• The Plant Pathology Journal
• /
• v.40 no.2
• /
• pp.160-170
• /
• 2024

Erwinia amylovora is a plant pathogen that causes fire blight on apples and pears. Bacteriophages, which are viruses that selectively infect specific species of bacteria and are harmless to animal cells, have been considered as biological control agents for the prevention of bacterial pathogens. In this study, we aimed to use bacteriophages that infect E. amylovora as biocontrol agents against fire blight. We isolated bacteriophages Fifi044 and Fifi318 infecting E. amylovora, and characterized their morphology, plaque form, and genetic diversity to use as cocktails for disease control. The stabilities of the two phages were investigated at various temperatures and pH values and under sunlight, and long-term storage experiment was conducted for a year. To evaluate whether the two phages were suitable for use in cocktail form, growth curves of E. amylovora were prepared after treating the bacterial cells with single phages and a phage cocktail. In addition, a disease control test was conducted using immature apples and in vitro cultured apple plantlets to determine the biocontrol effects of the phage cocktail. The two phages were morphologically and genetically different, and highly stable up to 50℃ and pH value from 4 to 10. The phages showed synergistic effect when used as a cocktail in the inhibition of host bacterial growth and the disease control. This study demonstrated that the potential of the phage cocktail as a biocontrol agent for commercial use.

• Journal of fish pathology
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.85-93
• /
• 2011

Edwardsiella tarda is a broadly infectious agent against freshwater and seawater fishes. In the present study, E. tarda specific phage was isolated from fish farms on the west coast of Korea, and the effect of environmental factors such as pH and water temperature on the phage activity was investigated. As a fish model, Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) was used and the interaction between E. tarda and phage was investigated. The phage activity, in pH test, appeared even higher in seawater than freshwater and was evenly constant up to $50^{\circ}C$. The phage and E. tarda were inoculated in tilapia and the phage activity and E. tarda viability were checked on the time intervals. As a result, the number of E. tarda in the group of E. tarda plus phage was constantly reduced to 24 hr post-inoculation compared to the control group without phage, whereas the phage activity was slightly increased in the experiment group. The results suggest that it might be possible to use phage to control the fish disease caused by E. tarda.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
• /
• v.5 no.4
• /
• pp.199-204
• /
• 2005

Background : Oral leukoplakia(OL) and lichen planus(LP) are common soft tissue lesions characterized by white plaque or striae with erosion. The clinical characteristics of these diseases are similar but the cause and clinical course of them are very different. I compared OL with LP by analysizing clinical and histopathological characteristics and follow up study. Patients and methods : The clinical analysis of 200 patients with OL and LP was performed by review of dental and medical charts. And H/E slides were examined under the light microscope. we examined H/E slides by the light microscope. The follow up study of patients was performed. Statistical analysis was done using the SPSS/PC WINDOWS (version 13.0). Results : The age distribution of OL was in the range of 13-75 years old being most prevalent in the 5th decade and there was a tendency of male prevalent. The age distribution of LP was in the range of 20-79 years old being most prevalent in the 4th decade and there was a tendency of female prevalent. The most common site of involvement was the buccal mucosa in both diseases. The most common clinical features of OL and LP were white plaque type and white lesion with striae, respectively. In case of LP, the most common clinical sign was tenderness to palpation. Fifteen cases of OL and eight cases of LP showed epithelial dysplasia. Twelve cases of OL recurred after surgery of oral squamous cell carcinoma and 2 cases of LP were transformed into oral squamous carcinoma. Conclusion : There was statistically significant difference in age, sex, clinical signs of patients, frequency of epithelial dysplasia between OL and LP. The Pearson coefficient correlation efficient was 0.51(p < 0.05). The knowledge of the difference between OL and LP can help understand these diseases.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
• /
• v.10 no.5
• /
• pp.327-332
• /
• 2002

This study was conducted to investigate the immuno-regulatory effect and apoptosis of L1210 and HL60 leukemia cells of methanol-extracts of Cornus kousa Burg(CKB). The proliferation of mouse splenocytes and thymocytes enhanced by the addition of $10\;{\mu}g/ml$ of CKB. CKB were administered p.o. once a day for 7 days in adult male BALB/c mice. CKB increased the splenic and thymic T lymphocytes, especially the number of $T_H$ cells markedly increased by the treatment of CKB. CKB treatment induced the apoptotic cell death in L1210 mouse leukemia and HL60 human leukemia cells. In addition, CKB also accelerated the phagocytic activity in peritoneal macrophages and increased the production of plaque forming cells. These results suggest that CKB have an various immuno-regulatory property.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.10 no.4
• /
• pp.368-373
• /
• 2000

Enteroviruses in the environment pose a public health risk because they can be transmitted via the fecal-oral route through contaminated water, and low numbers are able to initiate an infection in humans. Because the levels of viruses typically found in environmental water and drinking water are low, they must be concentrated from hundreds to thousands of liters of water. Therefore, the main goal of this study was the development of a rapid, simple and efficient procedure to concentrate, isolate and detect enteroviruses from environmental water samples. Viruses were first concentrated by adsorption to 1 MDS cartridge filter and then eluted with approximately 0.5 liter of 1.5% beef extract/0.05M glycin(pH 9.4). In this study, several procedures to concentrate and purify intact viruses from beef extract obtained from the adsorbent filters were tested. Among them, organic floccuration was the best reliable method for reconcentration. sample volume could be reduced to 200∼400 folds and the efficiency of virus recovery through the procedure was over 72%. Finally, the samples were filtered through a membrane disk filter and then analyzed by either the plaque assay or combined cell culture-polymerase chain reaction.

• Proceedings of the Ginseng society Conference
• /
• 1984.09a
• /
• pp.225-232
• /
• 1984

Panax ginseng extract is capable of enhancing antibody plaque forming cell response and circulating antibody titre against sheep erythrocytes, cell mediated immunity against Semliki forest virus antigen and natural killer cell activity in mice. It also enhanced production of interferon of both the pH stable and labile types induced by an interferon inducer of fungal origin.

• The Journal of the Korean Society for Microbiology
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.117-123
• /
• 1987

Previous studies have been performed for the sero-identification of selected species of Bacteroides by immunofluorescence antibody techniques and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using species-specific rabbit antisera to B. gingivalis, B. intermedius, and B. melaninogenicus. However, these studies have not commented on the serological cross-reactivity between these 3 species of black- pigmented Bacteroides. For the cross-reactivity study, antisera to B. gingivalis ATCC 33277, B. intermedius ATC C25261 and B. asaccharolyticus ATCC 25260 were raised from rabbits. Preliminary study for observing the cross-reactivity between these species was performed by indirect immunoflourescence technique. Immunoabsorption of the antisera was done with bacterial cells from the other species and the species-specificity of the antisera was conformed by the absence of reactivity with bacterial strains from the other species by indirect immunofluorescence technique and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Three representative unabsorbed antisera cross-reacted strongly with cells from the other species. Especially, anti-B. asaccharolyticus ATCC 25260 antiserum showed a strong cross-reactivity with B. gingivalis ATCC33277. After immunoabsorption of 3 representative antisera with the other species, the cross-reactivity was found only between B. gingivalis ATCC 33277 and B. asaccharolyticus ATCC 25260. Further study would be necessary to clarify the cross-reactivity between important oral black-pigmented Bacteroides from subgingival plaque or bacterial colonies for rapid identification.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.133-146
• /
• 2008

Purpose: This research aims to investigate into company workers' awareness of scaling and related factors and provide basic materials for setting up appropriate policies to improve the hygiene of the mouth of industrial workers and developing training programs for the worker's hygiene of their mouth, as part of researches to establish schemes for improving the workers's hygiene of their mouth. Method: Questionnaire was conducted by convenience sampling for 220 office workers belonging to H Group located in Seoul Metropolitan city over about 5 weeks between December 17, 2007 and January 20, 2008. The questionnaire for this study was constructed in consideration of general characteristics of the subjects, behaviors of the dental management. and scaling. The collected questionnaires were electronically processed using SPSS 12.0. Result: The followings are the findings of this research. First, in general, scaling is experienced by male unmarried worker in their 40s. whose monthly average income is 1.00-1.99 million won and have little interest in the hygiene of their mouth and, consequently. whose hygiene of the mouth is not good. Second, scaling is experienced once every six months by the worker in their 50s or older, who are college graduates and have much interest in the hygiene of their mouth and, consequently. whose hygiene of the mouth is good. Third. scaling is not periodically conducted because of high costs of it in terms of almost every parameter of general characteristics. Fourth, they have correct knowledge of scaling since they regard it as 'removing of plaque and tartar' in terms of every parameter of general characteristics. Fifth, the workers' sex (pE0.05), hygienic condition of the mouth (pE0.05) and knowledge of scaling (pE0.001) have a significant effect on their scaling experience. Conclusion: It is considered that dental health management should be continued by training of the importance of prevention through scaling as measure for dental health promotion of workers.

• The Journal of the Korean Society for Microbiology
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.1-8
• /
• 2000

In order to explore the potential of ascorbic acid supplementation for the prevention and treatment of herpes simplex viral diseases, plaque reduction assays were performed. Ascorbic acid as well as copper chloride/ferric chloride were added to wells containing Vero cells infected with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), and the infectivity of HSV-1 was determined. Since copper and iron are major transition metals in human plasma, near the normal human plasma concentrations of them were used for experiments. When Cu(II) and Fe(III) were applied, there were no significant differences between virus control and Cu(II)/Fe(III)-treated groups. But, when appropriate concentrations of ascorbic acid were added to wells, meaningful differences between control and ascorbate-treated groups were found. In the presence of Cu(II)/Fe(III) at $5.8/3.7\;{\mu}M$, 72-h treatment with ascorbate at $50\;{\mu}M$ reduced HSV-1 infections to $10.77%{\pm}4.25%$ (P < 0.001) and $500\;{\mu}M$ did to $3.06%{\pm}1.62%$ (P < 0.001). Moreover, the cytotoxicities for Vero cells at those concentrations were insignificant (P > 0.05). Current recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of ascorbic acid is 60 mg/day, and the oral intake of 60 mg/day of ascorbic acid yields plasma ascorbic acid at 45 to $58\;{\mu}M$ in a healthy adult man. Therefore, the results of this study suggest that the maintenance of appropriate level (more than $50\;{\mu}M$) of ascorbic acid in human plasma by appropriate amount (more than the RDA) of ascorbic acid supplementation may be helpful for the prevention and treatment of diseases caused by HSV -1 in an adult man. In addition, this study also suggests that ascorbic acid may be useful for the prophylaxis of fatal HSV-1 infections in neonates and the prevention of HSV-1 reactivation in immunocompromised hosts.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.37 no.1
• /
• pp.33-41
• /
• 2009

The crushed fruiting body of Alaskan Porodaedalea pini (Brot.) Murrill (syn. Phellinus pini) was extracted in boiling water for 4 h with the yield of 20.5% in dry mass. This hot-water extract showed significant antiviral activity by inhibiting the plaque formation in HeLa cells by coxackievirus B3 (CVB3) and also showed highest inhibitory effect against neuraminidase activity among water extracts of various mushrooms. From the water extract, the ethanol precipitate (EP) and supernatant fraction (ES) were obtained through 75% ethanol precipitation with the yield of 43.3% and 28.3% in dry mass, respectively. Whereas ES did not show any detectable level of antiviral activity, EP showed significant dose-dependent inhibition of plaque formation by CVB3 in HeLa cells with an $EC_{50}$ (50% effective concentration) of 0.45 mg/mL. The cytotoxicity on HeLa cells by EP was relatively low with the $CC_{50}$ (50% cytotoxic concentration) of 2.25 mg/mL. EP also effectively inhibited neuraminidase activity in a dose-dependent manner showing up to 75% inhibition at 1.7 mg/mL. These results suggest that the hot-water extract and its EP of P. pini fruiting body can be a candidate for the development of a potent broad-range antiviral agent against influenza virus(Flu) as well as CVB3. The major active component of EP was shown to be a heteropolysaccharide-protein complex containing glucose as the main sugar residue with mole percentage of 79.8% and other sugars like galactose (19.2%), xylose (17%), mannose (5.8%), and fucose (4.6%) and a small portion (12.7%, in mass) of protein.