• Title/Summary/Keyword: Physiological Functions

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Pexophagy: Molecular Mechanisms and Implications for Health and Diseases

  • Cho, Dong-Hyung;Kim, Yi Sak;Jo, Doo Sin;Choe, Seong-Kyu;Jo, Eun-Kyeong
    • Molecules and Cells
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    • v.41 no.1
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    • pp.55-64
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    • 2018
  • Autophagy is an intracellular degradation pathway for large protein aggregates and damaged organelles. Recent studies have indicated that autophagy targets cargoes through a selective degradation pathway called selective autophagy. Peroxisomes are dynamic organelles that are crucial for health and development. Pexophagy is selective autophagy that targets peroxisomes and is essential for the maintenance of homeostasis of peroxisomes, which is necessary in the prevention of various peroxisome-related disorders. However, the mechanisms by which pexophagy is regulated and the key players that induce and modulate pexophagy are largely unknown. In this review, we focus on our current understanding of how pexophagy is induced and regulated, and the selective adaptors involved in mediating pexophagy. Furthermore, we discuss current findings on the roles of pexophagy in physiological and pathological responses, which provide insight into the clinical relevance of pexophagy regulation. Understanding how pexophagy interacts with various biological functions will provide fundamental insights into the function of pexophagy and facilitate the development of novel therapeutics against peroxisomal dysfunction-related diseases.

EST-based Identification of Genes Expressed in the Brain of the Olive Flounder Paralichthys olivaceus

  • Lee, Jeong-Ho;Noh, Jae-Koo;Kim, Hyun-Chul;Park, Choul-Ji;Min, Byung-Hwa;Kim, Young-Ok;Kim, Jong-Hyun;Kim, Kyung-Kil;Kim, Woo-Jin;Myeong, Jeong-In
    • Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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    • v.12 no.4
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    • pp.286-292
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    • 2009
  • We have constructed a cDNA library using brain samples of olive flounder Paralichthys olivaceus. Here, we described the study on gene identification by screening 356 clones from the brain cDNA library of olive flounder. Here, we screened 356 clones from the library to identify genes. Of these, 176 (49.5%) were identified as orthologs of known genes from olive flounder and other organisms. Among the 176 EST clones, 33 (18.7%) represented 11 unique genes that are identical to expressed sequence tags (ESTs) reported for olive flounder, and 120 (68.2%) represented 102 unique genes known from other organisms. The percentage of unknown genes (50.5%) is higher than in other olive flounder cDNA libraries (Lee et al., 2003, 2006, 2007), reflecting the high complexity of brain tissue. Further studies of expression characterization and developmental behavior related to these genes should provide useful insight into the physiological functions of the brain in olive flounder.

Endocytic Regulation of EGFR Signaling

  • Chung, Byung-Min
    • Interdisciplinary Bio Central
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    • v.4 no.2
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    • pp.3.1-3.7
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    • 2012
  • Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a member of the ErbB family (ErbB1-4) of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs). EGFR controls numerous physiological functions, including cell proliferation, migration, differentiation and survival. Importantly, aberrant signaling by EGFR has been linked to human cancers in which EGFR and its various ligands are frequently overexpressed or mutated. EGFR coordinates activation of multiple downstream factors and is subject of various regulatory processes as it mediates biology of the cell it resides in. Therefore, many studies have been devoted to understanding EGFR biology and targeting the protein for the goal of controlling tumor in clinical settings. Endocytic regulation of EGFR offers a promising area for targeting EGFR activity. Upon ligand binding, the activated receptor undergoes endocytosis and becomes degraded in lysosome, thereby terminating the signal. En route to lysosome, the receptor becomes engaged in activating various signaling pathways including PI-3K, MAPK and Src, and endocytosis may offer both spatial and temporal regulation of downstream target activation. Therefore, endocytosis is an important regulator of EGFR signaling, and increasing emphasis is being placed on endocytosis in terms of cancer treatment and understanding of the disease. In this review, EGFR signaling pathway and its intricate regulation by endocytosis will be discussed.

Estrogen receptor β stimulates Egr-1 transcription via MEK1/Erk/Elk-1 cascade in C6 glioma cells

  • Kim, Ji-Ha;Jeong, Il-Yeup;Lim, Yoong-Ho;Lee, Young-Han;Shin, Soon-Young
    • BMB Reports
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    • v.44 no.7
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    • pp.452-457
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    • 2011
  • The Egr-1 is an immediate early response gene encoding a transcription factor that functions in the regulation of cell growth, differentiation, and apoptosis. Estrogen has diverse physiological effects, including cellular proliferation and neuroprotection against brain injury. There are two types of estrogen receptors (ERs), $ER{\alpha}$ and $ER{\beta}$. $ER{\alpha}$-induced Egr-1 expression has been extensively studied; however, the role of $ER{\beta}$ is yet not known. In the present study, we investigated whether or not $ER{\beta}$ induces Egr-1 expression in C6 rat glioma cells, which express $ER{\beta}$ but not $ER{\alpha}$. Our results show that $ER{\beta}$ promoted up-regulation of Egr-1 expression via a non-genomic mechanism involving the Raf/MEK1/Erk/Elk-1 signaling cascade.

Effects of Gamisinsunbulo-dan on Learning and Memory Function in the Dementia Rat by Ibotenic acid Damage (가미신선부노단이 ibotenic acid손상에 의해 유도된 치매 백서의 학습 및 기억장애에 미치는 영향)

  • Eom Hyun Sup
    • Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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    • v.16 no.6
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    • pp.1151-1156
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    • 2002
  • This research was done to make the effective prescription and cope with various senile dementia. Sprague-Dawley rats were injured by ibotenic acid to make a damage on learning and memory functions of model rats. At first acquisition test and retention rest were done in the Morris water maze. And to evaluate the effects of the sample drug(GSD) on choline acetyltranferase and acetylcholine esterase, immunoreactive measurement and enzymatic activity measuring were carried out. The ibotenic acid were injected to hippocampus CA1 and CA3 area. Conclusion : GSD improved the learning ability in the acquisition test and memory function in the retention test significantly. And GSD increased the level of ChAT which is synthesizing acetylcholine in CA1 area, and at the same time it increased the level of AChE which is resolving acetylcholine. These results show that GSD improved the cholinergic catabolism and anabolism, and the increment of metabolic activity of cholinergic system. In other words, it contributes to the recovery of damaged learning and memory function by ibotenic acid. So it can be concluded that GSD will be helpful to cholinergic brain damage induced by primary or senile reduction of acetylcholine secretive activity.

Improving Effects of Chimae-eum on Learning and Memory Function in the Hippocampal Damaged Rat (치매음이 해마손상 백서의 기억기능회복에 미치는 영향)

  • Chi Gyoo Yong
    • Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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    • v.16 no.6
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    • pp.1236-1242
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    • 2002
  • In order to make an efficient prescription and cope with dementia, learning and memory functions of Sprague-Dawley model rats were tested with Morris water maze. And to evaluate the effect of the sample drug(CHM) on choline acetyltranferase and acetylcholine esterase, immunoreactive measurement and enzymatic activity measuring were carried out. Rats were injected with ibotenic acid through hippocampus CA1 and CA3 area. The results are as following. CHM improves the learning ability in the acquisition test and memory function in the retention test significantly. And CHM increases the level of AChE which is resolving acetylcholine. Though it doesn't increase the level of ChAT significantly which is synthesizing acetylcholine, but it shows the tendency of increase. So these results show that CHM improve the cholinergic catabolism and anabolism, and the increment of metabolic activity of cholinergic system. Thus it can be concluded that CHM will be helpful to cholinergic brain disease induced by primary or senile reduction of acetylcholine secretive activity.

Proteomic Changes in the Sound Vibration-Treated Arabidopsis thaliana Facilitates Defense Response during Botrytis cinerea Infection

  • Ghosh, Ritesh;Choi, Bosung;Kwon, Young Sang;Bashir, Tufail;Bae, Dong-Won;Bae, Hanhong
    • The Plant Pathology Journal
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    • v.35 no.6
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    • pp.609-622
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    • 2019
  • Sound vibration (SV) treatment can trigger various molecular and physiological changes in plants. Previously, we showed that pre-exposure of Arabidopsis plants to SV boosts its defense response against Botrytis cinerea fungus. The present study was aimed to investigate the changes in the proteome states in the SV-treated Arabidopsis during disease progression. Proteomics analysis identified several upregulated proteins in the SV-infected plants (i.e., SV-treated plants carrying Botrytis infection). These upregulated proteins are involved in a plethora of biological functions, e.g., primary metabolism (i.e., glycolysis, tricarboxylic acid cycle, ATP synthesis, cysteine metabolism, and photosynthesis), redox homeostasis, and defense response. Additionally, our enzyme assays confirmed the enhanced activity of antioxidant enzymes in the SV-infected plants compared to control plants. Broadly, our results suggest that SV pre-treatment evokes a more efficient defense response in the SV-infected plants by modulating the primary metabolism and reactive oxygen species scavenging activity.

The Content Analysis of Amino Acids Including GABA of Chlorella protothecoides under Mixtrophic Culture (혼합영양 배양에서 Chlorella protothecoides의 GABA를 포함한 아미노산 함량 분석)

  • Jeong, Yu Jeong;Kim, Seong Hak;Min, Hee Gyung;Kim, Sung Chun
    • Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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    • v.10 no.1
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    • pp.18-25
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    • 2018
  • Chlorella is quantitatively and qualitatively high in protein with balanced essential amino acid profiles, vitamins and minerals. ${\gamma}-Aminobutyric$ acid (GABA) is broadly distributed in nature and fulfills multi-physiological functions including effect such as a health-promoting functional compound. To improve the GABA production, Chlorella protothecoides were grown through the modified mixtrophic culture medium containing 2L of sterilized bristol medium with 0.01% urea and 4.0% glucose in a 5L fermenter. The results showed that nineteen kinds of amino acid including GABA at C. protothecoides sample were analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Glutamic acid in total concentration (%) of amino acid is the most abundant amino acid (33.10%), followed by alanine (20.48%) and GABA (17.48%). Three amino acids including GABA were responsible for more than 70% total concentration in C. protothecoides sample including eight essential and nine non-essential amino acids: aspartic acid, asparagine, serine, glutamine, histidine, glycine, threonine, arginine, tyrosine, valine, methionine, tryptophan, phenylalanine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine. As a result of this experiment, it is expected that Chlorella will be developed to a critical product having high value as, GABA, functional food materials.

Development of a microcontroller-based control system for a total artificial heart (완전이식 인공심장을 위한 제어시스템의 개발에 관한 연구)

  • Choi, Won-Woo;Park, Seong-Keun;Kim, Hee-Chan;Min, Byeong-Gu
    • Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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    • v.1 no.2
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    • pp.127-134
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    • 1995
  • For use in patients with severe forms of heart disease for which no surgical repair is possible, development of artificial hearts has many importance in point of economics, medical and industrial applications. To provide a sufficient cardiac output to the physiological demands of circulatory systems is the objective of control systems for an electromechanical artificial heart, which is based on the stable controller design for the motor in the artificial heart. In this paper, an implantable microcontroller-based brushless DC motor control system with the implantability, reliability, and stability is introduced. The developed control system for the artificial heart has the following advantages: (1) It is possible to be implanted in a body by realizing the fundamental functions such as a motor speed detection, proportional-intergral control, timer, and PWM generation through a software programming. (2) Thus, the power consumed in the controller is reduced. (3) The reliability and stability are improved through the reduction of electronic parts and line connetions at the controller. The performance of the artificial hearts and control system developed was evaluated through a series of mock circulatory experiments and a reliability test for one and half years. A sheep with the artificial heart and control system was survived for three days.

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The role of ginseng total saponin in transient receptor potential melastatin type 7 channels

  • Kim, Byung Joo
    • Animal cells and systems
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    • v.16 no.5
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    • pp.376-384
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    • 2012
  • Although ginsenosides have a variety of physiologic or pharmacologic functions in various regions, there are only a few reports on the effects of transient receptor potential melastatin 7 (TRPM7) channels. Here, we showed evidence suggesting that TRPM7 channels play an important role in ginseng total saponin (GTS)-mediated cellular injury. The combination techniques of electrophysiology, pharmacological analysis, small interfering RNA (siRNA) method and cell death assays were used. GTS depolarized the resting membrane potentials and decreased the amplitude of pacemaker potentials in cultured interstitial cells of Cajal (ICCs) in gastrointestinal (GI) tract. The TRPM7-like currents in single ICCs and the overexpressing TRPM7 in HEK293 cells were inhibited by GTS. However, GTS had no effect on $Ca^{2+}$-activated $Cl^-$ conductance. GTS inhibited the survival of human gastric (AGS) and brea (MCF-7) adenocarcinoma cells. Also, GTS inhibited the TRPM7-like currents in AGS and MCF-7 cells. The GTS-mediated cytotoxicity was inhibited by TRPM7-specific siRNA. In addition, we showed that overexpression of TRPM7 channels in HEK293 cells was inhibited by GTS. Thus, TRPM7 channels are involved in GTS-mediated cell death in AGS and MCF-7 cells, and these channels may represent a novel target for physiological disorders where GTS plays an important role.