• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.217-221
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• 2008

Bicuculline is one of the most commonly used $GABA_A$ receptor antagonists in electrophysiological research. Because of its poor water solubility, bicuculline quaternary ammonium salts such as bicuculline methiodide (BMI) and bicuculline methbromide are preferred. However, a number of studies have shown that BMI has non-$GABA_A$ receptor-mediated effects. The substantia gelatinosa (SG) of the trigeminal subnucleus caudalis (Vc) is implicated in the processing of nociceptive signaling. In this study, we investigated whether BMI has non-GABA receptor-mediated activity in Vc SG neurons using a whole cell patch clamp technique. SG neurons were depolarized by application of BMI ($20{\mu}M$) using a high $Cl^-$ pipette solution. GABA ($30-100{\mu}M$) also induced membrane depolarization of SG neuron. Although BMI is known to be a $GABA_A$ receptor antagonist, GABA-induced membrane depolarization was enhanced by co-application with BMI. However, free base bicuculline (fBIC) and picrotoxin (PTX), a $GABA_A$ and $GABA_C$ receptor antagonist, blocked the GABA-induced response. Furthermore, BMI-induced membrane depolarization persisted in the presence of PTX or an antagonist cocktail consisting of tetrodotoxin ($Na^+$ channel blocker), AP-5 (NMDA receptor antagonist), CNQX (non-NMDA receptor antagonist), and strychnine (glycine receptor antagonist). Thus BMI induces membrane depolarization by directly acting on postsynaptic Vc SG neurons in a manner which is independent of $GABA_A$ receptors. These results suggest that other unknown mechanisms may be involved in BMI-induced membrane depolarization.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.70-76
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• 2006

Paeoniae radix has been widely used for its anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects, and demonstrated to have anticonvulsant, memory enhancing and anxiolytic activities. The present study was performed to examine the protective effect of methanol extract of Paeoniae radix (PR) from Paeoniae Japonica Miyabe et Takeda (Paeoniaceae) on hydrogen peroxide $(H_2O_2)-induced$ neurotoxicity using cultured rat cerebral cortical neuron. $H_2O_2$ produced a concentration-dependent reduction of neuronal viability, PR, over a concentration range of 10 to $100\;{\mu}g/ml$ showed concentration-dependent decrease of the $H_2O_2$$(100\;{\mu}M)-induced$ neuronal cell death, as assessed by a 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-di-phenyl-tetrazolium bromide assay and the number of apoptotic nuclei, evidenced by Hoechst 33342 staining. PR $(100\;{\mu}g/ml$ inhibited $100\;{\mu}M$ $H_2O_2-induced$ elevation of the cytosolic $Ca^{2+}$ concentration $([Ca^{2+}]_c)$, which was measured by a fluorescent dye, flue-4 AM. PR $(50\;{\mu}g/ml$ inhibited glutamate release into medium induced by $100\;{\mu}M$ $H_2O_2$, which was measured by HPLC, and generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). These results suggest that PR may mitigate the $H_2O_2-induced$ neurotoxiciy by interfering with the increase of $[Ca^{2+}]_c$, and then inhibiting glutamate release and generation of ROS in cultured neurons.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.49-54
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• 2015

Objectives : This study investigated the neuroprotective effect of Gastodia Rhizoma-gamibang (GG) water extracts against scopolamine-induced neurotoxicity in the hippocampus of male Sprague-Dawley rats. Methods : The animals were divided into five different groups with six animals per each group. The normal group (Nor) was administered with saline, while the control group (Con) was administered with saline after scopolamine treatment. The experimental group (Exp) was administered orally GG extracts at doses of 200 mg/kg (GG1 group), 400 mg/kg (GG2 group), 1000 mg/kg (GG5 group) for 30 day after scopolamine treatment. Results : From a light microscopy study, the nuclei of neurons and glial cells in the hippocampus were more shrunken or condensed in the 30 day control group compared with normal group. In the experimental groups, proportional to the dose, recovered from neurotoxicity induced by scopolamine. The control group, the density of hippocampal neurons were reduced 17-20% compared to normal group. The densities of neurons from the CA1, and CA3 area of the hippocampus in the GG1, GG2 and GG5 groups significantly increased compared with the Con. In the experimental group, neuronal cells are recovered from scopolamine-induced damage. A number of glial cells are observed increase from GG2 and GG5 groups. The PAS-positive materials in the tissues hippocampus), was lower in the Exp than the Con. Conclusions : The present study demonstrates that Gastodia Rhizoma-gamibang extract reduces neuronal damage in the hippocampus of scopolamin-induced impairment mice.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.231-235
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• 2009

Objective : While many factors contribute to aging, changes in calcium homeostasis and calcium related neuronal processes are likely to be important. High intracellular calcium is toxic to cells and alterations in calcium homeostasis are associated with changes in calcium-binding proteins, which confine free $Ca^{2+}$. We therefore assayed the expression of the calcium binding proteins calretinin and calbindin in the central auditory nervous system of rats. Methods : Using antibodies to calretinin and calbindin, we assayed their expression in the cochlear nucleus, superior olivary nucleus, inferior colliculus, medial geniculate body and auditory cortex of young (4 months old) and aged (24 months old) rats. Results : Calretinin and calbindin staining intensity in neurons of the cochlear nucleus was significantly higher in aged than in young rats (p<0.05) The number and staining intensity of calretinin-positive neurons in the inferior colliculus, and of calbindin-positive neurons in the superior olivary nucleus were greater in aged than in young rats (p<0.05). Conclusion : These results suggest that auditory processing is altered during aging, which may be due to increased intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ concentration, consequently leading to increased immunoreactivity toward calcium-binding proteins.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.113-125
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• 2023

It has been reported that stressful events in early life influence behavior in adulthood and are associated with different psychiatric disorders, such as major depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, and anxiety disorder. Maternal separation (MS) is a representative animal model for reproducing childhood stress. It is used as an animal model for depression, and has well-known effects, such as increasing anxiety behavior and causing abnormalities in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. This study investigated the effect of MS on anxiety or aggression-like behavior and the number of GABAergic neurons in the hippocampus. Mice were separated from their dams for four hours per day for 19 d from postnatal day two. Elevated plus maze (EPM) test, resident-intruder (RI) test, and counted glutamic acid decarboxylase 67 (GAD67) or parvalbumin (PV) positive cells in the hippocampus were executed using immunohistochemistry. The maternal segregation group exhibited increased anxiety and aggression in the EPM test and the RI test. GAD67-positive neurons were increased in the hippocampal regions we observed: dentate gyrus (DG), CA3, CA1, subiculum, presubiculum, and parasubiculum. PV-positive neurons were increased in the DG, CA3, presubiculum, and parasubiculum. Consistent with behavioral changes, corticosterone was increased in the MS group, suggesting that the behavioral changes induced by MS were expressed through the effect on the HPA axis. Altogether, MS alters anxiety and aggression levels, possibly through alteration of cytoarchitecture and output of the ventral hippocampus that induces the dysfunction of the HPA axis.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.267-274
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• 2016

Cichlid fish species exhibit characteristic sexual behaviors according to not only reproductive stages but also social status. In a reproductive season, Astatotilapia burtoni males compete for females and a small number of dominant winners finally obtain the chance of spermiation. In addition to the characteristic behaviors, the dominant males have relatively bigger gonadotropin-releasing hormone 1 (GnRH1) neurons in the preoptic area (POA) of brain compared to those of subordinate males. Although the stimulatory effect of GnRH1 in vertebrate reproduction is well established, little is known about the triggering signal pathway to control GnRH1 neurons and GnRH1-mediated sexual behavior. In the present study, we evaluated the potential effect of TOR inhibitor rapamycin in relation to the cichlid male behaviors and GnRH1 neuron. After 14 h and 26 h of intraventricular injection of rapamycin, behavior patterns of chasing and courtship display did not show significant changes between rapamycin- and DMSO-injected males. Behaviors of spawning site entry increased in rapamycin-injected fish at 26 h post-injection than at 14 h post-injection significantly (P<0.05). Meanwhile, there was a tendency that GnRH1 neurons' soma size in the POA shrank by rapamycin injection, whereas the testes did not show notable changes. Taken together, these results suggest the possible role of TOR signal on GnRH1-mediated sexual behavior in cichlid dominant males, although further biological characterization of the TOR signaling pathway will be required to clarify this matter.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.67-79
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• 2016

The forecasting of air pollution is an important and popular topic in environmental engineering. Due to health impacts caused by unacceptable particulate matter (PM) levels, it has become one of the greatest concerns in metropolitan cities like Karaj City in Iran. In this study, the concentration of $PM_{2.5}$ was predicted by applying a multilayer percepteron (MLP) neural network, a radial basis function (RBF) neural network and a Markov chain model. Two months of hourly data including temperature, NO, $NO_2$, $NO_x$, CO, $SO_2$ and $PM_{10}$ were used as inputs to the artificial neural networks. From 1,488 data, 1,300 of data was used to train the models and the rest of the data were applied to test the models. The results of using artificial neural networks indicated that the models performed well in predicting $PM_{2.5}$ concentrations. The application of a Markov chain described the probable occurrences of unhealthy hours. The MLP neural network with two hidden layers including 19 neurons in the first layer and 16 neurons in the second layer provided the best results. The coefficient of determination ($R^2$), Index of Agreement (IA) and Efficiency (E) between the observed and the predicted data using an MLP neural network were 0.92, 0.93 and 0.981, respectively. In the MLP neural network, the MBE was 0.0546 which indicates the adequacy of the model. In the RBF neural network, increasing the number of neurons to 1,488 caused the RMSE to decline from 7.88 to 0.00 and caused $R^2$ to reach 0.93. In the Markov chain model the absolute error was 0.014 which indicated an acceptable accuracy and precision. We concluded the probability of occurrence state duration and transition of $PM_{2.5}$ pollution is predictable using a Markov chain method.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.305-311
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• 2018

Gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) centrally plays a role in control of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis-related hormone secretions in the reproductive neuroendocrine system. In addition, hormone receptors like luteinizing hormone receptor (LHR) are important element for hormones to take effect in target organ. However, ageing-dependent changes in terms of the distribution of GnRH neurons in the brain and LHR expression in the acyclic ovary have not been fully understood yet. Therefore, we comparatively investigated those ageing-dependent changes using young (1-5 months), middle (11-14 months) and old (21-27 months) aged female mice. Whereas a number of GnRH positive fibers and neurons with monopolar or bipolar morphology were abundantly observed in the brain of the young and middle aged mice, a few GnRH positive neurons with multiple dendrites were observed in the old aged mice. In addition, acyclic ovary without repeated development and degeneration of the follicles was shown in the old aged mice than others. LHR expression was localized in theca cells, granulosa cell, corpora lutea and atretic follicle in the ovaries from young and middle aged mice, in contrast, old aged mice had few positive LHR expression on the follicles due to acyclic ovary. However, the whole protein level of LHR was higher in the ovary of old aged mice than others. These results are expected to be used as an important basis on the relationship between GnRH and LHR in old aged animals as well as in further research for reproduction failure.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.56 no.7
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• pp.1324-1330
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• 2007

In this paper, we propose pattern recognition algorithm for activities of daily living by adopting extreme learning machine based on single layer feedforward networks(SLFNs) to the signal from bidirectional accelerometer. For activity classification, 20 persons are participated and we acquire 6, types of signals at standing, walking, running, sitting, lying, and falling. Then, we design input vector using reduced model for ELM input. In ELM classification results, we can find accuracy change by increasing the number of hidden neurons. As a result, we find the accuracy is increased by increasing the number of hidden neuron. ELM is able to classify more than 80 % accuracy for experimental data set when the number of hidden is more than 20.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1999.10a
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• pp.214-217
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• 1999

In this paper, genetic algorithm (GA) is implemented to search for the optimal structures (i.e. the kind of neural networks, the number of inputs and hidden neurons) of neural networks which are used approximating a given nonlinear function. Two kinds of neural networks, i.e. the multilayer feedforward [1] and time delay neural networks (TDNN) [2] are involved in this paper. The synapse weights of each neural network in each generation are obtained by associated training algorithms. The simulation results of nonlinear function approximation are given out and some improvements in the future are outlined.