astaxanthin content compared to initial wild type strain. A genetically stable mutant strain obtained using mutagen (UV irradiation and EMS treatment) may be a suitable candidate for further industrial scale production of astaxanthin.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.89-94
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• 2000

In order to induce the mutants of Gentiana axillariflora Leveille, nodes were cultured on Schenk and Hilderbrandt (SH) medium containing TDZ 2 mg/L, BAP 2mg/L, GA3 0.5 mg/L and 0.1 mg/L NAA and each mutagen of ethylmethanesulfate (EMS), colchicine, N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU), and sodium azide (NaN$_3$) through filtration. Comparision of morphological characteristics and survival rate in each mutant plants differed depending on mutagen sources and their concentrations. When EMS were treated on nodes, the regenerated plants was thin and albino, regenerated shoots appeared 'erectoides type' and get twisted. The case of colchicine were treated on nodes, the survival rate was from 84% to 97% at ail concentration after 30days but the rate of survival was decreased about 50% at 200 $\mu$M after 60days. The treatment of NaN$_3$200 $\mu$M was not survived. The survival rate was extremely decreased in MNU treatment at 500$\mu$M, according to concentrations two types of leaf characteristic were obtained. Type I of leaf characteristic was modified from oblanceolate to oboid at leaf shape and type II of leaf characteristic was modified from light green to dark violet at leaf color. RAPD analysis was carried out to check the genetic modification of regenerated plants by mutagen treatments. Three polymorphic DNA fragments out of thirty-seven obtained by RAPDs were observed in regenerated plants using 5 decamer primers.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2007

The term, "food safety", has traditionally been viewed as a practical science aimed at assuring the prevention acute illnesses caused by biological microorganisms, and only to a minor extent, chronic diseases cause by chronic low level exposures to natural and synthetic chemicals or pollutants. "food safety" meant to prevent microbiological agents/toxins in/on foods, due to contamination any where from "farm to Fork", from causing acute health effects, especially to the young, immune-compromised, genetically-predisposed and elderly. However, today a broader view must also include the fact that diet, perse (nutrients, vitamins/minerals, calories), as well as low level toxins and pollutant or supplemented synthetic chemicals, can alter gene expressions of stem/progenitor/terminally-differentiated cells, leading to chronic inflammation and other mal-functions that could lead to diseases such as cancer, diabetes, atherogenesis and possibly reproductive and neurological disorders. Understanding of the mechanisms by which natural or synthetic chemical toxins/toxicants, in/on food, interact with the pathogenesis of acute and chronic diseases, should lead to a "systems" approach to "food safety". Clearly, the interactions of diet/food with the genetic background, gender, and developmental state of the individual, together with (a) interactions of other endogenous/exogenous chemicals/drugs; (b) the specific biology of the cells being affected; (c) the mechanisms by which the presence or absence of toxins/toxicants and nutrients work to cause toxicities; and (d) how those mechanisms affect the pathogenesis of acute and/or chronic diseases, must be integrated into a "system" approach. Mechanisms of how toxins/toxicants cause cellular toxicities, such as mutagenesis; cytotoxicity and altered gene expression, must take into account (a) irreversible or reversal changes caused by these toxins or toxicants; (b)concepts of thresholds or no-thresholds of action; and (c) concepts of differential effects on stem cells, progenitor cells and terminally differentiated cells in different organs. This brief Commentary tries to illustrate this complex interaction between what is on/in foods with one disease, namely cancer. Since the understanding of cancer, while still incomplete, can shed light on the multiple ways that toxins/toxicants, as well as dietary modulation of nutrients/vitamins/metals/ calories, can either enhance or reduce the risk to cancer. In particular, diets that alter the embryo-fetal micro-environment might dramatically alter disease formation later in life. In effect "food safety" can not be assessed without understanding how food could be 'toxic', or how that mechanism of toxicity interacts with the pathogenesis of any disease.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.41 no.12
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• pp.1061-1071
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• 2018

From Xenopus embryo studies, the BMP4/Smad1-targeted gene circuit is a key signaling pathway for specifying the cell fate between the ectoderm and neuro-ectoderm as well as the ventral and dorsal mesoderm. In this context, several BMP4/Smad1 target transcriptional factors have been identified as repressors of the neuro-ectoderm. However, none of these direct target transcription factors in this pathway, including GATA1b, Msx1 and Ventx1.1 have yet been proven as direct repressors of early neuro-ectodermal gene expression. In order to demonstrate that Ventx1.1 is a direct repressor of neuro-ectoderm genes, a genome-wide Xenopus ChIP-Seq of Ventx1.1 was performed. In this study, we demonstrated that Ventx1.1 bound to the Ventx1.1 response cis-acting element 1 and 2 (VRE1 and VRE2) on the promoter for zic3, which is a key early neuro-ectoderm gene, and this Ventx1.1 binding led to repression of zic3 transcription. Site-directed mutagenesis of VRE1 and VRE2 within zic3 promoter completely abolished the repression caused by Ventx1.1. In addition, we found both the positive and negative regulation of zic3 promoter activity by FoxD5b and Xcad2, respectively, and that these occur through the VREs and via modulation of Ventx1.1 levels. Taken together, the results demonstrate that the BMP4/Smad1 target gene, Ventx1.1, is a direct repressor of neuro-ectodermal gene zic3 during early Xenopus embryogenesis.