• Toxicological Research
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.105-114
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• 2003

TO evaluate an effect of cyclohexane treatment on the degree of liver damage, rats were induced liver damage with 10 or 17 times $CCl_4$ injection (0.1 m1/100 g body wt., 50% $CCl_4$ dis-solved in olive oil) at intervals of every other day. Cyclohexane (1.56 g/kg body wt., i.p.) was administrated to the animals at 48 hours after the last pretreatment of $CCl_4$ . Rats were sacrificed at 4 hours after injection of cyclohexane. On the basis of histopathological findings, liver weight/body weight (LW/ BW, %), activities of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), xanthine oxidase (XO) and akaline phosphatase (ALP), and contents of liver protein and manlondialdehyde (MDA), $CCl_4$ -pretreatment induced liver damage. And $CCl_4$ 17 times treated group showed more severe liver damage than $CCl_4$ 10 times treated group. Administration of one dose of cyclohexane to $CCl_4$ 10 times treated animals resulted in the enhanced liver damage; liver necrosis with proliferation of fibroblast and bile duct abnormality, and increase in hepatic MDA content and the activities of serum ALP and ALT, But the enhanced liver damage was not found in $CCl_4$ 17 times treated animals. Serum cyclohexanone concentrations at 4 or 8 hours after injection of cyclohexane were higher in all liver damaged groups than normal group and were somewhat higher In $CCl_4$ 17 times treated animals than $CCl_4$ 10 times treated ones. Among the oxygen free radical metabolizing enzymes, hepatic cytochrome P45O dependent aniline hydroxylase (CYPdAH) activity in cyclohexane metabolizing enzyme system was meaningfully increased by the injection of cyclohexane to the liver damaged rats, with increased Vmax and high affinity to aniline. LW/BW (%) and activities of serum XO and ALT were more significantly increased in liver damaged groups than normal group by administration of cyclohexanone. In conclusion, it is assumed that an enhancement of liver damage by injection of one dose of cyclohexane to liver damaged animals might be caused by oxygen free radicals and cyclohexanone.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.668-672
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• 2001

To investigate the oxygen free radical and alcohol metabolizing system in liver of rats fed diets with 30% ethanol extract of Lycium chinense (LCEE), Sprague-Dawley male rats weighing 225~235g have been fed a diet supplemented with 2% or 4% LCEE for a month. The rats fed LCEE supplemented diets gained less body weight compared with the control, and had no remarkable changes of liver function. In rats fed 2% LCEE supplemented diet, hepatic cytochrome P450 contents appeared to be increased, but catalase (204.88$\pm$20.06 $H_2O$$_2$nmoles/mg protein/min), and superoxide dismutase (13.18$\pm$0.74 Unit/mg protein) activities were significantly increased compared with control 120.28$\pm$26.99 $H_2O$$_2$nmoles/mg protein/min and 10.49$\pm$0.80 Units/mg protein). There was no difference in hepatic glutathione content, glutathione peroxidase, and glutathione-S-transferase ctivities between the rats fed LCEE suplemented diets and the control diet. On the other hand, hepatic alcohol dehydrogenase activity were not changed by LCEE feeding, but hepatic aldehyde dehydrogenase activities were significantly increased in rats fed both 2 and 4% LCEE diets(5.01$\pm$0.21 and 4.47$\pm$0.06 $\mu$moles NADPH/mg protein/min) compared with control (3.28$\pm$0.21 $\mu$moles NADPH/mg protein/min) and its Vmax value was 1.9 fold increased in rats fed 2% LCEE and 1.5 fold in those fed 4% LCEE compared with control. In conclusion, it is likely that rats receiving a diet supplemented with LCEE may have the oxygen free radicals and alcohol detoxication potential.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.1226-1231
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• 2009

Enzyme substitution with recombinant phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL, EC 4.3.1.5) is currently being explored for treatment of phenylketonuria (PKU), an autosomal recessive genetic disorder with mutations of the gene encoding phenylalanine-4-hydroxylase (EC 1.14.16.1). However, oral administration of PAL is limited because of proteolytic digestion in the gastrointestinal tract. The aim of this study was to determine the biochemical properties of PAL and delinate the susceptibility of wild-type PAL to pancreatic proteolysis by exploring several mutants, and to develop therapeutic drugs with PAL for PKU. The specific activity of PAL was assayed and its optimal pH, temperature stability, and intestinal protease susceptibility were investigated. Its $V_{max}$ values for phenylalanine and tyrosine were 1.77 and $0.47{\mu}mol$/ min/mg protein, respectively, and its $K_m$ values were $4.77{\times}10^{-4}$ and $4.37{\times}10^{-4}\;M$, respectively. PAL showed an optimal pH at 8.5, corresponding to the average pH range of the small intestine. It showed no loss of activity at $-80^{\circ}C$ for 5 months and possessed 93.4% of its activity under $4^{\circ}C$ for 4 wks. PAL was susceptible to chymotrypsin digestion and, to a lesser extent, to trypsin, elastase, carboxypeptidase A, and B. The trypsin and chymotrypsin cleaving sites were mutated to investigate protection from pancreatic digestion and the specific activities of these mutants were evaluated. The six mutants displayed low specific activities compared to the wild-type, suggesting that the primary trypsin and chymotrypsin cleaving sites may be essential for catalytic reaction. The PAL mutants could therefore be applied as a pretreatment modality without susceptibility to proteolytic attack, however, additional modification for enhancing enzymatic activity is needed to reduce the Phe levels effectively.