• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.54-61
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• 1999

Measurement of inhibition of bioluminescence in Photobacterium phosphoreum has been porposed as a sensitive and rapid procedure to monitor toxic substances. However, at first, $EC_{50}$ which shows degree of toxicity to each toxic substances must be calculated. QSAR (Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship) model can be used to estimate $EC_{50}$ to save time and endeavor. Moderately high correlation coefficients ($r^2{\geq}$ 0.97) were calculated from the linear correlation between $EC_{50}$ and molecular connectivity indices of CAHs (chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons)such as $^0X$, $^0X^V$, $^1X$, $^2X$ and $^3X^v_c$ and quadratic correlation between $EC_{50}$ and $^0X$, $^0X^V$, $^2X^V$, $^3X_c$, $^3X^V_c$ and P. It shows that the molecular connection indices in carbon structure is contributed to biological characters with linear relation and that in the other one with quadratic relation. The $EC_{50}$ of chlorophenol derivatives had quadratic relation with the value of octanol/water prtition coefficients ($r^2$=0.99) and linear and quadratic relation with the number of chlorine compound (($r^2{\geq}$0.94). This confirms the already known trend of increasing toxicity with increasing ability of a compound to diffuse through cell membrane and number of chlorine substitution.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.12
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• pp.3755-3761
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• 2013

This study aims to assess the ecological risk of the hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) emitted in the semiconductor manufacturing processes in Korea by using Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship (QSAR, EPA, US, EPI $Suite^{TM}$ 4.1). Owing to the absence of environmental standards of hazardous air pollutants in the semiconductor manufacturing processes in Korea, 18 HAPs in the semiconductor field included in both the US EPA NESHAPs and the hazardous air pollutant list of Ministry of Environment in Korea were selected. As a results 8 chemicals (44.4%) of the selected 18 HAPs were VOCs. Cyanides (cyanides) and ethylene oxides (epoxy resins), and tetrachloro-ethylene (aliphatic compounds, halides) showed long half-lives. Cyanide HAPs especially had the highest half-life with the estimated value of 356.533 days. Nickel compounds (heavy metal compounds) possessed the highest water solubility followed by acetaldehyde (aldehyde compounds), ethylene oxides, and 1,4-dioxanes. The halides, including tetrachloro-ethylenes, carbon tetra-chlorides, benzene (aromatic compounds), and lead (heavy metals), are estimated to take the longest time for biodegradation. Tetrachloroethylene, with the acute toxicity end point of 3.685-7.033 mg/L, was assessed to be the most highly toxic substance among the 18 HAPs. However, considering the absence of the HAPs in the common category of log $K_{ow}{\geq}4$and $BCF{\geq}500$, which indicates the standard of bioconcentration potentials, potentials of the bioconcentration are considered to be low.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.296-307
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• 2017

In spite of frequent usage of primary human foreskin keratinocytes (HFKs) in the study of skin biology, senescence-induced block-age of in vitro proliferation has been a big hurdle for their effective utilization. In order to overcome this passage limitation, we first isolated ten HFK lines from circumcision patients and successfully immortalized four of them via a retroviral transduction of high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) E6 and E7 oncogenes. We confirmed expression of a keratinocyte marker protein, keratin 14 and two viral oncoproteins in these immortalized HFKs. We also observed their robust responsiveness to various exogenous stimuli, which was evidenced by increased mRNA expression of epithelial differentiation markers and pro-inflammatory genes in response to three reactive chemicals. In addition, their applicability to cytotoxicity assessment turned out to be comparable to that of HaCaT cells. Finally, we confirmed their differentiation capacity by construction of well-stratified three dimensional skin cultures. These newly established immortalized HFKs will be valuable tools not only for generation of in vitro skin disease models but also for prediction of potential toxicities of various cosmetic chemicals.

• Journal of Environmental Analysis, Health and Toxicology
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.243-251
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• 2018

Pharmaceuticals in wastewater effluents have been recognized as emerging pollutants threatening freshwater organisms. To extend understanding for bioaccumulation and toxicity in those organisms, information on biotransformation products (or metabolites) and their metabolic pathway are crucial. The aim of the present study is to identify and elucidate metabolites of pharmaceuticals formed in exposed organisms using suspect and nontarget screening approach using LC-HRMS. As the target pharmaceuticals, carbamazepine, ketoprofen, metoprolol, propranolol, and verapamil were selected whereas Daphnia magna and Gammarus pulex were used as test organisms. After 24h exposure, metabolites formed in the organisms were identified using LC-HRMS. The structures of metabolites were elucidated via analysis of MS/MS fragment pattern and the comparison with fragment database. As the results, a total of 10 metabolites were identified for 5 parent compounds (C253/C356 for carbamazepine, K211 for ketoprofen, M256 for metoprolol, P218/P276/P306 for propranolol, V196/V291/V441 for verapamil). Among them, the presence of C253 and V291 was confirmed using standard materials. Most of the identified metabolites were formed through oxidative reactions such as hydroxylation, N-demethylation, and dealkylation. Cysteine conjugation (phase II reaction) metabolite (C356) for carbamazepine was found in daphnia. The metabolic pathway of verapamil showed similar metabolic pathways and metabolic pathways for both species. Although the toxicological information on the identified metabolites could not be confirmed, the molecular structure information of the proposed metabolites can be used for future evaluation and prediction of toxicity.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.125-131
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• 2009

Reductive dechlorination of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and its toxicity change were predicted by the linear free energy relationship (LFER) model to assess the zero-valent iron (ZVI) and anaerobic dechlorinating bacteria (ADB) as electron donors in PCDDs dechlorination. Reductive dechlorination of PCDDs involves 256 reactions linking 76 congeners with highly variable toxicities, so is challenging to assess the overall effect of this process on the environmental impact of PCDD contamination. The Gibbs free energies of PCDDs in aqueous solution were updated to density functional theory (DFT) calculation level from thermodynamic results of literatures. All of dechlorination kinetics of PCDDs was evaluated from the linear correlation between the experimental dechlorination kinetics of PCDDs and the calculated thermodynamics of PCDDs. As a result, it was predicted that over 100 years would be taken for the complete dechlorination of octachlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin (OCDD) to non-chlorinated compound (dibenzo-p-dioxin, DD), and the toxic equivalent quantity (TEQ) of PCDDs could increase to 10 times larger from initial TEQ with the dechlorination process. The results imply that the single reductive dechlorination using ZVI or ADB is not suitable for the treatment strategy of PCDDs contaminated soil, sediment and fly ash. This LFER approach is applicable for the prediction of dechlorination process for organohalogen compounds and for the assessment of electron donating system for treatment strategies.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.653-662
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• 2009

Developing effective tools for predicting absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion properties and toxicity (ADME/T) of new chemical entities in the early stage of drug design is one of the most important tasks in drug discovery and development today. As one of these attempts, support vector machines (SVM) has recently been exploited for the prediction of ADME/T related properties. However, two problems in SVM modeling, i.e. feature selection and parameters setting, are still far from solved. The two problems have been shown to be crucial to the efficiency and accuracy of SVM classification. In particular, the feature selection and optimal SVM parameters setting influence each other, which indicates that they should be dealt with simultaneously. In this account, we present an integrated practical solution, in which genetic-based algorithm (GA) is used for feature selection and grid search (GS) method for parameters optimization. hERG ion-channel inhibitor classification models of ADME/T related properties has been built for assessing and testing the proposed GA-GS-SVM. We generated 6 different models that are 3 different single models and 3 different ensemble models using training set - 1891 compounds and validated with external test set - 175 compounds. We compared single model with ensemble model to solve data imbalance problems. It was able to improve accuracy of prediction to use ensemble model.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.177-184
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• 2007

As a possible feasibility of the extrapolation between in vivo and in vitro systems, we investigated the global gene expression from both mouse liver and mouse hepatic cell line treated with hepatotoxic chemical, acetaminophen (APAP), and compared between in vivo and in vitro genomic profiles. For in vivo study, mice were orally treated with APAP and sacrificed at 6 and 24 h. For in vitro study, APAP were administered to a mouse hepatic cell line, BNL CL.2 and sampling was carried out at 6 and 24 h. Hepatotoxicity was assessed by analyzing hepatic enzymes and histopathological examination (in vivo) or lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay and morphological examination (in vitro). Global gene expression was assessed using microarray. In high dose APAPtreated group, there was centrilobular necrosis (in vivo) and cellular toxicity with the elevation of LDH (in vitro) at 24 h. Statistical analysis of global gene expression identified that there were similar numbers of altered genes found between in vivo and in vitro at each time points. Pathway analysis identified glutathione metabolism pathway as common pathways for hepatotoxicty caused by APAP. Our results suggest it may be feasible to develop toxicogenomics biomarkers or profiles by comparing in vivo and in vitro genomic profiles specific to this hepatotoxic chemical for application to prediction of liver toxicity.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.256-261
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• 2005

The recent DNA microarray technology enables us to understand gene expression profiling in cell line and animal models. The technology has potential possibility to comprehend mechanism of multiple genes were related to compounds which have toxicity in biological system. So, microarray system has been used for the prediction of toxicity through gene expression induced by toxicants. It has been shown that compounds with similar toxic mechanisms produce similar changes in gene expression in vivo system. Here we focus on the use of toxicogenomics for the determination of gene expression analysis associated with hepatotoxicity in rat liver and cell line (WB-F344). Methotrexate (MTX) is a chemotherapy agent that has been used for many years in the treatment of cancer because it affects cells that are rapidly dividing. Also it has been known the toxicity of MTX, in a MTX abortion, it stops embryonic cells from dividing and multiplying and is a non-surgical method of ending pregnancy in its early stages. We have shown DNA microarray analyses to assess MTX-specific expression profiles in vivo and in vitro. Male Sprague-Dawely VAF+ albino rats of 5-6 weeks old and WB-F344 cell line have been treated with MTX. Total RNA was isolated from Rat liver and cell line that has treated with MTX. 4.8 K cDNA microarray in house has been used for gene expression profiling of MTX treatment. We have found quite distinct gene expression patterns induced by MTX in a cell line and in vivo system.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.463-468
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• 2007

Chong Myung Tang is consisted of three medicinal herbs (Acori Graminei Rhizoma, Polygalae Radix and Hoelen cum Radix). It has been used as a medicine for the purpose of learning and memory improvement. In this paper, Chong Myung Tang was screened the biological activities for Alzheimer's disease. The extract (70% ethanol) of Acari Graminei Rhizoma (1 mg/ml) showed that acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and amyloid beta ($A{\beta}$) peptide aggregation inhibitory potency are 43.1% and 76.5%, respectively. The extract of Polygalae Radix showed inhibitory activity against $A{\beta}_{1-42}$ peptide aggregation (51.5%). To predict the drug-likeness, oral absorption ability; blood-brain barrier (BBB) penetraion rate, mutagenecity and carcinogenicity; in silico screening was performed against 16 compounds in the three medicinal herbs. According to the results, all compounds have appropriate chemical structures as medicines. The six compounds in Acori Graminei Rhizoma and the five compounds in Hoelen cum Radix showed excellent oral absorption rate and BBB penetration rate. The four compounds in Polygalae Radix showed excellent oral absorption rate, but their BBB penetration was presented low rate. And, the extract of Hoelen cum Radix didn't show AChE and $A{\beta}_{1-42}$ peptide aggregation inhibitory activities in vitro. Therefore, their activity in brain may be other mechanism. According to all of the results, in silico prediction technology is convenient and effective to determine biological active compounds in medicinal herbs.

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.177-187
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• 2014

Mussels have been commonly used in bioassay for quality assessments of environment. Moreover, several standard protocols for the developmental bioassay of bivalves have been proposed. In this study, the EC50 of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was determined using mussel, Mytilus galloprovincialis embryonic developmental bioassay. To determine the sensitivity of M. galloprovincialis, their fertilized eggs were exposed to five PAHs (2-metylnaphthalene, fluorene, dibenzothiophene, phenanthrene, pyrene). The EC50 of 2-metylnaphthalene, fluorene, dibenzothiophene, phenanthrene, and pyrene were 232, 273, 67.9, 43.2, and $33.1{\mu}g/L$, respectively. The overall sensitivity of M. galloprovincialis in the present developmental bioassay was similar to or more sensitive than that of other marine organisms commonly used in aquatic bioassays. The results of this study could be provide with fundamental data of setting standard for protection of marine life and or can use prediction the aquatic toxicity of PAHs.