• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.57-65
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• 2007

Background: Cordyceps militaris have been reported to modify the immune and inflammatory responses both in vivo and in vitro. Macrophages play important roles in the innate immunity through the phagocytosis of antigens. This study examined the effects of Cordyceps militaris on the activation of murine macrophage RAW 264.7 cells and primary macrophages. Methods: The components contained in culture broth of Cordyceps militaris were purified by propyl alcohol extraction and HP 20 column chromatography to CMDB, CMDBW, CMDB5P, and CMDB25P. The amounts of nitric oxide (NO) were determined by using ELISA, Griess reagent respectively. The amounts of some cytokines were determined by using ELISA, western blot, and RT-PCR The expression levels of cell surface molecules (ICAM-1, B7-1 and B7-2) were measured by flow cytometric analysis. Results: All the components of Cordyceps militaris produced significant amounts of NO. In particular, CMDB produced much more NO in RAW 264.7 cells and primary macrophages than other fractions of Cordyceps militaris. CMDB increased significantly the production of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-${\alpha}$, interleukin (IL)-1${\beta}$, and IL-6 dose-dependently in RAW 264.7 cells. Examination of the gene expression level also showed that the enhanced production of cytokines was correlated with the up-regulation of i-NOS expression, cycloxygenase (COX)-2 expression, IL-1${\beta}$ and IL-6 expression, and TNF-${\alpha}$ expression on the expression of mRNAs by semi-quantitative RT-PCR Western blot analysis also confirmed that CMDB enhances the expression level of these cytokines. Conclusion: These results show that CMDB stimulates the production of NO and pro-inflammatory cytokines and can also up-regulate the gene expression levels in macrophages.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.543-551
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• 2002

Nitric oxide (NO) is a small molecule (mol. wt. 30 Da) and oxidative free radical. It is uncharged and can therefore diffuse freely within and between cells across membrane. Such characteristics make it a biologically important messenger in physiologic processes such as neurotransmission and the control of vascular tone. NO is also highly toxic and is known to acts as a mediator of cytotoxicity during host defense. NO is synthesized by nitric oxide synthase (NOS) through L-arginine/nitric oxide pathway which is a dioxygenation process. NO synthesis involves several participants, three co-substrates, five electrons, five co-factors and two prosthetic groups. Under normal condition, low levels of NO are synthesized by type I and III NOS for a short period of time and mediates many physiologic processes. Under condition of oxidant stress, high levels of NO are synthesized by type II NOS and inhibits a variety of metabolic processes and can also cause direct damage to DNA. Such interaction result in cytostasis, energy depletion and ultimately cell death. NO has the potential to interact with a variety of intercellular targets producing diverse array of metabolic effects. It is known that NO is involved in hemodynamic regulation, neurogenic inflammation, re-innervation, management of dentin hypersensitivity on teeth. Under basal condition of pulpal blood flow, NO provides constant vasodilator tone acting against sympathetic vasoconstriction. Substance P, a well known vasodilator, was reported to be mediated partly by NO, while calcitonin-gene related peptide has provided no evidence of its relation with NO. This review describes the roles of NO in dental pulp in addition to the known general roles of it.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.544-549
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• 2012

To examine the neuroprotective effects of ginsenoside R0, we investigated the effects of ginsenoside R0 in PC12 cells under an anoxic or oxidative environment with Edaravone as a control. PC12 neuroendocrine cells were used as a model target. Anoxic damage or oxidative damage in PC12 cells were induced by adding sodium dithionite or hydrogen peroxide respectively in cultured medium. Survival ratios of different groups were detected by an AlamarBlue assay. At the same time, the apoptosis of PC12 cells were determined with flow cytometry. The putative neuroprotective effects of ginsenoside R0 is thought to be exerted through enhancing the activity of antioxidant enzymes Superoxide dismutases (SOD). The activity of SOD and the level of malondialdehyde (MDA) and intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), were measured to evaluate the protective and therapeutic effects of ginsenoside R0. Ginsenoside R0 treated cells had a higher SOD activity, lower MDA level and lower ROS, and their survival ratio was higher with a lower apoptosis rate. It is suggested that ginsenoside R0 has a protective effect in the cultured PC12 cells, and the protection efficiency is higher than Edaravone. The protective mechanisms of these two are different. The prevent ability of ginsenoside R0 is higher than its repair ability in neuroprotection in vitro.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.256-262
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• 2003

The current efficiency and the composition of Zn-Cr and Zn-Cr-X (X : Co, Mn) alloy electrodeposits were investigated by using chloride bath with EDTA auditive and flow cell plating system. The current efficiency of Zn-Cr alloy decreased with increasing current density, while it increased with the content of Co and Mn of the Zn-Cr-X alloy bath in high current density region. The Cr content in Zn-Cr alloy increased from 1.4-2.7 to $28wt\%$ with increasing current density and the phase structure of the alloys changed from $\eta-Zn$ through $\eta-Zn+\gamma'-ZnCr\;to\;\gamma'-ZnCr$ with Increasing Cr content of the alloys. The Co content in Zn-Cr-Co alloys increased with Co content of the bath, while Cr content of the alloy increased or decreased in low current density region $(10-75A/dm^2)$ or high current density region $(75-100A/dm^2)$, respectively. $\gamma-ZnCo$ phase was formed in the Zn-Cr-Co alloy with above $9.0wt\%$ Co. The content of Mn and Cr in Zn-Cr-Mn alloys increased or decreased with the increase of current density in high current density region, respectively while Cr content of the alloy decreased noticeably with the increase of Mn content in the bath. Two phases of $\delta_1-ZnMn$ and $\gamma'-ZnCr$ were formed in the Zn-Cr-Mn alloy with above $8.6wt\%$ Mn.

• Journal of Haehwa Medicine
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.87-99
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• 2008

To investigate the effects of ESWTT on rheumatoid arthritis in collagen-induced arthritis mice model, the animals were orally administrated with the extract following by analyzing the changes of lymphocyte composition in spleen with flow cytometry. These results suggest as follows; 1. ESWTT decreased the total cell number of spleen at 400 and 200 mg/kg about 41% and 32%, respectively. 2. ESWTT reduced the number of CD19+ cells in spleen at 400 and 200 mg/kg about 51% and 46%, respectively. 3. ESWTT down-regulated the number spleen CD3+ cells approximately 26% at 400 mg/kg-treated group. 4. ESWTT decreased the number of CD3+/CD69+ cells in spleen at 400 and 200 mg/kg about 79% and 76%, respectively. 5. ESWTT reduced the number of CD4+ and CD8+ cells in spleen, however, the results were not significant. 6. ESWTT decreased the number of CD4+/CD25+ cells in spleen at 400 and 200 mg/kg about 60% and 56%, respectively. Taken together these results, ESWTT has an efficacy on rheumatoid arthritis through inhibiting the proliferation of lymphocytes such as B and T cells.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.191-196
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• 2002

The water extract from the root bark of Cortex Mori (CM, Morus alba L.: Sangbaikpi), a mulberry tree, has been known in Chinese traditional medicine to have antiphlogistic, diuretic, and expectorant properties. In this study, the cytotoxicity of CM against tumor cells and its mechanism was examined . CM exhibited cytotoxic activity on K-562, B38O human leukemia cells and B16 mouse melanoma cells at concentrations of > 1 mg/ml. A DNA fragmentation, PARP cleavage, and nuclear condensation assay showed that those cells exposed to CM underwent apoptosis. The water extract of Scutellarie Radix (SR) was used as a negative control and showed no cytotoxicity in those cells. The flow cytometric profiles of the CM-treated cells were also indicative of apoptosis. However, they did not appear to exert the G1 arrest, which is observed in other tubulin inhibitor agents such as vincristine, taxol. The protein-binding test using Biacore and a microtubule assembly-disassembly assay provided evidence showing that CM bound to the tubulins resulting in 3 markets inhibition of the assembly, but not the disassembly of microtubules. The possible nonspecific effect of the CM extract could be excluded due to the results using SR, which did not affect the assembly process. Overall, the water extract of CM induces apoptosis of tumor cells by inhibiting microtubule assembly.

• Journal of The Geomorphological Association of Korea
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.69-79
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• 2012

The aim of this study is to analyze the mid-term changes of beach and dune morphology at Sohwang beach, Korea using by Total Station. Measurements executed 4 times during two year. Based on ArcInfo as point cloud obtained through precise measurement data by Total Station, alteration of beach and dune was analyzed at DEM, of which cell size is about 1m. Since these artificial constructions have influenced current systems of this region, the large-scale sand movements above mentioned have occurred around the jetty and the sea-wall. There occurred sedimentation in the north of the Jetty and erosion in the south of the Jetty, which is installed at the central part of object area. The direction of recent topographic development does not coincide with that of wind, and, rather, topographic changes occurred mainly at beaches and dunes due to the transformation of coastal water flow caused by artificial structure nearby. If precise measurement is conducted periodically, and long term monitoring is carried out by installing equipment measuring movement pattern of sediment around artificial structure, cause of topographic change around the object area could be discovered.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.157-163
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• 2011

In this study, after the target basin was divided into both overland and channel grids, the travel time from center of each grid cell to watershed's outlet was calculated based on the manning equation. Through this process, volumetric discharge was calculated according to the isochrones and finally, the direct runoff hydrograph was estimated considering watershed's hydrodynamic characteristics. Sanseong subwatershed located in main stream of Bocheong basin was selected as a target basin. The model parameters are only two: area threshold and channel velocity correction factor; the optimized values were estimated at 3,800 and 3.3, respectively. The developed model based on the tuned parameters led to well-matching results between observed and calculated hydrographs (mean of absolute error of peak discharge: 3.41%, mean of absolute error of peak time: 0.67 hr). Moreover, the analysis results regarding histogram of travel time-contribution area demonstrates that the proposed model characterizes relatively well hydrodynamic characteristics of the catchment due to effective rainfall.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.70 no.2
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• pp.169-178
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• 2019

The replacement of damaged components is an important task for long-span bridges. Conventional strategy for component replacement is to close the bridge to traffic, so that the influence of the surrounding environment is reduced to a minimum extent. However, complete traffic interruption would bring substantial economic losses and negative social influence nowadays. This paper investigates traffic control technologies without interruption for component replacement of long-span bridges. A numerical procedure of traffic control technologies is proposed incorporating traffic microsimulation and site-specific data, which is then implemented through a case study of cable replacement of a long-span cable-stayed bridge. Results indicate traffic load effects on the bridge are lower than the design values under current low daily traffic volume, and therefore cable replacement could be conducted without traffic control. However, considering a possible medium or high level of daily traffic volume, traffic load effects of girder bending moment and cable force nearest to the replaced cable become larger than the design level. This indicates a potential risk of failure, and traffic control should be implemented. Parametric studies show that speed control does not decrease but increase the load effects, and flow control using lane closure is not effectual. However, weight control and gap control are very effective to mitigate traffic load effects, and it is recommended to employ a weight control with gross vehicle weight no more than 65 t or/and a gap control with minimum vehicle gap no less than 40 m for the cable replacement of the case bridge.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.109-113
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• 2021

In this study, an automated culture media replacement system was developed to analyze changes in the contraction characteristics of cardiomyocytes according to the state of the culture media. For the long-term storage of culture media, a Peltier refrigerator with a temperature of 5 to 8℃ was provided and a pH of 7.4 was maintained. The cell culture media of the cardiomyocytes was continuously replaced using interlocking pumps at a flow rate of 0.83 μl/h. The cardiomyocytes in which the culture media was replaced automatically demonstrated lower heartbeats per minute compared to samples in which there was no replacement. However, these cardiomyocytes moved more uniformly and produced greater displacement in one heartbeat cycle. It was observed that the sarcomere length of the cardiomyocytes increased due to the automated culture media replacement system. These cardiomyocytes were found to demonstrate better maturation compared to the control group. The maturation of cardiomyocytes was verified through staining images. The proposed automated culture media replacement system generates a uniform heart rate and improvements in contraction force. Based on the study, patient-specific drug toxicity assessments can be conducted using differentiated cardiomyocytes in induced pluripotent stem cells.