• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.602-608
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• 2002

To investigate whether Puerariae radix (PR) possesses protective effect against ethanol (EtOH)-inducecl apoptosis in the central nervous system, MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay, flow cytometric analysis, DNA fragmentation assay. and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were performed on human neuroblastoma cell line SK-N-MC. Morphological and biochemical analyses demonstrated that SK-N-MC cells treated with EtOH exhibit classical apoptotic features. On the other hand, cells pre-treated with PR prior to EtOH exposure showed decreased occurrence of classical apoptotic features. In addition, it was shown that PR pre-treatment inhibits EtOH-induced increases in the levels of mRNA expression of bax and caspase-3, while it further enhances the level of bcl-2 expression. These results suggest that PR may exert protective effects against EtOH-induced apoptosis in human neuroblastoma cells.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.411-417
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• 1998

The role of phospholipase ($A_2\;PLA_2$) in tumor cell growth was investigated using SK-N-MC human neuroblastoma cells. 4-Bromophenacyl bromide (BPB) and mepacrine (Mep), known $PLA_2$ inhibitors, suppressed growth of the tumor cells in a dose-dependent manner without a significant cytotoxicity. Melittin (Mel), a $PLA_2$ activator, enhanced the cell growth in a concentration-dependent fashion. The growth-enhancing effects of Mel were significantly reversed by the co-treatment with $PLA_2$ inhibitors. In addition, Mel induced intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ release from internal stores like as did serum, a known intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ agonist in the tumor cells. Intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ release induced by these agonists was significantly blocked by $PLA_2$ inhibitors at growth-inhibitory concentrations. Arachidonic acid (AA), a product of the $PLA_2-catalyzed$ reaction, induced cell growth enhancement and intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ release. These effects of AA were significantly blocked by BAPTA/AM, an intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ chelator. Taken together, these results suggest that the modulation of $PLA_2$ activity may be one of the regulatory mechanisms of cell growth in human neuroblastoma cells. Intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ may act as a key mediator in the $PLA_2-induced$ growth regulation.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.194-201
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• 2017

Lysophosphatidylethanolamine (LPE), a lyso-type metabolite of phosphatidylethanolamine, has been reported to be an intercellular signaling molecule. LPE mobilizes intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ through G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) in some cells types. However, GPCRs for lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) were not implicated in the LPE-mediated activities in LPA GPCR overexpression systems or in SK-OV3 ovarian cancer cells. In the present study, in human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells, experiments with $LPA_1$ antagonists showed LPE induced intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ increases in an $LPA_1$ GPCR-dependent manner. Furthermore, LPE increased intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ through pertussis-sensitive G proteins, edelfosine-sensitive-phospholipase C, 2-APB-sensitive $IP_3$ receptors, $Ca^{2+}$ release from intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ stores, and subsequent $Ca^{2+}$ influx across plasma membranes, and LPA acted on $LPA_1$ and $LPA_2$ receptors to induce $Ca^{2+}$ response in a 2-APB-sensitive and insensitive manner. These findings suggest novel involvements for LPE and LPA in calcium signaling in human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.89-112
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• 2005

Object : This study was designed to assess effect of Chungpesagan-Tang and herbs on Mouse neuroblastoma 2a cells damaged by hypoxia-reoxygenation. Method : Mouse neuroblastoma 2a (N2a) cells were measured by MTT assay and LDH assay after 48h hypoxia and 6h reoxygenation. Mouse neuroblastoma 2a (N2a) cells were treated by Chungpesagan-Tang and herbs. Result : In MTT assay of hypoxia all of herbs were almost ineffective and Hubak was a little effective. 2. In MTT assay of reoxygenation most of herbs were not effective. But Hubak was some effective. 3. In LDH assay of hypoxia all of herbs were effective. Especially Chungpesagan-Tang were equally effective on all of concentration. 4. In LDH assay of reoxygenation all of herbs were generally effective. Especially Chungpesagan-Tang and Baekji were highly effective and Kilkyung was also effective on low concentration. 5, The herbs were generally effective on LDH assay of hypoxia and reoxygenation. Conclusion : The results suggest that Chungpesagan-Tang and all of herbs may have protective effect on condition of oxidative stress and can be applied on the development of a new medicine for neurodegenerative disease like dementia.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.134-140
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• 1996

Recently many studies have shown the usefulness of computed tomogram in diagnosing abdominal mass when clinical and conventional radiologic examinations fail to reveal the nature of abdominal mass or the cause of abdominal distension. To evaluate the usefulness of CT in diagnosing neuroblastoma, we retrospectively analyzed computed tomographic findings of 16 neuroblastoma patients, who pathologically proved in Yeungnam University Hospital from 1986 to 1995. The age range of the patients studied were from 8months to 18years. The most frequent sith of origin was adrenal gland and the next was retroperitioneum. The presenting symptoms were palpable mass, abdominal distension, and abdominal pain. The viewpoints of this analysis were turnoral calcifications, midline cross, shape, margin, internal structure, contrast enhancement patterns, major vessel involvement, and lymph node involvement. Characteristic CT findings were as follows: Fine dense curvillinear calcification within the tumor(56%), midline cross(50%), lobulation(75%), well-circumscribed margin(56%), cystic degeneration(56%), heterogeneous contrast enhancement(69%). encasement of major vessels such as aorta, IVC and celiac trunk(50%), and paraaortic lymphadenopathy(87%). We conclude that these CT findings were very common and could be helpful in diagnosting and differentiation neuroblastoma in infant and children.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.51-54
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• 1998

It has been proved that co-cultivation of human neroblastoma cells and human fibroblast cells can enhance nerve cell growth and the production of BDNF in perfusion cultivation. In batch co-cultivation, maximum cell density was increased up to 1.76${\times}$106 viable cells/mL from 9${\times}$105 viable cells/mL of only neuroblastoma cell culture. The growth of neuroblastoma cells was greatly improved by culturing both nerve and fibroblast cells in a perfusion process, maintaining 1.5${\times}$106 viable cells/mL, which was much higher than that form fed-batch cultivation. The nerve cell growth was greatly enhance in both fed-batch and perfusion cultivations while the growth of fibroblast cells was not. It strongly implies that the factors secreted from human fibrobast cells and/or the environments of co-culture system can enhance both cell growth and BDNF secretion. Specific BDNF production rate was not enhanced in co-cultures; however, the production period was increased as the cell growth was lengthened in the co-culture case. Competitive growth between nerve cells and fibroblast cells was not observed in all cases, showing no changes of fibroblast cell growth and only enhancement of the neuroblastoma cell growth and overall BDNF production. It was also found that the perfusion cultivation was the most appropriate process for cultivating two cell lines simultaneously in a bioreactor.

• Advances in pediatric surgery
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.27-37
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• 2009

Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid tumor in children. We retrospectively analyzed the results of neuroblastoma treatment of 191 patients (116 males and 75 females) treated between January 1986 and December 2005 at the Department of Pediatric Surgery and the Department of Pediatrics, Seoul National University Children's Hospital. The mean age at diagnosis was 3.1 years (0.1 yrs - 13.5 yrs). Forty-seven patients were under 1 year of age. The mean follow-up period was 57.3 months (24 days - 19.1 yrs). Patients were classified into two groups according to the completeness of resection of the primary tumor; (1) gross total resection (GTR) and (2) incomplete resection (IR). The number of patients in stages I, II, III, IV, IV-S were 17 (8.9 %), 12 (6.3 %), 43 (22.5 %), 114 (59.7 %), 4 (2.1 %), respectively. GTR was achieved in 120 patients and IR in 71 (22 stage III, 47 stage IV, 1 stage IV-S, 1 brain). Overall survival (OS) was 65.2 % and event-free survival (EFS) was 48.6 %. EFS were 100 %, 75 %, 66.8 %, 31.3 %, 75 % at stage I, II, III, IV, IV-S, respectively. There was no significant difference in EFS according to the completeness of resection. EFS was improved in GTR group (p=ns) of stage III, but by contrast, stage IV patients showed worse EFS in GTR group. EFS was improved significantly after the introduction of autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) (58.1% vs. 40.6%, p=.029). The EFS improved significantly after the introduction of ASCT in IR group (p=.009) rather than GTR group (p=ns). The EFS of the patients under 1 year of age (N=47) was better than the patients over 1 year of age (N=144) significantly (75.5 % vs. 39.4 %, p=.0034). The prognosis of neuroblastoma was related to the INSS stage and age at diagnosis. The survival of IR group significantly improved after ASCT.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.2739-2742
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• 2013

Background: This survey aim was to evaluate the epidemiology and outcomes of neuroblastoma patients in one the most important children referral hospitals in Iran as a model from developing countries. Materials and Methods: This retrospective, non-randomized analytic study was conducted on 219 newly diagnosed neuroblastoma cases. Results: The age of patients ranged from 1-156 months with the average of $40.5{\pm}2.44$, with a male/female ratio of 1.9/1. Of the total, 172 (78.5%) were children and 47 (21.5%) were infants The adrenals were the most common primary site (60%). Stage 4 at diagnosis accounted for about 54% of all enrolled patients. Infants had significantly better cumulative survival ($85{\pm}8%$) than children ($33{\pm}7%$) during the follow up period and the survival rate improved from $33{\pm}7%$ in 1974-1994 to $58{\pm}9%$ in 1995-2005. Conclusions: This study indicates that our patient population with neuroblastomas tends to have more advanced disease, perhaps with poor biologic markers, but our analysis shows that the outcomes have improved over 32 years although the overall survival of Iranian neuroblastoma patients is still lower than developed countries. Late diagnosis, inability to determine risk group during the years of study and using single protocol for all enrolled patients can be the reasons of lower survival rate.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.323-327
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• 1999

It was shown that brain-derived neurotrophic factors (BDNFs) secreted from human neuroblastoma cells can significantly improve the growth of the neurites of PC12 nerve cells. The addition of purified BDNFs elongated the neurites of PC 12 nerve cells two to three times more than the case where the addition was not made. The perfusion rate strongly affected the change of the size of human neuroblastoma cells because the cell size decreased as the perfusion rate increased. This could also influence the productivity of BDNF from the cells. It is also important to note that the BDNF production was decreased when the cell size was reduced. BDNF production rate also decreased at a fast perfusion rate in a smaller cell size. At the relatively fast perfusion rate of 18 ml/h, the ratio of apoptotic to necrotic cells dramatically decreased, which possibly caused the decrease of BDNF production. It has been proven that the secretion of BDNF from human neuroblastoma cells was a partially growth-related process by yielding 6.2$\times l0^{-8}/g$ of BDNF/cell/h of growth related parameter and $0.48{\times}l0^{-9}/g$ of BDNF/cell/h of nongrowth-related parameter in a growth kinetic model. In addition, it was also found that the perfusion rate played a very important role in controlling the cell death mechanism.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.91-96
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• 2018

Nephrotic syndrome in the first year of life, characterized by renal dysfunction and proteinuria, is associated with a heterogeneous group of disorders. These disorders are often related to genetic mutations, but the syndrome can also be caused by a variety of other diseases. We report an infant with nephrotic syndrome associated with a neuroblastoma. A 6-month-old girl was admitted with a 10% weight loss over 10 days and nephrotic-range proteinuria. She was ill-looking, and her blood pressure was higher than normal for her age. Her cystatin-C glomerular filtration rate was decreased, and levels of plasma renin, aldosterone, and catecholamines were elevated. Renal ultrasonography and abdominal computed tomography showed a retroperitoneal prevertebral mass encasing both renal arteries and the left renal vein. The mass was partially resected laparoscopically, and the pathologic diagnosis was neuroblastoma. Findings on a simultaneous renal biopsy were unremarkable. The patient was treated with chemotherapy and several anti-hypertensive drugs, including an alpha blocker. Two months later, the mass had decreased in size and the proteinuria and hypertension were gradually improving. In an infant with abnormal renin-angiotensin system activation, severe hypertension, and nephrotic-range proteinuria, neuroblastoma can be considered in the differential diagnosis.