• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2008

The objective of this work is to study transdermal delivery of levodopa using iontophoresis and evaluate various factors which affect the transdermal transport. Levodopa is unstable in aqueous solution, and, in order to establish a stable condition for levodopa for the duration of experiment, we investigated the stability of levodopa in aqueous solutions of different pHs with/without the addition of dextrose or the application of current. Using stable aqueous solution, we have studied the effect of pH, polarity and penetration enhancer (ethanol) on transdermal flux and compared the results. We also investigated the iontophoretic flux from hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) hydrogel. In vitro flux study was performed at $33^{\circ}C$, using side-by-side diffusion cell. Full thickness hairless mouse skin and rat skin were used for this work. Current densities applied were 0.4 or $0.6mA/cm^2$ and current was off after 6 hour application. Stability study showed that levodopa solution with a pH 2.5 or 4.5 maintained the initial concentration of levodopa for 24 hours with the addition of 5% dextrose. However, at pH 9.5, levodopa was unstable and 30 to 40% of levodopa degraded within 24 hours, even with the addition of 5% dextrose. Hydrogel swollen with dextrose added levodopa solution maintained about 97% of the initial concentration of levodopa for 13 days, when stored in $4^{\circ}C$. The application of current did not affect the stability of levodopa in hydrogel. Flux study from levodopa solution with pH 2.5 showed that cathodal delivery of levodopa was higher than passive or anodal delivery. When the pH of the donor solution was 4.5, anodal delivery of levodopa was higher than passive or cathodal delivery. These results seem to indicate that electroosmosis plays more dominant role than electrorepulsion in the flux of levodopa at pH 2.5, and the reverse situation applies for pH 4.5. The passive flux was unexpectedly high for the ionized levodopa. Similar to the results from aqueous solution, cumulative amount of levodopa transported trom HPC hydrogel by cathodal delivery was significantly higher than passive or anodal delivery. The treatment of 70% ethanol cotton ball by scrubbing increased passive, anodal and cathodal flux, with the largest increase for anodal flux. These results indicate that iontophoretic delivery of zwitterion such as levodopa is much complicated than that can be expected from small ionic molecules with single charge. The results also indicate that the balance between electroosmosis and electrorepulsion plays a very important role in the transport through skin.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.35-44
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• 2014

This study was performed to investigate the anti-photoaging effects of Persimmon leaf tea(PLT) in hairless mice(SKH-1) exposed to UVB radiation. The animals were divided into non-treated group (normal, N) and UV-radiated groups. UV-radiated groups were divided into only UV-radiated group(control, C) and UV-radiated and PLT treated experimental groups[first extraction treated group(PLT-I), second extraction treated groupe(PLT-II), and third extraction treated group(PLT-III)]. Three PLT treated experimental groups of mice were treated with both oral administration(300mg/Kg B.W./day) and topical application (100 ul of 2% conc./mouse/day) for 4 weeks. Anti-photoaging effects of Persimmon leaf were evaluated by MTT assay, anti oxidative reaction, MMP immunohistochemistry, gelatin zymography assay and RT-PCR observations. Treatment with Persimmon leaf tea(PLT)-I, and -III groups decreased immunohistochemical density of matrix metalloproteinases(MMP)-3 and -9 related to degradation of extracellular matrix in skin. Especially, immunohistochemical density of MMP-2 decreased in PLT-I, -II and -III groups in skin. On the effects of antioxidant function on the treatment with Persimmon leaf tea(PLT), treatment of HaCaT cells with extracts of PLT-I and PLT-II had also significantly reduced intracellular ROS produced by UVB irradiation in a dose dependent manner(PLT-I, p<0.05, p<0.01, p<0.001; PLT-II, p<0.01, p<0.001). Gelatin zymography assay revealed that PLT-II and PLT-III (200 ug/ml) had inhibitory effect on MMP-9 expression in UVB-radiated HaCaT cells. Western blot analysis revealed that PLT-1, -II and -III groups down-regulates the expression of inflammatory associated genes(IL-$1{\beta}$) and PLT-1 and -II groups down-regulates the expression of TNF-${\alpha}$ in a dose dependent manner. Our study suggests that Persimmon leaf tea(PLT) extracts participates in inhibitory effects on the morphological and molecular experiments related to photoaging skin on UVB irradiated hairless mice.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.151-158
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• 2009

We found that silymarin exhibited the inhibitory effect on melanogenesis in a spontaneously immortalized mouse melanocyte cell line, Mel-Ab. Silymarin is a standardized extract obtained from the dried seeds of milk thistle (Silybum marianum Gaertn.). Silymarin significantly prevented melanin production in a dose-dependent manner with an $IC_{50}$ value of 28.2 ${\mu}g/mL$ without effects on cell viability. Also, silymarin inhibited tyrosinase activity in melanocyte, while it did not affect the catalytic activity of cell-free tyrosinase. Furthermore, Western blot analysis indicated that silymarin decreased the expression of tyrosinase protein. Silybin A/B and isosilybin A/B were also able to inhibit melanin production and tyrosinase expression in protein level. Double blind study on the clinical efficacy of a cream containing 2 % silymarin showed that silymarin have a significant skin whitening effect. Therefore, this study suggests that silymarin may be useful as a natural skin whitening agent.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.77-81
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• 2013

Objectives : Horse oil (HO) has been used long time as the folk medicine of many Asian countries such as Korea, Mongol, China, India and Japan. HO has been used for anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, and anti-pruritic purposes in skin. However, it is still largely unknown whether HO modulates the skin condition. In this study, we attempted to evaluate the anti-inflammatory effect of HO on the 1 % of 2, 4-dinitro-1-chlorobenzene (DNCB)-induced contact hypersensitivity in Balb/c mice. Methods : To find the anti-inflammatory effect of HO, contact hypersensitivity, a local inflammatory response of skin, was induced on the back of Balb/c mice by sensitization and repeated application by 1% DNCB and HO treated 2 weeks on the 1% of DNCB-treated Balb/c mice. Excised mice skins were stained with hematoxylin and eosin and serum IgE level was measured by mouse IgE ELISA kit. Results : In this study, we found that HO reduced erythema by 1% of DNCB treated Balb/c mice. Also, HO recovered histopathological features such as the thickening of epidermis, hyperkeratosis and the infiltration of inflammatory cells in 1% of DNCB treated Balb/c mice. In addition, HO reduced IgE level on the serum obtained from blood of 1% of DNCB-treated Balb/c mice. Conclusion : Taken together, these results showed that HO could be used as a pharmaceutical material with anti-inflammatory effects by reducing of erythema, IgE level and recovering of histopathological features skin on DNCB-induced contact hypersensitivity in Balb/c mice model.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.46 no.11
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• pp.688-699
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• 2023

We set up this study to understand the underlying mechanisms of reduced ceramides on immune cells in acute rejection (AR). The concentrations of ceramides and sphingomyelins were measured in the sera from hepatic transplant patients, skin graft mice and hepatocyte transplant mice by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Serum concentrations of C24 ceramide, C24:1 ceramide, C16:0 sphingomyelin, and C18:1 sphingomyelin were lower in liver transplantation (LT) recipients with than without AR. Comparisons with the results of LT patients with infection and cardiac transplant patients with cardiac allograft vasculopathy in humans and in mouse skin graft and hepatocyte transplant models suggested that the reduced C24 and C24:1 ceramides were specifically involved in AR. A ceramide synthase inhibitor, fumonisin B₁ exacerbated allogeneic immune responses in vitro and in vivo, and reduced tolerogenic dendritic cells (tDCs), while increased P3-like plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs) in the draining lymph nodes from allogeneic skin graft mice. The results of mixed lymphocyte reactions with ceranib-2, an inhibitor of ceramidase, and C24 ceramide also support that increasing ceramide concentrations could benefit transplant recipients with AR. The results suggest increasing ceramides as novel therapeutic target for AR, where reduced ceramides were associated with the changes in DC subsets, in particular tDCs.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.12 no.8
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• pp.361-368
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• 2014

In order to investigate the effect of CGT on atopic dermatitis, various anti-inflammatory factors were studied. In-vitro, inflammatory mediators, such as MTT and nitric oxide and ROS were detected after the addition of LPS with or without CGT in RAW 264.7 cells. In-vivo, in order to verify the effectiveness of CGT in atopic dermatitis animal model, its role in inflammation factors and histological changes were observed in NC/Nga mice. CGT showed cell viability of 100% or higher in all concentration in RAW 264.7 cells. CGT inhibited LPS-induced productions of inflammatory mediators nitric oxide and antioxidant activity reactive oxygen species production in RAW 264.7 cells. CGT treated group showed significant decrease in serum of the expression of IL-$1{\beta}$, IL-6 and TNF-${\alpha}$ by 53%, 43% and 57% respectively. And CGT treated group showed decrease in serum of the expression of IgE by 56% respectively. Also, infiltration of adipocytes into skin was suppressed and the thickness of epidermis and dermis were relatively decreased in the CGT treated group. As a result, CGT has an anti-inflammatory effects in NC/Nga mouse. Thus, these results suggested a beneficial effect of CGT in treatment with Atopic dermatitis and inflammatory.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.391-394
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• 2009

An Asian water monitor Varanus salvator with physical wound due to bite which was subsequently infected with bacterium resulting to hemorrhage and pus in the skin blisters, abdominal distention and septicemia. Morganella morganii was isolated and identified from the blood and kidney of the reptile, and confirmed by PCR and biochemical tests. The sensitivity of isolated strains to different groups of antibiotics was also evaluated using the disc diffusion method. Pathogenicity test using M. morganii (SNUFPC-MM01) (1.6 ${\times}$ $10^{11}$CFU/mouse) to suckling and adult mice resulted to the death of all mice. This paper describes the first isolation of M. morganii from Asian water monitor in Korea.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.182-193
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• 2011

The aim of this paper is to present the methodology for hand tracking and hand gesture recognition. The detected hand and gesture can be used to implement the non-contact mouse. We had developed a MP3 player using this technology controlling the computer instead of mouse. In this algorithm, we first do a pre-processing to every frame which including lighting compensation and background filtration to reducing the adverse impact on correctness of hand tracking and hand gesture recognition. Secondly, YCbCr skin-color likelihood algorithm is used to detecting the hand area. Then, we used Continuously Adaptive Mean Shift (CAMSHIFT) algorithm to tracking hand. As the formula-based region of interest is square, the hand is closer to rectangular. We have improved the formula of the search window to get a much suitable search window for hand. And then, Support Vector Machines (SVM) algorithm is used for hand gesture recognition. For training the system, we collected 1500 hand gesture pictures of 5 hand gestures. Finally we have performed extensive experiment on a Windows XP system to evaluate the efficiency of the proposed scheme. The hand tracking correct rate is 96% and the hand gestures average correct rate is 95%.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.7
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• pp.1198-1205
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• 2016

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have beneficial effects on intestinal health and skin diseases. Lipoteichoic acid (LTA), a cell wall component of gram-positive bacteria, is known to induce the production of several cytokines such as TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-8 and affect the intestinal microflora, anti-aging, sepsis, and cholesterol level. In this study, Weissella cibaria was isolated from Indian dairy products, and we examined its immune-enhancing effects. Live and heat-killed W. cibaria did not induce the secretion of immune-related cytokines, whereas LTA isolated from W. cibaria (cLTA) significantly increased the secretion of TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 in a dose-dependent manner. cLTA increased the phosphorylation of nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells, p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases, and c-Jun N-terminal kinases in THP-1 cells. The secretion of TNF-α and IL-6 was also increased in the cLTA-treated mouse splenocytes. These results suggest that cLTA, but not W. cibaria whole cells, has immune-boosting potential and can be used to treat immunosuppression diseases.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.137-143
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• 2005

Background: Millions of people in the world are suffering from atopic dermatitis (AD), which is a chronic inflammatory skin disease triggered by Th2 immune responses. The NC/Nga mouse is the most extensively studied animal model of AD. Like human AD, NC/Nga mice demonstrate increased levels of IgE, a hallmark of Th2 immune responses. Adaptive immunity cannot be generated without help of innate immunity. Especially natural killer T (NKT) cells and marginal zone B (MZB) cells have been known to play important roles in linking innate immunity to adaptive immunity. Methods: Through flow cytometric analysis and ELISA assay, we investigated whether these lymphocytes might be altered in number in NC/Nga mice. Results: Our data demonstrated that the number of NKT cells was reduced in NC/Nga mice and IFN${\gamma}$ production by NKT cells upon ${\alpha}-GalCer$ stimulation decreased to the levels of CD1d KO mice lacking in NKT cells. However, reduction of NKT cells in NC/Nga mice was not due to CD1d expression, which was normal in the thymus. Interestingly, there was a significant increase of $CD1d^{high}B220^+$ cells in the spleen of NC/Nga mice. Further, we confirmed that $CD1d^{high}B220^+$ cells are B cells, not dendritic cells. These $CD1d^{high}B220^+$ B cells show $IgM^{high}CD21^{high}CD23^{low}$, a characteristic phenotype of MZB cells. Conclusion: We provide the evidence that there are decreased activities of NKT cells and increased number of MZB cells in the NC/Nga mice. Our findings may thus explain why NC/Nga mice are susceptible to AD.