• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.291-301
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• 2015

This study compared the in vitro cell viability and differentiation potentials of human deciduous dental pulp cells (DPCs) on mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA)-like products (ProRoot MTA, RetroMTA and Endocem Zr). The experimental materials were prepared as circular discs, which were used to test the effects of the materials on the viability of human DPCs when placed in direct and indirect contact. Furthermore, the pH of the extracted materials was recorded, and their effect on cell differentiation potential was evaluated by evaluating the alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and Alizarin Red S staining of DPCs incubated with the test materials. In direct contact, the cell viability of human DPCs was higher with ProRoot MTA and RetroMTA than with Endocem Zr. However, when in indirect contact, the cell viability of human DPCs was generally higher in Endocem Zr than in ProRoot MTA and Retro MTA. With respect to pH, the alkalinity was lower for Endocem Zr than for the other test materials. The ALP activities of the cells were not enhanced by any of the experimental materials. Alizarin Red S staining of the tested human DPCs revealed that their differentiation potential was lower than for cells incubated with osteogenic induction medium. While there were differences in the responses of the human DPCs to the test materials, all displayed degrees of cytotoxicity and were unable to enhance either the viability or differentiation of human DPCs. However, Endocem Zr exhibited better cell viability and was less alkaline than the other test materials.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.756-766
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• 2005

The signaling mechanism underlying aburatubolactam C-induced FasL upregulation was investigated in human Jurkat T cells. After treatment with aburatubolactam C, the src-family PTKs $p56^{lck}\;and\;p59^{fyn}$, and MAP kinases ERK2 and JNK1, were activated prior to FasL upregulation; Both $p56^{lck}\;and\;p59^{fyn}$ were directly activated 2.4- and 2.2-fold, respectively, in vitro by aburatubolactam C. The aburatubolactam C-induced cellular changes, including the activation of ERK2 and INK1, and FasL upregulation, were completely prevented by the PTK inhibitor genistein. The activation of protein kinase C (PKC$\delta,\;\epsilon\;and\;\mu$ was also induced following aburatubolactam C treatment. Although the activation of $p56^{lck}$ and tyrosine phosphorylation of the cellular proteins were not blocked by the PKC inhibitor GFl09203X, the activation of ERK2 was completely abrogated, along with a detectably enhanced JNK1 activation; FasL upregulation, and apoptosis. However, the FasL upregulation and apoptosis were significantly inhibited by the PKC activator PMA, with a remarkable increase in the ERK2 activation. The cytotoxic effect of aburatubolactam C was reduced in the presence of the anti-Fas neutralizing antibody ZB-4. Although ectopic expression of Bcl-2 failed to completely block the cytotoxicity of aburatubolactam C, it was clearly suppressed. The c-Fos mRNA expression was upregulated in a biphasic manner, where the second phasic expression overlapped with the FasL upregulation. Accordingly, these results demonstrate that aburatubolactam C-induced apoptosis is exerted, at least in part, by FasL upregulation dictated by activation of the PTK ($p56^{lck}\;and\;p59^{fyn}$) /JNKI pathway, which is negatively affected by the concurrent activation of the PKC/ERK2 pathway proximal to PTK activation.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.434-441
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• 2009

This study was conducted to compare the biological activities of 7 melania snails from the family Pleuroceridae (Semisulcospira coreana, Koreanomelania nodifila, Semisulcospira forticosta, Koreoleptoxis globus ovalis, Semisulcospira libertina, Semisulcospira tegulata and Semisulcospira gottschei) in Korea. Among the 7 species, S. coreana, Korean. nodifila, S. forticosta and S. gottschei showed over 80% cytotoxicities on three cancer cell lines (SNU-1, A549 and Hep 3B) compared to the non-treatment, whereas S. libertina and S. tegulata showed almost no growth inhibition activities on the same cancer cell lines. In relation to ACE inhibition activity, only S. coreana, Korean. nodifila, and S. forticosta showed over 60% ACE inhibition activities, whereas other melania snails exhibited inhibition activities of lower than 25%. DPPH radical scavenging activities were also determined, and used to categories melania snails into three groups based on Duncan's multiple range test at P<0.05. The amount of TNF-${\alpha}$ produced by in vitro mouse peritoneal macrophage was determined according to bioactivity on L-929 cells. Three melania snails, S. coreana, Korean. nodifila and S. gottschei, exhibited 95.2%, 89.7% and 93.7% cell death(%) on L-929 cells, respectively. Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase inhibitory activity was also obtained in the extract of S. coreana (31.9%) and Korean. nodifila (28.1%), showing that these extracts can be used as supplemental dietary health foods. In conclusion, we believe that the extracts of melania snails should be given due consideration in functional health food development.

• Journal of Haehwa Medicine
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.145-170
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• 2013

Objectives : This study was carried out to investigate the anti inflammatory and anti allergy effects of Vitex rotundifolia Linne fil. extract(VRE). Results : 1. In vitro test, VRE was used to determine the modulation of cytokine secretion, the activation of inflammatory and allergic factor and the inhibition of gene expression. The cell survival rate of Raw 264.7 and Jurkat T cells didn't decrease and accordingly cytotoxicity wasn't observed. In anti-allergic assay, the secretion of IL-2, TNF-${\alpha}$, IL-4, IL-5 and IFN-${\gamma}$ were suppressed on Jurkat T cells induced by dust mites. And the gene expression of COX-2 was suppressed in HMC-1 stimulated by calcium ionophore A23187. In anti-inflammatory assay, the gene expression of TNF-${\alpha}$, COX-2 were suppressed on LPS-activated Raw 264.7 cells. And the secretion of IL-6 and IL-8 were suppressed on EoL-1 cells induced by dust mites. P38 and ERK activation of MAPK decreased generally. VRE showed potent inhibitory activity of NO production. 2. In vivo test, we used NC/Nga mouse induced by atopic dermatitis to observe the effects of VRE on the weight, water and feed, blood test, weight of organs, total IgE and histological change of main organs. Quantity of water and feed were not changed, therefore it didn't affect the weight directly, and no change was observed in related main organs, thus maybe there is no organ toxicity by test substances. And the symptoms were decreased significantly, and the thickness of epithelial cell layer and the number of mast cells were inhibited significantly by the difference of dosage. The number of total complete blood cells and IgE in serum were not changed significantly. Conclusion : These results suggest that VRE has anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic effects. Therefore VRE could be used effectively on improvement or treatment of atopic dermatitis. However, further study is needed to prove which component of VRE indicates effective pharmacological action.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2003

Hydroxyapatite(HA) has been extensively used as bone graft materials and tooth implant surface coating materials because of its biocompatibility and osteoconductive properties. However, as HA is intrinsically poor in mechanical properties, zirconia($ZrO_2$) was incorporated with HA as reinforcing phases for improvement of mechanical properties. The purpose of this study was to investigate the biological activities of HA-coated zirconia through the cell proliferation test, measurements of alkaline phosphatase activity, and histologic examination. Four kinds of tested blocks were prepared according to the pore size (300-500${\mu}m$/500-700${\mu}m$) and the porosity (70%/90%). Cell proliferation and alkaline phosphatase activity was measured at 1, 7, 14 days. The number of cells proliferate after 7, 14 days were significantly increased in all groups when compared with that of the first day, but there was no significant difference between the 4 groups at each time period. At the 7 day, alkaline phosphatase activities of cells cultured in 4 groups were higher than that of the first day, but there was no significant difference between the 4 groups at each time period. The human gingival fibroblast and MG 63 cell was used to evaluate the cell cytotoxicity using MTT test. The materials tested in the current study turned out to be non-cytotoxic. In histologic examination(SEM), at 1 day there were many cells attached on the surfaces of all kinds of tested blocks. The number of cells were increased over time. At the 14 day, there were more cells proliferated than 1 day and some of the pores of blocks were partially filled with the proliferated cells. The in vitro response of osteoblast-like cells to the HA-coated zirconia showed comparable effect on transformation comparable to hydroxyapatite.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.45 no.10
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• pp.618-624
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• 2008

Various calcium phosphate bioceramics are distinguished by their excellent biocompatibility and osteoconductivity. Especially, the exceptional biodegradability of $\beta$-TCP makes it a bone graft substitute of choice in many clinical applications. The activation of osteoclasts, differentiated from macrophage precursor cells, trigger a cell-mediated resorption mechanism that renders $\beta$-TCP biodegradable. Based on this evidence, we studied the biodegradation process of granular-type $\beta$-TCP bone graft substitute through in vitro and in vivo studies. Raw 264.7 cells treated with RANKL and M-CSF differentiated into osteoclasts with macrophage-like properties, as observed with TRAP stain. These osteoclasts were cultured with $\beta$-TCP nano powders synthesized by microwave-assisted process. We confirmed the phagocytosis of osteoclasts by observing $\beta$-TCP particles in their phagosomes via electron microscopy. No damage to the osteoclasts during phagocytosis was observed, nor did the $\beta$-TCP powders show any sign of cytotoxicity. We also observed the histological changes in subcutaneous tissues of rats implanted with granule-type $\beta$-TCP synthesized by fibrous monolithic process. The $\beta$-TCP bone graft substitute was well surrounded with fibrous tissue, and 4 months after implantation, 60% of its mass had been biodegraded. Also, histological findings via H&E stain showed a higher level of infiltration of lymphocytes as well as macrophages around the granule-type $\beta$-TCP. From the results, we have concluded that macrophages play an important role in the biodegradation process of $\beta$-TCP bone graft substitutes.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.10
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• pp.5825-5831
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• 2013

Background/Objectives: Maintenance of cellular function in culture is vital for transfer and development following adoptive immunotherapy. Dual properties of IL-21 in activating T cells and reducing activation induced cell death led us to explore the mechanism of action of IL-21 enhanced proliferation and cytotoxic potential of CIK cells. Method: CIK cells cultured from PBMCs of healthy subjects were stimulated with IL-21 and cellular viability and cytotoxicity to K562 cells were measured. To elucidate the mechanism of action of IL-21, mRNA expression of cytotoxic factors was assessed by RT-PCR and protein expression of significantly important cytotoxic factors and cytokine secretion were determined through flow cytometry and ELISA. Western blotting was performed to check the involvement of the JAK/STAT pathway following stimulation. Results: We found that IL-21 did not enhance in vitro proliferation of CIK cells, but did increase the number of cells expressing the CD3+/CD56+ phenotype. Cytotoxic potential was increased with corresponding increase in perforin ($0.9831{\pm}0.1265$ to $0.7592{\pm}0.1457$), granzyme B ($0.4084{\pm}0.1589$ to $0.7319{\pm}0.1639$) and FasL ($0.4015{\pm}0.2842$ to $0.7381{\pm}0.2568$). Interferon gamma and TNF-alpha were noted to increase ($25.8{\pm}6.1ng/L$ to $56.0{\pm}2.3ng/L$; and $5.64{\pm}0.61{\mu}g/L$ to $15.14{\pm}0.93{\mu}g/L$, respectively) while no significant differences were observed in the expression of granzyme A, TNF-alpha and NKG2D, and NKG2D. We further affirmed that IL-21 signals through the STAT-3 and STAT-5b signaling pathway in the CIK cell pool. Conclusion: IL-21 enhances cytotoxic potential of CIK cells through increasing expression of perforin, granzyme B, IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha. The effect is brought about by the activation of STAT-3 and STAT-5b proteins.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.988-1000
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• 2023

Hesperetin(HT) is a potent antioxidant flavonoid aglycone derived from hesperidin(HD). The antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial activities of HT and its cyclodextrin(CD) inclusion complexes were compared in vitro. HT was prepared by enzymatic hydrolysis of HD, and HT/CD complexes were prepared using 𝛽-cyclodextrin(𝛽-CD) and hydroxypropyl-𝛽-cyclodextrin(HP-𝛽-CD) by solvent co-evaporation method. The solubility of the HT/HP-𝛽-CD inclusion complex increased 93.5-fold compared to HT, and the solubility of HT/𝛽-CD increased 22.5-fold. The HT/HP-𝛽-CD inclusion complex showed a similar effect as HT on radical scavenging activity in antioxidant assays, whereas the HT/𝛽-CD inclusion complex showed slightly lower activity than HT. Cytotoxicity was low in the following order; HT/HP-𝛽-CD, HT/𝛽-CD, and HT in murine macrophage RAW264.7 cells. Treatment with HT and HT/CD inclusion complexes reduced the levels of inflammatory mediators such as nitric oxide(NO), tumor necrosis factor-𝛼(TNF-𝛼) and interleukin-6(IL-6) in the cells. HT and HT/HP-𝛽-CD inclusion complex were more effective than HT/𝛽-CD inclusion complex at relatively low concentrations. Inhibitory effects were tested on skin-pathogenic bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and they showed an antimicrobial effect on S. aureus in the order of HT = HT/HP-𝛽-CD > HT/𝛽-CD, but they did not show any significant inhibitory effect on P. aeruginosa. In conclusion, HT, the aglycone form of HD, and its CD inclusion complexes showed various biological activities. HT/HP-𝛽-CD inclusion complex, which is the highly soluble form of HT, showed relatively higher activity compared to HT/𝛽-CD inclusion complex.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.623-631
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• 2010

Hericium erinaceus, an edible and medicinal mushroom belonging to the Basidiomycota family, has been used for curing gastric ulcers and stomach cancers in human beings and is also known to have good inhibitory effects on sarcoma 180 and Ehrlich carcinoma in mice. Neutral saline soluble (0.9% NaCl), hot water soluble and methanol soluble substances (hereinafter referred to as Fr. NaCl, Fr. HW and Fr. MeOH, respectively) were extracted from the fruiting body of the mushroom. In in vitro cytotoxicity tests, crude polysaccharides were not cytotoxic against cell lines such as Sarcoma 180, HepG2, HT-29 and NIH3T3 at concentrations of $10{\sim}2,000\;{\mu}g/ml$. Intraperitoneal injection with crude polysaccharides exhibited a life prolongation effect of 29.1~54.1% in mice previously inoculated with Sarcoma 180. Fr. Na increased the numbers of spleen cells by 2.9 fold at a concentration of $50\;{\mu}g/ml$ compared with the control. Fr. Na improved the immuno-potentiating activity of B lymphocytes by increasing alkaline phosphatase activity by 5.5 fold compared with the control at a concentration of $200\;{\mu}g/ml$. Fr. NaCl increased the numbers of peritoneal exudate cells and circulating leukocytes by 4 and 2.3 folds at a concentration of 50 mg/kg, respectively. Therefore, the crude polysaccharides extracted from the fruiting body of H. erinaceus could improve antitumor activities in mice.

• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.243-257
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• 2016

Objectives : Illicium verum Hook. f. has been known to possess antimicrobial, antioxidant, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, insecticidal, analgesic, sedative, convulsive activities, it has been rarely conducted to evaluate the immuno-biological activity. The present study was examined to evaluate the anti-inflammatory effects of the Illicium verum Hook. f. water extracts (IVE) in vivo and in vitro. Methods : Cell viability was measured by MTT assay. The relative levels of NO were measured with Griess reagent. iNOS, COX-2, $NF-{\kappa}B$ and target proteins were detected by immunoblot analysis, and levels of cytokines were analyzed by ELISA kit. Anti-edema effect was determined in the carrageenan (CA)-induced paw edema model in rats. Results : All dosages of IVE used in MTT assay had no significant cytotoxicity. The increases of NO production and iNOS expression were detected in LPS-treated cells compared with control. However, these increases were attenuated by treatment with IVE. Also, IVE reduced the elevated production of $TNF-{\alpha}$, $IL-1{\beta}$ and IL-6 by LPS. IVE inhibited the $p-I{\kappa}B$ and translocation of $NF-{\kappa}B$ to nuclear. Furthermore, IVE significantly inhibited the increases of hind paw swelling, skin thicknesses and inflammatory cell infiltrations induced by CA injection. Therefore, IVE will be favorably inhibited the acute edematous inflammations. Conclusion : These results provide evidences that anti-inflammatory effect of IVE is partly due to the reduction of some inflammatory mediators by suppression of $NF-{\kappa}B$ pathway.