• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.779-784
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• 2015

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of herbs on memory improvement by focusing on their cholinergic functions in Tg2576 mice. Seven herbs were used to obtain extracts by using alcohol and water. In screening test for cholinergic activities of the extracts, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity was highly inhibited in Oenanthe javanica alcohol extract (OJAE, 18.76%) as compared with the others. The OJAE-treated Tg2576 (Tg-OJAE) groups showed the statistically significant increases of latency time in passive avoidance test. Also, it was found that the concentration of $A{\beta}1-42$ was significantly reduced in Tg-OJAE groups compared to non-treated Tg2576 groups. In the additional enzyme test, it was found that $IC_{50}$ of OJAE was $991.77{\mu}g/mL$ and OJAE acted as an uncompetitive inhibitor of AChE. Therefore, it seemed that OJAE can be used for the development of processed foods for memory improvement.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.712-716
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• 2009

In this study, the antioxidant and neuronal cell protective effects of methanol extract from Schizandra chinensis were evaluated. The proximate composition and total phenolics content of the extract were as follows: 64.88% nitrogen free extract, 10.56% crude fiber, 10.22% moisture, 8.33% crude protein, 5.05% ash, 0.96% crude fat, and 83.04 mg/g of total phenolics. In assays the methanol extract of Schizandra chinensis presented ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP) and 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radical scavenging activity in a dose-dependent manner. In a cell viability assay using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazoliumbromide (MTT), the methanol extract showed protective effect against $H_2O_2$-induced neurotoxicity, and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release into medium was also inhibited by various concentrations of extracts (68-80%). Cell viability after treatment of the methanol extract was higher than that shown for vitamin C ($100\;{\mu}M$) using a neutral red uptake (NRU) assay. Therefore, these data suggest that the methanol extract of Schizandra chinensis may be useful for neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's disease.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.39-51
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• 1999

The effects of Hyangbujapalmultang on the enhancement of learning and memory of AD model rats were studied with Morris water maze. Sample group was electrolytically lesioned on nucleus basalis of Meynert(nbM), and then daily treated with the medicine for two months. Control group with nbM lesion, and sham group with the sham operation were treated the vehicle for the same duration. The following results were observed. 1. As the learning trials of Morris water maze were proceeded, sham group showed the escape latency from $54.7{\pm}2.28$ seconds in 1st trial to $13.3{\pm}3.27$ seconds in 7th. The control group showed the escape latency from $58.0{\pm}1.78$ seconds in 1st trial to $51.3{\pm}3.52$ seconds in 7th. The sample group showed the escape latency from $57.0{\pm}2.21$ seconds in 1st trial to $28.4{\pm}4.82$ seconds in 7th. Therefore, these data shows that all three groups were improved in learning capacity as trials were proceeded, but the sample group showed more prominent improvement in learning compared with the control group(p<0.05). 2. In memory retention test of Morris water maze that counts the staying time in the target area during 30 seconds of freely swimming period, sham group stayed for $4.81{\pm}1.15$ seconds, the control group stayed for $1.27\pm}0.78$ seconds, and the sample group stayed for $4.17{\pm}1.47$ seconds. The analysis of the memory retention data shows that the sample group marked more improvement in memory retention compared with the control group, but could not obtained statistically significant result(p<0.05). With the experimental results above, Hyangbujapalmultang can be supposed to have the improving effects on the learning of AD model rats induced by electrolytic lesion of nbM.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.62 no.7
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• pp.1009-1013
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• 2013

In this study, we developed a fiber-optic goniometer for the continuous measurement of knee joint angle which provides important medical information on Alzheimer's disease. The fiber-optic goniometer is composed of a light-emitting diode (LED), a plastic optical fiber (POF), and a voltage output photodiode (PD). As a sensing part of the fiber-optic goniometer, a unclad fiber with regular intervals of 1 mm was fabricated to improve efficiency of bending loss according to the angle variation of knee joint. The emitting light with a center wavelength of 470 nm from a LED is guided by a POF to the PD, the transmitted light is then attenuated by the bending loss inside the bent POF. The intensity variation of the light transmitted from the POF gives rise to a change in output voltage in the fiber-optic goniometer. Therefore, we measured the real-time output voltage of the proposed fiber-optic goniometer using the unclad fiber according to the knee joint angle. Through the repeated experiments, the fiber-optic goniometer shows that it has a reversibility and a wide measurable angle range.

• Korean Journal of Oriental Medicine
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.111-117
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• 1999

Free radicals are thought to be the most important cause of the reperfusion injury subsequent to ischemia. The antioxidant status of the tissue affected by ischemia-reperfusion is of great importance for the primary endogenous defense against the free radical induced injury. Therefore, antioxidant therapy has been shown to be beneficial in neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and cerebral ischemia. In this study, the protective effects of Chungpesagan-tang (CST) was investigated against ischemia/reperfusion-induced cytotoxicity in SK-N-MC neuronal cells It was found out that low concentration of CST was highly effective in protecting neuronal cells against ischemia/reperfusion-induced cytotoxicity. The inhibitory effect of CST on malondialdehyde formation during ischemia/reperfusion-induced oxidative stress in SK-N-MC cells showed obvious dose-dependent responses. Also, CST showed relatively high inhibitory activity to xanthine oxidase induced by ischemia/reperfusion environment Therefore, it is thought that CST has both antioxidant and xanthine oxidase inhibitory effect and can be used for clinical applications for protection of neuronal cells from ischemia-reperfusion injury.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.63-68
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• 2016

Objectives Haenyeo are Korean professional women breath-hold divers in Jeju island. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical characteristics of depressed Haenyeo group, compared to non-Haenyeo depressed group. Methods This study included 75 Haenyeo and 340 non-Haenyeo with depressive disorders recruited from the Dementia Early Detection Program in Jeju island. Structural diagnostic interviews were performed using the Korean version of Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. All patients completed the questionnaires, including the Subjective Memory Complaints Questionnaire (SMCQ), the Patient Health Questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15), and the Blessed dementia scale. Depression was evaluated by the Korean version of short form the Geriatric Depression Scale (K-SGDS) and cognition was assessed by the Korean version of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD) assessment packet. Results Although the mean scores of the K-SGDS were similar between Haenyeo and non-Haenyeo depressed groups, the Haenyeo group showed a higher mean score on the PSQ-15 (p < 0.001, ANCOVA adjusting for age, the K-SGDS and education). The Haenyeo group showed poorer performance on the Korean Version of Frontal Assessment Batter (p < 0.001), the Mini-Mental State Examination in the Korean version of the CERAD Assessment Packet (p < 0.018), the word fluency test (p < 0.001), and the word list memory test (p = 0.012) in ANCOVA adjusting for age and education. The mean SMCQ score was higher in the Haenyeo depressed group than in the non-Haenyeo depressed group. Conclusions The Haenyeo depressed group shows cognitive dysfunction, especially frontal lobe dysfunction, compared to the non-Haenyeo depressed group, indicating the Haenyeo depressed group may have more severe frontolimbic dysfunction due to chronic exposure to hypoxia. The Haenyeo depressed group suffers more somatic symptoms than the non-Haenyeo depressed group.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.17
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• pp.47-57
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• 2001

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia in the elderly, and its pathology is characterized by the presence of numerous numbers of senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. Several genetic and transgenic studies have indicated that excess amount of $\beta$-amyloid protein (A$\beta$) is produced by mutations of $\beta$TEX>$\beta$-amyloid precursor protein and causes learning impairment. Moreover, $A\beta$ has a toxic effect on cultured nerve cells. To prepare AD model animals, we have examined continuous (2 weeks) infusion of $A\beta$ into the cerebral ventricle of rats. Continuous infusion of $A\beta$ induces learning impairment in water maze and passive avoidance tasks, and decreases choline acetyltransferase activity in the frontal cortex and hippocampus. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed diffuse depositions of $A\beta$ in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus around the ventricle. Furthermore, the nicotine-evoked release of acetylcholine and dopamine in the frontal cortex/hippocampus and striatum, respectively, is decreased in the $A\beta$-infused group. Perfusion of nicotine (50 $\mu\textrm{M}$) reduced the amplitude of electrically evoked population spikes in the CA1 pyramidal cells of the control group, but not in those of the $A\beta$-infused group, suggesting the impairment of nicotinic signaling in the $A\beta$-infused group. In fact, Kd, but not Bmax, values for ［$^3H$］ cytisine binding in the hippocampus significantly increased in the $A\beta$-infused rats. suggesting the decrease in affinity of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Long-term potentiation (LTP) induced by tetanic stimulations in CA1 pyramidal cells, which is thought to be an essential mechanism underlying learning and memory, was readily observed in the control group, whereas it was impaired in the $A\beta$-infused group. Taken together, these results suggest that $A\beta$ infusion impairs the signal transduction mechanisms via nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. This dysfunction may be responsible, at least in part, for the impairment of LTP induction and may lead to learning and memory impairment. We also found the reduction of glutathione- and Mn-superoxide dismutase-like immunoreactivity in the brains of $A\beta$-infused rats. Administration of antioxidants or nootropics alleviated learning and memory impairment induced by $A\beta$ infusion. We believe that investigation of currently available transgenic and non-transgenic animal models for AD will help to clarify the pathogenic mechanisms and allow assessment of new therapeutic strategies.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.9 no.7
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• pp.1043-1046
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• 1998

Aluminium based inorganic flocculants are extensively used in this country in the removal of fine particles present in the raw water for the production of drinking water. These inorganic flocculants, however, have potential hazard of high residual aluminium ions in the treated waters, which is known to be one of the reasons of alzheimer's disease. Inorganic flocculants alone are sometimes incapable of treating water when there are excessive turbidity in the raw water sources due to flooding. A polyamine type polymeric flocculant has long been used to treat raw water in the drinking water production in the European countries and United State of America. The optimum reaction conditions such as mole ratio of epichlorohydrin(EPI) to dimethylamine(DMA), reaction temperature and time for each stage for the pilot scale preparation of polyamine from EPI-DMA was studied in this work. The variation of intrinsic viscosity and flocculating efficiency in the water treatment of the synthesized polyamines were evaluated. The residual materials after polymerization reaction were analyzed by gas chromatography to study the effect of variation of reaction conditions.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.27 no.2 s.66
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• pp.122-133
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• 2006

Objectives : The amyloid $\beta$-protein ($A\beta$) is the principal component of the senile plaques characteristic of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and elicits a toxic effect on neurons in vitro and in vivo. Many environmental factors including antioxidants and proteoglycans modify $A{\beta}toxicity$. In this study, we have investigated the protective effects of water- and organic solvent-extracts of Hemerocallis fulva root fractions pre-extracted with methanol on $A\beta$-induced oxidative cell death in cultured rat pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells. Methods : For this study, we used MTT reduction assay for detection of protective effects of water- and organic solvent-extracts of Hemerocallis fulva root fractions pre-extracted with methanol on $A{\beta}_{25-35}$-induced cytotoxicity to PC12 cells. We also used cell-based $\beta$-secretase assay system to investigate the inhibitory effect of water- and organic solvent-extracts of Hemerocallis fulva root on $\beta$-secretase activity. Results : We previously reported that methanol extracts of Hemerocallis fulva root strongly attenuated cytotoxicity induced by the three $A\beta$ fragments ($A{\beta}_{25-35},\;A{\beta}_{1-42}\;A{\beta}_{1-43}$) to both SK-N-MC and PC12 cells. In the present study, we found that butanol-, ethylacetate-, chloroform-, and water-extracts of Hemerocallis fulva root fractions pre-extracted with methanol had strong protective effects against $A{\beta}_{25-35}$-induced cytotoxicity to PC12 cells and inhibitory potency to $\beta$-secretase activity. Conclusion : These results suggest that butanol-, ethylacetate-, chloroform-, and water-extracts of Hemerocallis fulva root fractions pre-extracted with methanol may contain the protective component(s) against $A\beta$-induced cell death in PC12 cells as well as inhibitory component(s) to $\beta$-secretase activity.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.439-446
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• 2015

Inflammation is a protective response to infection or injury. However, prolonged inflammation can contribute to the pathogenesis of many diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, arthritis, atherosclerosis, and Alzheimer's disease. Recent studies have shown that activated macrophages, inflammatory effector cells, can react to tissue insults in a polarized manner, in which their phenotypes are polarized into two major subtypes, categorized as M1 or M2. Classical M1 activation involves the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin (IL)-6 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-${\alpha}$, and free radicals, while M2 or alternative activation is an anti-inflammatory phenotype involved in homeostatic processes, such as wound healing, debris scavenging, and the dampening of inflammation via the production of very low levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and high levels of anti-inflammatory mediators, including IL-10. As part of our ongoing effort to isolate anti-inflammatory compounds from seaweeds, we investigated the effects of phlorotannins isolated from the brown alga Ecklonia stolonifera on macrophage polarization. Mouse peritoneal macrophages were treated with various concentrations of the extracts, and real-time RT-PCR analyses were performed to examine the expression of polarization markers: IL-$1{\beta}$, IL-6, and TNF-${\alpha}$ for M1 and arginase-1, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-${\gamma}$, found inflammatory zone-1 (Fizz-1), chitinase 3-like 3 (Ym1), and$Kr{\ddot{u}}ppel$-like factor 4 (Klf-4) for M2. The pretreatment of cells with eckol, dieckol, and phlorofucofuroeckol-A (PFF-A), isolated from the ethyl acetate fraction of E. stolonifera ethanolic extract, potentiated the anti-inflammatory M2 phenotype of the macrophages. These results indicate that phlorotannins derived from E. stolonifera can be used to enrich macrophages with markers of the M2 anti-inflammatory state.