• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.92-98
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• 2001

Lactofenicin is an antibacterial peptide fragment (about 5 kD) derived from lactoferrin (80 kD) that displays the various biological functions. The production of a human lactoferricin (Lactoferricin H) in mouse HC11 mammary epithelial cells was achieved by placing its cDNA under the control of the bovine ${\beta}$-casein gene. To express lactoferricin H in this cell culture system, constructed a hybride-splice signal consisting of bovine ${\beta}$-casein intron I and rabbit ${\beta}$-globin intron II, and a DNA fragment spanning intron 8 of the bovine ${\beta}$-casein gene. Expression of lactofenicin H from this expression vector was identified by RT-PCR, northern and dot blot analysis. RT-PCR using total RNA of HC11 cells transfected with pBL1-cin expression vector yielded a product identified as having a size of the 150bp. Northern blot analysis was identified about 2.3 kb. In dot blot analysis, recombinant lactofenicin H was recognized with anti-human lactofrrnin polyclonal antibody.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.103-114
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• 2009

This study investigated perceived discomfort and reasons related to use three information technology products (personal computer, mobile phone and digital television remote controller), and extracted the universal design factors. 240 people (30 females and 30 males for four age groups) participated in the one-to-one interview type of questionnaire, and replied to degree of discomfort at level of items and the reasons of discomfort at level of detailed elements for each product. As a result, almost all age groups answered that using input buttons of mobile phone and remote controller and watching display of mobile phone caused discomfort. Binary logistic regression of the detailed elements showed that response rate of discomfort mostly increased with age, except for specific elements such as shape of mouse and remote controller, and location of function button of mobile phone. Some of the detailed elements had high response rate of discomfort from all age groups. The age groups also showed similar tendency for the elements to select one alternative for the reason of discomfort, but not for sound volume and size of mobile phone and button sensitivity of remote controller. Finally, the universal design factors were extracted for each product based on the results, and divided into common factors and factors classified by the age group. Through this study, we identified using practices of various age groups and their demands for the products. It is expected that extracted detailed elements can be considered as important design factors to design the products universally.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.40
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• pp.34.1-34.8
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• 2018

Background: Radiation therapy is widely employed in the treatment of head and neck cancer. Adverse effects of therapeutic irradiation include delayed bone healing after dental extraction or impaired bone regeneration at the irradiated bony defect. Development of a reliable experimental model may be beneficial to study tissue regeneration in the irradiated field. The current study aimed to develop a relevant animal model of post-radiation cranial bone defect. Methods: A lead shielding block was designed for selective external irradiation of the mouse calvaria. Critical-size calvarial defect was created 2 weeks after the irradiation. The defect was filled with a collagen scaffold, with or without incorporation of bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2) (1 ㎍/ml). The non-irradiated mice treated with or without BMP-2-included scaffold served as control. Four weeks after the surgery, the specimens were harvested and the degree of bone formation was evaluated by histological and radiographical examinations. Results: BMP-2-treated scaffold yielded significant bone regeneration in the mice calvarial defects. However, a single fraction of external irradiation was observed to eliminate the bone regeneration capacity of the BMP-2-incorporated scaffold without influencing the survival of the animals. Conclusion: The current study established an efficient model for post-radiation cranial bone regeneration and can be applied for evaluating the robust bone formation system using various chemokines or agents in unfavorable, demanding radiation-related bone defect models.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.249-258
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• 1998

Obesity, one of the most common metabolic diseases in industrial countries is characterized by an increase in the number or size of adipocytes. In an effort to create transgenic mouse models for the study of obesity we developed a novel technique in which adipose tissue can be ablated genetically at will, at any specific developmental stage and/or physiological condition, by the treatment of ganciclovir. We made a series of adipocytespecific expression vectors using minimal regulatory regions of brown adipocyte-specific uncoupling protein (UCP-1) gene and adipocyte-specific aP2 gene, and then analyzed their expression characteristics in cultured cell lines. When both constructs pUCP-LacZ and paP2-LacZ were transfected transiently into differentiating 3T3-L1 (pre-while adipocytes) and HIB-1B (pre-brown adipocytes) cell lines in vitro and then monitored by X-gal staining of cells, these regulatory regions were sufficient to show proper differentiation stage-specific expression in adipocvtes. To confirm that adipocytes expressing HSV-TK controlled by these minimal requlatory elements are sufficient to kill themselves with ganciclovir treatment pUCP-TK and paP2-TK expression constructs were transfected stably into HIB-1B and 3T3-L1 cells, respectively, and their ganciclovir sensitivities were tested during in vitro differentiation of cells. As expected more than 80% of cells were dead by the 7th day of treatment with ganciclovir while negative control cells were not affected at all. The data suqqest that the constructed vectors are suitable for obtaining novel obese transqenic models based on a conditional genetic tissue ablation method.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.133-137
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• 2009

Pluripotent embryonic stem (ES) cells isolated from inner cell mass (ICM) of blastocyst-stage embryos are capable of differentiating into various cell lineages and demonstrate germ-line transmission in experimentally produced chimeras. These cells have a great potential as tools for transgenic animal production, screening of newly-developed drugs, and cell therapy. Miniature pigs, selectively bred pigs for small size, offer several advantages over large breed pigs in biomedical research including human disease model and xenotransplantation. In the present study, factors affecting primary culture of somatic cell nuclear transfer blastocysts from miniature pigs for isolation of ES cells were investigated. Formation of primary colonies occurred only on STO cells in human ES medium. In contrast, no ICM outgrowth was observed on mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF) in porcine ES medium. Plating intact blastocysts and isolated ICM resulted in comparable attachment on feeder layer and primary colony formation. After subculture of ES-like colonies, two putative ES cell lines were isolated. Colonies of putative ES cells morphologically resembled murine ES cells. These cells were maintained in culture up to three passages, but lost by spontaneous differentiation. The present study demonstrates factors involved in the early stage of nuclear transfer ES cell isolation in miniature pigs. However, long-term maintenance and characterization of nuclear transfer ES cells in miniature pigs are remained to be done in further studies.

• The Korean Journal of Applied Statistics
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.13-24
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• 2017

The Sample Cohort DB supplied by the National Health Insurance Service is a valuable resource for statistical studies as well as for health and medical studies. It takes significant time and effort to extract data from this Cohort DB having a large size. As such, we introduce a database system, conveniently called the National Health Insurance Service Cohort DB Extract Tool (NICE Tool), which supports several useful operations for effectively and efficiently managing the Cohort DB. For example, researchers can extract variables and cases related with study by simply clicking a computer mouse without any prior knowledge regarding SAS DATA step or SQL. We expect that NICE Tool will facilitate the faster extraction of data and eventually lead to the active use of the Cohort DB for research purposes.

• Journal of Radiopharmaceuticals and Molecular Probes
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.104-108
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• 2015

Human serum albumin (HSA) has potential for diagnosis and therapy in clinical setting. The purpose of experiments was to develop and evaluate $^{68}Ga$-HSA as a PET agent for diagnosis of acute inflammation. NOTA-HSA was synthesized by conjugating 2-(p-isothiocyanatobenzyl)-1,4,7-triazacyclononane-1,4,7-triacetic acid to HSA in 0.1 M sodium carbonate buffer (pH 9.5) and then purified using a PD-10 size-exclusion column. NOTA-HSA was labeled with $^{68}Ga$ at room temperature for 10 min, and 8.4% sodium hydrogen carbonate buffer was added for neutralization. $^{68}Ga$-NOTA-HSA was purified using alumina N plus light cartridge and $0.22{\mu}m$ syringe filter. Labeling efficiency and radiochemical purity were determined by ITLC-SG with 0.1 M citric acid. Biodistribution study was performed in a male BALB/c mice model of Carrageenan-induced acute inflammation. Animal PET study was performed in acute inflammation mice model after tail vein injection of $^{68}Ga$-HSA. This radiotracer showed high labeling efficiency (>99%) around pH 7. Biodistribution study showed higher inflamed footpad uptake than control footpad uptake. Animal PET study revealed 2 times higher uptake on inflamed footpad compared to control footpad. In these experiments, we developed $^{68}Ga$-HSA for acute inflammation PET imaging and evaluated it in a mouse disease model. The results demonstrated that $^{68}Ga$-HSA has potential as a PET imaging agent for diagnosis of acute inflammation.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.42-48
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• 2016

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Seaweeds have been reported to have various health beneficial effects. In this study, we investigated the potential anti-obesity and anti-inflammatory effects of four types of domestic brown seaweeds in a high-fat diet-induced obese mouse model and bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDM). MATERIALS/METHODS: Male C57BL/6N mice were fed low-fat diet (LFD), high-fat diet (HFD) or HFD containing Undaria Pinnatifida, HFD containing Laminaria Japonica (LJ), HFD containing Sargassum Fulvellum, or HFD containing Hizikia Fusiforme (HF) for 16 weeks. RESULTS: Brown seaweed supplementation did not affect long-term HFD-associated changes in body weight or adiposity, although mice fed HFD + LJ or HFD + HF gained slightly less body weight compared with those fed HFD at the beginning of feeding. Despite being obese, mice fed HFD + LJ appeared to show improved insulin sensitivity compared to mice fed HFD. Consistently, we observed significantly reduced blood glucose concentrations in mice fed HFD + LJ compared with those of mice fed HFD. Although no significant differences in adipocyte size were detected among the HFD-fed groups, consumption of seaweeds decreased formation of HFD-induced crown-like structures in gonadal adipose tissue as well as plasma inflammatory cytokines. BMDM from mice fed HFDs with seaweeds showed differential regulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-$1{\beta}$ and IL-6 compared with BMDM from mice fed HFD by LPS stimulation. CONCLUSION: Although seaweed consumption did not prevent long-term HFD-induced obesity in C57BL/6N mice, it reduced insulin resistance (IR) and circulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Therefore, seaweeds may ameliorate systemic inflammation and IR in obesity partially due to inhibition of inflammatory signaling in adipose tissue cells as well as bone marrow-derived immune cells.

• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.101-110
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• 2017

Objectives: In this study, the lipolytic effects of Eriobotrya folium extract (EFE) on local fat was investigated in high fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity mouse and 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Methods: C57BL/6J mice (5 weeks) were fed HFD for 6 weeks to induce obesity. EFE (20 mg/ml, $100{\mu}l$) or saline ($100{\mu}l$) as a normal control was injected into left inguinal fat pad region, 3 times per a week for last 2 weeks. After sacrifice, body weight, and histological changes of the inguinal fat pad were evaluated. The expressions of hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) and adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) in inguinal fat pad were analyzed by Western blotting. Also, lipid accumulation and lipases release were determined in 3T3-L1 adipocytes by oil red o staining. Results: EFE significantly reduced the weight of inguinal fat pad and the size of adipocytes in HFD-induced obesity mice compared to control. The treatment of EFE up-regulated the expressions of HSL and ATGL in inguinal fat pads of obesity mice, as well as 3T3-L1 adipocytes. In addition, EFE inhibited the lipid accumulation in 3T3-L1 adipocytes in a dose dependent manner. Conclusions: EFE showed lipolytic effect on local fat of HFD-induced obesity mice by up-regulation of the lipases secretion. This suggests that EFE could be considered as anti-obese substance with lipolytic property on local fat.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.565-574
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• 2021

Astrocytes are activated in response to brain damage. Here, we found that expression of Kir4.1, a major potassium channel in astrocytes, is increased in activated astrocytes in the injured brain together with upregulation of the neural stem cell markers, Sox2 and Nestin. Expression of Kir4.1 was also increased together with that of Nestin and Sox2 in neurospheres formed from dissociated P7 mouse brains. Using the Kir4.1 blocker BaCl₂ to determine whether Kir4.1 is involved in acquisition of stemness, we found that inhibition of Kir4.1 activity caused a concentration-dependent increase in sphere size and Sox2 levels, but had little effect on Nestin levels. Moreover, induction of differentiation of cultured neural stem cells by withdrawing epidermal growth factor and fibroblast growth factor from the culture medium caused a sharp initial increase in Kir4.1 expression followed by a decrease, whereas Sox2 and Nestin levels continuously decreased. Inhibition of Kir4.1 had no effect on expression levels of Sox2 or Nestin, or the astrocyte and neuron markers glial fibrillary acidic protein and β-tubulin III, respectively. Taken together, these results indicate that Kir4.1 may control gain of stemness but not differentiation of stem cells.