• BMB Reports
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• 제46권7호
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• pp.352-357
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• 2013

Atherosclerosis, which manifests as acute coronary syndrome, stroke, and peripheral arterial diseases, is a chronic inflammatory disease of the arterial wall. Prunella vulgaris, a perennial herb with a worldwide distribution, has been used as a traditional medicine in inflammatory disease. Here, we investigated the effects of P. vulgaris ethanol extract on TNF-${\alpha}$-induced inflammatory responses in human aortic smooth muscle cells (HASMCs). We found that P. vulgaris ethanol extract inhibited adhesion of monocyte/macrophage-like THP-1 cells to activated HASMCs. It also decreased expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1, vascular cell adhesion molecule-1, E-selectin and ROS, No production in TNF-${\alpha}$-induced HASMCs and reduced NF-${\kappa}B$ activation. Furthermore, P. vulgaris extract suppressed TNF-${\alpha}$-induced phosphorylation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK). These results demonstrate that P. vulgaris possesses anti-inflammatory properties and can regulate TNF-${\alpha}$-induced expression of adhesion molecules by inhibiting the p38 MAPK/ERK signaling pathway.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• 제21권1호
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• pp.41-45
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• 1998

Hypericin, a photosensitizing plant pigment, was found to be a potent inducer of differentiation of human myeloid leukemia U-937 cells. At a concentration of $0.2{\mu}M$, hypericin exhibited 50% growth inhibition. An effect on cell differentiation by hypericin was assessed by its ability to induce phagocytosis of latex particles, and to reduce nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT). Approximately 51% of $0.2{\mu}M$ hypericin-treated cells were stained with NBT and 63% showed phagocytic activity. In order to establish whether hypericin induces differentiation of U-937 cells to macrophage or granulocyte, esterase activities and cell sizes were measured. When U-937 cells were treated with $0.2{\mu}M$ and $0.15{\mu}M$ of hypericin, the .alpha.-naphthyl acetate esterase activity was increased by 38.4% and 48.1%, respectively, but naphthol AS-D chloroacetate esterase activity was not influenced. The size of hypericin-treated cells in terms of cell mass was larger than that observed in untreated cells as determined by flow cytometry. Protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor, NA-382, decreased the NBT reducing activity of hypericin, whereas a cAMP-dependent protein kinase A (PKA) inhibitor, H-89, did not show any influence on the differentiations. These results indicate that hypericin triggers differentiation toward monocyte/macrophage lineage by PKC stimulation.

• 한국임상수의학회지
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• 제15권1호
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• pp.162-170
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• 1998

Present experiments were undertaken in order to determine the normal hematological and blood chemical values of elks raised in Korea. Blood samples were collected from 22 healthy adult (5~10 years old) male elks raised in Kyung-pook prefecture and examined for 9 hematological and 15 blood chemical parameters using automatic blood cell counter and automatic blood chemical analyzer. The mean hematological values were determined as PCV : 34.23%, RBC count : $6.70{\times}10^{6}/{\mu}l, Hb : 12.15g/61, WBC count : 3.17{\times}10^{3}/{\mu}l$, neutrophil : 54.09%, eosinophil : 12.27%, Iymphocyte : 28.86%, monocyte : 5.23%, and platelet : $39.94$\times$10^{5}/{\mu}l$

• 대한수의학회지
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• 제35권3호
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• pp.595-601
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• 1995

Hemodynamic values were assessed in the cows diseased with mastitis. Hemodynamic testes were performed for white blood cell(WBC), red blood cell(RBC), packed cell volume(PCV), hemoglobin concentration, monocyte, eosinophil, neutrophil, lymphocyte, prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, thrombin time, fibrinogen, platelet concentrations, antithrombin-III and plasminogen activities. Significant alterations were observed in the mean values of most analytes. The numbers of monocytes, eosinophil, and neutrophil, and prothrombin time were increased while the number of lymphocyte, activated partial thromboplastin time, thrombin time, fibrinogen concentration, plasminogen activity and platelet concentration were decreased. The number of RBC, PCV, hemoglobin and antithrombin-III activity were unchanged compared with normal mean values. These data indicated that activation of hemodynamic mechanisms was initiated either directly by the endotoxin-releasing or indirectly by the inflammatory mediators released by response to etiologic agents. We suspected that the changes of hemodynamic values in the cows diseased with mastitis were very similar to those of experimental endotoxin-induced mastitis.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제40권5호
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• pp.371-377
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• 2017

Despite the importance of the receptor activator of nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB ligand (RANKL)-RANK signaling mechanisms on osteoclast differentiation, little has been studied on how RANK expression is regulated or what regulates its expression during osteoclastogenesis. We show here that insulin signaling increases RANK expression, thus enhancing osteoclast differentiation by RANKL. Insulin stimulation induced RANK gene expression in time- and dose-dependent manners and insulin receptor shRNA completely abolished RANK expression induced by insulin in bone marrow-derived monocyte/macrophage cells (BMMs). Moreover, the addition of insulin in the presence of RANKL promoted RANK expression. The ability of insulin to regulate RANK expression depends on extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) since only PD98059, an ERK1/2 inhibitor, specifically inhibited its expression by insulin. However, the RANK expression by RANKL was blocked by all three mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases inhibitors. The activation of RANK increased differentiation of BMMs into tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase-positive ($TRAP^+$) osteoclasts as well as the expression of dendritic cell-specific transmembrane protein (DC-STAMP) and d2 isoform of vacuolar ($H^+$) ATPase (v-ATPase) Vo domain (Atp6v0d2), genes critical for osteoclastic cell-cell fusion. Collectively, these results suggest that insulin induces RANK expression via ERK1/2, which contributes to the enhancement of osteoclast differentiation.

• 대한임상검사과학회지
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• 제37권3호
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• pp.143-148
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• 2005

Automatic hematology analyzers provide the leukocyte differential count and the useful flags of the various hematological parameters. We compared LH 750 (Beckman Coulter Co., Miami, FL, USA) with manual method on differential leukocyte counts and evaluated the usefulness of the suspect flags, provided by this instrument. The comparison of leukocyte differential counts between two methods showed good correlation coefficient (r), which were 0.95 (neutrophil), 0.92 (lymphocyte), 0.82 (monocyte) and 0.95 (eosinophil). The frequency of the total flags displayed on LH 750 were 15.5%, which included immature granulocyte/left shift 63.5%, nucleated RBC 14.6%, platelet clumps 13.1%, variant lymphocyte 50% and blast 16.6%. This instrument showed higher positive predictive value in the flags such as platelet clumps 68.8%, immature granulocyte/left shift 61.5%, nucleated RBC 27.3%, variant lymphocyte 50% and blast 16.7%. In this study, the leukocyte differential counts of LH 750 showed good correlation with manual method and the suspect flags also showed a good performance for applying the criteria of re-examination in the clinical laboratory.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• 제25권4호
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• pp.480-484
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• 2002

Costunolide has been reported to be a cytotoxic and chemopreventive agent. This work investigated the mechanism of the anti proliferative effect of costunolide and determined that it induced differentiation of the human leukemia cell line HL-60. Costunolide exhibited a potent antiproliferative activity against HL-60 cells. It was also found to be a potent inducer of differentiation in human leukemia derived HL-60 cells through the examination of differentiation markers, as assessed by the reduction of nitroblue tetrazolium, the increase in esterase activities and phagocytic activity, morphology change and the expression of CD14 and CD66b surface antigens. These results, accompanied by a decline in the expression of c-myc protein, suggest that costunolide induces differentiation of human leukemia cells to granulocytes and monocytes/macrophages lineage.

• Korean Circulation Journal
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• 제48권11호
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• pp.1014-1024
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• 2018

Background and Objectives: Intense exercise (IE) induced myocardial fibrosis (MF) showed contradictory findings in human studies, making the relationship between IE and the development of MF unclear. This study aims to demonstrate exercise induced MF is associated with cardiac damage, and inflammation is essential to the development of exercise induced MF. Methods: Sprague-Dawley rats were submitted to daily 60-minutes treadmill exercise sessions at vigorous or moderate intensity, with 8-, 12-, and 16-week durations; time-matched sedentary rats served as controls. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to measure serum cardiac troponin I (cTnI) concentration. After completion of the exercise protocol rats were euthanized. Biventricular morphology, ultrastructure, and collagen deposition were then examined. Protein expression of interleukin $(IL)-1{\beta}$ and monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)-1 was evaluated in both ventricles. Results: After IE, right but not left ventricle (LV) MF occurred. Serum cTnI levels increased and right ventricular damage was observed at the ultrastructure level in rats that were subjected to long-term IE. Leukocyte infiltration into the right ventricle (RV) rather than LV was observed after long-term IE. Long-term IE also increased protein expression of proinflammation factors including $IL-1{\beta}$ and MCP-1 in the RV. Conclusions: Right ventricular damage induced by long-term IE is pathological and the following inflammatory response is essential to the development of exercise induced MF.

• Laboraroty Animal Research
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• 제34권4호
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• pp.133-139
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• 2018

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is becoming common chronic liver disease because of the increasing global prevalence of obesity and consequently Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). However, the mechanism for progression of NAFLD to NASH and then cirrhosis is not completely understood, yet. The triggering of these hepatic diseases is thought from hepatocyte injury caused by over-accumulated lipid toxicity. Injured hepatocytes release damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs), which can stimulate the Kupffer cells (KCs), liver-resident macrophages, to release pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, and recruit monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs). The increased activation of KCs and recruitment of MDMs accelerate the progression of NAFLD to NASH and cirrhosis. Therefore, characterization for activation of hepatic macrophages, both KCs and MDMs, is a baseline to figure out the progression of hepatic diseases. The purpose of this review is to discuss the current understanding of mechanisms of NAFLD and NASH, mainly focusing on characterization and function of hepatic macrophages and suggests the regulators of hepatic macrophages as the therapeutic target in hepatic diseases.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• 제59권3호
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• pp.311-317
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• 2021

The present study reports a rare case of Taenia saginata infection, which was initially diagnosed as acute cholecystitis in a Tibetan patient at the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau pastoral area, China. A 45-year-old female was initially diagnosed with acute cholecystitis at a hospital in China. She had a slight fever, weight loss and constipation and complained of pain in the upper abdomen and left back areas. Increase of monocyte, eosinophil and basophil levels were shown. Taenia sp. eggs were detected in a fecal examination. An adult tapeworm approximately 146 cm in length, whitish-yellow color, was collected from the patient after treatment with traditional Chinese medicine. The adult tapeworm had a scolex and proglottids with genital pores. The scolex was rectangular shape with 4 suckers and rostellum without hooklet. The cox1 gene sequence shared 99.5-99.8% homology with that of T. saginata from other regions in China. The patient was diagnosed finally infected with T. saginata by morphological and molecular charateristics.