• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• 제13권4호
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• pp.263-271
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• 2010

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) constitute the largest superfamily of cell membrane receptors, mediating diverse signal-transduction pathways. The melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R) has been of interest for its physiological role and size, one of the smallest among the GPCRs, which makes it a good model system for the structural study of GPCRs. To study the molecular structure and tissue-specific expression of MC4R in olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus), the full-length MC4R gene was obtained using PCR amplification of genomic DNA as well as cDNA synthesis. Sequence analysis of the gene indicates that 978 bp of the MC4R gene encodes 325 amino acids without introns. Sequence alignment with the MC4Rs from other fish shows the highest degree of identity (96%) between Paralichthys olivaceous and Verasper moseri, followed by Takifugu rubripes and Tetraodon nigroviridis (89%). RNA was isolated from various tissues to examine the tissue distribution of MC4R by using RT-PCR. The results showed major expression of MC4R in the liver, brain, and eye, which is consistent with the expression pattern in other fish belonging to the order Pleuronectiformes.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• 제11권5호
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• pp.221-226
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• 2007

Melittin-induced tonic pain model is characterized by local inflammation, edema, spontaneous flinchings, and sustained mechanical hypersensitivity. These nociceptive responses are mediated through selective activation of capsaicin-sensitive primary afferent fibers by melittin. The present study was undertaken to elucidate the role of peripheral 5-hydroxytryptamine(5-HT) receptors in the melittin-induced nociceptive responses. Changes in mechanical threshold, flinching behaviors and paw thickness were measured in rat intraplantarly injected with melittin($40{\mu}g/paw$) alone or treated together with melittin and 5-HT receptor antagonists. WAY-100635($100{\mu}g\;&\;200{\mu}g/paw$), isamoltane hemifumarate($100{\mu}g\;&\;200{\mu}g/paw$), methysergide maleate($60{\mu}g,\;120{\mu}g\;&\;200{\mu}g/paw$) and ICS-205,930($100{\mu}g\;&\;200{\mu}g/paw$) were intraplantarly injected 20 min before melittin injection. All 5-HT receptor antagonists tested in this experiment significantly attenuated the ability of melittin to reduce mechanical threshold and to induce flinching behaviors. 5-HT receptor antagonists, except ICS-205,930, had mild inhibitory effect on melittin-induced edema. These experimental findings suggest that multiple peripheral 5-HT receptors are involved in the melittin-induced nociceptive responses.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• 제19권4호
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• pp.33-41
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• 2007

Purpose: To investigate environmental enrichment and nerve stimulation follows in application times with the change of BDNF & Trk-B receptor in the motor cortex and spinal cord. Methods: Experimental groups were divided into the five groups. Group I: normal control group, Group II: experiment control group, Group III: sciatic never electrical stimulation after MCAO, Group IV: application of only environmental enrichment after MCAO, Group V: never electrical stimulation with environmental enrichment after MCAO. Histologic observation and coronal sections were processed individually in goat polyclonal antibody phosphorylated BDNF and rabbit polyclonal antibody Trk-B receptor. Results: In immunohistochemistric response of BDNF and Trk-B, group II were showed that lower response effect at postischemic 1 days, 3 days, and 7 days. Group V were showed that increase response effect at postischemic 3 days, 7 days and 14 days. Specially showed that the most response effect at postischemic 14 days. In neurobehavioral assessment, group V were significantly difference from other groups on between-subject effects. Conclusion: The above results suggest that combined environmental enrichment with peripheral nerve electrical stimulation in focal ischemic brain injury were more improved that the change of BDNF & Trk-B receptor expression than non treatment.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• 제28권6호
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• pp.569-575
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• 2020

Crotamiton is an anti-scabies drug, but it was recently found that crotamiton also suppresses non-scabietic itching in mice. However, the underlying mechanism is largely unclear. Therefore, aim of the study is to investigate mechanisms of the anti-pruritic effect of crotamiton for non-scabietic itching. Histamine and chloroquine are used as non-scabietic pruritogens. The effect of crotamiton was identified using fluorometric intracellular calcium assays in HEK293T cells and primary cultured dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons. Further in vivo effect was evaluated by scratching behavior tests. Crotamiton strongly inhibited histamine-induced calcium influx in HEK293T cells, expressing both histamine receptor 1 (H1R) and transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1), as a model of histamine-induced itching. Similarly, it also blocked chloroquine-induced calcium influx in HEK293T cells, expressing both Mas-related G-protein-coupled receptor A3 (MRGPRA3) and transient receptor potential A1 (TRPA1), as a model of histamine-independent itching. Furthermore, crotamiton also suppressed both histamine- and chloroquine-induced calcium influx in primary cultures of mouse DRG. Additionally, crotamiton strongly suppressed histamine- and chloroquine-induced scratching in mice. Overall, it was found that crotamiton has an anti-pruritic effect against non-scabietic itching by histamine and chloroquine. Therefore, crotamiton may be used as a general anti-pruritic agent, irrespective of the presence of scabies.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• 제45권2호
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• pp.254-263
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• 2021

Background: A chronic social defeat stress (CSDS) model has been proposed as relevant to stress-induced behavioral change in humans. In this study, we examined the effect of Korean Red Ginseng (KRG) on CSDS-induced mood disorders and protein expression in an animal model. Methods: To evaluate the effect of KRG on social defeat stress, test mice were exposed in the resident aggressor's home cage compartment for 14 days beginning 1 h after KRG treatment (10, 20, and 40 mg/kg, per oral (p.o.)). After the exposure, behavioral tests to measure anxiety, social interaction, and depression-like behavior were performed. To investigate the underlying mechanism, N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor expression levels in CSDS-induced mice were evaluated using Western blot analysis. Results: CSDS induced anxiety-like behaviors by decreasing central activity in the open-field test and open-arm approach in the elevated plus maze test and led to social avoidance behavior in the social interaction test. CSDS mice showed upregulated NR1, NR2A, and NR2B expression in the hippocampus. KRG 20 and 40 mg/kg ameliorated anxiety-like activities and KRG 20 mg/kg alleviated social avoidance by decreasing time in the corner zone. KRG treatment recovered CSDS-induced NR1, NR2A, and NR2B protein levels in the hippocampus. Conclusion: These results indicate that KRG has a therapeutic effect on CSDS-induced mood disorder by alleviating N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor overexpression in the hippocampus.

• 통합자연과학논문집
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• 제8권1호
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• pp.13-18
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• 2015

Cysteinyl leukotrienes are inflammatory mediators having important role in pathophysiological conditions such as asthma, allergic rhinitis and have been implicated in a number of inflammatory conditions including cardiovascular and gastrointestinal diseases. Most of the disease regulatory actions of the CysLTs are mediated through CysLT1 receptor. Hence in the present study, homology modeling of CysLT1 was performed because the availability of 3D structure would enhance the development of new drugs for inflammatory diseases. However the templates identified have low sequence identity which increases the complexity of modeling. Hence, homology modeling was performed using single template, multiple templates and also using threading I-TASSER server. The best model was selected based on the validation of the generated models using Ramachandran and ERRAT plot. The model developed could be useful for identifying crucial residues and docking study.

• 한국대기환경학회지
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• 제17권2호
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• pp.147-155
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• 2001

ISCLT3 model was applied in Seoul metropolitan area to investigate the source-receptor relationships among 17 cities in the Kyonggi Province. For the purpose of the model simulation, emission rates of NO$_2$, SOx, and PM(sub)10 were prepared for grid scale with 1$\times$1 km, and receptors were located on every 2$\times$2 km grid. Meterological data for the last 10 years(88~97) were used as input data. According to our study, NO$_2$ concentration of the cities ranged from 10 to 45 ppb with the highest value appearing from Puchon city. The concentrations of SOx and PM(sub)10 concentrations fell in the range of 5~20 ppb and 20~70$\mu\textrm{g}$/㎥, respectively. It was also found out that air quality in one city can be affected greatly by the air pollutants originating from other cities.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제30권11호
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• pp.2717-2722
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• 2009

The use of the classification and regression tree (CART) methodology was studied in a quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) context on a data set consisting of the binding affinities of 39 imidazobenzodiazepines for the α1 benzodiazepine receptor. The 3-D structures of these compounds were optimized using HyperChem software with semiempirical AM1 optimization method. After optimization a set of 1481 zero-to three-dimentional descriptors was calculated for each molecule in the data set. The response (dependent variable) in the tree model consisted of the binding affinities of drugs. Three descriptors (two topological and one 3D-Morse descriptors) were applied in the final tree structure to describe the binding affinities. The mean relative error percent for the data set is 3.20%, compared with a previous model with mean relative error percent of 6.63%. To evaluate the predictive power of CART cross validation method was also performed.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제18권1호
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• pp.18-23
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• 1997

Data from structure/activity studies in vir gene induction system have led to evaluate the working hypothesis of interaction between phenolic inducers and phenol binding proteins. The primary specificity in the association of a phenolic inducer with its receptor in our system is hypothesized to be the hydrogen bonding interactions through the ortho methoxy substituents as well as the proton transfer between the inducer and the binding protein. In this paper the proposed working model for phenol-mediating signal transduction was evaluated in several ways. The importance of the general acid-base catalysis was first addressed by the presence of an acidic residue and a basic residue in the phenol binding protein. Series of compounds were tested for vir gene expression activity to confirm the generation of a strong nucleophile by an acidic residue and an involvement of a basic residue as a proton acceptor. An attempt was made to correlate the pKa values of the phenolic compounds with vir gene induction activities as inducers to further support the proposed proton transfer mechanism. Finally, it was also observed that the regioselectively attached methoxy group on phenol compounds is required as the proper hydrogen bond acceptor.

• 대한약학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한약학회 2003년도 Proceedings of the Convention of the Pharmaceutical Society of Korea Vol.2-2
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• pp.176.2-176.2
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• 2003

Transcription factors (TF) can bind tightly to specific DNA lesions formed by some anticancer agents. The formation these TF:(drug-modified DNA) complex may disrupt expression of genes critical for cell survival, and it was proved to be one of biochemical mechanisms of anticancer activity. Based on this model, we have designed programmable DNA Alkylating agents that can also attract TF, especially nuclear receptors. As a model compound, we designed drug molecules, RA-mustard and Am580-mustard, that enable to bind both retinoic acid receptor (RAR) and DNA by using molecular modeling techniques, and synthesized them by connecting chlorambucil and ligand for RAR with a linker unit. (omitted)