• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.134-149
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• 2016

Objectives : Gal-Geun-Tang (GT) has been described from SANGHAN in Korean traditional medicine and known to act against cold, fever, hypertension, and nasal catarrh. However, little has yet been learned about the effect of GT on immune function. In the current study, in vitro and in vivo immunomodulatory activity of GT (water extract) was investigated.Methods : Water extract of GT induced in vitro proliferation of spleen cells and significantly increased their proliferative responses during anti-CD3 activation. Using purified splenic T and B cells, it was revealed that GT has a mitogenic activity to B cells and promotes their proliferation induced by lipopolysaccharide, whereas T cell proliferation was not triggered and GT was rather inhibitory to T cell activation caused by anti-CD3 antibody. In the presence of antigen presenting cells (APC), GT addition resulted in a significant increase of IFNγ and IL-4, but not IL-2, production. However, addition of high concentration (1,000㎍/㎖) of GT led to a marked reduction in T cell cytokine production and under such condition, GT facilitated apoptosis of T cells when examined by flow cytometry with propidium iodide staining.Results : In vivo immunomdulation of GT was also investigated using a mouse model. Following keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) immunization, GT (1 ㎎/day) was orally administered for 9 days. Cell numbers in thymus, spleen and peripheral blood were not altered by GT administration, indicating that such dose is not immunotoxic. Cell numbers in draining lymph nodes (LN) and ex vivo Ag-specific proliferation of LN cells were significantly elevated by GT administration. However, any preferential stimulation of T or B and CD4⁺ or CD8⁺ T cell subpopulations was not observed in a flow cytometric analysis of LN cells. This result shows that GT does not promote in vivo B cell proliferation while GT enhances Ag-specific proliferation of LN cells, unlike what was observed in vitro.Conclusions : For a further understanding of in vivo immunomodulatory activity of GT, ex vivo cytokine production of LN cells obtained from KLH-immunized mice was evaluated. Ag-specific IFNγ production was significantly higher in GT-treated mice when compared to PBS-treated control mice. In contrast, IL-4 production in GT-treated group was comparable to control group unlike to in vitro data. In addition, GT administration did not result in any significant differences in serum levels of Ig (IgM, IgG1 and IgG2a) between GT-treated and control groups. Taken together, these data strongly support that GT promotes immune response, more profoundly type 1 helper T cell (Th1) activity and GT may be applicable for treatment of intracellular parasite infection such as viral diseases.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.230-238
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• 2004

The adverse health effects of a number of environment pollutions are related to the formation of free radicals. Induction of antioxidant defensive system in the response to an oxidative attack is an essential element of the cell to survive. CYP2E1 is easily induced by organic solvents and induces continuous formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). ${\gamma}$-Glutamyltranspeptidase (${\gamma}$GT) plays an important role in glutathione metabolism and xenobiotic detoxification. To evaluate the characteristic of oxidative stress which induces GGT expression and to understand human antioxidant defensive response against oxidative stress induced by CYP2E1, we studied regulation of ${\gamma}$GT enzyme expression in response to various oxidative stresses in human HepG2 cells. The ${\gamma}$GT activity was not modified after exposure of acute oxidative stress inducing agents (ferric nitrilotriacetate, cumene hydroperoxide, ADP-Fe, O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate, tumor necrosis factor-alpha). To induce continuous exposure of cells to ROS, HepG2 cells were transfected by human CYP2E1 gene transiently. The CYP2E1 activity was verified with chlorzoxazone hydroxylation. Transfection of CYP2E1 showed continuous 60% increase in intracellular ROS and 240 % increase in microsomal ROS. CYP2E1 overexpressing cells showed increased ${\gamma}$GT activity (2.5-fold). The observed enhancement of ${\gamma}$GT activity correlated with a significant increase of ${\gamma}$GT mRNA (2.1-fold). Treatment with antioxidant strongly prevented the increase in ${\gamma}$GT activity. The CYP2E1 overexpression did not modify toxicity index and increased glutathione levels. These results show that continuous exposure of cells to ROS produced by CYP2E1 up-regulates ${\gamma}$GT; This may be one of the adaptive antioxidant responses of cells to oxidative insult. Present study also suggests that the induction of ${\gamma}$GT could be used as a marker of oxidative stress induced by exposure to organic solvents.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.71-77
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• 2014

The specific genetic modification in porcine somatic cells by gene targeting has been very difficult because of low efficiency of homologous recombination. To improve gene targeting, we designed three kinds of knock-out vectors with ${\alpha}1,3$-galactosyltransferase gene (${\alpha}1,3$-GT gene), DT-A/pGT5'/neo/pGT3', DT-A/NLS/pGT5'/neo/pGT3' and pGT5'/neo/ pGT3'/NLS. The knock-out vectors consisted of a 4.8-kb fragment as the 5' recombination arm (pGT5') and a 1.9-kb fragment as the 3' recombination arm (pGT3'). We used the neomycin resistance gene (neo) as a positive selectable marker and the diphtheria toxin A (DT-A) gene as a negative selectable marker. These vectors have a neo gene insertion in exon 9 for inactivation of ${\alpha}1,3$-GT locus. DT-A/pGT5'/neo/pGT3' vector contain only positive-negative selection marker with conventional targeting vector. DT-A/NLS/pGT5'/neo/pGT3' vector contain positive-negative selection marker and NLS sequences in upstream of 5' recombination arm which enhances nuclear transport of foreign DNA into bovine somatic cells. pGT5'/neo/pGT3'/NLS vector contain only positive selection marker and NLS sequence in downstream of 3' recombination arm, not contain negative selectable marker. For transfection, linearzed vectors were introduced into porcine ear fibroblasts by electroporation. After 48 hours, the transfected cells were selected with $300{\mu}g/ml$ G418 during 12 day. The G418-resistant colonies were picked, of which 5 colonies were positive for ${\alpha}1,3$-GT gene disruption in 3' PCR and southern blot screening. Three knock-out somatic cells were obtained from DT-A/NLS/ pGT5'/neo/pGT3' knock-out vector. Thus, these data indicate that gene targeting vector using nuclear localization signal and negative selection marker improve targeting efficiency in porcine somatic cells.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.347-356
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• 2020

Gangliosides are glycolipids in which oligosaccharide is combined with sialic acids. Our previous studies have suggested an interplay between ganglioside GD1a/GT1b and meiotic maturation capacity in porcine oocyte maturation. Furthermore, ganglioside GD1a and GT1b are known for its antioxidant activity, but it is still unclear whether possible antioxidant role of GD1a and GT1b is involved in porcine embryos development competence during in vitro culture (IVC). Here, the effects of ganglioside GD1a and GT1b on the embryonic developmental competence during in vitro culture of porcine were investigated. The effects of ganglioside GD1a and GT1b on the expression of ST3GAL2 were confirmed during embryos development (2-cell, 4-cell, 8-cell and blastocyst) using immunofluorescent staining (IF). As a result, the fluorescent expression of ST3GAl2 was higher in embryos at 4-8 cells stage than blastocysts. Blastocyst development rate significantly increased in only 0.1 μM GD1a and GT1b treated groups compared with control group. To investigate the cellular apoptosis, we analyzed TUNEL assay. In case of only 0.1 μM GD1a and GT1b treated groups, the total number of cells in blastocyst compared with control group, but there was no significant difference in the rate of apoptotic cells. We identified the intracellular ROS levels using DCF-DA staining. According to the result, ROS production significantly decreased in blastocysts derived from the 0.1 μM GD1a and GT1b treated groups. These results suggest that ganglioside GD1a and GT1b improve the developmental competence of porcine embryos via reduction of intracellular ROS during preimplantation stage.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.155-161
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• 2009

It has been reported that ganglioside GT1b is expressed during neuronal cell differentiation from undifferentiated mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs), which suggests that ganglioside GT1b has a direct effect on neuronal cell differentiation. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the effect of exogenous addition of ganglioside GT1b to an in vitro model of neuronal cell differentiation from undifferentiated mESCs. The results revealed that a significant increase in the expression of ganglioside GT1b occurred during neuronal differentiation of undifferentiated mESCs. Next, we evaluated the effect of retinoic acid (RA) on GT1b-treated undifferentiated mESCs, which was found to lead to increased neuronal differentiation. Taken together, the results of this study suggest that ganglioside GT1b plays a crucial role in neuronal differentiation of mESCs.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.1945-1952
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• 2008

Sialylation, the attachment of sialic acid residues to a protein, can affect the biological activity and in vivo circulatory half-life of glycoproteins. Human ${\alpha}2$,3-sialyltransferase (${\alpha}2$,3-ST) and ${\beta}1$,4-galactosyltransferase (${\beta}1$,4-GT) are responsible for terminal sialylation and galactosylation, respectively. Enhanced sialylation of human erythropoietin (EPO) by the expression of ${\alpha}2$,3-ST and ${\beta}1$,4-GT was achieved using recombinant Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells (EC1). The sialic acid content and sialylation of N-glycans were evaluated by HPLC. When ${\alpha}2$,3-ST was expressed in CHO cells (EC1-ST2), the sialic acid content (moles of sialic acid/mole of EPO) increased from 6.7 to 7.5. In addition, the amount of trisialylated glycans increased from 17.3% to 26.1 %. When ${\alpha}2$,3-ST and ${\beta}1$,4-GT were coexpressed in CHO cells (EC1-GTST15), the degree of sialylation was greater than that in EC1-ST2 cells. In the case of EC1-GTST15 cells, the sialic acid content increased to 8.2 and the proportion of trisialylated glycans was markedly increased from 17.3% to 35.5%. Interestingly, the amount of asialoglycans decreased only in the case of GTST15 cells (21.4% to 14.2%). These results show that coexpression of ${\alpha}2$,3-ST and ${\beta}1$,4-GT is more effective than the expression of ${\alpha}2$,3-ST alone. Coexpression of ${\alpha}2$,3-ST and ${\beta}1$,4-GT did not affect CHO cell growth and metabolism or EPO production. Thus, coexpression of ${\alpha}2$,3-ST and ${\beta}1$,4-GT may be beneficial for producing therapeutic glycoproteins with enhanced sialylation in CHO cells.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.11
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• pp.1316-1320
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• 2018

The effects of a green tea extract (GTE) were examined using the MCF-7 human breast cancer cell line. Cell viability assays using 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assays revealed that GTE had a significant cytotoxic effect on MCF-7 cells, depending on the concentration of GTE. Western blotting of p53 and its related proteins, p21/cip1 and CDK2, after GTE treatment revealed that a significant and concentration dependent increase in p53 protein in response to GTE. The levels of p21/cip1 proteins were also increased at low GTE concentrations were significantly increased even at the highest GTE concentrations. However, the level of CDK2 was significantly decreased by treatment with high concentrations of GTE. These results indicate that treatment with GTE increased the p53 level in MCF-7 cells, and this activation of p53 markedly elevated the levels of p21/cip1proteins, which, in turn, inhibited CDK2 expression in the MCF-7 cells. The inhibition of CDK2 expression might then affect cell cycle progression. Subsequent FACS analysis indicated that GTE treatment the gradually increased progression of the MCF-7 to the G1 phase. These results clearly demonstrate that the anti-tumor effect of GTE in MCF-7 cells is regulated by p53 arrest of the MCF-7 cells at the G1 stage of cell cycle.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.411.1-411.1
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• 2014

This study evaluates the utility of an antibacterial microneedle composed of green tea extract (GT) and hyaluronic acid (HA), for the efficient delivery of GT. These microneedles have the potential to be a patient-friendly method for the conventional sustained release of drugs. In this study, a fabrication method using a mold-based technique to produce GT/HA microneedles with a maximum area of ${\sim}60mm^2$ with antibacterial properties was used to manufacture transdermal drug delivery systems. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry was carried out to observe the potential modifications in the microneedles, when incorporated with GT. The degradation rate of GT in GT/HA microneedles was controlled simply by adjusting the HA composition. The effects of different ratios of GT in the HA microneedles were determined by measuring the release properties. In HA microneedles loaded with 70% GT (GT70), a continuous higher release rate were sustained for 72 h. The in vitro cytotoxicity assays demonstrated that GT/HA microneedles are not generally cytotoxic to chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO-K1), human embryonic kidney cells (293T), and mouse muscle cells (C2C12), which were treated for 12 and 24 h. Antimicrobial activity of the GT/HA microneedles was demonstrated by ~95% growth reduction of gram negative [Escherichia coli (E. coli), Pseudomonas putida (P. putida) and Salmonella typhimurium (S. typhimurium)] and gram positive bacteria [Staphylococcus aureus (S. Aureus) and Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis)], with GT70. Furthermore, GT/HA microneedles reduced bacterial growth in the infected skin wound sites and improved skin wound healing process in rat model.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.59-67
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• 2015

Galactose-${\alpha}1,3$-galactose (${\alpha}1,3$-Gal) epitope is synthesized at a high concentration on the surface of pig cells by ${\alpha}1,3$-galactosyltransferase gene (GGTA1). The ${\alpha}1,3$-Gal is responsible for hyperacute rejection in pig-to-human xenotransplantation. The generation of transgenic pigs as organ donors for humans is necessary to eliminate the GGTA1 gene that synthesize $Gal{\alpha}$(1,3)Gal. To prevent hyperacute graft rejection in pig-to-human xenotransplantation, previously, we developed ${\alpha}1,3$-galactosyltransferase gene-knock-out somatic cell by homologous recombination. In this study, we established cell lines of ${\alpha}1,3$-GT knock-out expressing hDAF and hHT gene from minipig fibroblasts to apply somatic cell nuclear transfer. The hDAF and hHT mRNA were expressed in the knock-in somatic cells and ${\alpha}1,3$-GT mRNA was suppressed. However, the knock-in somatic cells were increased resistance to human serum-mediated cytolysis.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.483-488
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• 1998

We previously found that a potent gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist, buserelin, decreases GnRH promoter activity together with GnRH mRNA level, providing evidence for an autoregulatory mechanism operating at the level of GnRH gene transcription in immortalized GT1-1 neuronal cells. To examine whether agonist-induced decrease in GnRH mRNA level requires the continuous presence of buserelin, we performed a pulse-chase experiment of buserelin treatment. Short-term exposure (15 min) of GT1-1 neuronal cells to buserelin ($10{\mu}M$) was able to decrease GnRH mRNA levels when determined 24 h later. When GT1-1 cells were treated with buserelin ( $10{\mu}M$) for 30 min and then incubated for 1, 3, 6, 12, 24, and 48 h after buserelin removal, a significant decrease in GnRH mRNA levels was observed after the 12 h incubation period. These data indicate that inhibitory signaling upon buserelin treatment may occur rapidly, but requires a long time (at least 12 h) to significantly decrease the GnRH mRNA level. To examine the possible involvement of de novo synthesis and/or mRNA stability in buserelin-induced decrease in GnRH gene expression, actinomycin D ($5{\mu}m/ml$), a potent RNA synthesis blocker, was co-treated with buserelin. Actinomycin D alone failed to alter basal GnRH mRNA Revel, but blocked the buserelin-induced decrease in GnRH mRNA level at 12 h of post-treatment. These data suggest that buserelin may exert its inhibitory action by altering the stability of GnRH mRNA. Moreover, a polvsomal RNA separation by sucrose gradient centrifugation demonstrated that buserelin decreased the translational efficiency of the transcribed GnRH mRNA. Taken together, these results clearly indicate that GnRH agonist buserelin acts as an inhibitory signal at multiple levels such as transcription mRNA stability, and translation.