• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.127-133
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• 2009

This study was designed to investigate the effects of high concentration of (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate(EGCG) on the neuronal activity of rat substantia nigra dopaminergic neurons. Sprague-Dawley rats aged 14 to 16 days were decapitated under ether anesthesia. After treatment with pronase and thermolysin, the dissociated dopaminergic neurons were transferred into a chamber on an inverted microscope. Spontaneous action potentials and potassium currents were recorded by standard patch-clamp techniques under current and voltage-clamp modes respectively. 18 dopaminergic neurons(80%) revealed inhibitory responses to 40 and 100 ${\mu}M$ of EGCG and 4 neurons(20%) did not respond to EGCG. The spike frequency and resting membrane potential of these cells were decreased by EGCG. The amplitude of afterhyperpolarization was increased by EGCG. Whole potassium currents of dopaminergic neurons were increased by EGCG(n=10). These experimental results suggest that high concentration EGCG decreases the neuronal activity of the dopaminergic neurons by altering the resting membrane potential and afterhyperpolarization.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.433-440
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• 2002

The protective efficacy of Rheum palmatum water extract on 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-induced parkinsonism was studied in C57BL/6 mice. In order to demonstrate neuroprotective effect of R. palmatum extract, animals were administered intraperitoneally with the water extract (100 or 200 mg/kg/day) for 14 days, and MPTP (10 mg/kg/day) was injected subcutaneously into the mice for the first 6 consecutive days from the beginning 1 hr before R. palmatum extract treatment. All animals were measured the several neurobiochemical markers such as dopamine level and monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B) activity in various regions of brain. The treatment of mice with R. palmatum extract was confirmed recovery effect on MAO-B activity in the cerebellum and the cerebral cortex. R. palmatum extract was attenuated the MPTP-induced depletion of substantia nigra dopamine. The contents of MDA, a marker of lipid peroxidation, in brain tissues (cerebellum and cerebral cortex mitochondria) were decreased significantly by R. palmatum extract. These results suggest that R. palmatum water extract plays an effective role in attenuating MPTP-induced neurotoxicity in mice. This protective effect of R. palmatum might be estimated the result from the inhibitory activity on monoamine oxidase B and the enhancement of antioxidant activity.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.261-275
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• 2007

Parkinson's Disease is a well known degenerative disease which result's in the depletion of dopamin-producing neurons in the pars compacta of the substantia nigra. This is a chronic, progressive disorder characterized by progressive muscular rigidity, pill-rolling tremor, flexed posture, shuffling gate and akinesia. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of an oxygen therapy with various scales on symptoms of Parkinson's disease. We treated his disease with Oxygen treatment , including herbal medicine acupuncture, and trigger point therapy, and we evaluated the clinical progress of the patient using UPDRS and H- Y stage. After treatment for about 1-month, the chief complaints and tremor symptoms were improved. This study suggests that oxygen therapy is significantly effective in the treatment of Parkinson's disease.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.98-107
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• 2005

Objectives: Acupuncture treatment has been clinically used for functional recovery in Parkinson's disease. In the present study, we investigated the effect of acupuncture at Zusanli (ST36) on nigrostriatal dopaminergic neuronal cell death in rats. Methods: A Parkinson's disease model was induced by the unilateral injection of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) into the striatum. Acupuncture treatment was performed at Zusanli (ST36) and at the hip, as a non-acupoint, once a day for 14 days. Two weeks after 6-0HDA injection, an apomorphine-induced rotational behavior test showed significant rotational asymmetry in rats with Parkinson's disease. Immunostaining for tyrosine hydroxylase demonstrated a dopaminergic neuronal loss in the substantia nigra and dopaminergic fiber loss in the striatum. Results: Acupuncture at the ST36 acupoint significantly inhibited rotational asymmetry in rats with Parkinson's disease, and also protected against 6-OHDA-induced nigrostriatal dopaminergic neuronal loss. These effects of acupuncture were not observed for non-acupoint acupuncture. Conclusions: The present study shows that acupuncture treatment, especially at the ST36 acupoint, can be used as a useful strategy for the treatment of Parkinson's disease.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.79-82
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• 2013

Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disease with a wide range of dopaminergic neuron cell death in the substantia nigra. Oxidative stress and neural degeneration are suggested to be involved in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease. In this study, we investigated whether a novel herbmedicine, Hepad protects against 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridnium [MPP(+)]-induced dopaminergic neurotoxicity in SH-SY5Y cells. We found that pretreatment with Hepad significantly increases the proliferation of SH-SY5Y cells (P<0.05) and reversed the loss of cell viability induced by $MPP^+$. Hepad may be a promising neuroprotective agent for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.335-341
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• 2004

This study was undertaken to examine the developmental expression of osteopontin(OPN) in the mouse brain. In Western blotting analysis, the expression of OPN was noted initially at embryonic stage and increased gradually after birth and decreased at postnatal day 60(P60). In immunohistochemistry, OPN expression was found in the interstitial nucleus Cajal and the substantia nigra reticularis in anterior part of the brain and in the inferior olivary complex, the parabrachial nucleus, the facial nucleus, the gigantocellular reticular nucleus, the trigeminal nucleus and the anterior interposed nucleus in posterior part of the brain at P31 and P60. In addition, OPN expression in widespread neurons appeared during the period of neuronal differentiation, increased just after birth and decreased with maturation. These results suggest that OPN contributes to developmental processes, including the differentiation and maturation of specific neuronal populations.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.165-175
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• 1985

It has been reported that clonidine is $\alpha_2$-adrenergic agonist, potnet new hypotensive drug in human with low dose. The change in blood pressure is implicated in the concentration, release, uptake and metabalism of catecholamine and activity of catecholamine synthesizing enzyme in specific brain areas. Thus the experiment was set up to investigate the effect on the enzyme activity of clonidine alone and that of clonidine pretreated with imipramine or tranylcypromine by measuring activity of the Dopa-forming enzyme, tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and epinephrine forming enzyme, phenylethanolamine-N-methyl transferase (PNMT) in brain and adrenal gland. The TH activity in brainstem and substantia nigra is decreased by intraperitoneally administered clonidine 0.1mg/kg twice a day for 5 days, but increased in the rats pretreated with imipramine 10mg/kg intraperitoneally given 26 hrs and 5 hrs before decaptitation. However the TH activity in all regions of brain is increased in rats pretreated with tranylcypromine 10mg/kg intraperitoneally twice a day for 5 days. The effect of clonidine on TH activity is due to inhibition release of norepinephrine by activation of presynaptic $\alpha_2$-adrenoreceptor, axon terminal result in the decrease of TH activity in brain. The increasing of TH activity in brain results in attenuation of the role of clonidine by pretreated with imipramine or tranylcypromine in rats. The activity of PNMT was not significantly affected by clonidine, imipramine and tranylcypromine in adrenal gland.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.115-120
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• 2006

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease caused by selective degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. Mutations in ${\alpha}$-synuclein have been causally linked to the pathogenesis of hereditary PD. In addition, it is a major component of Lewy body found in the brains of sporadic cases as well. In the present study, we examined whether overexpression of wild type or PD-related mutant ${\alpha}$-synuclein induces unfolded protein response (UPR) and triggers the known signaling pathway of the resulting endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in SH-SY5Y cells. Overexpression of wild type, A30P, and A53T ${\alpha}$-synuclein all induced XBP-1 mRNA splicing, one of the late stage UPR events. However, activation of ER membrane kinases and upregulation of ER or cytoplsmic chaperones were not detected when ${\alpha}$-synuclein was overexpressed. However, basal level of cytoplsmic calcium was elevated in ${\alpha}$-synuclein-expressing cells. Our observation suggests that overexpression of ${\alpha}$-synuclein induces UPR independent of the known ER membrane kinase-mediated signaling pathway and induces ER stress by disturbing calcium homeostasis.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.341-349
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• 2018

The aim of this study was to evaluate autophagy-enhancing and neuroprotective effects of Wonji-Gobon mixture (WGM), a traditional Chinese prescription medication, in Parkinson's disease (PD) mouse models. Our investigation found that WGM increased the expression of both Beclin1 and LC3b-II proteins as measured with western blot in the BV2 cell line; both proteins play a role in autophagy. WGM also increased the autophagy expression as measured by fluorescence-activated cell-sorting analysis in the BV2 cell line. In 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine-induced PD models, WGM significantly increased the amount of dopamine in a striatum-substantia nigra suspension, produced notable results in the forced swim test, and increased serotonin as measured by high-performance liquid chromatography analysis; these results are indicative of neuroprotective effects. In summary, our findings indicate that WGM treatment has neuroprotective effects that are partially mediated by autophagy enhancement.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.60 no.4
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• pp.203-207
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• 2020

This study presents neuronal migration pattern of dopamine (DA) neurons generated in separate regions occupying the ventral mesencephalic territory. A single pulse 5-bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) was administered at embryonic day (E)10-E15. Distribution of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) positive cells was determined at E13-postnatal day 0 (P0) by immunohistochemistry. BrdU positive cells labeled at E10 were spread out uniformly in the mesencephalon from E13 to E15, migrating through dorsal and ventral routes at E17 and P0. TH expression labeled at E10 was observed at E13 in the ventromedial region and clearly formed in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) at E15. At E17, TH expression in the substantia nigra (SN) was observed in the ventrolateral region, spreading more outward of the mesencephalon at P0. Generation of TH-positive cells labeled at E13 was also observed in VTA and SN of the mesencephalon at E17 and P0. The expression of these cells labeled after E15 was markedly decreased. These results demonstrated that an almost complete primary structure of DA neuron was formed at the early embryonic stage in the ventral mesencephalon, showing the most active neuronal migration was occurred at E13-E17.