• Current Research on Agriculture and Life Sciences
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• v.8
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• pp.89-94
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• 1990

Respiration and soluble carbohydrates of stored mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus) were determined to be associated with physiological and biochemical changes induced by ionizing radiation treatment which was applied for extending the shelf-life. Immediately after gamma irradiation at 1 to 3 kGy, the respiratory rate of mushrooms increased linearly with increasing doses of irradiation, and then it normarized after 2 days of storage at $9{\pm}1^{\circ}C$ and $80{\pm}7%$ RH. In the nonirradiated mushrooms, the respiratory peak was observed at around 5 to 6 days after storage, while irradiation treatment not only reduced respiratory activities of stored mushrooms, but prolonged the peak development. Moisture content and dry matter of mushrooms packaged in a paper box and polyethylene film were relatively constant during the storage for 20 days and the reducing sugar contents decreased significantly after 5 days of storage(p<0.01). Free sugars of mushroom pilei, which consisted of mannitol, trehalose and glucose, also markedly decreased at the earlier part of the storage period and thereafter, 2 kGy irradiation resulted in the reduction of their changes.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.10
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• pp.5553-5565
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• 2013

Plants play important roles in human life not only as suppliers of oxygen but also as a fundamental resource to sustain the human race on this earthly plane. Plants also play a major role in our nutrition by converting energy from the sun during photosynthesis. In addition, plants have been used extensively in traditional medicine since time immemorial. Information in the biomedical literature has indicated that many natural herbs have been investigated for their efficacy against lethal irradiation. Pharmacological studies by various groups of investigators have shown that natural herbs possess significant radioprotective activity. In view of the immense medicinal importance of natural product based radioprotective agents, this review aims at compiling all currently available information on radioprotective agents from medicinal plants and herbs, especially the evaluation methods and mechanisms of action. In this review we particularly emphasize on ethnomedicinal uses, botany, phytochemistry, mechanisms of action and toxicology. We also describe modern techniques for evaluating herbal samples as radioprotective agents. The usage of herbal remedies for combating lethal irradiation is a green anti-irradiation approach for the betterment of human beings without high cost, side effects and toxicity.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.166-171
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• 2013

While high-dose ionizing radiation results in long term cellular cytotoxicity, chronic low-dose (<0.2 Gy) of X- or ${\gamma}$-ray irradiation can be beneficial to living organisms by inducing radiation hormesis, stimulating immune function, and adaptive responses. During chronic low-dose-rate radiation (LDR) exposure, whole body of mice is exposed to radiation, however, it remains unclear if LDR causes changes in gene expression of the whole brain. Therefore, we aim to investigate expressed genes (EGs) and signaling pathways specifically regulated by LDR-irradiation ($^{137}Cs$, a cumulative dose of 1.7 Gy for total 100 days) in the whole brain. Using microarray analysis of whole brain RNA extracts harvested from ICR and AKR/J mice after LDR-irradiation, we discovered that two mice strains displayed distinct gene regulation patterns upon LDR-irradiation. In ICR mice, genes involved in ion transport, transition metal ion transport, and developmental cell growth were turned on while, in AKR/J mice, genes involved in sensory perception, cognition, olfactory transduction, G-protein coupled receptor pathways, inflammatory response, proteolysis, and base excision repair were found to be affected by LDR. We validated LDR-sensitive EGs by qPCR and confirmed specific upregulation of S100a7a, Olfr624, and Gm4868 genes in AKR/J mice whole brain. Therefore, our data provide the first report of genetic changes regulated by LDR in the mouse whole brain, which may affect several aspects of brain function.

• Proceedings of the Korean Biophysical Society Conference
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• 2003.06a
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• pp.80-80
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• 2003

${\beta}$-lapachone(${\beta}$-Lap), a natural o-naphthoquinone, presents in the bark of the Lapacho tree. ${\beta}$-Lap is cytotoxic against a variety of human cancer cells and it potentiates the anti-tumor effect of Taxol. In addition, ${\beta}$-Lap has been reported to radiosensitize cancer cells by inhibiting the repair of radiation-induced DNA damage.In the present study, we investigated the cytotoxicity of ${\beta}$-Lap against RKO human colorectal cancer cells as well as the combined effect of ${\beta}$-LaP and ionizing radiation. An incubation of RKO cells with 5 ${\mu}$M of ${\beta}$-Lap for 4 h killed almost 90％ of the clonogenic cells. An incubation of RKO cells with 5 ${\mu}$M of ${\beta}$-Lap for 4 h or longer also caused massive apoptosis. Unlike other cytotoxic agents, ${\beta}$-Lap did not increase the expression of p53 and p21 and it suppressed the NFkB expression. The expression of Caspase 9 and 3 was minimally altered by ${\beta}$-Lap. Radiation and ${\beta}$-Lap acted synergistically in inducing clonogenic cell death and apoptosis in RKO cells when ${\beta}$-Lap treatment was applied after but not before the radiation exposure of the cells. Interestingly, a 4 h treatment with 5 ${\mu}$M of ${\beta}$-Lap starting 5 h after irradiation was as effective as that starting immediately after irradiation. The mechanisms of ${\beta}$-Lap-induced cell killing is controversial but a recent hypothesis is that ${\beta}$-Lap is activated by NAD(P)H: quinone-onidoreductase (NQO1) in the cells followed by an elevation of cytosolic Ca$\^$2+/ level and activation of proteases leading to apoptosis. It has been reported that NQO1 level in cells is markedly up-regulated for longer than 10 h after irradiation. Indeed, using immunological staining of NQO1, we observed a significant elevation of NQO1 expression in RKO cells 5h after 2-4 Gy irradiation. Such a prolonged elevation of NQO1 level after irradiation may be the reasons why the ${\beta}$-Lap treatment applied S h after irradiation was as effective as that applied immediately after irradiation in killing the cells. In view of the fact that the repair of radiation-induced damage is usually completed within 1-2 h after irradiation, it is highly likely that the ${\beta}$-Lap treahment applied 5 h after irradiation could not inhibit the repair of radiation-induced damage. For in vivo study, RKO cells were injected S.C. into the hind-leg of Nu/Nu mice, and allowed to grow to 130 mm3 tumor. The mice were i.p. injected with ${\beta}$-lapachone or saline 2 h after irradiation of tumors with 10 Gy of X-rays. The radiation induced growth delay was increased by 2.4 $\mu\textrm{g}$/g of ${\beta}$-lapachone. Taken together, we may conclude that the synergistic interaction of radiation and ${\beta}$-Lap in killing cancer cells is not due to radiosensitization by ${\beta}$-Lap but to an enhancement of ${\beta}$-Lap cytotoxicity by radiation through an upregulation of NQO1. The fact that NQO1 is elevated in tumors and that radiation causes prolonged increase of the NQO1 expression may be exploited to preferentially kill tumor cells using ${\beta}$-Lap in combination with radiotherapy.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.175-186
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• 1997

Purpose : To evaluate the qualitative immunologic changes by ionizing radiation. we studied the altered capacities of the macrophages and lymphocytes to produce cytokines in conjunction with resistance to Listeria monocytegenes (LM) infection in mice Materials and Methods : BALB/c mice and Listeria monocytogenes were used. The mice were infected intraperitoneally with $10^5LM$ at 1 day after irradiation (300cGy) and sacrificed at 1, 3, 5 days after infection, and then the numbers of viable LM per spleen in the irradiated and control group were counted. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha ($TNF-\alpha$), interferon-gamma ($IFN-\gamma$). interleukin-2 (IL-2), and nitric oxide (NO) were assessed after irradiation. Results : Under gamma-ray irradiation with a dose range of 100-850cGy, the number of total splenocytes decreased markedly in a dose-dependent manner, while peritoneal macrophages did so slightly Cultured peritoneal macrophages produced more $TNF-\alpha$ in the presence of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) during the 24 hours after in vitro irradiation, but their capacity of $TNF-\alpha$ Production showed a decreased tendency at 5 days after in vivo total body irradiation. With 100cGy and 300cGy irradiation, cultured peritoneal macrophages produced more NO in the presence of LPS during the 24 hours after in vitro irradiation than without irradiation. Activated splenocytes from irradiated mice (300cGy) exhibited a decreased capacity to Produce IL-2 and $IFN-\gamma$ with Concavalin-A stimulation at 3 days after irradiation. When BALB/c mice were irradiated to the total body with a dose of 300cGy, they showed enhanced resistance during early innate phase, but a significant inhibition of resistance to LM was found in the late innate and acquired T-cell dependent phases. Conclusion : These results su99es1 that increased early innate and decreased late innate and acquired immunity to LM infection by ionizing radiation (300cGy) may be related to the biphasic altered capacity of the macrophages to produce $TNF-\alpha$ and the decreased capacities of the lymphocytes to produce IL-2 and $IFN-\gamma$ in addition to a marked decrease in the total number of cells.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.265-279
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• 1996

Damage produced by radiation elicits a complex response in mammalian cells, including growth rate changes and the induction of a variety of genes associated with growth control and apoptosis. At doses of 10,000 cGy or greater, the exposed individual was killed in a matter of minutes to a couple of days, with symptoms consistent with pathology of the central nervous system(CNS) including degenerative changes. The nature of the damage in irradiated cells underlies the unique hazards of ionizing radiation. Radiation injury to CNS is a rare event in clinical medicine, but it is catastrophic for the patient in whom it occurs. The incidence of cerebral necrosis has been reported as high as 16% for doses greater than 6,000 cGy. In this study, the effect of radiation on brain tissue was studied in vivo. Jun and p53 genes in the rat brain were induced by whole body irradiation of rat with 600Co in doses between 1 Gy and 100 Gy and analyzed for expression of jun and p53 genes at the postirradiation time up to 6 hours. Northern analyses were done using 1.8 Kb & 0.8 Kb-pGEM-2-JUN/Eco RI/Pst I fragments, 2.0 Kb-php53B/Bam HI fragment and ,1.1 Kb-pBluescript SK--ACTIN/Eco RI fragment as the digoxigenin or [${\alpha}^{32}P$] dCTPlabeled probes for Jun, p53 and ${\beta}$-actin genes, respectively. Jun gene seemed to be expressed near the threshold levels in 1 hour after irradiation of $^{60}$Co in dose less than 1 Gy and was expressed in maximum at 1 hour after irradiation of $^{60}$Co in dose of 30 Gy. Jun was expressed increasingly with time until 5 or 6 hours after irradiation of $^{60}$Co in doses of 1 Gy and 10 Gy. After irradiation of $^{60}$Co in dose between 20 Gr and 100 Gy, the expression of Jun was however increased to peak in 2 hours and decreased thereafter. p53 gene in this study also seemed to be expressed near the threshold levels in 1 hour after irradiation of $^{60}$Co in dose less than 1 Gy and was expressed in maximum at 6 hours after irradiation of $^{60}$Co in dose of 1 Gy, p53 was expressed increasingly with time until 5 or 6 hours after irradiation of $^{60}$Co in dose between 1 Gy and 40 Gy. After irradiation of $^{60}$Co in doses of 50 Gy and 100 Gy, the expression of p53 was however increased to peak in 2 hours and decreased thereafter. The expression of Jun and p53 genes was not correlative in the brain tissue from rats. It seemed to be very important for the establishment of the optimum conditions for the animal studies relevant to the responses of genes inducible on DNA damage to ionizing radiation in mammalian cells. But there are many limitations to the animal studies such as the ununiform patterns of gene expression from the tissue because of its complex compositions. It is necessary to overcome the limitations for development of in situ Northern analysis.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.33-40
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• 2011

Ionizing radiation can be used to improve the color of green tea extract to brighter. As a result, the irradiated green tea extract can be applied easier and broader in food or cosmetic industry. To confirm the retention of the biological activities of the cosmetic products added with green tea polyphenols (PPs), the real cosmetic products including a skin lotion (PS) and an essence (PE) cream were manufactured. Irradiation also applied to the manufactured cosmetic products to see their improvement of color and changes of biological activity. The PP showed 72% of electron donating ability (EDA) at a 5 ppm concentration and the PS and PE containing 2% PP showed higher than 60%, which was similar inhibition activity to vitamin C. The inhibition of superoxide dismutase (SOD)-like activity of PP, PS, and PE were higher than 55% at a 500 ppm concentration and the inhibition of xanthine oxidase (XOase) were also higher than 65% at a 200 ppm concentration. The measurement of lipid oxidation by addition of $Cu^{2+}$ and $Fe^{2+}$ as prooxidants showed that PP and PS had higher metal chelating ability for $Fe^{2+}$ than that of PE and the ability increased by increase of polyphenol concentration isolated from green tea. The $Cu^{2+}$ chelating ability of PP and PS showed higher than 90% at a 200 ppm concentration. Therefore, it is concluded that addition of PP in manufacturing PS and PE retains its biological activities including EDA, inhibition of XOase and SOD-like activity, and metal chelating ability in the manufactured cosmetic products. In addition, irradiation of PS and PE improved color of the products containing PP brighter without any adverse changes in biological activity of the products.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.41-53
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• 1968

Studies on the carbohydrate metabolism of yeast as influenced by gamma-irradiation from cobalt-60 have been carried, then the mechanisms of radiation effect on respiration and fermentation were discussed under considerations of permeable changes of irradiated cell membrane. The cells of baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) which had been gamma-irradiated of 240 k.r. doses for an hour, then were put into aerobic oxidation and anaerobic fermentation without substrate. Total and fractionated carbohydrates of irradiated yeast cells were determined by calorimetric method with anthrone and orcinol reagents, the amounts of total carbohydrate, trehalose, RNA-ribose, PCA-soluble glycogen, alkali-soluble glycogen, acetic acid-soluble glycogen, mannan and glucan were determined according to the course of aerobic oxidation and anaerobic fermentation. It is found that the carbohydrates of irradiated cells leak out and amount of the losses teaches eleven times more than that of control, the volume of losses are seems to be replaced by water, it can be suggested the damage of gamma-irradiation occurs in the site of passive transport of cell membrane. The endogeneous aerobic respiration of irradiated cells are increased much more than control, the synthesis of reserve glycogen, glucan and RNA-ribose promoted much more than control. The anaerobic fermentation of irradiated cells are also increased than that of control, but the breakdown of carbohydrate is less than endogeneous respiration of irradiated cells. The synthetic rate is also less than that of aerobic oxidation. In irradiated yeast cells, trehalose is revealed to be primary substrate for endogeneous carbohydrate metabolism, so it is proved that the enzymic patterns are not changed but the activities of enzymes relating endogeneous respiration and autofermentation is activated. It is to be considerable to distiguish endogeneous respiration and autofermentation from exogeneous respiration and fermentation on irradiation, for membrane permeability changes and loses out carbohydrate by ionizing radiation.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.143-149
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• 2003

Purpose: To investigate the radiosensitivity of the normal human oral keratinocytes (NHOK), and the effect of irradiation on cell cycle and protein expression. Materials and Methods: To evaluate the radiosensitivity of NHOK, the number of colonies and cells were counted after irradiation and the SF2 (survival fraction at 2Gy) value, and the cell survival curve fitted on a linear-quadratic model were obtained. LDH analysis was carried out to evaluate the necrosis of NHOK at 1, 2, 3, and 4 days after 2, 10, and 20 Gy irradiation. Cell cycle arrest and the induction of apoptosis were analyzed using flow cytometry at 1, 2, 3, and 4 days after 2, 10, and 200y irradiation. Finally, proteins related cell cycle arrest and apoptosis were analysed by Western blot. Results: The number of survived cell was significantly decreased in a dose-dependent manner. The cell survival curve showed SF2, α, and β values to be 0.568, 0.209, and 0.020 respectively. At 200y irradiated cells showed higher optical density than the control group. After irradiation, apoptosis was not observed but G2 arrest was observed in the NHOK cells. 1 day after 10 Gy irradiation, the expression of p53 remained unchanged, the p2l/sup WAF1/Cipl/ increased and the mdm2 decreased. The expression of bax, bcl-2, cyclin B1, and cyclin D remained unchanged. Conclusion: These results indicate that NHOK responds to irradiation by G2 arrest, which is possibly mediated by the expression of p21/sup WAFl/Cipl/, and that cell necrosis occurs by high dose irradiation.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.507-516
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• 2014

The present study was conducted to determine the effect of electron beam irradiation on control of Botrytis cinerea and postharvest quality of cut roses. Electron beam doses of 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1, 2, 10, and 20 kGy were applied with a 10-MeV linear electron beam accelerator (EB Tech, Korea). Electron beams inhibited spore germination and mycelial growth of B. cinerea with increasing irradiation doses. Conidia of B. cinerea were more tolerant to irradiation than were mycelia: the effective irradiation doses for 50% inhibition ($ED_{50}$) of spore germination and mycelial growth were 2.02 kGy and 0.89 kGy, respectively. In addition, electron beam irradiation was more effective in reducing mycelial growth of B. cinerea at $10^{\circ}C$ than at $20^{\circ}C$. Analysis of in vivo antifungal activity revealed that elevated irradiation doses exhibited increased control efficacy for tomato gray mold. Flower longevity and fresh weight of cut roses decreased when the irradiation dose was increased. In addition, flower bud opening tended to be inhibited in a dose-dependent manner. Although 'Decoration', 'Il se Bronze', 'Queen Bee', and 'Revue' roses tolerated and maintained overall postharvest quality up to 0.4 kGy, 'Vivian' did not, demonstrating that the irradiation sensitivity of cut roses varies according to cultivar.