• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.421-428
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• 2012

In this study, the effects of surface oxide film formation on the fatigue behavior of 7075-T6 aluminum alloy were analyzed in terms of the corrosion time of the alloy. The aluminum material used is known to have high corrosion resistance due to the passivation phenomenon that prevents corrosion. Aluminum alloys have been widely used in various industrial applications such as aircraft component manufacturing because of their lighter weight and higher strength than other materials. Therefore, studies on the fatigue behavior of materials and passivation properties that prevent corrosion are required. The fatigue behavior in terms of the corrosion time was analyzed by using a four-pointing bending machine, and the surface corrosion level of the aluminum material in terms of the corrosion time was estimated by measuring the surface roughness. In addition, fractographic analysis was performed and the oxide films formed on the material surface were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results indicated that corrosion actively progressed for four weeks during the initial corrosion phase, the fatigue life significantly decreased, and the surface roughness increased. However, after four weeks, the corrosion reaction tended to slow down due to the passivation phenomenon of the material. Therefore, on the basis of SEM analysis results, it was concluded that the growth of the surface oxide film was reduced after four weeks and then the oxide film on the material surface served as a protection layer and prevented further corrosion.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.44-52
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• 2015

In the present study, the substance that show anti-proliferation of cancer cells as well as anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effect was searched. As a results, the methanol extract of Pogostemon cablin (P. cablin), is a well-known herb for traditional medicine in Korea and China for treating the digestive disorders, less of appetite, vomiting and diarrhea, inhibited the growth of various cancer cells such as A549, HepG2, MCF7 and HT29 cells. Cytotoxic effect of methanol extraction of P. cablin was excellent in A549 cells. P. cablin extract induced cell cycle arrest at G1 phase of A549 in a dose dependent manner. And it induced phosphorylation of p38 and Cdc25A and reduced expression of Cdc25A, Cdks, Cyclins and phospho-Retinoblastoma (Rb) proteins. Therefore, P. cablin extract seems to act through the p38 - Cdc25A - Cdk - Cyclin - Rb pathway in A549 cells. In addition, P. cablin extract showed anti-oxidant effect by DPPH free radical scavenging assay and anti-inflammation effect by inhibition of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced nitric oxide (NO) in RAW 264.7 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Taken together, these results suggest that P. cablin may be used as not only candidate materials for anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant, moreover, it would be possible utilized in various health functional food materials.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.93-100
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• 2015

Pachymic acid (PA) is a lanostane-type triterpenoid derived from the Poria cocos mushroom. Several beneficial biological features of PA provide medicine with a wide variety of valuable effects, such as anticancer and anti-inflammatory activity; it also has antioxidant effects against oxidative stress. Nonetheless, the biological properties and mechanisms that produce this anti-cancer action of PA remain largely undetermined. In this study, we investigated the pro-apoptotic effects of PA in T24 human bladder cancer cells. It was found that PA could inhibit the cell growth of T24 cells in a dose-dependent manner, which was associated with the induction of apoptotic cell death, as evidenced by the formation of apoptotic bodies and chromatin condensation and accumulation of cells in the sub-G1 phase. The induction of apoptotic cell death by PA was connected with an up-regulation of pro-apoptotic Bax and Bad protein expression and down-regulation of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL proteins, and inhibition of apoptosis family proteins. In addition, apoptosis-inducing concentrations of PA induced the activation of caspase-9, an initiator caspase of the mitochondrial-mediated intrinsic pathway, and caspase-3, accompanied by proteolytic degradation of poly (ADP-ribose)-polymerase. PA also induced apoptosis via a death receptor-mediated extrinsic pathway by caspase-8 activation, resulting in the truncation of Bid and suggesting the existence of cross-talk between the extrinsic and intrinsic pathways. Taken together, the present results suggest that PA may be a potential chemotherapeutic agent for the control of human bladder cancer cells.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.884-890
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• 2008

Genistein, an isoflavone in soybean products, is a potential chemopreventive agent against various types of cancer. There are several studies documenting molecular alterations leading to cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase and induction of apoptosis; however, its mechanism of action and its molecular targets on the prostaglandin $E_2$ ($PGE_2$) production and telomere length regulation in human cancer remain unclear. In this study, we investigated the effect of genistein on the levels of cyclooxygenases (COXs) and telomere regulatory components of several human cancer cell lines (T24, human bladder carcinoma cells; U937, human leukemic cells; AGS, human stomach adenocarcinoma cells and SK-MEL-2, human skin melanoma cells). Genistein treatment resulted in the inhibition of cancer cell proliferation in a concentration-dependent manner. It was found that genistein treatment markedly decreased the levels of COX-2 mRNA and protein expression without significant changes in the expression of COX-1, which was correlated with a decrease in $PGE_2$ synthesis. Genistein treatment also partly inhibited the levels of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) as well as human telomerase RNA (hTR) and telomerase-associated protein (TEP)-1, and the activity of telomerase. Taken together, these findings provide important new insights into the possible molecular mechanisms of the anti-cancer activity of genistein.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.804-813
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• 2008

Cordyceps militaris, the Chinese medicinal fungal genus Cordyceps, is reported to possess many pharmacological activities including immunological stimulating, anti-cancer, anti-virus and anti-infection activities. However, the molecular mechanisms of C. militaris on biochemical actions in cancer have not been clearly elucidated yet. In the present study, we investigated the anti-proliferative activity of the water extract of C. militaris (WECM) in human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells. It was found that WECM could inhibit the cell growth in a dose-dependent manner, which was associated with morphological changes and apoptotic cell death such as formation of apoptotic bodies and increased populations of apoptotic sub-G1 phase. Apoptotic cell death of HepG2 cells by WECM was connected with a up-regulation of pro-apoptotic Bax expression, tumor suppressor p53 and cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21 (WAF1/CIP1). In addition, WECM treatment induced the proteolytic activation of caspase-3 and a concomitant degradation and/or inhibition of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), ${\beta}-catenin$ and phospholipase $(PLC)-{\gamma}1$ protein. Furthermore, caspase-3 inhibitor, z-DEVD-fmk, significantly inhibited WECM-induced apoptosis demonstrating the important role of caspase-3 in the observed cytotoxic effect. Taken together, these findings provide important new insights into the possible molecular mechanisms of the anti-cancer activity of C. militaris.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2009

In this paper, to elucidate the further mechanisms of N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG)-induced growth arrest, we investigated the effect of MNNG on cell cycle and proliferation in U937 cells, a p53-null human myeloid leukemia cell line. It was found that MNNG causes an arrest at the G2/M phase of the cell cycle and induces apoptosis, which is closely correlated to inhibition of cyclin B1 and cyelin-dependent kinase (Cdk) 2-associated kinase activities. MNNG treatment in. creased protein and mRNA levels of the Cdk inhibitor p21(WAF1/CIP1), and activated the reporter construct of a p21 promoter. By using p21 promoter deletion constructs, the MNNG-responsive element was mapped to a region between 113 and 61 relative to the transcription start site. These data indicate that in U937 cells MNNG can circumvent the loss of wild-type p53 function and induce critical downstream regulatory events leading to transcriptional activation of p21. Present results indicate that the p53-independent up-regulation of p21 by MNNG is likely responsible for the inhibition of cyclin/Cdk complex kinase activity rather than the down-regulation of cyclins and Cdks expression. These novel phenomena have not been previously described and provide important new insights into the possible biological effects of MNNG.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.9-14
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• 1997

Vibrio mimicus is a closely related species with V. cholerae, and has been reported to be associated with gastrointestinal infections. Although extraintestinal infections of these vibrios have also been reported in Japan and Southeast Asia. But little research papers on V. mimicus was reported in Korea. Therefore, we tried to isolate V. mimicus from the environmental sea water from April to July in Pusan, Korea. Among the isolated strains, we selected the strongest hemolytic strain and then named V. mimicus SM-9. In this paper, we checked the antibiotic susceptibility and psychrotrophic characteristics of the isolated strain. Hemolytic activity of the hemolysin produced by the isolated strain was also measured. V. mimicus was not detected from the sea water samples in April and May, but its detection rate was relatively high in June and July in Pusan, Korea. The bacteriological characteristics of V. mimicus SM-9 were Gram-negative rods, motile, oxidase positive, Voges-Proskauer negative and sucrose negative. In 23 kinds of antibiotics susceptibility test, V. mimicus SM-9 showed susceptibility to the most of antibiotics submitted while it was resistive against lincomycin, oxacillin, rifampin and vancomycin. Hemolytic activity of the hemolysin produced by V. mimicus SM-9 was highest in stationary phase of the growth curve in BHI broth at 37$^{\circ}C$ and its activity was reached 18 HU per $m\ell$ of culture supernatant. For checking the psychrotrophic property of V. mimicus SM-9, the decreasing rate of the strain in phosphate buffer solution and yellowtail flesh homogenate was examined during the storage at 4, 0, -4 and -2$0^{\circ}C$. The decreasing rates of the selected strain stored in phosphate buffer solution were greater than those in fish homogenate. Decreasing rates of V. mimicus SM-9 stored in phosphate buffer solution were not significantly different by the storage temperatures. The viable cell counts of the strain were decreased as 5 log cycles after 120 hours at all the tested temperatures. While decreasing numbers of the strain in fish homogenates were 2*4 log cycles after 120 hours. The decreasing pattern of the strain numbers were very slow after 200 hours at all the stored temperatures.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.289-293
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• 1998

We investigated the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity in methanol extracts of 64 cultured cell lines, which were derived from various plant species, and the ascorbate content in cell lines, which showed a high radical scavenging activity. Thirteen cell lines revealed the antioxidative activity ($IC_{50}$) by methanol extracts of less than 50 mg in cell fresh wt. Of them, six cell lines showed the same Rf value as ascorbate on the DPPH sprayed silica gel TLC. The ascorbate content in cell lines of Rosa multiflora, Scutellaria baicalensis, and Achyranthes japonica showed 48.5, 30.3, and $16.8\;\mu\textrm{g}$ per g cell fresh wt by HPLC analysis, respectively. In callus cultures of S. baicalensis, the concentration of ascorbate reached a maximun ($39{\pm}3.4\;\mu\textrm{g}/g$ cell fresh wt) on 30 days after subculture, which corresponded to the stationary growth phase, and subsequently decreased by successive culturing.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.15 no.3 s.70
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• pp.397-405
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• 2005

Sulforaphane, an isothiocyanate derived from hydrolysis of glucoraphanin in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables, was shown to induce phase II detoxification enzymes and inhibit chemically induced mammary tumors in rodents. Recently, sulforaphane is known to induce cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in human cancer cells, however its molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. In the present study, we demonstrated that sulforaphane acted to inhibit proliferation and induce morphological changes of human cervical carcinoma HeLa cells. Treatment of HeLa cells with $10{\mu}M\;or\;15{\mu}M$ sulforaphane resulted in significant G2/M cell cycle arrest as determined by flow cytometry. Moreover, $20{\mu}M$ sulforaphane significantly induced the population of sub-G1 cells (9.83 fold of control). This anti-proliferative effect of sulforaphane was accompanied by a marked inhibition of cyclin A and cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk)4 protein and concomitant induction of Cdc2, Cdk inhibitor p16 and p21. However, sulforaphane did not affect the levels of cyelooxygenases and telomere-regulatory gene products. Although further studies are needed, the present work suggests that sulforaphane may be a potential chemoprevetive/ chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of human cancer cells.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.286-293
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• 2016

This study is an experiment for gastric protective effects of ursolic acid. In order to identify the effects of ursolic acid on gastrointestinal disorder, acute and chronic gastritis were also observed using HCl ethanol and indomethacin-induced gastric lesion models, respectively. As for gastric acid, it was also identified through proton pump ($H^+/K^+-ATPase$) inhibiting activity. In regards to protective factor for gastric damage, prostaglandin $E_2$ ($PGE_2$) was quantitatively analyzed. Antibacterial activity experiment was done on Helicobacter pylori (H.pylori), which is known to be the causing factor of chronic gastritis, gastric ulcer and gastric cancer. By making use of AGS cell, it was confirmed that ursolic acid was involved in apoptosis of gastric cancer cell through 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindol (DAPI) staining and flow cytometry analysis. As a result, ursolic acid reduced gastric lesions caused by HCl ethanol and indomethacin. Ursolic acid inhibited acid secretion by inhibiting proton pump ($H^+/K^+-ATPase$), which is the gastric acid secreting enzyme involved at the final phase of gastric acid secretion. And ursolic acid was identified with gastric mucosa protection effects by increasing the concentration of $PGE_2$, a protective factor of gastric mucosa preservation. The antibacterial activity on H. pylori, which is aggressive factor in gastrointestinal disorder, ursolic acid showed inhibitory effects on H. pylori colonization. In the DAPI nuclear staining, unlike the control group, shape of the nucleus has deformed, and has been observed either shrinked cell or chromatin condensation phenomenon. In the Flow cytometry assay, confirmed the growth rate of apoptosis in a concentration-dependent manner.