• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
• /
• v.43 no.4
• /
• pp.323-327
• /
• 2012

Acne, also known as Acne vulgaris, is a common disorder of human skin involving the sebaceous gland and Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes). The purpose of this study was to demonstrate whether anti-acne herbal complex (AAHC), a functional extract from herbal complex can be used for acne treatment as a natural product. We first demonstrated anti-acne activity of AAHC in mouse acne model. Acne was induced by injecting P. acnes on the backside $2{\times}10^7$ CFUs in ICR mice and then the mice were treated with AAHC by dermal application once daily. ACFREE$^{(R)}$ (clindamicin phosphate) was used as a positive control. Treatment with AAHC decreased the P. acnes-induced skin swelling and inflammation. AAHC treatment significantly decreased serum DHT concentration in acne-induced mice. Especially, treatment of 20% AACH in mice was more effected than 40%. We next evaluated the antimicrobial property of AAHC against P. acnes, Staphylcococcus aureus (S.aureus), and Escherichia coli (E. coli). Incubation of P. acnes, S. aureus, and E. coli with AAHC showed minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values against the bacterial growth lower. Alamar blue method was also carried for the antibacterial activity. It was effectively MIC level at 6.25% of P. acnes. AAHC effectively inhibited the growth of S. aureus and E. coli at 0.097% on MIC level, respectively. Our results showed the potential of using AAHC as an alternative treatment for antibiotic therapy of acne and the application of AAHC as a herbal medicine for acne treatment.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.77-90
• /
• 1974

Hemolytic reaction of normal fresh chicken serum on sheep erythrocytes was studied and the following experimental results were obtained and summarized. 1. Chicken sera, 258 (78%) out of 344 samples showed hemolytic activity on sheep erythrocytes. 2. Distribution of a different hemolytic titer of chicken sera was not dependent to sex and age difference of test chicken. 3. Hemolytic activity of serum component obtained from normal fresh chicken was heat inactivated at $56^{\circ}C$. 30 minutes heating. 4. The most enhanced hemolytic activity of chicken serum on sheep erythrocytes was observed at the incubation temperature of $46^{\circ}C$. 5. The most effective pH for the hemolytic reaction of chicken serum on sheep erythrocytes was observed at 7.0, and pH 6.0 or 8.5 resulted less or no hemolysis. 6. Hemolytic reaction of chicken serum and sheep erythrocytes required Mg⧻ and Ca⧻ ions as, co-factor, and the former was required more compared to the latter. 7. Hemolytic activity of chicken serum was observed in ChC 2, 4 fraction but not in ChC 1, 3, ChC 3, 4, ChC 1, 2, 4 and ChC 1, 2, 3 fractions. 8. In electron micrography, morphological changes of sheep erythrocyte membrane by normal chicken serum was similar to that of immune hemolysis: that was, the hemolytic hole was circular and it was surrounded with a white ring. 9. Electron micrography of morphological changes on sheep erythrocyte membrane indicated that the size of hemolytic hole and white ring were functional to the chicken serum concentration used and reaction time.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.38 no.spc
• /
• pp.31-38
• /
• 2005

Diel change in urea decomposition activity of epiphytic algae on Phragmites stems and phytoplankton in a shallow littoral reed zone in the south basin of Lake Biwa was investigated with an in situ technique using $^{14}C$-labelled urea. The daily rates of urea decomposition (sum of urea carbon incorporation rate and $CO_2$ liberation rate) by epiphytic and planktonic algae were calculated as 180 ${\mu}$ mole urea surface shoot area $m^{-2}\;day^{-1}$ and 210 ${\mu}$ mole urea $m^{-3}\;day^{-1}$. The chlorophyll a specific urea decomposition rates of epiphytic and planktonic algae were 4.7 to 6.4 and 4.4 to 6.2 ${\mu}$ mole urea mg chl. $a^{-1}$ incubation $time^{-1}$ in daytime and 4.2 to 5.7 and 2.4 to 3.5 ${\mu}$ mole urea mg chl. $a^{-1}\;time^{-1}$ in nighttime, respectively. High values were obtained during 12:00 ${\sim}$ 18:00 and low values during 00:00 ${\sim}$ 06:00 for both epiphytic and planktonic algal communities. A clear diel periodicity in the urea decomposing activity of the planktonic algae was observed. The activity of the epiphytic algae, on the other hand, showed no destinctive variation during a day. The present results indicate that epiphytic algae are one of the significant urea decomposers in a reed zone, and that the diel patterns are quite difference between both algal communities.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
• /
• v.36 no.6
• /
• pp.679-684
• /
• 2009

Purpose: Human lipoaspirate cells are relatively easy to obtain in large quantities without cell culture. The aim of this in vitro pilot study was to determine the effect of cell therapy using uncultured lipoaspirate cells on cell proliferation and collagen synthesis of diabetic fibroblasts, which are the major contributing factors in wound healing. Methods: In order to get diabetic fibroblasts, dermis tissues were obtained from foot skin of diabetic patients who underwent debridements or toe amputations(n = 4). In order to isolate lipoaspirate cells, the same diabetic patients' abdominal adipose tissues were obtained by liposuction. The diabetic fibroblasts were co - cultured with or without autogenous lipoaspirate cells using porous culture plate insert. Initial numbers of the lipoaspirate cells and diabetic fibroblasts seeded were 15,000 cells/well, respectively. For cell proliferation assay, two treatment groups were included. In group I, diabetic fibroblasts were cultured with the insert having no cells, which serves as a control. In group II, the lipoaspirate cells were added in the culture plate insert. For collagen synthesis assay, one additional group(group III), in which diabetic fibroblasts were not seeded in the well and only lipoaspirate cells inside the insert were incubated without diabetic fibroblasts, was included for a reference. Results: One hundred to one hundred sixty thousand lipoaspirate cells were isolated per ml of aspirated adipose tissue. After 3 - day incubation, the mean cell numbers in group I and II were 17,294/well and 22,163/well. The mean collagen level in group I, II, and III were 29, 41, and 2 ng/ml, respectively. These results imply that both cell proliferation and collagen synthesis in the lipoaspirate cell treatment group were 28 and 44 percents higher than in the control group, respectively(p < 0.05). Conclusion: Uncultured lipoaspirate cell autografts may stimulate the wound healing activity of diabetic fibroblasts.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
• /
• 2005.04a
• /
• pp.28-30
• /
• 2005

Because of high population diversity in soil microbial communities, it is difficult to accurately assess the capability of biodegradation of toxicant by microbes in soil and sediment. Identifying biodegradative microorganisms is an important step in designing and analyzing soil bioremediation. To remove non-important noise information, it is necessary to selectively enrich genomes of biodegradative microorganisms fromnon-biodegradative populations. For this purpose, a stable isotope probing (SIP) technique was applied in selectively harvesting the genomes of biphenyl-utilizing bacteria from soil microbial communities. Since many biphenyl-using microorganisms are responsible for aerobic PCB degradation In soil and sediments, biphenyl-utilizing bacteria were chosen as the target organisms. In soil microcosms, 13C-biphenyl was added as a selective carbon source for biphenyl users, According to $13C-CO_2$ analysis by GC-MS, 13C-biphenyl mineralization was detected after a 7-day of incubation. The heavy portion of DNA(13C-DNA) was separated from the light portion of DNA (12C-DNA) using equilibrium density gradient ultracentrifuge. Bacterial community structure in the 13C-DNAsample was analyzed by t-RFLP (terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism) method. The t-RFLP result demonstates that the use of SIP efficiently and selectively enriched the genomes of biphenyl degrading bacteria from non-degradative microbes. Furthermore, the bacterial diversity of biphenyl degrading populations was small enough for environmental genomes tools (metagenomics and DNA microarrays) to be used to detect functional (biphenyl degradation) genes from soil microbial communities, which may provide a significant progress in assessing microbial capability of PCB bioremediation in soil and groundwater.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.26-34
• /
• 1999

A thermostable pullulanase has been isolated and purified from Thermus caldophilus GK-24 to a homogeneity by gel-filtration and ion-exchange chromatography. The specific activity of the purified enzyme was 431-fold increase from the crude culture broth with a recovery of 11.4%. The purified enzyme showed $M_{r}$ of 65 kDa on denaturated and natural conditions. The pI of the enzyme was 6.1 and Schiff staining was negative, suggesting that the enzyme is not a glycoprotein. The enzyme was most active at pH 5.5. The activity was maximal at $75^{\cire}C$ and stable up to $95^{\cire}C$ for 30 min at pH 5.5. The enzyme was stable to incubation from pH 3.5 to pH 8.0 at $4^{\cire}C$ for 24hr. The presence of pullulan protected the enzyme from heat inactivation, the extent depending upon the substrate concentration. The activity of the enzyme was simulated by $Mn^{2+}$ ion, }$Ni^{2+}$, $Ca^{2+}$, $Co^{2+}$ ions. The enzyme hydrolyzed the ${\alpha}$-1,6-linkages of amylopectin, glycogens, ${\alpha}$, ${\beta}$-limited dextrin, and pullulan. The enzyme caused the complete hydrolysis of pullulan to maltotriose and the activity was inhibited by $\alpha$, $\beta$, or $\gamma$-cyclodextrins. The $NH_{2}$-terminal amino acid sequence [(Ala-Pro-Gln-(Asp of Tyr)-Asn-Leu-Leu-Xaa-ILe-Gly-Ala(Ser)] was compared with known sequences of various sources and that was compared with known sequences of various sources and that was different from those of bacterial and plant enzymes, suggesting that the enzymes are structurally different.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.259-262
• /
• 2010

Optimization of the preimplantation mammalian embryo culture condition was widely focused on refining medium composition under the name of chemically defined media. However, recent research revealed that the alteration of physical environment can be a crucial factor to a successful embryo development. In this study, under the same embryo density, a novel culture device named oil-free micro tube culture (MTC) system was evaluated using porcine parthenogenetic embryos. The activated oocytes were placed into the 0.2 ml thin-wall flat cap PCR tube and cultured to the blastocyst stage. As a preliminary step, embryo density and culture medium volume were optimized under a standard drop culture system. The optimal embryo density range for in vitro culture was 0.5 embryos per ${\mu}l$ in $20\;{\mu}l$ drop (20.5%) and 1.0 embryos per ${\mu}l$ in $10\;{\mu}l$ drop (20.6%). Based on these results, we compared drop culture system and 'MTC' system in terms of the developmental rate to the blastocyst stage. In $20\;{\mu}l$ medium volume, the 'MTC' system showed similar blastocyst formation rate when compared with drop culture system (20.2% versus 20.5%, respectively) while the 'MTC' system showed lower blastocyst formation rate than drop culture system in $10\;{\mu}l$ one (12.7% versus 20.0%, respectively). Therefore the $20\;{\mu}l$ MTC system may be an alternative incubation system for short-distance embryo transport without carrying the $CO_2$ incubator and this provides novel embryo culture device to clinical veterinary embryologists.

• The Journal of the Korean dental association
• /
• v.46 no.10
• /
• pp.623-632
• /
• 2008

Purpose : The purpose of this study is to identify the effect of zoledronate(Zometa(R)), which is most common nitrogen containing bisphosphonate, on survival, proliferation, and differentiation of osteoblast. Material & Methods: Twenty four cell culture plates containing essential medium were seeded with UMR-106 cell lines, at density of 5 x $10^4 cells per plates. Each plates were incubated with 5% $CO^2 incubator at $37^{\circ}C$. Starting from 2 days after incubation, cell culture medias were replaced, and added with osteogenesis induction media and 0, 0.01, 0.1, 0.5, 1, $3\muM$ of zoledronate(Zometa(R)), every 2 days, for 12 days. Control group was plates not added with zoledronate($0\muM$), and experiment group were plates added with different concentration of zoledronates(0, 0.01, 0.1, 0.5, 1, $3\muM$). Mature osteoblasts were identified with Alizarine Red staining, and protein samples were collected. Optical density was determined at wavelength of 405nm with ELISA reader. For viability analysis, cells were harvested and incubated with propidium iodide, and analysed with flow cytometry. Western blot technique was used to analyse Runx2 protein of osteoblast. Results : Secretion of bone matrix decreased as zoledronate concentration increased, and zoledronate did not effect survival rate of UMR-106 cells when measured with flow cytometer. Expression of Runx2 protein was inhibited as zoledronate concentration increased. Conclusion : From the results, we were able to identify that increase of zoledronate concentration inhibited differentiation of UMR-106 cell to osteoblast, without effecting quantity or survival rate.

• Elastomers and Composites
• /
• v.48 no.2
• /
• pp.133-140
• /
• 2013

Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites consist of carbon fibers in a polymer matrix. Recently, CFRP composites having high thermal stability and low outgassing are finding their use in high performance materials for aerospace and electronics applications under high temperature and high vacuum conditions. Cyanate ester resin is one of the most suitable matrix resins for this purpose. In this study, proper combination of cyanate ester and catalyst, curing behavior, and cure cycle were determined by chemorheology. Optimum condition was found to be catalyst content of 100 ppm and curing temperature of $150^{\circ}C$. Thermal stability and outgassing of cured resin composition were analyzed and the results showed thermal decomposition temperature of $385^{\circ}C$ and total mass loss of 0.29%. The CFRP prepregs and subsequent composites were fabricated by predetermined resin composition and the cure condition. Tensile moduli of the composites were compared with theoretical models and the results were very consistent.

• Polymer(Korea)
• /
• v.39 no.2
• /
• pp.293-299
• /
• 2015

Conductive microcellular foams consisted of polystrene (PS) and polydopamine-coated carbon nanotube (PDA-CNT) were prepared via high internal phase emulsion (HIPE) polymerization and their morphology and electrical conductivity were investigated. CNT as a conductive nanofiller was modified to PDA-CNT by coating with hydrophilic PDA on the surface of CNT to increase aqueous phase dispersion and emulsion stability. It was possible to prepare the HIPEs having higher PDA-CNT content and the resultant foams having improved conductivity due to its good dispersion. The foams showed the morphology of interconnected cell structure. As PDA-CNT content increased, yield stress and storage modulus increased and cell size reduced. The PDA-CNT content showing electrical percolation threshold was ca. 0.58 wt% and the conductivity at PDA-CNT content of 5 wt% was increased to $10^{-3}S/m$.