• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.29 no.10
• /
• pp.1096-1103
• /
• 2019

Neuroinflammation is mediated by the activation of microglia and has been implicated in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Therefore, the inhibition of neuroinflammation may be an effective solution to treat these brain disorders. Protaetia brevitarsis seulensis is an insect belonging to the order Coleoptera and inhabits Korea, China, Japan and Siberia. P. brevitarsis seulensis is an edible insect that can be consumed as a protein source for humans. It has been reported that P. brevitarsis seulensis contains useful bioactive substances for hepatoprotection and improving blood circulation, such as indole alkaloids. Microglia cells are the main source of proinflammatory cytokines and nitric oxide (NO) in the central nervous system, which Perform neuroimmune, inflammatory, and other neurobilogical functions. In this study, we investigated the anti-neuroinflammatory effects of P. brevitarsis seulensis ethanol extract (PBE) in activated microglia cells treated with lipopolysaccgarude (LPS, 100 ng/ml). As a result, PBE significantly inhibited NO production without cytotoxicity and decreased the expression levels of inducible NO synthase and cyclooxygenase-2. In addition, the production of inflammatory cytokine secreted by LPS was also reduced by PBE. These results suggest that PBE could be a good source of functional substances to prevent neuroinflammation and neurodegenerative diseases.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.29 no.10
• /
• pp.1062-1070
• /
• 2019

A components of garlic (Allium sativum) have anti-proliferative effects against various types of cancer. We aimed to investigate the capacity of garlic compounds to anti-tumor on a various cancer cell lines. Fractionation of garlic extract, guided by antiproliferative activity against human gastric cancer (AGS) cells, has resulted in the isolation of N-benzyl-N-methyldecan-1-amine (NBNMA). We investigated the effect of newly isolated NBNMA from garlic cloves on the inhibition of the growth of CT-26, AGS, HepG2, HCT-116, MCF7, B16F10, and Sarcoma-180 cells for in vitro and CT-26 colon carcinoma cells in vivo. NBNMA exhibited an antiproliferative effect in CT-26 cells by apoptotic cell death. NBNMA exhibited down-regulation of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 proteins and up-regulation of apoptotic Bad protein expression in western blot analyses. In addition, NBNMA meagre activated caspase 3 and caspase 9, initiator caspases of the extrinsic and intrinsic pathways of apoptosis. NBNMA treatment at a dose of 10 mg/kg for 21 days in experimental mice implanted with tumors resulted in significant reduction of the tumor weight (43%). NBNMA exhibited both in vitro and in vivo anticancer activity. These results indicate that NBNMA has promising potential to become a novel anticancer agent from garlic cloves for the treatment of colon carcinoma cancer.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
• /
• v.36 no.3
• /
• pp.995-1007
• /
• 2019

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of 12-week elastic band exercise on body composition, blood lipids and AMPK in 24 elderly female volunteers aged 65-75 years, and they were divided into the combined exercise group(n=12) and the control group(n=12). The elastic band exercise method was to do exercise 3 times a week for 60 minutes per session, 1-4 weeks for low intensity of OMNI-RES 3-4, 5-8 weeks for medium intensity of OMNI-RES 5-6, 9-12 weeks for OMNI-RES 7-8 of high intensity. In order to compare the differences in the groups before and after the elastic band exercise, two-way repeated measures ANOVA was used to verify the interaction between group and time. The difference in the groups of the measured data was paired t-test, the difference between the groups was paired independent t-test, and analysis of covariance ANCOVA was performed to minimize the inter-group error. The statistical significance level of each item was set to .05. As a result, body fat percentage of exercise group significantly decreased (p<.05), and skeletal muscle volume was significantly increased (p<.01). TC, TG and LDL-C were not significantly different between the exercise and control groups, and HDL-C was significantly decreased in the control group (p<.05). AMPK was significantly decreased in the exercise group (p<.001), but there was no significant difference in the control group. According to the covariance analysis to minimize the error of difference between the pre-exercise groups (p<.05), there was significant difference in AMPK of groups after exercise. These results suggest that the 12-week elastic band exercise has a positive effect on the body composition and AMPK of the elderly women.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.29 no.8
• /
• pp.904-915
• /
• 2019

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most metastatic tumor. Although hormone therapy or surgical castration is mostly conducted to treat PCa, it has a lot of side effects. Recently, many researchers have been exploring the tumor microenvironment to remedy these circumstances. Immune cells, especially macrophages, are an important composition of the tumor microenvironment. Under normal conditions, macrophages exhibit mild tumoricidal activity against tumors. However, once activated by interferon gamma or lipopolysaccharides, macrophages can kill cancer cells directly or indirectly by secreting cytokines and chemokines. In this study, murine macrophage RAW 264.7 cells were treated with Phellinus linteus extract. To analyze their pro-inflammatory phenotype, we were used several assays such as a real-time polymerase chain reaction, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent and nitric oxide assay. Prostate cancer cells were treated with the RAW 264.7-conditioned media, which was identified as a pro-inflammatory nature, for 48 h, and the expression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related genes was determined. Not only N-cadherin, Snail, Twist, Slug, and Cadherin 11, which are mechenchymal-related proteins, were decrease, but epithelial marker of E-cadherin was increased. In addition, the mRNA level of vimentin, ccl2, and vegfa were decreased, as the EMT is closely related to the migration and invasion of cancer cells. In conclusion, the RAW 264.7-conditioned media stimulated with P. linteus extract inhibited migration and invasion and regulated the EMT pathway in human prostate cancer cells.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
• /
• v.45 no.1
• /
• pp.37-47
• /
• 2019

Recently, due to the increase in skin diseases caused by particulate matter, endocrine disruptor and environmental changes, the trend of development of cosmetic materials has been shifting to the more safe and effective ingredients based on natural materials rather than existing synthetic compounds like steroids and antihistamines. This study aimed to develop a new natural cosmetic materials using oriental herbs such as Eucommiae cortex, Alpinia oxyphylla Miquel and Bombyx batryticatus. First, DPPH assay was performed to examine the antioxidative activity of the herbal extract (Mix) and 98.8% DPPH radical scavenging activity was confirmed at $400{\mu}g/mL$ concentration of it. In order to confirm the whitening efficacy of oriental herbal extracts(mix), the amount of melanin synthesized after stimulation of ${\alpha}-MSH$ with B16F10 cells was measured. Results showed that it was decreased to 27.1% comparing with the only ${\alpha}-MSH$ treated group, which confirmed the whitening efficacy. Also, both nitric oxide(NO) production and iNOS and COX-2 expression were significantly reduced in RAW264.7 macrophages activated by LPS in the presence of the extracts(Mix). The mRNA expression of the inflammatory cytokines such as $IL-1{\alpha}$, $IL-1{\beta}$, IL-6, and $TNF-{\alpha}$ was also analyzed to confirm the inhibition effect of the extracts on inflammation. Finally, to confirm the enhancement of skin barrier function, the expression of claudin 1 gene, a tight junction protein, was observed using human keratinocyte HaCaT cells and increased as concentration dependent manner. From these results, it is concluded that the oriental herbal extracts(Mix) containing Eucommiae cortex, Alpinia oxyphylla Miquel and Bombyx batryticatus is effective for antioxidant, anti-inflammation, skin whitening, and skin barrier and thus could be applied as a new natural cosmetic material.

• Journal of Science Education
• /
• v.43 no.1
• /
• pp.157-172
• /
• 2019

The purpose of this study is to analyze the influence of number of targets on common knowledge generation and brain activity during the common life science discovery task performance. In this study, 35 preliminary life science teachers participated. This study was intentionally made a block designed for EEG recording. EEGs were collected while subjects were performing common discovery tasks. The sLORETA method and the relative power spectrum analysis method were used to analyze the brain activity difference and the role of activated cortical and subcortical regions according to the degree of difficulty of common discovery task. As a result of the study, in the case of the Theta wave, the activity of the Theta wave was significantly decreased in the frontal lobe and increased in the occipital lobe when the difficult difficulty task was compared with the easy difficulty task. In the case of Alpha wave, the activity of Alpha decreased significantly in the frontal lobe when performing difficult task with difficulty. Beta wave activity decreased significantly in the frontal lobe, parietal lobe, and occipital lobe when performing difficult task. Finally, in the case of Gamma wave, activity of Gamma wave decreased in the frontal lobe and activity increased in the parietal lobe and temporal lobe when performing the difficult difficulty task compared to the task of easy difficulty. The level of difficulty of the commonality discovery task is determined by the cingulate gyrus, the cuneus, the lingual gyrus, the posterior cingulate, the precuneus, and the sub-gyral where it was shown to have an impact. Therefore, the difficulty of the commonality discovery task is the process of integrating the visual information extracted from the image and the location information, comparing the attributes of the objects, selecting the necessary information, visual work memory process of the selected information. It can be said to affect the process of perception.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.30 no.12
• /
• pp.1092-1100
• /
• 2020

The six-transmembrane epithelial antigen of prostate 4 (Steap4) is a metalloreductase that plays a role in intracellular iron and cupper homeostasis, inflammatory response, and glucose and lipid metabolism. Previously, Steap4 has been reported to stimulate adipocyte differentiation; however, the underlying mechanisms of this action remain unexplored. In the present study, we investigated the molecular mechanisms involved in Steap4-induced adipocyte differentiation using 3T3-L1 cells, immortalized brown adipocyte (iBA) cells, and mouse embryonic fibroblast C3H10T1/2 cells. The knockdown of Steap4 using adenovirus-containing shRNA attenuated mitotic clonal expansion (MCE), as evidenced by the impaired proliferation of 3T3-L1 cells, iBA cells, and C3H10T1/2 cells within 48 hr after adding the differentiation medium. Steap4 knockdown downregulated G1/S phase transition-related cell cycle regulators (including cyclin A and cyclin D) and upregulated cell cycle inhibitors (including p21 and p27). Furthermore, Steap4 knockdown inhibited the phosphorylation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase, extracellular signal-regulated kinase, and Akt. Moreover, Steap4 knockdown repressed the expression of early adipogenic activators, such as CCAAT-enhancer-binding protein β (C/EBPβ) and Kruppel-like factor family factor 4 (KLF4). On the other hand, Steap4 knockdown stimulated the expression of adipogenic inhibitors, including KLF2, KLF3, and GATA2. The overexpression of Steap4 using an adenovirus removed the repressive histone marks H3K9me2 and H3K9me3 on the promoter of C/EBPβ. These results indicate that Stepa4 stimulates adipocyte differentiation through the induction of MCE and the modulation of early adipogenic transcription factors, including C/EBPβ, during the early phase of adipocyte differentiation.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.31 no.2
• /
• pp.209-218
• /
• 2021

This study aimed to evaluate the anti-obesity effects of Cudrania tricuspidata leaf extract in the order of leaf development on the shoot (L0, L1, L2, L3, L4, and L5). The leaves at the apex of a Cudrania tricuspidata shoot were classified as L0; the next leaves of the apex were classified as L1, L2, L3, and L4 from highest to lowest; and the lowest leaf was classified as L5. A series of 70% ethyl alcohol leaf extracts were screened for the inhibitory effects of adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. We found that the apical leaf extract of Cudrania tricuspidata (CTL0) was the most effective. Next, a study was conducted on the inhibitory action mechanism of CTL0. Treatment with CTL0 significantly suppressed the differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes in a dose-dependent manner, as confirmed by the decrease in lipid droplet content observed with Oil Red O staining. Treatment with 12.5 ㎍/ml, 25 ㎍/ml, and 50 ㎍/ml of CTL0 significantly reduced the lipid droplet content. Glucose and cellular triglyceride concentrations were reduced in the 3T3-L1 cells on the CTL0-treated medium compared to the differentiation medium (DM control, DMEM + insulin + dexamethasone + rosiglitazone). Compared with DM, CTL0 significantly inhibited the expression of key pro-adipogenic transcription factors, including peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ), LPL, A-FABP, and Glut4. These findings show that CTL0 extract has potent anti-obesity effects.

• The Journal of Korean Philosophical History
• /
• no.50
• /
• pp.269-303
• /
• 2016

There are two ways of viewing the Taoism of the Joseon dynasty. One is to view it from the point of view in Joseon, another is to view it from the outside of Joseon, i.e. foreigners' point of view. Maurice Courant(maurice courant,1865~1935)'s Bibliographie Coreenne is the Korean first bibliography(書誌) recorded from the latter's point of view. This research examined the Taoist scripture in Maurice Courant's Bibliographie Coreenne. Maurice Courant classified the Taoist scripture of the Joseon into three: '1. Sacred books(經書類)', '2. Worship of Gwanseongjegun(關聖帝君), Munchangjegun(文昌帝君), Buwoojegun (孚佑帝君)', '3. Various works'. Through this category, it was determined that the belief in three gods (Gwanseongjegun Munchangjegun Buwoojegun) was widely prevalent in the Joseon dynasty in the late 19th century. In the chapter 1, he composed the books of representative Taoist scripture as Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, 'God(太上)', and 'King of heaven(九天上帝)'. Maurice Courant determined in chapter 2 that 1890s' Joseon Gwanwoo (關帝) belief was activated, and mentioned 'Musangdan(無相壇)', namely, Joseon's first religious organization. However, he could not determine that the scriptures relevant to three gods were recorded to be divine revelations uttered by gods. 19th century's 'Musangdan' was not introduced by being imported with Chinese Taoist scripture, but was published with the Joseon Taoist scripture through Gangpil(降筆: recording divine revelations uttered by gods). Also, through Maurice Courant's Bibliographie Coreenne, the point that 'belief in three gods' was prevalent in the social leader group during that period could be determined. The reason how such research could be possible seems, because Maurice Courant had Korean assistants who were good at Chinese classics. In chapter 3, Maurice Courant arranged the books based on Taoist ethic and the scriptures on Taoist social practical movement. Through the interpretation of Taoism bibliographies included in Maurice Courant's Bibliographie Coreenne, first, it could be determined that belief based on the three gods(三聖信仰) was prevalent during the 19th century, second, there were lots of the Taoist scriptures made in the late Joseon, third, the first Taoist religious organization and Taoist social movement form could be investigated.

• Journal of Apiculture
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.245-254
• /
• 2019

We investigated the anti-tumor effects and molecular mechanism of Brazil, China and Korean regional propolis on HeLa ovarian cancer cell line. Each propolis extracts was prepared by ethanol extraction method. Cytotoxicity of propolis extracts was determinated by EZ-cytox cell viability assay. To necessity of anti-tumor effect and molecular mechanism of propolis, we must be adjusting propolis concentration. Due to 100 ㎍/mL of propolis extract were reduced cell viability to less than 50%, we adjusted all of propolis concentration to 100 ㎍/mL. By Western blotting analysis, we confirmed that anti-tumor mechanism of Brazil, China and Korea regional propolis has significantly difference. All of propolis was activated apoptosis related molecules such as PARP, caspase-3. However, cell proliferation signaling molecules including Akt1, ERK and Bcl-2 were reduced the protein expression level. Especially, the expression of tumor suppressor protein p53 was significantly increased in propolis-treated group such as Gyeonggi, Chungbuk, Chungnam, Jeonbuk, Gyeongnam and China. The phosphorylation of Bax which as apoptosis indicator was appeared in propolis-treated group such as Gyeonggi, Gangwon, Chungnam, Gyeongbuk, China. In this results showed that the regional propolis has completely different mechanism in anti-tumor. Thus, propolis extracts may be useful source of functional materials on anti-cancer and it will be able to choose the suitable propolis for cancer therapy by analyzing individual characteristics.