• ALGAE
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.75-84
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• 2022

Intercellular nutrient and signal transduction are essential to sustaining multicellular organisms and maximizing the benefits of multicellularity. It has long been believed that red algal intercellular transport of macromolecules is prevented by the protein-rich pit plug within pit-connections, the only physical connection between cells. Fluorescein isothiocyanate-dextran and recombinant green fluorescence protein (rGFP) of various molecular sizes were injected into vegetative cells of Griffithsia monilis using a micromanipulator, and intercellular transport of the fluorescent probes was examined. Pit-connections were found to provide intercellular transport of tracers at rates comparable to plasmodesmata in other organisms. The time necessary for the transport to an adjacent cell was dependent on the molecular size and the direction of the transport. Fluorescent dextran of 3 kDa was transported to adjacent cells in 1-2 h after injection and migrated to all cells of the filament within 24 h, but fluorescent dextran of 10-20 kDa took 24 h to transfer to neighboring cells. The migration occurred faster towards adjacent reproductive cells and to apical cells than basally. Fluorescent tracers above 40 kDa and rGFP was not transported to neighboring cells, but accumulated near the pit plug. Our results suggest that pit-connections are conduit for macromolecules between neighboring cells and that these size-specific conduits allow intercellular communication between the vegetative cells of red algae.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.65 no.4
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• pp.413-419
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• 2022

The applicability of Brussels sprouts, which are widely cultivated in Jeju, as a functional biomaterial in the cosmetics and food industries is investigated. The active ingredients (total phenols and flavonoids, β-carotene, vitamin C, free sugar, minerals, glucosinolates, and isothiocyanates) and antioxidant activities of 70% ethanol extracts of Brussels sprouts and cabbage were analyzed. The total phenol, flavonoid, vitamin C, and β-carotene contents of Brussels sprouts were approximately 36%, 2.5 times, 2.3 times, and 65% higher than those of cabbage, respectively. The total free sugar content of Brussels sprouts was 58%-72% lower than that of cabbage. The K content was the highest among the other minerals, and there was little difference between the two samples. The Na content was approximately three times higher in cabbage than in Brussels sprouts. The total glucosinolate content of Brussels sprouts was 34.5 mol SE/g DW, twice that of cabbage. The sinigrin content of Brussels sprouts was thrice (10.06 μmol/g DW) that of cabbage. The isothiocyanate (sulforaphane, I3C) content in Brussels sprouts was double that of cabbage. The antioxidant activity of Brussels sprout extract was 2.5 to 2.8 times higher in 1,1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging capacity and 3.3 to 3.6 times higher in 2,2'-Azino-bis(3-ethybenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) radical scavenging capacity than those of cabbage extract. These are important basic data for the study of glucosinolates and isothiocyanates, which have anticancer activity, as well as antioxidant-related substances of Brussels sprout, which has high potential for use as a biomaterial in functional foods and cosmetics.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.348-356
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• 2023

Objectives: Neuralgia-pharmacopuncture (NP) was recently developed as a water-soluble type of pharmacopuncture inspired by CS (care special pain)-pharmacopuncture. I aimed to evaluate the toxic response and approximate lethal dose of when NP when administered intramuscularly to Sprague Dawley rats. Methods: The experimental group was divided into the NP test substance group and the saline control group and administered at a dose of 1.0 mL/animal to the posterior thigh muscles on both sides using a 1 mL syringe; each group consisted of five males and five females. Each rat was monitored for clinical signs and changes in body weight for 14 days after a single intramuscular injection. After completing observation, necropsy findings and localized tolerance at the injection site were assessed via gross necropsy and histopathological examination. Results: No deaths occurred in the NP or control group, regardless of sex. During the observation period, no changes (such as general symptoms, weight change, or visual observation results at the time of autopsy) were judged to be due to the test substance. Histopathological examination showed no changes at the administration site judged to be caused by the test substance in either the male or female test substance administration groups. In addition, mononuclear cell infiltration of the outer membrane of the femoris muscle at the administration site was observed at the same frequency and extent in the control and NP groups, and was judged to be caused by physical stimulation by the injection needle; therefore, it had no toxicological significance. Conclusion: Based on the above results, the approximate lethal dose for a single intramuscular administration of the test substance NP in Sprague-Dawley rats was judged to be > 1.0 mL/animal, and there were no findings that were judged to be due to the test substance at the administration site.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.442-448
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• 2013

The aim of the present study was to develop glycerol-free TRIS extender using glucose for dog sperm cryopreservation. We determined the appropriate concentration of glucose in glycerol-free TRIS and the exposure time in glycerol-free TRIS containing 0.3 M glucose at $4^{\circ}C$. Ejaculates of six dog sperm were cooled in glycerol-free TRIS through $4^{\circ}C$ for 100 min, cooled at $4^{\circ}C$ in TRIS with different glucose concentrations 0 M, 0.04 M, 0.1 M, 0.2 M and 0.3 M, respectively for 30 min followed by cryopreservation. After thawing at $37^{\circ}C$ for 25 sec, membrane and acrosome integrities of dog sperm were evaluated. In addition, the effect of exposure time (10, 30, 50 and 70 min) of sperm to glycerol-free TRIS containing 0.3 M glucose at $4^{\circ}C$ on progressive motility, viability, and DNA integrity following sperm cryopreservation was studied. Membrane integrity and acrosome integrity were assessed by 6-carboxyfluoresceindiacetate (6-CFDA)/propidium iodide (PI) fluorescent staining and Pisum sativum agglutinin conjugated to fluorescein isothiocyanate, respectively. DNA integrity was assessed by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling, using flow cytometry. Sperm frozen in glycerol-free TRIS supplemented with 0.2 M or 0.3 M glucose have an intact plasma membrane (CFDA+/PI-) after cryopreservation than sperm frozen in the extenders with lower glucose concentrations (p<0.05). Acrosome integrity was significantly higher in the 0.3 M group than less than 0.1 M groups (p<0.05). The sperm DNA fragmentation index did not differ according to exposure time, although progressive motility was significantly higher in the 50 min exposure group than the other groups (p<0.05). These results indicate that cryopreservation of dog sperm is feasible and yields more motile sperm following freezing and thawing in glycerol-free TRIS containing 0.3 M glucose with the exposure time for 50 min at $4^{\circ}C$.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.438-443
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• 2006

Antibacterial effects of six volatile essential oils against Vibrio sp. were evaluated. Volatile components of essential oil were analyzed by gas chromatography and gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Ginger oil treatment inhibited growth of V. parahaemolyticus by 22.5-85.7%. Main volatile compounds of ginger oil were ${\beta}-bisabolene$ (35.19%, peak area) and ${\beta}-sesquiphellandrene$ (12.22%). V. parahaemolyticus was completely inhibited at 1,000 ppm by treatment with mustard oil. Tolerances of V. vulnificus 01 and 02 were twice higher than that of V. parahaemolyticus. Main volatile compound of mustard oil was allyl isothiocyanate (92.55%). Garlic oil treatment of 1,000 ppm inhibited growths of V. parahaemolyticus, V. vulnificus 01, and V. vulnificus 02 by 22.8, 14.6, and 32.9%, respectively. Main volatile compounds of garlic oil were dimethyl sulfide (49.39%) and methyl 2-propenyl disulfide (10.09%). Growth of V. vulnificus 02 was inhibited by 60.6-80.3% via treatment with bud, leaf, and whole oil of clove. Antibacterial activity of whole clove oil on V. vulnificus 02 was stronger than those of ginger, mustard, and garlic oil. Main volatile compounds were eugenol (83.33%) and ${\beta}-caryophyllene$ (7.47%) in clove bud, eugenol (87.46%) and ${\beta}-caryophyllene$ (10.03%) in clove leaf, and eugenol (86.04%) and ${\beta}-caryophyllene$ (9.71%) in whole clove. These results revealed essential oils from spices could be used as potential agents to inhibit Vibrio sp.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.265-274
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• 2002

Background : Tumor associated antigens, which are produced specifically by tumor cells, are promising targets for the early diagnosis and immunotherapy. Among the tumor associated antigens, MAGE (a melanoma antigen), BAGE, GAGE, PRAME and NY-ESO were named as cancer/testis specific antigens they are detected exclusively in the testis or cancer cells If MAGE is easily detectable in the sputum, it would become a convenient method for diagnosing lung cancer. This study was undertaken to investigate MAGE expression in the induced sputum obtained from lung cancer patients. Materials and Methods : In 14 control patients and 30 lung cancer patients, the induced sputum was collected after inhaling 3% saline(5 cc) delivered by nebulizer for approximately 5 minutes after a mouth rinse and bronchodilator inhalation. The induced sputum was placed in a conservative-mixed solution (guanidinium isothiocyanate, Triton X-100). The total cellular mRNA was extracted from the cells and RT PCR and nested PCR were run in 30 and 35 cycles respectively, with two different types of primers specially designed to detect six subtypes of MAGE DNA simultaneously. Results : MAGE expression was not detected in the 14 controls, but in the 30 cancer patients, MAGE was found in 24 patients (80%, p=0.001). In the cancer patients, there were no differences in the expression level according to the tissue types (squamous cell cancer 13/17, adenocarcinoma 7/9, and small cell cancer 4/4, p-0.56). Among the 24 MAGE-positive patients, the tumor was not visible on a bronchoscopy in 11 patients (45.8%). Conclusion : A study of MAGE in induced sputum appears to be a useful and complementary method in the diagnosis of lung cancer. A further prospective study with more patients is recommended.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.215-224
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• 1989

Electrochemical reductions of $trans-[Co(en)_2X_2](ClO_4)_n$ (where X is cyanide, nitrite, ammonia, and isothiocyanate) were investigated by cyclic voltammetry and polarography at mercury and glassy carbon electrode. $trans-[Co(en)_2(CN)_2]ClO_4$ was reduced to Co(II) complex followed by adsorption to the mercury electrode. Cyanide ion was not released from the reduced Co(II) complex but the cyanide and (en) were released after the reduction to metallic cobalt. The other complexes except $trans-[Co(en)_2(CN)_2]ClO_4$ were reduced to cobalt(II) complexes followed by release of monodendate ligand, and (en) was released at the reduction step to metallic cobalt. $trans-[Co(en)_2(NO_2)_2]ClO_4$ was reduced to cobalt(Ⅱ) complex, and $NO_2^-$ ion was released followed by electroreduction through ECE mechanism at pH 2. On glassy carbon electrode, all complexes of Co(III) were reduced to Co(II) complexes with irreversible one-electron diffusion controlled reaction in which (en) was not released at this step. Increasing absorption wave number of complexes caused to negative shift of peak potential.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.183-190
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• 2001

Objective: Recently, microdissection of tissue sections has been used increasingly for the isolation of morphologically identified homogeneous cell populations, thus overcoming the obstacle of tissue complexity for the analysis cell-specific expression of macromolecules. The aim of the present study was to establish the minimal conditions required for the RNA extraction and amplification from the cells captured by the laser captured microdissection. Methods : Mouse ovaries were fixed and cut into serial sections (7 im thickness). Oocytes were captured by laser captured microdissection (LCM) method by using PixCell $II^{TM}$ system. The frozen sections were fixed in 70% ethanol and stained with hematoxylin and eosin, while the paraffin sections were stained with Multiple stain. Sections were dehydrated in graded alcohols followed by xylene and air-dried for 20 min prior to LCM. All reactions were performed in ribonuclease free solutions to prevent RNA degradation. After LCM, total RNA extraction from the captured oocytes was performed using the guanidinium isothiocyanate (GITC) solution, and subsequently evaluated by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate-dehydrogenase (GAPDH). Results: With the frozen sections, detection of the GAPDH mRNA expression in the number of captured 25 oocytes were not repeatable, but the expression was always detectable from 50 oocytes. With 25 oocytes, at least 27 PCR cycles were required, whereas with 50 oocytes, 21 cycles were enough to detect GA PDH expression. Amount of the primary cDNA required for RT-PCR was reduced down to at least 0.25 $\grave{i}$ l with 50 oocytes, thus the resting 19.75 il cDNA can be used for the testing other interested gene expression. Tissue-to-slide, tissue-to-tissue forces were very high in the paraffin sections, thus the greater number of cell procurement was required than the frozen sections. Conclusion: We have described a method for analyzing gene expression at the RNA level with the homogeneously microdissected cells from the small amount of tissues with complexity. We found that LCM coupled with RT-PCR could detect housekeeping gene expression in 50 oocytes captured. This technique can be easily applied for the study of gene expression with the small amount of tissues.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.116-122
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• 1977

The volatile flavor components of Kimchis were identified and the volatiles of fermented Kimchis (1.29% NaCl and 4.89 NaCl) were compared with those of raw Kimchi (1.29% NaCl). After the existence of carbonyls and sulfur compounds were confirmed by precipitation method, vacuum distillation was carried out to collect the volatiles of Kimchis in traps submerged in ice+salt, dryice-acetone and liquid N, respectively. The volatile flavor components were identified by GLC. The results were; 1. 17 volatile flavor components of Kimchis were identified by comparison of retention time with those of known compounds and acetaldehyde, acetone, ethanol, ethyl sulfide were positively identified by m.p., IR, UV, TLC. etc. 2. Ethanol was the most abundant volatiles of Kimchis and the content was much higher in fermented low salt Kimchi than in unfermented low salt Kimchi. 3. On the contrary, acetaldehyde and volatile sulfur compounds were reduced in fermented Kimchis, especially in fermented low salt Kimchi.

• BMB Reports
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.167-176
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• 2005

Nuclear factor-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) is known as a key regulator of ARE-mediated gene expression and the induction of Phase II detoxifying enzymes and antioxidant enzymes, which is also a common property of many chemopreventive agents. In the present study, we investigated the regulatory role of different chemopreventive agents including sulforaphane (SUL), allyl isothiocyanate (AITC), indole-3-carbinol (I3C), and parthenolide (PTL), in the expression and degradation of Nrf2 and the induction of the antioxidant enzyme HO-1. SUL strongly induced Nrf2 protein expression and ARE-mediated transcription activation, retarded degradation of Nrf2 through inhibiting Keap1, and thereby activating the transcriptional expression of HO-1. AITC was also a potent inducer of Nrf2 protein expression, ARE-reporter gene and HO-1 but had little effect on delaying the degradation of Nrf2 protein. Although PTL and I3C could induce ARE reporter gene expression and Nrf2 to some extent, they were not as potent as SUL and AITC. However, PTL dramatically induced the HO-1 expression, which was comparable to SUL, while I3C had no effect. In addition, when treated with SUL and PTL, inhibition of proteasome by MG132 did not cause additional accumulation of Nrf2, suggesting the involvement of other degradation mechanism(s) in the presence of these compounds such as SUL and PTL. In summary, the results of our current study indicated that different chemopreventive compounds have different regulatory properties on the accumulation and degradation of Nrf2 as well as the induction of cellular antioxidant enzyme HO-1.