• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.347-354
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• 2013

Innate immunity is the ability to differentiate infectious agents from self. The innate immune system is comprised of a complicated network of recognition and effector molecules that act together to protect the host in the early stage of an infectious challenge. Mannose-binding lectin (MBL or mannose-binding protein, MBP) belongs to the family of $Ca^{2+}$-dependent lectins (C-type lectin with a collagen-like domain), which are considered an important component of innate immunity. While it is associated with increased risk and severity of infections and autoimmunity, the most frequent immuno-deficiency syndrome was reported to be low MBL level in blood. Deficiency of human MBL is caused by mutations in the coding region of the MBL gene. Rat homologue gene of human MBL gene was used to study functions of wild type and mutant MBL proteins. Although extensive studies have yielded the structural information of MBL, the functions of MBL, especially mutant MBL, still require investigation. We previously reported the cloning of rat wild-type MBL gene and the production of a truncated form of MBL protein and its antibody. Here, we present the cloning of mutant MBL cDNA in collagen-like domain (R40C, G42D, and G45E) using site-directed mutagenesis and differential behaviors of wild type and mutant MBL in cells. The major difference between wild type and mutant MBL was that while wild type MBL was secreted, mutant MBL was inhibited for secretion, retained in endoplasmic reticulum, and still functioned as a lectin.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Food Science of Animal Resources Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.357-361
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• 2004

반복적인 실험을 통해 부추 김치에서 분리된 대부분의 유산균은 항유전독성 효과를 갖는 것으로 보인다. 이는 전에 시행되었던 각종 김치의 유산균을 이용한 항유전독성 효과 조사에서도 다른 김치유산균에 비해서 부추김치의 유산균이 항유전독성효과가 높다는 것을 통해서도 증명되었다. 유산균 섭취시에 균주가 장내의 혐기성 상태에서 존재하게 되는데 아직까지는 혐기성 상태에서 배양된 균주의 항유전독성효과가 그다지 높지 않은 것으로 보여진다. 따라서 혐기성 상태에서 배양된 항유전독성효과가 높은 균주를 찾는 것이 시급하다고 본다. 그러나 호기성 상태에서 배양된 항유전독성이 높은 균주들이 혐기성 상태에서도 배양되는 것을 확인하였고 이 균주들의 장내 생존 가능성을 예측할 수 있다. 물론 이를 뒷받침하기 위해서 이 유산균들이 위와 장내의 조건에서 생존가능하는지에 대해 pH 생존 조사를 해야 할 것이다. 또한 혐기성 상태에서 배양되었을 때에도 이 균주들이 항유전독성 효과가 있는지도 앞으로 실시되어야 할 과제일 것이다. 항유전독성 효과와 달리 항암효과에 대해서는 높은 효과를 보이지 않았지만 본래 CT-26 세포가 대장암 세포이기에 이 세포 자체의 DNA에 손상 복구율을 부여했다는 것에 의미를 둘 수 있겠다. 항유전독성효과와 항암효과가 있는 유산균의 분리를 통해 우리가 다음으로 해야 될 일은 첫째로 이 균주들에 대해 여러 가지 특성을 찾아 동정하고 둘째로 지금까지 밝혀진 결과를 in vivo상에서 검증하는 것이다. 지금까지 밝혀진 유산균은 대부분 발효 유제품에서 자라는 유산균인데 한국인이 주로 섭취하는 각종 김치나 부추김치 등에서 분리한 균주에서도 이 기능이 있음을 밝힌다면 이들의 소비에 도움이 될 것이고 또한 이 균주들을 이용해 향유전독성, 항암성 등이 있는 기능성 제품을 만들어 낼 수 있을 것이다.첨가한 햄보다 적었다.분산시키는 것으로 나타났다. 또한 고기를 단계별 복합처리로 저 allergy 처리는 단계별로 점차적으로 allergy가 감소되었다. 즉 단계별로 억제가 안되는 것부터 억제되는 처리를 복합적으로 처리한 것으로 그 단계는 천연효소처리에 인산염 처리, 여기에 초음파 처리, 마지막 단계로 3분 끓이면 억제율이 68%까지 억제되었다. 이는 단일처리시 전혀 억제를 못하는 처리를 단계별로 한 단계씩 더해가면 allergy 억제효과가 나타난다고 할 수 있겠다. 초음파 처리도 역시 저 allergy 처리 공정에 이용될 수 있는데 이것은 그 처리로 인해 새로운 알러젠이 생성될 수도 있다. 또한 복합처리로 allergy를 감소시키면 연속적이고 동시적으로 하기 때문에 원가를 절감할 수 있다.환경현안에 대한 정치경제적 접근을 외면하지 말고 교과서 저작의 소재로 삼을 수 있어야 하며, 이는 '환경관리주의'와 '녹색소비'에 머물러 있는 '환경 지식교육'과 실천을 한단계 진전시키는 작업으로 이어질 것이다. 이후 10년의 환경교육은 바로 '생태적 합리성'과 '환경정의'라는 두 '화두'에 터하여 세워져야 한다.배액에서 약해를 보였으나, 25% 야자지방산의 경우 50 ${\sim}$ 100배액 어디에서도 액해를 보이지 않았다. 별도로 적용한 시험에서, 토마토의 경우에도 25% 야자지방산 비누 50 ${\sim}$ 100배액 모두 약해를 발생하지 않았으나, 오이에서는 25% 야자지방산 비누 100배액에도 약해를 나타내었다. 12. 이상의 결과, 천연지방산을 이용하여 유기농업에 허용되는 각종의 살충비누를 제조할 수 있었으며, 방제가 조사결과 진딧물, 응애 등 껍질이 연약한 곤충의 방제에 효과적인 것으로 나타났다. 따라서 제조된 살충비누를 활용하면 환경친화적인 해

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.1059-1064
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• 1996

The inhibitory effects of chitosan on mutagenicity induced by 3-amino-1-methyl-5H-pyrido [4,3-b] indole (Trp-P-2), sodium azide (SA), 2-nitrofluorene (2-NF), and 4-nitroquinoline oxide (4-NQO) were investigated using Salmonella typhimurium reversion assay and SOS Chromotest. In Salmonella typhimurium reversion assay. Chitosan showed 24-65% of inhibitory effect against the mutagenicity of an indirect-acting mutagen, Trp-P-2. On the other hand, no inhibitory effect was observed against the mutagenicity of direct-acting mutagens (2-NF, SA). In SOS chromotest. chitosan showed 46-49% effects on SOS function induced by 4-NQO. Chitosan inhibited the mutagenicity induced by Trp-P-2 with 9-39% of inhibition rate. It was also evaluated whether inhibitory effect of chitosan is due to its bio-antimutagenic or desmutagenic action. Chitosan at high concentrations showed a bio-antimutagenicity with dose-dependent manner, but it showed a desmutagenicity at low concentrations against the mutation induced by Trp-P-2.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.26 no.1 s.61
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• pp.174-186
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• 2005

Objectives : The water extract of Samul-tang (SMT) has traditionally been used for treatment of ischemic heart and brain damage in oriental medicine. However, little is known about the mechanism by which the water extract of SMT rescues cells from these damages. Methods: This study was designed to investigate the protective mechanisms of SMT on oxidative stress-induced toxicity in H9c2 cardiomyoblast cells. Treatment with $H_2O_2$ markedly induced death of H9c2 cardiomyoblast cells in a dose-dependent manner. Results: The characteristics of H20z-induced death of H9c2 showed apparent apoptotic features such as DNA fragmentation and morphological change. However, SMT significantly reduced both H202-induced cell death and morphological change. The decrease of Bc-2 expression by High were inhibited by SMT. In addition, the increase of Bax expression was also inhibited by SMT. The cotreatment of SMT and $H_2O_2$ in H9c2 cells also induced the phosphorylation of ERK in a time-dependent manner. Moreover, PD98059, a specific inhibitor of ERK1/2 attenuated the protective effects of SMT on $H_2O_2-induced$ toxicity in H9c2 cardiomyoblast cells. These results suggest that both ERK1/2 signaling pathways play important roles in the protective effects of SMT on $H_2O_2-induced$ apoptotic death of H9c2 cells. Also, the expression profile of proteins in $H_2O_2$ cardiomyoblast cells were screened by using two-dimensional (2-D) gel electrophoresis. Among 300 spots resolved in 2-D gels, the comparison of control versus apoptosis cells revealed that signal intensity of 17 spots increased and 11 spots decreased. Conclusions: Taken together, this study suggests that the protectiw effects of the water extract of SMT against oxidative damages may be mediated by the modulation of Bc1-2 and Bax expression via the regulation of the ERK signaling pathway.

• The Korean Journal of Zoology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.55-73
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• 1989

The effect of tryptophan or serotonin on the early stage of chick brain development has been morphologically investigated using an electron microscope. The electron micrographs of neural plate cells of 1-day chick embryo treated with tryptophan or serotonin showed irregularity, evagination and disruption of nuclear membrane and nuclear chromatin condenstation, nucleolar margination and segregation. Hypertrophy of stalks, vesicles and vaculoes were seen and dilated and disrupted rough endoplasmic reticulum and underdeveloped neurotubules were also observed. In mesenchyme cells of tryptophan or serotonin administered 18 hr embryo, irregular nuclear membrane, swollen mitochondria, dilated rough endoplasmic reticulum and very large yolk granules were observed. Furthermore, DNA, RNA and protein contents of the embryos treated with typtophan or serotonin were considerably lower than those of control group. The amount of tubulin of the experimental groups was also greatly lower than that of control, suggesting that the impairment of microtubule formation occurred. Tryptophan or serotonin administration might depress the biosynthesis, of nucleic acid and protein including some enzymes tested. It seems that the serotonin formed from exogeneous tryptophan might inhibit the degradation of yolk granule by feedback regulation mechanism so as to impair microtububle and microvilli formation followed by a malformation of chick embryos.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.690-695
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• 2003

Physiological activities of 40% ethanol extracts of Phellinus ribis were studied by employing several biological and biochemical assays. The extracts of Phellinus ribis displayed nitrate-scavenging activities (NSA) at pH 1.2 as with 64% NSA with 1.0 mg/mL of the extracts. They also had 91% 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activities at the concentration of 1.0 mg/mL. Antioxidant activities of the extracts (at 0.5 mg/mL) on the autoxidation of linoleic acid (p<0.001) were also observed.. The inhibitory effect of the extracts on angiotensin converting enzyme was 11%. Cytotoxic effects of Phellinus ribis extracts against human cancer cell tines were also examined using MTT assay. The extracts (at 50 mg/mL) had severe growth inhibitory effects on A549, Hela, AGS, and SK-Hep-1, which were 8, 44, 76 and 42%, respectively. Ames test indicated that the extracts had no mutating effects on Salmonella typhimurium TA98 and TA100.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.16 no.7 s.80
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• pp.1188-1194
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• 2006

Dementia is a progressive disease of increasing the dysfunction of intellectual and physical ability. In the aging society, many families are suffering from the caring the patients who are diagnosed with dementia. However, dementia is a complex disease affected by the genetic and environmental agents. In the present study, we investigated the transposable elements in relation to dementia. From the analysis of dementia EST (expressed sequence tag) sequences, we found dementia candidate genes, and analyzed expression profiles and repeat elements using bioinformatics tools. This analysis showed that 98 genes were affected in their mRNA sequences by transposable elements expression. Their expressions were affected by the integration of different transposable elements (SINE, LINE, LTR, DNA) during the primate evolution. We believe that our work will be of significant interest to genome scientists, and may help them gain insight into implication of transposable elements expression in dementia.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.83-91
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• 2007

Background: Cerebral blood vessels are innervated by sympathetic nerves that originate in the superior cervical ganglia (SCG). This study was conducted to determine the effect of an SCG block on brain injury caused by focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion in a rat model. Methods: Male Sprague-Dawley rats (270-320 g) were randomly assigned to one of three groups (lidocaine, ropivacaine, and control). After brain injury induced by middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion/reperfusion, the animals were administered an SCG bloc that consisted of $30{\mu}l$ of 2% lidocaine or 0.75% ropivacaine, with the exception of animals in the control group, which received no treatment. Twenty four hours after brain injury was induced, neurologic scores were assessed and brain samples were collected. The infarct and edema ratios were measured, and DNA fragmented cells were counted in the frontoparietal cortex and the caudoputamen. Results: No significant differences in neurologic scores or edema ratios were observed among the three groups. However, the infarct ratio was significantly lower in the ropivacaine group than in the control group (P < 0.05), and the number of necrotic cells in the caudoputamen of the ropivacaine group was significantly lower than in the control group (P < 0.01). Additionally, the number of necrotic and apoptotic cells in theropivacaine group were significantly lower than inthe control group in both the caudoputamen and the frontoparietal cortex (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Brain injury induced by focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion was reduced by an SCG block using local anesthetics. This finding suggests that a cervical sympathetic block could be considered as another treatment option for the treatment of cerebral vascular diseases.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.1082-1091
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• 2003

To elucidate the neuroprotective effect of Kamijihwang-hwan(KSH) on nerve cells damaged by hypoxia, the cytotoxic effects of exposure to hypoxia were determined by XTT, NR, MTT and SRB asssay. The activity of catalase and SOD was measured by spectrophometry, and TNF-α and PKC activity was measured after exposure to hypoxia and treatment of Kamijihwang-hwan(KSH) water extract(KJHWE). Also the neuroprotective effect of KJHWE was researched for the elucidation of neuroprotective mechanism. The results were as follows ; Hypoxia decreased cell viability measured by XTT, NR assay when cultured cerebral neurons were exposed to 95% N2/5% CO₂ for 2～26 minutes in these cultures and KJHWE inhibited the decrease of cell viability. H₂O₂ treatment decreased cell viability measured by MTT, and SRB assay when cultured cerebral neurons were exposed to 1-80 uM for 6 hours, but KJHWE inhibited the decrease of cell viability. Hypoxia decreased catalase and SOD activity, and also TNF-α and PKC activity in these cultured cerebral neurons, but KJHWE inhibited the decrease of the catalase and SOD activity in these cultures. Hypoxia triggered the apoptosis via caspase activation and internucleosomal DNA fragmentation. Also hypoxia stimulate the release of cytochrome c form mitochondria. KJHWE inhibited the apoptosis via caspase activation induced by hypoxia. From these results, it can be suggested that brain ischemia model induced hypoxia showed neurotoxity on cultured mouse cerebral neurons, and the KJHWE has the neuroprotective effect in blocking the neurotoxity induced by hypoxia in cultured mouse cerebral neurons.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.7
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• pp.847-854
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• 2016

Cordycepin, a derivative of the nucleoside adenosine, is one of the active components extracted from fungi of genus Cordyceps, and has been shown to have many pharmacological activities. In this study, we investigated the effects of cordycepin on proliferation and apoptosis of human gastric cancer AGS cells, and its possible mechanism of action. Treatment of cordycepin resulted in significant decrease in cell viability of AGS cells in a concentration-dependent manner. A concentration-dependent apoptotic cell death was also measured by agarose gel electrophoresis and flow cytometery analysis. Molecular mechanistic studies of apoptosis unraveled cordycepin treatment resulted in an enhanced expression of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand, death receptor 5 and Fas ligand. Furthermore, up-regulation of pro-apoptotic Bax, and down-regulation of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL expression were also observed in cordycepin-treated AGS cells. These were followed by activation of caspases (caspase-9, -8 and -3), subsequently leading to poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase cleavage. Taken together, these findings indicate that cordycepin induces apoptosis in AGS cells through regulation of multiple apoptotic pathways, including death receptor and mitochondria. Although further mechanical studies are needed, our results revealed that cordycepin can be regarded as a new effective and chemopreventive compound for human gastric cancer treatment.