• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.325-331
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• 2003

3-Nitropropionic acid (3-NP) inhibits electron transport in mitochondria, leading to a metabolic failure. In order to elucidate the mechanism underlying this toxicity, we examined a few biochemical changes possibly involved in the process, such as metabolic inhibition, generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), DNA strand breakage, and activation of Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). Exposure of SK-N-BE(2)C neuroblastoma cells to 3-NP for 48 h caused actual cell death, while inhibition of mitochondrial function was readily observed when exposed for 24 h to low concentrations (0.2${\sim}$2 mM) of 3-NP. The earliest biochemical change detected with low concentration of 3-NP was an accumulation of ROS (4 h after 3-NP exposure) followed by degradation of DNA. PARP activation by damaged DNA was also detectable, but at a later time. The accumulation of ROS and DNA strand breakage were suppressed by the addition of glutathione or N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC), which also partially restored mitochondrial function and cell viability. In addition, inhibition of PARP also reduced the 3-NP-induced DNA strand breakage and cytotoxicity. These results suggest that oxidative stress and activation of PARP are the major factors in 3-NP-induced cytotoxicity, and that the inhibition of these factors may be useful in protecting neuroblastoma cells from 3-NP-induced toxicity.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.32-38
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• 2003

Seventy percent ethanolic extracts from commercially available 13 legumes were made to investigated their antioxidative activities by determining the reducing power, inhibitory effect on lipid peroxidation, scavenging activity against both superoxide radical and hydroxyl radical, together with inhibitory activity toward mitomycin C-induced oxidative damage of DNA. High level of reducing powers were detected in Yepat, Sokpiri, Yuweol-bean and Jeokdu. Inhibitory effects on lipid peroxidation were found ubiquitously in all extracts examined when employing the linoleic acid autoxidation system, whereas, only 3 legumes, Yepat, Namul-bean and Jeenuni-bean, were revealed marked inhibition in rabbit erythrocyte-ghost membrane lipid peroxidation system. Yepat, Namul-bean, Jeokdu and Jeenuni-bean showed great scavenging activities on superoxide radical, on the other hand, high level of hydroxyl radical scavenging activities were demonstrated in Sokpiri, Chungtae, Yepat and Jebi-bean. Ubiquitous inhibitory effects on mitomycin C-induced oxidative damage on DNA were found in all extracts tested, Among them, however, Yepat, Jeenuni-bean, Namul-bean, Nokdu and Jeokdu showed the higher level of inhibition. Taken together, we could assign Yepat, Jeokdu, Jeenuni-bean and Sokpiri, for the legume species highly functional on overall antioxidative activity.

• BMB Reports
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.554-560
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• 1999

TTD1BI cells are non-hypersensitive to UV irradiation and perform normal genome repair of pyrimidine dimers but fail to excise 6-4 photoproducts and, concomitantly, are unable to restore RNA synthesis levels following UV irradiation. This pointed to a detect in gene-specific repair and this study was undertaken to examine repair of 6-4 photoproducts at the gene-level. The results indicated a defect in gene-specific repair of 6-4 photoproducts in active genes, although strand-specificity of 6-4 photoproduct removal was essentially similar to that of normal cells. These findings indicate that the near normal UV resistance of TTD1BI cells may be due to the inability of these cells to remove DNA lesions preferentially, as well as to the cells opting out of the cell cycle to repair damage before resuming replication.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.75-85
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• 2006

This study was designed to evaluate the possible DNA damaging effects of T-2 toxin using an alkaline single cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE) comet assay and also to investigate toxic effects in chickens. A total of 20 chickens were used in these experiments. Graded concentrations of dietary T-2 toxin (0, 4, 8, and $16{\mu}g/g$ of diet) were given to groups of 5 broiler chickens. In comet assay, The DNA damage was analysed by the tail extent moment (TEM) and tail length (TL), which were used as markers of DNA strand breaks in SCGE. A significant dose-dependent increase in the extent of DNA migration as well as in the percentage of cells with tails was observed after treatment with T-2 toxin (P<0.05). Treatment with the low T-2 toxin ($4{\mu}/g$ of diet) induced a relatively low level of DNA damage in comparison with the high T-2 toxin ($16{\mu}/g$ of diet) group. The growth rate was significantly reduced by concentrations of 8, and $16{\mu}/g$ of diet (P < 0.05). The feed conversion ratio were significantly affected by any concentrations (P < 0.05). The relative weight of the spleen, and lung was decreased by the growth inhibitory concentrations. The bursa of Fabricius, thymus, and kid- ney were decreased in relative weight by concentrations of $16{\mu}/g$ of diet. The relative weight of the liver and heart were unaffected. The hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (HCT), and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) were decreased at concentration of $16{\mu}/g$ of diet. As compared with control chickens, there was no marked change in serum components except uric acid in T-2 treated chickens. All lymphoid tissues retained atrophic and lymphoid cell depletion throughout the three weeks trial.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.277-284
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• 2006

The genetic toxicity of environmental pollutants, namely, nonylphenol (NP), bisphenol A (BPA) and chloropyriphos (CP) was investigated in aquatic sentinel species, freshwater crustacean, Daphnia magna, and larva of aquatic midge, Chironomus tentans, using Comet assay. Physiological effect of such pollutants was also investigated by studying the specimens' rates of reproduction, growth and survival. Acute toxicity results showed that, as expected, Daphnia was more sensitive than Chironomus to chemical exposure. The order of acute toxicity was CP > NP > BPA in D. magna and NP > CP > BPA in C. tentans. BPA may exert a genotoxic effect on D. magna and C. tentans, given that DNA strand breaks increased in both species exposed to this compound, whereas NP- and CP-induced DNA damage occurred only in C. tentans. In vivo genotoxic data obtained in aquatic sentinel species could provide valuable information for freshwater quality monitoring. The experiments with NP-exposed D. magna showed that the pollutant has long-term effects on reproduction, whereas no short-term effect on DNA integrity was found, being an example of a false-negative result from the biomarkers perspective. This result could be interpreted that other mechanism than genetic alteration might be involved in NP-induced reproduction failure in D. magna. False-positive results from the genotoxic biomarker obtained in BPA-exposed D. magna and in NP-exposed C. tentans make it difficult to use DNA integrity as an early warning biomarker. However, as the mere presence of genotoxic compounds, which are potentially carcinogenic, is of high concern to human and ecosystem health, it could also be important to rapidly and effectively detect genotoxic compounds in the aquatic system in ways that do not necessarily accompany a higher level of alteration. Considering the potential of D. magna and C. tentans as bioindicator species, and the importance of genotoxic biomarkers in ecotoxicity monitoring, DNA damage in these species could provide useful information for environmental risk assessment.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.216-224
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• 2023

Background: Smilax glabra has various pharmacological activities and is widely used as a herbal medicine. Although the incidence of oral cancer is low, the recurrence rate is high, and the 5-year survival rate is poor. It is necessary to search for anticancer drugs that increase the effect of cancer chemotherapy on heterogeneous oral tissues and reduce the side effects on normal cells. This study aimed to investigate the effects and mechanism of ethanol extract of Smilax glabra (EESG) as an anticancer drug for oral cancer. Methods: Smilax glabra root components extracted with 70% ethanol were used to analyze their effects on cancer cells. A 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-Diphenyltetrazolium Bromide assay was performed for cytotoxicity analysis. Flow cytometry was performed to determine the cell cycle phase distribution. To observe apoptotic cells, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling and γH2AX were detected by fluorescence microscope. The protein levels of cleaved PARP and caspase were analyzed using western blotting. The activation of procaspase-3 was confirmed by measuring caspase-3 activity. Results: EESG was no cytotoxic to normal gingival fibroblast but was high in YD10B oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) cells. EESG treatment increased the subdiploid DNA content of YD10B cells by assessing DNA content distribution. Chromatin condensation and DNA strand breaks increased in YD10B cells treated with EESG. EESG-treated YD10B cells had high Annexin V and low propidium iodide levels, confirming that early apoptosis was induced. In addition, increased levels of γH2AX foci, a marker of DNA damage, were observed in the nuclei of EESG-treated YD10B cells. The EESG-treated YD10B cells also exhibited decreased procaspase-3 and procaspase-9 levels, increased PARP cleavage and caspase-3 activity. Conclusion: These results indicate that EESG inhibited cancer cell proliferation by inducing apoptosis in YD10B OSCC cells.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.305-309
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• 1983

The effect of the nucleic acid related compounds, amino acids and ureas on the breakage of calf thymus DNA were investigated with or without inorganic salts. PTU and Cys-SH possessed the ability of DNA strand breaks without metal ions. Tyr, Phe and Trp induced a weak DNA lesions in the presence of $CuSO_4$. Cys-SH with concentrations of 5mM in the presence of metal ion, $CuSO_4$, showed the strong ability to break the DNA. Various metal solutions($500{\mu}M$) except $Sn^{2+}$ did not show the DNA-breaking action. The DNA strands were damaged by some amino acids in the presence of $Cu^{2+}$, $Ni^{2+}$, $Mn^{2+}$, $Zn^{2+}$ and $Sn^{2+}$.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.268-275
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• 2004

To investigate the potential application of the single-cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE) assay to carp as an aquatic pollution monitoring technique, gill, liver, and blood cells were isolated from carp exposed to a direct-acting mutagen, N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG), or indirect mutagen, $benzo[\alpha]pyrene$ $(B[\alpha]P)$, then the DNA strand breakage was analyzed using the assay. Based on testing 5 different cell isolation methods and 6 electrophoretic conditions, the optimized assay conditions were found to be cell isolation by filter pressing and electrophoresis at a lower voltage and longer running time (at 0.4 V/cm for 40 min). In preliminary experiments, gill and liver cells isolated from carp exposed to MNNG in vitro exhibited DNA damage signals even with 0.5 ppb exposure, which is a much higher dose than previously reported. In the gill cells isolated from carp exposed to 0.01-0.5 ppm MNNG in vivo, significant dose-and time-dependent increases were observed in the tail for 4 days. As such, the linear correlation between the relative damage index (RDI) values and time for each dose based on the initial 48-h exposure appeared to provide effective criteria for the genotoxicity monitoring of direct-acting mutagenic pollution. In contrast, the in vivo exposure of carp to 0.25-1.0 ppm of $B[\alpha]P$ for 7 days resulted in dose-and time-dependent responses in the liver cells, in which 24-h delayed responses for metabolizing activation and gradual repair after 48 h were also observed. Thus, the negative-sloped linear correlation between the RDI and time at each dose based on the initial 48 h appeared to provide more effective criteria for the genotoxicity monitoring of indirect mutagenic pollution.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.9-14
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• 2003

Recent studies indicated that cancer cells become resistant to ionizing radiation (IR) and chemotherapy drugs by enhanced DNA repair of the lesions. Therefore, it is expected to increase the killing of cancer cells and reduce drug resistance by inhibiting DNA repair pathways that tumor cells rely on to escape chemotherapy. There are a number of key human DNA repair pathways which depend on multimeric polypeptide activities. For example, Ku heterodimer regulatory DNA binding subunits (Ku70/Ku80) on binding to double strand DNA breaks (DSBs) are able to interact with 470-kDa DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit (DNA-PKcs), and are essential for DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) activity. It has been known that DNA-PK is an important factor for DNA repair and also is a sensor-transmitting damage signal to downstream targets, leading to cell cycles arrest. Our ultimate goal is to develop a treatment of breast tumors by targeting proteins involved in damage-signaling pathway and/or DNA repair. This would greatly facilitate tumor cell cytotoxic activity and programmed cell death through DNA damaging drug treatment. Therefore, we designed a domain of Ku80 mutants that binds to Ku70 but not DNA end binding activity and used the peptide in co-therapy strategy to see whether the targeted inhibition of DNA-PK activity sensitized breast cancer cells to irradiation or chemotherapy drug. We observed that the synthesized peptide (HNI-38) prevented DNA-PKcs from binding to Ku70/Ku80, thus resulting in inactivation of DNA-PK activity. Consequently, the peptide treated cells exhibited poor to no DNA repair, and became highly sensitive to IR or chemotherapy drugs, and the growth of breast cancer cells was inhibited. Additionally, the results obtained in the present study also support the physiological role of resistance of cancer cells to IR or chemotherapy.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.224-229
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• 2013

Bromotopsentin (BSM) is a bisindole alkaloid compound, which is recognized as a metabolite of the marine sponge Spongosorites sp. In this study, the antioxidant activity of BSM was investigated. The 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging assay, the trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) assay, the superoxide radical scavenging (NBT) assay, the lipid peroxidation and hydroxyl radical-induced DNA damage assays were carried out to evaluate the antioxidant activity of BSM. It was found that BSM had stronger scavenging activity on the stable free radical DPPH and superoxide radical than L-ascorbic acid with an $IC_{50}$ value of 62 and 64 ${\mu}M$, respectively. The TEAC value which indicated the total antioxidant capacity of BSM was about 0.8, which was also stronger than L-ascorbic acid. About 1.3 ${\mu}M$ of BSM induced 50% inhibition of lipid peroxidation. 60 nM of BSM exhibited a significant protective activity against DNA strand scission by hydroxyl radical on pBR322 DNA. Taken together, we suggest that BSM possesses strong antioxidant activity, and could be a valuable new addition to the list of anti-aging chemotherapeutic agents.