• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.11
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• pp.1200-1207
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• 2019

Ultraviolet radiation exposure is a major cause of extrinsic skin aging, which leads to skin hyperpigmentation. Loganin, a major iridoid glycoside obtained from Corni fructus, has anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, and neuroprotective effects. In this study, we investigated the mechanisms underlying the anti-melanogenic effects of loganin in B16F10 melanocytes treated with ${\alpha}$-melanocyte stimulating hormone (${\alpha}-MSH$) and 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (IBMX). Anti-melanogenic activity was measured by treating cells with loganin at concentrations between 1 and $20{\mu}m$. Cell viability assays confirmed that doses of loganin up to $20{\mu}m$ were not cytotoxic. Loganin significantly and dose-dependently decreased intracellular melanin production. We also investigated potential molecular signaling pathways for the anti-melanogenesis effects of loganin. Western blotting showed that treatment with ${\alpha}-MSH$ and IBMX increased the phosphorylation of cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) and the gene expressions of microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) and tyrosinase. Addition of loganin suppressed these increases, while promoting the phosphorylation of extracellular signal regulated kinase (ERK) and the anti-melanogenesis response. Our data therefore indicated that loganin could attenuate the increased melanin synthesis induced by ${\alpha}-MSH$ and IBMX treatment of B16F10 melanocytes. This attenuation appears to occur by downregulation of CREB phosphorylation and MITF and tyrosinase gene expression and upregulation of ERK phosphorylation. These finding suggests that loganin could be a valuable candidate for treatment of skin diseases related to hyperpigmentation.

• Clean Technology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.123-128
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• 2019

$Bi_2MoO_6$ catalysts were successfully synthesized using ethylene glycol monomethyl ether (EGME), glycerol (GL), ethylene glycol (EG), and water as solvents by a conventional hydrothermal method. The synthesized catalysts were characterized by XRD, DRS, BET, SEM, and PL, and we also investigated the photocatalytic activity of these materials for the decomposition of Rhodamin B under visible light irradiation. The XRD results revealed the successful synthesis of 12-18 nm, well-crystallized ${\gamma}-Bi_2MoO_6$ crystals with an Aurivillius structure regardless of solvent. In addition, the $Bi_2MoO_6$ catalysts prepared below $140^{\circ}C$ showed an amorphous phase; however, those prepared above $160^{\circ}C$ showed well-crystallized ${\gamma}-Bi_2MoO_6$ crystals. All the catalysts have a similar absorption spectrum from the ultraviolet region up to the visible region less than 470 nm. This result suggests that all the $Bi_2MoO_6$ catalysts are potential visible-light-driven photocatalysts. The $Bi_2MoO_6$ catalysts prepared using EGME as a solvent showed the highest photocatalytic activity. In addition, the $Bi_2MoO_6$ catalysts prepared at $180^{\circ}C$ showed the highest photocatalytic activity. The PL peaks appeared at about 560 nm at all catalysts and the excitonic PL signal was proportional to the photocatalytic activity for the decomposition of Rhodamin B. This suggests that the stronger the PL intensity, the larger the amount of oxygen vacancies and defects, and the higher the photocatalytic activity.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.15-23
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• 2021

Background and Objectives During speech, the vocal folds oscillate at frequencies ranging from 100-200 Hz with amplitudes of a few millimeters. Mechanical stimulation is an essential factor which affects metabolism of human vocal folds. The effect of mechanical vibration on the cellular response in the human vocal fold fibroblasts cells (hVFFs) was evaluated. Materials and Method We created a culture systemic device capable of generating vibratory stimulations at human phonation frequencies. To establish optimal cell culture condition, cellular proliferation and viability assay was examined. Quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction was used to assess extracellular matrix (ECM) related and growth factors expression on response to changes in vibratory frequency and amplitude. Western blot was used to investigate ECM and inflammation-related transcription factor activation and its related cellular signaling transduction pathway. Results The cell viability was stable with vibratory stimulation within 24 h. A statistically significant increase of ECM genes (collagen type I alpha 1 and collagen type I alpha 2) and growth factor [transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) and fibroblast growth factor 1 (FGF-1)] observe under the experimental conditions. Vibratory stimulation induced transcriptional activation of NF-κB by phosphorylation of p65 subunit through cellular Mitogen-activated protein kinases activation by extracellular signal regulated kinase and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) phosphorylation on hVFFs. Conclusion This study confirmed enhancing synthesis of collagen, TGF-β1 and FGF was testified by vibratory stimulation on hVFFs. This mechanism is thought to be due to the activation of NF-κB and MAPKs. Taken together, these results demonstrate that vibratory bioreactor may be a suitable alternative to hVFFs for studying vocal folds cellular response to vibratory vocalization.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.326-333
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• 2020

Nitrate-nitrite-nitric oxide (NO) pathway is a major alternative source of NO and is essential for NO - dependent physiological functions in body. Food supplements having nitrate/nitrite can improve metabolic syndromes including hypertension through antioxidant activity or vasodilation. The purpose of this study was to observe the effects of fermented garlic (F. garlic) having high concentration of NO2- on changes in blood flow and nitric oxide synthesis in the cerebral cortex of rodents. The generation of nitric oxide detected by a chemi-luminescence detector was higher in F. Garlic compared with NaNO2 solution under artificial gastric juice with pH 2.0. Ether F. garlic or NaNO2 diluted with artificial cerebrospinal fluid was directly applied into around the needle probe of laser Doppler flow meter that was located on epidural surface of the cortex. Direct application of F. garlic resulted in increase of cerebral blood flow detected by a laser Doppler flow meter with a dose-dependent manner. Compared with NaNO2 solution, F. garlic produced changes in cerebral blood flow at lower concentration of NO2-. Pretreatment of methylene blue, a guanylyl cyclase inhibitor prevented upregulation of cerebral blood flow by the treatment of F. garlic. In addition, the application of F. garlic with 250, 500ppm of NO2- caused significantly the production of NO in the cortical tissue but NaNO2 solution with 500ppm of NO2- did not. In summary, these results suggested that F. garlic with high content of NO2- induce increase in cerebral blood flow through nitric oxide-dependent signal pathway.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.11-24
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• 2022

It has been reported that the ethanolic extract of the root of Piper methysticum (P. methysticum) inhibits melanogenesis in melanocyte stimulating hormone (MSH)-activated B16 melanoma cells. Flavokawain B (FKB) and Flavokawain C (FKC) isolated from this extract have been found to inhibit melanin production based on anti-melanogenesis activity. This study was designed to find out the inhibition and its process of FKB and FKC on melanin synthesis in melan-a melanocytes. FKB and FKC inhibited melanogenesis at 10 μM, 5 μM respectively in melan-a melanocytes. However, they did not inhibit extracellular tyrosinase activity from melan-a melanocytes. FKB reduced the protein level of tyrosinase (Tyr), tyrosinase-related protein 1 (TRP-1), tyrosinase-related protein 2 (TRP-2), microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) and the mRNA level of Tyr and TRP-1. FKC reduced the protein level of TRP-2 and MITF and the mRNA level of TRP-1 and Tyr. The reduced expression of Tyr and TRP-1 might be resulted from the decreased MITF which regulates major melanogenic proteins. However, since the mRNA expression of MITF did not change by FKB and FKC treatment, the effects of FKB and FKC on extracellular signal regulating kinase (ERK)/AKT phosphorylation, known to regulate the degradation of MITF, were confirmed. FKB and FKC significantly increased the phosphorylation of ERK1/2, not in AKT. These results suggest that FKB and FKC may be helpful as a potential depigmenting agent for various hyper-pigmentary disorders.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.102-113
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• 2023

This review discusses the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which the endometrial estrogen and progesterone receptors regulate local estrogen production, expression of the specific estrogen receptors, progesterone resistance, inflammatory responses and the differentiation and survival of endometriotic cells in endometrial inflammation. The epigenetic aberrations of endometrial stromal cells play an important role in the pathogenesis and progression of endometriosis. In particular, differential methylation of the estrogen receptor genes changes in the stromal cells the dominancy of estrogen receptor from ERα into ERβ, and results in the abnormal estrogen responses including inflammation, progesterone resistance and the disturbance of retinoid synthesis. These stromal cells also stimulate local estrogen production in response to PGE2 and the SF-1 mediated induction of steroidogenic enzyme expression, and the increased estradiol then feeds back into the ERβ to repeat the vicious inflammatory cycle through the activation of COX-2. In addition, high levels of ERβ expression may also change the chromatin structure of endometrial mesenchymal stem cells, and together with the repeated menstrual cycles can induce formation of the endometriotic tissue. The cascade of these serial events then leads to cell adhesion, angiogenesis and survival of the differentiation-disregulated stromal cells through the action of inflammatory factors such as ERβ-mediated estrogen, TNF-α and TGF-β1. Therefore, understanding of the dynamic hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle and the corresponding signal transduction mechanisms of the related nuclear receptors in endometrium would provide new insights for treating inflammatory diseases such as the endometriosis.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Embryo Transfer Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.78-78
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• 2002

The role of heat shock proteins in shielding organism from environmental stress is illustrated by the large-scale synthesis of these protein by the organism studied to date. However, recent evidence also suggests an important role for heat shock protein in fertilization and early development of mammalian embryos. Effects of elevated in vitro temperature on in vitro produced bovine embryos were analysed in order to determine its impact on the expression of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) by control and frozen-thawed after in vitro fertilization (IVF) or nuclear transfer (NT). The objective of this study was to assess the developmental potential in vitro produced embryos with using of the various containers and examined expression and localization of heat shock protein 70 after it's frozen -thawed. For the vitrification, in vitro produced embryos at 2 cell, 8 cell and blastocysts stage after IVF and NT were exposed the ethylene glycol 5.5 M freezing solution (EG 5.5) for 30 sec, loaded on each containers such EM grid, straw and cryo-loop and then immediately plunged into liquid nitrogen. Thawed embryos were serially diluted in sucrose solution, each for 1 min, and cultured in CRI-aa medium. Survival rates of the vitrification production were assessed by re-expanded, hatched blastocysts. There were no differences in the survival rates of IVF using EM grid, cryo-loop. However, survival rates by straw were relatively lower than other containers. Only, nuclear transferred embryos survived by using cryo-loop. After IVF or NT, in vitro matured bovine embryos 2 cell, 8 cell and blastocysts subjected to control and thawed conditions were analysed by semiquantitive reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction methods for hsp 70 mRNA expression. Results revealed the expression of hsp 70 mRNA were higher thawed embryos than control embryos. Immunocytochemistry used to localization the hsp70 protein in embryos. Two, 8-cell embryos derived under control condition was evenly distributed in the cytoplasm but appeared as aggregates in some embryos exposed frozen-thawed. However, under control condition, blastocysts displayed aggregate signal while Hsp70 in frozen-thawed blastocysts appeared to be more uniform in distribution.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.983-993
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• 2021

Objective: To investigate the image quality of ultralow-dose CT (ULDCT) of the chest reconstructed using a cycle-consistent generative adversarial network (CycleGAN)-based deep learning method in the evaluation of pulmonary tuberculosis. Materials and Methods: Between June 2019 and November 2019, 103 patients (mean age, 40.8 ± 13.6 years; 61 men and 42 women) with pulmonary tuberculosis were prospectively enrolled to undergo standard-dose CT (120 kVp with automated exposure control), followed immediately by ULDCT (80 kVp and 10 mAs). The images of the two successive scans were used to train the CycleGAN framework for image-to-image translation. The denoising efficacy of the CycleGAN algorithm was compared with that of hybrid and model-based iterative reconstruction. Repeated-measures analysis of variance and Wilcoxon signed-rank test were performed to compare the objective measurements and the subjective image quality scores, respectively. Results: With the optimized CycleGAN denoising model, using the ULDCT images as input, the peak signal-to-noise ratio and structural similarity index improved by 2.0 dB and 0.21, respectively. The CycleGAN-generated denoised ULDCT images typically provided satisfactory image quality for optimal visibility of anatomic structures and pathological findings, with a lower level of image noise (mean ± standard deviation [SD], 19.5 ± 3.0 Hounsfield unit [HU]) than that of the hybrid (66.3 ± 10.5 HU, p < 0.001) and a similar noise level to model-based iterative reconstruction (19.6 ± 2.6 HU, p > 0.908). The CycleGAN-generated images showed the highest contrast-to-noise ratios for the pulmonary lesions, followed by the model-based and hybrid iterative reconstruction. The mean effective radiation dose of ULDCT was 0.12 mSv with a mean 93.9% reduction compared to standard-dose CT. Conclusion: The optimized CycleGAN technique may allow the synthesis of diagnostically acceptable images from ULDCT of the chest for the evaluation of pulmonary tuberculosis.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.277-285
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• 2006

The most biofilm forming bacteria in catheter, Esctherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus were isolated and identified from a patient's catheter occuring catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CA-UTI). We examined mRNA expression and its quantification of AIs synthetic genes encoding signal substance of quorum sensing from each bacterial species in order to elucidated quorum sensing mechanism. Both pure cultures for each bacterial strains and a mixed cultures with three were grown for 24 hr and 30 days. Initial densities to be able to detect mRNA expression oil single strains culture were shown at $2.4{\times}10^5$ CFU/ml, $5.4{\times}10^6$ CFU/ml of E. coli for ygaG and S. aureus for luxS, and at $6.9{\times}10^4$ CFU/ml of P. aeruginosa for rhlI and lasI. Also, in mixed culture of three, initial cell densities of mRNA expression were appear to at $7.3{\times}10^5$ CFU/ml, $1.6{\times}10^7$ CFU/ml of E. coli for ygaG and S. aureus for luxS, and at $2.1{\times}10^5$ CFU/ml of P. aeruginosa for rhlI and lasI. Each AIs synthetic gene was expressed in initial cell density and the mRNA expression of the genes were detected continously during 30 days. And then, the quantification of mRNA expression level of ygaG, rhlI, last, and luxS which were related AIs synthesis was done each time point by real-time RT-PCR. Interestingly, the mRNA levels of ygaG, rhlI, lasI, and luxS from the mixed culture was higher than those from each single strain culture. In the case of E. coli ygaG, the amount of transcript from the mixed culture was at least 30 times for that from single culture. In the case of P. aeruginosa rhlI and lasI, the amount of transcript from the mixed culture was at least 40 times and 250 times for that from single strain culture. In the case of S. aureus luxS, the amount of transcript from the mixed culture was at least 5 times for that from single strain culture. And specially, the mRNA expression of rhlI and lasI of P. aeruginosa showed the highest efficency among four AIs synthetic genes.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.650-656
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• 2004

Oryza grandiglumis (CCDD, 2n=48), one of the wild rice species, has been known to possess fungal-,bacterial-, and insect-resistance against sheath blight, rice blast, bacterial leaf blight and brown plant hopper (Nilaparvata lugens). To rapidly isolate differentially expressed genes responding to fungal and wounding stress, wounding and yeast extract were treated to O. grandiglumis for 24 hrs. Suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) method was used to obtain differentially expressed genes from yeast extract and wounding treated plants. Seven hundreds and seventy six clones were obtained by subcloning PCR product, and colony array and screening were carried out using radio-isotope labeled cDNA probes prepared from the wounding and yeast extract treated plants. One hundred and fifteen colonies were confirmed as true positive ones. Average insert size of the clones were ranged from 400 bp to 700 bp and all the inserts were sequenced. To decide the identity of those clones, sequences were analyzed by sequence homology via GenBank database. The homology search result showed that 68 clones were matched to the genes with known function; 16 were related to primary metabolism, 5 to plant retrotransposons, 5 to defense related metallothionein-like genes. In addition to that, others were matched to various genes with known function in amino acid synthesis and processing, membrane transport, and signal transduction, so on. In northern blot analysis, induced expressions of ogwfi-161, ogwfi-646, ogwfi-663, and ogwfi-695 by wounding and yeast extract treatments were confirmed. The result indicates that SSH method is very efficient for rapid screening of differentially expressed genes.