• Molecules and Cells
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.31-36
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• 2009

Centrobin/Nip2 was initially identified as a centrosome protein that is critical for centrosome duplication and spindle assembly. In the present study, we determined the expression and subcellular localization of centrobin in selected mouse tissues. Immunoblot analysis revealed that the centrobin-specific band of 100 kDa was detected in all tissues tested but most abundantly in the thymus, spleen and testis. In the testis, centrobin was localized at the centrosomes of spermatocytes and early round spermatids, but no specific signal was detected in late round spermatids and elongated spermatids. Our results also revealed that the centrosome duplication occurs at interphase of the second meiotic division of the mouse male germ cells. The centrobin protein was more abundant in the mitotically active ovarian follicular cells and thymic cortex cells than in non-proliferating corpus luteal cells and thymic medullary cells. The expression pattern of centrobin suggests that the biological functions of centrobin are related to cell proliferation. Consistent with the proposal, we observed reduction of the centrobin levels when NIH3T3 became quiescent in the serum-starved culture conditions. However, a residual amount of centrobin was also detected at the centrosomes of the resting cells, suggesting its role for maintaining integrity of the centrosome, especially of the daughter centriole in the cells.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.283-288
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• 2010

During normal early embryonic development in mammals, the global pattern of genomic DNA methylation undergoes marked. changes. The level of methylation is high in male and female gametes. Thus, we cloned the cDNA of the porcine DNA methyltransferase 1 (Dnmt1) gene to promote the efficiency of the generation of porcine clones. In this study, porcine Dnmt1 cDNA was sequenced, and Dnmt1 mRNA expression was detected by reverse transcription-polymerase reaction (RT-PCR) in porcine tissues during embryonic development. The porcine Dnmt1 cDNA sequence showed more homology with that of bovine than human, mouse, and rat. The complete sequence of porcine Dnmt1 cDNA was 4,774-bp long and consisted of an open reading frame encoding a protein of 1611 amino acids. The amino acid sequence of porcine DNMT1 showed significant homology with those of bovine (91%), human (88%), rat (76%), and mouse (75%) Dnmt1. The expression of porcine Dnmt1 mRNA was detected during porcine embryogenesis. The mRNA was detected at stages of porcine preimplantation development (1-cell, 2-cell, 4-cell, 8-cell, morula, and blastocyst stages). It was also abundantly expressed in tissues (lung, ovary, kidney and somatic cells). Further investigations are necessary to understand the complex links between methyltransferase 1 and the transcriptional activity in cloned porcine tissues.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.53-61
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• 1997

Seasonal variation of the population structure and the reproductive pattern of the Korean striped field mouse, Apodemus agrarius, were investigated. High capture ratios in juveniles, young adult, and old adult mice were found during the period from October to November, from November to March, and from May to September, respectively, and extremely low capture ratios of old adults during the period from November to February were characteristic. It seemed that the young adults that survived during the winter might become older by summer and have been counted as the old adults. The breeding in the mice began earlier in males (from mid February or early March to late October) than in females (from mid March to late October), having a peak in August and September, and both the male and female mice weighing more than 20 g generally reached sexual maturation in general. In the breeding season, both young and old adult males had large testes with enlarged seminiferous tubules filled with numerous germ and Sertoli cells, and expanded caudal epididymides with a vast number of spermatozoa; the females had many Graafian follicles and corpora lutea in large ovaries, and developed uterine glands in the thick endometria. The lower ratios of the testis weight to the body weight in July and August in 1994 compared to 1995 seemed due to the extreme drought and considerably higher temperature in 1994, but the decrease in the ratio in mid-summer, only in the old mice, in both years might be explained partially by aging.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.1112-1118
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• 1999

Galectin-3 plays an important role in cell development, differentiation and cancer metastasis, including cell-cell/extracellular matrix (ECM) interactions and is supposed to have an effect of apoptosis on T-cells in thymic clonal selection. In this study, to know the effect of galectin-3 on thymocyte development, we used recombinant human galectin-3 (rHgal-3) from Escherichia coli, JM105, which was inserted with human gal-3 gene-transformed plasmid vector (prGal-3) to express human galectin-3. Expressed rHgal-3 was confirmed by western blot using the culture supernant of hybridoma (M3/38) producing monoclonal antibody to human galectin-3. Sepharose gel affinity chromatography was used to purify the expressed rHgal-3. Thymocytes and hepatocytes from 6-week-old male BALB/c mice were incubated with rHgal-3 and showed marked increase of apoptotic population on analysis using flow cytometry with 7-AAD in a dosedependent manner. However, rHgal-3 failed to induce apoptosis on hepatocytes. Interestingly, this apoptotic effect was not inhibited by lactose, a specific lectin domain inhibitor. From these results, we concluded that extrinsic -3 induces apoptosis on mouse thymocytes, and galectin-3 may have an apoptotic effect on T-cells in thymic clonal selection.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.76-84
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• 2016

Objectives: We evaluated the anti-fatigue effects of Rh2-enriched Korean ginseng (Ginseng Rh2+) using a forced exercise-induced chronic fatigue mouse model. Methods: ICR male mice were subjected to running wheel for 1 h, 5 days/week during 4 weeks, and running velocity was gradually increased. Each running session was followed by oral administration of distilled water, Ginseng Rh2+ (150 or 300 mg/kg), or N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC, 100 mg/kg) 1 h later. The exercise tolerance and forced swimming test were performed to evaluate the fatigue condition. Results: Chronic forced exercise reduced the physical activity, as evidenced by the behavioral tests, which were notably ameliorated by Ginseng Rh2+ treatment. Ginseng Rh2+ treatment also attenuated the alterations of energy metabolism and oxidative stress in skeletal muscle tissues and/or sera, including malondialdehyde (MDA), lactate concentration and its related factors (lactate dehydrogenase, blood urea nitrogen, and glucose levels). Conclusion: These findings strongly suggest that Ginseng Rh2+ exerts a potent anti-fatigue effect through modulation of energy metabolism and oxidative response.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.818-824
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• 2015

Makgeolli is a health beneficial food for diabetes compared to other alcoholic beverages. We examined the effect of Makgeolli on blood glucose level and survival rate in a streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mouse model. We force fed 30 male STZ-induced diabetic ICR mice Makgeolli consisting of 6% alcohol (DM-MAK), 6% ethanol (DM-EtOH), or distilled water (DM-DW) for 4 weeks. In the DM-MAK group, food intake and water intake were higher than those of other groups after 4 weeks. Body weight, however, was not different among the experimental groups. We also found no significant difference in blood glucose level among the experimental groups. In normal ICR mice fed Makgeolli for 1 week, the area of the blood glucose curve was higher than those of other groups fed 6% ethanol, 2% glucose, or distilled water. Survival rates of STZ-induced diabetic mice fed Makgeolli, 6% ethanol, or DW for 4 weeks were 100%, 25%, and 62.5%, respectively. In conclusion, Makgeolli had no beneficial effect on blood glucose in a STZ-induced diabetic mouse model, although their survival rate was high. These results show that Makgeolli has an effect on type 1 diabetes through other mechanisms than blood glucose control.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.71-77
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• 1989

A mouse whole animal bioassay was employed to screen for potential mutagenicity of ethanol/water extracts of 16 Chinese herbal drugs that are commonly prescribed in Korea. Specific cytogenetic toxicity was measrured by recording evidence of clastogenesis toxicity was measured by recording evidence of clastogenesis via the mouse bone marrow micronucleus test. Male ICR mice administered ethanol extract of Pinelliae tuber (Pinellia eternata Breitenbach, ARACEAE, 양복) and ddY female mice administered extract of Angelica Koreanae radix(Angelica Koreana Maximowicz, UMBELLIFERAE, ) (both by oral administration, at a dose of 600 mg/kg), in a short-term dosing schedule, demonstrated significant increase in micronucleated polychromatophilic erythrocytes, indicating the increase of clastogenicity.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.220-229
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• 2021

Lonicera caerulea (Honey berry, HB) has been used in medical treatment in Russia, Japan, China and Korea. It has high level of vitamin C and polyphenolics. Polyphenolics can improve anti-inflammatory effect and prevent cancer, diabetes mellitus type 2. Also, Vitamin C is a representative anti-oxidant. however, it is still unknown what effect it will have on the oxidation stress of the reproductive system. In previous studies, ROS can be produced when it is exposed to heat stress and has negative effect on sperm's maturation, capacitation, hyperactivation, acrosome reaction and fusion of egg and sperm. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the antioxidant effects of L. Caerulea on the sperm and mice. At first, it conducted using ICR mouse (n = 20) for 4 weeks. There are four groups of mice (n = 5 per group). Also, L. Caerulea was taken by oral gavage. Group I (control) kept at 23℃-27℃ and administer D.W (0.5 mL/day), Likewise, Group II (HB) kept at room temperature but gave HB (250 mg/kg, 0.5 mL/day), Group III (HB + HS) received heat stress (40℃) using hyperthermia induction chamber and gave HB at same dose. and Group IV (HS) exposed heat stress only. Mainly, we showed degree of gene expression using Western blot in SOD, HSP 70, 17β-HSD and Real-time PCR. It can find correlation between intracellular activity like steroid hormone, apoptosis under ROS and antioxidant activity of L. Caerulea.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.81-88
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• 2020

Regulator of calcineurin 1 (RCAN1) can be induced by an intracellular calcium increase and oxidative stress, which are characteristic features of temporal lobe epilepsy. Thus, we investigated the spatiotemporal expression and cellular localization of RCAN1 protein and mRNA in the mouse hippocampus after pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus (SE). Male C57BL/6 mice were given pilocarpine hydrochloride (280 mg/kg, i.p.) and allowed to develop 2 h of SE. Then the animals were given diazepam (10 mg/kg, i.p.) to stop the seizures and sacrificed at 1, 3, 7, 14, or 28 day after SE. Cresyl violet staining showed that pilocarpine-induced SE resulted in cell death in the CA1 and CA3 subfields of the hippocampus from 3 day after SE. RCAN1 immunoreactivity showed that RCAN1 was mainly expressed in neurons in the shammanipulated hippocampi. At 1 day after SE, RCAN1 expression became detected in hippocampal neuropils. However, RCAN1 signals were markedly enhanced in cells with stellate morphology at 3 and 7 day after SE, which were confirmed to be reactive astrocytes, but not microglia by double immunofluorescence. In addition, realtime reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction showed a significant upregulation of RCAN1 isoform 4 (RCAN1-4) mRNA in the SE-induced hippocampi. Finally, in situ hybridization with immunohistochemistry revealed astrocytic expression of RCAN1-4 after SE. These results demonstrate astrocytic upregulation of RCAN1 and RCAN1-4 in the mouse hippocampus in the acute and subacute phases of epileptogenesis, providing foundational information for the potential role of RCAN1 in reactive astrocytes during epileptogenesis.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.85-93
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• 1997

These experiments were carried out to examine the development capacity of sexed and then bisected embryo from 8-cell to morula stage. Antisera to histocompatibility-Y(H-Y) antigen were prepared in inbred SD female rat by repeated immunization of spleen cell or testis supernatant from males of same strain. Male and female embryos were separated by delaying development of embryos against H-Y antibody. After sexing, rabbit embryos were bisected and aggregated. The results obtained from the these experiments were summuerized as follows: 1. When mouse and rabbit 8-, 16-cell and morular embryos were culature in H-Y antiserum, the ratio of embryo which has developed to hatching blastocyst was 53.4, 46.3 and 57.4% in mouse embryos, and 49.0, 52.0 and 61.0% in rabbit embryo, respectively. The ratio of mouse and rabbit embryos developed to hatching blastocyst showed nearly natural sex rate(50%), except rabbit mourla showed a little higher ratio(61.0%) as compared to natural sex ratio. 2. When rabbit demi-embryos from 8-, 16-cell embryo and morula were cultured, the percentage of demi-embryos was 70, 68 and 58% without zona pellucida removed, and 62, 69 and 51% with zona pellucida. The rate of aggregation was higher in 8- and 16-cell demi-embryos than in morula demi-embryo. 4. When sexed-demi-embryo was aggregated with another demi-embryo with demi-embryo with same sex, the rate of embryo developed to blastocyst was 60, 50 and 25%, respectively. Eight-cell demi-embryo showed highest rate. In conclusion, it showed that H-Y antiserum which was made by rat spleen cell enabled sexing rabbit embryos. And when rabbit sexed 8-, 16-cell and morula demi-embryo were aggregated, they were developed to eu-blastocyst which suggested the potential of sexed embryo manipulation.