• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.178-186
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• 2019

This study used the probit analysis to evaluate the toxicity of three chemicals - benomyl (Germicide), carbofuran (insecticide), and thiobencarb (herbicide) - with the FETAX (Frog Embryo Teratogenesis Assay-Xenopus) protocol using the incubated embryos of tree frog, Hyla japonica. The results showed that the larval body length decreased while the mortality and malformation rates increased as the concentrations of benomyl, carbofuran, and thiobencarb increased. The teratogenic concentration ($EC_{50}$) of benomyl, carbofuran, and thiobencarb were 1.00, 0.58, 4.75 mg/L, respectively, indicating that the malformation of larvae was the most sensitive to carbofuran. The embryo lethal concentration ($LC_{50}$) was 7.04, 28.71, and 16.12mg/L, respectively, indicating that benomyl showed the lowest embryo lethal concentration. The teratogenic index (TI) was 7.04 in Benomyl, 49.50 in Carbofuran, and 3.39 in Thiobencarb, indicating that the TI values were above 1.5, which is the criterion of teratogenicity, for all three chemicals. All three pesticides examined by this study were considered to be the most teratogenic substances, and the carbofuran was the most potent teratogen.

• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.114-119
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• 2021

To restore the Gold-spotted pond frog (Pelophylax chosenicus), a Korean endangered frog, 600 captive-reared individuals were reintroduced between August and September 2019 into an aquatic garden in the National Institute of Ecology where P. chosenicus had previously inhabited. After reintroduction, six post-release monitoring sessions were conducted from August 2019 to May 2020. Monitoring was performed using three methods (counting calls, observation, and capture) from sunset to midnight near release sites, eliminating potential threat factors. Snout-vent lengths and body weights of recaptured individuals were measured before they were released immediately. We noted that both snout-vent lengths and body weights of recaptured individuals were slightly higher than those before. The average recapture rate was 4.66%. Reintroduced frogs were recaptured at the last monitoring session conducted in May 2020, indicating that these reintroduced frogs hibernated during the winter successfully. We found that these reintroduced frogs successfully settled after release. This result will be useful for establishing management strategies for endangered frogs in Korea. Particularly, post-release monitoring could be an essential approach in the restoration program of a target species.

• BMB Reports
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.372-379
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• 1996

Components I and II (CI&II) are major phosphoproteins in the frog rod outer segments (ROS) of retina, whose phosphorylation is light- and cyclic nucleotide-dependent. Although it was reported that CI & II could be chemically cross-linked to ${\beta}{\gamma}-subunit$ of transducin (${\beta}{\gamma}_t$), it was not clear whether CI&II physically interact with ${\beta}{\gamma}_t$, under native conditions. CI&II extracted by hypotonic washing fo ROS membranes showed an overlapped migration with ${\beta}{\gamma}_t$, in sucrose density gradient centrifugation. The elution profile of CI&II in the peripheral membrane fractions from gel filtration chromatography also overlapped that of ${\beta}{\gamma}_t$. These hydrodynamic parameters indicate that the native molecular state of CI&II in the peripheral membrane fraction appears to be within a complex, most likely with ${\beta}{\gamma}_t$. CI&II coeluted with ${\beta}{\gamma}_t$, showed no phosphorylation by endogenous kinase which phosphorylates a serine of CI&II in other fractions. The purified CI&II were not able to inhibit trypsin-activated cGMP-phosphodiesterase, and CI&II were not recognized by a monoclonal antibody against the ${\gamma}-subunit$ of transducin, indicating that CI&II are not y-subunit of PDE or transducin. Thus, it is likely that native CI&II, which undergo a light-dependent phosphorylation/dephosphorylation cycle, can associate with ${\beta}{\gamma}$, in frog photoreceptor membranes, and the complex formation has an inhibitory effect on the endogenous phosphorylation of CI&II.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.203-212
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• 2014

Frog culture industry is not yet familiar but has much potential. Generally, in farm, the population density is higher than that of in nature and frog farm is not the exception. But when population density is high, it can easily leads to stressful condition, poor sanitation. When a disease occur, it is a primary factor that makes the population more susceptible and the results more grave. Because of severe Rhabditoidea- helminth infection and subsequent bacterial septicemia, 50~70% of the total population had been died in a farm in Jeong-sun in Gangwon-do and Chungju in Chungcheongbuk-do from late June, 2012 to September, 2012. Diseased frogs showed ruptured lung, bloody ascites, liver discoloration, myocardium weakness, congested kidney, microcytic anemia and so on. Enterobacteriacea, Citrobacter.sp, Cupriavidus metallidurans, Acinetobacter.sp were isolated as major bacterium that had caused septicemia in frogs. Among isolated bacterium, Cupriavidus metallidurans, Ewingella americana, Shewanella aquimarina and Pseudoalteromonas sp. have not reported as potential pathogens in frogs before. It is a good example that severe helminth infection in frogs can lead to secondary infection of bacteria.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.129-136
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• 1988

Effects of the selective alpha-adrenoceptor agonists, clonidine, oxymetazoline and phenylephrine, on heart rate and contractile force were investigated in the isolated frog atria and it was attempted to examine the influence of adrenoceptor antagonist upon those. Clonidine produced dose-dependent negative chronotropic and positive inotropic effects. The negative chronotropic effect was significantly attenuated in the presence of prazosin and yohimbine but not propranolol. The positive inotropic effect was significantly attenuated by prazosin, yohimbine and propranolol. Oxymetazoline produced dose-dependent negative chronotropic and inotropic effects. The negative chronotropic effect was significantly attenuated in the presence of prazosin, which was partially augmented by yohimbine but was not affected by propranolol. The negative inotropic effect was not affected by propranolol but it was partially augmented by yohimbine and was partially attenuated by prazosin. Phenylephrine produced dose-dependent positive chronotropic and inotropic effects. The positive chronotropic and inotropic effect were significantly attenuated in the presence of propranolol but were not affected by prazosin and yohimbine. These results suggest that the negative chronotropic effect by clonidine and oxymetazoline is mediated by alpha-adrenoceptors, the positive chronotropic and inotropic effects by phenylephrine are mediated by beta-adrenoceptors, and alpha-adrenoceptors mediated the inhibitory chronotropic responses exists in the isolated frog atria.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.83-88
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• 1993

opioid pure agonists, morphine, meperidine and methadone, were used to investigate the effect on the opioid receptor of fron sciatic nerve fibers using sucrose gap apparatus. When applied extracellularly by perfusion, morphine, methadone and meperidine significantly depressed the amplitude of the action potential in frog sciatic nerve fibers as a dose-dependent $(10^{-10}\;M-10^{-2}\;M)$ manner. The depression with morphine or methadone was partially antagonized by the simultaueous treatment with a lower $(10^{-10}\;M-10^{-8}\;M)$ concentration of naloxone, but that of meperidine was not blocked. When the three opioid agonists were applied intracellularly by placing it in a compartment with a cut end of the sciatic nerve fibers, all of themn depressed the amplitude of the action potentials by similar potency, and these reductions significantly blocked by pretreatment of lower concentration $(10^{-10}\;M-10^{-8}M)$ of naloxone. These results support the previous findings by other workers that the stereospecific opioid receptors of this preparation are located on or near the intracellular opening of the sodium channels which are sensitive to naloxone.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.260-267
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• 2012

Calling behavior is often used to infer breeding patterns in anurans. We studied the seasonal and diel calling activities of anuran species in a wetland in central Korea to determine the calling season and to evaluate the effects of abiotic factors on male calling. Acoustic monitoring was used in which frog calls were recorded for a full day, once a week, throughout an entire year. Using acoustic monitoring, we identified three frog species in the study site. Males of Rana dybowskii called in late winter and early spring; we thus classified this species as a winter/spring caller. The results of binary logistic regression showed that temperature, relative humidity, and 1-day lag rainfall were significant factors for male calling in R. dybowskii. Temperature and relative humidity were important factors for the calling activity of R. nigromaculata, whereas 24-h rainfall and 1-day lag rainfall were not significant. Thus, we determined R. nigromaculata to be a summer caller independent of weather. In Hyla japonica, relative humidity, 24-h rainfall, and 1- day lag rainfall were significant for male calling, suggesting that this species is a summer caller dependent on local rain.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.10-16
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• 2021

Background: Ranavirus is an emerging infectious disease which has been linked to mass mortality events in various amphibian species. In this study, we document the first mass mortality event of an adult population of Dybowski's brown frogs (Rana dybowskii), in 2017, within a mountain valley in South Korea. Results: We confirmed the presence of ranavirus from all collected frogs (n = 22) via PCR and obtained the 500 bp major capsid protein (MCP) sequence from 13 individuals. The identified MCP sequence highly resembled Frog virus 3 (FV3) and was the same haplotype of a previously identified viral sequence collected from Huanren brown frog (R. huanrenensis) tadpoles in South Korea. Human habitat alteration, by recent erosion control works, may be partially responsible for this mass mortality event. Conclusion: We document the first mass mortality event in a wild Korean population of R. dybowskii. We also suggest, to determine if ranavirus infection is a threat to amphibians, government officials and researchers should develop continuous, country-wide, ranavirus monitoring programs of Korean amphibian populations.

• The Korean Journal of Zoology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.43-50
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• 1974

This study was performed in order to know the histochemical changes of mucosubstances in mucous glands under normal and dry conditions. The frogs, Rana nigromaculata Hallowell, were collected near Seoul area in mid-August. The experimental group was retained under dry conditions for 12, 24, 30 and 36 hrs to make a comparison to normal group. The results obtained were as follows: 1. Mucosubstances in mucous glands of the frog skin contain neutral mucin and sulfated and non-sulfated mucins. Mucosubstances in the cells of the gland neck are neutral mucin, while the gland body is composed of neutral, sulfated and non-sulfated mucins. 2. Mucosubstances in mucous gland of the frog skin decreased distinctively under dry conditions, as is evident from the hitochemical properties, te neutral mucins were influenced more clearly than acid mucins. 3. Histochemical compositions of the mucosubstances in the cell of the mucous gland (the gland neck and the gland body) were not changed. 4. The phenomena were considered as a general adaptation syndrome to keep homeostasis.

• The Korean Journal of Zoology
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.107-114
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• 1975

This study was performed in order to know the histochemical changes of mucosubstances in granular secretions of the serous gland under normal and dry conditions. The frogs were collected near Jinju and the experimental groups were retained under dry conditions for 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours to make a comparison with normal group. The results obtained were as follows: 1. The secreting granules in serous gland of the frog skin contained neutral and weakly acidic mucosubstances. 2. the secreting granules in serous gland of the frog skin were significantly decreased under dry conditions, as is evident from the histochemical properties. The neutral mucosubstances were decreased more than acidic mucosubstances. 3. Histochemical compositions of the mucosubstances of secreting granules in the lumen of the serous gland were not changed according to dry condition.