• Korean Journal of Oriental Medicine
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.85-100
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• 2011

Objectives : This study aimed to investigate the effect of four common types of Qigong position (standing, sitting, supine, and horse-riding position) on the autonomic nervous system. Method : Thirty healthy subjects participated in this study once a week for four weeks. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) was measured three times (before, during, and after the position) while the subject maintained one of four positions for ten minutes. Result : There were significant changes HRV in the standing position. In the sitting position, both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves were activated. On the other hand, in the spine position, heart rate (HR) was decreased. Activation of sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves was also observed in this position. Significant increases of indices related to awakening and concentration were observed accompanied by increase of HR and a sympathetic nerve was activated in the riding-horse position. Conclusions : In the present study, it was shown that each Qigong position caused various and significant changes in autonomic nervous system. It would be expected that these results can be applied to choose appropriate Qigong position according to objective of Qigong therapy although it is remained to further evaluate the effects of long-term maintenance of Qigong positions and repeated Qigong training.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.39-52
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• 2009

Objectives : Cue reactivity is a key factor that modulates motivational goal-directed behavior associated with compulsive drug-taking and relapse. We investigated whether acupuncture attenuated the skin conductance response and the heart rate response to smoking-related visual cues in smokers. Methods : Twenty-nine smokers were treated with real acupuncture (RA) or sham acupuncture (SA). The stress response inventory was measured on the 5th day after quitting smoking. The skin conductance response and the heart rate were measured to evaluate the autonomic changes to the smoking related visual cues on the same day. Results : The sympathetic alterations in skin conductance and the heart rate induced by the smoking-related visual cues were significantly lower in the RA group, as compared to the SA group. The stress response inventory, such as somatization and frustration, in the RA group was significantly lower than that of the SA group. Conclusions : Acupuncture ameliorated the stress symptoms as well as the sympathetic activation to smoking cues during withdrawal. These findings indicate that acupuncture might be a useful tool in smoking cessation by inhibiting smoking cues-induced autonomic responses.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.23-31
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• 2001

Psychological and physiological effects from simulator sickness could be an important bias factor for sensibility evaluation. The present experiment investigated the effects of simulator sickness on sensibility evaluation in the controlled condition of driving a car for 60 minutes on a constant speed (60km/h) in graphic simulator. The simulator sickness was measured and analysed for every five minutes using their subjective evaluation and physiological signals. Results of the subjective evaluation showed that there was significant difference between rest and driving condition at 10 minutes from the start of driving, and the level of difference was increased linearly with time. The analysis on central and autonomic nervous systems showed the significant difference between rest and driving conditions after 5 minutes from the start of the driving on the parameters $\alpha$/total and $\beta$/total, and increased level of sympathetic nervous system. But there was no significant difference between different time conditions. The results indicates that physiological changes from simulator sickness can be a bias factor in objective evaluation of human sensibility which also, uses physiological signals. That is, the changes on the parameter $\alpha$/total and $\beta$/total, and on activation level of sympathetic nervous system from simulator sickness can be a bias factor for evaluation of the level of pleasantness and tension. Therefore the effort on improving the analysis by minimizing or eliminating the bias factors should be done for better and accurate sensibility evaluation in simulator environments.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.165-176
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• 2009

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of mental stress stimulation and acupucnture applied at HT7 point on heart rate variability (HRV) in normal subjects. Methods : Thirty seven healthy volunteers participated in this study. The volunteers were randomly allocated into two groups. Both groups performed a mental arithmetic stress test and stroop color-word test for 10 minute. Then, acupuncture needles were inserted on HT7 for the study group and on non-acupucnture point for the control group. HRV was recorded three times at test time and before and after acupuncture stimulation. Results : After giving mental stress stimulation to both groups, LF and LF!HF ratio were increased and HF was decreased significantly. After giving acupuncture to study group, LF and LF/HF ratio were decreased and HF was increased, but it was not significant. After giving acupuncture to control group, LF and LF/HF ratio were increased and HF was decreased, but it was not significant. Conclusions : This results show that mental arithmetic stress test and stroop color-word test contribute to activation of the sympathetic nervous system Acupuncture at HT7 could be relatively useful to decrease sympathetic activity and balance autonomic nervous system for those who are under stress.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.116-129
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• 2018

Living creatures possess long-conserved mechanisms to maintain homeostasis in response to various stresses. However, chronic and continuous exposure to stress can result in the excessive production of stress hormones, including catecholamines, which have harmful effects on health. Studies on the relationship between the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and cancer have been conducted based on the traditional hypothesis that stress can promote cancer progression. Many preclinical and epidemiological studies have suggested that the regulation of ${\beta}$-adrenergic signaling, which mediates SNS activity, can suppress the progression of solid tumors. SNS activation has highly pleiotropic effects on tumor biology, as it stimulates oncogenes, survival pathways, the epithelial - mesenchymal transition, and invasion. Moreover, it inhibits DNA repair and programmed cell death and regulates the tumor microenvironment, including immune cells, endothelial cells, the extracellular matrix, mesenchymal cells, and adipocytes. Although targeted therapies on the molecular basis of tumor proliferation are currently receiving increased attention, they have clinical limitations, such as the compensatory activation of other signaling pathways, emergence of drug resistance, and various side effects, which raise the need for pleiotropic cancer regulation. This review summarizes the effects of the SNS on the development and progression of cancer and discusses the clinical perspectives of ${\beta}$-blockade as a novel therapeutic strategy for this disease.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.509-516
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• 2013

As the visual fatigue induced by 3D visual stimulation has raised some safety concerns in the industry, this study aims to quantify the visual fatigue through the means of measuring the facial temperature changes. Facial temperature was measured for one minute before and after watching a visual stimulus. Whether the visual fatigue has occurred was measured through subjective evaluations and high cognitive tasks. The difference in the changes that occurred after watching a 2D stimulus and a 3D stimulus was computed in order to associate the facial temperature changes and the visual fatigue induced by watching 3D contents. The results showed significant differences in the subjective evaluations and in the high cognitive tasks. Also, the ERP latency increased after watching 3D stimuli. There were significant differences in the maximum value of the temperature at the forehead and at the tip of the nose. A previous study showed that 3D visual fatigue activates the sympathetic nervous system. Activation of the sympathetic nervous system is known to increase the heart rate as well as the blood flow into the face through the carotid arteries system. When watching 2D or 3D stimuli, the sympathetic nervous system activation dictates the blood flow, which then influences the facial temperature. This study is meaningful in that it is one of the first investigations that looks into the possibility to measure 3D visual fatigue with thermal images.

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.75-86
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• 1994

To assess the role of adrenal medulla and renin-angiotensin system in the regulation of sympathetic neurotransmission, the pressor response to PNS was evaluated in pithed SHR and normotensive WKY or SDR with or without adrenal demedullation and/or enalapril pretreatment. Three weeks after adrenal demedullation, MAP and the heart rate of demedullated rats were similar to their corresponding sham-operated groups. The pressor response to PNS was frequency-dependent, and blocked by prazosin. In contrast to the normotensive rats, in SHR, the pressor response to PNS was attenuated in demedullated rats as compared with sham-operated rats. However, the attenuation of PNS-induced pressor responses in demedullated SHR was not observed in enalapril-treated SHR. The adrenal demedullation in SHR did not affect the plasma and aortic catecholamine contents in spite of the decreased catecholamine contents of adrenal gland, nor ACE activity in aortic strips. But, in WKY rats, the aortic catecholamines, especially epinephrine, contents as well as ACE activity were increased by adrenal demedullation. These results suggest that the facilitatory role of adrenal medulla in sympathetic neurotransmission depends upon the activation of renin-angiotensin system, and that the compensatory regulation of renin-angiotensin system takes place in normotensive rats but not in SHR.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.219-225
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• 2004

The pelvic ganglia provide autonomic innervations to the various urogenital organs, such as the urinary bladder, prostate, and penis. It is well established that both sympathetic and parasympathetic synaptic transmissions in autonomic ganglia are mediated mainly by acetylcholine (ACh). Until now, however, the properties of ACh-induced currents and its receptors in pelvic ganglia have not clearly been elucidated. In the present study, biophysical characteristics and molecular nature of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) were studied in sympathetic and parasympathetic major pelvic ganglion (MPG) neurons. MPG neurons isolated from male rat were enzymatically dissociated, and ionic currents were recorded by using the whole cell variant patch clamp technique. Total RNA from MPG neuron was prepared, and RT-PCR analysis was performed with specific primers for subunits of nAChRs. ACh dose-dependently elicited fast inward currents in both sympathetic and parasympathetic MPG neurons $(EC_{50};\;41.4\;{\mu}M\;and\;64.0\;{\mu}M,\;respectively)$. ACh-induced currents showed a strong inward rectification with a reversal potential near 0 mV in current-voltage relationship. Pharmacologically, mecamylamine as a selective antagonist for ${\alpha}3{\beta}4$ nAChR potently inhibited the ACh-induced currents in sympathetic and parasympathetic neurons $(IC_{50};\;0.53\;{\mu}M\;and\;0.22\;{\mu}M,\;respectively)$. Conversely, ${\alpha}-bungarotoxin$, ${\alpha}-methyllycaconitine$, and $dihydro-{\beta}-erythroidine$, which are known as potent and sensitive blockers for ${\alpha}7$ or ${\alpha}4{\beta}2$ nAChRs, below micromolar concentrations showed negligible effect. RT-PCR analysis revealed that ${\alpha}3$ and ${\beta}4$ subunits were predominantly expressed in MPG neurons. We suggest that MPG neurons have nAChRs containing ${\alpha}3$ and ${\beta}4$ subunits, and that their activation induces fast inward currents, possibly mediating the excitatory synaptic transmission in pelvic autonomic ganglia.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Emotion and Sensibility Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.81-87
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• 2000

Beat-to-beat changes in heart period (heart period variability, HPV) are mediated by fluctuations in autonomic activity. Spectral analysis is used to quantify such fluctuations in the range of 0.15-0.40 Hz (high frequency, HF), which are influenced primarily by parasympathetic factors. These fluctuations are often referred to as RSA (respiratory sinus arrhythmia), the physiological phenomenon extracted by spectral analysis and other methods including histograms of heart rate ( HR), deviations of HR etc. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia indexing with peak-to-valley method suggested by Grossman et at., (1981) yields a simple range statistic and is quantified on breath-by-breath basis, thus being quite sensitive and less dependent on recording time as compared to spectral analysis. It is strongly recommended to use at least 1 min epoch to asses HF component of HPV and at least 2 min fer low frequency (LF) of HPV and even 5 min far valid clinical assessment. Peak-to-valley statistic is limited to RSA index only, but has its pragmatic advantages. Most important is possibility of its application far relatively small epoch analysis. We used short periods (20,30, 40 sec only) and off-line analysis of RSA using ECG and respiration curve this method of assessment and proved that this method is more practically effective. The RSA index was not so far dependent on respiration pattern differences and reflected actual vagal control of HR and were accompanied by low HR under some high stress conditions and in an aversive affective visual stimulation experiments. Another factor that might modulate cardiac chronotropic response is the interaction of sympathetic and parasympathetic inputs on sino-atrial (SA) node level, because responses to vagal influences are known to be proportional to ongoing sympathetic activity, that is so called accentuated antagonism. Since sympathetic outflow (increment of influences on SA) under negative emotions or stress was high in almost all physiological responses, vagal effects on HR could be therefore potentiated, leading to masking of output cardiac response seen in HPV, In the case of moderate sympathetic activation, on the other hand, autonomic interactions in cardiac control appear to be minimal. Thus RSA index appears to be an effective alternative method to assess and measure spectral HPV.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.1163-1170
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• 2017

Clostridium difficile releases two exotoxins, toxin A and toxin B, which disrupt the epithelial cell barrier in the gut to increase mucosal permeability and trigger inflammation with severe diarrhea. Many studies have suggested that enteric nerves are also directly involved in the progression of this toxin-mediated inflammation and diarrhea. C. difficile toxin A is known to enhance neurotransmitter secretion, increase gut motility, and suppress sympathetic neurotransmission in the guinea pig colitis model. Although previous studies have examined the pathophysiological role of enteric nerves in gut inflammation, the direct effect of toxins on neuronal cells and the molecular mechanisms underlying toxin-induced neuronal stress remained to be unveiled. Here, we examined the toxicity of C. difficile toxin A against neuronal cells (SH-SY5Y). We found that toxin A treatment time- and dose-dependently decreased cell viability and triggered apoptosis accompanied by caspase-3 activation in this cell line. These effects were found to depend on the up-regulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the subsequent activation of p38 MAPK and induction of $p21^{Cip1/Waf1}$. Moreover, the N-acetyl-$\text\tiny L$-cysteine (NAC)-induced down-regulation of ROS could recover the viability loss and apoptosis of toxin A-treated neuronal cells. These results collectively suggest that C. difficile toxin A is toxic for neuronal cells, and that this is associated with rapid ROS generation and subsequent p38 MAPK activation and $p21^{Cip1/Waf1}$ up-regulation. Moreover, our data suggest that NAC could inhibit the toxicity of C. difficile toxin A toward enteric neurons.