• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.537-547
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• 2018

Objective: This study was performed to understand transcriptional changes in the genes involved in gluconeogenesis and glycolysis pathways following castration of bulls. Methods: Twenty Korean bulls were weaned at average 3 months of age, and castrated at 6 months. Liver tissues were collected from bulls (n = 10) and steers (n = 10) of Korean cattle, and hepatic gene expression levels were measured using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. We examined hepatic transcription levels of genes encoding enzymes for irreversible reactions in both gluconeogenesis and glycolysis as well as genes encoding enzymes for the utilization of several glucogenic substrates. Correlations between hepatic gene expression and carcass characteristics were performed to understand their associations. Results: Castration increased the mRNA (3.6 fold; p<0.01) and protein levels (1.4 fold; p<0.05) of pyruvate carboxylase and mitochondrial phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase genes (1.7 fold; p<0.05). Hepatic mRNA levels of genes encoding the glycolysis enzymes were not changed by castration. Castration increased mRNA levels of both lactate dehydrogenase A (1.5 fold; p<0.05) and lactate dehydrogenase B (2.2 fold; p<0.01) genes for lactate utilization. Castration increased mRNA levels of glycerol kinase (2.7 fold; p<0.05) and glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase 1 (1.5 fold; p<0.05) genes for glycerol utilization. Castration also increased mRNA levels of propionyl-CoA carboxylase beta (mitochondrial) (3.5 fold; p<0.01) and acyl-CoA synthetase short chain family member 3 (1.3 fold; p = 0.06) genes for propionate incorporation. Conclusion: Castration increases transcription levels of critical genes coding for enzymes involved in irreversible gluconeogenesis reactions from pyruvate to glucose and enzymes responsible for incorporation of glucogenic substrates including lactate, glycerol, and propionate. Hepatic gluconeogenic gene expression levels were associated with intramuscular fat deposition.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.147-157
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• 2000

This study examined the effects of excess intake of calcium (Ca) and iron (Fe) supplement on bone loss, nephrocalcinosis and renal function in osteoporotic model rats. Seven-week-old female rats were first fed a Ca-deficient diet for four weeks after ovariectomy operation, and then one of nine experimental diets for additional eight weeks, containing three levels of Ca, normal (0.5%) or high (1.5%) or excess (2.5%) and three levels of Fe, normal (35ppm) or high (210ppm) or excess (350ppm). The osteoporotic model rats showed a remarkable increase in body weight, serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and decrease in breaking force, Ca, P, Mg contents of femur. Serum Ca concentration was not significantly affected by dietary Ca and Fe levles. Liver Ca content increased in rats fed a high-and excess-Ca diet. Kidney Ca content and microscopic Ca deposition remarkably increased in osteoporotic model rats compared to control group, and showed a tendency to decrease in rats fed a excess-Ca diet. Breaking force of femur increased with increasing dietary Ca levels, but Ca, P contents of femur and serum ALP were not significantly affected by dietary Ca and Fe levels. Serum total protein decreased in rats fed a excess-Ca diet, BUN increased in rats fed a excess-Ca diet, while serum uric acid and creatinine were not significantly affected by dietary Ca levels. Urinary creatinine, GFR increased in rats fed a high-and excess-Ca, diet, and GFR was highest in rats fed a excess-Ca/excess-Fe diet. These results suggest that excess intake of Ca may increase breaking force of femur, but not increase mineral contents of femur, and decrease kidney function. Furthermore, excess intake of Fe and Ca concurrently may aggravate kidney function leading to potential health problems in ovariectomized osteoporotic model rats.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.78-78
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• 2017

Pure Titanium and alloy have been widely used in dental implants and orthopedics due to their excellent mechanical properties, biocompatibility and corrosion resistance. However, due to the biologically inactive nature of Ti metal implants, it cannot bind to the living bone immediately after transplantation into the body. In order to improve the bone bonding ability of titanium implants, many attempts have been made to alter the structure, composition and chemical properties of titanium surfaces, including the deposition of bioactive coatings. The PEO method has the advantages of short experiment time and low cost. These advantages have attracted attention recently. Recently, many metal ions such as silicon, magnesium, zinc, strontium, and manganese have received attention in this field due to their impact on bone regeneration. Silicon (Si) in particular has been found to be essential for normal bone and cartilage growth and development. Zinc (Zn) plays very important roles in bone formation and immune system regulation and promotes bone metabolism and growth. Manganese (Mn) is an essential trace metal found in all tissues and is required for normal amino acid, lipid, protein and carbohydrate metabolism. The objective of this work was research on the corrosion behavior of Si, Zn and Mn-doped hydroxyapatite on the PEO-treated surface. Anodized alloys was prepared at 270V~300V voltage in the solution containig Zn, Si, and Mn ions. Ion release test was carried out using potentidynamic and AC impedance method in 0.9% NaCl solution. The surface characteristics of PEO treated Ti-6Al-4V alloy were investigated using XRD, FE-SEM, AFM and EDS.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.291-298
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• 2000

Vitellogenesis, an important reproductive process in oviparous animals, includes the processes of hormonally regulated synthesis of yolk precursor protein, vitellogenin (Vg), and their deposition in ovarian oocytes as a vitellin which is an important energy source as well as buoyancy regulator of the egg. Vg genes consist of a gene family that encompasses a large number of lipoproteins and produce different Mr. Vg proteins in liver. The expression of Vg is largely dependent on the estrogen, and both reproductive cycle and temperature also influence Vg synthesis. Synthetic estrogens or estrogenic pollutants was sufficient to induce Vg in both sexes of oviparous vertebrates. Therefore, the estrogenic induction of vitellogenesis in male has been used for biological marker in the screening of estrogenicity of certain endocrine disrupting compounds and the monitoring the world-wide contamination of estrogenic compounds in wild life. In the studies on the biological hazard and influence of endocrine disrupting chemicals using the Vg induction in oviparous males, it is important to consider the reproductive cycle, zoogeography and biodiversity of the wild life animals in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.182-187
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• 2018

Many plant derived phytochemicals have been considered as the main therapeutic strategy against Alzheimer's disease (AD). AD is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder, and the most predominant cause of dementia in the elderly. Cholinergic deficit, senile plaque/${\beta}$-amyloid ($A{\beta}$) peptide deposition and oxidative stress have been identified as three main pathogenic pathways which contribute to the progression of AD. We screened many different plant species for their effective use in both modern and traditional system of medicines. In this study, we tested that MeOH extract of the stem bark of Hopea chinensis (Merr.) Hand.-Mazz. (HCM) affects on the processing of Amyloid precursor portein (APP) from the APPswe over-expressing Neuro2a cell line. We showed that HCM reduced the secretion level of $A{\beta}42$ and $A{\beta}40$ in a dose dependent manner. We found that HCM increased over 1.5 folds of the secretion level of $sAPP{\alpha}$, a metabolite of ${\alpha}$-secretase. Furthermore, we found that HCM inhibited acetylcholinesterase activity in vitro. We suggest that the stem bark of Hopea chinensis may be a useful source to develop a therapeutics for AD.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.549-549
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• 2012

Early detection of cancer biomarkers in the blood is of vital importance for reducing the mortality and morbidity in a number of cancers. From this point of view, immunosensors based on nanowire (NW) and carbon nanotube (CNT) field-effect transistors (FETs) that allow the ultra-sensitive, highly specific, and label-free electrical detection of biomarkers received much attention. Nevertheless 1D nano-FET biosensors showed high performance, several challenges remain to be resolved for the uncomplicated, reproducible, low-cost and high-throughput nanofabrication. Recently, two-dimensional (2D) graphene and reduced GO (RGO) nanosheets or films find widespread applications such as clean energy storage and conversion devices, optical detector, field-effect transistors, electromechanical resonators, and chemical & biological sensors. In particular, the graphene- and RGO-FETs devices are very promising for sensing applications because of advantages including large detection area, low noise level in solution, ease of fabrication, and the high sensitivity to ions and biomolecules comparable to 1D nano-FETs. Even though a limited number of biosensor applications including chemical vapor deposition (CVD) grown graphene film for DNA detection, single-layer graphene for protein detection and single-layer graphene or solution-processed RGO film for cell monitoring have been reported, development of facile fabrication methods and full understanding of sensing mechanism are still lacking. Furthermore, there have been no reports on demonstration of ultrasensitive electrical detection of a cancer biomarker using the graphene- or RGO-FET. Here we describe scalable and facile fabrication of reduced graphene oxide FET (RGO-FET) with the capability of label-free, ultrasensitive electrical detection of a cancer biomarker, prostate specific antigen/${\alpha}$ 1-antichymotrypsin (PSA-ACT) complex, in which the ultrathin RGO channel was formed by a uniform self-assembly of two-dimensional RGO nanosheets, and also we will discuss about the immunosensing mechanism.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.1150-1159
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• 2018

Objective: Non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (nsSNPs) were identified in Berkshire selective sweep regions and then were investigated to discover genetic nsSNP mechanisms that were potentially associated with Berkshire domestication and meat quality. We further used bioinformatics tools to predict damaging amino-acid substitutions in Berkshire-related nsSNPs. Methods: nsSNPs were examined in whole genome resequencing data of 110 pigs, including 14 Berkshire pigs, generated using the Illumina Hiseq2000 platform to identify variations that might affect meat quality in Berkshire pigs. Results: Total 65,550 nsSNPs were identified in the mapped regions; among these, 319 were found in Berkshire selective-sweep regions reported in a previous study. Genes encompassing these nsSNPs were involved in lipid metabolism, intramuscular fatty-acid deposition, and muscle development. The effects of amino acid change by nsSNPs on protein functions were predicted using sorting intolerant from tolerant and polymorphism phenotyping V2 to reveal their potential roles in biological processes that may correlate with the unique Berkshire meat-quality traits. Conclusion: Our nsSNP findings confirmed the history of Berkshire pigs and illustrated the effects of domestication on generic-variation patterns. Our novel findings, which are generally consistent with those of previous studies, facilitated a better understanding of Berkshire domestication. In summary, we extensively investigated the relationship between genomic composition and phenotypic traits by scanning for nsSNPs in large-scale whole-genome sequencing data.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.401-411
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• 2015

Aldose reductase (AR) is known to play a crucial role in the mediation of diabetic and cardiovascular complications. Recently, several studies have demonstrated that allergen-induced airway remodeling and ovalbumin-induced asthma is mediated by AR. Epalrestat is an aldose reductase inhibitor that is currently available for the treatment of diabetic neuropathy. Whether AR is involved in pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis and whether epalrestat attenuates pulmonary fibrosis remains unknown. Pulmonary fibrosis was induced by intratracheal instillation of bleomycin (5 mg/kg) in rats. Primary pulmonary fibroblasts were cultured to investigate the proliferation by BrdU incorporation method and flow cytometry. The expression of AR, TGF-${\beta}_1$, ${\alpha}$-SMA and collagen I was analyzed by immunohistochemisty, real-time PCR or western blot. In vivo, epalrestat treatment significantly ameliorated the bleomycin-mediated histological fibrosis alterations and blocked collagen deposition concomitantly with reversing bleomycin-induced expression up-regulation of TGF-${\beta}_1$, AR, ${\alpha}$-SMA and collagen I (both mRNA and protein). In vitro, epalrestat remarkably attenuated proliferation of pulmonary fibroblasts and expression of ${\alpha}$-SMA and collagen I induced by TGF-${\beta}_1$, and this inhibitory effect of epalrestat was accompanied by inhibiting AR expression. Knockdown of AR gene expression reversed TGF-${\beta}_1$-induced proliferation of fibroblasts, up-regulation of ${\alpha}$-SMA and collagen I expression. These findings suggest that AR plays an important role in bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis, and epalrestat inhibited the progression of bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis is mediated via inhibiting of AR expression.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.303-311
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• 2013

In this study, we compared the efficiency of osteoblast differentiation media (ODM) containing three distinct reagent combinations in osteoblastic differentiation of human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hBMSCs) in monolayer culture. In addition, we analyzed growth and differentiation of hBMSCs on silk scaffolds and examined the bone-forming activity of a nanofibrous silk scaffold in a tibia diaphysis defect model of a rat hind limb with intramedullary nailing. Although all three ODM increased alkaline phosphatase activity to a comparable extent, the ODM containing bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) was found to be significantly less effective in promoting mineral deposition than the others. Growth of hBMSCs on sponge-form silk scaffolds was faster than on nanofibrous ones, while osteoblastic differentiation was apparent in the cells grown on either type of scaffold. By contrast, bone formation was observed only at the edge of the nanofibrous scaffold implanted in the tibia diaphysis defect, suggesting that use of the silk scaffold alone is not sufficient for the reconstitution of the long bone defect. Since silk scaffolds can support cell growth and differentiation in vitro, loading MSCs on scaffolds might be necessary to improve the bone-forming activity of the scaffold in the long bone defect model.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.168-173
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• 2005

Alzheimers disease (AD) is the most prevalent form of neurodegenerations associated with aging in the human population. This disease is characterized by the extracellular deposition of beta-amyloid (A ${\beta}$) peptide in cerebral plaques. The A ${\beta}$ peptide is derived from the ${\beta}$-amyloid precursor protein ( ${\beta}$APP). Photolytic processing of ${\beta}$APP by ${\beta}$-secretase(beta-site APP-cleaving enzyme, BASE) and ${\gamma}$-secretase generates the A ${\beta}$ peptide. Several lines of evidence support that A ${\beta}$-induced neuronal cell death is major mechanisms of development of AD. Accordingly, the ${\beta}$-and ${\gamma}$-secretase have been implicated to be excellent targets for the treatment of AD. We previously found that sesaminol glucosides have improving effect on memory functions through anti-oxidative mechanism. In this study, to elucidate possible other mechanism (inhibition of ${\beta}$-and ${\gamma}$-secretase) of sesaminol glucosides, we examined the improving effect of sesaminol glucosides in the scopolamine (1 mg/kg/mouse)-induced memory dysfunction using water maze test in the mice. Sesaminol glucosides (3.75, 7.5 mg/kg/6ml/day p.o., for 3 weeks) reversed the latency time, distance and velocity by scopolamine in dose dependent manner. Next, ${\beta}$-and ${\gamma}$-secretase activities were determined in different regions of brain. Sesaminol glucosides dose-dependently attenuated scopolamine-induced ${\beta}$-secretase activities in cortex and hippocampous and ${\gamma}$-secretase in cortex. This study therefore suggests that sesaminol glucosides may be a useful agent for prevention of the development or progression of AD, and its inhibitory effect on secretase may play a role in the improving action of sesaminol glucosides on memory function.