• Title/Summary/Keyword: Neurons

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Immunohistochemical Study of NSE in Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC) Combined with Serum Assay (소세포폐암에서 Neuron Specific Enolase의 면역조직 화학염색과 혈청농도에 관한 연구)

  • Kwak, Seung-Min;Kim, Hyung-Jung;Shin, Dong-Hwan;Jang, Joong-Hyun;Lee, Hong-Lyeol;Kim, Se-Kyu;Ahn, Chul-Min;Kim, Sung-Kyu;Lee, Won-Young;Lee, Kyi-Beom
    • Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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    • v.39 no.6
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    • pp.502-510
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    • 1992
  • Background: Neuron specific enolase (NSE) is a neuronal form of the glycolytic enzyme enolase which was first found in extracts of brain tissue, and later in a variety of APUD cells and neurons of the diffuse endocrine system. SCLC shares many APUD properties with normal neuroendocrine cells. NSE immunostaining and serum NSE measurement may be a useful marker of neuroendocrine differentiation in lung tumors and diagnosis of small cell carcinoma. Methods: NSE immunohistochemical staining was done and at the same time serum NSE levels were measured in 22 small cell lung cancer and 21 non small cell lung cancer which were confirmed histologically. Results: 1) NSE immunoreactivity was detected in 9 of the 18 (50%) small cell lung cancer, in 5 of the 16 non small cell lung cancer. 2) Whereas the mean value in non-small cell lung cancer group was $11.79{\pm}4.47\;ng/ml$, the mean level of serum NSE in small cell lung cancer increased up to $59.3{\pm}77.8\;ng/ml$. In small cell lung cancer patients, mean value of limited disease group was $20.19{\pm}12.91\;ng/ml$, while mean value of extended disease group was $91.9{\pm}94.2\;ng/ml$ showing statistically significant difference. If serum levels above 20 ng/ml were tentatively defined as positive, 16 of 22 (73%) patients with SCLC had positive serum NSE level, but only one patient with NSCLC did. There was no correlation between serum NSE level and immunoreactivity of NSE. Conclusion: These studies indicate that serum NSE measurement may be a useful marker for the diagnosis and disease extent and NSE immunostaining can be used to demonstrate the neuroendocrine components of lung tumor.

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Electron Microscopic Studies on Olfactory Bulbs in the Vertebrates by Phylogenetics (계통발생에 따른 척추동물의 뇌후구에 대한 전자현미경적 연구)

  • Choi, W.B.;Chung, Y.H.;Seo, J.E.
    • Applied Microscopy
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    • v.15 no.2
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    • pp.31-68
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    • 1985
  • Authors are trying to unveil the ultrastructural organization of olfactory bulb, which has been summerized under light microscopic level or communicated only in some detail in different view point until now. For the critical point of view, since the phylogenetical approach will give the ultimate value in the correlative study between structural and functional bases (Brodal, 1969), the present study was carried out light and electron microscopic analyses of the structures of the neurons and synaptic organizations in olfactory bulbs from different animals in phylogenetical scale. We selected each one species from five animal classes: the house rabbit(Oryctolagus cuniculus var. domesticus [Gmelin]) from Mammalia, the domestic fowl (Gallus gallus domesticus Brisson) from Aves, the viper (Agkistrodon hylys [G.P. Pallas]) from Reptilia, a frog (Bombiana orientalis Boulenger) from Amphibia and the crussian carp (Carassius carassius [Linne]) from Pisces. For light microscopic study, samples were fixed in 10% formalin and paraffin sections were stained with hematoxylin-eosin. For the electron microscopic study, the tissues were fixed by perfusion through the heart or immersion with 1% paraform-aldehyde-glutaraldehyde mixture (phosphate buffer, pH 7.4), and final tissue block trimmed under dissecting microscope were osmicated (1% OsO4), they were embedded in Araldite or Epon 812, and ultrathin sections were made by LKB-V ultratome following the inspection of semi-thin sections stained with toluidine blue-borax solution. Ultra-thin sections contrasted with uranyl acetate and lead citrate were observed with JEM 100CX electron microscope. We have summerized our morphological analyses as follows: 1. The olfactory bulb of rabbit, viper and frog shows the eight layers of fila olfactoria, glomerular, external granular, external plexiform, mitral cell, internal plexiform, internal granular, medullary but domestic fowl shows the five layers of glomerular, fibrillar, mitral, granular and medullary and the three layers of fibrilla, glomerular and medullary in crussian carp. The sharpness of demarcation between the layers shows deferential tendency according to phylogenetical order. 2. Mitral cells of vertebrate have large triangular or oval shape with spherical nuclei which contain not so much chromatin. The cytoplasm contains numerous cell organelles, of which Nissl's bodies or granular endoplasmic reticula arranged as parallel strands. Development of granular endoplasmic reticula were declined as the phylogentical grade is going lower. 3. Tufted cells of all animal are mostly spindle or polygonal contour and contain oval nuclei which located in periphery of cytoplasm. The nuclei of rabbit, fowl, viper and frog has relatively space chromatin, but a nucleus of crussian carp contain irregularly aggregated chromatin in karyoplasm. Their cytoplasmic volume and cell organelle contents are in between those of mitral cell and granular cell. They contain moderate amount of mitochondria, granular endoplasmic reticula, a few Golgi complex, polysomes, lysosome, etc. 4. Granule of cells of all the vertebrate amimals studied exhibit similar features; cells and their dense nuclei show spherical or oval contour, and they have the thin rim of cytoplasm which contain only a few cell organelles. 5. In rabbit, the soma of mitral cells were in contact with boutons with two types of synaptic vesicles, that is, round and flat vesicles, especially flat vesicles in boutons were showing reciprocal synapses. However, in domestic fowls, vipers, frogs and crussian carps, there were found boutons showing only spherical synaptic vesicles. 6. The boutons containing round synaptic vesicles were made contact with the some of tufted cell of olfactory bulb in the rabbits, fowls, vipers and frogs, but no synaptic boutons were observed in soma of tufted cells in crussian carps. In the frogs, there were observed dendrites were contact with the soma of tufted cells. 7. In the neuropils of plexiform, granular and glomerular layers olfactory bulbs in the vertebrate, the synapses were axo-large dendrites, axo-median and small dendrites, dendrodendritic, and axo-axonal contacts. However, in the neuropil of crussian carps, synapses were observed only in glomerular layer.

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An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Human/Posthuman Discourses Emerging From Cybernetics and Artificial Intelligence Technology (4차 산업혁명 시대의 사이버네틱스와 휴먼·포스트휴먼에 관한 인문학적 지평 연구)

  • Kim, Dong-Yoon
    • Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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    • v.24 no.5
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    • pp.836-848
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    • 2019
  • This paper aims at providing a critical view over the cybernetics theory especially of first generation on which the artificial intelligence heavily depends nowadays. There has been a commonly accepted thought that the conception of artificial intelligence could not has been possible without being influenced by N. Wiener's cybernetic feedback based information system. Despite the founder of contemporary cybernetics' ethical concerns in order to avoid an increasing entropy phenomena(social violence, economic misery, wars) produced through a negative dynamics of the western modernity regarded as the most advanced form of humanism. In this civilizationally changing atmosphere, the newly born cybernetic technology was thus firmly believed as an antidote to these vices deeply rooted in humanism itself. But cybernetics has been turned out to be a self-organizing, self-controlling mechanical system that entails the possibility of telegraphing human brain (which are transformed into patterns) through the uploading of human brain neurons digitalized by the artificial intelligence embedded into computing technology. On this background emerges posthuman (or posthumanism) movement of which concepts have been theorized mainly by its ardent apostles like N. K. Hayles, Neil Bedington, Laurent Alexandre, Donna J. Haraway. The converging of NBIC Technologies leading to the opening of a much more digitalizing society has served as a catalyst to promote the posthuman representations and different narratives especially in the contemporary visual arts as well as in the study of humanities including philosophy and fictional literature. Once Bruno Latour wrote "Modernity is often defined in terms of humanism, either as a way of saluting the birth of 'man' or as a way of announcing his death. But this habit is itself modern, because it remains asymmetrical. It overlooks the simultaneous birth of 'nonhumaniy' - things, or objects, or beasts, - and the equally strange beginning of a crossed-out God, relegated to the sidelines."4) These highly suggestive ideas enable us to better understand what kind of human beings would emerge following the dazzlingly accelerating advancement of artificial intelligence technology. We wonder whether or not this newly born humankind would become essentially Homo Artificialis as a neuronal man stripping off his biological apparatus. However due to this unprecedented situation humans should deal with enormous challenges involving ethical, metaphysical, existential implications on their life.

Protective Effect of the Ethyl Acetate-fraction of Methanol Extract of Ophiophogon japonicus on Amyloid beta Peptide-induced Cytotoxicity in PC12 Cells (소엽맥문동-에틸아세테이트 분획물의 아밀로이드 베타단백질-유발 세포독성에 대한 억제 효능)

  • Moon, Ja-Young;Kim, Eun-Sook;Choi, Soo-Jin;Kim, Jin-Ik;Choi, Nack-Shik;Lee, Kyoung;Park, Woo-Jin;Choi, Young-Whan
    • Journal of Life Science
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    • v.29 no.2
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    • pp.173-180
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    • 2019
  • Amyloid ${\beta}$-protein ($A{\beta}$) is the principal component of senile plaques characteristic of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and elicits a toxic effect on neurons in vitro and in vivo. Many environmental factors, including antioxidants and proteoglycans, modify $A{\beta}$ toxicity. It is worthwhile to isolate novel natural compounds that could prove therapeutic for patients with AD without causing detrimental side effects. In this study, we investigated the in vitro neuroprotective effects of the ethyl acetate fraction of methanol extract of Ophiophogon japonicas (OJEA fraction). We used an MTT reduction assay to detect protective effects of the OJEA fraction on $A{\beta}_{25-35}$-induced cytotoxicity to PC12 cells. We also used a cell-based ${\beta}$-secretase assay system to investigate the inhibitory effect of the OJEA fraction on ${\beta}$-secretase activity. In addition, we performed an in vitro lipid peroxidation assay to evaluate the protective effect of the OJEA fraction against oxidative stress induced by $A{\beta}_{25-35}$ in PC12 cells. The OJEA fraction had strong protective effects against $A{\beta}_{25-35}$-induced cytotoxicity to PC12 cells and was strongly inhibitory to ${\beta}$-secretase activity, which resulted in the attenuation of $A{\beta}$ generation. In addition, the OJEA fraction significantly decreased malondialdehyde (MDA) content, which is induced by the exposure of PC12 cells to $A{\beta}_{25-35}$. Our results suggested that the OJEA fraction contained active compounds exhibiting a neuroprotective effect on $A{\beta}$ toxicity.

Performance of Investment Strategy using Investor-specific Transaction Information and Machine Learning (투자자별 거래정보와 머신러닝을 활용한 투자전략의 성과)

  • Kim, Kyung Mock;Kim, Sun Woong;Choi, Heung Sik
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.27 no.1
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    • pp.65-82
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    • 2021
  • Stock market investors are generally split into foreign investors, institutional investors, and individual investors. Compared to individual investor groups, professional investor groups such as foreign investors have an advantage in information and financial power and, as a result, foreign investors are known to show good investment performance among market participants. The purpose of this study is to propose an investment strategy that combines investor-specific transaction information and machine learning, and to analyze the portfolio investment performance of the proposed model using actual stock price and investor-specific transaction data. The Korea Exchange offers daily information on the volume of purchase and sale of each investor to securities firms. We developed a data collection program in C# programming language using an API provided by Daishin Securities Cybosplus, and collected 151 out of 200 KOSPI stocks with daily opening price, closing price and investor-specific net purchase data from January 2, 2007 to July 31, 2017. The self-organizing map model is an artificial neural network that performs clustering by unsupervised learning and has been introduced by Teuvo Kohonen since 1984. We implement competition among intra-surface artificial neurons, and all connections are non-recursive artificial neural networks that go from bottom to top. It can also be expanded to multiple layers, although many fault layers are commonly used. Linear functions are used by active functions of artificial nerve cells, and learning rules use Instar rules as well as general competitive learning. The core of the backpropagation model is the model that performs classification by supervised learning as an artificial neural network. We grouped and transformed investor-specific transaction volume data to learn backpropagation models through the self-organizing map model of artificial neural networks. As a result of the estimation of verification data through training, the portfolios were rebalanced monthly. For performance analysis, a passive portfolio was designated and the KOSPI 200 and KOSPI index returns for proxies on market returns were also obtained. Performance analysis was conducted using the equally-weighted portfolio return, compound interest rate, annual return, Maximum Draw Down, standard deviation, and Sharpe Ratio. Buy and hold returns of the top 10 market capitalization stocks are designated as a benchmark. Buy and hold strategy is the best strategy under the efficient market hypothesis. The prediction rate of learning data using backpropagation model was significantly high at 96.61%, while the prediction rate of verification data was also relatively high in the results of the 57.1% verification data. The performance evaluation of self-organizing map grouping can be determined as a result of a backpropagation model. This is because if the grouping results of the self-organizing map model had been poor, the learning results of the backpropagation model would have been poor. In this way, the performance assessment of machine learning is judged to be better learned than previous studies. Our portfolio doubled the return on the benchmark and performed better than the market returns on the KOSPI and KOSPI 200 indexes. In contrast to the benchmark, the MDD and standard deviation for portfolio risk indicators also showed better results. The Sharpe Ratio performed higher than benchmarks and stock market indexes. Through this, we presented the direction of portfolio composition program using machine learning and investor-specific transaction information and showed that it can be used to develop programs for real stock investment. The return is the result of monthly portfolio composition and asset rebalancing to the same proportion. Better outcomes are predicted when forming a monthly portfolio if the system is enforced by rebalancing the suggested stocks continuously without selling and re-buying it. Therefore, real transactions appear to be relevant.

Inhibitory Effects of Amitriptyline, Sertraline and Chlorpromazine on the Thrombin-induced Aggregation of Platelets (Thrombin성 혈소판응집에 대한 Amitriptyline, Sertraline 및 Chlorpromazine의 억제작용)

  • Choi, Sang-Hyun;Lee, Young-Jae;Shin, Kyung-Ho;Chun, Yeon-Sook;Chun, Boe-Gwun
    • The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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    • v.31 no.3
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    • pp.299-311
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    • 1995
  • Platelets resemble monoaminergic neurons in several respects, i.e. the uptake of 5-HT and its inhibition, the subcellular storage and release of 5-HT, and the metabolism of aromatic amines brought about by monoamine oxidase. And the 5-HT content of rabbit platelets is well known to be about 40 times higher than that of human platelets. Therefore, this study was carried out to investigate the influences of amitriptyline (AMT) and sertraline (SRT) on the aggregation, contents of signaling second messengers, and protein phosphorylations of rabbit platelets in response to thrombin, 0.25 unit/ml, comparing with those of chlorpromazine (CPZ). Thrombin-induced aggregation was inhibited by SRT $(IC50:4.37{\times}10^{-5}\;M)$, CPZ $(IC50:5.76{\times}10^{-5}\;M)$, and AMT $(IC50:1.15{\times}10^{-4}\;M)$, respectively, and the aggregation by A23187 $(1.0\;{\mu}M)$ or PMA (320 nM) was also inhibited by SRT, CPZ, and AMT. AMT, SRT, and CPZ had little affects on basal contents of platelet $TXB_2$ and $PGE_2$, but all of them inhibited the thrombin-induced increase of $TXB_2$. Thrombin did not change the platelet contents of cAMP and cGMP. CPZ, AMT, and SRT produced the slight decrease of basal cAMP content, and their effects were not affected by thrombin-treatment. But SRT and AMT moderately increased the basal cGMP content, and the cGMP content of thrombin-stimulated platelets was gradually increased by the pretreatment with SRT, AMT, and CPZ. Particularly, the SRT-dependent increase of the cGMP content was notable. Platelet $Ins(1,4,5)P_3$ content was rapidly increased up to a plateau within 10 sec after thrombin-stimulation, AMT, SRT, and CPZ increased the basal $Ins(1,4,5)P_3$ content, and the thrombin-dependent increase was enhanced by pretreatment with CPZ and AMT, but was blunted by SRT. Platelet $[Ca^{2+}]_i$, was rapidly increased up to a peak level within 20 sec after thrombin-stimulation. The increase of $[Ca^{2+}]_i$ was sisnificantly inhibited by AMT, SRT, and CPZ. Thrombin- or PMA-induced phosphorylations of platelet $41{\sim}43\;kDa$ and 20 kDa proteins were significantly inhibited by AMT, SRT, and CPZ. These results suggest that the antiplatelet activities of AMT and CPZ may be considerably attributed to the inhibition of protein kinase C activity, and the activity of SRT may be associated with the inhibitory effect on the thrombin-induced increase of $Ins(1,4,5)P_3$ and the increasing effect on the cGMP content of ptatelets. Therefore, it seems to be evident that AMT and SRT may produce their antidepressant activity, at least, partly through the inhibition of protein kinase C activity or the increase of resting $Ins(1,4,5)P_3$, content and in case of SRT, to a lesser extent, via the increase of cGMP in the brain.

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Business Application of Convolutional Neural Networks for Apparel Classification Using Runway Image (합성곱 신경망의 비지니스 응용: 런웨이 이미지를 사용한 의류 분류를 중심으로)

  • Seo, Yian;Shin, Kyung-shik
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.24 no.3
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    • pp.1-19
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    • 2018
  • Large amount of data is now available for research and business sectors to extract knowledge from it. This data can be in the form of unstructured data such as audio, text, and image data and can be analyzed by deep learning methodology. Deep learning is now widely used for various estimation, classification, and prediction problems. Especially, fashion business adopts deep learning techniques for apparel recognition, apparel search and retrieval engine, and automatic product recommendation. The core model of these applications is the image classification using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN). CNN is made up of neurons which learn parameters such as weights while inputs come through and reach outputs. CNN has layer structure which is best suited for image classification as it is comprised of convolutional layer for generating feature maps, pooling layer for reducing the dimensionality of feature maps, and fully-connected layer for classifying the extracted features. However, most of the classification models have been trained using online product image, which is taken under controlled situation such as apparel image itself or professional model wearing apparel. This image may not be an effective way to train the classification model considering the situation when one might want to classify street fashion image or walking image, which is taken in uncontrolled situation and involves people's movement and unexpected pose. Therefore, we propose to train the model with runway apparel image dataset which captures mobility. This will allow the classification model to be trained with far more variable data and enhance the adaptation with diverse query image. To achieve both convergence and generalization of the model, we apply Transfer Learning on our training network. As Transfer Learning in CNN is composed of pre-training and fine-tuning stages, we divide the training step into two. First, we pre-train our architecture with large-scale dataset, ImageNet dataset, which consists of 1.2 million images with 1000 categories including animals, plants, activities, materials, instrumentations, scenes, and foods. We use GoogLeNet for our main architecture as it has achieved great accuracy with efficiency in ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge (ILSVRC). Second, we fine-tune the network with our own runway image dataset. For the runway image dataset, we could not find any previously and publicly made dataset, so we collect the dataset from Google Image Search attaining 2426 images of 32 major fashion brands including Anna Molinari, Balenciaga, Balmain, Brioni, Burberry, Celine, Chanel, Chloe, Christian Dior, Cividini, Dolce and Gabbana, Emilio Pucci, Ermenegildo, Fendi, Giuliana Teso, Gucci, Issey Miyake, Kenzo, Leonard, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Marni, Max Mara, Missoni, Moschino, Ralph Lauren, Roberto Cavalli, Sonia Rykiel, Stella McCartney, Valentino, Versace, and Yve Saint Laurent. We perform 10-folded experiments to consider the random generation of training data, and our proposed model has achieved accuracy of 67.2% on final test. Our research suggests several advantages over previous related studies as to our best knowledge, there haven't been any previous studies which trained the network for apparel image classification based on runway image dataset. We suggest the idea of training model with image capturing all the possible postures, which is denoted as mobility, by using our own runway apparel image dataset. Moreover, by applying Transfer Learning and using checkpoint and parameters provided by Tensorflow Slim, we could save time spent on training the classification model as taking 6 minutes per experiment to train the classifier. This model can be used in many business applications where the query image can be runway image, product image, or street fashion image. To be specific, runway query image can be used for mobile application service during fashion week to facilitate brand search, street style query image can be classified during fashion editorial task to classify and label the brand or style, and website query image can be processed by e-commerce multi-complex service providing item information or recommending similar item.

Effect of 6-Hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) on the Expression of Hypothalamus-Pituitary Axis Hormone Genes in Male Rats (수컷 흰쥐의 시상하부-뇌하수체 축 호르몬 유전자 발현에 미치는 6-Hydroxydopamine(6-OHDA)의 영향)

  • Heo, Hyun-Jin;Ahn, Ryun-Sup;Lee, Sung-Ho
    • Development and Reproduction
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    • v.13 no.4
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    • pp.257-264
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    • 2009
  • A neurotoxin, 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) has been widely used to create animal model for Parkinson's disease (PD) due to its specific toxicity against dopaminergic (DA) neurons. Since DA signals modulate a broad spectrum of CNS physiology, one can expect profound alterations in neuroendocrine activities of both PD patients and 6-OHDA treated animals. Limited applications of 6-OHDA injection model, however, have been made on the studies of hypothalamuspituitary neuroendocrine circuits. The present study was performed to examine whether blockade of brain catecholamine (CA) biosynthesis with 6-OHDA can make any alteration in the transcriptional activities of hypothalamus-pituitary hormone genes in adult male rats. Three-month-old male rats (SD strain) were received 6-OHDA ($200{\mu}g$ in $10{\mu}\ell$ of saline/animal) by intracerebroventricular (icv) injection, and sacrificed after two weeks. To determine the mRNA levels of hypothalamuspituitary hormone genes, total RNAs were extracted and applied to the semi-quantitative RT-PCRs. The mRNA levels of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), the rate-limiting enzyme for the catecholamine biosynthesis, were significantly lower than those from the control group (control:6-OHDA=1:0.72${\pm}$0.02AU, p<0.001), confirming the efficacy of 6-OHDA injection. The mRNA levels of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) in the hypothalami from 6-OHDA group were significantly lower than those from the control group (GnRH, control:6-OHDA=1:0.39${\pm}$0.03AU, p<0.001; CRH, control:6-OHDA=1:0.76${\pm}$0.07AU, p<0.01). There were significant decreases in the mRNA levels of common alpha subunit of glycoprotein homones (Cg$\alpha$), LH beta subunit (LH-$\beta$), and FSH beta subunit (FSH-$\beta$) in pituitaries from 6-OHDA group compared to control values (Cg$\alpha$, control:6-OHDA=1:0.81${\pm}$0.02AU, p<0.001; LH-$\beta$, control:6-OHDA=1:0.68${\pm}$0.04AU, p<0.001; FSH-$\beta$, control:6-OHDA=1:0.84${\pm}$0.05AU, p<0.001). Similarly, the level of adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) transcripts from 6-OHDA group was significantly lower than that from the control group (control: 6-OHDA=1:0.86${\pm}$0.04AU, p<0.01). The present study demonstrated that centrally injected DA neurotoxin could downregulate the transcriptional activities of the two hypothalamus-pituitary neuroendocrine circuits, i.e., GnRH-gonadotropins and CRH-ACTH systems. These results suggested that hypothalamic CA input might affect on the activities of gonad and adrenal through modulation of hypothalamus-pituitary function, providing plausible explanation for frequent occurrence of sexual dysfunction and poor stress-response in PD patients.

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Studies of the Effects of Acupuncture Stimulation at Huatuo Jiaji(EX B2) Points on Axonal Regeneration of Injured Sciatic Nerve in the Rats (화타협척혈 침자극에 의한 손상 말초신경의 재생효과에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Dae-Feel;Park, Young-Hoi;Keum, Dong-Ho
    • Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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    • v.18 no.4
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    • pp.39-61
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    • 2008
  • Objectives : The present study was performed to investigate whether acupuncture stimulation in the rats affected regeneration properties of the injured sciatic nerve. A differential effect of acupuncture stimulation on the one point near the spinal nerve root controlling sciatic nerve activity and the other point in the peripheral area subordinated by injured nerve was compared. Materials and Methods: Rat sciatic nerves were injured by crush, and the effects on axonal regeneration on injured sciatic nerves were evaluated by acupuncture stimulation at two different regions. In proximal acupuncture stimulation group, acupuncture stimulation was performed on Huatuo Jiaji(EX B2) points located from L5 to S1 vertebral levels to stimulate the nearest spinal nerve root that innervates sciatic nerves. In distal acupuncture stimulation group, acupuncture stimulation was performed on Zusanli(ST 36) and Weizhong(BL 40) points to stimulate at peripheral area dominated by injured sciatic nerves. Acupuncture stimulation was given every other days for 1 or 2 weeks. Sciatic nerve tissues collected from acupuncture stimulation experimental groups, injury control group, and intact animal group were used for protein analysis by Western blotting or Hoechst nuclear staining. To determine axonal regeneration, Dil fluorescence dye was injected into the sciatic nerve 0.5 cm distal to the injury site in individual animal groups and Dil-labeled cells by retrograde tracing were measured in the DRG at lumbar 5 or in the spinal cord. DRG sensory neurons prepared from individual animal groups were used to measure the extent of neurite outgrowth and for immunofluorescence staining with anti-GAP-43 antibody. Results : Animal groups given proximal or distal acupuncture stimulation showed upregulation of GAP-43 and Cdc2 protein levels in the sciatic nerve at 7 days after injury. Cdk2 protein levels were strongly induced by nerve injury, but did not show changes by acupuncture stimulation. Phospho-Erk1/2 protein levels were elevated by acupuncture stimulation above those present in the injury control animals. These increase in regeneration-associated protein levels appeared to be related with increase cell proliferation in the injured sciatic nerves. Hoechst 33258 staining of sciatic nerve tissue to visualize nuclei of individual cells showed increased Schwann cell number in the distal portion of the injured nerve 7 and 14 days after injury and further increases by acupuncture stimulation particularly at the proximal position. Measurement of axonal regeneration by retrograde tracing showed significantly increased Dil-labeled cells in proximal acupuncture stimulation group compared to distal acupuncture stimulation group and injury control group. Finally, an evaluation of axonal regeneration by retrograde tracing showed increased number of Dil labeled cells in the DRG at lumbar 5 or in the ventral horn of the spinal cord at lower thoracic level at 7 days after nerve injury. Conclusions : The present data show that the proximal acupuncture stimulation at Huatuo Jiaji(EX B2) points governing injured sciatic nerves was more effective for axonal regeneration than the distal acupuncture stimulation. Further studies on functional recovery or associated molecular mechanisms should be critical for developing animal models and clinical applications.