• Journal of Species Research
• /
• v.9 no.4
• /
• pp.448-454
• /
• 2020

Nine free-living heterotrophic flagellates were cultured from marine intertidal sediments and freshwater sediments from Korea. These species are described with uninterpreted records based on light microscopy of living cells and reported taxonomically for the first time from Korea. Diagnostics of these species are as follows; Notosolenus hemicircularis: 9-11.8 ㎛ long with flagellar reservoir, ventrally flattened and dorsally convex with hyaline semicircular collar around short anterior neck, and 8 ridges on cell surface. Thecamonas tranhens: 4.5-7.1 ㎛ long, plastic with proboscis comprising an anterior flagellum surrounded by membranous sleeve. Bodomorpha minima: 4.5-7.0 ㎛ long, rigid with small rostrum in anterior end and active anterior flagellum. Cercomonas hiberna: 5.6-10.9 ㎛ long, very plastic with pseudopodia, cytoplasmic strand and 1 or 2 contractile vacuoles. Cercomonas pellucida: 7.5-13 ㎛ long, plastic with pseudopodia, cytoplasmic strand and single contractile vacuole. With nucleus closely connected to basal bodies. Eocercomonas echina: 4.7-6.5 ㎛ long, plastic with pseudopodia, cytoplasmic strand and 1 or 2 contractile vacuoles. Paracercomonas astra: 5.7-7.3 ㎛ long, moderately metabolic with pseudopodia, cytoplasmic strand and 1 or 2 contractile vacuoles. Paracercomonas minima: 5-9 ㎛ long, metabolic with pseudopodia, cytoplasmic strand and single contractile vacuole. Paracercomonas producta: 6.1-9.9 ㎛ long, very metabolic with pseudopodia, long cytoplasmic strand and single contractile vacuole.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.5
• /
• pp.1913-1917
• /
• 2015

Background: Oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is endemic in the Eastern Anatolian region of Turkey. The present study was performed to identify risk factors for ESCC that specifically reflect the demography and nutritional habits of individuals living in this region. Materials and Methods: The following parameters were compared in 208 ESCC patients and 200 control individuals in the Eastern Anatolian region: age, sex, place of living, socioeconomic level, education level, smoking, alcohol intake, nutritional habits, and food preservation methods. Results: The mean age of ESCC patients was 56.2 years, and 87 (41.8%) were 65 years-old or older. The ratio of women to men in the patient group was 1.39/1. ESCC patients consumed significantly less fruit and yellow or green vegetables and more hot black tea, 'boiled yellow butter', and mouldy cheese than did control individuals. Residence in rural areas, smoking, and cooking food by burning animal manure were also significantly associated with ESCC. Conclusions: The consumption of boiled yellow butter and mouldy cheese, which are specific to the Eastern Anatolian region, and the use of animal manure for food preparation were identified as risk factors in this region. Further studies are required to potentially identify the carcinogenic substances that promote the development of ESCC in this region.

• Interdisciplinary Bio Central
• /
• v.4 no.4
• /
• pp.12.1-12.6
• /
• 2012

The advanced glycation endproducts receptor (AGE-R) is a signal transduction receptor for multiligand such as S100b and AGEs. S100b has been demonstrated to activate various cells with important links to atherosclerosis initiation and progression including endothelial cells, and smooth muscle cells via AGE-R, triggering activation of multiple signaling cascades through its cytoplasmic domain. Many studies have suggested AGE-R might even participate in the cardiovascular complications involved in the pathogenesis of type I diabetes. Recently, Small Ubiquitin-Related Modifier 1 (SURM-1 also known as SUMO-1) has been recognized as a protein that plays an important role in cellular post-translational modifications in a variety of cellular processes, such as transport, transcriptional, apoptosis and stability. Computer Database search with SUMOplot Analysis program identified the five potential SURMylation sites in human AGE-R: K43, K44, K123, and K273 reside within the extracellular domain of AGE-R, and lastly K374 resides with the cytosolic domain of AGE-R. The presence of the consensus yKXE motif in the AGE-R strongly suggests that AGE-R may be regulated by SURMylation process. To test this, we decided to determine if AGE-R is SURMylated in living vascular cell system. S100b-stimulated murine aortic vascular smooth muscle cells were used for western blot analysis with relevant antibodies. Taken together, bioinformatics database search and molecular biological approaches suggested AGE-R is SURMylated in living cardiovascular cell system. Whilst SURMylation and AGE-R undoubtedly plays an important role in the cardiovascular biology, it remains unclear as to the exact nature of this contribution under both physiological and pathological conditions.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.157-164
• /
• 2007

Microencapsulation of cells within microfluidic devices enables explicit control of the membrane thickness or cell density, resulting in improved viability of the transplanted cells within an aggressive immune system. In this study, living cells (3T3 and L929 fibroblast cells) are encapsulated within a semi-permeable membrane (calcium crosslinked alginate gel) in two different device designs, a flow focusing and a core-annular flow focusing geometry. These two device designs produce a bead and a long microfibre, respectively. For the alginate bead, an alginate aqueous solution incorporating cells flows through a flow focusing channel and an alginate droplet is formed from the balance of interfacial forces and viscous drag forces resulting from the continuous (oil) phase flowing past the alginate solution. It immediately reacts with an adjacent $CaCl_2$ drop that is extruded into the main flow channel by another flow focusing channel downstream of the site of alginate drop creation. Depending on the flow conditions, monodisperse microbeads of sizes ranging from $50-200\;{\mu}m$ can be produced. In the case of the microfibre, the alginate solution with cells is extruded into a continuous phase of $CaCl_2$ solution. The diameter of alginate fibres produced via this technique can be tightly controlled by changing both flow rates. Cell viability in both forms of alginate encapsulant was confirmed by a LIVE/DEAD cell assay for periods of up to 24 hours post encapsulation.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
• /
• v.29 no.5
• /
• pp.1021-1027
• /
• 1997

We examined some properties of yeast cell wall lytic enzyme produced by Dicyma sp. YCH-37. Several metal ions, reducing reagents, and chemical modifiers have little effects on the lytic activity, except guanidine-HCl. Yeast cells of early log phase were more susceptible to the enzyme than those of stationary phase, and heat-treated cells were more easily lysed than intact living ones. Yeast cells pretreated with organic solvents such as butanol and acetone were more susceptible to the enzyme than intact living ones. Yeast cells cultured in Yeast extract-Malt extract medium containing 0.5 M ammonium sulfate were easily lysed by the lytic enzyme, and yeast cells cultured without shaking were more easily lysed by the enzyme than those with shaking. When SDS, ${\beta}-mercaptoethanol$, Triton X-100, sodium sulfite, and KCl were added to enzyme reaction mixture each, lysis of yeast cells was more effective.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.19 no.9
• /
• pp.904-910
• /
• 2009

The development of effective cellular imaging requires a specific labeling method for targeting, tracking, and monitoring cellular/molecular events in the living organism. For this purpose, we studied the cellular uptake of isocyanide-functionalized silver and gold nanoparticles by surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Inside a single mammalian cell, we could monitor the intracellular behavior of such nanoparticles by measuring the SERS spectra. The NC stretching band appeared clearly at ${\sim}2,100cm^{-1}$ in the well-isolated spectral region from many organic constituents between 300 and 1,700 or 2,800 and $3,600cm^{-1}$. The SERS marker band at ${\sim}2,100cm^{-1}$ could be used to judge the location of the isocyanide-functionalized nanoparticles inside the cell without much spectral interference from other cellular constituents. Our results demonstrate that isocyanide-modified silver or gold nanoparticle-based SERS may have high potential for monitoring and imaging the biological processes at the single cell level.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
• /
• v.11 no.7
• /
• pp.591-597
• /
• 2001

In this paper, we propose a method of cooperative control (T-cell modeling) and selection of group behavior strategy (B-cell modeling) based on immune system in distributed autonomous robotic system (DARS). Immune system is living body's self-protection and self-maintenance system. These features can be applied to decision making of optimal swarm behavior in dynamically changing environment. For applying immune system to DARS, a robot is regarded as a B-cell, each environmental condition as an antigen, a behavior strategy as an antibody and control parameter as a T-cell respectively. The executing process of proposed method is as follows. When the environmental condition changes, a robot selects an appropriate behavior strategy. And its behavior strategy is stimulated and suppressed by other robot using communication. Finally much stimulated strategy is adopted as a swarm behavior strategy. This control school is based on clonal selection and idiotopic network hypothesis. And it is used for decision making of optimal swarm strategy. By T-cell modeling, adaptation ability of robot is enhanced in dynamic environments.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.10 no.4
• /
• pp.362-364
• /
• 2000

Opuntia ficus-indca(Op) extract has been claimed to have several therapeutic properties in oriental medicine including anti-inflammatory and anti-rheumatoid arthritis effects. Little is known of its effect on the activation of immune cells such as T cells and macrophages. To evaluate the functional effect of Op extract on immune cells, we examined whether Op extract stimulates the proliferation of T cells and the secretion of cytokines including IL-1 beta, IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha in THP-1 cell lines by RT-PCR. Op extract significantly enhanced the proliferation of T cell clone(D10S). Transcription of cytokines including IL-1 beta, IL-6, and TNF-alpha peaked 6 hrs after exposure to Op extract(100g/ml) in the THP-1 cell line and declined and declined thereafter. In an experiment to test the dose dependency of transcription of cytokines, transcription increased at a dose of 10 g/ml and the maximum expression was obtained at 100 g/ml, 6 hrs after exposure to Op extract. These findings suggest that Op extract is a potent stimulant of immune cells including T cells and macrophages, which acts by stimulating T cell proliferation and upregulating cytokines. These phenomena imply that some edible plants may be beneficial to living animals through the activation of immune functions.

• Animal cells and systems
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.251-258
• /
• 2011

Ciliates are considered one of the most diverse protozoa and play significant roles in ecology. For successful taxonomic study of these microscopic eukaryotes, a staining procedure is necessary, due mainly to intrinsic difficulties in recognizing characteristics from living cells. Although molecular taxonomy has been used to resolve the ambiguities associated with traditional morphology-based taxonomy, extraction of genomic DNA from stained ciliate cells is not available yet. In the present study, we describe a method to extract genomic DNA from a single protargol-impregnated euplotid cell. By using $HgCl_2$ as a fixative and modulating the exposure time of bleach solution in the protargol impregnation, high-quality genomic DNA can successfully be extracted from a stained single cell with minimal loss of morphological integrity. This technique will contribute to the effectiveness of combined approaches of molecular and morphological taxonomy from single ciliate cells.

• Advances in concrete construction
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.141-149
• /
• 2020

In the present study, a mechanical model is applied to account the effects of the surrounding viscoelastic media on the buckling behavior of single microfilament within the cell. The model immeasurably associates filament's bending rigidity, neighboring system elasticity, and cytosol viscosity with buckling wavelengths, buckling growth rates and buckling amplitudes of the filament. Cytoskeleton components in living cell bear large compressive force and are responsible in maintaining the cell shape. Actually these filaments are surrounded by viscoelastic media consisting of other filaments network and viscous cytosole within the cell. This surrounding, viscoelastic media affects the buckling behavior of these filaments when external force is applied on these filaments. The obtained results, indicate that the coupling of viscoelastic media with the viscous cytosol greatly affect the buckling behavior of microfilament. The buckling forces increased with the increase in the intensity of surrounding viscoelastic media.