• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.219-228
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• 2015

Excessive microglial activation and subsequent neuroinflammation lead to synaptic loss and dysfunction as well as neuronal cell death, which are involved in the pathogenesis and progression of several neurodegenerative diseases. Thus, the regulation of microglial activation has been evaluated as effective therapeutic strategies. Although dieckol (DEK), one of the phlorotannins isolated from marine brown alga Ecklonia cava, has been previously reported to inhibit microglial activation, the molecular mechanism is still unclear. Therefore, we investigated here molecular mechanism of DEK via extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), Akt and nicotinamide adenine dinuclelotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase-mediated pathways. In addition, the neuroprotective mechanism of DEK was investigated in microglia-mediated neurotoxicity models such as neuron-microglia co-culture and microglial conditioned media system. Our results demonstrated that treatment of anti-oxidant DEK potently suppressed phosphorylation of ERK in lipopolysaccharide (LPS, $1{\mu}g/ml$)-stimulated BV-2 microglia. In addition, DEK markedly attenuated Akt phosphorylation and increased expression of $gp91^{phox}$, which is the catalytic component of NADPH oxidase complex responsible for microglial reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. Finally, DEK significantly attenuated neuronal cell death that is induced by treatment of microglial conditioned media containing neurotoxic secretary molecules. These neuroprotective effects of DEK were also confirmed in a neuron-microglia co-culture system using enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)-transfected B35 neuroblastoma cell line. Taken together, these results suggest that DEK suppresses excessive microglial activation and microglia-mediated neuronal cell death via downregulation of ERK, Akt and NADPH oxidase-mediated pathways.

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.359-369
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• 2011

Twelve species of food microalgae were investigated to clarify the digestion index of Crassostrea gigas larvae using epifluorescence microscopy to choose an appropriate diet for artificial seed production in hatchery. An experiment was conducted using 1 (D shaped stage), 4 (Early umbo stage), 8 (umbo stage) and 12 (Full grown stage) days old larvae. larvae were stocked in 1 L flasks at 5 individuals/mL and fed $10{\times}10^4$ algal cells/mL of each species individually. Prior to larvae were fed for 3 h and then were observed under the microscope to detect ingestion; larvae were then sieved and replaced in 1 L flasks containing filtered seawater and were observed after 3, 5 and 8 h to analyse the digestion index. Values of digestion indices were specific for each alga. No evidence for the ingestion of Thalassiosira weissflogii was evident at all larval development stages tested. Digestion indices of others microalgae were 0.8-99.7% at 4 stage of larval development stages: Chlorella ellipsoidea (0.8-5.4%), Nannochloris oculata (1.4-5.0%), Isochrysis galbana (99.1-99.5%), Pavlova lutheri (99.1-99.5%), I. aff. galbana (99.4-99.5%), Cheatoceros calcitrans (0.0-99.2%), C. gracilis (0.0-99.7%), C. simplex (0.0-95.9%), Phaeodactylum tricornutum (0.0-99.6%), Tetraselmis tetrathele (0.0-99.7%) and Dunaliella tertiolecta (0.0-99.6%), respectively. Therefore, it is assumed that food microalgae showing the high digestion such as I. galbana should be supplied to the early umbo stage larvae, and then after the umbo larval stage, the mixed microalgae with diatoms and light green algae should be supplied to the full grown stage larvae to increase the digestion of their larvae.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.7-17
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• 2001

Growth optima and tolerance ranges of marine algae species nay vary greatly during the developmental stage. The establishment stage is clearly of great importance for each generation, affecting the performance of the adult population. The present study was aimed to determine the effect of various concentrations of inorganic nutrients and heavy metals on germination and germlings of Ulva pertusa Kjellman (Chlorophyta). Percent germination increased rapidly as irradiance level increased, reaching the maximum at 100 ${\mu}$mol m$\^$-2/s$\^$-1/ in both east and west seawater. Percent germination in the east seawater was higher than that in the west seawater at irradiances lower than 30 ${\mu}$mol m$\^$-2/s$\^$-1/, and there was no difference in percent germination between the two different seawaters at irradiances higher than 60 ${\mu}$mol m$\^$-2/s$\^$-1/. Germling growth increased in the both cases with increasing irradiances but no growth was found in the dark. Overall germling area was larger in the east seawater than in the west seawater. Number of cell increased with increasing irradiance and became light-saturated at 100 ${\mu}$mol m$\^$-2/s$\^$-1/ in the both cases. Germlings grown in the east seawater had more cells than those cultivated in the west seawater at irradiances lower than 60 ${\mu}$mol m$\^$-2/s$\^$-1/. In various combinations of nitrate and phosphate, percent germination increased with increasing nitrate concentrations irrespective of phosphate concentrations. At 3 days after inoculation, nitrate concentration of 2.5 ppm with all phosphate concentrations promoted germination. Area and number of cell of germlings increased with increasing nitrate concentrations in all phosphate concentrations. In various combinations of copper and lead, germination was delayed as copper concentrations increased in all lead concentrations. Percent germination was severely reduced at 1 ppm Cu$\^$2+/. Area and number of cell of germlings decreased with increasing copper concentrations in all lead concentrations. The highest copper concentration (1 ppm) clearly suppressed the germling growth in U. pertusa.