• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• 제33권3호
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• pp.407-417
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• 1993

Bupleurum falcatum has been used for treatment of inflammation, jaundice, influenza and hepatitis as a traditional orient folk medicine. This experiment was carried out to evaluate the effect of B falcatum extract on cellular immune responses in vivo and in vitro. Antigen binding cell(ABC) assay, antibody production, Arthus and delayed-type hypersensitivity(DTH) reaction against sheep erythrocytes(SRBC) were very depressed in B falcatum extract treated group in vivo. The growth of Staphylococcus aureus in brain heart infusion(BHI) broth containing B falcatum extract was remarkably inhibited. Otherwise, that of Salmonella typhyimurium was not significantly increased in vitro. When B falcatum extract pretreated mice were intraperitoneally(IP) injected S typhimurium and S aureus, respectively, the number of bacteria in peritoneal exudates were time dependent declination compared with those of control, and the weight of spleen and the number of macrophage migration into peritoneal cavity have no difference from those of untreated control. B falcatum extract gradually increased phagocytic activities of peritoneal macrophage against Candida albicans time and dose dependently, and was not significant production of migration inhibiotory factor(MIF). But migration abilities of normal leucocytes in B falcatum extract pretreated group were decreased dose dependently. When B falcatum extract was IP administered, these data indicate that B falcatum extract increases level of serum coticosterone. Therefore, B falcatum extract was indirectly mediated in immune system by serum coticosterone having relation to immunosuppression. These results lead to the conclusion that B falcatum extract acts as a trigger or regulator of cellular immune responses in immune system.

• BMB Reports
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• 제36권5호
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• pp.488-492
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• 2003

Neurofilament-L (NF-L) is a major element of neuronal cytoskeletons and known to be important for neuronal survival in vivo. Since oxidative stress might play a critical role in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases, we investigated the role of copper and peroxide in the modification of NF-L. When disassembled NF-L was incubated with copper ion and hydrogen peroxide, then the aggregation of protein was proportional to copper and hydrogen peroxide concentrations. Dityrosine crosslink formation was obtained in copper-mediated NF-L aggregates. The copper-mediated modification of NF-L was significantly inhibited by thiol antioxidants, N-acetylcysteine, glutathione, and thiourea. A thioflavin-T binding assay was performed to determine whether the copper/$H_2O_2$ system-induced in vitro aggregation of NF-L displays amyloid-like characteristics. The aggregate of NF-L displayed thioflavin T reactivity, which was reminiscent of amyloid. This study suggests that copper-mediated NF-L modification might be closely related to oxidative reactions which may play a critical role in neurodegenerative diseases.

• KSBB Journal
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• 제28권2호
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• pp.137-145
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• 2013

In order to develop new skin whitening agents, we prepared the $CH_2Cl_2$ layer (NGC) and BuOH layer (NGB) of 75% EtOH extract of the Nelumbinis nucifera Gaertner. We measured their tyrosinase inhibitory activity in vitro and melanin synthesis inhibitory activity in B16-F1 melanoma cells. They did not show inhibitory activity against mushroom tyrosinase but showed melanin synthesis inhibitory activity in a dose-dependent manner. In a melanin synthesis inhibition assay, NGC and NGB suppressed melanin production up to 52% and 46% at a concentration of $100{\mu}g/mL$, respectively. To elucidate the mechanism of the inhibitory effects of NGC and NGB on melanogenesis, we measured the expression of melanogenesis-related proteins by western blot assay. As a result, NGC suppressed the expression of tyrosinase, tyrosinase related protein 1 (TRP-1), tyrosinase related protein 2 (TRP-2), phosphorylated cAMP responsive element binding (p-CREB) protein, and microphthalmia associated transcription factor (MITF). And NGB inhibited the protein expression of tyrosinase and MITF, but had no significant effect on TRP-1, TRP-2, and p-CREB expression. Moreover, NGB increased the expression of phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (p-ERK). In addition, we examined the inhibitory effect on the glycosylation of tyrosinase. As a result, NGC and NGB inhibited the activity of ${\alpha}$-glucosidase in vitro and the glycosylation of tyrosinase in B16-F1 melanoma cells. From these results, we concluded that NGC and NGB could be used as active ingredients for skin whitening.

• BMB Reports
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• 제38권4호
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• pp.381-385
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• 2005

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is an emerging infectious disease associated with a novel coronavirus (CoV) that was identified and molecularly characterized in 2003. Previous studies on various coronaviruses indicate that protein-protein interactions amongst various coronavirus proteins are critical for viral assembly and morphogenesis. It is necessary to elucidate the molecular mechanism of SARS-CoV replication and rationalize the anti-SARS therapeutic intervention. In this study, we employed an in vitro GST pull-down assay to investigate the interaction between the membrane (M) and the nucleocapsid (N) proteins. Our results show that the interaction between the M and N proteins does take place in vitro. Moreover, we provide an evidence that 12 amino acids domain (194-205) in the M protein is responsible for binding to N protein. Our work will help shed light on the molecular mechanism of the virus assembly and provide valuable information pertaining to rationalization of future anti-viral strategies.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• 제28권6호
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• pp.505-510
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• 2003

In Korea, due to its broad efficacy as a systemic insecticide, imidacloprid has been widely used in rice paddies to control sucking insects, soil insects, and some chewing insects and in apple orchards to control various insects pests. To quantify the imidacloprid residue concentrations, samples are assayed in vitro using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays(ELISA). These assays generally require several hours to perform. As a biosensor, a competitive imidacloprid ELISA was modified to measure insecticide concentrations. It was found that a total assay time of 15 min(10-min antibody-antigen binding, and 5-min substrate development) is sufficient for monitoring imidacloprid concentrations. Further work is needed to improve the sensitivity of the measurement protocol.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• 제20권2호
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• pp.119-127
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• 2007

Phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase Cδ (PLCδ) plays an important role in many cellular responses and is involved in the production of second messenger. The present study was conducted to characterize the catalytic and regulatory properties of the PLCδ of Misgurnus mizolepis (ML-PLCδ). The ML-PLCδ gene was cloned and expressed under according to the method of the previous report (Kim et al., 2004), and its recombinant protein was purified by successive chromatography using Ni2+-NTA affinity column. The recombinant ML-PLCδ showed a concentration-dependent PLC activity to phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) or phosphatidylinositol (PI). Its activity was absolutely Ca2+-dependence, which was similar to mammalian PLCδ isozymes. The Ca2+ concentration yielding maximal activation of ML-PLCδ was 100 μM. However, the activity was decreased interestingly by a polyamine, such as spermine and spermidine. In vitro assay using cholate-micelle cell, ML-PLCδ activity was inhibited in dose-dependent manner by sphinogosine but increased by phosphocholine . In the lipid-binding assay, ML-PLCδ was strongly bound to LPA, PI(3)P, PI(4)P, PI(5)P, PI(3,5)P2, PI(4,5)P2, PI(3,4,5)P3 and PA, but it showed the low affinity to S1P, PI(3,4)P2 and PS. Taken together our results, it is suggested that the general catalytic and regulatory properties of ML-PLCδ are similar with those of mammalian PLCδ1 isozymes, but the N-terminal extended piscine phospholipase Cδ1 (ML-PLCδ) might reflect some distinctions in regulatory properties and inositol-lipid binding specificity between piscine ML-PLCδ and mammalian PLCδ isozymes.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제18권2호
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• pp.383-391
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• 2008

The glycans linked to the insect cell-derived glycoproteins are known to differ from those expressed in mammalian cells, partly because of the low level or lack of glycosyltransferase activities. GnT II, GnT IV, GnT V, and ST3Gal IV, which play important roles in the synthesis of tetraantennarytype complex glycan structures in mammalian cells, were overexpressed in Trichoplusia ni cells by using a baculovirus expression vector. The glycosyltransferases, expressed as a fusion form with the IgG-binding domain, were secreted into the culture media and purified using IgG sepharose resin. The enzyme assay, performed using a pyridylaminated-sugar chain as an acceptor, indicated that the purified glycosyltransferases retained their enzyme activities. Human erythropoietin expressed in T. ni cells (rhEPO) was subjected to in vitro glycosylation by using recombinant glycosyltransferases and was converted into complex-type glycan with terminal sialic acid. The presence of Nacetylglucosamine, galactose, and sialic acid on the rhEPO moiety was detected by a lectin blot analysis, and the addition of galactose and sialic acid to rhEPO was confirmed by autoradiography using $UDP-^{14}C-Gal\;and\;CMP-^{14}C-Sia$ as donors. The in vitro glycosylated rhEPO was injected into mice, and the number of reticulocytes among the ed blood cells was counted using FACS. A significant increase in the number of reticulocytes was not observed in the mice injected with in vitro glycosylated rhEPO as compared with those injected with rhEPO.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• 제29권4호
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• pp.351-359
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• 2014

Phasianus colchicus is not only a beautiful bird but also a great value in science and under the threat of endanger. Hence, the aim of this study was to isolate the pheasant male germ cells (mGCs) and then induce them into elongated sperm-like cells in vitro. The mGCs were purified and enriched by a two-step plating method based on the different adherence velocities of mGCs and somatic cells. The percentage of the c-kit positive cells and c-kit negative cells examined by flow cytometry analysis (FCA) was 92.87% and 2.57%, respectively. Subsequently, the mGCs were induced for 48h in DMEM/F12 medium supplemented factors such as retinol acid, testosterone and bovine FSH, followed by 5 weeks in culture. We found that some elongated sperm-like cells appeared initially in vitro under inducement of stimulated factors. The elongated sperm-like cells showed in the expression of changed morphology and post-transcriptional marker such as spermatid associated (SPERT), spermatid perinuclear RNA binding protein (STRBP), round spermatid basic protein 1 (RSBN1) and SPER1L. Moreover, in DNA content identified assay, induced cells showed that the 1C DNA population markedly increased in differentiated group but it was not change in undifferentiated group. Successful in vitro differentiation of pheasant testicular germline cells into spermatids appears to offer extremely attractive potential for the conservation of endangered birds and treatment of male infertility.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제26권2호
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• pp.285-291
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• 2005

The nonstructural protein 5B (NS5B) of hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), which is the essential catalytic enzyme for the viral replication and is an appealing target for the development of new therapeutic agents against HCV infection. A small amount of serum from a single patient with hepatitis C was used to get the genome of a Korean HCV isolate. Sequence analysis of NS5B 1701 nucleotides showed the genotype of a Korean isolate to be subtype 1b. The soluble recombinant HCV NS5B polymerase lacking the C-terminal 24 amino acids was expressed and purified to homogeneity. With the highly purified NS5B protein, we established in vitro systems for RdRp activity to identify potential polymerase inhibitors. The rhodanine family compounds were found to be potent and specific inhibitors of NS5B from high throughput screening (HTS) assay utilizing the scintillation proximity assay (SPA) system. The binding mode of an inhibitor was analyzed by measuring various kinetic parameters. Lineweaver-Burk plots of the inhibitor suggested it binds not to the active site of NS5B polymerase, but to an allosteric site of the enzyme. The activity of NS5B in in vitro polymerase reactions with homopolymeric RNA requires interaction with multiple substrates that include a template/primer and ribonucleotide triphosphate. Steady-state kinetic parameter, such as Km, was determined for the ribonucleotide triphosphate. One of compounds found interacts directly with the viral polymerase and inhibits RNA synthesis in a manner noncompetitively with respect to UTP. Furthermore, we also investigated the ability of the compound to inhibit NS5B-directed viral RNA replication using the Huh7 cell-based HCV replicon system. The investigation is potentially very useful for the utility of such compounds as anti-hepatitic agents.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• 제13권4호
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• pp.263-272
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• 2007

Nebulin is a giant actin binding protein (600-900 kDa) which is specific to skeletal muscle. This protein is known to regulate thin filaments length in sarcomere as a molecular template. The C-terminus of nebulin is located in the Z-disc of muscle sarcomere and is bound to other proteins such like myopalladin, titin, archvillin, and desmin. The N-terminus of nebulin binds to tropomodulin at the pointed ends of the thin filaments. In recent research, nebulin not only found in brain but also expressed in heart, stomach, and liver. So, the roles of nebulin in non-muscle tissue have been studied. However, lack of information or studies on nebulin binding proteins and nebulin function in brain are available so far. Therefore, the current study have investigated a novel binding partner of Nebulin C-terminus by using yeast two-hybrid screening with human brain cDNA library. Nebulin C-terminus, containing simple repeats, serine rich and SH3 domain, interacts with osteonectin C-terminal region. The specific interaction of nebulin and osteonectin were confirmed in vitro by using GST pull-down assay and reconfirmed in vivo by using transfected COS-7 cells with EGFP-tagged nebulin and DsRed-tagged osteonectin. Consequently, this study identified SH3 domain in nebulin C-terminus specifically binds to extracellular Ca-binding (EeC domain in osteonectin. Also, nebulin C-terminus fusion protein colocalized with osteonectin EC domain fusion protein in transfected COS-7 cells. The current study found the interaction between nebulin and osteonectin in human brain for the first time and suggested the nebulin in brain may be associated with osteonectin, as a regulator of cell cycle progression and mitosis.