• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.28-43
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• 2012

Objectives: The aim of the study was to investigate the efficacy of Boiogito for obesity. We examined the efficacy of Boiogito for obese patients and we expected the reaction of Boiogito would vary according to the single nucleotide polymorphism(SNPs). Methods: 111 subjects(body mass index${\geq}25m/kg^2$) were recruited and randomized to receive Boiogito(n=55) or Placebo(n=56) for 8weeks. Anthropometric factors, serum lipid profile, glucose, blood pressure(BP), pulse rate, resting metabolic rate and Korean version of obesity-related quality of life(KOQOL) scale measured at baseline and 8weeks. SNPs(${\beta}3$-adrenergic receptor(ADRB3), G protein ${\beta}3$(GNB3), peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma 2 gene(PPAR-${\gamma}2$), uncoupling protein(UCP2)) were conducted at baseline. Adverse reactions and safety outcome variables were also checked during trials. Results: Both groups showed significant improvement on obesity after treatment. Boiogito group decreased triglyceride than did control group and improved KOQOL. Boiogito showed a significant higher efficacy in C/T and T/T genotype of GNB3 gene / in Trp64 and Arg64 genotype of ADRB3 gene / in D/D genotype of UCP2 gene / in Pro/Pro genotype of PPAR-${\gamma}$ gene. Conclusions: Boiogito promoted obesity indexes without severe adverse reactions and proved its safety. Pharmacogenetical studies of Boiogito on obesity could be a effective method for the individualized treatment and prevention of obesity.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.305-311
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• 2015

Both low and high temperatures affect plant growth and development at whole plant level, tissue and even cell level through a variety of metabolic changes. Temperature stress is one of frequently occurring problems in greenhouse crops in summer and winter seasons due to the wide-spread year-round cultivation. In the present study, we investigated the extent of the inhibition of growth, macro-element uptake and soluble carbohydrate production, and the effect of extra-supply of minerals as a means of the recovery from temperature damage. Tomato plants were grown five different growth temperatures (15/8, 20/13, 28/21, 33/23 and $36/26^{\circ}C$), and extra-supply of minerals was composed of 1.5- and 2.0-fold stronger than the standard nutrition (1/2 strength of Hoagland's solution). Temperature stress significantly adversely affected tomato growth and mineral uptake, whereas soluble carbohydrate accumulation represented temperature-dependent response, more accumulation at low temperature and more consumption at high temperature. The soluble sugars in leaves and stems were mostly declined with the supply of extra-minerals at low and optimal temperatures, whereas remained unchanged at high temperature. The starch levels also remained unchanged or slightly decreased.

• Journal of Obesity & Metabolic Syndrome
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.233-237
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• 2018

Background: Obesity is a complex, medical condition causally contributing to many chronic diseases and a number of efforts have been made to find the associated markers for novel prevention and treatment of obesity. Our study was to evaluate the relationship between gut immune response and obesity and overweight with use of fecal calprotectin (FC) both in adult and children groups. Methods: Fecal samples were obtained from 74 subjects: 14 non-obese and overweight children (PN), 13 obese and overweight children (PO), 20 non-obese and overweight adults (AN), and 27 obese and overweight adults (AO). FC was measured using a commercial Legend Max quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (BioLegend). Mann-Whitney U-test was used for statistical analysis. Results: Median FC concentration was $7.9{\mu}g/g$ (range, $1.9-28.9{\mu}g/g$) for PN, $5.0{\mu}g/g$ (range, $2.6-29.6{\mu}g/g$) for PO, $9.5{\mu}g/g$ (range, $0.8-28.9{\mu}g/g$) for AN, and $10.0{\mu}g/g$ (range, $1.6-25.6{\mu}g/g$) for AO, respectively. In both adults and children age groups, the FC showed no statistically significant difference between AO and AN or PO and PN. However, FC showed statistically significant difference (P<0.05) between AO and PO while not significant between AN and PN. Conclusion: FC level in AO was significantly higher than that in PO, suggestive of different pathophysiologic mechanism between children obesity and adults obesity.

• Genes and Genomics
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• v.40 no.12
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• pp.1287-1300
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• 2018

Hydrogen sulfide ($H_2S$), a small bioactive gas, has been proved functioning in plant growth and development as well as alleviation of abiotic stresses, which including promoting seed germination, accelerating embryonic root growth, regulating flower senescence, inducing stomatal closure, and defending drought, heat, heavy metals and osmotic stresses etc. However, the molecular functioning mechanism of $H_2S$ was still unclear. The primary objective of this research was to analyze the transcriptional differences and functional genes involved in the $H_2S$ responses. In details, 4-week-old plantlets in tissue culture of grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) cultivar 'Zuoyouhong' were sprayed with 0.1 mM NaHS for 12 h, and then transcriptome sequencing and qRT-PCR analysis were used to study the transcriptional differences and functional genes involved in the $H_2S$ responses. Our results indicated that 650 genes were differentially expressed after $H_2S$ treatment, in which 224 genes were up-regulated and 426 genes were down-regulated. The GO enrichment analysis and KEGG enrichment analysis results indicated that the up-regulated genes after $H_2S$ treatment focused on carbon metabolism, biosynthesis of amino acids, and glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, and the down-regulated genes were mainly in metabolic pathways, biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, and plant hormone signal transduction. Analyzing the transcription factor coding genes in details, it was indicated that 10 AP2/EREBPs, 5 NACs, 3 WRKYs, 3 MYBs, and 2 bHLHs etc. transcription factor coding genes were up-regulated, while 4 MYBs, 3 OFPs, 3 bHLHs, 2 AP2/EREBPs, 2 HBs etc. transcription factor coding genes were down-regulated. Taken together, $H_2S$ increased the productions in secondary metabolites and a variety of defensive compounds to improve plant development and abiotic resistance, and extend fruits postharvest shelf life by regulating the expression of AP2/EREBPs, WRKYs, MYBs, CABs, GRIP22, FERRITINs, TPSs, UGTs, and GHs etc.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.7
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• pp.1117-1123
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• 2019

Control of pine wilt disease, which is caused by pine wilt nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, is heavily dependent on the use of chemicals such as abamectin. Although such chemicals are highly effective, demands for alternatives that are derived preferentially from natural sources, are increasing out of environmental concerns. One of the challenges to discovery of alternative control agents is lack of fast and efficient screening method that can be used in a high-throughput manner. Here we described the development of colorimetric assay for the rapid and accurate screening of candidate nematicidal compounds/biologics targeting B. xylophilus. Contrary to the conventional method, which relies on laborious visual inspection and counting of nematode population under microscope, our method utilizes a redox dye that changes its color in response to metabolic activity of nematode population in a given sample. In this work, we optimized parameters of our colorimetric assay including number of nematodes and amount of redox dye, and tested applicability of our assay for screening of chemicals and biologics. We demonstrated that our colorimetric assay can be applied to rapid and accurate quantification of nematode viability/mortality in a nematode population treated with candidate chemicals/biologics. Application of our method would facilitate high-throughput endeavors aiming at finding environment-friendly control agents for deadly disease of pine trees.

• Laboraroty Animal Research
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.232-238
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• 2018

Animal models have been used to elucidate the pathophysiology of varying diseases and to provide insight into potential targets for therapeutic intervention. Although alternatives to animal testing have been proposed to help overcome potential drawbacks related to animal experiments and avoid ethical issues, their use remains vital for the testing of new drug candidates and to identify the most effective strategies for therapeutic intervention. Particularly, the study of metabolic diseases requires the use of animal models to monitor whole-body physiology. In line with this, the National Institute of Food and Drug Safety Evaluation (NIFDS) in Korea has established their own animal strains to help evaluate both efficacy and safety during new drug development. The objective of this study was to characterize the response of C57BL/6NKorl mice from the NIFDS compared with that of other mice originating from the USA and Japan in a chemical-induced diabetic condition. Multiple low-dose treatments with streptozotocin were used to generate a type-1 diabetic animal model which is closely linked to the known clinical pathology of this disease. There were no significantly different responses observed between the varying streptozotocin-induced type-1 diabetic models tested in this study. When comparing control and diabetic mice, increases in liver weight and disturbances in serum amino acids levels of diabetic mice were most remarkable. Although the relationship between type-1 diabetes and BCAA has not been elucidated in this study, the results, which reveal a characteristic increase in diabetic mice of all origins are considered worthy of further study.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.7
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• pp.999-1010
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• 2021

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous in the environment. They are highly toxigenic and carcinogenic. Probiotic bacteria isolated from fermented foods were tested to check their ability to degrade and/or detoxify PAHs. Five probiotic bacteria with distinct morphologies were isolated from a mixture of 26 fermented foods co-cultured with benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) containing Bushnell Haas minimal broth. Among them, B. velezensis (PMC10) significantly reduced the abundance of BaP in the broth. PMC10 completely degraded BaP presented at a lower concentration in broth culture. B. velezensis also showed a clear zone of degradation on a BaP-coated Bushnell Haas agar plate. Gene expression profiling showed significant increases of PAH ring-hydroxylating dioxygenases and 4-hydroxybenzoate 3-monooxygenase genes in B. velezensis in response to BaP treatment. In addtion, both live and heat-killed B. velezensis removed BaP and naphthalene (Nap) from phosphate buffer solution. Live B. velezensis did not show any cytotoxicity to macrophage or human dermal fibroblast cells. Live-cell and cell-free supernatant of B. velezensis showed potential anti-inflammatory effects. Cell-free supernatant and extract of B. velezensis also showed free radical scavenging effects. These results highlight the prospective ability of B. velezensis to biodegrade and remove toxic PAHs from the human body and suggest that the biodegradation of BaP might be regulated by ring-hydroxylating dioxygenase-initiated metabolic pathway.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.153-162
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• 2021

In this study, a fish metabolic accelerator (a combination of butaphosphan and cyanocobalamin [BPC]) was injected into the muscle of the olive flounder, Paralichthys olivaceus, to investigate its effect on immunity and stress in fish maintained at low temperatures. A single dose of BPC was injected (100 mg/kg body weight) into the olive flounder, and its immunity and stress were observed after one and two weeks. Immunity tests revealed the presence of lysozyme (LZM), nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT), myeloperoxidase (MPO), anti-protease (AP), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and total immunoglobulin (TIg). BPC injection was found to increase immunity activity compared to the control group. In particular, there was significantly high GPx activity. There was similarly high activity for MPO and GPx in the first week following the injection, followed by significant differences between the BPC-injected and control groups in the second week. There was a reduced low water-temperature stress response in the BPC-injected fish, as evidenced by the cortisol and glucose levels of the control and BPC groups. Lower levels were also observed in the BPC group than the control group during the second week. Cortisol levels were significantly lower in the BPC group than the control group. Histological examinations were conducted in the first and second weeks after the intramuscular injection of the recommended BPC dose to confirm the safety of BPC in aquaculture. There were no abnormalities observed in any tissue samples. This study confirms that the injection of BPC is safe even when used in a culture situation. BPC helps relieve stress and improves non-specific immune responses (innate immunity) in the olive flounder.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.240-249
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• 2021

Phenotypic plasticity is a rapid response mechanism that enables organisms to acclimate and survive in changing environments. The Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) survives and thrives in different and even introduced habitats, thereby indicating its high phenotypic plasticity. However, the underpinnings of the high plasticity of E. sinensis have not been comprehensively investigated. In this study, we conducted an integrated gut microbiome and muscle metabolome analysis on E. sinensis collected from three different environments, namely, an artificial pond, Yangcheng Lake, and Yangtze River, to uncover the mechanism of its high phenotypic plasticity. Our study presents three divergent gut microbiotas and muscle metabolic profiles that corresponded to the three environments. The composition and diversity of the core gut microbiota (Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Tenericutes, and Firmicutes) varied among the different environments while the metabolites associated with amino acids, fatty acids, and terpene compounds displayed significantly different concentration levels. The results revealed that the gut microbiome community and muscle metabolome were significantly affected by the habitat environments. Our findings indicate the high phenotypic plasticity in terms of gut microbiome and muscle metabolome of E. sinensis when it faces environmental changes, which would also facilitate its acclimation and adaptation to diverse and even introduced environments.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.41-47
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• 2021

A wide range of studies have steadily pointed out the relation of oxidative stress to the primary and secondary causes of human disease and aging. As such, there have been multiple misconceptions about oxidative stress. Most of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated from chronic diseases cause oxidative damage to cell membrane lipids and proteins. ROS production is increased by abnormal stimulation inside and outside in the body, and even though ROS are generated in cells in response to abnormal metabolic processes such as disease, it does not mean that they directly contribute to the pathogenesis of a disease. Therefore, the focus of treatment should not be on ROS production itself but on the prevention and treatment of diseases linked to ROS production, including types 1 and 2 diabetes, cancer, heart disease, schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease. In this regard, Korean Red Ginseng (KRG) has been traditionally utilized to help prevent and treat diseases such as diabetes, cancer, inflammation, nervous system diseases, cardiovascular disease, and hyperlipidemia. Therefore, this review was intended to summarize in vivo animal and human clinical studies on the antioxidant activities of KRG and its components, ginsenosides.