• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.69-74
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• 2005

In Oriental medicine the primordial Qi and the defensive Qi are considered as important for immunity. Therefore it is anticipated that the improvement of the primordial Qi and the defensive Qi can enhance the ability of immune cells. This experiment was conducted to investigate how Ginseng Radix, Astragali Radix, Atractylodis Rhizoma Alba, Glycyrrhizae Radix, representative of Qi tonifying herbs, affect the immune system in terms of controlling and balancing immune cells. Using the MTS assay, increased proliferations were observed from herbal treated cells, among which Gins-eng showed the highest proliferation. When splenocytes were activated with anti-CD3 plus herbal extracts, levels of IFN-g and IL-4 were increased but those of IL-2 showed little change compared with the control cells. Levels of IL-2, IFN-g and IL-4 were increased in purified CD4 T cells when activated with anti-CD3/anti-CD28 but at $100\;{\mu}g/ml$ of Astragali and Atractylodis, levels of IL-2 were decreased by 11% and 42%, respectively and those of IFN-g were decreased by 55% and 12%, respectively. Under Th1/Th2 polarizing conditions, levels of IFN-g in Th1 cells treated with herbal extracts were all decreased but when it comes to IL-4, its levels were increased in Ginseng and Glycyrrhizae treated cells but decreased in Astragali and Atractylodis treated cells. Taken together, the data show that compared with other qi tonifying herbs, Ginseng and Glycyrrhizae have a tendency to favor Th2 cell differentiation in vitro.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.9-14
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• 2013

Although the mealworm larva (Tenebrio molitor) is high protein source, aversion feature of the larva made it difficult for consuming as a food. In this study, we established optimal powder manufacturing process for T. molitor larva for using as a novel food. For this purpose, it should be feed with the bran sterilized by water vapor for 3-5 days, starved without water or food for 3 days, and then the larvae were sterilized before freeze-drying. The sterilized T. molitor was lyophilzed and grinded by a blender. A safety of the powder as a food was validated by evaluation of Raw 264.7 macrophage cytotoxicity using MTS assay. As above results, we propose that optimal powder manufacturing process established in this study can be used in industrial production of T. molitor as a novel food.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.17-22
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• 2011

Purpose: Nitric oxide (NO) has been known as an important regulator of osteoblasts and periodontal ligament cell activity. This study was performed to investigate the relationship between NO-mediated cell death of human periodontal ligament fibroblasts (PDLFs) and N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptor antagonist (+)-5-methyl-10, 11-dihydro-5H-dibenzo[a,d]cyclohepten-5, 10-imine hydrogen maleate (MK801). Methods: Human PDLFs were treated with various concentrations (0 to 4 mM) of sodium nitroprusside (SNP) with or without $200\;{\mu}M$ MK801 in culture media for 16 hours and the cell medium was then removed and replaced by fresh medium containing MTS reagent for cell proliferation assay. Western blot analysis was performed to investigate the effects of SNP on the expression of Bax, cytochrome c, and caspase-3 proteins. The differences for each value among the sample groups were compared using analysis of variance with 95% confidence intervals. Results: In the case of SNP treatment, as a NO donor, cell viability was significantly decreased in a concentration-dependent manner. In addition, a synergistic effect was shown when both SNP and NMDA receptor antagonist was added to the medium. SNP treated PDLFs exhibited a round shape in culture conditions and were dramatically reduced in cell number. SNP treatment also increased levels of apoptotic marker protein, such as Bax and cytochrome c, and reduced caspase-3 in PDLFs. Mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling was activated by treatment of SNP and NMDA receptor antagonist. Conclusions: These results suggest that excessive production of NO may induce apoptosis and that NMDA receptor may modulate NO-induced apoptosis in PDLFs.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.801-809
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• 2002

CSBHT is known to improve immunological response in mice and humans. In this study, CSBHT effect was examined in the context of CD4+ T cells' survival and TCR/CD3 induced activation responses. Spleen cells from 8 week BALB/c mice were cultured in CSBHT containing medium without activation for 24, 48 hr. The MTS assay and revealed that CSBHT did not stimulate spleen lymphocytes as mitogen. Spleen lymphocytes were treated with anti-CD3e/anti-CD28 antibodies for 48hr. Flow cytometry revealed that activity of T cell decreased with CSBHT concentration. CD4+ T cells were isolated and cultured ,in CSBHT containing medium for 48 hr. CSBHT did not affect survival of sorted CD4+ T cells without any involvement of APC. In order to evaluate the direct effect of CSBHT on helper T cells's proliferative capacity prior to activation, CD4+ T cells are isolated after 24hr of culture in CSBHT containing medium and activated with and without anti-CD3e/anti-CD28 activation for 48hr. A higher level of CD69 was observed in 1 ㎍/㎖ of CSBHT treatment than control using flow cytometry. But low CD69 expression was observed in 5㎍/㎖ of CSBHT treatment. Expression of mRNA for cytokines in CD4+ T cell revealed that IL-2 expression was increased in 1 ㎍/㎖. The expression of IL-2R α, INF- γ were increased with concentration. On the other hand mRNA of IL-4 was decreased in dose dependent manner. Results suggest that CSBHT may be desirable for CD4+ T cell's activity in immune responses. Further more, CSBHT may relatively activate Th1 and inactivate Th2.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.357-366
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• 2007

To investigate the possible enhancement of genotoxicity in stress environment, we examined the of effect of genotoxic material in oxidative stress-induced condition using human tell line. Human lymphoblast cell line, TK6 was treated with hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) for induction of oxidative stress, and treated with N'-methyl-N'-nitroguanidine (MNNG), af a genetoxic material. We carried out MTS assay to set treatment doses. TK6 was treated with $H_2O_2$ at 6.75 (low dote) or $13.5\;{\mu}M$ (high dose) for 2 h, and treated with MNNG af 0.117 (low dose), 0.234 (middle dose), $0.468\;{\mu}M$ (high dose) for 2 h. As results, a treatment of MNNG induced DNA dam age as dose dependently. And TK6 treated with $H_2O_2$ at low as well as high dose followed by MNNG treatment showed higher DNA damage compared to MNNG alone treated groups. Malondialdehyde, as a marker of lipid peroxidation was increased in $H_2O_2$ and MNNG treated groups. Real-time RT-PCR analyses for expression of several antioxidative enzymes showed that catalase mRNA and glutathione peroxidase 1 mRNA expression were decreased in $H_2O_2$ and MNNG treated groups. Taken together, we conclude that genotoxicity induced by MNNG is enhanced in a condition of oxidative stress induced by $H_2O_2$ and it suggests that it should be associated with induction of lipid peroxidation and decrease of antioxidant enzymes.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.1294-1298
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• 2009

To investigate whether isoflavone genistein and daidzein could affect cancer cell viability, human colorectal HCT116 cells were incubated with genistein or daidzein in a dose-dependent manner. Genistein decreased cancer cell viability in a dose-dependent manner, whereas daidzein did not show dramatic cytotoxic effects. We also found that 71 genes were up-regulated more than 2-fold, whereas 64 genes were down-regulated more than 2-fold with 24 hr of $50{\mu}M$ genistein treatment by our previous microarray data. Among the up-regulated genes, we selected 3 genes (DKK1, ATF3 and NAG-1) and performed RT-PCR to confirm microarray data. The results of RT-PCR were highly correlated with those of the microarray experiment. In addition, we investigated whether a combination treatment of genistein and daidzein could affect cancer cell viability. Surprisingly, the combination treatment did show synergistic cytotoxic effects detected by MTS assay. The results of RT-PCR and real-time PCR indicate that a combination of genistein and daidzein can synergistically induce NAG-1 expression in HCT116 cells. This result implies that NAG-1 induction is highly associated with synergistic cytotoxic effects induced by a combination treatment of genistein and daidzein. Overall, these results may provide a clue in explaining the anti-cancer activity of soy bean in human colorectal cancer.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.12-24
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• 2008

Background and Objective : Chungsangboha-tang (CSBHT) has analgesic, sedative, anti-convulsive and anti-histamine effects, so it alleviates the symptoms of asthma. For the comparison of anti-inflammatory effect(s) on CSBHT, PD098059 was used as a negative control. Materials and Methods : This study emphasized THP-1 cells, which had been well characterized as a human monocytic leukemic cell line. The cells resemble monocytes with respect to several criteria and can be differentiated into macrophage-like cells by treatment with PMA. By using the MTS assay, it was possible to prove the safety of CSBHT. Results : Results shows that the CSBHT did not affected cell survival within $10^{1}$ ng/ml to $10^{5}$ ng/ml. Especially, $10^{5}$ ng/ml CSBHT treated cells show 70% deduction of $TNF-{\alpha}$ gene expression against that of LPS treated group. Furthermore, $IL-1{\beta}$, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10 and $TNF-{\alpha}$ levels are down-regulated when treated with CSBHT with concentrations up to 100 ug/ml on monocyte-derived macrophages. Interestingly, CSBHT-treated samples showed that overall transcriptional activities were down-regulated to 20% of that of PD098059 ($TNF-{\alpha}$ inhibitor). At protein level, the expression of $TNF-{\alpha}$ showed similar results as that of transcriptional activity. Results show that the protein level decreased more in the CSBHT-treated group (487 ${\pm}$ 87 pg/ml) than in the LPS-treated group (703 ${\pm}$ 103 pg/ml). In addition, the protein level of IL-8 in the CSBHT treated-group (9.84 ${\pm}$ 3.28 ng/ml) decreased similar as the expression of the control and PD098059-treated groups. Conclusion : CSBHT affects immune response, especially allergic responses and suppression of inflammatory reaction. The results provide us an alternative way to care for clinical inflammatory diseases, not only asthma but also the other possible general inflammatory and allergic diseases.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.237-243
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• 2020

Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world, and sword bean (Canavalia gladiata, SB) reportedly possesses various biological activities. Therefore, in this study, to reduce caffeine intake and improve coffee function, SB was selected as a supplementary material for blending coffee. The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of coffee with the SB extract at concentrations of 0.1-0.5% (v/v) were evaluated using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and RAW 264.7 cells, respectively. The DPPH radical-scavenging activity of SB-treated coffee depended on the concentration of the SB extract. In the cell culture experiment, cytotoxicity was not observed at any SB concentration. In addition, the inducible nitric oxide synthesis protein expression as well as the increases in nitric oxide and interleukin-6 expression were effectively inhibited by SB addition to the coffee. These results indicate that SB might be useful as a supplementary ingredient to enhance the caffeinated drink functions.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.228-236
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• 2016

Background: Sedum takesimense Nakai has been used as folk medicine in Korea. The present study aimed to determine the biological activity of S. takesimense by investigating the anti-inflammatory effects of S. takesimense water extract (SKLC) on the lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammatory response in RAW 264.7 cells. Methods and Results: Cytotoxicity of SKLC on RAW 264.7 cells was determinded by performing MTS assay was found to have no cytotoxic effect on RAW 264.7 cells at a concentration range of $62-500{\mu}g/m{\ell}$. Further, pretreatment of SKLC inhibited lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide (NO) production in a dose-dependent manner. To determined the inhibitory mechanisms of SKLC on inflammatory mediators, we assessed the inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygnease-2 (COX-2) pathways. The activities of these pathways were decreased in a dose-dependent manner by SKLC. The production of tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$), interleukin $(IL)-1{\beta}$, and IL-6 were also reduced. Conclusions: These results suggest that the down regulation of iNOS, COX-2, TNF-${\alpha}$, IL-$1{\beta}$, and IL-6 expression by SKLC are mediated by the down regulation of nuclear factor-${\kappa}B$ (NF-${\kappa}B$) activity, a transcription factor necessary for pro-inflammatory mediators. This might be the mechanism underlying the anti-inflammatory effects of SKLC.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.39-48
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• 2018

The coffee silver skin is a part of coffee beans. We report that the coffee sliver skin extracts exhibited cosmetic properties of antioxidant, anti-winkle and whitening effects. The ethanol extracts of silver skin showed free radical scavenging activity up to 92.26% in $50{\mu}g/mL$, especially against DPPH radical and ABTS radical cation. The silver skin extracts showed inhibitory effects for tyrosinase activity and DOPA oxidation in a dose-dependent manner, suggesting the extracts retain for the whitening property in cosmetics. The coffee silver skin extracts effectively inhibited the elastase and collagenase. Cytotoxicity of the coffee silver skin extracts was measured by the colorimetric MTS assay. The viability of the human keratinocytes (HaCaT) treated with the coffee silver skin extracts was same as that of untreated cells, indicating the extracts are safe to human cells. Here, we suggest that the silver skin extracts of coffee bean could be a potential natural substance for anti-winkle, whitening, antioxidant properties for cosmetics.