• Molecules and Cells
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.337-342
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• 2006

Interstitial cells of Cajal (ICCs) are pacemaker cells that activate the periodic spontaneous depolarization (pacemaker potentials) responsible for the production of slow waves in gastrointestinal smooth muscle. The effects of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) on the pacemaker potentials in cultured ICCs from murine small intestine were investigated by whole-cell patch-clamp techniques. Addition of VIP (50 nM-$1{\mu}M$) decreased the amplitude of pacemaker potentials and depolarized resting membrane potentials. To examine the type of receptors involved in ICC, we examined the effects of the $VIP_1$ agonist and found that it had no effect on pacemaker potentials. Pretreatment with $VIP_1$ antagonist ($1{\mu}M$) for 10 min also did not block the VIP (50 nM)-induced effects. On the other hand exposure to 1H-(1,2,4)oxadiazolo(4,3-A)quinoxalin-1-one (ODQ, $100{\mu}M$), an inhibitor of guanylate cyclase, prevented VIP inhibition of pacemaker potentials. Similarly KT-5823 ($1{\mu}M$) or RP-8-CPT-cGMPS ($10{\mu}M$), inhibitors of protein kinase G (PKG) blocked the effect of VIP (50 nM) on pacemaker potentials as did N-nitro-L-arginine (L-NA, $100{\mu}M$), a non-selective nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor. These results imply that the inhibition of pacemaker activity by VIP depends on the NO-cGMP-PKG pathway.

• The Journal of the Korean Society for Microbiology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.171-179
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• 1986

The HLA class II region encodes a series of polymorphic glycoproteins that form cell surface heterodimers each consisting of one $\alpha$ and one $\beta$ chain. Thess class II molecules are encoded by genes clustered within three loci. DP, DQ, and DR are functfonally implicated as regulatory signals in intercellular communication during the immune resposes. The phenotypic hallmark of the HLA complex is a high degree of structural and functional polymorphism. Detailed analysis. of such polymorphisms should aid in understanding the molecular basis for associations between HLA and diseases. We have used techniques of restriction enzyme fragment analysis by Southern blotting to investigate polymorphisms associated with DQ $\beta$ class II genes on haplotypes expressing the HLA-DR4 and -DQw3 specificities. The endonucleases Hind III and Bam HI were used to identify a specific DQ $\beta$ genomic polymorphism that precisely corrresponds with the reactivity of a monoclonal antibody A-10-83, previously shown to define a serologic split of DQw3. This study identifies two allelic DQ va. riants. DQw3.1 and DQw3.2. We used these specific genotypic markers to investigate the genomic basis of the association of DR4 with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus(IDDM) and seropositive juvenile rheumatoid arthritis(JRA). The DR4 positive IDDM demonstrate the predominant expression of DQw3.2 and the very rare expression of DQw3.l. However, in haplotype matched siblings from two IDDM families, all of the DR4 positive siblings display a IDDM-associated DQw3.2 allele. Thus, both affected and healthy individuals can carry the same haplotypes and genomic markers, demonstrating that thess specific allelic variants are genetic elements that indicate a increased risk of IDDM but are not in fact disease specific. We contrasted this result with a similar analysis of patients with another DR4-associated disease, JRA. In contrast to the preponderance of the DQw3.2 allele in IDDM, the JRA patients expressed either the DQw3.1 or the DQw3.2 allele and sometimes both, without apparent association with disease expession. The different genomic markers reported here within HLA-DQ region potentially an analysis of HLA-associated function and disease susceptibility.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.167-172
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• 2001

The vitellin of firefly, Pyrocoelia rufa, is composed of three polypeptides, designated Vn1 (175 kDa), Vn2 (160 kDa) and Vn3 (45 kDa) in SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Three subunits of vitellin were presented in the female adult hemolymph, ovary and egg extracts, but not observed in the male. This vitellin was purified from the eggs of P. rufa by the FPLC techniques, anion exchange chromatography and gel permeation chromatography. In nature, vitellin of P. rufa has molecular weight of 400 kDa. Western blot analysis using polyclonal antiserum against purified vitellin showed that the antiserum was reacted with the three polypeptides, Vnl, Vn2 and Vn3 from the female adult hemolymph, ovary and egg extracts. Amino acid residues at N-terminus of three subunits were sequenced. The N-terminal sequences of large subunits, Vnl and Vn2, were similar to each other, But, the N-terminal sequences of small subunits Vn3, did not have any signnificant homology with large subunits.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.186-192
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• 2004

Purpose: Human tooth proteins are highly heterogeneous, comprising diverse proteins derived from a number of genes. The attempts to identify protein for activity of tooth matrix proteins have been defied by several factors. First, the amount of proteins within teeth is very small relative to many extracellular matrix proteins of other tissues. Second, the bioassay system is tedious and needed for long time. Therefore we tried to find easy techniques, which increase the product rate, and an assay of small proteins, with which amino acid sequence is possible without additional procedures. Materials and Methods: Total protein were extracted from 300 g enamel removed teeth and 600 g teeth with 4 mol/L guanidine HCl and purified by gel chromatography. Aliquot of proteins was implanted into muscle pouches in Sprague-Dawley rats for bioassay. By SDS-PAGE and membrane blotting, molecular weight of each protein was estimated and a partial amino acid sequence was obtained. Each fraction blotted on the membrane was cut out and inserted in rat ectopic model. Results: In dissociative method, total tooth proteins were obtained 1mg/ml from enamel removed teeth and 3.5 mg/ml from teeth. In SDS-PAGE, four clear bands at the sites corresponding to 66, 40, 20 and 18 kD. Especially The 66 kD band was clearly exhibited. Amino acid sequencing from tooth could be possible using PVDF membrane blotting technique. In amino acid sequencing, 66 kD protein was identified as albumin. Conclusion: Compared with conventional method for extraction of teeth protein and bioassay of proteins, the methods in this study were easy, time-saving and more productive technique. The matured tooth proteins omitting additional procedure of mechanical removal of enamel were simply analyzed using blotted PVDF membrane. This method seems to make a contribution as a technique for bioassay and amino acid sequencing of protein.

• Mycobiology
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.183-188
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• 2009

The molecular phylogeny in nine different commercial cultivated strains of Pleurotus nebrodensis was studied based on their internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and RAPD. In the sequence of ITS region of selected strains, it was revealed that the total length ranged from 592 to 614 bp. The size of ITS1 and ITS2 regions varied among the strains from 219 to 228 bp and 211 to 229 bp, respectively. The sequence of ITS2 was more variable than ITS1 and the region of 5.8S sequences were identical. Phylogenetic tree of the ITS region sequences indicated that selected strains were classified into five clusters. The reciprocal homologies of the ITS region sequences ranged from 99 to 100%. The strains were also analyzed by RAPD with 20 arbitrary primers. Twelve primers were efficient to applying amplification of the genomic DNA. The sizes of the polymorphic fragments obtained were in the range of 200 to 2000 bp. RAPD and ITS analysis techniques were able to detect genetic variation among the tested strains. Experimental results suggested that IUM-1381, IUM-3914, IUM-1495 and AY-581431 strains were genetically very similar. Therefore, all IUM and NCBI gene bank strains of P. nebrodensis were genetically same with some variations.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.225-234
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• 2015

In this study, we proposed to synthesize thermally stable, soluble and conjugated Schiff base polymer (SbP). For this reason, a specific molecule namely 4,4'-thiodiphenol which has sulfur and oxygen bridge in its structure was used to synthesize bi-functional monomers. Bi-functional amino and carbonyl monomers namely 4,4'-[thio-bis(4,1-phenyleneoxy)] dianiline (DIA) and 4,4'-[thiobis(4,1-phenyleneoxy)]dibenzaldehyde (DIB) were prepared from the elimination reaction of 4,4'-thiodiphenol with 4-iodonitrobenzene and 4-iodobenzaldehyde, respectively. The structures of products were confirmed by elemental analysis, FTIR, $^1H$ NMR and $^{13}C$ NMR techniques. The molecular weight distribution parameters of SbP were determined by size exclusion chromatography (SEC). The synthesized SbP was characterized by solubility tests, TG-DTA and DSC. Also, conductivity values of SbP and SbP-iodine complex were determined from their solid conductivity measurements. The conductivity measurements of doped and undoped SbP were carried out by Keithley 2400 electrometer at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, which were calculated via four-point probe technique. When iodine was used as a doping agent, the conductivity of SbP was observed to be increased. Optical band gap ($E_g$) of SbP was also calculated by using UV-Vis spectroscopy. It should be stressed that SbP was a semiconductor which had a potential in electronic and optoelectronic applications, with fairly low band gap. SbP was found to be thermally stable up to $300^{\circ}C$. The char of SbP was observed 29.86% at $1000^{\circ}C$.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.46-53
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• 2005

Human embryonic stem (hES) cells, unlike most cells derived from adult or fetal human tissues, represent a potentially unlimited source of various cell types for basic clinical research. To meet the increased demand for characterized hES cell lines, we established and characterized nine new lines obtained from frozen-thawed pronucleus-stage embryos. In addition, we improved the derivation efficiency from inner cell masses (to 47.4%) and optimized culture conditions for undifferentiated hES cells. After these cell lines had been maintained for over a year in vitro, they were characterized comprehensively for expression of markers of undifferentiated hES cells, karyotype, and in vitro/in vivo differentiation capacity. All of the cell lines were pluripotent, and one cell line was trisomic for chromosome 3. Improved culture techniques for hES cells should make them a good source for diverse applications in regenerative medicine, but further investigation is needed of their basic biology.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.62-66
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• 2011

Deletions of 14q including band 14q32.33 are uncommon. Patients with terminal deletions of chromosome 14 usually share a number of clinical features. By molecular techniques (array comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), we identified a young girl with 0.3 Mb terminal 14q32.33 deletion. Review of the nine cases with pure terminal 14q32.3 deletions described to date documented that our observation is the smallest terminal 14q deletion ever reported. The phenotype of our patient is much less severe than the phenotypes of the patients reported previously. We report our experience in examining the clinical, behavioral, and cognitive findings in a 5-year-old girl studied with chromosomal microarray hybridization and reviewed previously reported patients with 14q32 deletions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.275-275
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• 2013

Formation and characterization of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on various surfaces are the essential basis for many other applications, including molecular switches, biosensors, microfluidics, and fundamental studies in surfaces and interfaces. To improve the performance at these applications, it is a key to control the quantity of each molecule in various mixed SAMs on the surface. In this study, using mixed SAM of carbamate-based hydroquinone (HQ)-PhBr and11-mercaptoundecanol, the quantitative mass spectrometric method of mixed SAM was developed based on comparison study with XPS and FT-IR methods. In addition, our method was applied to another mixed SAM of biotinylated PEG alkane thiol and 11-mercaptoundecanol for verification purpose. Time-of-flight secondary mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) analysis was performed to identify and quantify each molecule of mixed SAM along with principal component analysis (PCA). Since there is no matrix effect in the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) techniques, we compared ToF-SIMS results with XPS and FT-IR results. Because PCA results from ToF-SIMS analysis are well matched with XPS and FT-IR results from both mixed SAMs, we are expecting that our method will be useful to identify and quantify each molecule in various mixed SAMs.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.155-161
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• 2006

Comparative analysis of microbial communities in a sequencing batch reactor which performed enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) was carried out using a cultivation-based technique and 16S rRNA gene clone libraries. A standard PCR protocol and a modified PCR protocol with low PCR cycle was applied to the two clone libraries of the 16S rRNA gene sequences obtained from EBPR sludge, respectively, and the resulting 424 clones were analyzed using restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) on 16S rRNA gene inserts. Comparison of two clone libraries showed that the modified PCR protocol decreased the incidence of distinct fragment patterns from about 63 % (137 of 217) in the standard PCR method to about 34 % (70 of 207) under the modified protocol, suggesting that just a low level of PCR cycling (5 cycles after 15 cycles) can significantly reduce the formation of chimeric DNA in the final PCR products. Phylogenetic analysis of 81 groups with distinct RFLP patterns that were obtained using the modified PCR method revealed that the clones were affiliated with at least 11 phyla or classes of the domain Bacteria. However, the analyses of 327 colonies, which were grouped into just 41 distinct types by RFLP analysis, showed that they could be classified into five major bacterial lineages: ${\alpha},\;{\beta},\;{\gamma}-$ Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and the phylum Bacteroidetes, which indicated that the microbial community yielded from the cultivation-based method was still much simpler than that yielded from the PCR-based molecular method. In this study, the discrepancy observed between the communities obtained from PCR-based and cultivation-based methods seems to result from low culturabilities of bacteria or PCR bias even though modified culture and PCR methods were used. Therefore, continuous development of PCR protocol and cultivation techniques is needed to reduce this discrepancy.