• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.503-516
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• 2020

KCNQ family constitutes slowly-activating potassium channels among voltage-gated potassium channel superfamily. Recent studies suggested that KCNQ4 and 5 channels are abundantly expressed in smooth muscle cells, especially in lower urinary tract including corpus cavernosum and that both channels can exert membrane stabilizing effect in the tissues. In this article, we examined the electrophysiological characteristics of overexpressed KCNQ4, 5 channels in HEK293 cells with recently developed KCNQ-specific agonist. With submicromolar EC₅₀, the drug not only increased the open probability of KCNQ4 channel but also increased slope conductance of the channel. The overall effect of the drug in whole-cell configuration was to increase maximal whole-cell conductance, to prolongate the activation process, and left-shift of the activation curve. The agonistic action of the drug, however, was highly attenuated by the co-expression of one of the β ancillary subunits of KCNQ family, KCNE4. Strong in vitro interactions between KCNQ4, 5 and KCNE4 were found through Foster Resonance Energy Transfer and co-immunoprecipitation. Although the expression levels of both KCNQ4 and KCNE4 are high in mesenteric arterial smooth muscle cells, we found that 1 μM of the agonist was sufficient to almost completely relax phenylephrine-induced contraction of the muscle strip. Significant expression of KCNQ4 and KCNE4 in corpus cavernosum together with high tonic contractility of the tissue grants highly promising relaxational effect of the KCNQ-specific agonist in the tissue.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.275-281
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• 2008

Endocrine disrupting chemiclas (EDCs) such as bisphenol A (BPA) and nonylphenol (NP) have estrogenic activity and can alter reproduction in fish. In the present study, the effects of BPA and NP on in vitro steroid production from oocytes of maturation stage (oocyte diameter$\fallingdotseq$1.88 mm) from the greenling (Hexagrammos agrammus) were evaluated. Oocytes were incubated with different concentrations of BPA and NP (0.1, 1, 10, 100 and 1,000 ng/$m{\ell}$) in the presence or absence of 50 IU human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) for 48 hours. After incubation, levels of $17{\alpha},\;20{\beta}$-dihydroxy-4-pregnen-3-one ($17{\alpha}20{\beta}OHP$), estradiol-$17{\beta}(E_2)$ and testosterone (T) from incubated media were quantified by radioimmunoassay (RIA). In BPA treatment, 100 ng/$m{\ell}$ of BPA stimulated $E_2$ production regardless HCG supplement. Every concentration of BPA inhibited T production without HCG although 0.1 ng/$m{\ell}$ of BPA stimulated T production with HCG. In NP treatment, 10 ng/$m{\ell}$ of NP stimulated $17{\alpha}20{\beta}OHP$ and T production without HCG. 1 ng/$m{\ell}$ of NP inhibited $E_2$ production. Taken toghther, these results suggest that BPA might have weak estrogen-agonistic effect and NP has estrogenantagonistic effect at final oocyte maturation stage of H. agrammus.

• Proceedings of the Ginseng society Conference
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• 1990.06a
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• pp.29-35
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• 1990

Using an ethopharmacological technique, we demonstrated that saponin fraction from red ginseng root possessed a potent psychotropic actions on either intermale or maternal aggression models. A series of experiments clearly indicated that one of psychoactive ingredient is ginsenoside Rbl. Although a drug-induced debilitation of motor performance remains a possible cause of the antiaggressive effect of the drug, ginsenoside Rb 1 did not alter the locomotor activity of the mice during agonistic confrontations. Thus, one can eliminate the possibility that the psychoactive effect of ginsenoside Rbl might be concealed by a drugindulced impairment of motor performance. More recently, we developed a new model for copulatory disorder and introduced into the behavioral analysis of drug action. Male mice which has been housed individually from weaning for 5 weeks failed to manifest copulatory behavior when they encountered with the sexually-receptive females. Daily administration of crude ginseng saponin during isolation housing period prevented the development of copulatory disorder, whereas both ginsenoside Rbl and Rgl were ineffective. A further experiment may be needed to explore active ingredient of ginseng saponins. Keywords Panax ginseng, Korean red ginseng, psychotropic action, saponin, ginsenoside Rb1

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.47-51
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• 1973

A benzomorphan derivative, pentazocine has both opioid agonistic actions and weak narcotic antagonistic activity. In this paper, authors attempted to study the dose response of pentazocine on the blood sugar level, serum transaminase and alkaline phosphatase activity in rabbits. Eighteen rabbits were devided into 3 groups, and each group were injected with pentazocine 5mg, 15mg, and 30mg/kg respectively. And metabolic effects were investigated measuring the change of blood sugar contents, serum transaminase (S-GOT, S-GPT) activities and alkaline phosphatase activities in rabbits. The results were obtained as follows; 1. Pentazocine significantly increased the blood sugar content in rabbits. 2. Pentazocine significantly increased the serum GOT activity but in the serum GPT activity, it significantly increased in large dose. 3. Pentazocine significantly increased serum alkaline phosphatase activity.

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.16 no.2 s.27
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• pp.1-7
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• 1980

As it has been reported that morphine induce antidiuresis, and antinatriuresis along with decrease in renal hemodynamics when given intracerebroventricularly[ivt], the renal action of nalorphine, a partial antagonist of morphine action, and its influence upon the morphine action were investigated in this study. $10{\mu}g/kg$ of nalorphine given into the lateral ventricle of the rabbit brain tended to decrease renal plasma flow and glomerular filtration rate and increase the reabsorption of free water in the tubules. $100{\mu}g/kg$ ivt significantly decreased urine flow rate and increased free water reabsorption, and tended to increase electrolyte excretion in spite of decrease in renal plasma flow and glomerular filtration, suggesting that ADH also involved in the antidiuresis. Morphine hydrochloride, $10{\mu}g/kg$, ivt, produced marked decrement in renal hemodynamics along with decreased excretions of sodium, potassium and water, and these morphine actions were alleviated by nalorphine given 20 min later. The natriuretic action of ivt nalorphine manifested itself uninfluenced by the morphine. These observations indicate that nalorphine ivt produces renal actions similar to those of morphine, though less potent, and that it can antagonize the latter action. It is suggested that morphine influences renal hemodynamics through nerve by stimulating the 'morphine receptor' in the brain, whereas nalorphine liberates ADH by the agonistic action on the 'nalorphine receptor'.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.262-270
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• 2010

CD95 receptor is a member of tumor necrosis factor receptor family that mediates apoptosis in many cell types when bound by CD95 ligand or cross-linked by agonistic anti-CD95 antibodies. To determine the role of neutral sphingomyelinase (nSMase) on CD95-mediatd apoptosis, human Jurkat T lymphocytes were exposed to recombinant human CD95 ligand. Treatment with CD95 ligand induced cell death in a concentration and time-dependent manner. CD95-induced cell death was suppressed by inhibitors of SMase such as AY9944 or desipramine. Transfection with human nSMase1 siRNA plasmid into CD95 ligand-treated cells significantly prevented CD95-mediated cell death. CD95-mediated elevation of intracellular ceramide level detected by FACS analysis with anti-ceramide antibody was also decreased by nSMase1 siRNA. Knock-down of nSMase1 expression also blocked cytochrome c release into cytosol and caspase-3 cleavage in CD95-treated cells. Taken together, these results suggest that nSMase1 may play an important role in CD95-mediated apoptotic cell death in Jurkat T cells.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.48-55
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• 2008

CD29 $({\beta}1-integrins)$ is one of major adhesion molecules involved in regulating cell adhesion, migration and morphological changes. In this study, we investigated the regulatory role of CD29 in monocytic functions using monocytic cell line U937 cells. CD29 was found to be one of highly expressed membrane proteins in U937 cells, according to flow cytometric analysis. The activation of CD29 by agonistic antibody MEM101A and extracellular matrix protein (ECM) fibronectin strongly induced cell-cell and cell-fibronectin adhesions. However, blocking antibodies to CD98 and CD147 showed different inhibitory features in these two adhesion events. Furthermore, U0126, an ERK inhibitor, only blocked cell-cell adhesion but not cell-fibronectin adhesion, indicating that cell-cell or cell-fibronectin adhesion events may be regulated by different molecular mechanisms. Meanwhile, CD29 activation also enhanced ROS generation but not phagocytic ability, and similarly radical scavenger N-acetyl-L-cysteine strongly blocked CD29-mediated cell-cell adhesion, implying that ROS may play a critical role in up-regulating cell-cell adhesion. Therefore, our data suggest that the activation of CD29 may be critically involved in regulating monocytic cell-mediated cell-cell adhesion and ROS generation.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.191-196
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• 1994

Higenamine is a tetrahydroisoquinoline alkaloid which was isolated as a cardiotonic principle from Aconiti tuber. 1.v. injection of higenamine was reported to increase the cardiac output and heart rate and to decrease the blood pressure and the systemic vascular resistance presumably by stimulating the adrenergic ${\beta}-receptors$. The anti-platelet and anti-thrombotic effects of higenamine were investigated in this paper. Higenamine(0.5 mg/ml) showed mild inhibitory effect against collagen induced platelet aggregation in vitro and the inhibito교 effect was increased with the pre-incubation$(5{\sim}30\;min)$ of platelet rich plasma(PRP) with higenamine. With the 30 min incubation, the platelet aggregation was almost completely inhibited. And the oral administration of higenamine$(50{\sim}200\;mg/kg)$ enhanced the survival in the mouse model of thrombosis and that of endotoxic shock. The anti-thrombotic and anti-septic effects of higenamine thus appear to be due to the ${\beta}-agonistic$ and the anti-platelet effects of this compound.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.183-188
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• 2011

A bisdesmosidic cholestane glycoside was isolated from the rhizomes of Polygonatum sibiricum and the structure was elucidated by spectroscopic methods and acid hydrolysis as (22S)-cholest-5-ene-$1{\beta}$,$3{\beta}$,$16{\beta}$,22-tetrol 1-O-${\alpha}$-L-rhamnopyranosyl 16-O-${\beta}$-D-glucopyranoside. This compound exhibited weak cytotoxic activity with the $IC_{50}$ value, $63.6\;{\mu}M$ in human MCF-7 breast cancer line, whereas it failed to show agonistic activity at $100{\mu}M$ in TGR5 assay with Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. This is the first report of a bisdesmosidic cholestane glycoside from Polygonatum species and the full assignments of $^1H$, $^{13}C$ NMR by HMBC, TOCSY and NOESY experiments were provided.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.13-18
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• 2005

Cannibalism plays important roles at the levels of both individual and population. To enhance overall rate of successful survival and reproduction, salamander larvae may have evolved to consume both conspecifics and heterospecifics. Consuming conspecifics could result in decreased inclusive fitness possibly by killing relatives. In several salamander species, discrimination of salamander larval siblings from non-siblings and heterospecifics to avoid such a risk has been reported. To determine whether the Korean salamander larvae consume non-siblings more often than siblings and to analyze prey preferences of the salamander larvae in several different experimental conditions, a series of foraging experiments was conducted in the laboratory. We found that 1) large cannibal larvae preyed on small sibling more often than small non-sibling in a mixed group of sibling and non-sibling, 2) cannibal larvae prefered to consume live, weak, and small larvae to dead, healthy, and large larvae, and 3) cannibal larvae consumed heterospecific tadpoles more often than conspecific nonsibling larvae in a mixed group. In addition, the larval density was positively correlated with the occurrence of spacing behavior, one of the agonistic predator behaviors among salamander larvae.