• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.44-51
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• 2016

Dendritic cells (DCs) are professional antigen presenting cells, and play an important role in the induction of antigen-specific adaptive immunity. However, some DC populations are involved in immune regulation and immune tolerance. These DC populations are believed to take part in the control of immune exaggeration and immune disorder, and maintain immune homeostasis in the body. Tolerogenic DCs (tolDCs) can be generated in vitro by genetic or pharmacological modification or by controlling the maturation stages of cytokine-derived DCs. These tolDCs have been investigated for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in experimental animal models. In the last decade, several in vitro and in vivo approaches have been translated into clinical trials. As of 2015, three tolDC trials for RA are on the list of ClinicalTrial.gov (www.clinicaltrials.gov). Other trials for RA are in progress and will be listed soon. In this review, we discuss the evolution of tolDC-based immunotherapy for RA and its limitations and future prospects.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.165-173
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• 1997

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of DA-9601, an extract of Artemisiae Herba, which is known to possess mucoprotective action either by free radical scavenging effect or increase of mucus secretion, against animal models of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) induced by trinirobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS) or other noxious agents. Experimental colitis was induced by intracolonic administration of TNBS in 50% ethanol, or 1 ml of 7% acetic acid solution (AA), by subcutaneous injection of indomethacin (INDO) in rats, or by supplementing drinking water with 5% dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) in albino mice. DA-9601 was treated orally for 4 to 7 days. Animals were euthanized 1 day after the last treatment for morphological and biochemical analysises. All the noxious agents including TNBS, AA, INDO and DSS elicited severe colitis. The animals treated with DA-9601 showed a consistent, dose-related reduction in the severity of colitis, grossly and histologically. The reduction was significant (p<0.05) after administration of DA-9601 at dose range of 10 mg/kg or above. In TNBS-induced colitis, the rats receiving DA-9601 showed significantly decreased mucosal myeloperoxidase (MPO) and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBA-RS), when compared to control and mesalazine groups. Mucosal proinflammatory cytokine levels were also decreased after DA-9601 treatment. In conclusion, DA-9601 ameliorated macroscopic and histologic scores in experimental colitis either through decreasing oxidative stress or by attenuating cytokines involved in inflammation. DA-9601 could be a promising drug for the therapy of IBD.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.541-546
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• 2000

Background; Pericardial adhesion poses a major problem during re-operative cardiac surgery. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of sodium carboxymethol cellulose on experimental pericardial adhesions. Material and Method; Twenty-four rabbits were divided into 2 groups of 12 rabbits each and pericardial mesothelial injury was induced by abrasion. Group A included rabbits receiving intrapericardial injection of Ringer's solution, and Group B included rabbits receiving intrapericardial injection of 3% sodium carboxymethoyl cellulose solution. Three weeks after the surgery, the incidence of adhesions in Group A was compared with that in Group B. Result; Pericardial adhesions were evaluated by tenacity and type scores. Tenacity scores of 3 or greater were considered clinically significant adhesion. Pericardial adhesion was found in 100% of rabbits in group A. However 25% of the rabbits in Group B had pericardial adhesions(p<0.0001). Type scores were also considered clinically significant between 2 groups. Conclusion; Our findings demonstrated that intrapericardial injection of 3% sodium carboxymethyl cellulose solution reduced the incidence of pericardial adhesions in an animal models.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.37 no.1 s.144
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• pp.28-32
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• 2006

Hepatoprotective effects of an aqueous extract prepared from the aerial part of Agrimonia eupatoria L., a species of agrimmony, were investigated in experimental liver-damaged models. To investigate hepatoprotective effects, the agrimmony extract were fed orally to experimental animals. Thereafter a single dose of hepatotoxin, carbon tetrachloride $(CCl_4)$ or D-galac-tosamine was orally administrated. Chronic liver damage was induced by oral administration of $CCl_4$ for 2 weeks (1 time/day). Hepatoprotective effects were monitored by estimating serum AST and ALT levels. The results showed that the agrimmony extract significantly reduced AST and ALT levels compared with those of control group in both acute and chronic animal models. It was concluded that the agrimmony extract have hepatoprotective effects against rat liver injury induced by $CCl_4$ or D-galactosamine.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2018

Purpose: This review article provides an overview of the trends of research papers on the health benefits of kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria published from 1995 to 2017. Methods: All publications from 1995 to 2017 regarding kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria were collected, reviewed, and classified. This review article covers the publications of the health benefits of kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria on experimental, clinical trials, and epidemiology studies. Results: The number of publications on kimchi over the period were 590: 385 publications in Korean and 205 publications in English. The number of publications on the health benefits of kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria were 95 in Korean and 54 in English. The number of publications on kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria were 84 and 38, respectively, in the experimental models. Ten research papers on kimchi in clinical trials and 7 publications in epidemiology were found. Kimchi or kimchi lactic acid bacteria had protective effects against oxidative stress, mutagenicity, toxicity, cancer, dyslipidemia, hypertension, immunity, and inflammation in in vitro, cellular, and in vivo animal models. Moreover, kimchi had effects on the serum lipids, intestinal microbiota, iron status, obesity, and metabolic parameters in human clinical trials. In epidemiology, kimchi had effects on hypertension, asthma, atopic dermatitis, rhinitis, cholesterol levels, and free radicals. Conclusion: This review focused on the publications regarding the health benefits of kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria, suggesting the future directions of studies about kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria by producing a database for an evaluation of the health benefits of kimchi.

• CELLMED
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.22.1-22.9
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• 2012

The aim of this study is to collate all available data on experiments reporting the antiproliferative, cytotoxic effects of plants and natural products in Morocco in the last two decades. A bibliographic investigation was carried out by analyzing recognized books and peer-reviewed papers, consulting worldwide accepted scientific databases (Scirus, Embase, HighWire, MEDLINE/PubMed, LILACS, Ovid, ScienceDirect, SciELO, Google Scholar). We used medical subject heading terms and the words 'anticancer', 'antiproliferative', 'antineoplastic', 'antitumoral', 'cytotoxic', 'Morocco', to identify relevant articles. Moroccan plants with attributed anti-cancer properties studied as plant extracts that have been evaluated for cytotoxic effects, antitumoral effects, plants with active compounds tested on cancer cell lines, and plants with active compounds that have been assayed on animal models were chosen for this research. In the present study, interest is focused on experimental research conducted on medicinal plants, particularly those which show antiproliferative or cytotoxic activities alongside bioactive components. A total of 20 plant species belonging to 12 families have been identified as active or promising sources of phytochemicals with antiproliferative properties. The plant families, which cover all the species studied in this field, are Lamiaceae (7 species) and Asteraceae (4 species); the most studied species being Argania spinosa (Sapotaceae) and Arisarum vulgare (Araceae), Thymus Genus (Labiateae) and Peganum harmala (Zygophyllaceae). Based on the search results, it is recommended to increase the number of experimental studies and to begin conducting clinical trials with Moroccan plants and their active compounds selected by in vitro and in vivo activities.

• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2000

Although Oriental medicines have long been used effectively in treating many diseases throughout the world, the pharmacological mechanisms of most Oriental medicines used have not been defined. As part of our continuing search for biologically active antiallergic drugs from natural sources, Oriental medicines were analyzed. Some Oriental medicines have been used against various allergic diseases for generations, and still occupies an important place in traditional medicine in Korea. It is also still unclear how Oriental medicine prevents allergic disease in experimental animal models. Some Korean folk medicines inhibited the mast cell-mediated allergic reaction. This review summarizes the effective folk medicine in experimental effect of allergic reaction. Potential antiallergic folk medicines include: Poncirus trifoliata; Siegesbeckia glabrescence; Solanum lyratum; Aquilaria agallocha; Ulmi radicis; Polygonum tinctorium; Hwanglyun-Haedok-Tang; Rehmannia glutinosa; Kum- Hwag-San; Syzygium aromaticm; Spirulina platensis; Sosiho-Tang; Sinomenium acutum; Schizonepta tenuifolia; Shini-San; Magnoliae flos; Sochungryoung-Tang; Oryza sativa; Cryptotympana atrata; Salviae radix; Rosa davurica; Asiasari radix; Chung-Dae-San; and Cichorium intybus. Understanding the mechanisms of action for these Oriental medicines can permit drug development and laying of the ground-work for evaluating potential synergistic effects by addition and subtraction of prescriptions.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.113-117
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• 2008

Chronic exposure to ethanol induces cumulative damage to the liver starting from fatty infiltration to cirrhosis depending on the dose and duration of exposure. The whole process leading to the development of alcoholic liver disease is very complex and the mechanisms involved are not fully understood. Among many experimental animal models, Lieber-DeCarli liquid diet provides moderate to severe pathophysiological outcome depending on the compositional changes. In the present study, we investigated the temporal changes in the early phase hepatic disease in rats fed with standard Lieber-DeCarli diet. Male Wistar rats were fed with Lieber-Decarli ethanol diet for 6 weeks and the liver samples were obtained after 2, 4 and 6 weeks. Mild fatty infiltration was observed in 2 weeks of feeding and it became evident in 4 and 6 week samples. The level of hepatic triglyceride showed a good agreement with the data obtained in the pathological analysis. Feeding mice with ethanol diet resulted in the maturation and translocation of SREBP-1 to nucleus in the liver. Western blot analysis of the pooled liver sample of control and ethanol fed animals showed a clear-cut time-dependent increase in the expression of nSREBP-1. These data provide important information for selecting proper time point in experimental intervention study in the field of drug development for alcoholic liver disease.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.121-126
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• 2012

In this study, a neural network (NN) modeling approach has been used to predict the mechanical and geometrical behaviors of mouse embryo cells. Two NN models have been implemented. In the first NN model dimple depth (w), dimple radius (a) and radius of the semi-circular curved surface of the cell (R) were used as inputs of the model while indentation force (f) was considered as output. In the second NN model, indentation force (f), dimple radius (a) and radius of the semi-circular curved surface of the cell (R) were considered as inputs of the model and dimple depth was predicted as the output of the model. In addition, sensitivity analysis has been carried out to investigate the influence of the significance of input parameters on the mechanical behavior of mouse embryos. Experimental data deduced by Fl$\ddot{u}$ckiger (2004) were collected to obtain training and test data for the NN. The results of these investigations show that the correlation values of the test and training data sets are between 0.9988 and 1.0000, and are in good agreement with the experimental observations.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.85-93
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• 2020

The implantation process is highly complex and difficult to mimic in vitro, and a reliable experimental model of implantation has yet to be established. Many researchers have used embryo transfer (ET) to assess implantation potential; however, ET with pseudopregnant mice requires expert surgical skills and numerous sacrificial animals. To overcome those economic and ethical problems, several researchers have tried to use outgrowth models to evaluate the implantation potential of embryos. Many previous studies, as well as our experiments, have found significant correlations between blastocyst outgrowth in vitro and implantation in utero by ET. This review proposes the blastocyst outgrowth model as a possible alternative to animal experimentation involving ET in utero. In particular, the outgrowth model might be a cost- and time-effective alternative method to ET for evaluating the effectiveness of culture conditions or treatments. An advanced outgrowth model and further culture of outgrowth embryos could provide a subtle research model of peri- and postimplantation development, excluding maternal effects, and thereby could facilitate progress in assisted reproductive technologies. Recently, we found that outgrowth embryos secreted extracellular vesicles containing specific microRNAs. The function of microRNAs from outgrowth embryos should be elucidated in further researches.