• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.178-183
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• 2010

Costunolide is an active compound isolated from the stem bark of Magnolia sieboldii, and is considered a potential therapeutic for the treatment of various cancers. In this study, we investigated the underlying mechanism whereby costunolide induces the apoptosis of human leukemia cells. Using apoptosis analysis and quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) results obtained during this study show that costunolide is a potent inducer of apoptosis and that it is triggered due to the premature activation of Cdc2. $G_1$-synchronized cells, which cannot undergo mitosis, were found to be more sensitive to costunolide, and Cdc2 mRNA levels were increased by costunolide treatment. Furthermore, the Cdk inhibitors, olomucine and butyrolactone I, were found to suppress costunolide-induced apoptosis. In addition, the PKC activator TPA rescued cells from cell death by costunolide, and this was prevented by the PKC inhibitor staurosporin. The present study suggests that costunolide induces the apoptosis of HL-60 leukemic cells by modulating cyclin-dependent kinase Cdc2.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.293-299
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• 2013

20S-dihydroprotopanaxadiol (2H-PPD) is a derivative of protopanaxadiol, a glycone of ginsenosides prepared from Panax ginseng. Although ginsenosides and acidic polysaccharides are known to be major active ingredients in ginseng, the immunopharmacological activities of their metabolites and derivatives have not been fully explored. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the regulatory action of 2H-PPD on the function of monocytes and macrophages in innate immune responses. 2H-PPD was able to boost the phagocytic uptake of fluorescein isothiocyanate-dextran in macrophages and enhance the generation of radicals (reactive oxygen species) in sodium nitroprusside-treated RAW264.7 cells. The surface levels of the costimulatory molecules such as CD80 and CD86 were also increased during 2H-PPD treatment. In addition, this compound boosted U937 cell-cell aggregation induced by CD29 and CD43 antibodies, but not by cell-extracellular matrix (fibronectin) adhesion. Similarly, the surface levels of CD29 and CD43 were increased by 2H-PPD exposure. Therefore, our results strongly suggest that 2H-PPD has the pharmacological capability to upregulate the functional role of macrophages/monocytes in innate immunity.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.94-102
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• 2016

The crystal structure of the potential active 6-ethoxy-3-phenyl-5a,9a-dihydro-3H-chromen[4,3-c][1,2]oxazole-3a(4H)-carbonitrile ($C_{19}H_{15}N_2O_3$) has been determined from single crystal X-ray diffraction technique. The title compound crystallizes in the monoclinic space group C2/c with unit cell dimension a= 29.3026(9) ${\AA}$, b= 6.7695(2) ${\AA}$ and c= 19.7597(6) ${\AA}$ [${\alpha}= 90^{\circ}$, ${\beta}= 125.709(10)^{\circ}$ and ${\gamma}= 90^{\circ}$]. Single crystals suitable for X-ray diffraction were obtained by slow evaporation method, the isoxazole and six membered pyran rings adopts envelope conformation. The crystal packing of the molecules is stabilized by the weak $C-H{\ldots}N$ hydrogen bond interaction.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.103-112
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• 2016

The crystal structure of the potential active Methyl 8-bromo-3-phenyl-5a,9a-dihydro-3H-chromen [4,3-c][1,2] isoxazole-3a(4H)-carboxylate ($C_{18}H_{15}BrNO_4$) has been determined from single crystal X-ray diffraction technique. The title compound crystallizes in the triclinic space group Pī with unit cell dimension a=8.3129 (3) ${\AA}$, b=9.5847 (4) ${\AA}$ and c=11.1463(4) ${\AA}$ [${\alpha}=98.457(3)^{\circ}$, ${\beta}=102.806(2)^{\circ}$ and ${\gamma}=105.033(5)^{\circ}$]. Single crystals suitable for X-ray diffraction were obtained by slow evaporation method, the isoxazole and six membered pyran rings adopts envelope conformation. In the crystal, molecules are linked via pairs of inter molecular $C-H{\ldots}O$ hydrogen bonds to form dimmers.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.26-30
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• 2015

Wnt/${\beta}$-catenin signaling pathway was mutated in about 90% of the sporadic and hereditary colorectal cancers. The abnormally activated ${\beta}$-catenin increases the cancer cell proliferation, differentiation and metastasis through increasing the expression of its oncogenic target genes. In this study, we identified an inhibitor of ${\beta}$-catenin dependent Wnt pathway from rhizomes of Atractylodes macrocephala Koidzumi (Compositae). The active compound was purified by activity-guided purification and the structure was identified as 2,8-dimethyl-6-hydroxy-2-(4-methyl-3-pentenyl)-2H-chromene (atractylochromene, AC). AC suppressed b-catenin/Tcell factor transcriptional activity of HEK-293 reporter cells when they were stimulated by Wnt3a or inhibitor of glycogen synthase kinase-$3{\beta}$. AC down-regulated the nuclear level of ${\beta}$-catenin through the suppression of galectin-3 mediated nuclear translocation of ${\beta}$-catenin in SW-480 colon cancer cells. Furthermore, AC inhibits proliferation of colon cancer cell. Taken together, AC from A. macrocephala might be a potential chemotherapeutic agent for the prevention and treatment of human colon cancer.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.251.2-251.2
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• 2010

Plant biomass has been proposed to be an alternative source for petroleum-based chemical compounds. Especially, phenolic chemical compounds can be obtained from lignin by chemical depolymerization processes because lignin consists of complex aromatic polymer such as trans-p-coumaryl, coniferyl and sinapyl alcohols, etc. Phenolic chemical compounds from lignin were usually produced in super critical water. However, we applied Near-critical water (NCW) system because NCW is known as a good solvent for lignin depolymerization. Organic matter like lignin can be solved in NCW system and the system has a unique acid-base property without conventional non-eco-friendly chemicals such as sulfuric acid and sodium hydroxide. In this work, we tried to optimize the NCW depolymerization system by adjusting the processing variables such as reaction time, temperature and pressure. Moreover, the amount of additional phenol was optimized by changing the molar ratio between water and phenol. Phenol was used as capping agent to prevent re-polymerization of active fragment such as formaldehyde. Alkali-lignin was used as a starting material and characterized by a Solid State 13C-NMR, FT-IR and EA (Elemental Analysis). GC-MS analysis confirmed that o-cresol, p-cresol, anisole and 4-hydroxyphathalic acid were the main product and they were quantitatively analyzed by HPLC.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2004.06b
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• pp.605-608
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• 2004

A $Pt/Al_xGa_{l-x}N$ Schottky type Ultra-violet photodetector was modeled and simulated using the commercial SILVACO software program. In the carrier transport, we applied field model and other analytic model to determine the electron saturation velocity and low field mobility for GaN and $Al_xGa_{l-x}N$. A C-Interpreter function was defined to described the mole-fraction for the ternary compound semiconductor such as $Al_xGa_{l-x}N$. As comparing the simulated and experimental results, we found that the simulated result for type-1 has $15.9 nA/cm^2$ of leakage current at 5V. We confirmed a good agreement of photo-current in the UV Photo-detector, while applying the absorption coefficient and reflective index of active $Al_xGa_{l-x}N$ and other layers. There had been an intensive search for the proper refractive indices of the layers.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.30-39
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• 2015

The crystal structure of the potential active 2-amino-4-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-7, 9-dimethyl-5-oxo-4, 5, 6, 7-tetrahydropyrano [2, 3-d] pyrazolo [3, 4-b] pyridine-3-carbonitrile ($C_{21}H_{22}N_5O_6S$) has been determined from single crystal X-ray diffraction data. In the title compound crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P-1 with unit cell dimension a=8.1201(9)${\AA}$, b=12.2684(4)${\AA}$ and c=12.387(2)${\AA}$ [${\alpha}=69.573^{\circ}$, ${\beta}=12.168^{\circ}$ and ${\gamma}=76.060^{\circ}$]. In the structure the pyrazole, pyridine and pyran are almost coplanar each other. The crystal packing is stabilized by intermolecular C-H...O and N-H... O hydrogen bond interaction.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.19-29
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• 2015

In view of the growing medicinal importance of chromene and its derivatives, the single crystal X-ray diffraction study was carried out for the potential active 4,6-dimethyl-9-phenyl-8,12-dioxa-4,6-diazatetracyclo [8.8.0.02,7.013,18]octadeca-2(7),13,15,17-tetraene-3,5,11-trione-2-ethoxyphenyl (2E)-but-2-enoate ($C_{18}H_{20}N_2O_5$). In the title compound are two molecules exist in the asymmetric unit. It crystallizes in the monoclinic space group $P2_1/c$ with unit cell dimension a=14.608(3) ${\AA}$, b=12.845(3) and c= 17.781(4) [alpha & gamma=$90^{\circ}$ beta=$91.233(5)^{\circ}$]. Both pyran and pyran ring of the chromene moiety adopts sofa conformation in the molecule A & B. The crystal structure is stabilized by intramolecular C-H...O hydrogen bond interaction.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.58 no.1
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• pp.5-8
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• 2015

This study was to isolate an active component of the chloroform fraction from the methanol extract of Ruta chalepensis leaves and to measure inhibitory effects against ${\alpha}$-glucosidase or ${\alpha}$-amylase. The inhibitory compound of R. chalepensis leaves was isolated using chromatographic methods and identified as quinoline. Quinoline and its structurally related derivatives were tested for their inhibitory activities by evaluating the $IC_{50}$ values against ${\alpha}$-amylase or ${\alpha}$-glucosidase and were compared with that of acarbose. Based on the $IC_{50}$ values, quinazoline exhibited the greatest inhibitory activity ($20.5{\mu}g/mL$), followed by acarbose ($66.5{\mu}g/mL$), and quinoline ($80.3{\mu}g/mL$) against ${\alpha}$-glucosidase. In case of ${\alpha}$-amylase, quinazoline had potent inhibitory activity, followed by quinoline ($179.5{\mu}g/mL$) and acarbose ($180.6{\mu}g/mL$). These results indicate that R. chalepensis extract, quinoline, and quinazoline could be useful for inhibiting ${\alpha}$-glucosidase or ${\alpha}$-amylase.