• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.443-446
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• 2003

To investigate the protective effect of Bulbus Allii Macrostemi (BAM) on the damage by pulmonary vascular endothelial cells by xanthine oxidase (XO)/hypoxanthine (HX)-induced oxygen free radical, Neutral Red (NR) and protein kinase c (PKC) activity assay were used. The results were obtained as follows ; The viability of vascular endothelial cells treated with XO/HX was decreased. And activation of PKC represented a maximal increase in group treated with XO/HX for 15 mins in vasvular pulmonary endothelial cells. But pretreated groups with BAM extracts were not inhibited the increase of PKC activation by XO/HX in a dose-dependent fashion. These results show that XO/HX elicits toxic effects in cultured pulmonary vascular endothelial cells, and suggest that BAM extract is very effective in the prevention of XO/HX-induced PKC activation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 1994.04a
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• pp.259-259
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• 1994

Protein kinase C (PKC) participates in many cellular signal transduction. Previously we found that PKC activity of whole rat brain was altered after an exposure to cold temperature of 4 $^{\circ}C$ (Lee and Choi, Exp. Neurobiol., 2, 6, 1993). In this time PKC activity in each region of rat brain was investigated in order to know each regions is affected mostly by the stress.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.28-35
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• 2008

Purpose: The nitric oxide (NO) release by inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) is the key events in macrophage response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) which is suggested to be a crucial mediator for inflammatory and innate immune responses. NO is an important mediator involved in many host defense action and may also lead to a harmful host response to bacterial infection. However, given the importance of iNOS in a variety of pathophysiological conditions, control of its expression and signaling events in response to LPS has been the subject of considerable investigation. Materials and Methods: The Raw264.7 macrophage cell line was used to observe LPS-stimulated iNOS expression. The expression of iNOS is observed by Western blot analysis and real-time RT-PCR. Protein kinase C $(PKC)-{\alpha}$ overexpressing Raw264.7 cells are established to determine the involvement of $PKC-{\alpha}$ in LPS-mediated iNOS expression. $NF-{\kappa}B$ activity is measured by $I{\kappa}B{\alpha}$ degradation and $NF-{\kappa}B$ luciferase activity assay. Results: We found that various PKC isozymes regulate LPS-induced iNOS expression at the transcriptional and translational levels. The involvement of $PKC-{\alpha}$ in LPS-mediated iNOS induction was further confirmed by increased iNOS expression in $PKC-{\alpha}$ overexpressing cells. $NF-{\kappa}B$ dependent transactivation by LPS was observed and $PKC-{\alpha}$ specific inhibitory peptide abolished this activation, indicating that $NF-{\kappa}B$ activation is dependent on $PKC-{\alpha}$. Conclusion: Our data suggests that $PKC-{\alpha}$ is involved in LPS-mediated iNOS expression and that its downstream target is $NF-{\kappa}B$. Although $PKC-{\alpha}$ is a crucial mediator in the iNOS regulation, other PKC isozymes may contribute LPS-stimulated iNOS expression. This finding is needed to be elucidated in further study.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.263-271
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• 2001

Objective : Glioblastomas, the most common type of primary brain tumors, are highly invasive and cause massive tissue destruction at both the tumor invading edges and in areas that are not in direct contact with glioma cells. As a result, patients with high-grade gliomas are faced with a poor prognosis. Such grim statistics emphasize the need to better understand the mechanisms that underlie glioma invasion, as these may lead to the identification of novel targets in the therapy of high grade gliomas. Protein kinase C(PKC) is a family of serine/threonine kinases and an important signal transduction enzyme that conveys signals generated by ligand-receptor interaction at the cell surface to the nucleus. PKC appears to be critical in regulating many aspects of glioma biology. The purpose of this study was to assess accurately the role of PKC in the invasion regulation of human gliomas based on hypothesis that protein kinase C(PKC) is functional in the process of glial tumor cell invasion. Method : To test this hypothesis, U-87 malignant glioma cell line intracellular PKC levels were up and down regulated and their invasiveness was tested. Intracellular PKC level was characterized using PKC activity assays. Invasion assays including barrier migration and spheroid confrontation were used to study the relationship between PKC concentration and invasiveness. Result : The cell line which were treated by PKC inhibitor tamoxifen and hypericin exhibited decreased PKC activity and decreased invasive abilities dose dependently both in matrigel invasion assay and tumor spheroid fetal rat brain aggregates(FRBA) confrontation assay. However, the cell line that was treated by PKC activator 12-O-tetradecanylphorbol-13acetate(TPA) did not exhibit increases in either PKC activity or invasive ability. Conclusion : These studies suggest that PKC may be a useful molecular target for the chemotherapy of glioblastoma and other malignancies and that a therapeutic approach based on the ability of PKC inhibitors may be helpful in preventing invasion.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.37-44
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• 1999

This study was conducted to screen antitumoral activity by in vitro bioassay method using 60 Korean medicinal and food plants extracted by 80% EtOH. Antitumor activity test was applied by the PKC(protein kinase C) and antibleb formation, PLC (Phospholipase C), and colorimetric tetrazolium assay (MTT assay) methods. Chenopodjum album and black Glycine max showed high antitumoral activity by 73.5% and 81.0%, respectively, against PKC by bleb-forming assay and PKC enzyme assay on human chronic leukemia K562 cell. Black Glycine max also showed 91.2% antitumoral activity in the PLC method and the lowest $IC_{50}$ $value(4.7{\mu}g/ml)$ by MTT method against P-338 cell line. In the effect of the concentration treatment on antitumoral test, the more concentration indicated the more activity value.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.23-32
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• 2000

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effcts of n-3, n-6 fatty arid and d-limonene on histopathological and biochemical changes in experimental rat hepatocarcinogenesis. To attain the above objectives, weanling Sprague-Dawley female rats were intraperitoneally injected twice with a dose of diethylnitrosamine(DEN, 50mg/kg body weight) and after 1 week 0.05% phenobarbital was provided with water. Sardine oil rich in n-3 fatty acids and corn oil rich in n-6 fatty acids were fed at 15% by weight and 5% d-limonene was added to the diet in each group. Ten weeks or 20 weeks after DEN treatment, rats were sacrifirced. The formation of glutathione S-transferase placental form positive(GST-P$\^$+/) foci was significantly decreased by the treatment of either sardine oil or d-limonene HMG-CoA reductase activity was not affected by dietary oils and d-limonene. Protein kinase C (PKC) activity was decreased by either sardine oil or d-limonene. Particularly d-limonene decreased the membrane PKC activity. Membrane Cholesterol/Phospholipid(Chol/PL) ratio was significantly decreased by d-limonene in sardine oil group. The data showed that GST-P$\^$+/ foci number was positively correlated with membrane PKC activity and serum cholesterol and negatively correlated with liver cholesterol level. These results suggest informations about the correlation between histopathological and biochemical changes such as cholesterol metabolism and PKC activity in experimental hepatocarcinogenesis and thereby can elucidate the possible mechanism related to the cancer inhibition.(Korean J Nutrition 33(1) : 23-32, 2000)

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.279-285
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• 2000

Vitamin E-succinate (VES) treatment of U937 human monoblasts induced cells to undergo apoptosis. After 96 h of VES treatment at 10 $\mu$/ml, more than 80% of cells appeared apoptotic. Evidence for apoptosis by VES was based on propidium iodide staining for detection of chromatin condensational fragmentation and electrophoretic DNA ladder formation. Western blot analyses showed a transient increase in Fas and p21 protein levels up to 48 h alter the VES treatment. Protein expression and activity of CDK1 and lamin B degradation were remarkably induced by VES, following the cleavage of caspase-3 after 48 h. The VES-induced apoptosis was found to involve activation of PKC as shown by increases in membrane translocation of PKC$\beat$II and PKC activity. Pretreatment of GF109203X (PKC inhibitor) prior to VES treatment almost completely inhibited the induction of apoptosis as assessed by blockage of VES-induced caspase-3 activity and DNA fragmentation. However, GF109203X h8d no effect on the VES-induced nitric oxide synthesis, which was required for monocvtic differentiation in our previous report (J Cell Sci 111, 435, 1998). Taken together, our data suggest that induction of apoptosis by VES in U937 cells occurs through activation of PKC-$\beat$II resulting in the activation of caspase-3 cascade and is independent of nitric oxide.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.1060-1065
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• 2002

LC20 phosphorylation and PKC α play an important role in modulation of contractile activity of smooth muscle. Besides, myosin phosphatase is also related with smooth muscle contraction in signaling pathways. We previously demonstrated that Crataegi Fructus inhibited phenylephrine-induced contraction and which might be implicated in nitrite formation(Son et al., 2002). In this study, we investigated the effects of butanol fraction of Crataegi Fructus(BFFC) on the localization of α-protein kinease C(PKC α) and myosin phosphatase subnits(MPs) in freshly isolated single ferret potal vein cells, and phosphorylation of LC20 during phenylephrine stimulation. In PKC α and MPs localization, BFFC blocked its translocation from the cytosol to the cell membrane by treatment of phenylephrine. BFFC have also dephosphorylated LC20 phosphorylation by phenylephrine stimulation under basal level, but no significant. These results indicate that the relaxation effect of BFFC is associated with inhibition of PKC α activation and MPs dissociation, and thus myosin phosphatase activity may be increased.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.142-145
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• 1992

MeOH extract of twenty medicinal herbs were screened for their effects against protein kinase C (PKC) using bleb-forming assay and PKC enzyme assay. Smilax china and Sanguisorba officinalis showed potent anti-PKC activity. Campsis grandiflora and Galla Halepensis showed moderate inhibitory effect on PKC.

• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.209-212
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• 2002

Cutaneous hyperpigmentation is a well-known consequence of both acute and chronic X-irradiation, although the molecular mechanisms involved are not well understood. Recently, protein kinase C-$\beta$ (PKC-$\beta$) was shown to activate tyrosinase, a key and the rate-limiting enzyme in melanogenesis [1]. In this study, we have investigated its role in mediating ionizing radiation-induced pigmentation by exposing cultured human melanocytes to X-irradiation. Increased tyrosinase activity after the 4 Gys exposure was observed within 48 hrs and total melanin content doubled after 7 days. Interestingly, tyrosinase mRNA level was not affected by X-irradiation. However, there was a 2-3 fold increase in PKC-$\beta$ mRNA after 48 hours of irradiation, coinciding with the increase in tyrosinase activity. This induction was not due to non-specific heat generated during the irradiation because when melanocytes were incubated at 4$0^{\circ}C$, there was no induction of PKC-$\beta$ mRNA. Taken together, these data suggest that X-irradiation induces cutaneous hyperpigmentation, at least in part, by up-regulating the level of PKC-$\beta$.