• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.79-85
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• 2010

Enhancement effect of ultrasonification process on UV-protection and skin-whitening activities using Centella asiatica L. Urban extract was investigated. Cytotoxicity of the extracts measured on human skin fibroblast cells, CCD-986sk, and then, ultrasonification associated extracts showed 5~9% lower cytotoxicity then normal crude extracts on 1.0 mg/$m{\ell}$ of highest sample concentration. The associated extrats showed highest inhibition activity of hyaluronidase on 1.0 mg/$m{\ell}$ of concentration as 54.2%. Also, the associated extract reduced expression of MMP-1 on UV-irradiated CCD-986sk cells down to 100.2% from 136.1%, and revealed high inhibitory potency on tyrosinase as 74.6% by adding 1.0 mg/$m{\ell}$ of concentration. Ultrasonification associated extract showed strong inhibition effect of melanin production on Clone M-3 cells as 84.2% by adding 1.0 mg/$m{\ell}$ of concentration. From the preliminary observations, we considered that the extracts from C. asiatica could be potent natural materials for skin-whitening and anti-aging agent, and could enhance the activities by ultrasonification process.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.74-79
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• 2008

The aim of this study was to analyze the chemical composition of 14 kinds of citrus oils and to test their biological activities. Citrus essential oils were obtained by steam distillation from immature fruits collected from Jeju Island and were analyzed using gas chromatograph (GC)-flame ionization detectors (FID) and GC-MS. Limonene (55.4% to 91.7%), myrcene (2.1% to 32.1%), ${\alpha}$-pinene (0.6% to 1.6%) and linalool (0.4% to 6.9%) were the major components in most citrus species. To evaluate in vitro antibacterial activity, all essential oils were tested against Propionibacterium acnes and Staphylococcus epidermidis. Nine out of fourteen citrus oils exhibited antibacterial activity against P. acnes, but not against S. epidermidis. The effects of the citrus oils on DPPH radical scavenging, superoxide radical anion scavenging, nitric oxide radical, and cytotoxicity were also assessed. Three essential citrus oils, Joadeung, Dongjunggyul, and Bujiwha, exhibited potent inhibitory effects on nitric oxide production. Two essential oils, Dongjunggyul and Joadeung, showed potent free radical scavenging activities in the DPPH assay. For future applications in cosmetic products, we also performed MTT assays in a human dermal fibroblast cell line. The majority of the essential oils showed no cytotoxicity. The results indicate that citrus essential oils can be useful natural agents for cosmetic application.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.425-430
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• 2011

This study evaluated the effect of extraction conditions of yam (Dioscorea aimadoimo) on antioxidant, moisturizing, collagenase activity, proliferation, and migration. Yam has been recognized as a healthy food due to its various biological activities, such as anti-obesity, anti-constipation, anti-mutagenic activities, as well as its ability to decrease blood glucose and cholesterol levels. Electron donating ability of high temperature ethanol extract of Dioscorea aimadoimo (HDA) had shown 70.6% at 400 mg/ml, and low temperature ethanol extract of Dioscorea aimadoimo (LDA) had shown 40% at 400 mg/ml. SOD-like activities of LDA and HDA were 23% and 34% at 400 mg/ml respectively. LDA significantly reduced the activity of collagenase in a dose-dependent manner, which was higher than HDA. The water contents in LDA-treated skin and HDA-treated skin were increased by 45.63% and 38.65% than the placebo cream respectively. The cellular proliferation of human dermal fibroblast neonatal (HDFn) was evaluated by MTT and cell migration assay. Compared to control, the cell proliferation was elevated to 109.7% and 114% by the treatment of LDA and HDA respectively at the concentration of 200 mg/ml. In addition, LDA and HDA were induced cell migration in HDFn. Our study suggests that LDA and HDA should be a very useful cosmetic ingredient, as anti-aging and skin moisturizer.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.119-128
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• 2016

Angelica polymorpha Maxim root extract (APRE) is a popular herbal medicine used for treating stomachache, abdominal pain, stomach ulcers, and rheumatism; however the effect of APRE on cancer cells has not yet been explored. Here, we examined APRE cytotoxicity seen on target neuroblastoma cells (NB) using cell viability assays, DAPI visualization of fragmented DNA, and Western blotting analysis of candidate signaling pathways involved in proliferation and apoptosis. We demonstrated that APRE reduced cell viability in NB to a greater extent than in fibroblast cells. In addition, we found that APRE could inhibit the three classes of MAPK proteins and could also down-regulate the PI3K/AKT/GSK-$3{\beta}$ activity all being relevant for proliferation and survival. APRE could also up-regulate Bax expression and down-regulate Bcl-2 and Mcl-1. With APRE treatment, depolarization of mitochondria membrane potential and activation of caspase-3 was demonstrated in the SH-SY5Y cells. We could not found increased activity of death receptor and caspase-8 as markers of the extrinsic apoptosis pathway for the APRE treated cells. In presence of a caspase-3 siRNA and a pan-caspase inhibitor, APRE could not reduce the viability of NB cells to a significant degree. So we predicted that with APRE, the intrinsic pathway was solely responsible for inducing apoptosis as we also showed that the non-caspase autophagy pathway or ER stress-ROS mediated pathways were not involved. These findings demonstrate that an intrinsic mitochondria-mediated apoptosis pathway mediates the apoptotic effects of APRE on SH-SY5Y cells, and that APRE shows promise as a novel agent for neuroblastoma therapy.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.679-684
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• 2009

Purpose: Human lipoaspirate cells are relatively easy to obtain in large quantities without cell culture. The aim of this in vitro pilot study was to determine the effect of cell therapy using uncultured lipoaspirate cells on cell proliferation and collagen synthesis of diabetic fibroblasts, which are the major contributing factors in wound healing. Methods: In order to get diabetic fibroblasts, dermis tissues were obtained from foot skin of diabetic patients who underwent debridements or toe amputations(n = 4). In order to isolate lipoaspirate cells, the same diabetic patients' abdominal adipose tissues were obtained by liposuction. The diabetic fibroblasts were co - cultured with or without autogenous lipoaspirate cells using porous culture plate insert. Initial numbers of the lipoaspirate cells and diabetic fibroblasts seeded were 15,000 cells/well, respectively. For cell proliferation assay, two treatment groups were included. In group I, diabetic fibroblasts were cultured with the insert having no cells, which serves as a control. In group II, the lipoaspirate cells were added in the culture plate insert. For collagen synthesis assay, one additional group(group III), in which diabetic fibroblasts were not seeded in the well and only lipoaspirate cells inside the insert were incubated without diabetic fibroblasts, was included for a reference. Results: One hundred to one hundred sixty thousand lipoaspirate cells were isolated per ml of aspirated adipose tissue. After 3 - day incubation, the mean cell numbers in group I and II were 17,294/well and 22,163/well. The mean collagen level in group I, II, and III were 29, 41, and 2 ng/ml, respectively. These results imply that both cell proliferation and collagen synthesis in the lipoaspirate cell treatment group were 28 and 44 percents higher than in the control group, respectively(p < 0.05). Conclusion: Uncultured lipoaspirate cell autografts may stimulate the wound healing activity of diabetic fibroblasts.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.474-480
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• 2018

Most angiogenesis assays are performed using endothelial cells. However, blood vessels are composed of two cell types: endothelial cells and pericytes. Thus, co-culture of two vascular cells should be employed to evaluate angiogenic properties. Here, we developed an in vitro 3-dimensional angiogenesis assay system using spheroids formed by two human vascular precursors: endothelial colony forming cells (ECFCs) and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). ECFCs, MSCs, or ECFCs+MSCs were cultured to form spheroids. Sprout formation from each spheroid was observed for 24 h by real-time cell recorder. Sprout number and length were higher in ECFC+MSC spheroids than ECFC-only spheroids. No sprouts were observed in MSC-only spheroids. Sprout formation by ECFC spheroids was increased by treatment with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) or combination of VEGF and fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2). Interestingly, there was no further increase in sprout formation by ECFC+MSC spheroids in response to VEGF or VEGF+FGF-2, suggesting that MSCs stimulate sprout formation by ECFCs. Immuno-fluorescent labeling technique revealed that MSCs surrounded ECFC-mediated sprout structures. We tested vatalanib, VEGF inhibitor, using ECFC and ECFC+MSC spheroids. Vatalanib significantly inhibited sprout formation in both spheroids. Of note, the $IC_{50}$ of vatalanib in ECFC+MSC spheroids at 24 h was $4.0{\pm}0.40{\mu}M$, which are more correlated with the data of previous animal studies when compared with ECFC spheroids ($0.2{\pm}0.03{\mu}M$). These results suggest that ECFC+MSC spheroids generate physiologically relevant sprout structures composed of two types of vascular cells, and will be an effective pre-clinical in vitro assay model to evaluate pro- or anti-angiogenic property.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.61-67
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• 2009

This study carried out development of a natural antimicrobial agent from Schima wallichii ssp. liukiuensis. Compound I exhibiting potent antimicrobial activity against Candida spp. was isolated from the methanol extracts of Schima wallichii ssp. liukiuensis. The structure of I identified as a sterol glycoside consisted of a trisaccharide and ${\alpha}_1$-sitosterol. Trisaccharide composed of L-rhamnose, D-galactose and D-glucose residues. The antimicrobial activity of I was selective on yeast rather than bacteria or other fungi. Compound I was demonstrated to be ineffective against toxicity to mouse liver cells where as protective to human dermal fibroblast cells at low concentrations. Thus, it is reasonable to expect a sterol glycoside (I) as a valuable alternative for synthetic antifungal.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.79-84
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• 2015

The Korean native pig (KNP) have been considered as animal models for animal biotechnology research because of their relatively small body size and their presumably highly inbred status due to the closed breeding program. However, little is reported about the use of KNP for animal biotechnology researches. This study was performed to establish the somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) protocol for the production of swine leukocyte antigens (SLA) homotype-defined SCNT KNP. The ear fibroblast cells originated from KNP were cultured and used as donor cell. After thawing, the donor cells were cultured for 1 hour with 15 ${\mu}M$ roscovitine prior to the nuclear transfer. The numbers of reconstructed and parthenogenetic embryos transferred were $98{\pm}35.2$ and $145{\pm}11.2$, respectively. The pregnancy and delivery rate were 3/5 (60%) and 2/5 (40%). One healthy SLA homotype-defined SCNT KNP was successfully generated. The recipient-based individual cloning efficiency ranged from 0.65 to 1.08%. Taken together, it can be postulated that the methodological establishment of the production of SLA homotype-defined cloned KNP can be applied to the generation of transgenic cloned KNP as model animals for human disease and xenotransplantation researches.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.1423-1429
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• 2009

Rhizopus oryzae KSD-815 was isolated from nuruk that has been used to make Korean traditional wines. This study was performed to investigate the effect of cultures of R. oryzae KSD-815 on cardiovascular disorders and cancer metastasis. Firstly, these cultures were sequentially fractionationed with n-hexane (TAHe), ethylacetate (TAE), n-butanol (TAB), and $H_2O$ (TAW). The TAE inhibited the activity of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) and TAB suppressed platelet aggregation in vitro. TAE and TAB inhibited cell motility of human breast cancer cells. Furthermore, TAW interrupted the formation of neovasculature and tube-like structure, and down-regulated the expression of angiogenic factors, basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), tumor necrosis factor-$\alpha$ (TNF-$\alpha$), and hypoxia-inducible factor-$1{\alpha}$ (HIF-$1{\alpha}$) in breast cancer cells. These results indicated that cultures of R. oryzae KSD-815 display the inhibitory activities on hypertension, platelet aggregation, and metastasis, and suggest that these cultures might be further probed for the purposes as therapeutic agents or dietary supplements.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.167-175
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• 2011

Purpose: Periodontal ligament (PDL) cell differentiation into osteoblasts is important in bone formation. Bone formation is a complex biological process and involves several tightly regulated gene expression patterns of bone-related proteins. The expression patterns of bone related proteins are regulated in a temporal manner both in vivo and in vitro. The aim of this study was to observe the gene expression profile in PDL cell proliferation, differentiation, and mineralization in vitro. Methods: PDL cells were grown until confluence, which were then designated as day 0, and nodule formation was induced by the addition of 50 ${\mu}g$/mL ascorbic acid, 10 mM ${\beta}$-glycerophosphate, and 100 nM dexamethasone to the medium. The dishes were stained with Alizarin Red S on days 1, 7, 14, and 21. Real-time polymerase chain reaction was performed for the detection of various genes on days 0, 1, 7, 14, and 21. Results: On day 0 with a confluent monolayer, in the active proliferative stage, c-myc gene expression was observed at its maximal level. On day 7 with a multilayer, alkaline phosphatase, bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-2, and BMP-4 gene expression had increased and this was followed by maximal expression of osteocalcin on day 14 with the initiation of nodule mineralization. In relationship to apoptosis, c-fos gene expression peaked on day 21 and was characterized by the post-mineralization stage. Here, various genes were regulated in a temporal manner during PDL fibroblast proliferation, extracellular matrix maturation, and mineralization. The gene expression pattern was similar. Conclusions: We can speculate that the gene expression pattern occurs during PDL cell proliferation, differentiation, and mineralization. On the basis of these results, it might be possible to understand the various factors that influence PDL cell proliferation, extracellular matrix maturation, and mineralization with regard to gene expression patterns.